GRADE 12 POETRY: 2016 1. A Poem is a Painting Hesketh p 5 2. The Tyger Blake p 32 3. Ode to Autumn Keats p 38 4. If thou must love me Browning p 39 5. My Secret Rosetti p 45 6. Dover Beach Arnold p 44 7. La Figlia Che Piange Eliot p 49 8, Poem in October Thomas p 58 9. The Cape of Storms Pringle p 66 10, The Herb Garden Gray p 88 11, Release, February 1990 Briar p 90 12. | have my father's voice van Wyk p 97 13, Hadedah Schwartzman p 99 414. To the Snake Levertov p 146 15. When | heard the Learn'd Astronomer Whitman p 174 16. These fought in any case Pound p 182 17. When | do count the clock that tells the time Shakespeare p 199FIGURES OF SPEECH COMPARISONS SIMILE, A simile is « balanced comparison. The comparison between two distnetly different things is indicated by the word “like” or “es”, 6. Burns's “O my love is lke a red, red rose.” METAPHOR ‘Metaphors are like similes in that they are also comparisons, but without the words “like” or “as”. A metaphor isan implied comparison, eg, If Bums had said “My love is red, red 1080”, he would have used @ metaphor instead of asimite, Anextended metaphor is when an Image or comparison is continued over @ number of lines. ©, Life isa gamble, You get to play the hand you are dealt, but when the chips are down... CONCEIT ‘A comparison which is deliberately unrelated, or seemingly bizarvo, but does actually add meaning, eg, You are the love of my life, my onion. (Love is Inyered, protective, makes you ery...) PERSONIFICATION ‘When an inanimate object or quality is compared to something fmaman, i.e, Something that is not human is made to sound as though it were human, e.g, The tree held its arms and twisted fingers up towards the sky. A tree has branches and fowigs, but the poet wanted us to picture them as arms and twisted fingers, Qualities fike Time, Patience, Love, Virlue were personified by Shakespeare and Elizabethan poets. CONTRASTS OXYMORON A combination of contradictory words placed side by side, which intensifies rather than defracts from the point to be made, e.g, - bitter sweet; open secret, (rue lies, silent seream ANTITHESIS Opposing ideas are balanced one against the other (0 emphasise the contrast, e.g, They speak like saints and act like devils.PARADOX A statement which seems at first sight o be contradictory, but when studied it makes sense, ‘g.~ You have to be cruel to be kind, ~ He’s telling the truth when he says he’s a fiar. EXTREMES LITOTES A negative is used to emphasise a positive statement, e.g, - He is no fool. HYPERBOLE Deliberate exaggeration is used to emphasise a point. e.g, Macbeth says that his hands are so red with blood that they will turn all the water in the sea bright red. CONNECTIONS METONYMY ‘The name of one thing is applied fo another which has become closely associated with it, eg. - The “crown” can refer fo the king or queen, = The “sword” can refer to violent measures, e.g in warfare, SYNECDOCHE ‘The part stands for the whole, ‘eg. "Ten hiands” can mean “ten workmen". ~~ South Aftica played New Zealand (Only the team from each country played.) TRANSFERRED EPITHET When ae adjective or aclverb is transferred ftom the word which it normally qualifies to another word, eg. Ho drank a cheerful glass. (The man is cheerful, not the glass.)SOUND (PHONIC) DEVICES ALLITERATION ‘The repetition of consonant sounds at short, frequent intervals. eg. Ina soft summer season, + "The terror of the Thames.” ASSONANCE “The repetition of similar vowel sounds in words placed elose together, eg, “Theat lake water lapping with fow sounds by the shore.” ONOMATOPOEIA, When a word suggests the sound that it represents. ‘e.g. ~ Water lapping, ~ An ow! hooting, - The spuut ofa lighted match, + A snake hissing, ~ A bee buzzing. WORD PLAY PUN AA play on words that are very similar in sound, but very different in meaning. €g, Shakespeace, Romeo and Juliet: “Ask for me fomorraw and you shall find mea grave man.” Grave" here means both “serious, and “inthe grave”. TRONY ‘Tho speaker or writer says the opposite of what he actually means, eg. When Brutus has killed Julius Caesar, Antony says to the crowd: “Brutus is an honourable man!” He means that Brutus is far fhom honourable, SARCASM Trony that is used (o hurt a low form of wit when praise is used when the speaker means to ¢: e.g, “Oh, you're God's gift fo women, are you?”INNUENDO When something is implied. It is not said outtight, but is hinted at, ‘2g; A policeman questioning a suspect for murder might say: “I suppose you were at home last night? He is implying that the suspect wasn’t at home, and will ie about it, EUPHEMISM. ‘When we try to avoid saying something unpleasant by softening the truth. 0.8, - He has gone to a higher life, (He has died.) ~ He was asked! to leave. (Ho was fired.) = She is visually impaived. (short-sighted) RHETORICAL QUESTION ‘A question asked not to obtain an answer, but to emphasise a point, eg. If winter comes, can spring be far behind? Isn't fife a tedious matter? SAYINGS EPIGRAM ‘A shaxp, pointed saying, It says a lot in a fexy words and the sting is usually in the tal, 6g, Shakespeate: “Every man desives to five Long, but no man wants to grow old.” APOSTROPHE A direct address either to an absent person or to an abstraet quality or inanimate object. ‘eg, In the poem “Recollections of Love”, Coleridge is talking about his beloved, and then suddenly says: “O Greta, dear domestic stream!” In this case, he is talking to the River Greta, and bas used apostrophe. SUSPENSE CLIMAX Creates tension by building up to the main point, eg. ~ He came, he saw, he conquered. irst he stole a few cents, then a rand, and then he robbed « bank,ANTI - CLIMAX (BATHOS) ‘The opposite of elimax. e.g. “intend to be a great writer, to write short stories and letters to the newspaper.” (If all else fails, he might sticceed in having letters to the press published.) STYLE TONE The writer's attitude towards his listener and subject, cg, The tone of a poem could be loving, aggressive, critical, serious, sed etc, MOOD ‘Phe atmosphere created by the writer. eg. In “Hamlet”, Shakespeare oreates a fense and fearful atmosphere or mood right from the beginning of the play by the abrupt and nervous dialogue of the guards as they expect the appearance ofthe ghost STRUCTURE SHAPE — way the poem looks across the page (ignores margins and rules) FORM - amount of lines in a stanza, length of lines, stanzas REGULAR — when length of lines, syllables is deliberately similar IRREGULAR - when length of lines, syllables is deliberately dissimilar RHYTHM - the syllables and pace of poetry actoss a line METRE — a regular, deliberate patiern of syllables (e.g, pentametre = 5x2) RHYME - words with a similar sound (dove, love). Can be end rhyme (at end of line), internal rhyme (within a line), sight rhyme (spelt same but different sound e.g. move, love) ENJAMBMENT - run-on-lines; meaning, idea flows onto other line END-STOPPED LINES — meaning, idea stops at end of line REPETITION — of words, images, punctuation to develop ideasSonnets 2 structures: Rhythm: Shakespeare's plays are also written p rhyme scheme, stanzas, development of message Shakespearean/Elizabethan sonnet Pettarchan/Italian sonnet rean Somnet Pettarehan S a ® seat pata 8 quateain b quan b a do > © quatre bb quatrain © cle i (este afd tercet © quatrain ofe ‘ sEsTEr eld 2 8 tlyming de tercet & couplet ofd Shakespeare's sonnets are written precdontinantly in a metre ealled Zambie pentameter arhymo scheme in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called tambs or iamibie feet. An iamb is a mettical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed sylfable. An example of an iamb would be good BYB. A line of iambic pentameter flows like this: baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM. (like « heartbeat) ‘When 1/ do COUNT / the CLOCK / that TELLS / the TIME (Sonnet 12) ‘Wheu IN / dis GRACE / with FOR / tune AND / men’s EYES TALL/a LONE / be WEEP / my OU'T/ cast STATE (Sonnet 29) navily in iambic pentameter, but the fines are unrhymed and not grouped into stanzas. Unrhymed iambic pentameter is called blank verse. There are also many’ prose passages in Shakespeare’s plays and some fines of trochaic fetrameter, such as the Witches! speechos in Macbeth, Souet Structure: ‘There are fourteen lines in a Shakespearean sonnet. The first (welve fines are. divided into three quattains with four lites each. Inthe three quatrains the poet establishes a theme or problem and then resolves it inthe final to lines, called the rlyming couplet, ‘There are also 14 lines in an Halian Petrarchan sonnet. This sonnet form has {ovo parts: a rhyming oetave (abbaabba) and a rhyming sestet (ddeded). The Petrarchaan somnet style was extremely popular with Elizabethan sonneteers, nich to Shakespeare's disdain (he mocks the conventional and excessive Petatchan siyle in Sonnet 130),A Poem is a Pc hoebe Hesketh (1909 - 2008) A poem is a painting that is not seen: A painting is a poem that is not heard. ‘That's what poetry is - A painting in the mind, Without palette and brush it mixes words into images. The mind's edge sharpens the knife slashing the canvas with savage rocks ‘wisting trees and limbs into tortuous shepes ‘as Van Gogh did or bewitched by movement's grace, captures the opalescent skirts of Deges' ballet dancers, But words on the page 4s paint on canvas are fixed, It's in the spaces between ‘the poem is quickened, Poot Phoche Hesketh, (29 January 1909-25 February 2005), was an English poet from Lancashire notable for her poems depicting nature. Her father was the pioneer radiologist Arthur E. Rayner; her mother was a violinist in the Hallé Orchestra. Among her aunts was the suffragette Edith Rigby, In 1948 she published her second volume, Lean Forward, Spring! which eased her widespread acclaim amonget the literary community, including from Siegfried Sassoon. Throughout her career she would produce sixteen books and, although she never achieved popular success, was championed by several well-known figures including Sassoon, Roy Campbell, and Al Alvarez.Summary ‘The poem uses simple run on ines (enjambment) and the extended metaphor of poetry being compared to art to emphasise the beauty of both forms. The simple contrast of art and beauty, imagination and reality is presented. ‘The poem appeals to the sense of sight — and how a close viewing of both forms is necessary (o uncover the meaning, uestions: A Poem is q Painting, by Phoobe Hesketh 4. Ust 5 similarities between a poem and a painting. 2. What Is meant by the prologue in italles? 3. How can poems mix “words into images” (line 4)? 4, Identify and explain the figure of speech in lines 5 ~ 5, Who are Van Gogh and Degas? Which words help you identify them? 6. Contrast Van Gogh and Degas by referring to words from the poem. 7. How are words and paint “fixed” (line 14)? 8. Comment on the poet's use of the word “quickened”? What Is meant by this word?The Tyger ~ Willlam Blake (1757 - 1827) Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? ‘On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare seize the fire? ‘And what shoulder, and what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand, and what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp, Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the sters threw down their spears, ‘And water'd heaven with their tears, Did he stile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Tyger! Tyger! burning bright ‘In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye, Dare fraine thy fearful symmetry?‘Summary “The poem begins with the speaker asking a fearsome tiger what kind of divine being could have created it: "What immortal hand or eye/ Could fiame they fearful symmetry?" Bach subsequent stanza contains further questions, all of which refine this first one. From what part of the cosmos, could the tigers fiery eyes have come, and who would have dared to handle that fire? What sort of physical presence, and what kind of dark ernftsmanship, would have been required to “twist the sinevs" of the tiger's heart? The speaker wonders how, once that horrible heart "began to beat," its creator would have had the courage to continue the job. Comparing the ereator to a blacksmith, he ponders about the auvil and the farnace that the project would have required and the smith who could hhave wielded them. And when the job was done, the speaker wonders, how would the creator have felt? "Did he smile his work to see?" Could this possibly be the same being who made the lamb? Form “The poem is comprised of six quatrains in chymed couplets. The melee is regular and rhythmic, its haxamering bent suggestive of the blacksmith that is the poem's central image. The simplicity and neat proportions of the poems form perfectly suit its egularsteueture, in which a string of questions all contribute to the articulation of a single, central Commentary. ‘The opening question enacts what will be the single dramatic gesture of the poem, and each subsequent stanza elaborates on this conception. Blake is building on the conventional idea that nature, like a work of arl, must in some way contain a reflection ofits creator. The tiger is steikingly beautiful yet also horrific in its eapacity for violence. What kind of a God, then, could or would design such a terrifying beast as the tiger? In more general terms, what does the undeniable existence of evil and violence in the world toll ws about the nature of God, andl what does it mean to live in a ‘world where a being ean at once contain both beauty an! horor? “The tiger initially appears as a strikingly sensuous image. However, as the poom progresses, if takes ‘on symbolie character, and comes to embody the spiritual and moral problem the poem explores: perfectly beautiful and yet perfectly destructive, Blake's tiger becomes the symbolic centre for an investigation into the presence of evil in the world. Since the tiger's remarkable nature exists both in physicat and mioral terms, the speaker's questions about its origin must also encompass both physical ‘nd moral dimensions, The poem's series of questions repeatedly ask what sort of physical crentive capacity the "fearful symmetry" of the tiger bespeaks; assumedly only a very strong and powerful being could be capable of such a creation, ‘The blacksmith (or smithy) represents a traditional image of artistic creation; here Blake applies it to the divine creation ofthe natural world. ‘The "forging" of the tiger suggests a very physical, Inborious, and deliberate kind of making; it emphasizes the awesome physical presence of the tiger and preetides the idea that such a creation could have been in any way accidentally or haphazardly produced. It also continues from the first description of the tiger the imagery of fire with its simultaneous connotations of creation, purification, and destruction. The speaker stands in awe of the tiger ns.a sheer physical and aesthetic achievement, even as he recoils in horror from the moral implications of such a creation; for the poem addresses not only the question of who could make sich a ereature as the tiger, bul who would perform this act. This isa question of ereative responsibility and of will, and the poet carefully ittludes this moral question with the considerationof physical power, Note, in the third stanza, the parallelism of "shoulder" and “ar," as well as the fact that it is not just the body but also the "heart" of the tiger that is being forged. The repeated use. of word the "dare" to replace the "could" of the first stanza introduces a dimension of aspiration and swillfuliness into the sheer might of the creative act. ‘The reference to the lamb in the penultimate stanza reminds the reader that a tiger and a lamb have been created by the same God, and raises questions about the implications of ths. It also invites a contrast between the perspectives of "experience" and "innocence" represented here and in the poem “The Lamb." "The Tyger" consists entively of unanswered questions, and the poet Icaves us to awe at the complexity of creation, the sheer magnitude of God's power, and the inserutability of divine will. ‘The perspective of experience in this poem involves a sophisticated acknowledgment of what is unexplainable in the universe, presenting evil as the prime example of something that cannot be denied, but will not withstand facile explanation, either, The open awe of "The Tyger" contrasts with the ensy confidence, in “The Lamb," of a child's innocent faith in a benevolent universe, the Tyger, by William Binke 1, How des Blake’s philosophy differ from Christian belief? 2, Comment on, and explain the reason for, the rhythmic quality of the poem. 3. Explain the reference to ‘wings’ in stanza 2? 4, Why does the poet ask the question ‘Did he who made the lamb make thee?” 5, What is the reason for the large number of rhetorical questions? 6, Throughout the poem there are TWO overriding images, What are they? 7. Instanza 4, to what Is the creator compared? 8 Why do you think that the stars threw down their spears? 9. What is the difference between stanzas 1 and 6? Why is this an important difference? 10, What subjects other than the tiger itself, is the poet thinking of in this poem? 41, Why can we deseribe ‘The tiger’ asa very visual poem? Quote to substantiate your answer. 32, What happens in lines 17-187 13, Comment on the change from ‘could’ to ‘dare’ in stanzas 4 and 6,Qde to Autumn ~ John Keats (1795 - 1821) Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosoin-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with hitn how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run; To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells, With a sweet kernel; to set bu more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, ‘Until they think warm days will never cease; For summer has o'erbrimm'd their clammy cells. Who hath not seen thee oft atnid thy store? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind: Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook Spares the next swath and ali its twine’ d flowers: And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep Steady thy laden head across a brook; Or by a cider-press, with patient look, Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours, Where are the songs of Spring? Aye, where are they? ‘Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, While barre’ d clouds bloom the soft-dying day ‘And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn ‘Among the river-sallows, borne aloft Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies: ‘And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; Hedge-crickets sing, and now with treble soft The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft: ‘And gathering swallows twitter in the skies,Keals's speaker opens his first stanza by addressing Autumn, describing its abundance and its intimacy with the sun, with whom Autumn ripens fits and eauses the late flowers to bloom. Inthe second stanza, the speaker describes the figure of Autumn asa female goddess, often seen sitting on the granary floor, her hair “soft-ied!” by the wind, and often seen sleeping in the fields or watching. a cider-press squeezing the juice fiom apples, In the third stanza, the speaker fells Autumn not to wonder where the songs of spring have gone, bot instead to Tisten to her own music, At twilight, the “small gnats" hum above the shallows of the river, Fited and cropped by the wind, and "ill-grown tombs" blest from the fll, crickets sing, roblus whistle from the garden, and swallows, gathering for their coming migration, sing from the skies, Form “To Autumn" is written in a three-stanza structuro with « variable shyme scheme, Each stanza is eleven lines fong, an each is metered in relatively precise fembfe pentameter. i terms of both thematic organization and rhyme scheme, ench stanza is divided roughly into two pats, In each stanza, the first partis male up of the ficst four tines ofthe stanza, and the second partis made up ofthe fast seven lines. The first part of exch stanza follows an ABAB rhyme seheme, the Hirst line shying with the thd, and the second line rhyrming with the out, The second part of each stanza is fonger and varies in viyme scheme: The fist stanza is seranged ‘CDEDCCE, and the second and thitd stanzas are arranged CDECDDE, (Thematcally, th frst part of each stanza serves to define the subject ofthe stanza, and the second pat offs room for musing, development, and speetation on that subject; howover, this thomati division is only very general.) Commentary, |n both its form and deseriptive swefaco, "To Autumn" is one of tho simplest of Keats's odes. There is nothing ‘confusing or complex in Keats's paean (tribute) to the season of autor, with its futtulnes, its lowers, anc the soug of ts swallows gathering for migration, The extraordinary achievement ofthis poom lies in its abi to suggest, explore, and develop a rich abundance of themes without ever rafting its calm, gente, ancl tovely description of autuinn, "To Auturnn" is concemed with the much quieter activity of delly observation and appreciation and themes of full aid beautiful expression, ‘Thespeaker pays homage to a partioular goddess ~ in this case, the delfied season of Autumn. ‘The selection of {his season implicitly takes up themes of temporality, mortality, end change: Autumn in Keats's ode is atime of warmth and plenty, but its perched on the brink of winte’s desolation, as the bees enjoy "later flowers," the itvest is gathered from the fields, the lambs of spring ate now "ll grown," and, in the final tine ofthe poet, the swallows gather for their winter migration, The understated sense of inevitable Foss in that final fine inakes it one of the most moving nmoments in all of poetry; it ean be read asa simple, uneomplaining summation ofthe entire human condition, Despite the coming chill of wintor, the late warmth of antumn provides Keats's speaker with ample beauty to celebrate: the cottage and its surroundings inthe fst stanza, the agrarian haunts of the godess inthe second, and the loceles of natural creatures inthe thitd, Keats's speaker is able to experience these beauties in a sineore andl meaningful way: He is no longer indolent, no longer committed to the isolated imagination, no longer attempting to escape the pain of the world through ecstatic rapture, no longer frustrated by the attempt (© cteanalize mortal beauty or subject eternal beauly to time (as in "Grecian Un), and no longer able to frame the connection of pleasure an the sorrow of loss only as an imaginary heroie quest) In "To Autumn," the speaker's experience of beauty refers back to earlior Keats otlos and if also recalls a ‘wealth of ealier poems. Most importantly, the image of Autumn winnoving and harvesting (in sequence of «ces often explicitly about creativity) recalls an earlier Keats poem in which the activity of harvesting is am explicit metaphor fr artistic creation. In his sonnet "When Ihave fears that I may cease to be," Keats makes this eonneetion directly.To Autunm, by Son Kents L. Keats describes Autunin with a seties of specific, concrete, vivid visual images, whore Autumn's ripening continues to an almost unbearable intensity. Find the verbs that indicate this overloading of fulfilment. What connotations does the word ‘ctammy" have? What is the effect of this on the reader? Identify some of the recurring sounds in this stanza. Rend them aloud, if necessary, and listen to the effects of them, How do they contribute to the stanza? STANZA2 4, How do the descriptions of the personified Autumn differ from those in the frst stanza? List the descriptions and then try to make a general comment. What do the above descriptions suggest about the development of this season? 6, Speak the Inst line of this stanza aloud, and listen to the pace. Is Keats using the sound of words to reinforce and/or parallel the meaning of the line? 7, Does the personification of Autumn as a reaper with a scythe, suggest another kind of reaper (the Grim Reaper)? Does this then suggest stopping, dying or death in this stanza? STANZA 8, Spring is mentioned here, ‘two other seasons? 9. How does Spring, as mentioned in this stanza, contrast with Autumn? 10. What isthe answer to the question; “Where are the songs of Spring? 11, In tine 3, how is the day described? How does this micror the idea of the season? 12, Select some of the descriptions of the day and the animals, Are these positive or negative? ‘Tabulate your selections to show whether they are positive or negative. 13, Inline 8, Keats writes of full-grown lambs. Why would he choose to use the word lamb? as ‘opposed to the word ‘sheop"? What is the effect of this on the reader? 14, Tn this stonza, Keats blends living and dying, and pleasant with unpleasant, Why has he done this? How doos this add to the overall meaning anc! impression of the poem? is Summer in stanza 1, What is the purpose of mentSonnet 14: If thou must love me, let be for nought By Elizabeth Barrett Browning If thou must love me, let it be for nought Except for love's sake only. Do not say | love hor for her smile ... her look ... her way Of speaking gently, ... for a trick of thought That falls in well with mine, and certes brought A sense of pleasant ease on such a day— For these things in themselves, Belovéd, may Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought, May be unwrought so, Neither love me for Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,— A creature might forget to weep, who bore Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby! But love me for love's sake, that evermore ‘Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity. Analysis: Elizabeth Barrett Browning did not tile the forty-four individual poems in the Sonnets from the Portuguese; however, {he first phrase of the first line of Sonnet 14, “If thou must love me,” serves as a kind of ile. As such, it Indleates Immediately that the sonnet will be framed as an argument, using an “ithen" structure, Moroover, the word "must" hints that the poam will be more complex than a straightforward question about whether the lover being addressed Indoed loves the poom's speaker. ‘The sonnel begins with the poot talking directly to her lover. She says to him that if he must love her, he should love her only for the sake of love and for no other reason, She says “oniy’ to emphasize that feoling to tae utmost. She ‘says not to love her for the cheer of her smile, nor for beauty or the singular nature of her countenance. He should ‘not love het for her voiee or for what she says, nor for a special frame of mind that “falls In well” with his, Do not love Ime for any of these reasons, she tells him, because they could all change ovar time—or his perceptions of them ‘could change—and the love they have may therefore wither. She adds, do not lave her because she needs 10 be loved end relies on the comfort and support he provides her, She says, love her for “love's sake.” Love her because of love and because of the eternal quality of ove on earth Taken out of the context of the other sonnets in Sonnets from the Portuguese, the Kiea of loving for only the idea of love itself seems to be confusingly circular. Yet the reader does come away with a slong sense of the foar of loss. that underlies the poem. Barrett Browning married the dashing but somewhat footloose Robert Browning in 1846: for doing £0, het father disowned her—for the rest of his life, he would not even communicate with his daughter Furthermore, her brother had died in a boating accident in 1840. Its understandable that sho would yearn for permanence and would worry about the loss of Browning's love after the losses and separations in her life.‘Thomes and Meanings: ‘The main theme of Sonnet 44 is the sternal nature of love. Its not eternal, says the poet, if one lover loves the other for earthly, tamporal reasons. These reasons she details in lines 3-12. Earthly reasons fade, as do human beings. Love itsolf does not fado and die, she states. Therefore, her lover should love her, ithe must love her, for the seke of love only. ‘Accrucial distinction here is the word “must.” It's this word that casts the poom in the direction it ascende—toward “eternity.” For example, if the poom had begun “If thou love me," one would find a different theme allogether. The oom would be about whether the lover tuly loves. His love would be called into question, no dou, even before the post were to plead for a certaln Kind of love, “Musi,” however, implies that the lover already loves the poet but that he does not have to. The “must” also suggests a different kind of vulnerability on the poet's part, Fate has a role here: she recognizes that if her lover “must” love her, its fated in the manner of a “must,” then she wants him to love her for “love's sake only.” Sho wants tho love tobe lifted cut ofthe reaim of human passion into the realm of eternal, heavenly passion. One thinks of the ending of the Sonnets from the Portuguese’s most famnot's poem, number 43 ("How do | love thee? Let me count the ways") that ends, I shall bul beter ove thee after death.” The post sees that if he must ove her, it must be a love of eternal power, This energy, then, becomes the power on which the love rests and through which it exists. To say tha least, Barrett Browning has high expectations of her love. If she loses the love, she wants to lose for no less a reason than that the love could not attend to itself on its own course, It would fall because the lovers loved for less than ideal reasons— that is, for earthly and temporal reasons, Forms and Devices: ‘What comes to mind immediately when reading Sonnet 14, “lf thou must love me," is the point of view. Sonnets are traditionally given to a perspective of the poet addressing another person, a "you." The polnt of view is first-person singular, but its direction Is entirely pointed at the other person—in this case, as in many, a lover. The reader is loft ‘out; that f, tho speaker does nol speak for the reader's emotions in particular, nor doos the reader, in particular, feel something in common with the "you.” Instead, one watches the psychological and emotional action unfold as one ‘would watch a drama unfold, In Sonnets from the Portuguese, the drama is contained in a series or a sequence of sonnets that tells of the relationship between a man and a woman from the woman's point of view. Sonnet sequences had traditionally been writen by men, who placed thelr beloveds on a pedestal. The sonnets wilten by fourteenth century Italian post Petrarch to Laura epitomize those works. Here the situation is reversed, and a reading of the entire sequence allows the reader to consider this isstue more fully. The point of view Is one to another, woman to man—and the reader Is simply the audience, watching. The effect is to present the actors in thelr emotional pitches. ‘The principal device of the poem is the contrast between reasons people fallin love, stay in love, or fall out of love with the ulmost reason for being in love—tove itself, Barrett Browning arranges the poem in a structure that ‘emphasizes this contrast, For example, the poem's frame fs marked by the repelition of the phrase, "for love's sake.” When ono reads the phrase the second time, in the penultimate line of the poem, itis backed up by the argument Barrell Browning has made to her fover—an argument thal readers have bought into by virtue of their role in the audience. The argument i, in a nutsholl, that earthiy desires for such things as beauly and lack of conflict should not override the eternal nature of love, She pleads with her lover to tove her because love Is elernal-—hence, their love will be eternalMy Secret ~ Christina Rossetti (1830 - 1894) T tell my secret? No indeed, not T: Perhaps some day, who knows? But not today: it froze, and blows and snows, And you're too curious: fiel You want to hear it? well Only ny secret's mine, and I won't tell Or, af ter all, perhaps there's none: ‘Suppose there is no secret after all, But only Just my fur Today's a nipping day, « biting day; Tnwhich one wants a shawl, A veil, a cloak, and other wraps: T cannot ope to everyone who taps, And fet the dreughts come whistling thro" my hall; Come bounding and surrounding me, | Come buffeting, astounding me, Nipping and clipping thro" my wraps and all, Tweor my mask for warmth: who ever shows His nose to Russian snows To be pecked at by every wind that blows? You would not peck? I thank you for good will, Believe, but leave the truth untested still, Spring's an expansive time: yet I don't trust ‘March with its peck of cust, Nov April with its reinbow-crovned brief showers Nor even May, whose flowers One frost may wither thro” the sunless hours, ‘When drowsy birds sing less and less, ‘And golden fruit is ripening to excess, Tf there's not too much sun nor too much cloud, ‘Ard the warm wind is neither still nor foud, | Perhaps iny secret I may say, | Op you may guess, Perhaps some languid summer day, | |‘The Poot Christina Geor (5 December 1830 ~ 29 December 1894) was an English poet who wrote a variely of romantic, devotional, and childen's poems, She is perhaps best known for her long poem Goblin Market, her love poem Remenrber, and for the words of the Christmas carol Jn the Bleak Midwinter, Although Rossett's populaety during her lifetime did not approach that of Blizabeth Barrett Browning, her standing remained strong after her death. tn the early 20th century Rosseti's popularity faded in the wake of Modemism, Scholars began to explore Freudian themes in her work, sch as religious and sexual repression, reaching for personal, biographical interpretations of her poetry. In the 1970s academies began to critique her work again, looking beyond the lyrical Romantic sweetness {o her mastery of prosody and versification, Feminists held her as symbol of constrained female genius, placed as a leader of 19th century poets. Hor work strongly influenced the work of such writers as Ford Madox Ford, Virginia Woolf, Geratel Manley Hopkins, Elizabeth Jennings, and Philip Larkin, Summary Rossetti simply creates a teasing, playful, and even sensual poem describing the enjoyment of keeping secreis, The regular structure of them poem adds fo this playfulness, while her word choice veil, mask, shavwl,eloak'") simply add fo the secrecy and then fun Ori you are looking for a possible double or hidden meaning: Pregnancy is the interpretation I think works best, She does not want people to know she is prognant, but in the Summer, she will not be able to hide her pregnaney because she'll have & large stomach and she will give birth, So in the Summer the reader will probably find out.4 Rossett! ‘Track the rhyme scheme of this poem. a. Can you find any interesting patterns? b. How does the rhyme scheme and the general structure of the poem fink to the light- hearted atmosphere of the pocm? Your notes make mention of ‘prosody’, ‘a. What is ‘prosody'? Find and explain instances where the rhythm (make sure you inelwle assonance and infernal thyme in this answer) contribute to the poems aimosphere. Find evidence in the poom that suggests that the speaker does no altogether trust the listener Ged). Look closely at stanza 2, a. Explain the extended metaphor and its offectivencss, b. Comment on the use of verbs to add to this metaphor.Dover Beach - Matthew Arnold (1822 ~ 1888) ‘The sea is calm to-night, The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; ~on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering ond vast, out in the tranquil bay. Cote to the window, sweet is the night-cairt Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd land, Listenl you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in, ‘Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Azgcean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery: we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea, ‘The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd, But now T only hear Tis melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear ‘And naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be true. ‘To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; ‘And we are here as on a daring plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by right.‘Swomary ‘The P stanza opens with the desoription of nightly scene a the seaside ‘The speaker calls his addressee to the window, fo share the visual beauty of the scene, and the aural experience, which is somehow loss beautifi, He then projects his feelings of melancholy onto the sound of "pebbles" causing "sadness" in him, "The 2nd stanza introduces contrast with the Greek author Sophocles idea of the turbid ebb and love of taumau nisery*, mold reconnect this dea tothe preset as although there Isa distance in time an space (*Acgean" —*norther sea") this general feling prevails, Inthe 3" stanza the sca is tuened int the "Sea of Faith’, » metaphor for a time (fiddle Ages) witen religion could still be experienced without the doubt that the modern (Victorian) age brought about throngh Danvinism, the Industrial revolution, Impetialism and a crisis in religion, Amold illystrates this by using an image of elothes ~ when religion was stil intact, the world was dressed ("like the folds ofa bright girdle Furled) but now that this faith is gone, the world lies “inked” and bleak. ‘The 4° staaiza begins with a dramatic pledge by the speaker asking his love to be "tre" meaning faithfa, to him as this world docs not contain any basic human values, leaving hnmanity in darkness. ‘Commentan Arnold begins with a naturalist and detailed nightscape of the beach at Dover in which auditory imagery plays a significant role (*Listen! you hear the grating rom”). The beach, however, is bare, with only a hint of ‘humanity in a ight that "gleams and is gone". Reflecting the tational notion thatthe poem was written during Amold's honeymoon, one crite notes that the speaker might be talking (ois brie, Atmold fooks at two aspects of this naturalistic scene, is soundscape (1* and 2% stanza) and the retreating, actions ofthe tide 63" stenza). Arnold heats the sound of the sea as "the eternal note of sadness". Sophocles, a Sth century BC Greek playwright who wrote tragedies of fate anc the will of the gods, also heavd this same sound a he stood upon the shore of the Aegean Sea, Perhaps Sophocles (Classical age of Greece) interprots the “note of sadness” humnanisticaily, white Amol In the focustial nineteenth century hears in this sound the retreat of religion and faith, As both are writers, Sophooles the tragedian and Arnold the lyric poet, are each attempting throngh words fo transform this ote of sudness info “a higher order of experience” Having examined the soundseape, Amiold turns (o the aetion of the tide self and sees in its retreat a metaphor for he loss of faith in the modern age, once agnin expressed in an auditory image "But now | only hearts melancholy, long, withdrawing roar"), The 3" stanza begins with an image not of sadness, but of “joyous fulness" simile in benuty tothe image with which the poem opens, The 4"/final stanza begins with an appeal to love, then moves on to the famous ending metaphor. Crities have varied on their interpretation of the fist {ovo fines ofthis stanzas one calls them a "perfunctory gestue...swvallowed wp by tho poem's powerfully dark picture", while another sees in them "a stand against a world of broken fait. Midway between these i the interpretation of one of Arnold's biographers who deseribes being "twie/To one another" as "a preentious. notion’ in a world that has become "a maze of confsion', ‘The simile with which tho poem ends is most likely ‘an allusion fo passage in Thueyeiides' account ofthe Battle of Epipolee. This final intage has, also, been variously interpreted by the critics. The "darkling plain’ of the final fine has been described as Arnold's “central statement" of the fan condition, A more recent extic has seen the fiat line as “only metaphor" and, thus, susceptible to the “uncertainty” of poetic langtags, The poem's discourse," Honan tell us, "shifts literally and synnbolically from the present, fo Sophootes on the Aegean, from Medieval Europe back to the present — and the auditory and vista! iniages are dramatic ant iimetio. Exploring the dark terror tat lies bencath his happiness in Joyo, the speaker resolves to love — and exigencies of history and the nexus between fovers are the poems real issues, Tht lovers may be tue/Fo one another isa precarious notion: love in the modern city momentarily gives pence, bat nothing else in a post- medieval society reffects or confi the faithfulness of lovers. Devoid of love and fight the world is a maze ‘of confusion left by retreating! faith.”Cities have questioned the unity ofthe poem, noting that the sea of the opening stanza does not appeat in the final starz while the “darkling plain ofthe final line is not apparent inthe opening. Various solutions to this problem heve been proffered. One ertie savy the *darkting plain" with which the poem ond 1s comparable to the "naked shingles ofthe world." While another found the paein “emotionally com coven ifits logic may be questionable, The same critic notes that "the poem upends our expectations of metaphor" and sees in this the central power ofthe poem. The poen's historleism creates another complicating séynatni. Beginning in the present if shifts fo the classical age of Greece, then (with ils concerns for the sea of ‘ith) it turns to Medieval Burope, before finally retuming (othe present The Form of the poem itself has raven considerable comment, Cries have noted the careful diotion inthe opening description, the overall spellbinding rhythm and cadence ofthe poem and the dramatie charncter of the poem, One commentator secs the stropke-antistrophe of the ode at work in the poem, with an ending that contains something of the “cat srophe" of tragedy. Finally, one eric sees the complexity of the poem's structure resulting in "the frst major "iree-verse! poem in the language", Eom "Dover Beach" consists of four stanzas, each containing a variable number of verses, ‘The 1° stanza has 14 fines, the 2” has 6 and the 3° has 8 (which fotals 14), and the 4" has 9, As for the metrical scheme, there is no apparent rhyme scheme, but rather a fee handling of the baste iambic pattern, In staza 3 there ist series of open vowels ("ls melancholy, ong, withdrawing roar (25). A generally fling syntactical rhythin can be detected ancl continues into stanza 4. In this last stanza one enn find seven lines of lambie pentameter (1. 31 37), with the rhyme scheme of abbacddee, According to Ruth Pitman, this poem cen be seen as series of incomplete somes", ‘The frst two sections each consist of 14 ines that suggest but do uot achieve strict sonnet form, and except fora short (three foot) opening line, the last section emulates the octave of @ sonnet, but closes with a single, climactic Hine instead of a sestet — as though the final five lines had been eroded. In the 1" stanza the rhythm ofthe poem imitates the “movement of the tide’ (1, 9-14). "Dover Beach’ is a melancholic poot, Arnold projects the human feeling of sadness onto an inanimnte objec; the sea; eveating « feeling of'pathos'. The veader can feel syrapathy for the suffering Iyrical self, who suffers under the existing, contitions. Hs also uses a lot of adjectives to emich the poem's language, such as "trennulous cadence” (1. 13) and “eternal note of sadness® (1,14) which help to inerease the general melancholic feeling ofthe poem, ‘The vepetition of "is" in fines | ~ 4 Is use! to iustate the nightly seaside scenery which fends up to-an ‘eventual climax with “the fight gleams and is gone” leaving nothing but darkness behind, Ina metaphorical sense of the word, not only the “light” is gone, but also certainty. "The repetition of “neither underlines a seris of denials. Al these are basic human values, IPnone of these do try exist, What remains at all, Arnold draws a very bleak and nihilistic view of the world he lives in, ‘we question Exolamations are used at various points with quite opposite effects In stanza {, Amotd displays an outwardly bautfal nightly seaside scenery, when the lyrical sef calls his love to the window (*Come. « 1" (1.6) to shave with him the serenity of the evening, First she is asked to pay attention to the visu, then to the aural impression (*Listen!* (1.9). In stenza 4, hiowever, ater he has related his general disilusionment with the world, he pledges for his fove to be faithful (true) fo him, “Ah, lovo, fet us be true/To one another!) A simile in stanza 3 ("ike the folds ofa bright gitdle farted (I 13)) contrasts with "Vast edges dread/And naked shingles ofthe world.” (127-28). Throughout the poem, the sea is used as an image andl a metaphor. AL frat fs beautfl fo Look at inthe moonlight (L 1-8), then it begins to make hostile sounds (“grating roar” (1.9); "tvemulous cadence” (1. 13)) that evoke a general feeling of sadness. In stanza 3, the sea is turned info a metaphoric "Sea of Faith (I,2t) —a symbol fora timo when roligion could still be experienced without the doubts brought about by progress and selence (Danwinksin), Nowy, the Sea of Faith ard thus the. certainty of religion withdraw itself from the human grasp aud leaves ouly darkness behind,Questions: Dover Beach, by Matthew Arnold 4. The sea is calm to-night, ‘The tide full, the moon les falt Upon the strats; on the French coast the light GGleams ands gone; the clfs of England stands; ‘Gimmering and vast, eu in the tranqul bay, Uist FOUR consecutive words which tell you that it a high tide at the time of welting this oom. (1) b. The word ‘strait’ means: 1. Asea that hasino curves fi, Anistand TH, Achannel of sea between two land masses Iv. Appoint of high land jutting out into the sea a What was the light on the French coast which ‘gleams and Is gone’? (2) By what name are these cliffs of England commonly known? (2) €. Give one word from the poem (other than calm) which tells you that the sea was very calm. that might. (2) 2, Come to the window, sweet the nlght-arl Only, from the fong line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, a, What Is meant by ‘moon-blanched land"? (2) . Ust FOUR consecutive words which tell you that the poet was probably not standing outside In tho open. (2) 3. Usten! you hear the grating roar COfpebbles which the waves draw back, and fing, At thelr return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, ‘With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in, a. Whats the ‘strand’? (2) Using words found inthe tines above, deserbe what type of texture this ‘strane? Is. (2) Explain in your own words the meaning of ‘with tremulous cadence slow. (2) 4, Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Aegean, and It brought Into his mind the turbid eb and flow Of human misery; we Fing also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea, a. Whowas Sophocles? What was his relationship with the Aegean? (2) b, The word ‘turbi? in this stanza means: 1. ‘Thick, dork oF murky i. Bright8 li, Cold ond miserable Iv. Rough waves ‘chat is ‘ebb and flow? The Sea of Faith Was once, too, et the full, ancl round earth's shore. Lay ike the folds of a bright glrdle furled. But nowt only hear ‘2. What figure of speech isthe poet using when he says the ‘Sea of Faith wos once, too, at the full”? Explain. (4) bo. What figure of speech isthe poet using when he says that the Sea of Faith lay ‘Ike the folds, of abright girdle furl'd’? What is being compared to what? (4) Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreatlng, to the breath Of the night-wine, down the vast edges drear ‘And naked shingles of the world. a, The word ‘melancholy’ means: 1. Overwhelming happiness fi. Subifation. Agreat sadness Wy. Very depressed »b, Ust TWO words which tell you that the author belfoves religion s having a smaller ancl smaller impact on modern society. (2) Ah, fove, et us be true Toone another! for the world, which seems Tolie before uslike a land of dreams, Sovarious, so beoutiful, so new, Hath really nelther Joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; ‘And we are here as on a darkling pln ‘Swept with confused alarms of strugele and flght, Where fgnorant armies clash by night. ‘a. The poet appears to be referring to a war. What words suggest this? (2) bb. What war would the poet be referring to? Why does poet suggest that the world ‘hath really neither Joy, nor love, nor ight, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pan’? (4) Explain the theme of each stanza, using no more than 8 words, (2x4)La Figlia Che Plange* ~ T. “The gi wi ‘The git! who weeps o a O quam te memorem virgo. Eliot (1888 ‘The literal translation of "0 quam te memorem, Virgo", @ quotation from Virail, Aeneld, 1, 326, where Aeneas addresses his mother this wayVenus who however had appeared to him disguised as a Carthaginian huntress s0 that he does not recognize her, though he thinks she Is a goddess: ee Virgin! or what other name you bbear...”( John Dryden). Stand on the highest pavement of the stair ~ Lean on a garden urn ~ Qo Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair ~ Closp your flowers to you with a pained surprise ~ GiBrem te the round nd tw Withe gue resentment nyo ose But weave, weave the surlight in your hain, SoFWould have had him leave, Oo Son ink So he would have left ‘As the soul leaves the body torn and bruised, 4s the mind deserts the body it has used, should find ‘Some way incomparably light and deft, Some way we both should understand, ‘Simple and faithless as a smile ond a shake of the hand. ‘She tuned away, but with the autumn weather Compelied my imagination many days, Mony days and many hours: Her hei over her aris and hen arms full of flower, ‘And T wonder hott they should have been together! Lhould have lost a gesture and a pose, Sometinies these cogltations still amaze The troubled midnight, and the noon’s repose. www. youltube.com/watch?v=0KIS2RJOM-o (T.S, Eliot reads this poem) Tho Poot ‘Thomas Steamns Eliot was born in St Louis, Missouri, In 1888, He attended Harvard! University and graduated with a Masters’ degree in Philosophy. While there, he published several poems in the Harvard Advocate. The Post left tte United Slates in 1910, moving frst to France, then Germany and finally London. He married iene Haigh-Wood in 1915, which caused him to sete peimanently in England. His marriage was never suecessful, howover, andl they soparated in 1933. In 1956 he would remarry, this time to Valerie Fletcher, Eauly during his stay in London, Fit fell wader the influence of Bzra Pourid ~ the great American poot ~ who also assisted inthe publication of his early poetry. ‘The publication of his first book of poetiy ~ Pruftack anc! Other Observations, 1917 — revealed Bliot as 8 forertmmer of Modernism, the philosophy of Modern Art, His nox! book ~ The Waste Land, 1922 ~ is claimed bby many to contain some of the most important poctry of the 20th century. Bliot Was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948, He died in London in 1965,“La Piglia Che Piange” (“young git! weeping") is the final poem in T'S, Eliot's Praftock and Other Observations (1917), This short (24-line) poem describes 4 lovers parting, but its speaker plays a curious dual role, He not only deseribes his lover and the feelings aroused by remembering her, but also directs her-- 8 he would an acteess in a film, Commentary, ‘The mood of the first stanza is not indicative but imperative, and the first five fines all begin with strong comands: Stand; Lean; Weave; Clap; Fling, The man wio gives these instructions fs postayed as one part embittered lover, one pet fastidious asstete: ‘The speaker appeas to have initiated the break with his lover (hence her *resentient*), and yet also to be dubious about the depth of her pain at their parting (hence the initated qualification "fupitive"), but all ofthis emotional content is susorinated, in the first staza, tothe goal of creating an aestheticized impression. This song-like stanza is itself, atleast superficially, the most aesthetically pleasing inthe pocm. lis metrical vatation is less wild than that of the other to: iti divisible ito tw three-tine sections in which a thce-foot {ine is embraced by two longer lines (approximately 5-3-4 5-3-5; 4). ‘Phe thyme scheme ofthe first six lines hes already by rhyming meter inthe (ABA CRC) matelios this enabraced structure, whife the blfad-tike refinin in the last line -- whi appeared in fine thre, ad which disappeats forthe rest ofthe poem — links the stanza together ‘with the frst end-vvord (*stae"), And the reader is prepared for this refrain by the last four lines, cach of whch contains anapostc substittion, 5, I the first stanza aims to make art out ofthe lady who isthe subject of the poem, the second is oriented {ownrd its speaker, who now performs a striking act of selfduplication, Much as J. Alfred Pruftock seems to divide bis conscfousness into “you and I" in the first poem of this volume, the speaker nove splits himself into an #1 who narrates the Farewell scene and a “hiny" who participates init. Through thés manipulation of pronouns, he seems to be continuing the struggle to achieve control over an emotionally charged situation: ‘The struggle mastery is evident not only through the pronominal “spitting" deseribed above, but algo in the ‘compulsive repetition of this stanza, in which almost every fine i Hinked to another (or to two others) through the use of the same syntax and initial word, ‘The two exceptions fo this rule of inital repetition ace significant. The firs, line 13 ("should find"), isthe shortest line in the poem, and rhymes only internally with *mind® inline 12, These differences mati an {important shif, sineo i isin this fine that the thid-person “hin gives way fo an "I" svho is both speaker ancl actor. In the same breath, the "would? ofthe fist tee fines a conditional indicating volition and the hypothetical ~ gives way to "should." With this new modal, the setting shits fromthe past and imagined to I: “should” refers to an obligation felt by a speaker deliberating on how to actin an unfolding situation ~ even if his deliberation is not genuine. We learn that he is being satcestic in the buildup (0 the second non-repetitive line (line 16, ‘Simple and fatness") In this final aloxandtine, the meter swells along with the emotion and the speaker gives vent (othe iitation whch he has so fur ried fo contain, ‘The third stanza shifts to the past indicative, the Cense and mood used to desoribe a remembered event; seems clear that the speaker remembers his former lover notin auy of the formal poses 3 Hinging ~ and not in the handshake he suggests At this point, prescribed inthe frst stanza ~ standing, leaning, clasping, 4s a leave-taking ceremony in stanza two, He remembers, instead, her turn away from hime a simple gesture, indicative of pain for which he may be responsible, Its a gesture, at any rat, that he relives in memory with a self-punishing persistence mimicked by the repettiveness of his verse (*.. may days / Many days and manyhours"). The speaker's regret climaxes in the alexancline in the center of the stanza ("And I wonder how they should have been together ‘This fine also veintroduces the removed, third-person perspective, and inthe process marks the final (wen of. {his remarkable poem, Inthe last thiee lines ofthe stanza, in which the verse finelly settles down into regular inmbie pentameter, the speaker not only regains poetio contro}; he expresses the ultimate in pute poet sentiment gratitude for the loss of love that has enabled his verse, Arlfice and distance win out over “genuine” emotion here: iis surely significant that the last Hine ofthe poem, and of this ently volume so memorable for its creation of masks, hiymes on "pose." ‘The poom's ttle also hints that its emotfonal content is more constructed than Yexpressec." This is a poom about a nonexistent (or at Jeast an unseen) subject This helps to explain the poem's epigraph: an adress to-a inystery lady (rom Aeneas's greeting of Venus disguised as a hunttess inthe Aeneid), which translates, "Maiden, by what name shall I address you?" By presenting his poem as en ekphrasis for an artwork he had never seen, Blot suggests the importance to his early pocty of being able to identify imaginatively with a fabricated mask. In this sense, "La Figlia Che Piange is « cramatic ilustration of his famous decfaration in "Tradition and! the Individual alent” that "pocty is nota turning loose of emotion, but an escape fo ‘emotion; its not the expresston of personality, but an escape: from personality.” ‘The fact that the sperker Eliot ‘uses to esenge from his personality isin this case also a poet, and a poet whe is only half capable of subjugating his feelings, underlines the importance ofthe second half of Eliot's statement: "But, of course, only those who have personality aud emotions know what it mcans to want fo escape fiom these things.” a uestlons: La Mighu Che Piange, 1. Stanza t: a) Account for the fitst word in every line of this stanza, b) Explnin why Elliot might have chosen to use the stutcture, rhytme scheme and rhythm that he does in this stanza, ©) Why is ‘weave' repeated four times? 4) Psychologically/emotionally speaking, what isthe speaker desperate for inthis statvza? 2. Stanza 2: a) Considering your answer to question Id), expl psychologicsl/emotional state now. bb) Is the tone the same as in statiza 1? Explain your answer, 3. Stanza 3: 4) How does ‘she turned away? differ from the gir! in stanzas 1822 b) Account for the repetition of ‘many’, ©) There isa sense of regret in the final 3 lines, Do you think this relates (0 the loss of love or the direction of the image (see stanza 1)? Explain your answer in detail, n the speaker'sPoem in October - Dylan Thomas (1914 ~ 1953) eas my thiteth year to heaven Woke to my hearing from harbour and neighbour wood ‘And the mussel pooted andthe heron Priested shore ‘The morning beckon ‘With water praying av all of seagall and rook And the knock of sailing boats on the net webbed wall, Myselfto set foot ‘Tot second Inthe stil sleeping town and set for, ‘My bithday began with the water- Bitds ond the birds ofthe winged trees fying my name Above te farms andthe white horses Al Lose nating autumn ‘And walked abroad in shower oF ll my days. igh tide andthe heron dived when Ifook the road (Over the border ‘And the gates ‘OF the town ctosed as the town avok. A spring of fark ina rolling ‘Cloud aad the rosdside bushes brimming with whistling Biackbinds nd the sun of October ‘Summery On the ills shoulder, Here were fond limatos and sweot singers sudden! Come in the morning wire I wandered and listened To the rain wringing ‘Wind blow cold Jn the wood fareway under me Polo rin over the dvindling harbour ‘And over the sea wet church the size of a sna ‘With ts rns theough mist and the castle Brown as owls But al the gardens ‘Of spring and summer were bioorning inthe tll tales Beyond the border and under tho lark fll loud, ‘There eould { marvel My birthday Avvay but the weather turned aroun Tetumned away from the blithe country ‘Anu down th otter air ad the blue altered sky ‘Streamed again a wonder of summer With apples Pears ond red eurcants ‘Ang 1 saw inthe turing s clearly a chiles Forgotten mornings when he walked with his mother “Through the parables Of sunlight Aad ho legends ofthe green chapelsAnd the twice fold fields of nfanoy ‘That his tears burned my cheeks and his heart moved in mine “These were the woods the river and sea ‘Where a boy Inthe listening Summertime ofthe dead whispered the truth of his joy ‘To the toes and the stones an! the fish in the tide, ‘And the mystery Smgative Sill in tho wer and singingbirds, ‘And there could I marvel my birthday Avvay but the wether turned around. And the fue ‘oy ofthe fone dead child sang burning Tn the san, tas my tht ‘Year to heavon stood there then in the simmer noon ‘Though the town belove lay leaved with October blond. ‘O may my heart's rath Still be sug (On this high hill in @ year's turning. vaww.youtube. com/watch?v=5SCom1CT}xQ (Dylan Thomas reads the poem) 1e Poot ‘A Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems, "Do rot go gentle into that good night", "And death shall have no dominion, the ‘play for volees', Under Milk Wood, and stories aud radio brondeasts such as Chile's Chutstmas in Wales and Portrait of the Artist ax @ Young, Dog. He became popular in his lifetime, and remained popular aftr his death; partly due to his larger than life characte, and his reputation for drinking to ‘excess, Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales int 1914, An undistinguished sttdent, he left seliool at 16, becomning a journalist fora short time. Although many of his works appeared in print while a teenager, it was the publieation of "Light breaks where no eun shines", published in 1934,that caught the attention ofthe Iiterary world, While living in London, Thomas met Caittin Macnamara whom he martied in 1937. Their relationship wes defined by alcoiolism and was mutually destructive. ‘Thomas continued to drink, have aff, miss literary and theatre cngagements and died in New York after drinking atthe White Horse pub, ‘Summary, Dylan Thomas describes in great detail his thirtieth birthday, which he eetebrates in his hometown of Swansea, Wales, a small fishing village. He walks through the town very eatly’in the momning, while its other {nuabtants are stil asleep, heading forthe hill, He reflects on his Ife so far, marveling the nature around him and is content to stay there, on the hil, observing natare around him, taking joy inf, til the weather makes an abrupt change. Jn thet change, he seems fo relive monnents of his childhood, andl a great feeling of Joy surges through the poet, as the joys and mysteries of life seems to dance around him,Eom “The poem is nothing short of delightful. Thomas uses the syllable metre to grea effect, for although ther is tno specified number of stresses, the number of syllables per line is specified. Thus, the syllables in ezch line in each stanza run: 9,12,9,3,5,12,12,5,3,9. Due to this metre, the poem can only be read ata certain pace, the ‘words rolfing slong, thus giving the poem a flow and ease that, apart from the beauty it lends, create the feeling that the reador is altemately walking along with the poet though the town, swaying in the wind with the trees and streaming along with te other waves inthe tide, OF conse this fs not the only technique used by “Thomas in this poem, for we see agin the se of the compressed metaphor a common feature in his poetry. ‘Hore, the compressed metaphors enhance the effect created by the syllabic metre, fn that they aid the flow of the poem, ancl enrich i, by adding another layer of intricacy. uestions: Poem in October, by Dylan Thomas 1, How does the speaker’s description of his birthday (line 1) reflect his state of mind? 2. ‘This pome can be seen as a metaphor for a journey through life. In this regard, account for : a The references to the seasons in this poem . ‘Tho importance of religion and references to religious images and icons ¢. The relationships between humanity, nature and God ‘The use of shython and structure in this poem, 3, How do the final two stanzas contribute to the poet's metaphor of a journey through life? 44, Hove does the speakor feel about this place and its memories? Fxplain with reference (0 the entire poem, but ensure that you look carefully at the final fwo stanzas.The Cape of Storms - Thomas Pringle (1789. 834) © Cape of Storms! although thy front be dark, ‘And bleak thy naked cliffs and cheerless vales, ‘And perilous thy fierce and faithless gales ‘To staunchest mariner and stoutest bark; And though along thy coasts with grief I mark The servile and the slave, aind him who wails An exile's lot ~ and blush to hear thy tales Of sin and sorrow and oppression stark: ~ Yet, spite of physical and moral il, And after all T've seen and suffered here, There are strong links that bind me to thee still, And render even thy rocks and deserts dear’ Here dwell kind hearts which time nor place can chill - Loved Kindred and congenial Friends sincere. Tho oot “Thomas Pringle was born in Scotland in 1789, He sustained a hip injury as a result of being accidentally dropped by his nanny when he was three months ola. Consequently, ite had to tse crutches al his life because he dil not receive medical care in tiie, The injury’ ateant that Pringle could not follow the family tradition of | farming, so his father sent him to Kelso Grannae School and Edinburg University, He became interested in waiting, leaying Edinburg without obtaining a degree, Pringle fmmnigeated to South AtGica with his family in 1820, He opened schoo! with fellow Scot, Sohn Faitbaim, and established two newspapers, the South African Journal and the South African Commerelal Advertiser. The publications wore plagued by censorship from the government forcing Pringle to resign, He contined to write everyday and his poetey was being published and reeciving rave reviews asthe fist poet fiom South A Atea to write in Bnglish, Ultimately Pringle left South Aftien due tothe hersh conditions, He retuned to Scotland! where he died of tubercutosts in 1834, at thoage of 45. Su Pringle uses this sonnet to zefleot on is tine in the Cape of Storms. The frst line “O.. introduces his concem and apprehension o the harsh and unknown landscape (‘dev bleak “periios, “fierce ethless") and the mis af people (‘serve “slave, exile") who live in this place of “oppression”, This aititue changes as he becomes familiar withthe teitory“vocks and deserts dear” and kind hears” of the people who become his “Loved Kindred and congenial Friends sincere.” Form ‘This Petrarchan sonnet uses an ABBA ABBA CDC DCD rhyme scheme, The first 8 fines build through “And...” the danger and wildness of the Cape, The 2 quatains (oetet) end with a colon, dash “:—* which prepares the reader for the contrast in tho 2 tercets(sestet) introchiced by “Yet...” which alerts the reader to the change in experience and altitude of Pringle in the Capeuestions: The Cape of Storms, by Thomas Pringle 1. Explain the apostrophe in this poem. Why might it be an appropriate figure of speech in this poem? 2, Draw a table with tv9 columns, In one cofumn, record the descriptions of the landscape, In the other column, record descriptions of the people, Account for your findings, 3. Onyour poem, highlight in ane colour all the negative aspects, and in another colour, all the positive ones. Can you find any significant pattern? 4, Explain how the structure of this sonnet supports its meaning,The Herb Garden - Stephen Gray (1941 ‘My mother before she died insisted T should have a herb garden Something in her English soul ‘Atnid rough South Africans Called for thélf@hdethesSof mint ‘The old scent of lavender and sage ‘They arrived in soggy pages of The Star With a spade taller than herself She dug thei into my backya Before I was ready for tee Accigarette tightly inher lips Explaining chives made life worthwhile That Is how she died in her own Garden of sweet remembrance Very frail then with a bucket and spade The size we children used for play Alweys finding the sun too hot the soil Far too dry for the gentler herbs Today after shelgher stop dale My mother’s bed of lost spices Hes so flourished F have cut it back And the inint is in the crevices of fingers ‘The sage under my very nails And I remember her every gesture,‘The Poot ‘A South Afticon writer and critic bom in Cape Town in 1941, He studied at the University of Cape Town, ‘Cambridge University, England, and the University of fowa, USA. Until 1992 he was Professor of English at the Rand A fikaans University in Johannesburg. Gray is prolif poet and has published eight novels, Reeitrent themes inelide attitudes to homosexuality and the many rewritings of history in South Ati Inthe introdtction to his Selected Poemis Stephen Gray suggests that “love and apartheid” ave his "m preoccupations in poety." Is he serious? Love is one thing, but anyone actualy claiming aparthetd as his subject risks sheer banality or the mon in white coats! Swmmary, mother is from England and uses the scents (sense of smell) of England as a reminder of her “soul” as her body lives in “rough” South Africa, She is the foreign body/plant on this unfamitiar: cov Gi saaaied ole Ce eT make the (Ghia a HEHE work, bythe garden "oF veer emenbrance™ ors "Tourshed”™ comfort to the son left behind and the scents left under his “very naifs” help him “remember her covery gesture”, Eom Each stanza is 6 lines long and there isa range of about 7 f0 11 syllables per line. The run-on-lines help keep the pace and message simple, The first 2 stanzas deal with how the mother prepared the garifeny; the last 2 stanzas deal with her dying and memory.Questions: The Herb Garden, by Stephen Gray 1 2, 3. Quote the word in stanza 1 which contrasts with “rough” (line 4), What is the relevance of the contrast that these 2. words create? ) Deseribe the speakex’s mother using quotes, words to support your views, Q) Identify and explain the figure of speech in “heatt-stopping drought” (line 19). Q)PRESCRIBED POEMS FOR GRADE 1? RELEASE, FEBRUARY 1990 (LYNNE BRYER) He emeryad, welked free 1 looking tke an ordinary, sweet grandfather from the Eastern Cape: ‘hose lovely old men we children knew wore wise and sai, : 5 ‘walking down the streets in ancient sults, grealcoats. from the First World War. Wo alvaysgrected, an exchange both courteous and right. Grovin older, we salute Mandela, 10 ‘Not the bogeyman whose face, ‘was a forbidden sight (abroad, We looked in lbcaries); nor charismatic ‘warrior, giving tongue in blood and flame, The heavens di not fal 15 But thon, for days before, the mountain (struck by ightning) burned, the dark alive with crimson snakes ‘writhing on al, black elevation of the night Confirmation came 20 toss from our ayes, vatching the Images that flew about tho wont than from the way wo fll lated, cool, not doubting this was tuo, the destinad time and place ‘This is the way messlahs come— ‘when time can stand no more delay, ‘and people throng the streets, mill in the square, climb trees to see, Even the soldiers, Norvous inthe mob (sce they alone are armed, 30 ‘and 0 not fon) are part of the convergence, the dslocatd, sudden eaim of knowing: ‘his was th way it had tobe, THE ENGLISH EXPPRIENCE © THE EHGLIsH EXPERIENCE 2010 7 125a swousand sa 9810 UG 9 Spee ag sec RRR By “uaed 2m 0 0} fa pacts 5 ep SL sores a Gop me ped Son eu Semel HL <2 Chey fe og en see BEER OLE fay eS a YY RRS eae a in ws ese, on ea We URES aL Nl se uaa \eanpte 0 oat pam. auc pe asaduca Bao va ap enoy'sQ EEag Oue aed Pasay Saved nod ca un pote Susi cng estes Aaa ax SE SpUDN pm SASS shmsmyaitse ope) cou 98. Sepa HRPEB 68 4 0 .teves a PSC 0 3 "pease san ata Sao TB abs aed Ete So aS SRNR ea SNS Red SL ze @ Sn ae iad aa fen, sea oR a Ye eayteg seu be a0 Ns sea ase! oA BSS OUD woe bu Supieap sural, oa “umro y hrbwo asaas Sep Cup zB. 8a Een: ‘se eumny ogre fac iyanot xe ued ae soy ane sarap, eu Re, oa paRD om fo sta sae Lown a Keay arene sa $e FD SH SSE") LEB ST UR a SO a LNB eu Bua, ua aE wor, By a8 UMUC a UO Sl, Se rou mn ey patents epaw UN RUAYL Og SIRO aL omy Fase uta es Ao a REG aU Sen eR BED LS) ute uso,» sn. nema eaten, ag ts sen -ont 0 pw i pe sero oe kumuo wa ee it, RD Kos a prow os 9g woNat 2.5 op De HEME ou SHEAR UES a RT op stnas ppmeense sen on. ca causa Ve cag sa Sune Rep SERN 90 saa St es emaiovs pum Sere ea @ Bare Se ay. ow a Ue PT uomRoRt a. aap ass hep mp ub Us ay cos a parE Lon wemeNb BU pia oy, sa wea Uns 8 sm Wo ocak 26 fg matey ae ep aun 8g EOC UBT Sons UH.D teu pane inca Lou sen AB uma pay pede uete aE og a aR Co pag aU SISKIVNY@ aie ul 90920, sap wa AOL 6120) Sauron a vets aa AN | e Asa ass, 2 oH 8 H'e Se @ v2). mo uny sy, sare veges yg Ee eu Jean mene, po (1 a cmt, 2 9m 6 Rua es Rats 8 o _nokadins arn ay wets ys fn pe Bar Ssmine 8a, eg ales apes ap Dises son wRRURN La cronies, ne somes eg (a) eR sm 98 as SOP AN 40) oes, wag uray (gu poets, 5.0092have my father’s volce ~ Chris van Wyk (1957 When T walk into a room where my father has just been T fill the same spaces he did from the elbows on the table to the head thrown back ‘ond when we laugh we aim the gufFow at the same spaced in the air, Before anybody has told me this T know because I see myself through iy father's eyes. When I was a pigeon-toed boy my father used his voice to send me to bed ‘to run ond buy the newspaper to scribble my way through matric. He algo used his voice for harsher things: to bluster when we made a noise when the kitchen wasn't cleaned after supper when I was out too late, Late for work, on many mornings, one sock in hand, its twin ‘on angry glint in his eye he flings dirty clothes out of the washing box: vests, jeans, pants and shirts shouting anagrams of fee fo fi fum until he is up ‘o his knees in a stinking heap of laundry, Thave my father's voice too ‘and his fuming temper and I shout as he does, But I spew the words out in pairs of alliteration and an air of assonance, Everything a poet needs any father has bequeathed me except the words,Suumary ‘The speaker comments on his relationship with his father and his memories of growing up with Tow! and busy man. The characteristics he has “bequeathed” from his father are the inspiration for ideas and poems. All he has to do is put them into “words”, uestions: J have my fuher’s voice, by Cl Stanza 4 41, Look at the Images presented In stanza 1. How do they help the reader to understand the speaker's attitude towards is father? 2. Comment on the layers of meaning that can be applied to “Ifill the same spaces he dl’. 3. Explain the final two lines of this stanza, Stanza 2and 3 4, What is the effect ofthe boy being ‘pigeon-tocd’? 5, How would the meaning change if the word ‘scribble’ was replaced with ‘write’? 6, What does ‘bluster’ mean tn this context? (Use a dictlonaryl) How does it help to describe the father? 7. Why would van Wyk not join these two stanzas into one? 8, Look carefully at both stanzas. Does the tone change or does it stay the same? Support your answer In detall, Stanza 4and5 9. fs the father meant to be intimidating? Humorous? Explain your answer with details quotation from and reference to stanza 4, 10, Looking back at stanzas 1-4, explain the tone in stanza 5. ‘Stanza 6 and7 11 Explain why stanza 6 begins with the word ‘But’, 412, What is important about the word ‘spew’ in relation to ‘alliteration’ and ‘assonance’? 43, Using the rest of the poem to help you, outline what, exactly Is ‘Everything that a poet needs’, 414, Why would he not be ‘bequeathed’ the words? What is the speaker saying about his potential? 415. Given that van Wyk was a coloured poet in Apartheld South Aftica, might there be another, {ess palatable reason for his father not bequeathing the ‘words’?Hadedah ‘Adam Schwartzman (3973-) ‘The flowered predator sinks it picked besk ike «piston, spreads its legs ike a suburban cowboy, places its weight ana evets out ofthe ground. The big itd related to the ibis and is exotic. It takes its place among things that we know, though they came without being named or naming, svithout references the visible inbabitants in their own space with ours in common. The most wehavessid is that they were omens and make a very loud, uncivilized noise, but they climb with imagination—above my house 100 | sows scraerzuan they bank in fights and top the lopped horizon, slice fat clouds and dip away into the trough, cat through jacaranda and succulence smells, ‘wood fire and anthracite smells and swipe the light from the East Rand gold towns. Mine heads wink like nuggets in camps and streams, like steel fly eyes, wheels of fortune, the wheel, and they climb, over people singing hhome in trains and other people talking sofly saying Next year in Jerusalem, London, Sydney, ‘over neon paracises, shebeen kingdoms and corrugated churches on eatth. They level out, leave behind the thatch and bougainvillaca, slasto, rosaries, private Edens that were not always good, Dbutalways there, over dunes, rivers, mountains, Takes, jungles, ancestral homes, the unmarked graves of sleeping cultures, until, when no one can see, ‘they catch @ warm thermal to ride on and upwards and out of the world,Hadedah By Adam Schwartzman Notes: Feather By John Rott ‘They are just ordinary feathers from those very common birds; no doubt you've walked past plenty of such debris on the road, tossed from the squall of squawking panic thats a launching Hadeda Something about this one stopped me though, slipped like an offering from a solitary soaring bird, its gradual hues were speaking: early morning's bright sweet blue, the darker subtle blues of mourning, coy pink and muted purple surfacing through sculpted curve and glowing line; an intricately iridescent petal, turned on its stem and throwing light.To the Snake ~ Denise Levertov (1923 ~ 1997) Green Snake, when I hung you round my neck and stroked your cold, pulsing throat ‘as you hissed to me, glinting arrowy gold scales, and I felt the weight of you on my shoulders, and the whispering silver of your dryness sounded close at my ears ~ Green Snake - I swore to my companions that certainly you were harmless! But truly Thad no certainty, and no hope, only desiring to hold you, for that Joy, which left a long wake of pleasure, as the leaves moved and you faded into the pattern of grass and shadows, and T returned smiling and haunted, to a dark morning, ‘The Poot ‘A British-born Ameriean poet. Summary, Levertov use several writing fechniques to portray money ancl gambling, She uses syntax, sound imagory, colour imagery, figurative language, and symbolism to represent money and gambling. Symbolisin is used cleverly throughout the poem to depict a number of things that would take numerous readings to see. Foy n “Throughout the poem the sentences are structured so that every other sentence is indented, with ‘exeeption to the frst two and the last fou. In those sentences not indented the author chase to make ‘every other sentence shorter'so that the encls were uneven. This syntax structure gives the reader the feeling of something hard to catch or control. The author did this because money, as itis eepieted in the poet, is something this person can’t handle, In other words this person can't get control of money, instead the want of money is controlling them. ‘This introduces the idea of gambling into the poet. In the poom it says, I sivore to my companions that certainly you were harunless! , which is the typical statenient of people addicted to gambling. Once again there is the control factor. This person can not control their desire for money and, the means of getting the money, gambling, Anotherimportant syntax technique ean be seen in line 12. The poem say’ for that joy, which left a long wake of pleasure The words which left are put on a line alone to draw attention to them, When rend without stopping, the words make it seem as if, a wake of pleasure, was lef. However, ifthe line is read again slowly, the line seems to say, that joy, left. The author did this to show that even though the joy lef, the memory of pleasure was still there, which is why this person continues to gamble. * ‘Sound imagery is another writing technique put to use by Levertov in the poem. When reading the per out loud, the reader noticas the $ soul. The mislending S or hissing sound could be intorpreted, by some readers, to be the sound of a snake. Itis instead the sound of money. The sponker is addressing this snake throughout the poem but each time says, Green Snake instead of just snake, This shows that it was not the snake that was important, but its colour. The colour green of course is the colour of paper currency, which feeds back to the idea that the poem is about money. Next, isthe colour gold, which is often the colour of jowelory, whether the metal is real gol! or not. The gold referred to in the poom is most likely a necklace bought with gambling money. nestions: 7 dhe Snake, by Denise Lovertov 1, Why isa snake such a good choice of metaphor/apostrophe for this poem? 2, Your notes deseribe the snake as being a symbol for money and gambling, however, this is not the only possible representation. a. Can you think of any other reasonable alternatives thatthe snake might represent? Explain your idoas with close reference to the text. b, Why else might the speaker refer tothe ‘green’ snake rather than just any colowe snake? 3, Bxplain the paradoxical naturo of the final fine of the poem,When | Heard the Learn’d Astronomer By Wait Whitman When | heard the learn'd astronomer; When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me; When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them; When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture- Toom, How soon unaccountable | became tired and sick; Till rising and gliding out | wander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars. ‘Summary: ‘The speaker of this poom dosoribee listening to a learned astronomer lecture. He sees proofs and figures In columns bofore him, as well as charts and diagrams that he ls supposed to anelyze mathematlcally. At the end of the the lecture, everyone else applauds the astronomer. Meanwhile, the speaker sits in the lecture room, feeling sick and tired, When he wanders away, he looks up into the sky and finaly recognizes the magic. Analysis: ‘Whitman wrote this poem in free verse, like most of his other poems, It consists of one single stanza with eight lines. “The lines vary in length and have different stressed and unstressed syllables, which gives the poem an anecdotal feel, The first four lines of the poem all begin with "When" as the speaker recalls siting and listening to the astronomer lecture. These fist four lines function as a setup; and the final four lines describe the speaker's reaction to the exporience well as the lesson from the poom. {In this poem, Whitman uses the example of the astronomer to show the difference between academic learning and ‘experiential earning. The speaker finds the astronomer's lectures stare and mathematical formulas to be boring. He does not fee! any sort of connection to the subject matter unt he goes outside and sees the stars for himself. Looking up at the night sky is not an experience that one can experience in a classroom, no matter how “iearn‘d" the teacher might be Whitman felt very strongly that experiencing life's marvels Was the only real way to learn, In this poem, Whitman draws out the stark contrast between the speaker and the educated astronomer. Whitman writes the speaker's voice fo emphasize the fact that he is net an academic. For example, he shortens "learned" to Meamn'd when describing the sophisticated professor. The speaker quickly grows bored while istening to the ‘astconomer talk about theorles and mathematical equations. The astronomer, however, represents a highly educated and refined class that has a more structured approach to learning. The speaker and the astronomer serve as foils to each other - characters who have opposite beliefs, The writer uses this disparity to highlight each individual's distinet characteristics. Even though this poem Is short, Whilman establishes a clear and vivid setting. First, he describes the Classroom and lecture hall, whore the astronomer is using charts to illustrate his theories and the audience's polite ‘applatise. Whitman's skill in creating evocative imagery is most powerful in the second half of the poem. The ‘speaker Is clearly inspired as he "glides" out info the "mystical moist night ar’ and admires the dazzting stars above him, Whitman paints pictures with these words. Utimataly, this poem serves to highlight the difference between wisdom and knowledge. inthe context of this poem, wisdom is the process of learning through experience and exploration (the speaker appreciates the wonders of the night eky only when he sees it for himsell), Knowledge, on the other hand, comes from research, reading, and established theories. Academic knowledge Is a more tangible form of intelligence; wile wisdom, on the other hand, {s intuitive. The astronomer attempts to relay his academic knowledge in his lecture, but the speaker does not ‘connect to the subject matter trom such a distance.These fought In any case - Ezra Pound (1885 - 1972) These fought in any case, and some believing, (for home) pro domo™, in any case... Some quick to arm, some for adventure, some from fear of weakness, some from fear of censure, sotne for love of slaughter, in imagination, learning later... some in fear, learning love of slaughter: (far country) Died some, pro patria®, (Cit isnot sweet and proper.) non "dulce” non "et decor"... walked eye-deep in hell believing in old men's lies, then unbelieving caine home, home to a lie, home to many deceits, home to old lies and new infamy; usury age-old and age-thick ‘and liars in public places, Daring as never before, wastage as never before. Young blood and high blood, fair cheeks, and fine bodies; fortitude as never before frankness as never before, disillusions as never told in the old days, hysterias, trench confessions, laughter out of dead bellies.oct za Pound was bomn in Hailey, Kaho, in 1885. He completed twvo years of college atthe University bf Pennsylvania and eared a degree fiom Hamilton College in 1905. After texching at Wabash College for to yeats, he travelled abroad to Spain, Italy and London, whore, asthe literary excestor Sttheschalar Frnest Fenellosa, he beeame interested in Japanese and Chinese poctry, He married Dorothy Shakespear in 1914 sid became London editor ofthe Little Review in 1917, During World Wark, Bara Pound was on American émigré in London, After many of his fiends wore killed i the Mevalos, including the poet-philosophier. B, Hulme and the sculptor Henri Gaucier-Brzeske, he Uceorbed his postivar activities in the following terms: “1918 began investigation of causes of war, fo oppese same?” The poem Hugh Sefwyn Mauberle, from which the followin excerpt is token, is Gnocesult of Pound's war-guilt investigations. Th 1924, he moved to Italy; during this period of Sotuntary exile, Pound became involved in Fascist polities, and did net return tothe United States until 1945, when hie was arrested on charges of treason, ‘Summary, “The fourth section takes readers from tho parfours of early twentieth-century London to the muddy battlefields of World War |, This section’s main thrust is that the slaughter of the war was perpotanted by ies and by the intentional deceits perpetrated by politicians an the wealthy. Posing on why young inen would volunteer to fight, Pound identifies several varieties of sel sronwion Some of the men fought “pro demo,” or “for home”; some fought because they sought adventure; some because they wanted glory; some beoause they feavedl ridicule; and some just ‘because they were disposed to violence, Nowhere in this poem doos. Pound mention the kinds of erator tha poiiiaas and generals talc about: young men who are willing to give up thelr ves for abstract concepts dofined and defended by those in power, After listing the reasons some went to war, Pound describes the war's effects. He alludes to Horace’s famous line about patriotism, “dulee Wiijnorum est pro patia mor’ (vet and fitng ii odie for one's eountty and angrily denies i gon ‘dulce’ non ‘et decor”, . . / walked eye-tleep in hell.” Pound tersely illustrates the conditions of inench warfare and angrily attacks the “old men’s lies” that caused so many to die, ‘Although it s shor, the fifth sestion may be Pound’s most well-known from this poem. 1 its eight tines, Pound bitterly states that there was no point to the war, that even if the war wns, as the “old aes of scetion TY eaid, a sacred effort (o defend civilization as we know it, eivilization’s defense ‘was not worth all of those deaths.These fought In any case?, by Ezra Pow What isthe tone of the first stanza? How is this fone (the speaker's attitude) reflected in the poem’s diction, style and structure? Bxplain the somewhat unusual word ordering of the first line in stanza 2. Similarly, comment on the beginnings and endings of all the lines in stanza 2. Why are the ‘old men’ in stanza 2? On your poom, highlight words/phrases that have been repeated and explain the effectiveness thereof. a, What is usury’? b, Using the above definition, explain the last two fines of stanza 2. ‘Why does “fortitude? stand alone? Comment on the effectiveness of the diction in the final stanza,Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time - William Shakespeare 1564 - 1616) When I do count the clock that tells the time ‘And see the brave day sunk in hideous night, When I behold the violet past prime ‘And sable curls al silver'd o'er with white, When lofty trees I see barren of leaves, Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, ‘And summer's green all girded up in sheaves Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard Then of thy beauty do T question make That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake And die as fast es they see others grow, And nothing 'gainst Time's seythe can make defence Save breed, to brave hitn when he takes thee hence, ‘Lranstatios ‘When I count the chintes of the clock and watch the bright day sunken into terrifying night; when T see violets fading, and black curls all silvered over with white; when I sce tall tres which previously. offered shade to sheep and cattle but now with no leaves; and the green crops of summer tied up in harvested sheaves covered with scratchy dried out leaves, carried away on a wagon; then I begin to think about the enduranee of your beauty and that you will have to decline and decay like everything, else, because sweet anc beauliful things lose their sweetness and beauty and dic while watching new sweet and beautiful things taking their place. The only defence against Time's seythe is to defy him ‘when he takes you away, by having children. ‘Summary, “The speaker of Shakespeare's matriage sonnet 12 again shows how changing nature always comes under "Time's seythe," and only one remedy can fond him off: produeing an hei Form ‘This is clearly a Shakespearean sonnet with threo quatrains and a final, concluding rhyming couplet Commentary Tn marriage sonnet 12 the speaker frames a series of “when” clauses followed by a “then”; in other ‘words, he proposes « situation as “hen such and such happens, then we ean expect such and such result” First QuatrainIn the first quatrain, the speaker begins his series by asserting that when he looks at the clock and sees times flying by and the “brave day” is being engulfed in the “hideous night, he sees a young ‘man like @ fresh flower turning into an old grey-haired inan, Then the quattain stops at the point ‘where we clo not know where the speaker might go with his “when” elauses, Second Quatrain So we proceed fo the second quatrain, wherein the spenker is continuing metaphorically to compare ‘young man’s youth Co trees that lose their leaves, What had once provided a leafy roof against the ‘summer's blazing sun becomes “summer's green all girded up in sheaves, / Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard.” Now, its becoming clear that the speaker is once again comparing the ‘young man’s youth fo natures jst as trees were once useful with their full branches, the green or Youth gets buidled up and is “Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard.” ‘Third Quateain ‘The third quatrain supplies the “then” or result of all the “whens”: then the youth and beauty that nature possessed passes away. And the speaker wants to ask the young man if he thinks his own beauty will not go “among the wastes of time”. Since these other natural things —the day that sinks into night, the violet that withers in time, the black hair that turns white, the trees in summer that lose their leaves to winter lose their youthfi aisibutes, how can the young man not realizes that he (oo will come under the sway of natute? Couplet ‘The couplet, “And nothing “gainst Time’s scythe can make defence / Save breed, fo byave him when he takes thee hence,” offers the young man his only way to overcome “Time’s scythe” — that he many end produce pleasing offspring, Questions: Sonnet 12, by William Shakespen 1, Highlight each reference to colour In thls poem. Is there a reason for thls? Explain, 2, Comment on the effect of the contradictions inline 2. 3. ‘Summer's green’ (line 7) ls an example of synecdoche. Explain. 4, What isa ‘bier’ (ne 8)? Using your answer, explaln the metaphor in ines? and 8, 5, Comment on the effect of personification in the final rhyming couplet.