ENG212 - Part 1: Poetry Flashcards
Summer has arrived, Loudly sing, cuckoo! The seed is growing And the meadow is blooming, And the wood is coming into leaf now, Sing, cuckoo!
The ewe is bleating after her lamb, The cow is lowing after her calf; The bullock is prancing, The billy-goat farting Sing merrily, cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo,
You sing well, cuckoo,
Never stop now.
Sing, cuckoo, now; sing, cuckoo;
Sing, cuckoo; sing, cuckoo, now!
What effect is created by the repetition of “sing cuckoo”?
What is the effect of the frequent use of exclamation marks?What is the dominant mood?
“Sumer is icumen in (The Cuckoo Song)”
Song - nd Anonymous
Theme - positive - spring awakening, joy
- me - Command; urgency; anticipation
Points - first song
- exclamation marks - Anticipation, almost desperation of the narrator
- implied sexuality associated with new things in spring
- Rustic realism - animals lowing and farting!
-The refrain makes use of onomatopoeia to echo the joy of the bird’s song, as it calls for a mate.
Throughout the poem, the melodious u sound predominates, both internally (in assonance and internal rhyme) and in the end rhymes (eight of the twelve stanza lines and both the refrain lines terminate in u).
The diction (the poet’s choice of words) and imagery (pictures in the imagination), drawn from farm and wood, are also fitting to the theme (the main idea about the subject of the poem) and mood (the overall atmosphere in the poem) of revitalization.
The onomatopoeic imitation of the bird’s song establishes a lilting rhythm that makes the voice
The punctuation—the dashes and exclamation marks—underlines the mood of exuberant joy and tells the person who reads or sings the song to put life into vocal interpretation.
Winter is icummen in, Lhude sing Goddamm. Raineth drop and staineth slop, And how the wind doth ramm! Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damn you, sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, ‘tis why I am, Goddamm,
So ‘gainst the winter’s balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing Goddamm.
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMN.
Ezra Pound, “Ancient Music,”
Song - 1917
Theme - Hating winter
Points - Parody of Sumer is icumen in (The Cuckoo Song)
- “Godd**n!”
parody
“a humorous imitation that mocks a given literary work by exaggerating or distorting some of its salient features”
Western wind, when will thou blow, The small rain down can rain? Christ! If my love were in my arms, And I in my bed again! ------------- What is the effect of the repetition of the word rain? Western Wind
Western Wind
What are the prevailing sounds in this poem?
Anonymous, “Western Wind,”
Song - nd
Theme - narrator longing to return home from a wet windy place
Points - 4-line poem
- rain image - treating it both as a noun and verb
- some alliteration - w sounds emphasizing wind sounds and longing/loneliness
The repetition of the w sounds (alliteration) in line 1 creates a feeling of sad yearning, which is reinforced by the repetition of rain in the second line, which rhymes with again in the fourth line. Images of discomfort and solitude in the first two lines are contrasted with images of warmth and love in the last two to suggest what has been lost.
Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night forever
And you know that she’s half-crazy but that’s why you want to be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her that you have no love to give her
Then he gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer that you’ve always been her lover
And you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind
And you know that she will trust you
For you’ve touched her perfect body with your mind
And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him
He said all men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them
But he himself was broken, long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
And you want to travel with him, and you want to travel blind
And you think you maybe you’ll trust him
For he’s touched your perfect body with her mind
Now, Suzanne takes your hand and she leads you to the river
She’s wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey on our lady of the harbor
And she shows you where to look among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed, there are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love and they wil lean that way forever
While Suzanne holds her mirror
And you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind
And you know that you can trust her
For she’s touched your perfect body with her mind
——————
How do you describe the mood in “Suzanne Takes You Down”? How do the sounds help create it? What devices are used to produce sound effects?
What is the nature of the variations in the refrain?
What does the imagery in the poem suggest?
What is the relationship between the first and second verses, between the image of Suzanne and the image of Christ?
Leonard Cohen, “Suzanne Takes You Down” Song - 1966
Theme - attanining enlightenment/actualization through sexual teacher
Points - juxtaposes, & equates sexual and religious experiences
- SG - mood of peace and harmony
- 3rd line of each refrain is a comment on fSong - 1966
The mood of “Suzanne Takes You Down” is one of peace and harmony, evoked through the lulling, repetitive sounds of the words and the long sentences that run through the ends of the lines (enjambment: literally, “a striding over”).
Canadian poet Leonard Cohen has written a wide variety of songs and poems, and his works such as “Sisters of Mercy” and “That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” were very popular during the 1960s. Some of Cohen’s early poems are angry protests against the persecution of the Jews, as in “Flowers for Hitler,” and in many of his works there are allusions to Judeo-Christian symbols and icons. In his love songs (“Suzanne Takes You Down” being a good example), as in his novel Beautiful Losers (1966), he celebrates physical love as a spiritual experience, often juxtaposing sexual and religious experiences. Lovers and saints may both achieve a state of ecstasy, a form of salvation from isolation and fear, through a total surrender of the self and absolute trust in something or someone else.
The mood of “Suzanne Takes You Down” is one of peace and harmony, evoked through the lulling, repetitive sounds of the words and the long sentences that run through the ends of the lines (enjambment: literally, “a striding over”). The simplicity of the diction and the imagery of the first verse evoke a feeling of calm. Cohen paints a kind of word picture of the sights and sounds of the river and then the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus “walked upon the water” (20). The imagery, a realization of ideas, thoughts, and feelings through concrete objects that appeal to the senses of sight (visual), hearing (auditory), smell (olfactory), touch (tactile), and/or taste (gustatory), is both mundane and exotic in the sense that the colour and smell of the “tea and oranges” (7) suggest the aromatic richness of Suzanne’s spiritual and physical gifts. Even the material poverty of her “rags and feathers” (38) is transposed into a wealth of possibilities, and she enables others “to see” in a new way—“where to look / among the garbage and the flowers” (42–43).
The connection between the first and second stanzas is made through the image of water, with religious connotations, as a cleansing and healing element. Because each verse begins with the name of either Suzanne or Jesus, the implication is that they have important correspondences. Both offer a form of salvation with one difference: Jesus saw that from his “lonely wooden tower” (22)—that is, the cross—only those who were close to drowning would call on his help, whereas Suzanne’s more “earthly” love appeals to all men. The variation in the refrain suggests a correspondence between physical and spiritual love, and between mind and body. The short final line of each stanza, consisting of three simple monosyllabic words, has the effect of a peaceful resolution—a coming to rest after a long journey.
allusive
indirectly refers to other situations, places, persons, or ideas
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time, And while ye may, go marry; For having lost but once your prime, You may forever tarry. -------------------- What is the main argument in ?
What are the implications of the central image?
How does this lyric convey the speed at which time passes?
Robert Herrick, “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time,”
Lyric - 1684
Theme - Sieze the day, carpe diem
Points - central image - virginity implying youth and inexperience, and reticence
- 2nd line - time is still a flying - overt
- Lots of monosyllabic words - easy to read quickly
- Unstressed syllable at the end of each verse conveys the effect of falling off or deterioration - dying, setting, former, tarry
- Placement of the word “times” - stressed at beginning of line 12 and repeated (unstressed) at end of line 13
“To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” is probably the best known expression of the carpe diem theme, which literally means seize the day
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, lov’d boy.
Seven years tho’ wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
O, could I lose all father now! For why
Will man lament the state he should envy?
To have so soon ‘scap’d world’s and flesh’s rage,
And if no other misery, yet age?
Rest in soft peace, and, ask’d, say, “Here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry.”
For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such,
As what he loves may never like too much.
—————
Is there a shift in tone in Jonson’s poem?
What is the effect of the concluding couplet in “On My First Son”?
Ben Jonson, “On My First Son,”
Lyric - 1616
Theme - “farewell” lament for a lost son
Points - SG compares it to “My Dear and Loving Husband”
- monosyllabic words - this conveys a sense of sincerity
- Subdued mood conveyed through lots of open vowel sounds and soft consonants
Also iambic pentameter in both poems
- concluding couplet in “On My First Son”?
Takes it back to the personal after waxing
2nd last line - Three stressed syllables for WHOSE SAKE HENCEforth is a change in pattern from iambic (even if whose is not stressed) - reminds us that this is about a father’s grief not about the son
biblical allusion suggests that the speaker’s grief in the poem is that of all fathers who have lost sons.
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so persever,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.
Anne Bradstreet, “To My Dear and Loving Husband,”
Lyric - 1678
iambic pentameter
Theme - statement of love for her husband
Points - SG compares it to “On My First Son” - Ben Jonson
- monosyllabic words - this conveys a sense of sincerity
- Subdued mood conveyed through lots of open vowel sounds and soft consonants
Also iambic pentameter in both poems
- SG talks about bradstreet being exaggerated in her protestations of love and says their is little development of an idea or theme through the poem since the end of each line is closed.
1) Little Lamb who made thee Dost thou know who made thee Gave thee life & bid thee feed. By the stream & o'er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing wooly bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice: Little Lamb who made thee Dost thou know who made thee
Little Lamb I'll tell thee, Little Lamb I'll tell thee: He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb: He is meek & he is mild, He became a little child: I a child & thou a lamb, We are called by his name. Little Lamb God bless thee. Little Lamb God bless thee. 2) 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 sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & 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 stars threw down their spears And water'd heaven with their tears: Did he smile 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 frame thy fearful symmetry?
What are the symbolic qualities of each creature in these poems? What values or forces do they embody?
What is the effect of the questions in each poem?
What is the effect of the repetition in each poem?
William Blake, “The Lamb” and “The Tyger,”
Lyrics - 1789 & 1794
Theme - innocence and experience
Points - Lamb - light, innocent, lovable, not knowing his origin, “delight” tender voice, made by Jesus, meek, equated to a child
SG - purity too; me - so important back then
Notes that the lamb is a sacrificial animal - slain so the sins of the world can be taken away
- Tiger - dark despite “fire” in the eyes, brain forged in fire - more like hellfire, twisted heart (evil), questions whether the god who made the lamb could also make the tyger - implies it could have been the devil, opposite of innocent, terrible, frightening,
- Tyger - Repeated questioning “what” implies what could possibly create a tyger, how could god have done this? SG confirms this
SG - Blake is questioning the existence of suffering
Lamb - Do you know questions reinforce unknowing innocence
Moreover, both animals may be perceived as ambiguous symbols: the lamb is both a redemptive and a sacrificial animal, slain so that the sins of the world may be taken away; the tiger, burning in the forests of the night, is witness to the extraordinary power of creation and perhaps indirectly to the creative power of the poetic imagination.
1) O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:
Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy. -------------- What is suggested by the symbol of the rose in “The Sick Rose”? What might the “worm” represent?
William Blake, “The Sick Rose”
Lyrics - 1794
Theme - negativity of experience
Points - bleak
- rose - A deflowered virgin and how this loss of innocence is the destruction of her pure, perfect life
- worm - how innocence is corrupted
In this poem, the rose, which is conventionally associated with youth, beauty, and love (as in “Gather ye rose-buds”), becomes a symbol of disease and corruption,
the worm. The significant adjective “invisible” suggests that the source of corruption may not be immediately apparent: ideas, dogmatism, and ignorance can corrupt.
2) I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear
How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls
But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse
————-
What are the images of corruption in “London”?
What is the effect of the repetition?
William Blake, “London”
Lyrics - 1794
- London - lots of images of corruption, blackened churches, harlot’s cries, mind forged manacles (unjust laws)
- repeated words stress unavoidable reality
Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.
Aunt Jennifer’s finger fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand.
When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.
———
What does the persona of Aunt Jennifer suggest about women’s roles in society?
What is the effect of the rhyme scheme in Rich’s poem?
Adrienne Rich, “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers,”
Lyric - 1951
Theme - imprisoning treatment of Aunt Jennifer by her husband - expressed in her sewing
Points - Men may hunt the tigers but tigers are not afraid - tigers represent liberated women who may well be killed by hunters but not broken
- Rhyming couplets - masculine single rhymes (only last syllable rhymes at end of lines)
Powerful, closed, - expresses both the power of the patriarchy and the resolution of the idealized tigers
ballad
conventions of the ballad stanza?
narrative or story and a song
It often begins with a story right in the middle of the main episode, with no introductory explanation or exposition (in medias res), and moves quickly to a climax in the final stanza
IT 1 was in and about the Martinmas time,
When the green leaves were a falling,
That Sir John Graeme, in the West Country,
Fell in love with Barbara Allan.
He sent his man down through the town, 5
To the place where she was dwelling;
‘O haste and come to my master dear,
Gin ye be Barbara Allan.’
O hooly, hooly rose she up,
To the place where he was lying, 10
And when she drew the curtain by,
‘Young man, I think you’re dying.’
‘O it’s I am sick, and very, very sick,
And ’tis a’ for Barbara Allan.’
‘O the better for me ye’s never be, 15
Tho’ your heart’s blood were a spilling.’
‘O dinna ye mind, young man,’ said she,
‘When ye was in the tavern a drinking,
That ye made the healths gae round and round,
And slighted Barbara Allan?’ 20
He turn’d his face unto the wall,
And death was with him dealing;
‘Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all,
And be kind to Barbara Allan.’
And slowly, slowly raise she up, 25
And slowly, slowly left him,
And sighing, said, she coud not stay,
Since death of life had reft him.
She had not gane a mile but twa,
When she heard the dead-bell ringing, 30
And every jow that the dead-bell geid,
It cry’d, ‘Woe to Barbara Allan!’
‘O mother, mother, make my bed,
O make it saft and narrow!
Since my love died for me to-day, 35
I’ll die for him to-morrow.’
What is the ballad about?
What is the relationship between Sir John Graeme and Barbara Allan?
Is Barbara Allan cruel?
What are the conventions of the ballad stanza?
Ballad - nd
Theme - courtly love tragedy - Girl feels guilty when suitor dies “for her”
Points - What is the relationship between Sir John Graeme and Barbara Allan?
St Martin is patron saint of beggars - called to her around this festival time
He basically begged and guilt-tripped her into feeling for him
Is Barbara Allan cruel?
What are the conventions of the ballad stanza?
Most of the rhymes in “Bonny Barbara Allan” are near rhymes (incomplete or half rhymes), and each quatrain (a stanza of four lines) follows an abcb rhyming pattern. This pattern is characteristic of the ballad stanza.
“Bonny Barbara Allan” exists in over two hundred variations and is the most well-known ballad among the poems of this genre (kind, form, or type) in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, edited by Francis J. Child and first published in 1884.
“Bonny Barbara Allan” tells a story of unrequited love. Sir John Graeme is lovesick for Barbara Allan, but when she is called to his death bed, she rejects him and only says: “Young man, I think you’re dying” (12). It becomes clear from the dialogue that follows that Sir John Graeme had previously “slighted” Barbara Allan, which explains Barbara Allan’s insensitive treatment of Sir John, as he lies dying on the bed. She repents her rejection of Sir John almost immediately; he dies before she had “gane a mile but twa” (29), and the ballad ends with the knowledge that she, too, will die of sorrow. Love and death are often closely associated in the traditional ballad. In this poem, the cries of the death-bell, “Woe to Barbara Allan” (32), suggest her imminent death. Other versions of this ballad follow the relationship beyond the characters’ deaths and reinforce the connection between love and death. The relationship between Sir John and Barbara Allan is revealed in their dialogue and their actions, from which the listener or reader is able to draw conclusions about the characters’ personalities and motivations.
Most of the rhymes in “Bonny Barbara Allan” are near rhymes (incomplete or half rhymes), and each quatrain (a stanza of four lines) follows an abcb rhyming pattern. This pattern is characteristic of the ballad stanza. The metre of “Bonny Barbara Allan” is also typical of medieval ballads, which alternate four stresses in the first and third lines of each stanza and three stresses in the second and fourth lines of each stanza, as seen in the following quatrain:
Quatrain; rythym pattern with alternate stresses.
Also, the ballad often relies on repetition (sometimes with variation) and refrains, as does this ballad, which repeats “Barbara Allan” at the end of more than half of the stanzas.
As you shall see, John Keats’s nineteenth-century lyrical ballad “La Belle Dame sans Merci” is derived from the medieval ballad tradition.
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.
I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
‘I love thee true’.
She took me to her Elfin grot,
And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.
And there she lullèd me asleep,
And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!—
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—‘La Belle Dame sans Merci
Thee hath in thrall!’
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gapèd wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.
And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
——
What are the characteristics of this nineteenth-century ballad?
How does the poem convey the sense of the inevitability of the knight’s death?
What is the effect of the last short line in each stanza?
What is the significance of the images of nature?
Who is “La Belle Dame sans Merci”?
John Keats, “La Belle Dame sans Merci,”
Ballad - 1820
Theme - She represents death and sings death’s seductive song which has also snared kings and princes
Patriarchal view of the cold seductress - also a tragedy for the hero
Points - SG - Associations with lilies and faded roses
nineteenth-century ballad:
12 Quatrains - 4-line stanzas
Rhyme Scheme - abcb
Metre
Mostly iambic
Some variations where accents are together on adjacent syllables - sometimes two (spondee), occasionally 3 (
Feet per line
All but one quatrains - 4-4-4-3, except quatrain where title is repeated on 3rd line - 4-4-5-3
So iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter
SG - Question and answer format & incremental repetition builds up to final revelation
*courtly love, which entail a complex code of behaviour for lovers.
*femme fatale
What are the characteristics of this nineteenth-century ballad?
the protagonist is a knight, who is about to die as a result of an unrequited or treacherous love; the quatrains are structured as question and answer; and the incremental repetition gradually builds up to the final revelation
—-
How does the poem convey the sense of the inevitability of the knight’s death?
the knight pines away for the love of a lady, but his physical decline is portrayed through images of lilies and roses, which are usually associated with the beloved in the courtly love tradition. These images are also aspects of a natural world that is in a state of decline
—-
What is the effect of the last short line in each stanza?
Heavy price Canadian soldiers paid in the Italian campaign in the Second World War.
—-
What is the significance of the images of nature?
Who is “La Belle Dame sans Merci”?
for Fanny, the fever of death hanging over him
Courtly Love
complex code of behaviour for lovers. In this tradition, the beloved was typically worshipped from afar and perceived as almost unattainable in her purity of soul and body.
- Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne Takes You Down.”
- John Keats, “La Belle Dame sans Merci,”
- Shakespeare, Keats, and Tennyson, modified the courtly love tradition to suit their own purposes.
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.
Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Thro' the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four gray walls, and four gray towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.
By the margin, willow veil'd,
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
By slow horses; and unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd
Skimming down to Camelot:
But who hath seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The Lady of Shalott?
Only reapers, reaping early
In among the bearded barley,
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
From the river winding clearly,
Down to tower'd Camelot:
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers " 'Tis the fairy
Lady of Shalott."
Part II
There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.
And moving thro' a mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot:
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the surly village-churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls,
Pass onward from Shalott.
Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad,
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,
Goes by to tower'd Camelot;
And sometimes thro' the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.
But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often thro' the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, went to Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed:
"I am half sick of shadows," said
The Lady of Shalott.
Part III
A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley-sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,
And flamed upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.
The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down to Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.
All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down to Camelot.
As often thro' the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over still Shalott.
His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flash'd into the crystal mirror,
"Tirra lirra," by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.
She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro' the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.
Part IV
In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining,
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
The Lady of Shalott.
And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seër in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance—
With a glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.
Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right—
The leaves upon her falling light—
Thro' the noises of the night
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.
Heard a carol, mournful, holy,
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darken'd wholly,
Turn'd to tower'd Camelot.
For ere she reach'd upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.
Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and burgher, lord and dame,
And round the prow they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.
Who is this? and what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they cross'd themselves for fear,
All the knights at Camelot:
But Lancelot mused a little space;
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott."
What is the effect of the repeated rhymes in each stanza?—of the repeated references to “Camelot” and “The Lady of Shalott”?
What images is the lady associated with?
What aspects of the courtly love tradition are evident in this poem?
In what respects is Lancelot’s “blessing” ironic?
Alfred Lord Tennyson, “The Lady of Shalott,
Ballad - 1842
Theme - Noble death, but for what? The idea of camelot???
Points - Makes much of Tennyson’s theme of the tension between the need for artistic separation and the need for social interaction
Irony is that the attraction to a man is what kills her as an artist and indeed physically
Beauty is ideallized
One of many poets to associate death of idealism with experience - Me - easy to relate to Blake’s songs of innocence and experience
SG - lily connotes courtly love, fragility, virginal beauty, and death
Camelot - mythical, idealized state/place
Lady of Shalott - puts her into the idealized state
courtly love - She is alone and unatainable
Clad in pure white at the end
irony in Lancelots attraction to her at the end
—–
What is the effect of the repeated rhymes in each stanza?—of the repeated references to “Camelot” and “The Lady of Shalott”?
Each stanza has nine lines that are written with a rhyme scheme of a-a-a-a-b-c-c-c-b. In many of the stanzas, the last line reads, ‘The Lady of Shalott.’ Tennyson repeats her name over and over to emphasize both her person and tragic circumstances.
—-
What images is the lady associated with?
lily (the traditional flower of courtly love)
Part III delineates the object of her desire, Sir Lancelot, through a series of strong masculine images—hunting, war, the sun, and fire.
She was warm, now she is frozen. All of these are powerful images of loss and change. Eventually she becomes a sort of statue, a pale shape in a coffin-like boat.
—
What aspects of the courtly love tradition are evident in this poem?
In what respects is Lancelot’s “blessing” ironic?
‘She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott.’
disguised version of the curse drawn into operation at the end of the third part of the poem
The mirror crack’d from side to side;
“The curse is come upon me,” cried
The Lady of Shalott.
she is susceptible to the “curse” of love and the vicissitudes of earthly passion.
Popularity of “The Lady of Shalott”: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, a great British poet, wrote ‘The Lady of Shalott’, a ballad known for its themes of melancholy and death. It was first published in 1833. The poem unfolds the story of a lady who is mysteriously imprisoned in a tall building of Camelot. It then illustrates how magic plays a significant role in one’s life.
“The Lady of Shalott” As a Representative of Death: The poem narrates the tragic story of a lady who is imprisoned on an island. No one can see her except the farmers who listen to her song while working in their fields. Everything around her is gloomy and colorless. She is not allowed to look outside through the window. Rather, she sees the outside world through a mirror. To her, the reality is confined to the images she perceives through that mirror. The poem also provides a detailed description of the place around her and the movement of the people in Camelot. One day, she sees a knight coming from the fields of Barley. He grabs her attention, and she sees the Camelot through the window. As a punishment, she writes her name on the boat, signs her last song, and dies.
Major Themes in “The Lady of Shalott”: Isolation, detachment, and the supernatural elements are the major themes of this poem. The text revolves around the mystery of the Lady of Shalott, who is trapped. She accepts it as her fate and is emotionally and physically detached from the real world. She sees the world only through the mirror. Ironically, she dies when she gets out of that building and when the mirror breaks.
Pre-Raphaelites,
idealized the beauty of medieval maidens, particularly those drawn from the Arthurian stories.
sonnet
a fixed form of fourteen lines
typically it takes two forms: Italian or English (Shakespearean). The Italian sonnet comprises an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines), and there is usually a thematic shift between the two parts.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Scan the first quatrain of Sonnet , noting the effects of any irregular feet (trochees, spondees). Remember that the basic metre is iambic pentameter.
How does Shakespeare use the octave-sestet division in Sonnet ? How does he use the couplet (part of the sestet)?
Analyze the use of repetition, alliteration, and caesura in the last line of Sonnet
What season does the poet portray?
Sonnet 18.
Theme - beauty will fade, but live on in the lines of this sonnet
Points - He uses the octave to imply that beauty fades with time, then says that the addressee is an exception in the sestet
- Repetition - so long as…, so long lives
- Ceasura - pause in middle of line - So LONG LIVES THIS | and THIS gives LIFE to THEE
- Alliteration - long, lives & life tie directly back to lines 2 lines back, emphasizing the connection
- fall imagery - late in life
noting the effects of any irregular feet (trochees, spondees). Remember that the basic metre is iambic pentameter.
Shakespeare also uses metre to effect: the second and fourth lines reinforce the reversal of conventional comparison through the use of irregular feet; line 2 begins with a trochee, for example, and the double stress of “black wires” and the monosyllabic words reinforce, bluntly, the negativity of the first reference to wires:
How does Shakespeare use the octave-sestet division in Sonnet ? How does he use the couplet (part of the sestet)?
Analyze the use of repetition, alliteration, and caesura in the last line of Sonnet
What season does the poet portray?
Summer
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
——
What season does the poet portray In what ways does he develop the imagery of the seasons?
Sonnet 73
Sonnet - 1609
Theme - love me while I’m here because I’m getting old
Points - effect of the repeated words “in me” in Sonnet 73?
They are in the first line of each quatrain - so they serve as a jumping off point for the ideas (old preacher trick - e.g., I have a dream)
- fall imagery - late in life
- SG also talks about last line To LOVE that WELL which THOU must LEAVE ere LONG - says that monosyllabic, regular iamb , and alliteration also conveys conviction and finality
—-
What season does the poet portray In what ways does he develop the imagery of the seasons?
Autumn
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.
—-
What is the tone
How is it achieved?
What is the nature of the poet’s love in Sonnet?
Sonnet 116
Theme - the nature of true love
Points - Tone is of truth & certainty - speaks in absolutes
Me - is he actually in love or observing love in general??? I thought the latter.
True love - conveyed by contrast with seeming love or weaknesses of what is mistaken as love
—-
What is the tone
How is it achieved?
What is the nature of the poet’s love in Sonnet?
is firm, but caring. It is conveyed as guidance in the arrangement of words that produces a voice in the readers head.
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
What is the effect of the monosyllables and irregular metre in line 12
Assess the impact of the closing couplet
Sonnet 130
Theme - Wife is not courtly ideal but he still loves her
Points -
SG agrees but suddenly removes shakespeare as the one speaking and refers to the speaker as a narrator - unlike those earlier poems that are assumed to be shakespeare talking directly to his young patron
Line 12 - My MISTRESS, when SHE walks, TREADS on the GROUND
In this reading SHE is stressed, bringing the whole focus on the poem back onto her - this is who we are talking about
What is the effect of the monosyllables and irregular metre in line 12
Assess the impact of the closing couplet
SG says monosyllables in earlier lines reinforce the negativity of the images - again convey certainty (later on spoken of as male)
Me - could be extended to this line too although the comparison is not as harsh, so I’d say it reinforces the reality
Final couplet - SG - he is stating he is in love with a real woman, not a courtly love ideal
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those, whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
What is the effect of personifying “Death”
John Donne, “Holy Sonnet X,”
Sonnet - 1633
Theme - death not all powerful, people go to afterlife
Points - death is personified and described as NOT all powerful
- SG - talks of Donne’s use of conceits - startling and novel comparisons
Me, e.g., slave metaphor for death
Holy Sonnet X - octave is in italian form, sestet is NOT - sestet continues quatrain rhyme scheme and finishes with a heroic couplet
SG - closer to italian form than shakespearean
One argument developed a theme in each of 3 quatrains, 1st - that death is not all powerful, 2nd - that death has positive aspects, 3rd - that factors NOT under death’s control cause people to die
SG stresses profound paradox in final couplet - “death, thou shalt die.” speaks to docrine of resurrection
What is the effect of personifying “Death”
Donne asserts the doctrine of resurrection: Christ has overcome death and has promised eternal life to all believers.
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or His own gifts. Who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,
And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
What is the effect of personifying “Patience”
John Milton, “When I consider how my light is spent,”
Sonnet - 1673
Theme - coming to terms with blindness
Points - Miltonic Sonnet - intro reading refers to this form having no pause after the octave, which is the case here with enjambment
Patience is personified - patience speaks truth that restless men also serve patient ones and that god does not need the restlessness (reference to Blessed shall be the meek???)
many references to the parable of the talents - unfortunately used to denigrate the poor
points out that Milton uses line breaks and caesura often. SG question - what is the effect of the break in line 11 - Like others I think it is to emphasize the line.
last line is paradoxical (like Donne’s) and that it is emphasized by regular iambic pentameter, alliteration and monosyllables
What is the effect of personifying “Patience”
personification to underscore the universal significance of his particular dilemma, the only remedy for which is “patience”: an acceptance of God’s will.
I caught this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,–the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.
How does Hopkins use the octave-sestet division?
What is the rhyme scheme? What is the effect of the repeated end-rhymes?
In what respects is the hawk an image of Christ?
Compare the image of the plowed field with that in Lampman’s sonnet “Winter Evening.”
Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The Windhover: To Christ Our Lord,”
Sonnet - 1918
Theme - Christ’s perfection and determination.
He called this rhythmic pattern the *sprung rhythm.
The hawk is a *metonym of knighthood with all the values of courage, strength, and faithfulness that this concept ideally suggests.
using the unusual *simile of an arc cut by a skate on ice to evoke the flight of the bird
Points - hawk an image of Christ
• The sonnet is addressed to Christ
O my chevalier. Knight, noble champion is compared to Christ the saviour
• Rebuffed the big wind - referring to power of Christ to overcome adversity
• Fire that breaks from thee…a billion times told lovlier , more dangerous - speaking of Christ’s power, perhaps a reference to holy spririt
SG - sees in the strength and beauty of a hawk the beauty of Christ’s grandeur
—–
How does use the octave-sestet division?
What is the rhyme scheme? What is the effect of the repeated end-rhymes?
In what respects is the hawk an image of Christ?
Compare the image of the plowed field with that in Lampman’s sonnet “Winter Evening.”
Uses Octet-Sestet to first talk of the hawk, then address it directly
Every line in octave has the same end-rhyme
Effect is of consistency, steadiness
Ending image - Determination alone ploughs the field - gold blood represents an internal treasure forced out by the hawk/christ
The air smells of rhubarb, occasional
Roses, or first birth of blossoms, a fresh,
Undulant hurt, so body snaps and curls
Like flower. I step through snow as thin as script,
Watch white stars spin dizzy as drunks, and yearn 5
To sleep beneath a patchwork quilt of rum.
I want the slow, sure collapse of language
Washed out by alcohol. Lovely Shelley,
I have no use for measured, cadenced verse
If you won’t read. Icarus-like, I’ll fall 10
Against this page of snow, tumble blackly
Across vision to drown in the white sea
That closes every poem – the white reverse
That cancels the blackness of each image.
Is this an Italian or English sonnet?
How does Clarke subvert the sonnet form in “Blank Sonnet”?
What is the significance of the title, “Blank Sonnet”?
What poetic devices does Clarke use in this sonnet?
Explain the reference to Icarus.
“Blank Sonnet, George Elliott Clarke
Sonnet - 1990
Theme - His Black experience - tenuous and drowning in whiteness
Points - unrhymed iambic pent which is also referred to as blank verse; Does not follow rhyme scheme
Blank - a reference to whiteness and white cultural hegemony; also a reference to blindness of dominant culture to the black experience
Lots of spondees to stress certain phrases like “WHITE STARS SPIN DIZzy”
Is this an Italian or English sonnet?
written in unrhymed iambic pentameter, also known as blank verse.
How does Clarke subvert the sonnet form in “Blank Sonnet”?
abandons the traditional rhyme schemes peculiar to sonnet as a form
What is the significance of the title, “Blank Sonnet”?
the content and the form of the poem in emphasizing both “the linguistic and cultural barrenness of the Canadian ‘landscape’”
What poetic devices does Clarke use in this sonnet?
imagery, metaphor, simile, alliteration, and allusion.
Explain the reference to Icarus.
allusion to Icarus. In classical mythology, Icarus’s father, Daedalus, builds wings of wax so the two can escape imprisonment.
metonym
Blank Sonnet
George Elliott Clarke
The hawk is a *metonym of knighthood with all the values of courage, strength, and faithfulness that this concept ideally suggests.
