Yeats again, this sad romantic, writes about something other than Maude. This happens to be Fergus, an Irish King who gave up his throne to "fight, feast and hunt." While reading this poem I do not think Fergus has given up his throne to do these things, instead he has traded positions and done so out of the love of his new position. "Who will go drive with Fergus now, And pierce the deep wood's woven shade." Fergus is, in this quote, seemingly asking or having someone ask to go with him on this joyous and adventorous hunt. He does not want his kingdom any longer, he wants to "lift up your resset bow" and come with him to basically party and go on adventures.
"For Fergus rules the brass cars, and rules the shadows of the wood." Here Fergus is where he belongs, in the wild, ruling the "woods", "sea" and "stars", That seems to be a bigger kingdom than tiny little Ireland. But yet he was probably seen as a fool, although no one would tell him that.
The grass is greener on the other side. Fergus lived the royal life and did not like his position. So he did as alot of us should, We don't like something.. Give it up and go find what you like to do. He had what I can relate to as a desk job, it is cushy, easy, good money and boring as heck. But I want to travel, be in advertising, especially in this bad economy, advertising is not the safest and sometimes volatile field. You can be good at it and make money or bad at it and end up at a radio station selling ads. I do not really care for desk jobs and will take my chances with the advertising route and at least love what I am doing, like Fergus.
Monday, June 28, 2010
William Butler Yeats - No second Troy
This poem will need some background story, Yeats was in love with a revolutionary Irish woman named Maude. He loved her and asked her to marry him 4 times, she denied all of them. They had a friendship but later turned to lovers. She denied him again by not accepting his love any longer. This is where this poem has come from, his hurt and loss of love from Maude. "Why should I blame her that she filled my days with misery, or tha she would of late have taught ingornat men most violent ways." Maude was a revolutionary and seemed to be more interested in her poltical life than her personal life. She must have loved him but caused him so much misery, but was it her fault she caused him misery, or was it his own personal problem to be dealt with and none of her concern.
"With beauty like a tightened bow" she is, to him, of amazing beauty, but is hard to crack, like a tight bow, and seemingly holding up something that would fall if undone. She is fragile, in his eyes, but tight and rigid enough to sustain itself, everyone has their weakness.
"Why, what could she have done, being what she is? Was there another Troy for her to burn?" He seems a little pathetic in this poem, writing about a friend and ex-lover of his that will not accept his love anymore and he compares her to Helen of Troy, the woman that caused millions to die for the love of her husband, the Kind and another man. It seems a little conceded for him to compare the two women, she is just denying him, not destroying lives.
I can compare to this poem because I have been "played" as we modernly use the term to mean what this poet has experienced. She was obviously interested in him and desired his friendship, but nothing more was to come of it, she made sure of that, although she did concede once, it was not her will to keep it up, and he could not accept that. I have never been that desperate, I would usually move on and not speak of the specific girl until it didn't hurt when her name was mentioned. I think Yeats is a hopeless romantic, too bad his one true love was not mutual.
"With beauty like a tightened bow" she is, to him, of amazing beauty, but is hard to crack, like a tight bow, and seemingly holding up something that would fall if undone. She is fragile, in his eyes, but tight and rigid enough to sustain itself, everyone has their weakness.
"Why, what could she have done, being what she is? Was there another Troy for her to burn?" He seems a little pathetic in this poem, writing about a friend and ex-lover of his that will not accept his love anymore and he compares her to Helen of Troy, the woman that caused millions to die for the love of her husband, the Kind and another man. It seems a little conceded for him to compare the two women, she is just denying him, not destroying lives.
I can compare to this poem because I have been "played" as we modernly use the term to mean what this poet has experienced. She was obviously interested in him and desired his friendship, but nothing more was to come of it, she made sure of that, although she did concede once, it was not her will to keep it up, and he could not accept that. I have never been that desperate, I would usually move on and not speak of the specific girl until it didn't hurt when her name was mentioned. I think Yeats is a hopeless romantic, too bad his one true love was not mutual.
Thomas Hardy - Hap
Hap means chance or luck in Old English, and in this poem Hardy seems to mock god (he does not capitalize this word in his poem). He has his god say, "Thou suffering thing, know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy, that thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!" He is exagerating what God is to him, this higher being that takes joy in your suffering and profits from your "love's loss." He is eased by the thought that a "Powerfuller than I had willed and meted me the tears I shed." So someone more Powerful than him (powerful is capitalized, unlike god, meaning he believes in a more powerful being but not the vengeful god that Christians have given light to) has given him tears, and he is eased, but not satisfied by that.
But in the third stanza he says, "But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain. And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?... Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain." Where I think he would accept a higher more powerful being is guiding his life, but really he believes he is in control of his own destiny and decisions are his free will. And if this causes him sorrow, he will have "Blisses" in his own "pain," because he knew that he had the decision to do so.
I can feel for this poet and poem because I have questioned the wrath of God while reading the bible or going to church and hearing the sermons about fire and brimstone. But I always take the easy road and say whatever brings people their faith is what should be good enough for them, don't knock someone when they are not knocking you. I do not judge people based on their faith, because I do not want faith to be my basis for existence.
But in the third stanza he says, "But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain. And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?... Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain." Where I think he would accept a higher more powerful being is guiding his life, but really he believes he is in control of his own destiny and decisions are his free will. And if this causes him sorrow, he will have "Blisses" in his own "pain," because he knew that he had the decision to do so.
I can feel for this poet and poem because I have questioned the wrath of God while reading the bible or going to church and hearing the sermons about fire and brimstone. But I always take the easy road and say whatever brings people their faith is what should be good enough for them, don't knock someone when they are not knocking you. I do not judge people based on their faith, because I do not want faith to be my basis for existence.
Virginia Woolf - The Lady in the Looking-Glass
This writing deals with Woolf's personal vision of oneself and then the outside appearance that one gives off. Looking into a mirror for the first time, a baby will see itself and create a self-image.
"reflected the hall table, the sunflowers, the garden path so accurately and fixedly they seemed held there in their reality inescapably" This quote in the Looking Glass describes the looking glass to the reader, making the looking glass seem like a reality, that someone could get lost into, and it seems the reader is lost in the looking glass.
The old woman that the narrator is following while gardening is as described:‘The sun would beat down on her face, into her eyes; but no, at the critical moment a veil of cloud covered the sun, making the expression of her eyes doubtful" The narrator is judging the woman by the reflection in the glass, the reality of the situation is that the glass could not capture the true image, because of the complexity of glass, the cloud could have messed with the reflection, but someone who is looking only into the glass would not see any difference.
I see this narration as a little stalker-esk. The narrator is watching the woman as she lives her life, being satirical and judging the woman for what she sees through the glass.
The end conclusion of the writing says, "Here was the woman herself. She stood naked in that pitiless light. And there was nothing. Isabella was perfectly empty. She had no thoughts. She had no friends. She cared for nobody." Isabella, the woman, is not what the narrator has described her as all through the reading, really the glass gave tricks of light and shadows to describe the woman falsely.
In my own life How have I seen someone for what they truly were, was the first impression always accurate? I have looked at people through a figurative looking glass, giving them qualities they did not deserve or ask for. But that is a mis-judgment on my part, not theirs.
"reflected the hall table, the sunflowers, the garden path so accurately and fixedly they seemed held there in their reality inescapably" This quote in the Looking Glass describes the looking glass to the reader, making the looking glass seem like a reality, that someone could get lost into, and it seems the reader is lost in the looking glass.
The old woman that the narrator is following while gardening is as described:‘The sun would beat down on her face, into her eyes; but no, at the critical moment a veil of cloud covered the sun, making the expression of her eyes doubtful" The narrator is judging the woman by the reflection in the glass, the reality of the situation is that the glass could not capture the true image, because of the complexity of glass, the cloud could have messed with the reflection, but someone who is looking only into the glass would not see any difference.
I see this narration as a little stalker-esk. The narrator is watching the woman as she lives her life, being satirical and judging the woman for what she sees through the glass.
The end conclusion of the writing says, "Here was the woman herself. She stood naked in that pitiless light. And there was nothing. Isabella was perfectly empty. She had no thoughts. She had no friends. She cared for nobody." Isabella, the woman, is not what the narrator has described her as all through the reading, really the glass gave tricks of light and shadows to describe the woman falsely.
In my own life How have I seen someone for what they truly were, was the first impression always accurate? I have looked at people through a figurative looking glass, giving them qualities they did not deserve or ask for. But that is a mis-judgment on my part, not theirs.
Gerald Manley Hopkins - God's Grandeur
Hopkins, an ordained Jesuit priest writes of God's grandeur, or grand plan and mystery.
It describes man, "Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; and all is seared with trade; bleated smeared with toil;" He is describing man's desecration of the Earth that God has given us, as a gift. But yet, "and for all this, nature is never spent." Through all the industrialism of the West and going Eastward, humans have not tapped the resource that the earth has to offer. This is, "Because of the Holy Ghost over bent world broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings." He is saying the Holy Ghost is watching over the Earth while we are destroying her, not because we know better or because we have insight like God does, but because the Earth is special and we need to learn to take better care of it, change the paradigm of the industrial age and give back to the Earth, as we have taken so much.
I see a lot of modern Victorian ideals in this poem, religious faith, and the vow to find "God's work in nature" make him a late romantic. He lives during a time like ours, where the world is seeing the repercussions of industrial nations. An Inconvenient Truth is a movie that hits home to a lot of people about Global Warming, and though I feel it is more of a gimmick for Al Gore, it has a good message that people need to see and act upon.
It describes man, "Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; and all is seared with trade; bleated smeared with toil;" He is describing man's desecration of the Earth that God has given us, as a gift. But yet, "and for all this, nature is never spent." Through all the industrialism of the West and going Eastward, humans have not tapped the resource that the earth has to offer. This is, "Because of the Holy Ghost over bent world broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings." He is saying the Holy Ghost is watching over the Earth while we are destroying her, not because we know better or because we have insight like God does, but because the Earth is special and we need to learn to take better care of it, change the paradigm of the industrial age and give back to the Earth, as we have taken so much.
I see a lot of modern Victorian ideals in this poem, religious faith, and the vow to find "God's work in nature" make him a late romantic. He lives during a time like ours, where the world is seeing the repercussions of industrial nations. An Inconvenient Truth is a movie that hits home to a lot of people about Global Warming, and though I feel it is more of a gimmick for Al Gore, it has a good message that people need to see and act upon.
Oscar Wilde - Symphony in Yellow
I like Oscar Wilde a lot. He does not seem to be a Victorian, instead a Romantic, with his description of detail and painting a picture with words, in his poem, Symphony in Yellow.
His poem describes the butterfly that "crawls" and "Te yellow leaves begin to fade" this descriptive imagery is more than the poem itself. It describes the yellow in synergy, or as he puts it synergy. Wilde sees the aesthetic imagery in poetry and uses it to hid advantage. "And at my feet the pale green Thames, Lies like a rod of rippled jade." The only thing I can think of with a "rippled jade" is an oil painting, I do not actually see these things in real life, I am too busy living my life "too intensely." Oscar Wilde saw things differently, he wanted us to stare at paintings and analyze their symmetry and find "symphony in yellow" instead of trying to make money and live a rat race of a life, he wanted us to find the beauty in art.
I can relate to this poem by looking at a painting of the time period and seeing what he sees in these poems (read Impression du Matin), the imagery he gives is very realistic to the actual painting.
His poem describes the butterfly that "crawls" and "Te yellow leaves begin to fade" this descriptive imagery is more than the poem itself. It describes the yellow in synergy, or as he puts it synergy. Wilde sees the aesthetic imagery in poetry and uses it to hid advantage. "And at my feet the pale green Thames, Lies like a rod of rippled jade." The only thing I can think of with a "rippled jade" is an oil painting, I do not actually see these things in real life, I am too busy living my life "too intensely." Oscar Wilde saw things differently, he wanted us to stare at paintings and analyze their symmetry and find "symphony in yellow" instead of trying to make money and live a rat race of a life, he wanted us to find the beauty in art.
I can relate to this poem by looking at a painting of the time period and seeing what he sees in these poems (read Impression du Matin), the imagery he gives is very realistic to the actual painting.
John Stuart Mill - Statement repudiating the Rights of Husbands
In this excerpt from Mill's experience of pre-marriage to Harriet Taylor. He saw the laws of marriage, the married woman in England could not own property or sign legal documents.
This statement seems to be defending his future wife, and all legally married woman. He does not see the sense in having a married woman be bound to her husband and give up her rights to own property or anything that demeans her at all. He is protesting the marriage laws and would rather not get married at all if she would not be considered an equal partner in this marriage.
"And in the event of marriage between Mrs. Taylor and me I declare it to be my will and intention, and the condition of the engagement between us, that she retains in all respected whatever the same absolute freedom of action, and freedom of disposal of herself and all of that does or may at any time belong to her, as if no such marriage had taken place;"
I do not know the circumstance of this letter, if it had been forced by Mrs. Taylor (at the time Ms. Taylor) and if he had done it on his own accord. I believe he did it on his own accord, looking into his personal history, as a utilitarian and being against unlimited state control.
I see him as the first Libertarian, he wants small government rule, a leave me alone!, attitude. And then he wants social equality for everyone and not just including himself. He is definitely someone I can relate to, especially after reading the murders of fictional characters by Browning. I think his liberal ideology and apparent love for the oppressed class, especially for his time, speaks wonders for his character and humanitarian aid.
This statement seems to be defending his future wife, and all legally married woman. He does not see the sense in having a married woman be bound to her husband and give up her rights to own property or anything that demeans her at all. He is protesting the marriage laws and would rather not get married at all if she would not be considered an equal partner in this marriage.
"And in the event of marriage between Mrs. Taylor and me I declare it to be my will and intention, and the condition of the engagement between us, that she retains in all respected whatever the same absolute freedom of action, and freedom of disposal of herself and all of that does or may at any time belong to her, as if no such marriage had taken place;"
I do not know the circumstance of this letter, if it had been forced by Mrs. Taylor (at the time Ms. Taylor) and if he had done it on his own accord. I believe he did it on his own accord, looking into his personal history, as a utilitarian and being against unlimited state control.
I see him as the first Libertarian, he wants small government rule, a leave me alone!, attitude. And then he wants social equality for everyone and not just including himself. He is definitely someone I can relate to, especially after reading the murders of fictional characters by Browning. I think his liberal ideology and apparent love for the oppressed class, especially for his time, speaks wonders for his character and humanitarian aid.
Robert Browning - Porphyria's Lover
This poem scares me a little, it is about a mans dillsuional and seemingly paranoid affection for Porphyria. She has told him that she loves him, and he wants to keep that moment sacred, so he strangles her with her own hair. This poem is written after the fact and is his recollection and reasoning behind it all. She says she loves him and he, "so, she came through wind and rain. Be sure I looked up at her eyes. Happy and proud; at last I knew. Porphyria worshipped me; surprise Made my heart swell and still it grew while I debated what to do." This quote describes his feeling when Porphyria describes and proclaimes her love for him, coming through the wind and rain.
So he decides to, " That moment she was mine, mine, fair, perfectly pure and good: I found a thing to do, and all her hair In one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around, And strangled her. No pain felt she; I am quiet sure she felt no pain." This is the part that disturbs me. He has found pure love, and it appears to be mutual, why else would he have such passion for her? She "felt no pain" is irrelevant, because we cannot ask her, but the psychology that he thinks she felt no pain is evident. He feels she is so in love with him that she is enjoying the pain and actually wanted it to happen. The last line of the poem is what concludes his mental instability, "And yet God has not said a word!" Here he describes his murder and then says she would be at peace and even a willing participant, whatever the case, God has accepted his deed and not done a thing about it. So to him, fate is sealed, he has done the right thing in this situation, to preserve the love they share, the only way was to kill her.
I have mixed feelings about this poem, at first reading I see a sick demented person who is too paranoid that his lover will leave him or fall out of love with him, and he wants to keep the love pure. But at a second glance I see how much he actually loved her, we do not know the circumstances of his poem, and most of Browning's characters are psychopaths, in interpretation, but this one seems to have a pure love with mixed morals. I do not see myself identifying with this fictional character, but I can see the psychology behind some murders of passion that have been committed in modern day, or back then. They have had a reason, however skewed, that made it okay and the right thing to do.
So he decides to, " That moment she was mine, mine, fair, perfectly pure and good: I found a thing to do, and all her hair In one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around, And strangled her. No pain felt she; I am quiet sure she felt no pain." This is the part that disturbs me. He has found pure love, and it appears to be mutual, why else would he have such passion for her? She "felt no pain" is irrelevant, because we cannot ask her, but the psychology that he thinks she felt no pain is evident. He feels she is so in love with him that she is enjoying the pain and actually wanted it to happen. The last line of the poem is what concludes his mental instability, "And yet God has not said a word!" Here he describes his murder and then says she would be at peace and even a willing participant, whatever the case, God has accepted his deed and not done a thing about it. So to him, fate is sealed, he has done the right thing in this situation, to preserve the love they share, the only way was to kill her.
I have mixed feelings about this poem, at first reading I see a sick demented person who is too paranoid that his lover will leave him or fall out of love with him, and he wants to keep the love pure. But at a second glance I see how much he actually loved her, we do not know the circumstances of his poem, and most of Browning's characters are psychopaths, in interpretation, but this one seems to have a pure love with mixed morals. I do not see myself identifying with this fictional character, but I can see the psychology behind some murders of passion that have been committed in modern day, or back then. They have had a reason, however skewed, that made it okay and the right thing to do.
Lord Tennyson - The Lady of Shalott
This poem is based on Arthurian and Medieval writings, The Lady of Shalott is a tragic character tha has a curse brought upon her that she knows not where it came from. Instead she just weaves her basket and looks into her doomed mirror.
But who hat seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The lady of Shalott?
She sees all these people pass on the road to Camelot, and she may recongnize them and see their lives pass, but they have no idea who The lady of Shalott is!
She remains like this, passing the time weaving, until one day she sees Sir Lancelot, "From the bank and from the river he flash'd into the crystal mirror, "Tirra, lirra," by the river, sang Sir Lancelot." She is smitten by him and, "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 mirro crack'd from side to side; "THe curse is come upon me," cried the Lady of Shalott" And as she cried this she realized that she will die or have a great hurt come upon her. This is the choice she made when she decided to gaze upon Sir Lancelot, instead of through the mirror, but in real life, with her own eyes. She races after Sir Lancelot, writing her name on the boat that she has ridden to go to Camelot, and dies before reaching what she so desires.
My own experiences are not this dramatic. But I do wonder, What-If? Like what-if I had gone to a different school, or what If I had talked to the pretty girl in 10th grade. Would I have a different life? Or would I be looking destroying my own mirror and ruining my life by changing my routine. I see a lot of Plato's The Cave, in this poem. The man looking onto the world of shadows is not satisified by his own life and wants more wants to see the real thing. But when he gets out, he is blinded by the light. What I am getting at, was she ready to leave the cursed mirror, maybe that was all that could contain her "sickness" or "curse", if she had not left the mirror, she would be alive. But if she stayed she would be in agony and misery forever.
- She knows not what the curse may be,
- And so she weaveth steadily,
- And little other care hath she,
- The Lady of Shalott.
But who hat seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The lady of Shalott?
She sees all these people pass on the road to Camelot, and she may recongnize them and see their lives pass, but they have no idea who The lady of Shalott is!
She remains like this, passing the time weaving, until one day she sees Sir Lancelot, "From the bank and from the river he flash'd into the crystal mirror, "Tirra, lirra," by the river, sang Sir Lancelot." She is smitten by him and, "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 mirro crack'd from side to side; "THe curse is come upon me," cried the Lady of Shalott" And as she cried this she realized that she will die or have a great hurt come upon her. This is the choice she made when she decided to gaze upon Sir Lancelot, instead of through the mirror, but in real life, with her own eyes. She races after Sir Lancelot, writing her name on the boat that she has ridden to go to Camelot, and dies before reaching what she so desires.
- "Who is this? And what is here?"
- And in the lighted palace near
- Died the sound of royal cheer;
- And they crossed 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."
My own experiences are not this dramatic. But I do wonder, What-If? Like what-if I had gone to a different school, or what If I had talked to the pretty girl in 10th grade. Would I have a different life? Or would I be looking destroying my own mirror and ruining my life by changing my routine. I see a lot of Plato's The Cave, in this poem. The man looking onto the world of shadows is not satisified by his own life and wants more wants to see the real thing. But when he gets out, he is blinded by the light. What I am getting at, was she ready to leave the cursed mirror, maybe that was all that could contain her "sickness" or "curse", if she had not left the mirror, she would be alive. But if she stayed she would be in agony and misery forever.
Lord Tennyson - The Kraken
The Kraken immediately came to me when I past the page in the
book. I have heard of this creature and seen it in movies, most recently, the clash of the Titans, and seems to resemble the creature in 20,000 leagues under the sea. But I think that is what Tennyson was going for, a descriptive poem about an abstract creature that has been referenced before but never given much character uther than its tremendous size and mystery.
book. I have heard of this creature and seen it in movies, most recently, the clash of the Titans, and seems to resemble the creature in 20,000 leagues under the sea. But I think that is what Tennyson was going for, a descriptive poem about an abstract creature that has been referenced before but never given much character uther than its tremendous size and mystery.His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
The Kraken, here, is sleeping and being ominous, but it is always lurking with its "huge sponges of
millenial growth and height", making this a story of fairy tales and scaring little children at night.
"Then once by man and angles to be seen, In roaring he shall rise on the surface die". This is obviously
talking about an apocolypse, a christian one, where Angles and man will be on earth and he shall rise,
as if the end of the world wasn't bad enough, a Kraken, this huge ominous monster, will rise and wreck havock.
All the pictures I could find of these are of huge tentacled squid-like creatures. As seen to the left, the Kraken is
monstrous and would probably be a sight to see, if real.
In my personal experience, anytime a movie director/producer cannot think of a good monster name,
they use the KRAKEN. And there is a good reason behind it, it is the basis of most sea monsters
and is in many different cultures. The Kraken is always seen as being dormant and waiting, Hades in the
movie, The Clash of the Titans, yells "Release the Kraken" to symbolize the end of the world and
one of the most devastating things he could have done, he cannot control the Kraken, and he knows this, adding to the mythical lore, not even a God could control the Kraken, once released.
Charles Dickens - A visit to Newgate
Dickens visits a prison in this publication dated in 1836. His father had a stint in a prison for debt and this hits close to home for him. As he visits the prison he sees the downside of industrialism, the downside of technology. Dickens moves us through the prison, from the grounds where they have "limited" excersie, unless on death row, then they are confined to their quarters. Here he introduces us to one example, an old decrepid woman, who is seeminlgy going insane as it is read, "The old woman was talking in that low, stifled tone of voice which tells so forcibly of mental anguish; and every now and then burst into an irrepressible sharp, abrupt cry of grief, the most distressing sound that ears can hear." This gives the reader an image of a woman, much like your own mother or grandmother who has been confined so long in this dreary place that she has gone mentally insane, was she like this before she got here? or did it happen while confined?
A chilling imagery is seen in this quote and passage describing a girl whose mother had commited a crime and she was punished for being guilty by association , "The girl belonged to a class - unhappily but too extensive - the very existence of which, should make men's hearts bleed. Barely past her childhood, it required but a glance to discover that she was one of those children, born and bred in neglect and vice, who have never known what childhood is: who have never been taught to love and court a parent's smile, or to dread a parent's frown." She was born in the prison and maybe ended up there herself, but was given no chance for survival, as it is said in the quote, she had no childhood, not taught to "love and court a parents smile, or to dread a parent's frown." This is the lost generation of England, not given a chance to make it out of their stereotype.
A longer passage of a man on deathrow hearing his own prayer vigil,
"Immediately below the reading-desk, on the floor of the chapel, and forming the most conspicuous object in its little area, is THE CONDEMNED PEW; a huge black pen, in which the wretched people, who are singled out for death, are placed on the Sunday preceding their execution, in sight of all their fellow-prisoners, from many of whom they may have been separated but a week before, to hear prayers for their own souls, to join in the responses of their own burial service, and to listen to an address, warning their recent companions to take example by their fate, and urging themselves, while there is yet time - nearly four-and-twenty hours - to 'turn, and flee from the wrath to come!' Imagine what have been the feelings of the men whom that fearful pew has enclosed, and of whom, between the gallows and the knife, no mortal remnant may now remain! Think of the hopeless clinging to life to the last, and the wild despair, far exceeding in anguish the felon's death itself, by which they have heard the certainty of their speedy transmission to another world, with all their crimes upon their heads, rung into their ears by the officiating clergyman!"
This man has to hear his peers and clergy of the prison pray for his soul and he has no "mortal" life left, he will die in 24 hours and they are already acting as if he dead, that is probably where the term, dead man walking came from, he was still alive, but no hope for survival.
The end of the poem tells of a dream that a death row inmate has, where he has fled the prison and makes a new life for himself, but as he awakes, he realizes that that was only a dream and not real at all, he will still die in 2 hours.
This was a hard one to read. Much different than the romantic poems of the Romantics, where nature and imagery blended together so well. Nothing so real came from them, nothing so chilling and dark. But I can appreciate this type of writing so much more, it has meaning and not just an abstract meaning, but something that is going on in the real world, maybe even right now. A man's feelings of utter hopelessness.
A chilling imagery is seen in this quote and passage describing a girl whose mother had commited a crime and she was punished for being guilty by association , "The girl belonged to a class - unhappily but too extensive - the very existence of which, should make men's hearts bleed. Barely past her childhood, it required but a glance to discover that she was one of those children, born and bred in neglect and vice, who have never known what childhood is: who have never been taught to love and court a parent's smile, or to dread a parent's frown." She was born in the prison and maybe ended up there herself, but was given no chance for survival, as it is said in the quote, she had no childhood, not taught to "love and court a parents smile, or to dread a parent's frown." This is the lost generation of England, not given a chance to make it out of their stereotype.
A longer passage of a man on deathrow hearing his own prayer vigil,
"Immediately below the reading-desk, on the floor of the chapel, and forming the most conspicuous object in its little area, is THE CONDEMNED PEW; a huge black pen, in which the wretched people, who are singled out for death, are placed on the Sunday preceding their execution, in sight of all their fellow-prisoners, from many of whom they may have been separated but a week before, to hear prayers for their own souls, to join in the responses of their own burial service, and to listen to an address, warning their recent companions to take example by their fate, and urging themselves, while there is yet time - nearly four-and-twenty hours - to 'turn, and flee from the wrath to come!' Imagine what have been the feelings of the men whom that fearful pew has enclosed, and of whom, between the gallows and the knife, no mortal remnant may now remain! Think of the hopeless clinging to life to the last, and the wild despair, far exceeding in anguish the felon's death itself, by which they have heard the certainty of their speedy transmission to another world, with all their crimes upon their heads, rung into their ears by the officiating clergyman!"
This man has to hear his peers and clergy of the prison pray for his soul and he has no "mortal" life left, he will die in 24 hours and they are already acting as if he dead, that is probably where the term, dead man walking came from, he was still alive, but no hope for survival.
The end of the poem tells of a dream that a death row inmate has, where he has fled the prison and makes a new life for himself, but as he awakes, he realizes that that was only a dream and not real at all, he will still die in 2 hours.
This was a hard one to read. Much different than the romantic poems of the Romantics, where nature and imagery blended together so well. Nothing so real came from them, nothing so chilling and dark. But I can appreciate this type of writing so much more, it has meaning and not just an abstract meaning, but something that is going on in the real world, maybe even right now. A man's feelings of utter hopelessness.
Thomas Carlyle - Past and Present
Written around a time where famine and poverty were prevalent in England, Carlyle wrote to the working class, like an English Socialist-lite he wrote about how the aristocracy was using the best and brightest of England, the working-man, to make money and keep them away from the fruits of labor. In his quote about what the upper-class was saying to the working man, "Touch it not, ye workers, ye master-workers, ye master-idlers; none of you can touch it, no man of you shall be the better for it; this is enchanted fruit!" Here the working man, who works hard and long to make a better life for himself, in actuality has no inspiration or motivational drive, if the aristocracy takes from him all that he has worked for.
He compares the life of the aristocrat as,
"many men eat finer cookery, drink dearer liquors, - with what advantage they can report, and their doctors can: but in the heart of them, if we go out of the dyspecptic stomach, what increase of blessedness is there? Are they better, beautifuler, stronger, braver? Are they even what they call "happier"? Do they look with satisfaction on more things and human faces in this God's-Earth; do more things and human faces look with satisfaction on them? Not so."
This long quote is very realistic to the times, the aristocrat and nobles are said to have noble or holy blood, that is descended from their father's fathers. Carlyle is saying the working class deserve just as much if not more good treatment as this, and he calls upon God's blessing to say so. He sees equality in men, no matter their birth right. He calls upon the rich working man, who can actually do something about these immanent changes.
He uses the fable of Midas, whose touch turned anything into Gold. He compares this to England saying even though we have all these riches, what good are they if everyone who works for them is not the happier? "What a trush in these old fables!" he says our "successful industry is a non-success! what a strange success!" meaning that the industry of England is one of the most powerful in the world, and yet the vast majority of England sees none of this.
I can relate to this reading by the fact that I am a social Liberal. I will not divulge on my economic politics as they do not pertain to this post. But the social aspect of the USA is of major concern to me. Why can Homosexuals not get married? Do they not pay taxes as everyone else does? What right do we have to tell a woman she cannot make major decisions in her life? Why is it fair that the rich in the US can hire rich tax firms to skimp out on what they owe to their country? I ask these questions with one thing in mind, the benefit of the everyday people of the United States. I am not saying one political party is better and going to help us overcome these social inequalities. But something has to change to make the lives of our countrymen equal. I am not a Marxist, as I believe Carlyle is not either. He believes in "heroes" that have power and can make a difference, to rise up from the paradox of a rich class and a poor class being separated by authority and near-slavery. Today we have a huge middle class that seems to run the government and make all the decisions, but they need to look out for their less-than equal peers, and make them equal!
He compares the life of the aristocrat as,
"many men eat finer cookery, drink dearer liquors, - with what advantage they can report, and their doctors can: but in the heart of them, if we go out of the dyspecptic stomach, what increase of blessedness is there? Are they better, beautifuler, stronger, braver? Are they even what they call "happier"? Do they look with satisfaction on more things and human faces in this God's-Earth; do more things and human faces look with satisfaction on them? Not so."
This long quote is very realistic to the times, the aristocrat and nobles are said to have noble or holy blood, that is descended from their father's fathers. Carlyle is saying the working class deserve just as much if not more good treatment as this, and he calls upon God's blessing to say so. He sees equality in men, no matter their birth right. He calls upon the rich working man, who can actually do something about these immanent changes.
He uses the fable of Midas, whose touch turned anything into Gold. He compares this to England saying even though we have all these riches, what good are they if everyone who works for them is not the happier? "What a trush in these old fables!" he says our "successful industry is a non-success! what a strange success!" meaning that the industry of England is one of the most powerful in the world, and yet the vast majority of England sees none of this.
I can relate to this reading by the fact that I am a social Liberal. I will not divulge on my economic politics as they do not pertain to this post. But the social aspect of the USA is of major concern to me. Why can Homosexuals not get married? Do they not pay taxes as everyone else does? What right do we have to tell a woman she cannot make major decisions in her life? Why is it fair that the rich in the US can hire rich tax firms to skimp out on what they owe to their country? I ask these questions with one thing in mind, the benefit of the everyday people of the United States. I am not saying one political party is better and going to help us overcome these social inequalities. But something has to change to make the lives of our countrymen equal. I am not a Marxist, as I believe Carlyle is not either. He believes in "heroes" that have power and can make a difference, to rise up from the paradox of a rich class and a poor class being separated by authority and near-slavery. Today we have a huge middle class that seems to run the government and make all the decisions, but they need to look out for their less-than equal peers, and make them equal!
Felecia Hemans - Woman and Fame
Hemans was a gifted writer and was first published at 14, so no doubt one of her later poems would be about woman and fame, being as though she had been a famous poet for more than 20 years when this poem was published (1836).
Happy - happier far than thou,
With the laurel on thy brow;
She that makes the humblest hearth,
Lovely but to one on earth.
This is the epigraph of the poem and is actually a self quotation from another poem, maybe to help readers recognize who she is or see another one of her poems, like advertising in the 1800s. But I think really, she liked this line and it inspired her following poem.
Thou has a charmed cup, O Fame!
A draught that mantles high,
and seems to life this earthly frame
above mortality,
Away! to me - a woman- bring
sweet waters from affection's spring.
This second stanza of the poem describes how Hemans feels about fame, it is a "charmed cup" that drinks from a high mantle. I think she means, in common day language, that everyone puts fame on a pedistal and she, having had fame for 20 years, sees it as all smoke and mirrors, the fame she has, especially as a woman brings a lot of affection and adoration, but it has its own downfalls, no matter how charmed a life.
speaking of her fame, in line 19-23
A hollow sound is in thy song,
A mockery in thine eye,
To the sick heart that doth but long
For aid, for sympathy;
for kindly looks to cheer it on,
for tender accents that are gone
Fame has a "hollow sound" in its song, and seems to mock her even though she thinks that she has treated it well. Maybe the fame was blissful at first, but as she matured the "tender accents that are gone"; all the sparkle of fame has diminished. And on her last stanza, "Where must the lone one turn or flee? - not unto thee, oh! not to thee!", here she is saying that all she wants is some privacy, or maybe she likes the fame, but to anyone that would like privacy and a lonely hermits life, would not like fame in theirs.
I do not have any experience with a famed life or recognition, I was in the Macon Telegraph for winning a city tournament for wrestling, and even then I was bashful when people would bring me clippings from the paper. But I do watch a lot of E! news channel and see the famous people as they hide their faces from the demanding paparazzi. Some famous people, like Paris Hilton or Megan Fox, seem to like the fame and addoration, but they are young and will, as time goes on, see the fame is just another life that has its ups and downs. Others, like the late Kirk Cobain and Johnny Depp did not/do not like the fame. Kirk was a troubled artist with a lot of talent but saw his record label and peers try and turn him into something he was not, and that "charmed cup" was just that, a charm, not real, but an illusion. Johnny Depp dealt with the fame a little more securely, he went off to France where he would not be recognized or at the very least bothered as much, a lone person would not like fame at all.
Happy - happier far than thou,
With the laurel on thy brow;
She that makes the humblest hearth,
Lovely but to one on earth.
This is the epigraph of the poem and is actually a self quotation from another poem, maybe to help readers recognize who she is or see another one of her poems, like advertising in the 1800s. But I think really, she liked this line and it inspired her following poem.
Thou has a charmed cup, O Fame!
A draught that mantles high,
and seems to life this earthly frame
above mortality,
Away! to me - a woman- bring
sweet waters from affection's spring.
This second stanza of the poem describes how Hemans feels about fame, it is a "charmed cup" that drinks from a high mantle. I think she means, in common day language, that everyone puts fame on a pedistal and she, having had fame for 20 years, sees it as all smoke and mirrors, the fame she has, especially as a woman brings a lot of affection and adoration, but it has its own downfalls, no matter how charmed a life.
speaking of her fame, in line 19-23
A hollow sound is in thy song,
A mockery in thine eye,
To the sick heart that doth but long
For aid, for sympathy;
for kindly looks to cheer it on,
for tender accents that are gone
Fame has a "hollow sound" in its song, and seems to mock her even though she thinks that she has treated it well. Maybe the fame was blissful at first, but as she matured the "tender accents that are gone"; all the sparkle of fame has diminished. And on her last stanza, "Where must the lone one turn or flee? - not unto thee, oh! not to thee!", here she is saying that all she wants is some privacy, or maybe she likes the fame, but to anyone that would like privacy and a lonely hermits life, would not like fame in theirs.
I do not have any experience with a famed life or recognition, I was in the Macon Telegraph for winning a city tournament for wrestling, and even then I was bashful when people would bring me clippings from the paper. But I do watch a lot of E! news channel and see the famous people as they hide their faces from the demanding paparazzi. Some famous people, like Paris Hilton or Megan Fox, seem to like the fame and addoration, but they are young and will, as time goes on, see the fame is just another life that has its ups and downs. Others, like the late Kirk Cobain and Johnny Depp did not/do not like the fame. Kirk was a troubled artist with a lot of talent but saw his record label and peers try and turn him into something he was not, and that "charmed cup" was just that, a charm, not real, but an illusion. Johnny Depp dealt with the fame a little more securely, he went off to France where he would not be recognized or at the very least bothered as much, a lone person would not like fame at all.
John Keats - Ode to a Nightingale
Keats writes ode to a nightingale in 1819 with some other Ode's poems. I liked this one the best because it has a lot of symbolism and seems to be an inspiration from other poems and stories, but also he draws from within is own experiences at his own house!
In Nightingale, Keats draws upon the birds that have sung to anyone and everyone that have heard him. In stanza 7 it reads:
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown.
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn.
I like the idea here that even though the same bird did not sing to clowns, Kings, Keats, or the biblical Ruth; but the same song they sing has been around that long. This is not possible for a human, since we are in touch with our own indivuality and thus our own eventual demise. Nightingales are the opposite to us in this respect, no matter what age, they sing to and inspire us no matter what bird is singing. As we have traced time and memory back to Ruth, biblically, and Kings and up to Keats, we have a change in culture and religion and ways of thought. But the nightingale has kept its same song all this time.
In stanza 8:
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music: - Do I wake or sleep?
The bird has flown away, and Keats is upset, to say the least. The imagery of the bird flying away, deceiving a mythical creature, the elf, and going to the next person to inspire, yet not knowing he is going to be doing that or that he has just come from a place that will make his song immortal in poem. Keats asks himself if he is awake or asleep, dreaming about a message or vision, or if this is all real. the experience was very surreal for him and he has a hard time believing it was a coincidence.
I, myself, believe in divine intervention and that there is a master plan for all of us. But the nightingale in this poem, and in general, do not think of such things, they have a natural habit and kind of do the same thing over and over, unlike us, humans, that seem to want to be different, but yet have the same fate as the nightingale, death.
In Nightingale, Keats draws upon the birds that have sung to anyone and everyone that have heard him. In stanza 7 it reads:
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown.
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn.
I like the idea here that even though the same bird did not sing to clowns, Kings, Keats, or the biblical Ruth; but the same song they sing has been around that long. This is not possible for a human, since we are in touch with our own indivuality and thus our own eventual demise. Nightingales are the opposite to us in this respect, no matter what age, they sing to and inspire us no matter what bird is singing. As we have traced time and memory back to Ruth, biblically, and Kings and up to Keats, we have a change in culture and religion and ways of thought. But the nightingale has kept its same song all this time.
In stanza 8:
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music: - Do I wake or sleep?
The bird has flown away, and Keats is upset, to say the least. The imagery of the bird flying away, deceiving a mythical creature, the elf, and going to the next person to inspire, yet not knowing he is going to be doing that or that he has just come from a place that will make his song immortal in poem. Keats asks himself if he is awake or asleep, dreaming about a message or vision, or if this is all real. the experience was very surreal for him and he has a hard time believing it was a coincidence.
I, myself, believe in divine intervention and that there is a master plan for all of us. But the nightingale in this poem, and in general, do not think of such things, they have a natural habit and kind of do the same thing over and over, unlike us, humans, that seem to want to be different, but yet have the same fate as the nightingale, death.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Lord Byron - Child Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto the Third
George Gordon, his father left him and his mother early and his great-uncle died childless Gordon inherited his estate, making him Lord Byron. He was one of the most popular poets of his time. Lord Byron's Child Harold's Pilgrimage had 2 other Cantos that are not mentioned in the reading but are semi-autobiographical. In stanza 94 Byron describes nature as a subliminal illusion to his own life and others lives. This particular stanza describes his separation from his wife. "Now, where the swift Rhone cleaves his way between heights which appear as lovers who have parted." His wife is one mountain and he is the other, the Rhone river which runs in between may symbolize the distance that is shared between them or more deeply the emotional difference they share, something that separates them. The sad part about this line is that Lord Byron sees the other mountain's top through the valley but cannot reach it, he thinks about his wife but cannot accompany her. In stanza 97 it reads:
Could I embody and unbosom now
That which is most within me, -- could I wreak
My thoughts upon expression, and thus throw
Soul, heart, mind, passions, feelings, strong or weak,
All that I would have sought, and all I seek,
Bear, know, feel, and yet breathe -- into one word,
And that one word were Lightning, I would speak;
But as it is, I live and die unheard,
With a most voiceless thought, sheathing it as a sword.
This stanza is very powerful and brings up a lot of emotional turmoil inside me, which comes from
my shear sympathy for Lord Byron's character, who presumably is himself in this poem. He throws
"soul, heart, mind, passions, feelings" into his writings and does a great job of telling us exactly how
he feels. But yet he cannot speak to which he is trying to say, he can only describe it by using one
word, "lightning", which if you have ever seen it, gives off a great and powerful light, that anyone can
see, but yet it is voiceless and "sheathing it as a sword", or hidden beneath a veil. The thunder which
follows lightning is always seconds later, but I think the writer feels the lightning is a good allusion to
how he feels in this poem and how, with all of his talent as a writer, cannot convey his feelings into
words.
Lord Byron had a lot of fame in his day, and to better or worse it stuck with him. In lines 1045-1057
of this poem:
Fame is the thirst of youth, -- but I am not
So young as to regard men's frown or smile,
As loss or guerdon of a glorious lot;
I stood and stand alone, -- remember'd or forgot.
I have not loved the world, nor the world me;
I have not flatter'd its rank breath, nor bow'd
To its idolatries a patient knee, --
Nor coin'd my cheek to smiles, -- nor cried aloud
In worship of an echo; in the crowd
They could not deem me one of such; I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts, and still could,
Had I not filed my mind, which thus itself subdued.
Lord Byron seems to detest his fame, but not denounce it. He accepts that he is in the public eye
and is loved by a lot of his countrymen. But as he says, "Fame is the thirst of youth, -But I am not" and
here you can see Byron's realization that some would kill for his kind of fame, the youth of his time, but
he is not young, or so he thinks, and does not thirst for such a status. In the lines, "In worship of an echo;
in the crowd, They could not deem me one of such; I stood Among them, but not of them; in a shroud."
Here Lord Byron is accepting that he is worshiped for his prose, but in a crowd he stands among them, but
he cannot relate to all of them, or any of them. He stands in a "shroud o thoughts which were not their thoughts"
so he sees that people worship him for what he has said, the thoughts he has given off, that they take
into their own lives and try to make their own experiences relevant. He seems to detest this fame and then
goes straight from detesting it into a self-gloating phase, "I stood and stand alone, -remember'd or forgot"
I think Byron wants to be remembered by his readers, but he realizes that he is alone, no matter how
many people would remember his poems.
I cannot relate to such fame and heartbreak that Lord Byron has experienced, I am only 21 years old with
no fame to speak of. But I can see many celebrities of today, who wish for fame all their lives, then detest
it as they have received the love and adoration of their fans. Lady Gaga has been in the news recently,
she was seen at a Met's game wearing a bra and a jacket, and then she gets upset when she gets
attention. Some people seem to ask for the attention and then renounce it when they have received it. I see
a little Lord Byron in a lot of celebrities on TV and Movies. Maybe they should read some of his writings and
see how thankful they should be and either choose to gloat or feel sorry for themselves, doing both
seems a little childish.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Kubla Khan
This blog post will be about my readings of Samuel Taylor Coleridge who is known for writing The rime of the ancient mariner, but I found this poem to be much more interesting easier to grasp, probably because of its short nature and vivid imagination.
This poem was written while the author was enduced with opium soaked in alcohol, a remedy made to decrease pain, the pschological effects and the subquential dreams to follow are what inspires this poem and the reason it is not finished. The author says it should have been 300 lines, but someone interrupted him while he was writing it and he forgot the rest of what he was going to say!
The poem begins with:
It goes on to read:
The next part, which is what made me decide to write about this poem, is moving and makes ourselves question the infinite's of nature and finite time which we are on this earth:
The end of the poem adds that anyone who heard her will see the same thing he has seen, "And all who heard should see them there, and all should cry, Beware! Beware!" So he is not the only one, he thinks, will see this place or hear this lady. I have read on Wikipedia.org that some will think the women to be the sun, the creator and nurturer of our Earth, and I agree. But she is not just singing to the author or to just us, but to the whole solar system, all that will hear (or feel) her.
My own experience with this poem is not the exact images or visuals that the author has seen and I have never dreamed about hearing the sun sing to me and let me create rivers and caves. But dreaming while on a drug or under the influence of something is an experience we (the author and I) share. My drug was not as intense and opium doused in alcohol, but I had my wisdom teeth taken out and I was on some strong pain relievers that put me to sleep almost as immediately as I took them. They gave me weird dreams that I would remember vividly after I woke up, but after a short time of being awake, with any of my dreams, I forget about them and even if I try, they go away forever. I think he would have written more about Kubla Khan and his land with "measureless" caves and man made walls, even more if we as not interrupted. And I may start doing that, keeping a writing pad next to my bed, so whenever I have an interesting dream, I could write down what it was and try and make sense of it later.
This poem was written while the author was enduced with opium soaked in alcohol, a remedy made to decrease pain, the pschological effects and the subquential dreams to follow are what inspires this poem and the reason it is not finished. The author says it should have been 300 lines, but someone interrupted him while he was writing it and he forgot the rest of what he was going to say!
The poem begins with:
- In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
- A stately pleasure-dome decree :
- Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
- Through caverns measureless to man
- Down to a sunless sea. (lines 1-5)
It goes on to read:
- So twice five miles of fertile ground
- With walls and towers were girdled round:
- And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
- Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
- And here were forests ancient as the hills,
- Enfolding sunny spots of greenery (line 6-11)
The next part, which is what made me decide to write about this poem, is moving and makes ourselves question the infinite's of nature and finite time which we are on this earth:
- And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
- As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
- A mighty fountain momently was forced:
- Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
- Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
- Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail: (line 17-22)
- This part seems to tell of a fountain or geyser with force to contradict the surroundings, peaceful and tranquil; much like our own inhabitants of the Earth. This fountain goes on for a little while with "swift bursts" that add some kind of new aura to the surrounding area.
- But as irony would have it, the poem goes on to say:
- And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
- It flung up momently the sacred river.
- Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
- Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
- Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
- And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean: (lines 23-28)
- The momentary flash of the fountain is stopped as sudden as it starts and though it started differently than all the other bits of water it had left behind, it has the same fate, to go through the "maze" of a river, through the "measureless" caves and then finally to the "lifeless" ocean. So no matter how much of an impact we make, we will still have the same fate as everyone else, to be lifeless, or death, as i interpret it.
- The author goes on to write:
- A damsel with a dulcimer
- In a vision once I saw:
- It was an Abyssinian maid,
- And on her dulcimer she played,
- Singing of Mount Abora.
- Could I revive within me
- Her symphony and song,
- To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
- That with music loud and long,
- I would build that dome in air,
- That sunny dome! those caves of ice! (lines 37-47)
The end of the poem adds that anyone who heard her will see the same thing he has seen, "And all who heard should see them there, and all should cry, Beware! Beware!" So he is not the only one, he thinks, will see this place or hear this lady. I have read on Wikipedia.org that some will think the women to be the sun, the creator and nurturer of our Earth, and I agree. But she is not just singing to the author or to just us, but to the whole solar system, all that will hear (or feel) her.
My own experience with this poem is not the exact images or visuals that the author has seen and I have never dreamed about hearing the sun sing to me and let me create rivers and caves. But dreaming while on a drug or under the influence of something is an experience we (the author and I) share. My drug was not as intense and opium doused in alcohol, but I had my wisdom teeth taken out and I was on some strong pain relievers that put me to sleep almost as immediately as I took them. They gave me weird dreams that I would remember vividly after I woke up, but after a short time of being awake, with any of my dreams, I forget about them and even if I try, they go away forever. I think he would have written more about Kubla Khan and his land with "measureless" caves and man made walls, even more if we as not interrupted. And I may start doing that, keeping a writing pad next to my bed, so whenever I have an interesting dream, I could write down what it was and try and make sense of it later.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
William Wordsworth - Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey
William Wordsworth wrote Tintern Abbey after his second visit, five years after his first, to Tintern Abbey, as said: " Five years have passed; five summers, with the length of five long winters!". By this quote you can tell he missed the visits and enjoyed his time there. But to say he enjoys nature will grossly under appreciate the vastness of emphasis that Wordsworth puts on nature, as keeping himself both spiritually and mentally sound. This soundness can be seen by the lines (25-33):
"Though absent long,
these forms of beauty have not been to me,
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft in lonely rooms, and mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart,
And passing even into my purer mind
With tranquil restoration:"
This quote shows us a metaphor, even when he is absent and away from nature he uses the images as "a landscape to a blind man's eye" to keep himself sane and to counter the weariness of a city life. Another metaphor used later in the poem is "My former pleasures in the shootings lights of thy wild eyes. (117)" Describing is "Dear friend," who we know to be his sister (Dorothy Wordsworth), looking in amazement at the scenery, her eyes are not actually shooting light, but rather a metaphor to describe her intense gaze upon something she holds incredibly dear.
Talking again about how nature gives him something beyond what an ordinary city can give is this quote "And I have felt a presence that disturbs me with joy of elated thoughts, a sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused," As he has this sublime feeling about nature, we need to ask the question of how does nature affect someone. When you first look at it, a person experiences nature and sees the vastness and huge phenomenon that is seemingly more important than any individual person and will outlive them as well! Asking this question would give most people a sense of ease, and bring people back to earth, so to speak. But I see this as a question of fate and faith. Why am I so insignificant and no way do I have the possibility of ever being or considered to be of great importance, as compared to nature. But that is the ego of man talking and in the paradoxical catch-22 of life, nature will scare us and leave us feeling insignificant but then when you are away from it you can go back to that place, that sublime image in your head, and all the frustration of life will go away, because of nature.
After reading this poem I have realized why so many people keep pictures of the Grand Canyon, or Alaska, or some huge natural wonder at their desk or in their car. It is because that is their sublime "happy" place that Wordsworth is talking about. Wordsworth believed this to be true and even directly says this about the sublimity of nature in his quote from the poem, "that blessed mood, In which the burden of the mystery, In which the heavy and the weary weight/Of all this unintelligible world, Is lightened." The feeling he has of the heavy, weary, and unintelligible world is lifted and lightened. The thing that strikes me as odd about this quote is the mystery and unintelligible description of the world. And that something as unexplainable as nature, especially for the time, could send someone to a more calming place.
So, the first theme mentioned above was the Sublime nature of.. well nature. The second theme seems to be a Spiritual and more so the passage of time and life and death. In the quote, “almost suspended, we are laid asleep in body, and become a living soul” (Lines 46-47) This passage draws to mind the christian idea of heaven and our soul leaving our body to go there. This is added by the poems reference to the "hermit sitting alone" (line 22) as a hermit is a religous recluse, the poem has religious undertones. The attention Wordsworth puts on time, like in the quote, "These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs " (Line 3), the water rolling is like the passage of time and it has been five years since his last visit to the Abbey. I wonder if saw that it had not changed at all, untouched by man-made "progress." But how much had he changed? Did he feel older and in turn feel the inevitable truth of human existence, that we are all going to die and this place, The Abbey, will still be here.
The old proverb, "The grass is greener on the other side" comes to my mind when I read this poem, because I find myself let down by a vacation away from home, when I go somewhere I have been before; Like going to the beach at St. Augustine; but yet when I think about it a year later or even months later, I find that time to be not just comparable to the previous vacation, but somewhere I would much rather be than my current situation (which right now is at my computer catching up on blogs). At the time I do not consider the situation to be sublime and life-changing but as it is Wordsworth's second time in Tintern Abbey, he will pay attention to his experiences a little more closely than the last, which in turn led him to write this poem.
I liked this poem a lot and could relate to it very well, sitting on my computer just past midnight, having to go to work at 6 AM, I have the questions in my head, "Will I wake up early enough to not be late?" "Will I have enough time to finish all 20 of my blogs by next week?" then deeper and farther in the future thoughts pop into my head, "What will I do after this class ends, after college.. what then?" And I know I can always look to my vacation in St. Augustine and watching the waves crash over the rocks, and all the questions do not seem to require any stress, in the grand scheme of things.
"Though absent long,
these forms of beauty have not been to me,
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft in lonely rooms, and mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart,
And passing even into my purer mind
With tranquil restoration:"
This quote shows us a metaphor, even when he is absent and away from nature he uses the images as "a landscape to a blind man's eye" to keep himself sane and to counter the weariness of a city life. Another metaphor used later in the poem is "My former pleasures in the shootings lights of thy wild eyes. (117)" Describing is "Dear friend," who we know to be his sister (Dorothy Wordsworth), looking in amazement at the scenery, her eyes are not actually shooting light, but rather a metaphor to describe her intense gaze upon something she holds incredibly dear.
Talking again about how nature gives him something beyond what an ordinary city can give is this quote "And I have felt a presence that disturbs me with joy of elated thoughts, a sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused," As he has this sublime feeling about nature, we need to ask the question of how does nature affect someone. When you first look at it, a person experiences nature and sees the vastness and huge phenomenon that is seemingly more important than any individual person and will outlive them as well! Asking this question would give most people a sense of ease, and bring people back to earth, so to speak. But I see this as a question of fate and faith. Why am I so insignificant and no way do I have the possibility of ever being or considered to be of great importance, as compared to nature. But that is the ego of man talking and in the paradoxical catch-22 of life, nature will scare us and leave us feeling insignificant but then when you are away from it you can go back to that place, that sublime image in your head, and all the frustration of life will go away, because of nature.
After reading this poem I have realized why so many people keep pictures of the Grand Canyon, or Alaska, or some huge natural wonder at their desk or in their car. It is because that is their sublime "happy" place that Wordsworth is talking about. Wordsworth believed this to be true and even directly says this about the sublimity of nature in his quote from the poem, "that blessed mood, In which the burden of the mystery, In which the heavy and the weary weight/Of all this unintelligible world, Is lightened." The feeling he has of the heavy, weary, and unintelligible world is lifted and lightened. The thing that strikes me as odd about this quote is the mystery and unintelligible description of the world. And that something as unexplainable as nature, especially for the time, could send someone to a more calming place.
So, the first theme mentioned above was the Sublime nature of.. well nature. The second theme seems to be a Spiritual and more so the passage of time and life and death. In the quote, “almost suspended, we are laid asleep in body, and become a living soul” (Lines 46-47) This passage draws to mind the christian idea of heaven and our soul leaving our body to go there. This is added by the poems reference to the "hermit sitting alone" (line 22) as a hermit is a religous recluse, the poem has religious undertones. The attention Wordsworth puts on time, like in the quote, "These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs " (Line 3), the water rolling is like the passage of time and it has been five years since his last visit to the Abbey. I wonder if saw that it had not changed at all, untouched by man-made "progress." But how much had he changed? Did he feel older and in turn feel the inevitable truth of human existence, that we are all going to die and this place, The Abbey, will still be here.
The old proverb, "The grass is greener on the other side" comes to my mind when I read this poem, because I find myself let down by a vacation away from home, when I go somewhere I have been before; Like going to the beach at St. Augustine; but yet when I think about it a year later or even months later, I find that time to be not just comparable to the previous vacation, but somewhere I would much rather be than my current situation (which right now is at my computer catching up on blogs). At the time I do not consider the situation to be sublime and life-changing but as it is Wordsworth's second time in Tintern Abbey, he will pay attention to his experiences a little more closely than the last, which in turn led him to write this poem.
I liked this poem a lot and could relate to it very well, sitting on my computer just past midnight, having to go to work at 6 AM, I have the questions in my head, "Will I wake up early enough to not be late?" "Will I have enough time to finish all 20 of my blogs by next week?" then deeper and farther in the future thoughts pop into my head, "What will I do after this class ends, after college.. what then?" And I know I can always look to my vacation in St. Augustine and watching the waves crash over the rocks, and all the questions do not seem to require any stress, in the grand scheme of things.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
William Blake - The Lamb and The Tyger
I will be discussing Blake's The Lamb (p.g 79) and The Tyger (p.g 88-89) and comparing them to each other and my analysis. Blake has two very different poems parallel each other with an amazing fluid tone. The Lamb has an innocent tone and The Tyger with the uncertain reality.
In, The Lamb, Blake asks the "little lamb" who made thee and gave him his "tender voice" and "clothing wooly bright". Then in the second paragraph he answers the question posed earlier, It is God, or if you look at the line "He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb", "he is meek and he is mild, he became like a child"; you can see this is Jesus, as he was known as the Lamb of God in the New Testament, and came to Earth as a child. So Jesus is the Lamb who represents the innocence with that the faith, hope, and love of God. Jesus is just like a lamb, which in ancient times was used as a sacrifice to their Gods, just as Jesus sacrificed himself to let humans have a second chance with God. This poem is very joyous with lines such as "bless thee", "clothing wooly bright" and "Making all the vales rejoice".
The Lamb was written first, by Blake, and shows the more innocent side of God and what he has created. By contrast, in The Tyger, Blake writes about a darker form of creation, in a pessimistic, uncertain and urgent questioning of how can God create the tiger?
"Tyger Tyger, burning bright.
In the forest of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"
This stanza seems to admire and dread the question of who could create something with such "fearful symmetry?" He goes on to ask who created this animal, just as The Lamb asked the same question. But the words he uses such as "dread hand and what dread feet", "What the hammer? what the chain," and "In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil", all give off a symbolism of the times, the industrial revolution. It is pretty obvious by these specifically chosen words that Blake knew the Industrial revolution was part of a bigger plan and would change the world as he knew it for better and for worse. The pessimistic and dreading idea of the inevitable answer that the one that made the Lamb also made the Tiger is questioned in this poem, "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?"
The Tyger poem was written after The Lamb, as said before, and to comapre the two; The Lamb has all of its questions answered, even though they were rhetorical. The innocent tone and wording of The Lamb makes it easy for a child to understand, just as the church does in Sunday school when I would go and they would make everything so clear cut, everything was so Black and white. But as seen in The Tyger, life is not Black and white, there are a lot of Grey areas and a simple wish of faith may be sustainable for some people, but Blake did not answer his questions posed in The Tyger, even his last sentence of the poem is the same question asked in the first stanza. Really God (or whatever deity you desire) created both the lamb and the tiger and did so with a purpose, to counter balance each other and keep the world in harmony, just like everything else in nature.
In, The Lamb, Blake asks the "little lamb" who made thee and gave him his "tender voice" and "clothing wooly bright". Then in the second paragraph he answers the question posed earlier, It is God, or if you look at the line "He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb", "he is meek and he is mild, he became like a child"; you can see this is Jesus, as he was known as the Lamb of God in the New Testament, and came to Earth as a child. So Jesus is the Lamb who represents the innocence with that the faith, hope, and love of God. Jesus is just like a lamb, which in ancient times was used as a sacrifice to their Gods, just as Jesus sacrificed himself to let humans have a second chance with God. This poem is very joyous with lines such as "bless thee", "clothing wooly bright" and "Making all the vales rejoice".
The Lamb was written first, by Blake, and shows the more innocent side of God and what he has created. By contrast, in The Tyger, Blake writes about a darker form of creation, in a pessimistic, uncertain and urgent questioning of how can God create the tiger?
"Tyger Tyger, burning bright.
In the forest of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"
This stanza seems to admire and dread the question of who could create something with such "fearful symmetry?" He goes on to ask who created this animal, just as The Lamb asked the same question. But the words he uses such as "dread hand and what dread feet", "What the hammer? what the chain," and "In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil", all give off a symbolism of the times, the industrial revolution. It is pretty obvious by these specifically chosen words that Blake knew the Industrial revolution was part of a bigger plan and would change the world as he knew it for better and for worse. The pessimistic and dreading idea of the inevitable answer that the one that made the Lamb also made the Tiger is questioned in this poem, "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?"
The Tyger poem was written after The Lamb, as said before, and to comapre the two; The Lamb has all of its questions answered, even though they were rhetorical. The innocent tone and wording of The Lamb makes it easy for a child to understand, just as the church does in Sunday school when I would go and they would make everything so clear cut, everything was so Black and white. But as seen in The Tyger, life is not Black and white, there are a lot of Grey areas and a simple wish of faith may be sustainable for some people, but Blake did not answer his questions posed in The Tyger, even his last sentence of the poem is the same question asked in the first stanza. Really God (or whatever deity you desire) created both the lamb and the tiger and did so with a purpose, to counter balance each other and keep the world in harmony, just like everything else in nature.
French Revolution: Edmund Burke
My first Blog entry will be about Edmund Burke. He wrote some of the letters read about in the French Revolution readings (36-73). Edmund Burke was born in Ireland and is a political writer and member of the Irish Parliament for 30 years, he went to Trinity University and went to Law school but dropped out to pursue his writing career. His opposition of the French Revolution is apparent in his writings and he also was in favor of the better treatment of the American colonies, but did support the British right to tax the colonies (47). He dignified and made a heroine out of the queen of England in His paper, Reflections on the Revolution in France. He did not support the violent overthrow and eludes to the Magna Carta and Declaration of Right of the British, which shows that peaceful command of power is possible and works, as shown by the continued success of the Parliament in Britain enforcing anti-Tyranny and limited taxation by the monarchy and nobles.
In his work, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke goes on to say that "Levellers can never Equalize." This and the subsequent paragraph describing this idea, describes that men have equal rights, but not to the right of equal things. By things he means that a man with only a tiny amount of stock in a property or power, cannot make the rules and will have to let the management of the state go to the ones with the most power. The Levellers are the people that try to change society for the better, but end up perverting the natural order and making things worse, as apparent by the French Revolution. (50-51). He describes the arrest and imprisonement of the King and Queen of France and tells of the brutal massacre the "thieves and cruel ruffians" descended upon the holy sanctuary of a once revered symbol of monarchy in France. The desicration of this place cannot bring anykind of peaceful ruling and legislation or be accepted by the people as a whole. Years and years of monarchy crumbled in a few hours will not bode well with the rest of Europe and send a bad message of France's stability.
He describes the barbaric philosophy of the French Revolutionaries, the life of the King and Queen are nothing more than any other person and their sacrifice will bring peace to France. He thinks this philosophy is founded by terror and lacks "solid wisdom". He goes on to describe how in ancient Greece if a writer/poet had brought this story of the French Revolution to the stage and tried to act it out, it would be thrown out by the pure "hypothetical principles" of horrible crimes and treachery. (55)
These writings tell me that Burke believed the French Revolution would not end well for France and any kind of violent overthrow with no respect for human life, even a King's, would "resort to anarchy and uncivil ruling." The power that the King had will only go to someone else, maybe with even worse morals and intentions.
In his work, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke goes on to say that "Levellers can never Equalize." This and the subsequent paragraph describing this idea, describes that men have equal rights, but not to the right of equal things. By things he means that a man with only a tiny amount of stock in a property or power, cannot make the rules and will have to let the management of the state go to the ones with the most power. The Levellers are the people that try to change society for the better, but end up perverting the natural order and making things worse, as apparent by the French Revolution. (50-51). He describes the arrest and imprisonement of the King and Queen of France and tells of the brutal massacre the "thieves and cruel ruffians" descended upon the holy sanctuary of a once revered symbol of monarchy in France. The desicration of this place cannot bring anykind of peaceful ruling and legislation or be accepted by the people as a whole. Years and years of monarchy crumbled in a few hours will not bode well with the rest of Europe and send a bad message of France's stability.
He describes the barbaric philosophy of the French Revolutionaries, the life of the King and Queen are nothing more than any other person and their sacrifice will bring peace to France. He thinks this philosophy is founded by terror and lacks "solid wisdom". He goes on to describe how in ancient Greece if a writer/poet had brought this story of the French Revolution to the stage and tried to act it out, it would be thrown out by the pure "hypothetical principles" of horrible crimes and treachery. (55)
These writings tell me that Burke believed the French Revolution would not end well for France and any kind of violent overthrow with no respect for human life, even a King's, would "resort to anarchy and uncivil ruling." The power that the King had will only go to someone else, maybe with even worse morals and intentions.
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