Text of the Poem Annotations
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, painted on the wall: fresco, a painting executed on wet plaster
Looking as if she were alive. I call I . . . now: He refers not only to the painting but also to his wife as she
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf's hands was in life, a mere object (that piece). Now indicates he regards his
Worked busily a day, and there she stands. wife as a wonder in the painting but something less when she lived.
Will't please you sit and look at her? I said.............................5 you: emissary from the Count of Tyrol
"Frà Pandolf" by design: for never read Frà Pandolf: the painter; by design:on purpose
Strangers like you that pictured countenance, countenance: face. The duke likes the painting, but he later reveals
The depth and passion of its earnest glance, that he did not like the countess herself.
But to myself they turned (since none puts by none . . . curtain: no one opens the curtain except me
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)................................10 but I: forgivable grammatical error. The pronoun should be me, not I,
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst, but I rhymes with by (previous line). durst: archaic form of dare
How such a glance came there; so, not the first such a glance: the painting really flatters her
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not
Her husband's presence only, called that spot spot of joy: Enjambment, in which the sense of one line of verse
Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps...............................15 carries over to the next line without a pause
Frà Pandolf chanced to say "Her mantle laps mantle: cloak or cape
Over my lady's wrist too much," or "Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat:" such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough.......................20
For calling up that spot of joy. She had Lines 21-30: The duchess annoyed the duke because she was
A heart--how shall I say?--too soon made glad, just as pleased with a sunset, some cherries, or a ride on a mule as
Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er she was with him.
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, 'twas all one! My favour at her breast,...............................25
The dropping of the daylight in the West, dd, ff: examples of alliteration
The bough of cherries some officious fool bough . . . her: apparently a double-entendre, the second meaning a
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule sexual one.
She rode with round the terrace--all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,.....................30
Or blush, at least. She thanked men,--good! but thanked
Somehow--I know not how--as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name My . . . name: The duke comes from an old aristocratic family
With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame named Este.
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech--(which I have not)--to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, "Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark"--and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse, forsooth: in truth (archaic)
--E'en then would be some stooping: and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt, Oh . . .grew: The Duchess smiled at all men and, according to the
Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without duke, did more than smile at some men.
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; I gave . . .together: He reprimanded her. Then she ceased her
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands flirtation and ceased living. A key question here is this: Did the duke
As if alive. Will't please you rise? We'll meet murder her?
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master's known munificence munificence: great generosity
Is ample warrant that no just pretence warrant: guarantee; no just . . . disallowed: The duke will demand
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed; a considerable dowry from the count.
Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed daughter: In real life, she was the count's niece.
At starting, is my object. Nay, we'll go my object: The duke again refers to a woman as an object.
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though, Neptune: god the sea in Roman mythology
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, Taming a sea-horse: To the duke, the sea horse is a symbol of the
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me! women.
Setting and Background
The setting of "My Last Duchess," a highly acclaimed 1842 poem by Robert Browning, is the palace of the Duke of Ferrara on a day in October 1564. Ferrara is in northern Italy, between Bologna and Padua, on a branch of the Po River. The city was the seat of an important principality ruled by the House of Este from 1208 to 1598. The Este family constructed an imposing castle in Ferrara beginning in 1385 and, over the years, made Ferrara an important center of arts and learning. Two members of the family, Beatrice and Isabella, supported the work of such painters as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. In Browning’s poem, the Duke of Ferrara is modeled after Alfonso II, the fifth and last duke of the principality, who ruled Ferrara from 1559 to 1597 but in three marriages fathered no heir to succeed him. The deceased duchess in the poem was his first wife, Lucrezia de’ Medici, a daughter of Cosimo de’ Medici (1519-1574), Duke of Florence from 1537 to 1574 and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1569 to 1574. Lucrezia died in 1561 at age 17. In 1598, Ferrara became part of the Papal States.
Characters
Speaker (or Narrator): The speaker is the Duke of Ferrara. Browning appears to have modeled him after Alfonso II, who ruled Ferrara from 1559 to 1597. Alfonso was married three times but had no children. The poem reveals him as a proud, possessive, and selfish man and a lover of the arts. He regarded his late wife as a mere object who existed only to please him and do his bidding. He likes the portrait of her (the subject of his monologue) because, unlike the duchess when she was alive, it reveals only her beauty and none of the qualities in her that annoyed the duke when she was alive. Morever, he now has complete control of the portrait as a pretty art object that he can show to visitors.
Duchess: The late wife of the duke. Browning appears to have modeled her after Lucrezia de’ Medici, a daughter of Cosimo de’ Medici (1519-1574), Duke of Florence from 1537 to 1574 and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1569 to 1574. The duke says the duchess enjoyed the company of other men and implies that she was unfaithful. Whether his accusation is a fabrication is uncertain. The duchess died under suspicious circumstances on April 21, 1561, just two years after he married her. She may have been poisoned.
Emissary of the Count of Tyrol: The emissary has no speaking role; he simply listens as the Duke of Ferrara tells him about the late Duchess of Ferrara and the fresco of her on the wall. Historically, the emissary is identified with Nikolaus Madruz, of Innsbruck, Austria.
Count of Tyrol: The duke's of the duke's bride-to-be. The duke mentions him in connection with a dowry the count is expected to provide.
Daughter of the Count of Tyrol. The duke's bride-to-be is the daughter of the count but appears to be modeled historically on the count's niece, Barbara.
Frà Pandolph: The duke mentions him as the artist who painted the fresco. No one has identified a real-life counterpart on whom he was based. He may have been a fictional creation of Browning. Frà was a title of Italian friars of the Roman Catholic Church.
Claus of Innsbruck: The duke mentions him as the artist who created "Neptune Taming a Sea-Horse." Like Pandolph, he may have been a fictional creation.
The Portrait of the Duchess
The portrait of the late Duchess of Ferrara is a fresco, a type of work painted in watercolors directly on a plaster wall. The portrait symbolizes the duke's possessive and controlling nature inasmuch as the duchess has become an art object which he owns and controls.
Meter
"My Last Duchess" is in iambic pentameter (10 syllables, or five feet, per line with five pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables), as Lines 2 and 2 of the poem demonstrate.
That's MY | last DUCH | ess PAINT | ed ON | the WALL,
Look ING | as IF | she WERE | a ALIVE | I CALL
Rhyme: Heroic Couplets
Line 1 rhymes with Line 2, Line 3 with 4, Line 5 with 6, and so on. Pairs of rhyming lines are called couplets. When the lines are written in iambic pentameter, as are the lines of "My Last Duchess," the rhyming pairs are called heroic couplets.
Theme
The theme is the arrogant, authoritarian mindset of a proud Renaissance duke. In this respect, the more important portrait in the poem is the one the duke "paints" of himself with his words.
Summary and Commentary
.......Upstairs at his palace in October of 1564, the Duke of Ferrara–a city in northeast Italy on a branch of the Po River–shows a portrait of his late wife, who died in 1561, to a representative of the Count of Tyrol, an Austrian nobleman. The duke plans to marry the count’s daughter after he negotiates for a handsome dowry from the count.
.......While discussing the portrait, the duke also discusses his relationship with the late countess, revealing himself–wittingly or unwittingly–as a domineering husband who regarded his beautiful wife as a mere object, a possession whose sole mission was to please him. His comments are sometimes straightforward and frank and sometimes subtle and ambiguous. Several remarks hint that he may have murdered his wife, just a teenager at the time of her death two years after she married him, but the oblique and roundabout language in which he couches these remarks falls short of an open confession.
.......The duke tells the Austrian emissary that he admires the portrait of the duchess but was exasperated with his wife while she was alive, for she devoted as much attention to trivialities–and other men–as she did to him. He even implies that she had affairs. In response to these affairs, he says, “I gave commands; / “Then all [of her] smiles stopped together.”
.......Does commands mean that he ordered someone to kill her?
.......Does it mean he reprimanded her?
.......Does it mean he ordered some other action?
.......The poem does not provide enough information to answer these questions. Nor does it provide enough information to determine whether the duke is lying about his wife or exaggerating her faults. Whatever the case, research into her life has resulted in speculation that she was poisoned. Browning himself says the duke either ordered her murder or sent her off to a convent.
.......That the duke regarded his wife as a mere object, a possession, is clear. For example, in Lines 2 and 3, while he and the emissary are looking at the painting, he says, “I call that piece a wonder, now.” Piece explicitly refers to the portrait but implicitly refers to the duchess when she was alive. Now is a telling word in his statement: It reveals that the duchess is a wonder in the portrait, because of the charming pose she strikes, but implies that she was far less than a wonder when she was alive.
.......Of course, the engaging pose the duchess strikes is not the only reason the duke prizes the portrait. He prizes it also because the duchess is under his full control as an image on the wall. She cannot play the coquette; she cannot protest or disobey his commands; she cannot do anything except smile out at the duke and to anyone else the duke allows to view the portrait.
.......As the duke and the emissary turn to go downstairs, the duke points out another art object–a bronze art object showing Neptune taming a sea horse. The emissary might well have wondered whether the duke regarded himself as Neptune and the sea horse as the duchess.
What the emissary plans to tell the count about the duke is open to question. But in real life, the duke did marry the woman he discussed with the emissary.
Type of Work: Poem as Dramatic Monologue
.... "My Last Duchess" is a poem in the form of a dramatic monologue. A dramatic monologue presents a moment in which the main character of the poem discusses a topic and, in so doing, also reveals his personal feelings to a listener. Only the main character, called the speaker, talks–hence the term monologue, meaning single (mono) speaker who presents spoken or written discourse (logue). During his discourse, the speaker makes comments that reveal information about his personality and psyche, knowingly or unknowingly. The main focus of a dramatic monologue is this personal information, not the topic which the speaker happens to be discussing.
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.Analysis2
Written in 1842 by Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess" is the dramatic monologue of the duke of Ferrara who is negotiating his second marriage through an agent of the count of Tyrol on the grand staircase of the ducal palace at Ferrara in northern Italy. Executing the elements of a dramatic monologue, the duke reveals his situation and much more than he intends to the both the agent and the reader.
Using iambic pentameter AABB couplets Robert Browning reveals the horrifying story of the murder of the duke's previous wife through the duke's conversation with the agent. As the duke attempts to paint an inaccurate picture of himself to the agent, desiring to appear as a nobel, but abused and caring, loving husband who had no choice but to murder his prideful, disrespectful wife, the duke's true controlling, manipulative, jealous nature is revealed.
The duke's desire for control is made evident by the structure of the poem, through his appreciation of art, and his response to the trivial incidences that led to the death of his wife. The frequent use of caesura throughout the poem emphasize the duke's control over the conversation. The duke's appreciation of art reveals the control he has over the artists that produce his works of art; the portrait of his last duchess and the statue of Neptune. Although the duke was unable to control the duchess when she was alive, after her death he is in complete control of her. The duke says "none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I," revealing that now he is able to control both the duchess's countenance and who views the portrait by a curtain covering the portrait (10).
The duke's loss of control is also depicted through the rhythm of the poem. The run over lines in the poem, or enjambment in the poem, reveal the duke's nervous uneasiness over his wife's murder. For example, near the end of the poem, the duke loses control. The reader can only imagine the horrified agent rising to go down the staircase, the duke's uneasiness as he loses control, and his desire to regain control of the situation as he says, "Nay we'll go down together, sir"(53).
The duke wants to appear as a hurt and abused husband whose disrespectful wife left him no alternative but to kill her. However his appreciation of art reveals that he values things that he can control and is contrasted with the images of nature that surround the duchess. The "daylight in the West.....the bough of cherries," and "the white mule," all natural objects that are associated with the duchess' happiness. These images of nature are a sharp contrast to the artificial objects the duke values. His unhappiness over the duchess' association with nature is revealed in the line "I know not how--as if she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old-name with anybody's gift"(34). It is clear that the duke believes that his name, something artificial, is of greater value than the natural objects that cause the duchess joy.
In the end it is the duke's loss of control that causes him to kill her. His inability to control the live duchess herself, resulted in her death, and now all that remains is another valued object, which he is in complete control of.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Crossing the the bar
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For through from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.
ANALYSIS
This poem describes the attitude of acceptance of the speaker towards death.
Now, we will analyze this poem; in the first stanza the author hears that he is being called, it seems a call from death (line 2) “and one clear call for me”, also he is expecting a rising tide that he goes home again. In the third stanza, the author describes his twilight while he is waiting for his death and he hopes no sadness when he dies. In the last stanza, the speaker trusts in confronting the death with bravery, and also he emphasizes this giving a feeling of excitement and curiosity for that which is coming (line 15 & 16) “ I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar”.
This poem is an allegory of the road towards death, the sand bar is described as a barrier between life and death; the sea is shown as a destination, and it manages to create a very peaceful feeling, the twilight is seen as a decline in a human life, and the dark as death.
This metaphorical poem is much more spiritual, because it has a great religious sense, we can see it in this sentence (line 15 & 16) “I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar”; the Pilot can be his guide towards death, an angel or God.
In respect to the structure, the poem is divided in four stanzas which have resemblances, for example: the first stanza begins with: “sunset and evening star” and the third “twilight and evening bell” and both have one line with exclamations (line2) “and one clear call for me!” and (line 10) “and after that the dark”
Referring to the rhyme scheme it consists in four quatrain stanzas rhyming ABAB, and the pair lines are shorter than the other ones, and the first and the third stanzas are united to one another as are the second and fourth stanzas. The first and the third stanzas begin with symbols of light "sunset and evening star" and "twilight and evening bell", then , the second line of those stanzas begins with "and"; the third and the fourth stanzas conclude with a wish: (lines 3 & 4) and (lines 11 & 12).
In respect to the vocabulary, we will say, that it is very accessible even having lots of metaphors. It is very clear in understanding.
The speaker heralds the setting of the sun and the rise of the evening star, and hears that he is being called. He hopes that the ocean will not make the mournful sound of waves beating against a sand bar when he sets out to sea. Rather, he wishes for a tide that is so full that it cannot contain sound or foam and therefore seems asleep when all that has been carried from the boundless depths of the ocean returns back out to the depths.
The speaker announces the close of the day and the evening bell, which will be followed by darkness. He hopes that no one will cry when he departs, because although he may be carried beyond the limits of time and space as we know them, he retains the hope that he will look upon the face of his "Pilot" when he has crossed the sand bar.
Form
This poem consists of four quatrain stanzas rhyming ABAB. The first and third lines of each stanza are always a couple of beats longer than the second and fourth lines, although the line lengths vary among the stanzas.
Commentary
Tennyson wrote "Crossing the Bar" in 1889, three years before he died. The poem describes his placid and accepting attitude toward death. Although he followed this work with subsequent poems, he requested that "Crossing the Bar" appear as the final poem in all collections of his work.
Tennyson uses the metaphor of a sand bar to describe the barrier between life and death. A sandbar is a ridge of sand built up by currents along a shore. In order to reach the shore, the waves must crash against the sandbar, creating a sound that Tennyson describes as the "moaning of the bar." The bar is one of several images of liminality in Tennyson's poetry: in "Ulysses," the hero desires "to sail beyond the sunset"; in "Tithonus", the main character finds himself at the "quiet limit of the world," and regrets that he has asked to "pass beyond the goal of ordinance."
The other important image in the poem is one of "crossing," suggesting Christian connotations: "crossing" refers both to "crossing over" into the next world, and to the act of "crossing" oneself in the classic Catholic gesture of religious faith and devotion. The religious significance of crossing was clearly familiar to Tennyson, for in an earlier poem of his, the knights and lords of Camelot "crossed themselves for fear" when they saw the Lady of Shalott lying dead in her boat. The cross was also where Jesus died; now as Tennyson himself dies, he evokes the image again. So, too, does he hope to complement this metaphorical link with a spiritual one: he hopes that he will "see [his] Pilot face to face."
The ABAB rhyme scheme of the poem echoes the stanzas' thematic patterning: the first and third stanzas are linked to one another as are the second and fourth. Both the first and third stanzas begin with two symbols of the onset of night: "sunset and evening star" and "twilight and evening bell." The second line of each of these stanzas begins with "and," conjoining another item that does not fit together as straightforwardly as the first two: "one clear call for me" and "after that the dark!" Each of these lines is followed by an exclamation point, as the poet expresses alarm at realizing what death will entail. These stanzas then conclude with a wish that is stated metaphorically in the first stanza: "may there be no moaning of the bar / When I put out to sea"; and more literally in the third stanza: "And may there be no sadness of farewell / When I embark." Yet the wish is the same in both stanzas: the poet does not want his relatives and friends to cry for him after he dies. Neither of these stanzas concludes with a period, suggesting that each is intimately linked to the one that follows.
The second and fourth stanzas are linked because they both begin with a qualifier: "but" in the second stanza, and "for though" in the fourth. In addition, the second lines of both stanzas connote excess, whether it be a tide "too full for sound and foam" or the "far" distance that the poet will be transported in death.
Poems1889Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, and after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though' from out our Bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crust the bar.
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For through from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.
ANALYSIS
This poem describes the attitude of acceptance of the speaker towards death.
Now, we will analyze this poem; in the first stanza the author hears that he is being called, it seems a call from death (line 2) “and one clear call for me”, also he is expecting a rising tide that he goes home again. In the third stanza, the author describes his twilight while he is waiting for his death and he hopes no sadness when he dies. In the last stanza, the speaker trusts in confronting the death with bravery, and also he emphasizes this giving a feeling of excitement and curiosity for that which is coming (line 15 & 16) “ I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar”.
This poem is an allegory of the road towards death, the sand bar is described as a barrier between life and death; the sea is shown as a destination, and it manages to create a very peaceful feeling, the twilight is seen as a decline in a human life, and the dark as death.
This metaphorical poem is much more spiritual, because it has a great religious sense, we can see it in this sentence (line 15 & 16) “I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar”; the Pilot can be his guide towards death, an angel or God.
In respect to the structure, the poem is divided in four stanzas which have resemblances, for example: the first stanza begins with: “sunset and evening star” and the third “twilight and evening bell” and both have one line with exclamations (line2) “and one clear call for me!” and (line 10) “and after that the dark”
Referring to the rhyme scheme it consists in four quatrain stanzas rhyming ABAB, and the pair lines are shorter than the other ones, and the first and the third stanzas are united to one another as are the second and fourth stanzas. The first and the third stanzas begin with symbols of light "sunset and evening star" and "twilight and evening bell", then , the second line of those stanzas begins with "and"; the third and the fourth stanzas conclude with a wish: (lines 3 & 4) and (lines 11 & 12).
In respect to the vocabulary, we will say, that it is very accessible even having lots of metaphors. It is very clear in understanding.
The speaker heralds the setting of the sun and the rise of the evening star, and hears that he is being called. He hopes that the ocean will not make the mournful sound of waves beating against a sand bar when he sets out to sea. Rather, he wishes for a tide that is so full that it cannot contain sound or foam and therefore seems asleep when all that has been carried from the boundless depths of the ocean returns back out to the depths.
The speaker announces the close of the day and the evening bell, which will be followed by darkness. He hopes that no one will cry when he departs, because although he may be carried beyond the limits of time and space as we know them, he retains the hope that he will look upon the face of his "Pilot" when he has crossed the sand bar.
Form
This poem consists of four quatrain stanzas rhyming ABAB. The first and third lines of each stanza are always a couple of beats longer than the second and fourth lines, although the line lengths vary among the stanzas.
Commentary
Tennyson wrote "Crossing the Bar" in 1889, three years before he died. The poem describes his placid and accepting attitude toward death. Although he followed this work with subsequent poems, he requested that "Crossing the Bar" appear as the final poem in all collections of his work.
Tennyson uses the metaphor of a sand bar to describe the barrier between life and death. A sandbar is a ridge of sand built up by currents along a shore. In order to reach the shore, the waves must crash against the sandbar, creating a sound that Tennyson describes as the "moaning of the bar." The bar is one of several images of liminality in Tennyson's poetry: in "Ulysses," the hero desires "to sail beyond the sunset"; in "Tithonus", the main character finds himself at the "quiet limit of the world," and regrets that he has asked to "pass beyond the goal of ordinance."
The other important image in the poem is one of "crossing," suggesting Christian connotations: "crossing" refers both to "crossing over" into the next world, and to the act of "crossing" oneself in the classic Catholic gesture of religious faith and devotion. The religious significance of crossing was clearly familiar to Tennyson, for in an earlier poem of his, the knights and lords of Camelot "crossed themselves for fear" when they saw the Lady of Shalott lying dead in her boat. The cross was also where Jesus died; now as Tennyson himself dies, he evokes the image again. So, too, does he hope to complement this metaphorical link with a spiritual one: he hopes that he will "see [his] Pilot face to face."
The ABAB rhyme scheme of the poem echoes the stanzas' thematic patterning: the first and third stanzas are linked to one another as are the second and fourth. Both the first and third stanzas begin with two symbols of the onset of night: "sunset and evening star" and "twilight and evening bell." The second line of each of these stanzas begins with "and," conjoining another item that does not fit together as straightforwardly as the first two: "one clear call for me" and "after that the dark!" Each of these lines is followed by an exclamation point, as the poet expresses alarm at realizing what death will entail. These stanzas then conclude with a wish that is stated metaphorically in the first stanza: "may there be no moaning of the bar / When I put out to sea"; and more literally in the third stanza: "And may there be no sadness of farewell / When I embark." Yet the wish is the same in both stanzas: the poet does not want his relatives and friends to cry for him after he dies. Neither of these stanzas concludes with a period, suggesting that each is intimately linked to the one that follows.
The second and fourth stanzas are linked because they both begin with a qualifier: "but" in the second stanza, and "for though" in the fourth. In addition, the second lines of both stanzas connote excess, whether it be a tide "too full for sound and foam" or the "far" distance that the poet will be transported in death.
Poems1889Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, and after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though' from out our Bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crust the bar.
Meeting at Night
Robert Browning
The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled(shocked) little waves that leap(jumps)
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove(little sea) with pushing prow(front side of a ship)
And quench(destroy) its speed i' the slushy sand.
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap(knock) at the pane(window), the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt(coming out) of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!
Analysis-1
The title of the poem alone indicates an intention and perhaps a great need to get to “The meeting Place.” The Poet uses imagery that is quite descriptive and eloquent. He manages to turn a gloomy and perhaps scary night into one that is filled with anticipation and love. Perhaps he is frightened by the mysterious darkness and the little sounds that surround his journey, but this is not indicated in the poem.
From the very beginning the tone of the story can be interpreted based on the description of the setting. “The gray sea and the long black land” gives a feeling of eternal darkness and loneliness; the phrase “long black land” emphasizes this effect on the reader. In lines 3-4, it is almost as if the boat surprises the still and serene water, “waking it from its sleep.”
From that point on he is alert and excited about the journey in the night. He describes what he hears and sees and it all seems beautiful to him. This is a man who notices everything around him with a heart filled with enthusiasm.
Robert Browning does a fine job in using imagery to fully describe the scenery and everything around the lover on his journey. The author does not provide all the details needed for the reader to come to an immediate conclusion, therefore putting the job of assuming in their hands. For the poem to be understood well it must be analyzed in depth. The serenity and time of day creates a mysterious atmosphere, questions arise such as “why is he meeting at night?”
Robert Browning takes the reader through a journey with his elaborate writing style and detailed descriptions of the scenery. With Roberts thorough descriptions he illustrates the lover’s actions with detail and the several changes in setting until the very end, where two hearts are joined together in harmony. To better demonstrate the tone, feeling, and psychological state of the characters, Robert puts literary devices to work.
In the second stanza, it seems as though he has wings on his feet. Such a long journey “a mile of warm sea – scented beach, and three fields to cross” and nowhere in the poem is it mentioned that he is tired. He is certainly a very happy person whose purpose is to meet his love no matter what the cost… Neither “gray sea” nor “the long black land” will stop him from getting there.
This poem is very romantic, one could call it a love story, where a “tap at the pane “signaled “I am here, open the door.” Two lovers meet in the night, perhaps not to be seen by anyone, the tone throughout the poem is mysterious, filled with anticipation and a great love. Two people whose hearts beat as one.
Analysis-2
The poem, Meeting at Night, by Robert Browning, uses the concept of imagery very well. The first line, “The gray sea and the long black land…” gives off a feeling of foreboding and depression. The use of the drab colors further exemplifies the mood of the beginning of the poem. Then the author writes, “…and the yellow half-moon large and low.” This line tells readers the time of day that the poem takes place in because the looming moon is present. The next two lines speak of how the waves on the shore seem to be startled. Yet the waves are little – giving a sense of calmness and serenity over the scene. Then, with the next line, “As I gain the cove with pushing prow…” we learn what is making the waves. The slow pace of the boat (possibly rowboat) as it reaches the shore gives readers a sense of purpose and the boat is a sort of silent intruder to the quiet night. The boat is stopped by the sand when it reaches it.
The next stanza continues the journey of this man. After reaching the shore, he has to trek a “…mile of warm-sea scented beach…” showing that the mood of the poem has changed from dark and dreary to welcoming and content. The audience assumes that this journey is not dreaded but instead happily made. After crossing through three fields, the character approaches a farm. The next two lines introduce another character into the poem. After tapping on the window, a match is lit inside. This could mean a few different things. First of all, the person inside may have been sleeping and after awakening from the tap on the window, lit the candle to see who was there or the person inside could have been expecting the other and was waiting in the dark for him to come. By now, readers can safely assume that this is a poem of young lovers and that this late-night meeting may have been planned. Finally, in the end, the two hearts were together. Again, the sense of warmth is given because after the long journey, the two are finally together.
The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled(shocked) little waves that leap(jumps)
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove(little sea) with pushing prow(front side of a ship)
And quench(destroy) its speed i' the slushy sand.
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap(knock) at the pane(window), the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt(coming out) of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!
Analysis-1
The title of the poem alone indicates an intention and perhaps a great need to get to “The meeting Place.” The Poet uses imagery that is quite descriptive and eloquent. He manages to turn a gloomy and perhaps scary night into one that is filled with anticipation and love. Perhaps he is frightened by the mysterious darkness and the little sounds that surround his journey, but this is not indicated in the poem.
From the very beginning the tone of the story can be interpreted based on the description of the setting. “The gray sea and the long black land” gives a feeling of eternal darkness and loneliness; the phrase “long black land” emphasizes this effect on the reader. In lines 3-4, it is almost as if the boat surprises the still and serene water, “waking it from its sleep.”
From that point on he is alert and excited about the journey in the night. He describes what he hears and sees and it all seems beautiful to him. This is a man who notices everything around him with a heart filled with enthusiasm.
Robert Browning does a fine job in using imagery to fully describe the scenery and everything around the lover on his journey. The author does not provide all the details needed for the reader to come to an immediate conclusion, therefore putting the job of assuming in their hands. For the poem to be understood well it must be analyzed in depth. The serenity and time of day creates a mysterious atmosphere, questions arise such as “why is he meeting at night?”
Robert Browning takes the reader through a journey with his elaborate writing style and detailed descriptions of the scenery. With Roberts thorough descriptions he illustrates the lover’s actions with detail and the several changes in setting until the very end, where two hearts are joined together in harmony. To better demonstrate the tone, feeling, and psychological state of the characters, Robert puts literary devices to work.
In the second stanza, it seems as though he has wings on his feet. Such a long journey “a mile of warm sea – scented beach, and three fields to cross” and nowhere in the poem is it mentioned that he is tired. He is certainly a very happy person whose purpose is to meet his love no matter what the cost… Neither “gray sea” nor “the long black land” will stop him from getting there.
This poem is very romantic, one could call it a love story, where a “tap at the pane “signaled “I am here, open the door.” Two lovers meet in the night, perhaps not to be seen by anyone, the tone throughout the poem is mysterious, filled with anticipation and a great love. Two people whose hearts beat as one.
Analysis-2
The poem, Meeting at Night, by Robert Browning, uses the concept of imagery very well. The first line, “The gray sea and the long black land…” gives off a feeling of foreboding and depression. The use of the drab colors further exemplifies the mood of the beginning of the poem. Then the author writes, “…and the yellow half-moon large and low.” This line tells readers the time of day that the poem takes place in because the looming moon is present. The next two lines speak of how the waves on the shore seem to be startled. Yet the waves are little – giving a sense of calmness and serenity over the scene. Then, with the next line, “As I gain the cove with pushing prow…” we learn what is making the waves. The slow pace of the boat (possibly rowboat) as it reaches the shore gives readers a sense of purpose and the boat is a sort of silent intruder to the quiet night. The boat is stopped by the sand when it reaches it.
The next stanza continues the journey of this man. After reaching the shore, he has to trek a “…mile of warm-sea scented beach…” showing that the mood of the poem has changed from dark and dreary to welcoming and content. The audience assumes that this journey is not dreaded but instead happily made. After crossing through three fields, the character approaches a farm. The next two lines introduce another character into the poem. After tapping on the window, a match is lit inside. This could mean a few different things. First of all, the person inside may have been sleeping and after awakening from the tap on the window, lit the candle to see who was there or the person inside could have been expecting the other and was waiting in the dark for him to come. By now, readers can safely assume that this is a poem of young lovers and that this late-night meeting may have been planned. Finally, in the end, the two hearts were together. Again, the sense of warmth is given because after the long journey, the two are finally together.
Friday, July 3, 2009
DELIGHT IN DISORDER
“Delight in Disorder” - an appreciation for less than perfection:
In “Delight in Disorder” by Robert Herrick the Title tells us that the author is to be delighted in his following statements of disorder. The authors word choice “kindles in clothes a wantonness” shows us the speaker sensual pleasure in viewing this person whom he sees having a “sweet disorder. “ “A fine distraction” he thinks as he refers to the shawl this person is wearing, he finds it appealing and agreeable to look upon this person. The words disorder, thrown, erring lead me to believe that maybe she is a saloon type girl. As the imagery of this loose thrown together, disorderly object of desire seems to not be describing a perfected style of a so called finer person. Or maybe it is a youthful person whom is not perfected in their style. The word enthralls is one of several words which shows he feels powerless over his perception of her. “A cuff neglectful….ribbons to flow confusedly,” He finds her interesting to look upon and to think about. The fact that things are not completely in order provokes an interest in her. Her clothing very much provokes his desire. He notes her wave as winning and deserving, viewing her alone has set his mind on her but he is aware that it is temptation which calls him to look upon her and does not wish to fight against it, but instead relishes in and enjoys to be “bewitched.” He would rather look upon a person with qualities of imperfection openly displayed or seen, than to look at someone seemingly perfect by their way of appearance.
Analysis:
The poem is reflecting on the visage of a woman in a disheveled state. Comprised of 14 lines, the first eleven are spent describing the state of the image being beheld. This description is heavily laden with imagery of confusion and disorder: “An erring lace” (line 5), “A cuff neglectful” (line 7) and “…the tempestuous petticoat” (line 10) are a few examples. The first eleven lines also detail the effects that this disorder is having upon the poet (though this is focused on to a lesser extent than the descriptions of disorder itself). “…A fine distraction” (line 4) and “A winning wave deserving note” (line 9) are two examples here.
The final three lines tie the description of the first eleven lines together. To paraphrase the work as a whole: ‘your disorder and disheveled state bewitches me more than precision ever will.” To do this he contrasts her with a piece of art that “is too precise in every part” (line 14). The disheveled nature comes out the victor of this comparison – he is saying that in her wanton state, she is more bewitching than if she had been precisely dressed.
This twist is interesting. From it, we can infer that he considers this wantonness to be a step closer to perfection than precision is. Here then it seems that we have arrived at somewhat of a contradiction. In theory, precision and perfection are symbiotic – for example, a house built with imprecise plans will be far from perfect, it is liable to collapse and crush its occupants, and a motor with imprecise construction runs a good chance of exploding. ‘Delight in Disorder’ seems to run against this grain. So what is he inferring? That we are not bound by logic? Obviously this is false: even if we deny and ignore it, we still face the logical consequences of doing so. He seems to be inferring that (with regards to humans) perfection is not found in precision; rather that perfection is instead found in a state of wantonness that brings her down to his level, to a level where he can access her. He seems to fear perfection for he fears that he cannot reach it, so delights instead in having it brought down to him.
I have no doubt that no questions of logic or symbiosis entered his mind when he was writing this poem. However, when people write or act, they often reveal more than they ever knew was subconsciously running through their mind. In saying what he has, that perfection and precision are separate, he has let on that he would rather destroy something that is (logically speaking,) perfect, rather than standing up to attain it at its zenith.
In “Delight in Disorder” by Robert Herrick the Title tells us that the author is to be delighted in his following statements of disorder. The authors word choice “kindles in clothes a wantonness” shows us the speaker sensual pleasure in viewing this person whom he sees having a “sweet disorder. “ “A fine distraction” he thinks as he refers to the shawl this person is wearing, he finds it appealing and agreeable to look upon this person. The words disorder, thrown, erring lead me to believe that maybe she is a saloon type girl. As the imagery of this loose thrown together, disorderly object of desire seems to not be describing a perfected style of a so called finer person. Or maybe it is a youthful person whom is not perfected in their style. The word enthralls is one of several words which shows he feels powerless over his perception of her. “A cuff neglectful….ribbons to flow confusedly,” He finds her interesting to look upon and to think about. The fact that things are not completely in order provokes an interest in her. Her clothing very much provokes his desire. He notes her wave as winning and deserving, viewing her alone has set his mind on her but he is aware that it is temptation which calls him to look upon her and does not wish to fight against it, but instead relishes in and enjoys to be “bewitched.” He would rather look upon a person with qualities of imperfection openly displayed or seen, than to look at someone seemingly perfect by their way of appearance.
Analysis:
The poem is reflecting on the visage of a woman in a disheveled state. Comprised of 14 lines, the first eleven are spent describing the state of the image being beheld. This description is heavily laden with imagery of confusion and disorder: “An erring lace” (line 5), “A cuff neglectful” (line 7) and “…the tempestuous petticoat” (line 10) are a few examples. The first eleven lines also detail the effects that this disorder is having upon the poet (though this is focused on to a lesser extent than the descriptions of disorder itself). “…A fine distraction” (line 4) and “A winning wave deserving note” (line 9) are two examples here.
The final three lines tie the description of the first eleven lines together. To paraphrase the work as a whole: ‘your disorder and disheveled state bewitches me more than precision ever will.” To do this he contrasts her with a piece of art that “is too precise in every part” (line 14). The disheveled nature comes out the victor of this comparison – he is saying that in her wanton state, she is more bewitching than if she had been precisely dressed.
This twist is interesting. From it, we can infer that he considers this wantonness to be a step closer to perfection than precision is. Here then it seems that we have arrived at somewhat of a contradiction. In theory, precision and perfection are symbiotic – for example, a house built with imprecise plans will be far from perfect, it is liable to collapse and crush its occupants, and a motor with imprecise construction runs a good chance of exploding. ‘Delight in Disorder’ seems to run against this grain. So what is he inferring? That we are not bound by logic? Obviously this is false: even if we deny and ignore it, we still face the logical consequences of doing so. He seems to be inferring that (with regards to humans) perfection is not found in precision; rather that perfection is instead found in a state of wantonness that brings her down to his level, to a level where he can access her. He seems to fear perfection for he fears that he cannot reach it, so delights instead in having it brought down to him.
I have no doubt that no questions of logic or symbiosis entered his mind when he was writing this poem. However, when people write or act, they often reveal more than they ever knew was subconsciously running through their mind. In saying what he has, that perfection and precision are separate, he has let on that he would rather destroy something that is (logically speaking,) perfect, rather than standing up to attain it at its zenith.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Analysis
Ozymendious
P.B Shelly
Imagine this scenario: three English men sitting around a table at a drunken party. The men bet each other that each of them could come up with the best poem in the alotted time of fifteen minutes. The poem's topic was Egypt. The poem Ozymandias was the response of Percy Bysshe Shelley to the bet.
The first vital point to note is that the poem is an Italian sonnet in a traditional 14 line, 8-6, set-up with iambic pentameter. It encapsulates a great story about Ramses, the past king of Egypt.
The poem was written around 1800 and the fact that it was written in an "antique land" (1) illustrates that the author was attempting to distance himself from Ramses, indicating the faded view of the past king Ozymandias.
Great opposition, irony and sarcasm appears when it is said, "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains." This negative connotation shows that there once was a vast kingdom, but now that kingdom has disappeared. Neither property nor the king himself is immortal, the sonnet indicates.
When it is said that the "lone and level sands stretch far away" (13-14), the reader realizes that perhaps the sand is more vast now than the empire is.
Finally, when breaking down the word "Ozymandas" in the original greek, we realize that the kingdom no longer exists. Ozy comes from the Greek "ozium," which means to breath, or air. Mandias comes from the Greek "mandate," which means to rule.
Hence, Ozymandias is simply a "ruler of air" or a "ruler of nothing". It is then obvious that the King of Kings spoken of in the poem is actually nature itself. Nature never disappears and nature represents the immortality not represented by the Ramses or any other individual or possession.
P.B Shelly
Imagine this scenario: three English men sitting around a table at a drunken party. The men bet each other that each of them could come up with the best poem in the alotted time of fifteen minutes. The poem's topic was Egypt. The poem Ozymandias was the response of Percy Bysshe Shelley to the bet.
The first vital point to note is that the poem is an Italian sonnet in a traditional 14 line, 8-6, set-up with iambic pentameter. It encapsulates a great story about Ramses, the past king of Egypt.
The poem was written around 1800 and the fact that it was written in an "antique land" (1) illustrates that the author was attempting to distance himself from Ramses, indicating the faded view of the past king Ozymandias.
Great opposition, irony and sarcasm appears when it is said, "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains." This negative connotation shows that there once was a vast kingdom, but now that kingdom has disappeared. Neither property nor the king himself is immortal, the sonnet indicates.
When it is said that the "lone and level sands stretch far away" (13-14), the reader realizes that perhaps the sand is more vast now than the empire is.
Finally, when breaking down the word "Ozymandas" in the original greek, we realize that the kingdom no longer exists. Ozy comes from the Greek "ozium," which means to breath, or air. Mandias comes from the Greek "mandate," which means to rule.
Hence, Ozymandias is simply a "ruler of air" or a "ruler of nothing". It is then obvious that the King of Kings spoken of in the poem is actually nature itself. Nature never disappears and nature represents the immortality not represented by the Ramses or any other individual or possession.
Ode to a nightingale
Keats
(1st two stanzas)
This ode was inspired after Keats heard the song of a nightingale while staying with a friend in the country. This poem was also written after the death of his brother and the many references to death in this poem are a reflection of this. Among the thematic concerns in this poem is the wish to escape life through different routes. Although the poem begins by describing the song of an actual nightingale, the nightingale goes on to become a symbol of the immortality of nature.
In lines 1-3 Keats expresses a wish to dull and numb his senses artificially. He wishes to use "hemlock" or "some dull opiate" to numb his pain. He also makes a reference to Lethe, the river that those who are about to be reincarnated must drink from to forget their old lives when he says in line 4 that he has to "Lethe-wards…sunk". However it is not out of envy of the joy in the bird's song but because he is too happy that he wishes to numb his senses. In line 7 Keats refers to the nightingale as a "Dryad of the trees", a tree spirit, the bird has become a symbol.
In stanza two, Keats call "for a draught of vintage" that tastes of "Flora and country-green". In line 14 the wine tastes of "Dance, and Provencal song, and sunburnt mirth". "Provencal" was a language used by medieval troubadours. Here Keats does not want to be drunk but rather he wants the wine to get into a state of happiness and merriment. He also wishes the wine to inspire him when he alludes to the "Hippocrene" in line 16, a fountain sacred to the muses said to bring poetic inspiration to those who drank from it.
The idea that wine will give him ideas is illustrated in line 17 with "beaded bubbles winking at the brim". Besides describing the Hippocrene, the bubbles are Keats' thoughts about to overflow. Drink is also a way for him to escape as he wishes to "fade away into the forest dim". The word "Fade" is repeated at the beginning of the first...
In mythology, to drink the waters of the Lethe (the
Line 2, hemlock: a poison made from an herb or a poisonous drink made from that herb.
Line 4, Lethe: a river in Hades (the underworld). Souls about to be reincarnated drank from it to forget their past lives.
Line 7, Dryad: a wood nymph or nymph of the trees. Dryads or nymphs were female personifications of natural features, like mountains and rivers; they were young, beautiful, long-lived and liked music and dance. A Dryad was connected to a specific tree and died when the tree died. s
Line 3, Flora: goddess of flowers and fertility.
Line 4. Provencal: of
Line 6, Hippocrene: a spring sacred to the Muses, located on Mt.Helicon. Drinking its waters inspired poets. (The nine muses were associated with different arts, such as epic poetry, sacred song, and dancing
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tyger
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In the first verse, the author compares the fierceness of a tiger to a burning presence in dark forests. He wonders what immortal power could create such a fearful beast.
- 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? Here the author compares the burning eyes of the tiger to some transplanted distant fire that only someone with wings could reach and only with impermeable hands could seize. The author wonders where such a powerful fire could have come from? Hell, possibly?
- 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?
In this verse we have a metaphor giving us a vision a skillful and powerful blacksmith creating the tiger's beating heart awakening a powerful beast. The phrase "...twist the sinews of thy heart" is also an allusion to a hardheartedness that a beast of prey must have towards the creatures it kills.
- What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? This verse continues the allusion to a creator, who, having made the fearsome best, must confront with the sheer terror of a tiger's nature. Did the tiger's creator have to retrieve the tiger's fearsome brain from an evil, hot place?
- When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Here the author, with beautiful rhetoric, describes a marvelous creation process likening starlight to a symbolic destructive process. The author wonders whether the creator of the fierce and predatory tiger could also make the docile, gentle lamb. He sees a conflict between the creation of heartless, burning predator and its potential victim, the lamb.
- Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
The final verse is but a reprise, almost a chorus. It serves the purpose of repeating the wondrous question of the tiger's creation and gives the reader another chance to enjoy the rhetorical, and already answered question, "What immortal hand or eye?"
The answer lies in the reader's interpretation of creation: Did God create the fearsome along with the gentle? Why does He allow the tiger to burn in the dark forest, while the lamb gambols in the glen under the stars of that very creation? The author leaves it up to the reader to decide. The important thing is the question, not the answer.
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In the first verse, the author compares the fierceness of a tiger to a burning presence in dark forests. He wonders what immortal power could create such a fearful beast.
- 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? Here the author compares the burning eyes of the tiger to some transplanted distant fire that only someone with wings could reach and only with impermeable hands could seize. The author wonders where such a powerful fire could have come from? Hell, possibly?
- 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?
In this verse we have a metaphor giving us a vision a skillful and powerful blacksmith creating the tiger's beating heart awakening a powerful beast. The phrase "...twist the sinews of thy heart" is also an allusion to a hardheartedness that a beast of prey must have towards the creatures it kills.
- What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? This verse continues the allusion to a creator, who, having made the fearsome best, must confront with the sheer terror of a tiger's nature. Did the tiger's creator have to retrieve the tiger's fearsome brain from an evil, hot place?
- When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Here the author, with beautiful rhetoric, describes a marvelous creation process likening starlight to a symbolic destructive process. The author wonders whether the creator of the fierce and predatory tiger could also make the docile, gentle lamb. He sees a conflict between the creation of heartless, burning predator and its potential victim, the lamb.
- Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
The final verse is but a reprise, almost a chorus. It serves the purpose of repeating the wondrous question of the tiger's creation and gives the reader another chance to enjoy the rhetorical, and already answered question, "What immortal hand or eye?"
The answer lies in the reader's interpretation of creation: Did God create the fearsome along with the gentle? Why does He allow the tiger to burn in the dark forest, while the lamb gambols in the glen under the stars of that very creation? The author leaves it up to the reader to decide. The important thing is the question, not the answer.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Analysis
PB Shelley - To a Skylark
Summary The speaker, addressing a skylark, says that it is a "blithe (carefree, happy) Spirit" rather than a bird, for its song comes from Heaven, and from its full heart pours "profuse (abundant) strains of unpremeditated (unplanned, natural) art." The skylark flies higher and higher, "like a cloud of fire" in the blue sky, singing as it flies. In the "golden lightning" of the sun, it floats and runs, like "an unbodied joy." As the skylark flies higher and higher, the speaker loses sight of it, but is still able to hear its "shrill delight," which comes down as keenly as moonbeams in the "white dawn," which can be felt even when they are not seen. The earth and air ring with the skylark's voice, just as Heaven overflows with moonbeams when the moon shines out from behind "a lonely cloud."
The speaker says that no one knows what the skylark is, for it is unique: even "rainbow clouds" do not rain as brightly as the shower of melody that pours from the skylark. The bird is "like a poet hidden / In the light of thought," able to make the world experience "sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not." It is like a lonely maiden in a palace tower, who uses her song to soothe her lovelorn soul. It is like a golden glow-worm (an insect), scattering light among the flowers and grass in which it is hidden. It is like a rose embowered in its own green leaves, whose scent is blown by the wind until the bees are faint with "too much sweet." The skylark's song surpasses (defeats) "all that ever was, / Joyous and clear and fresh," whether it is the rain falling on the "twinkling grass" or the flowers the rain awakens.
Calling the skylark "Sprite (fairy/angel/heavenly spirit) or Bird," the speaker asks it to tell him its "sweet thoughts," for he has never heard anyone or anything call up "a flood of rapture (delight, joy) so divine." Compared to the skylark's, any music would seem lacking. What objects, the speaker asks, are "the fountains of thy happy strain?" Is it fields, waves, mountains, the sky, the plain, or "love of thine own kind" or "ignorance or pain"? Pain and languor (laziness, slowness), the speaker says, "never came near" the skylark: it loves, but has never known "love's sad satiety." Of death, the skylark must know "things more true and deep" than mortals could dream; otherwise, the speaker asks, "how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?"
For mortals, the experience of happiness is bound inextricably with the experience of sadness: dwelling upon memories and hopes for the future, mortal men "pine for what is not"; their laughter is "fraught (burdened, filled)" with "some pain"; their "sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought." But, the speaker says, even if men could "scorn (disrespect)/ Hate and pride and fear," and were born without the capacity to weep, he still does not know how they could ever approximate the joy expressed by the skylark. Calling the bird a "scorner of the ground," he says that its music is better than all music and all poetry. He asks the bird to teach him "half the gladness / That thy brain must know," for then he would overflow with "harmonious madness," and his song would be so beautiful that the world would listen to him, even as he is now listening to the skylark.
Form The eccentric; songlike, five-line stanzas of "To a Skylark"--all twenty-one of them--follow the same pattern: the first four lines are metered in trochaic trimeter, the fifth in iambic hexameter (a line which can also be called an Alexandrine). The rhyme scheme of each stanza is extremely simple: ABABB.
Commentary If the West Wind was Shelley's first convincing attempt to articulate an aesthetic philosophy through metaphors of nature, the skylark is his greatest natural metaphor for pure poetic expression, the "harmonious madness" of pure inspiration. The skylark's song issues from a state of purified existence, a Wordsworthian notion of complete unity with Heaven through nature; its song is motivated by the joy of that uncomplicated purity of being, and is unmixed with any hint of melancholy or of the bittersweet, as human joy so often is. The skylark's unimpeded song rains down upon the world, surpassing every other beauty, inspiring metaphor and making the speaker believe that the bird is not a mortal bird at all, but a "Spirit," a "sprite," a "poet hidden / In the light of thought."
In that sense, the skylark is almost an exact twin of the bird in Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale"; both represent pure expression through their songs, and like the skylark, the nightingale "wast not born for death." But while the nightingale is a bird of darkness, invisible in the shadowy forest glades, the skylark is a bird of daylight, invisible in the deep bright blue of the sky. The nightingale inspires Keats to feel "a drowsy numbness" of happiness that is also like pain, and that makes him think of death; the skylark inspires Shelley to feel a frantic, rapturous joy that has no part of pain. To Keats, human joy and sadness are inextricably linked, as he explains at length in the final stanza of the "Ode on Melancholy." But the skylark sings free of all human error and complexity, and while listening to his song, the poet feels free of those things, too.
Structurally and linguistically, this poem is almost unique among Shelley's works; its strange form of stanza, with four compact lines and one very long line, and its lilting, songlike diction ("profuse strains of unpremeditated art") work to create the effect of spontaneous poetic expression flowing musically and naturally from the poet's mind. Structurally, each stanza tends to make a single, quick point about the skylark, or to look at it in a sudden, brief new light; still, the poem does flow, and gradually advances the mini-narrative of the speaker watching the skylark flying higher and higher into the sky, and envying its untrammeled inspiration--which, if he were to capture it in words, would cause the world to listen.
Summary The speaker, addressing a skylark, says that it is a "blithe (carefree, happy) Spirit" rather than a bird, for its song comes from Heaven, and from its full heart pours "profuse (abundant) strains of unpremeditated (unplanned, natural) art." The skylark flies higher and higher, "like a cloud of fire" in the blue sky, singing as it flies. In the "golden lightning" of the sun, it floats and runs, like "an unbodied joy." As the skylark flies higher and higher, the speaker loses sight of it, but is still able to hear its "shrill delight," which comes down as keenly as moonbeams in the "white dawn," which can be felt even when they are not seen. The earth and air ring with the skylark's voice, just as Heaven overflows with moonbeams when the moon shines out from behind "a lonely cloud."
The speaker says that no one knows what the skylark is, for it is unique: even "rainbow clouds" do not rain as brightly as the shower of melody that pours from the skylark. The bird is "like a poet hidden / In the light of thought," able to make the world experience "sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not." It is like a lonely maiden in a palace tower, who uses her song to soothe her lovelorn soul. It is like a golden glow-worm (an insect), scattering light among the flowers and grass in which it is hidden. It is like a rose embowered in its own green leaves, whose scent is blown by the wind until the bees are faint with "too much sweet." The skylark's song surpasses (defeats) "all that ever was, / Joyous and clear and fresh," whether it is the rain falling on the "twinkling grass" or the flowers the rain awakens.
Calling the skylark "Sprite (fairy/angel/heavenly spirit) or Bird," the speaker asks it to tell him its "sweet thoughts," for he has never heard anyone or anything call up "a flood of rapture (delight, joy) so divine." Compared to the skylark's, any music would seem lacking. What objects, the speaker asks, are "the fountains of thy happy strain?" Is it fields, waves, mountains, the sky, the plain, or "love of thine own kind" or "ignorance or pain"? Pain and languor (laziness, slowness), the speaker says, "never came near" the skylark: it loves, but has never known "love's sad satiety." Of death, the skylark must know "things more true and deep" than mortals could dream; otherwise, the speaker asks, "how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?"
For mortals, the experience of happiness is bound inextricably with the experience of sadness: dwelling upon memories and hopes for the future, mortal men "pine for what is not"; their laughter is "fraught (burdened, filled)" with "some pain"; their "sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought." But, the speaker says, even if men could "scorn (disrespect)/ Hate and pride and fear," and were born without the capacity to weep, he still does not know how they could ever approximate the joy expressed by the skylark. Calling the bird a "scorner of the ground," he says that its music is better than all music and all poetry. He asks the bird to teach him "half the gladness / That thy brain must know," for then he would overflow with "harmonious madness," and his song would be so beautiful that the world would listen to him, even as he is now listening to the skylark.
Form The eccentric; songlike, five-line stanzas of "To a Skylark"--all twenty-one of them--follow the same pattern: the first four lines are metered in trochaic trimeter, the fifth in iambic hexameter (a line which can also be called an Alexandrine). The rhyme scheme of each stanza is extremely simple: ABABB.
Commentary If the West Wind was Shelley's first convincing attempt to articulate an aesthetic philosophy through metaphors of nature, the skylark is his greatest natural metaphor for pure poetic expression, the "harmonious madness" of pure inspiration. The skylark's song issues from a state of purified existence, a Wordsworthian notion of complete unity with Heaven through nature; its song is motivated by the joy of that uncomplicated purity of being, and is unmixed with any hint of melancholy or of the bittersweet, as human joy so often is. The skylark's unimpeded song rains down upon the world, surpassing every other beauty, inspiring metaphor and making the speaker believe that the bird is not a mortal bird at all, but a "Spirit," a "sprite," a "poet hidden / In the light of thought."
In that sense, the skylark is almost an exact twin of the bird in Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale"; both represent pure expression through their songs, and like the skylark, the nightingale "wast not born for death." But while the nightingale is a bird of darkness, invisible in the shadowy forest glades, the skylark is a bird of daylight, invisible in the deep bright blue of the sky. The nightingale inspires Keats to feel "a drowsy numbness" of happiness that is also like pain, and that makes him think of death; the skylark inspires Shelley to feel a frantic, rapturous joy that has no part of pain. To Keats, human joy and sadness are inextricably linked, as he explains at length in the final stanza of the "Ode on Melancholy." But the skylark sings free of all human error and complexity, and while listening to his song, the poet feels free of those things, too.
Structurally and linguistically, this poem is almost unique among Shelley's works; its strange form of stanza, with four compact lines and one very long line, and its lilting, songlike diction ("profuse strains of unpremeditated art") work to create the effect of spontaneous poetic expression flowing musically and naturally from the poet's mind. Structurally, each stanza tends to make a single, quick point about the skylark, or to look at it in a sudden, brief new light; still, the poem does flow, and gradually advances the mini-narrative of the speaker watching the skylark flying higher and higher into the sky, and envying its untrammeled inspiration--which, if he were to capture it in words, would cause the world to listen.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Happy Starting :)
Im really iterested in bloging.I will provide Importent data about internet stuffs and as im a student of English department of East west University so study stuffs will be available in my blog also.wish it will be a good sorce of information for all of us.
-Pavel
-Pavel
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