Wednesday, January 31, 2018

John Donne stands out in the history of English literature not merely as the leader of the metaphysical school of poetry, but also as one of the masters of poetic novelties in theme and technique. In his secular works as well as religious, he is found to strike his originality as a creative artist. There is, perhaps, seldom seen such a literary figure, with so stupendously a revolutionary zeal in the poetic world.

The Good Morrow as a Metaphysical Love Poem

The novelty of Donne's metaphysical poetry is marked more specifically in his love poems which are immensely popular. Of course, there are numerous English poets who have treated love with much intensity and impulsiveness, but there is seen hardly anyone to give love such an intellectual bias as Donne is found to have done. Intellectual vigour and depth, restraint and impetuosity, are found well combined in him as a characteristic feature of his dignified artistry.

Of Donne's love poems, The Good Morrow may be instanced as a typical one. His novelty as a metaphysical love poet is here exhibited /distinctly as elsewhere. The poem remains quite engrossing and entertaining, as a specific instance of metaphysical love poetry, combining and adjusting intellect and emotion in right proportions.

Of course, Donne's theme is here nothing new. It is the old story of love and devotion and the old pleading for unity in diversity in love. The poet addresses his ladylove, wonders to ascertain what they did before their love, feels confident of their oneness through love and asserts their constancy that nothing can 'slacken' or 'destroy'. But the entire theme of the poem is expressed in a highly singular and suggestive manner. The novelty of Donne's poetry, as also of metaphysical poetry in general, lies not in the matter but in the manner of expression. In this respect, The Good Morrow, like The Flea, The Anniversarie and The Sunne Rising, is a typical instance. The theme in each of the poems is the oneness of and devotion to love. What, however, counts most here is the way in which this oneness is shown by the poetic craft which is unconventional and essentially radical for the age to which Donne belonged.

Metaphysical poetry consists of conceits. In a conceit, two incongruous elements are compared with a profoundly intellectual penetration, causing thereby a mental stir. This is evident in Donne's comparison of two lovers to" two hemispheres', "Without sharp North, without declining West." The concluding words of the poem specifically convey a conceit. Love is so unified that none of the lovers can 'slacken' and 'none can die.'

"If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike that none do slacken, none can die."
The unification of the lovers is conveyed by means of a rare conceit of the flea in the poem The Flea. The little insect sucked the lover first and then sucks the lady and it mingles their 'two bloods'. The flea is the point of union of two lovers and the poet's assertion is quite novel—

"This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;"
The Anmversarie, another significant poem from Donne, illustrates equally the novelty of the metaphysical style in the treatment of love. The complacent mood of the lovers has a quite startling, rather epigrammatic expression—

"Only our love hath no decay;
This, no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday,
Running it never runs from us away,
But truly keeps his first, last, everlasting day."
Metaphysical poetry, as asserted already, is essentially intellectual. Donne's love poetry is also essentially intellectual. This is revealed both in its reflective nature and in its play of wit. In The Good Morrow, metaphysical intellectualism is found triumphant, and the poem flashes both with reflectiveness and wit. The predominance of Donne's reflection is clearly expressed in his observation on the unity in diversity, attained through love. His theme is a simple and solid expression of and bears out his profound reflection on the true strength of devoted love.

The reflective element of the poem, however, is made particularly diverting by the play of wit. The poet's interrogation as to what the lovers did till they had loved indicates this clearly—

"I wonder by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we lov'd?"
Again, his analogy of sea-discoverers and maps to express the devotion of love testifies to the range of his wit and the depth of his intellectualism.

Metaphysical poets are found logical and analytical rather than sensual and emotional. Their uniqueness lies much in the synthesis of divergent elements, the abstract and the concrete, the remote and the near, the sublime and the commonplace. This is a specific novelty of the metaphysical style and also of Donne's. His imagery to describe the devotion of love is conceived in a quite novel manner. The images of 'sea-discoverers' and 'maps' are well employed to assert love's constancy and oneness.

"Let sea discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let Maps to others, worlds on worlds have showne,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one."
The poet's imagery is taken from unconventional elements. The conventional matter of love is demonstrated and emphasized through the unpoetical, rather materialistic and prosaic elements. This, however, forms the genesis of the metaphysical style and originality as also Donne's poetry.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

An Essay on Criticism was Pope's first independent work written in heroic couplets. It was published in 1711. Didactic in purpose, it contains a description of the rules of taste and principles by which a critic should be guided; a demonstration follows showing departures from these principles by certain critics. The classical inspiration for the poem was Horace's Ars Poetica and it is a remarkably sophisticated performance; the skill with which Pope used the form and the concentration of witty utterance it contained made him famous.

Critical introduction to the Selected part of Essay on Criticism

The critical function may well depend on a poetic function : this is after all and thus acting also as poetry and offering itself for criticism. Its blurring of categories which might otherwise be seen as fundamentally distinct, and its often slippery transitions from area to area, are part of the poem's comprehensive educative character.

Pope, during the revision of his Works in 1736 decided to divide the poem into three sections (parts). The three sections are not equally balanced, but offer something like the thesis, antithesis, and synthesis of logical argumentation—something which exceeds the possitive-negative opposition suggested by the couplet format. The whole poem is of 744 lines. The first section (1-200) establishes the basic possibilities for critical judgement; the second (201-559) elaborates the factors which hinder such judgement; and the third (560-744) celebrates the elements which make up true critical behaviour.

The present selection (lines 362-384) is taken from a part of section II which elaborates all the human psychological causes which inhibit such a project: pride, envy, sectarianism a love of some favourite device at the expense of overall design.

In the selected part we see the poet is emphasising on good art of creative writing. That good writing is a work of regular exercise, not a subject or gift of divine chance. It is a faculty of learning and practice. He also says that a piece of good art (poetry) must come from a master artist or a true poet. So, at a time creativity and good practice must be mingled. There must be an inner music or an attractive sound quality in a good piece of writing. Pope sets various classical and contemporary examples of master arts and tries to prove that true art depends on its viable creation by real master artists.

Saturday, January 20, 2018

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is a famous lyric poem by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth. Widely known as Daffodils, the poem takes place in the Lake District of Northern England. It was first published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes, and a revised version was published in 1815.

The Central Subject and the Theme of the Poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”

The poem has the outlines of a narrative. The poet wanders through a landscape, is struck by the sight of a field of daffodils, and later, in moments of solitude, recalls the experience, seeing the field again in mind. However, this sketch does not fully explain what happens in the poem, fair Wordsworth develops the vision of the daffodils as the central event, emphasizing the act of seeing and exploring its philosophical significance. Thus the imagery describing the scene becomes particularly important, for it is through figurative language that Wordsworth explores the relationship between subject and object, humanity and nature.

The first image of the poem, "I wandered lonely as a cloud", immediately establishes both the poet's solitude and his connection with the natural world. He "floats above" the scene and yet is part of it. The sense a living nature which reaches out to the observer deepens as Wordsworth describes the field of daffodils. He compares the flowers to the "stars that shine/And twinkle on the milky way" and to the "sparkling waves" of a nearby lake. Thus a kind of fusion occurs by which heaven, earth, and water are joined in the vision of the dancing flowers. Both images convey the qualities of radiance and movement ("twinkle," "sparkle"). Together with the repetitions of the word "dance," these images create a picture of nature as vital, animated, and glowing.

The relationship between poet and landscape is one of intimate union, suggesting an identity of mood between subject and object:

“A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company;”

Finally, then, the experience of seeing ("I gazed—and gazed—") becomes the subject of the poem. The vision and the attendant emotion are what the poet brings away from the experience and later recreates in memory.

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Emily Dickinson had a strong obsession with death. Many of her best poems concentrate on death. In fact, Death is a very common subject in literature. In Donne's poem we have noticed that he is not ready to give any importance to death. Unlike Donne, Dickinson is describing death as a kindly touched inevitable force. In the poem Because I could not stop for Death she describes about this touch.

In this mortal life we are very free in this earth. Also we are very busy with our works and responsibilities. So hardly, when very busy, we think, about death. However, the poet is saying that Death shopped for her. Clearly it indicates that the poem is a narration from another world, after death.

“Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.”
 According to the poet, death is an all time follower or companion to our livers. Life and Death grow together; pass their time gradually and after a certain period they mingle into each other. This is the reunion. But for that there is no haste from death's part. On the other hand, life approaches for that sure direction in every step of time. This is rational and inevitable.

The whole course of life is a journey where death is a sure companion. The chariot of life is taking the poet towards eternity. Obviously this is a personal belief of the poet. We are not quite sure about life after death, particularly after entering in to the grave. So, we can conclude that life in this earth is limited, but after death it is eternal. And for our poet death is that companion of ours that stays with us always and after the ending of the permitted period it directs us toward eternity.

Dickinson’s Attitude towards death in “Because I could not stop for Death”

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Stopping by woods on a Snowy Evening was first published was first published in the New Republic in March 7, 1923, and republished later that year in a collection of Robert Frost's poems entitled New Hampshire. New Hampshire was the first of Robert frost's books to have both a trade and a limited edition. The limited edition consisted of 350 numbered copies signed by the poet. This collection won Frost a Pulitzer Prize and widespread recognition as an important American writer.

Stopping by woods on a Snowy Evening

This poem is one of the most well-known and widely anthologized short pieces of Frost. The poem has a lyrical frame, and is meditative in tone and movement. The setting is pastoral, one which belongs to the world of description of the scene of the woods and the circumstances under which the narrator had stopped there. But behind this seeming simplicity there runs a meaning which is far-reaching in its effects. Stopping by woods on a snowy Evening, one of the most quietly moving of Frost's lyrics, uses its superb craftsmanship to come to a climax of responsibility: the promises to be kept, the obligations to be fulfilled.

The action of the piece starts in the middle of an incident, at a point where it nears the climax of an experience, However, in under-tones, the experience cases to be personal, and acquires universal proportions, it is not restricted to the personal level. That is the shift in the emphasis, the change from a personal realm of experience to a universal becomes known as the poem proceeds. - Xs the poem progresses, the personal merges with the universal, the specific with the general. This has been brought about by a shift in the emphasis, the rhythm, the mater, the rhyming, the tone and everything about the poet's technique. Indeed, the form and the content of the poem are not two separate things. There are one and the same, each drawing on the other for its effectiveness.

One of the significant things about the poem is that Frost makes the tone and technique of it to convey the meaning he wants to put through. The distinction of Frost is that, he creates voice tones. In this poem the voice is that of the speaker:

“Whose woods there are I think I know.”
The voice is so calm and simple, it is so clear in tone and movement that it can be mistaken to be a prose utterance. It indeed is, if we forget that it is metrical form. It may be the voice of a person talking in a natural way-in the natural rhythms and speech. Now the lines are neither to be read strictly in the metrical rhymic order nor as ordinary speech, but in a special way, by accommodation, adjustment between meters. Thus the speech is the living voice of a person, a dramatic character. There is the pattern of a dramatic speaker's voice in the rhythms.

Now in the poem, there is incident, setting and character, and the character 'has a distinct tone of voice, but in order that the speech may be dramatic there must be action. At the beginning of the poem there is one character: the man talking, “whose woods there are I think I know”. Soon a reference is made to a second person, “His house in the village though.” So there is developed a dialogue context, the second character playing the role of an implied speaker. At the beginning of the second stanza there comes a third character: “My little horse.” The horse is a character in the sense that it contributes to the dramatic tension of the speech:

“He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake”
The shaking of the harness bells is a way in which the horse confronts the speaker with a question. Unlike the second character whose presence is only felt, the horse is a reality, it exists with the narrator in material terms. Thus the real opposition, the dramatic conflict, in the poem is between to speaker and the horse and not the speaker and the unseen somebody. And the opposition is deep. Whereas the speaker is an idealist lost in the magnitude of nature, the horse is a realist and prompts his rider to take a realistic course of action and not get lost in sentimental ruminations.

It is this opposition- character interplay- that gives Stopping by woods on a Snowy Evening the force of a dramatic utterance, though the poem is written in the tradition of the romantic nature lyric. Nature here has a dramatic function to subserve. It acts as a background to the action. The sound of “The sweep of easy wind and downy flake” is in tune with the speaker's voice, a voice mysterious, somewhat terrifying:

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep”
It the darkest evening of the year, amid the winter snows, stopping by the woods, alone, even for a moment', must be terrifying indeed. When the horse reminds the speaker of this by giving his harness bells a shake, he springs into life from the reverie, and thinks of the promises he has to keep.

"And miles to go before I sleep" is a symbol for life's journey, which journey must end sometime in eternal sleep. The poet here may be thinking of his obligations to himself, to his family and children, to his fellow-men, for the benefits he has received from them. And in order to keep all the promises, he will have to travel a long distance, to work a great deal. In the winter evening “not only is he drawn by the beauty of these woods but also by the desire to stop struggling, to give up all the duties and promises that life is made up of, and just lie down in peaceful death.” But the horse makes him think of the promises he has to keep, and not wish for death. The poet reflects “I must keep my promises, I have many more miles to go before tonight's sleep brings me rest, before the final sleep gives me eternal peace-relief from the turmoil and burden and responsibilities of my life.”

The poem is unique in the simplicity of language. Monosyllabic words predominate in the poem. The use of the symbolistic technique is masterly. The use and manipulation of rhymes is also masterly. The rhyming of the poem is neither strained nor palpable. The lines flow, without seeming artificial. This is the secret of the success of the poem.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is a famous elegy written by the English poet Thomas Grey. A large part of the charm of the Elegy comes from the poet's personal, sensitive approach to his subject. He lingers in the churchyard, acting signs of the approaching nightfall until the atmosphere of twilight-musing is established, after which his reflections upon life and death have a tone of sad and intimate sincerity. These reflections are mostly philosophical and often universal with the elegiac note rising and falling. The personal note is struck early in the poem:

“The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me. “
Left alone to meditate in the churchyard, the poet thinks of the humble dead as representative of all humanity and in that lies the universal appeal of the poem. Even the rural English churchyard ceases to be local and becomes universal.

The poem moves with ease from a contemplation of the landscape to a consideration of “the short and simple annals of the poor”, to suggest moral ideas which arise from this consideration. The alternation between generalized abstractions and individual examples is adroitly done, and the whole poem gives a sense of personal emotion universalized by form.

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

The elegiac note proper enters the poem sin the fourth stanza, when we are told that “each in his narrow cell for ever laid, the rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep”. The elegiac note rises when the poet reflects that the housewife will no more attend to her domestic work, and that children will no more run to greet their fathers on their return home. Then follows a picture of the occupations which these men used to follow during their lives. Thus, after referring to the irrevocable nature of death Gray gives us a retrospective picture of the simple domestic pleasures and rustic occupations of these men.

The four stanzas that follow are written in a tone of moralizing. The elegiac note here subsides. Certain statements of universal application are now made, and there is some popular philosophy behind them. Let not the proud and ambitious people mock at the humble lives and simple joys of these men. All men are subject to death. “The paths of glory lead but to the grave”, If no monuments were raised over these dead men, it does not matter. Neither the "storied urn" nor the "animated bust" can bring the departed soul back to its body.

The elegiac note rises again in the next four stanzas. The poet laments the fact that the latent abilities and gifts of these men found no scope for outlet or expression. There might have been among these dead persons someone whose heart was full of religious fervour which remained suppressed. There might have been someone who was fit to rule an empire, or someone who could have become a great musician if opportunity had favoured him. Extreme poverty made it impossible for them to acquire knowledge or to display their religious zeal or to cultivate the generous impulses of their souls.

In a stanza which has become famous because of its universal appeal we are told that many exquisite gems lie unknown in the depths of the sea, and many flowers bloom and fade away unknown in a desert. The poet then becomes more specific. There might have been among these men someone who had the courage and daring of John Hampden, someone with the poetic gift of Milton, or someone with the war-like nature of Cromwell. But owing to a want of opportunity and on account of the crushing effect of poverty, their capabilities remained suppressed and unknown. The elegiac note has here been considerably heightened because of the plaintive tone of these stanzas and the profound regret that the poet is experiencing. There is nothing in these lines which could be called "philosophical", but they have a universal validity. Nobody will question the general- truth here (even though someone might point out that nobody with the poetic gift of Milton can remain mute all his life). These stanzas are, furthermore, perfectly impersonal, even though some critics have discovered personal feeling here. The state of not being able to attain fame may be a reference to Gray himself.

The elegiac note subsides once again when the poet proceeds to dwell upon the consoling aspects of the situation. The very poverty and obscurity of these men were a blessing, says the poet. True that they found no chance to display their oratorical powers or their capacities for the uplift of their nation. But, if their humble destiny did not permit them to develop and display their virtues and abilities, it likewise kept in check their potentialities for mischief. Their humble destiny prevented them from plunging the world into war, or from becoming unscrupulous villains, or from humiliating themselves by their cringing flattery of men of position and rank. They lived peaceful, tranquil and retired lives, and they did not take to any evil courses.

There is no profound philosophy in these observations, but they certainly have a universal appeal. We can all appreciate the argument as applied to those men who were potential foes of humanity but who found no scope for their villainy. But there may be something personal here too. Perhaps Gray is more concerned here with the frustrated poet than with the frustrated ruler. The consolation offered for waste and frustration in the human situation is a consolation to Gray's own sense of waste and frustration, which no longer appears as a personal inadequacy, but as a part of what must inevitably happen in all human life and all nature.

The poet next speaks about the humble tombstones on which the names and ages of the dead are engraved. These engravings and inscriptions, though awkwardly executed, serve to commemorate the dead men and fulfill an essential need. Here the poem has definitely become philosophical and states a deep psychological truth. Everybody, while dying, casts a regretful eye on this world, says the poet. A dying man feels a keen desire to be remembered lovingly after his exit from here. The tears of sympathy and affection which he sees in the eyes of a dear friend are a source of great comfort to him.

“On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires.”
Even after death, when all is dust and ashes, this desire for loving remembrance is keenly felt. The inscriptions on the tombstones in this churchyard are thus a fulfillment of that natural desire. As the poet here ventures to gauge the feelings of human beings after their deaths, he becomes almost metaphysical in his approach. How far one can agree here is a matter of opinion. But there is nothing personal about what the poet has said.

After having thus related the "artless tale of the unhonoured dead", the poet turns to himself. The Elegy now becomes deeply personal, and the elegiac note too deepens. The poet tells us of the daily routine that he followed at Stoke-Poges where he was living when this poem was meditated and sketched. We learn that he used to greet the sunrise from the top of a hill, that at noontide he used to stretch himself beneath a tree in a contemplative mood, and that he used to roam about in various moods. But this routine, he says, would one day end and he would then be buried in the same churchyard. The poem is here neither philosophical nor universal; it only expresses self-pity.

The poem concludes with the poet's epitaph written by himself. He refers to himself as a melancholy and scholarly person, with a generous, sympathetic, sincere heart, and with full confidence in Almighty God in whose bosom he will rest after death. These lines are personal, with a philosophical touch.

The final eight stanzas of the poem may even have a wider personal reference than has been indicated above. The listless youth, muttering his wayward fancies in solitude* (Line 106), may in the first place, be Gray's close friend, Richard West (who like Milton's Lycidas, cherished poetic ambitions that were frustrated by an early death). Secondly, of course, he is Gray himself, also ambitious, hypochondriacal, and unhappy, and likely enough to come to a similar end. The epitaph (the last three stanza) sums up the whole, and provides another argument for the attitude of resignation which Gray wishes to establish: “The bosom of his Father and his God”. In this connection, the following comment by a critic seems relevant: "In its combination of personal detachment and involvement, the Elegy is in some sense an 18th-century Lycidas"

*”Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
Muttering his wayward fancies he would rove
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,…”

Monday, January 15, 2018

Text

The Jaguar is from Ted Hughes’ volume of works entitled The Hawn in the Rain (1957). The poem was inspired by a particular caged jaguar which the poet saw while working in Regent’s Park Zoo during the Autumn of 1954.

The Jaguar

The apes yawn and adore their fleas in the sun.
The parrots shriek as if they were on fire, or strut
Like cheap tarts to attract the stroller with the nut.
Fatigued with indolence, tiger and lion
Lie still as the sun. The boa-constrictor’s coil
Is a fossil. Cage after cage seems empty, or
Stinks of sleepers from the breathing straw.
It might be painted on a nursery wall.

But who runs like the rest past these arrives
At a cage where the crowd stands, stares, mesmerized,
As a child at a dream, at a jaguar hurrying enraged
Through prison darkness after the drills of his eyes
On a short fierce fuse. Not in boredom—
The eye satisfied to be blind in fire,
By the bang of blood in the brain deaf the ear—
He spins from the bars, but there’s no cage to him

More than to the visionary his cell:
His stride is wildernesses of freedom:
The world rolls under the long thrust of his heel.
Over the cage floor the horizons come.

Theme

The Jaguar stands amongst the best of Hughes' symbolic poems. The poem is basically a description and observation of behaviour of the animals in a zoo. It compares the apes, parrots, tiger, lion and a boa constrictor to the jaguar. However, the best comparison has been made between the Jaguar and the apes. For Hughes the jaguar is a symbol of an idealist revolutionary, on the other hand the apes are the powerless human beings. Although they reside in the same zoo, i.e. “The world”, the difference between these two is remarkable.

The Jaguar is confined in a cage. But as an idealist hero he does not consider himself to be imprisoned. Because in his thought and action he is free on the other hand the apes, being very similar to human beings, are observing him from a distant place. They are timid, not only in their action but in their thought too.

For a person who is free in mind everything is possible. He can never be dominated. So is true to the Jaguar in the poem. However, as it is confined in a zoo, it does not consider the cage his prison. Rather, “As a child, at dream” the Jaguar can find the way of freedom. Since it does not care this temporary prison of the world, a clear invocation of an ideal revolutionary's dream and thought is narrated aptly in the poem.

Text & Main Theme of the poem “The Jaguar”

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers is a beautiful poem by the American poet Adrienne Rich depicting a faithful portrait of a woman's life. She has been given a name. She is an artist. She can make beautiful artistic canvas. But above all here in this poem her sole identity has become of a woman's. None could emulate that marital identity.

Rich in this poem has raised an important issue of woman's position in society. We notice curiously that Aunt Jennifer, in her life, is bearing the `massive weight' of marriage, i.e. the ring. Even after her death, when the ring will not be there, the mark of the ring, on her finger will once again proclaim "uncle's wedding band". That means after her death she will also bear the same identity, as she is bearing now in a patriarchal society. That she is a married woman.

Rich has also artfully relates social and individual expectations in this poem. We see Jennifer is an aunt. She is a wife of a certain uncle who we do not know. But she could be given another name. In our society, according to the observations of Rich, it is not so easy; particularly for a married woman. the poet might have had her own experience in this respect. Society's expectations are always higher than these of an individual woman's.

She has used animal imagery. Tigers are symbols of power and vigour. Unfortunately the artistic creator of these tigers does not find any freedom in this society. As the society is essentially patriarchal, it is not ready to give place to woman's individual freedom. On the other hand if we compare Ted Hughes’ Jaguar, we shall see that through this animal imagery Hughes can dream of a rebellion. And he is able to do this since the patriarchal society permits him. Here lies the conflict between imagination and impulse of freedom and the reality in our society.

We see that the confinement of a woman in the society is a conventional thing. Rich does not clearly announce and say against this condition. Through the dutiful life style and passivity of Aunt Jennifer the poet silently indicates the imbalance of social stance of man and woman. And this helps us more to observe or at least rethink about our still patriarchal society.

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

Saturday, January 13, 2018

As a Sonnet

Ozymandias is one of the best sonnets that Shelley wrote. Technically the poem conforms to the sonnet form in having fourteen lines in iambic metre, and in having ten syllables in each line. But in terms of rhyme scheme, i.e.: ab ab ac dc ed ef ef, it conforms neither to a Shakespearean nor to a Miltonic sonnet. William Shairp writes:

"Shelley wrote even fewer sonnets than did Byron: but the few that Byron wrote he wrote well, and this cannot be said of Shelley. This imaginative and beautiful (though far from flawless) poem in fourteen lines is so divergent from all accepted rules that it can hardly be styled a sonnet. No writer nowadays could venture to print a sonnet with such rhymes as stone—frown: appear—despair. As an imaginative poem it is, as is felt by every reader, very impressive. It is strange that Shelley, the most poetic of poets, should have been unable to write a good sonnet; probably the restrictions of the form pressed upon him with a special heaviness".

Presentation of theme

In spite of its technical drawbacks as a sonnet Ozymandias is universally accepted as one of the finest poems by Shelley. The theme of his sonnet—ravages of time—is the favourite theme with Shakespeare, and in its presentation with detachment and poetic skill Shelley has indeed come very near the great master. If he had not wriggled out of the fetters of the sonnet form, he would never have been able to attain such magnificence for this poem. To make what he wants to say more convincing he maintains the detached tone throughout the poem. Except the first ten words where Shelley seems to imply that he will merely report and not interpret, the entire poem is fashioned after a traveller's tale. Shelley has employed this device deliberately because he knows that morals preached indirectly and through narration of events by supposed eye-witnesses can be much quicker to get home than plain, direct sermons. The clear visual images at the beginning of the tale are meant to suggest the traveller's reliability and quick observation of relevant details. The crux of the poem, the inscription, seems more convincing because it seems to come from a reliable impartial traveller. This explains why the last three lines of the poem which contain the irony of the inscription as well as the theme seem so poignant, convincing and clear to anyone who reads the poem.

Ozymandias

Uniqueness of the poem

Ozymandias is different in subject and treatment from all other works of the poet. On this aspect of the poem Desmond King-Hele writes:

"No one who was asked to select a typical poem of Shelley's would choose Ozymandias: intuitively one feels the poem is completely atypical, and it is not difficult to see why. First there is the subject; Shelley usually wrote about things dear to his heart, while Ozymandias is a little remote. Then there is the tone, which, partly because of the subject, is passionless, objective and calm, instead of being passionate, subjective and excited. Last, and perhaps most important, there is the aim. Shelley's habit was to aim high, sometimes impossibly high, and even though, he would often turn out the most rewarding type of poem which yields new layers of meaning at each re-reading, his success was rarely complete. In Ozymandias, however, he is content with a limited objective, a straightforward piece of irony, and he succeeds completely."

Thursday, January 11, 2018

The English poet John Keats is a true admirer of nature. Perhaps, he is one of the best portrayers of nature’s beauty amongst the English romantic poets. His most celebrated poem Ode to Autumn is a beautiful poem describing the beauty of nature during the Autumn season.

Autumn, according to Keats, is the season of mists and ripe fruits. Its three stanzas show a gradual rise of thought. In the first, Autumn is viewed as the season itself, doing the season's work, bringing all the fruits of the earth to maturity in readiness for harvesting. Autumn in cooperation with the sun makes the grapes and the apples, the gourds and the nuts, ripen. Autumn also causes honey-flowers to blossom late in the season so that the bees may be supplied with honey in the months of Winter.

In the second stanza, Autumn, personified in woman's shape is present at the various activities of the harvest and wine-pressing. First, Autumn is the harvest sitting carelessly on the granary floor. Secondly, she is a reaper tired with her work and asleep. She is lulled to sleep by the sweet smell of poppy. Thirdly, she is a gleaner carrying home the corn she has picked up during the day. She carries corn on her head balancing herself gracefully as she crosses a brook. Fourthly, she is a cider presser sitting by the press and watching the oozing of the apple juice. She is the very personification of Autumn.

In the last stanza, the close of the year is associated with sunset; the songs of spring are over, and night is falling; but the sense of sadness is merged in the feeling of the continuous life of Nature, which eternally renews itself in insect and animal and bird. The close of the ode, though solemn breathes the spirit of hope. In the twilight of evening, one can hear the mournful sounds of gnats by the riverside, the loud bleating of lambs on the hills, the shrill chirping of the crickets in the hedges, the whistling' of the Robin red-breast and the twittering of the swallows.

Use of Imagery in Keats’ Ode to Autumn

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is one of the greatest dramatic monologues. The monologue is spoken in the presence of the ambassador of a foreign count whose daughter is being sought in marriage by the widowed duke. The duke reveals his character in the situation when second marriage for him is proposed. He is showing his picture gallery and is standing before the portrait of his last duchess. The basis of his character is the complacent egotism of the aristocrat who regards his wife as his property. He cannot brook -his innocent gaiety and graciousness and extinguishes it summarily.

The poem is remarkable for character-revelations and for condensed and objective descriptions. Browning adopts here one of his favourite methods character-study. In attempting to describe the duchess, the duke succeeds in painting his own narrow and hideous heart. The duke's speech shows his pride and jealousy. His most salient peculiarity is the pride of mere possession of a masterpiece which Browning felt to be a phase of the decadent renaissance. The duke is telling his companion that "the depth and passion of her earnest glance" was not reserved for her husband alone, but the slightest courtesy or attention was sufficient to call up "that spot of joy" into her face. "Her heart" said the duke, "was too soon made glad, too easily impressed". She smiled on her husband (she was her property, and that was right); she smiled on others, and that was a violation of the rights of property which this dealer in human souls could not brook, so he "gave commands", —"then all smiles stopped together". The concentrated tragedy of this line is a good example of the poet's power of compressing a whole life story in two or three words. The heartless duke instantly dismisses the memory of his duchess and her fount of human love is sealed up "by command". The duke's speech shows his pride and jealousy. The duke's greed is represented in the line—"no just pretence of mine for dowry will be disallowed" and his cruelty is shown in the short terribly suggestive line—all smiles stopped together.

The character of the duchess also emerges from the duke's description of her. She is gay and gracious, full of courtesy to all. She is one of those lovely women whose kindness and responsiveness are as natural as sunlight. The duke cannot brook her expansive nature and makes away with her life out of jealousy. The kind and expansive nature of the duchess is a contrast to the narrow and cruel nature of the duke.

Thus the poem is unique in character study. From the point of characterisation, the poem acquires a special distinction. A monologue differs from soliloquy in certain respects. A good monologue is characterised by implied action and implied conversation. The presence of the second character for whom the monologue is intended is suggested. His responses and actions are adequately hinted at. When the duke speaks of the 'officious fool' who brought the cherries and when he says "all, smiles stopped together", then the envoy looks at him with a fearful question in his eyes, but the duke's face immediately resumes its mask of complacency. There is implied action when the duke asks the guest to go down, and as they descend he draws his attention to a fine bronze statue. The poem shows Browning's genius of condensation and objectivity in the presentation of character. The duke's avarice (not just pretence of mind for dowry will be disallowed) and cruelty (all smile stopped together) are as much evident as the depth and passion of the earnest glance of the last duchess.

My Last Duchess as a Dramatic Monologue

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Tennyson takes the character of Ulysses from Homer and Dante and invests him with the passion for adventures. In Homer, Ulysses longs to go on voyaging again after returning from his adventures to the island of Ithaca. Homer's Ulysses is a great traveller and he is also a man of ready devices and inventions, a man of tact and resourcefulness. Dante's Ulysses goes through a series of adventures. He set out with a hand of trusted companions and reached the farthest point in the west and he persuaded his men to go beyond. But Tennyson's Ulysses is a symbol of aspiration for the unattainable and of restless spirit for knowledge and adventure. Tennyson makes him typical of some aspects of the Victorian age the energy and restless curiosity of its explorers, missionaries, soldiers and empire-builders. He represents the modern passion for knowledge, for the exploration of its limitless fields, for the annexation of the new kingdoms of science and thought. Victorian age was known for this passion for knowledge which is embodied in the research and discoveries of Charles Darwin and other scientists. It affirms the need of going forward and braving the struggle for life. Ulysses is not satisfied with the knowledge gained and experiences acquired; he feels the urge to go beyond the utmost bound of human thought. Thus he symbolises the Victorian temper of extending the frontiers of knowledge through discoveries of science, explorations of new territories, and extension of the empire. He represents the spirit of daring and restless adventure.

It is, however, not merely the knowledge that is his ideal. He is also a stem lover of action. He grows impatient of the petty duties that bind him to the rocky isle of Ithaca. The memory of the heroic doings on the windy plains of Troy and of the perilous voyages over the seas haunts his mind like dreams of joy, and this thirst of adventure grows keener. In spite of the infirmity of the old age he longs ardently to go forth on a new voyage with his own companions in search of unexplored shores and fresh adventures. He knows too well that life is short and the urge of activity becomes taxi. imperious within him.

Ulysses with his yearning for knowledge and urge for action represents to some extent the spirit of knowledge and action of the Victorian age he is an individual with his noble idealism and aspiration for a higher ampler life. The contrast with Telemachus who 'is centred in spheres is significant in this respect.

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