After reading Shelley's biography I was very interested to read some of his poems. His lifestyle was quite funny to read about, especially in the early 1800s!!! In todays standards he may be considered a little extreme, so I could not imagine how people must have talked about him back then!
To a Sky-Lark:
This poem is about a sky-lark which Shelley finds beautiful and seems to have found inspiration from. He finds the inspiration for his poetry from this bird. Since Shelley was a well known radical he is wanting to let people know here that you can teach through poetry and you can englighten people about the world. Shelley spent most of his life writing radical things and this is his way of saying you can teach people through poetry. He is using the birds beauty to speak about a poet writing. He uses comparisons of the bird such as "Like a poet hidden/ In the light of though/ Singing humns unbidden/ Till the world is wrought/ To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not:" lines 36-40. What he is saying here is that his poetry is englightening people in the world by pointing out what is going on. He uses sympathy and fear to get a reaction from these people. Shelley also points out that the bird is free from having to feel these pains and from experiencing the pain from love. He says "With they clear keen joyance/ Langour cannot be:/ Shadow of annoyance/ Never came near thee" He seems to be almost jealous of the bird for not experiencing these things. He also says, "Teach us, Sprite, or Bird/ What seet thought are thine" Lines 61-62. He wants to be like the bird and not have to deal with all the injustices he finds in the world. Then at the end of this poem is says "Teach me half the gladness/ That thy brain must know/ Such harmonious madness/ From my lips would flow/ The world should listen then-as I am listening now" Lines 101-105. He feels that the skylark has reached the ultimate level of joy and happiness and he wishes that he also could find such happiness. Shelley things that if he could learn just a little from the bird and could write such beautiful poetry that people would listen simply because it was so beautiful.
Ozymandias:
I chose to include this poem in my blog because I enjoyed it.
This poem is about an empire and a ruler who no longer have power. Shelley is pointing out that even the strongest of tyrants do not last in power forever. He points out how these things do not last by saying "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone/Stand in the desart....Near them on the sand" lines 2-3. This is referring to a statue of the king which was broken up and fallen in the sand. He says that the sculptor put a lot of passion into making these statues, but now they are just broken in the sand. I believe he is mocking the king when he includes the line "And on the pedestal, these words appear: / My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings/ Look on my worlds, ye Mighty, and despair" Lines 9-11. He is pointing out that the Kings pedistal where this was written is broken up and on the ground. The king had this made to let everyone know of his power and now that power is gone. I just thought this poem was interesting because he is pointing out that the king has lost everything including the empire that existed. Also you can see how this happens throughout history with all the great empires, such as the Roman empire.
Friday, May 30, 2008
George Gordon, Lord Byron
She walks in beauty:
This poem seems dark because right in the first line the speaker says "She walks in beauty like the night" -line 1. This is contrary to most notions of beauty which are associated with bright, happy, colorful, red roses type of symbols. The setting of this entire poems seems to be strange. Instead of being set in a bright and cheery day he sets it when "One shade the more, one ray the less" line 7; as if to say it is not bright, but its not totally dark. It's a "perfect" setting for the mood he seems to be conveying. He also mentions "raven tress" in line 9. As we know ravens are black birds, there again a notion of darkness. When I read the line about the raven trees I pictured dark trees swaying in the wind on a night with a full moon. I assumed the full moon because of the line where he said "One shade the more, one ray the less" line 7. He does find the girl beautiful, but it seems that he finds her beautiful for different reasons than her outer beauty. Possibly he is referring to her inner beauty?
So, we'll go no more a-roving:
This poem was written after Lord Byron left England and went to Venice. It can be seen as a poem about maturing, as he talks about "the sword outwears its sheath" in line 5. Possibly this is expressing how Byron has moved on from his previous life, and this poem reflects the change. I believe he wrote this poem to explain to a friend the changes in his life, and how he feels about it all. It seems especially appropriate since his early drafts mention Carnival, the so called "farewell to flesh" that precedes Lent, which is a period of sacrifice and self reflection. (footnote page 358). This can be perceived as a correlation to presonal growth, the immaturity of youth followed by the wisdom of experience and age.
This poem seems dark because right in the first line the speaker says "She walks in beauty like the night" -line 1. This is contrary to most notions of beauty which are associated with bright, happy, colorful, red roses type of symbols. The setting of this entire poems seems to be strange. Instead of being set in a bright and cheery day he sets it when "One shade the more, one ray the less" line 7; as if to say it is not bright, but its not totally dark. It's a "perfect" setting for the mood he seems to be conveying. He also mentions "raven tress" in line 9. As we know ravens are black birds, there again a notion of darkness. When I read the line about the raven trees I pictured dark trees swaying in the wind on a night with a full moon. I assumed the full moon because of the line where he said "One shade the more, one ray the less" line 7. He does find the girl beautiful, but it seems that he finds her beautiful for different reasons than her outer beauty. Possibly he is referring to her inner beauty?
So, we'll go no more a-roving:
This poem was written after Lord Byron left England and went to Venice. It can be seen as a poem about maturing, as he talks about "the sword outwears its sheath" in line 5. Possibly this is expressing how Byron has moved on from his previous life, and this poem reflects the change. I believe he wrote this poem to explain to a friend the changes in his life, and how he feels about it all. It seems especially appropriate since his early drafts mention Carnival, the so called "farewell to flesh" that precedes Lent, which is a period of sacrifice and self reflection. (footnote page 358). This can be perceived as a correlation to presonal growth, the immaturity of youth followed by the wisdom of experience and age.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
For this blog I feel as if I did a bit more summary on the short story/poem, however I did not feel this required as in depth thinking. However, maybe I am missing something? If anybody has any points to add please do!!
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
The ballad starts out with an old seaman who meets three men going to a wedding. This man has come to tell a story at a wedding about an experience on a ship he had. The ship goes south to try and outrun a storm “And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he Was tyrannous and strong: He struck with his o’ertaking wings, And chased us south along.” They end up going south towards the south pole where they believe there is no life. However, line 63 says “At length did cross and Albatross”. At the conclusion of part one the crew decides the bird is lucky, and the old man telling the story at the wedding decides to kill him and bring him along. In the second part of the story the crew decides the man has brought them bad luck by killing the bird and decide there is a spirit that is following them. So they hang the dead bird around the man’s neck. The interesting thing is that the whole time the old man is telling his story the wedding is trying to go on. At one point the wedding music started playing, but the man continued talking and the wedding guests are listening intently. At this point the story is being told so well that I was even on the edge of my seat to find out what happened next. As the story progresses it turns out that a ghost ship has approached their ship. Then he says “The souls did from their bodies fly-They fled to bliss or woe! And every soul, it passed me by, Like the whizz of my CROSS-BOW!” In the fourth part of the story he is on the ship by himself and he begins feeling lonely and sorry for himself. For example he says “The many men, so beautiful! And they all dead did lie: And a thousand thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did I” I believe by this statement he is jealous that the other men died and that he is still living. He feels that living is actually a curse. At the end of this section however he blesses living things and is able to pray. At this point “The albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea”. The story continues and the old man finally sees a ship and is able to return back to land after his own ship sank. Then he tells the wedding guest that “I pass, like the night, from land to land; I have strange power of speech”. Pretty much what he ends up telling them is that he goes around from town to town and he tells people about love and to love all of god’s creatures. He never again was able to return to the sea because of the curse, but he was able to pass along love. The story ends sadly because it says “A sadder and a wiser man, He rose the morrow morn.” As if to say that the man is getting older and wiser with age, but he will wake up again just to go out and talk about the same things and then repeat the process the next day.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
The ballad starts out with an old seaman who meets three men going to a wedding. This man has come to tell a story at a wedding about an experience on a ship he had. The ship goes south to try and outrun a storm “And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he Was tyrannous and strong: He struck with his o’ertaking wings, And chased us south along.” They end up going south towards the south pole where they believe there is no life. However, line 63 says “At length did cross and Albatross”. At the conclusion of part one the crew decides the bird is lucky, and the old man telling the story at the wedding decides to kill him and bring him along. In the second part of the story the crew decides the man has brought them bad luck by killing the bird and decide there is a spirit that is following them. So they hang the dead bird around the man’s neck. The interesting thing is that the whole time the old man is telling his story the wedding is trying to go on. At one point the wedding music started playing, but the man continued talking and the wedding guests are listening intently. At this point the story is being told so well that I was even on the edge of my seat to find out what happened next. As the story progresses it turns out that a ghost ship has approached their ship. Then he says “The souls did from their bodies fly-They fled to bliss or woe! And every soul, it passed me by, Like the whizz of my CROSS-BOW!” In the fourth part of the story he is on the ship by himself and he begins feeling lonely and sorry for himself. For example he says “The many men, so beautiful! And they all dead did lie: And a thousand thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did I” I believe by this statement he is jealous that the other men died and that he is still living. He feels that living is actually a curse. At the end of this section however he blesses living things and is able to pray. At this point “The albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea”. The story continues and the old man finally sees a ship and is able to return back to land after his own ship sank. Then he tells the wedding guest that “I pass, like the night, from land to land; I have strange power of speech”. Pretty much what he ends up telling them is that he goes around from town to town and he tells people about love and to love all of god’s creatures. He never again was able to return to the sea because of the curse, but he was able to pass along love. The story ends sadly because it says “A sadder and a wiser man, He rose the morrow morn.” As if to say that the man is getting older and wiser with age, but he will wake up again just to go out and talk about the same things and then repeat the process the next day.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Dorothy Wordsworth
Dorothy Wordsworth never really published many works during her lifetime because she was being a supporter for her brother William who published many works as we read earlier. She had a few works published through her brothers journals in which he would note that they were written by her. We have three of her poems in our book. She shows how the female role is different in her poems than that role of a man. She is a soother and mother figure.
The poem I chose to focus on is "Address to a Child" which was a poem written for her nephew Johnny according to our text. Apparantly the child would get scared when the wind storms would come through. The bottom notes that in the poem she uses the name Edward to protect her nephew, however that is only a reference.
"But how he will come, and whither he goes There's never a Scholar in England knows." She is saying to the child that not even the smartest scholars in England can explain the wind or the path that the wind will take. She talks about how scary the wind can be even though you cannot see it. She says "Sometimes he'll hide in the cave of a rock; then whistle as shrill as the buzzard cock" I feel like she is trying to relate to the child and his fear of the wind throughout the poem by saying how the wind is like a "beast" or "bad guy". As if he comes in the night and when morning comes everything is alright besides the mess he left behind. In the line "As soon as 'tis daylight tomorrow with me You shall go to the orchard and then you will see That he has been there, & made a great rout" she points out how you can follow his path from the night before, even though you would never see him. She ends the poem by soothing the child by saying "may drive at the windows-we'll laugh at his din Let him seek his own home wherever it be Here's a cozy warm house for Edward and me" She is saying to the child that there is nothing to fear of the wind because he will not enter their cozy home.
This poem represents how Dorothy would have felt for her nephew. She lived with her brother William and his wife Mary and helped take care of their children. She was referred to as a third parent instead of an aunt. The speaker in the poem explains the wind througout the poem and gives security to the child in the poem. We cannot assume that Dorothy is the speaker in the poem, however there is good evidence that she is.
The poem I chose to focus on is "Address to a Child" which was a poem written for her nephew Johnny according to our text. Apparantly the child would get scared when the wind storms would come through. The bottom notes that in the poem she uses the name Edward to protect her nephew, however that is only a reference.
"But how he will come, and whither he goes There's never a Scholar in England knows." She is saying to the child that not even the smartest scholars in England can explain the wind or the path that the wind will take. She talks about how scary the wind can be even though you cannot see it. She says "Sometimes he'll hide in the cave of a rock; then whistle as shrill as the buzzard cock" I feel like she is trying to relate to the child and his fear of the wind throughout the poem by saying how the wind is like a "beast" or "bad guy". As if he comes in the night and when morning comes everything is alright besides the mess he left behind. In the line "As soon as 'tis daylight tomorrow with me You shall go to the orchard and then you will see That he has been there, & made a great rout" she points out how you can follow his path from the night before, even though you would never see him. She ends the poem by soothing the child by saying "may drive at the windows-we'll laugh at his din Let him seek his own home wherever it be Here's a cozy warm house for Edward and me" She is saying to the child that there is nothing to fear of the wind because he will not enter their cozy home.
This poem represents how Dorothy would have felt for her nephew. She lived with her brother William and his wife Mary and helped take care of their children. She was referred to as a third parent instead of an aunt. The speaker in the poem explains the wind througout the poem and gives security to the child in the poem. We cannot assume that Dorothy is the speaker in the poem, however there is good evidence that she is.
William Wordsworth
After reading the biography of William Wordsworth you can see his background in some of his poems. Wordsworth's mother died when he was eight years old and then his father died when he was thirteen years old. Then once his father died he was not able to recieve his inheritance for a while. Wordsworth basically grew up with a childhood that would be difficult for most current day teenagers to deal with or understand. In today's society people live to be so much older and children especially are not expected to do as much, nor are they as mature as children would have been in the early 1800's.
The first poem where I really feel like you see Wordsworths childhood experiences being explained is "We are Seven". In the first paragraph it asks the question "what should it know of death?" He is talking about a child, probably a young child, because in the first sentence he says "A simple child" and he is pointing out that a young child could not possibly know anything about death. However, as the poem progresses we realize this child does know quite a bit about death, just like Wordsworth would have known about death at his age. As the poem progresses and he begins talking with the eight year old little girl we are able to see her perspective on the death of her siblings. He asks "Sisters and brothers, little maid, How many may you be?" and she responds "seven in all". So at this point she admits to him she has seven brother and sisters in total. Then she goes on to say "two of us in the church-yard lie, my sister and my brother". One thing about the girl is that she does not accept them as dead, just that their bodies are in the ground under a tree at the church yard. She like any child was having a hard time dealing with the death of her siblings. She even said "And often after sunset, Sir, When it is light and fair, I take my little porringer, And eat my supper there." At night she would go eat dinner with them as if they were still alive because in her head they were alive. She would not have it any other way.
Possibly this is what Wordsworth went through when his mother and father died. Being a young child at age 13 with both parents dead maybe he still did not accept their death.
Wordsworth also wrote alot of poems about nature. One of his poems he wrote "The world is too much with us" expressed how he felt about the human race on Earth. He says "For this, for everything, we are out of tune; it moves us not. Great God!" He seems to be upset that the beauty of nature is not appreciated by more people. He also says "Little we see in nature that is ours" He is troubled by the fact people are not seeing beauty in nature and because of that he seems to be saying that he is not finding beauty in nature.
Also, in the poem "It is a beauteous Evening" he is showing his love for nature to his daugther Caroline. He has a passion for the sea. He says "The gentleness of heaven is on the Sea: Listen! the mighty being is awake And doth with eternal motion make a sound like thunder-everlasting" He wants his daughter to hear the sea and appreciate it for the beauty in which he appreciates it. He points out in that quote that the sea is forever living. He worshiped nature and he was teaching his daughter in this poem that nature is forever living and one should appreciate it.
The first poem where I really feel like you see Wordsworths childhood experiences being explained is "We are Seven". In the first paragraph it asks the question "what should it know of death?" He is talking about a child, probably a young child, because in the first sentence he says "A simple child" and he is pointing out that a young child could not possibly know anything about death. However, as the poem progresses we realize this child does know quite a bit about death, just like Wordsworth would have known about death at his age. As the poem progresses and he begins talking with the eight year old little girl we are able to see her perspective on the death of her siblings. He asks "Sisters and brothers, little maid, How many may you be?" and she responds "seven in all". So at this point she admits to him she has seven brother and sisters in total. Then she goes on to say "two of us in the church-yard lie, my sister and my brother". One thing about the girl is that she does not accept them as dead, just that their bodies are in the ground under a tree at the church yard. She like any child was having a hard time dealing with the death of her siblings. She even said "And often after sunset, Sir, When it is light and fair, I take my little porringer, And eat my supper there." At night she would go eat dinner with them as if they were still alive because in her head they were alive. She would not have it any other way.
Possibly this is what Wordsworth went through when his mother and father died. Being a young child at age 13 with both parents dead maybe he still did not accept their death.
Wordsworth also wrote alot of poems about nature. One of his poems he wrote "The world is too much with us" expressed how he felt about the human race on Earth. He says "For this, for everything, we are out of tune; it moves us not. Great God!" He seems to be upset that the beauty of nature is not appreciated by more people. He also says "Little we see in nature that is ours" He is troubled by the fact people are not seeing beauty in nature and because of that he seems to be saying that he is not finding beauty in nature.
Also, in the poem "It is a beauteous Evening" he is showing his love for nature to his daugther Caroline. He has a passion for the sea. He says "The gentleness of heaven is on the Sea: Listen! the mighty being is awake And doth with eternal motion make a sound like thunder-everlasting" He wants his daughter to hear the sea and appreciate it for the beauty in which he appreciates it. He points out in that quote that the sea is forever living. He worshiped nature and he was teaching his daughter in this poem that nature is forever living and one should appreciate it.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
William Blake-The Chimney Sweeper
The poem the Chimney Sweeper is pointing out the injustices of childhood labor at this point in time, which was around the late 1700's. According to the footnote in the book legislative tried to pass a protective law for the children, but it was never enforced. Since the legislative was attempted to be passed though it must have been a known issue in London at the time while Blake was writing this poem. The interesting thing about the poem is that Tom sees the world through such an innocent light. Even when bad things happen to him, such as getting his head shaved, he looks at it through a positive and innocent light by saying at least my white hair will not be ruined by the soot. Young children cannot stand having their hair cut or shaved, and by him pointing out that his head was shaved helps shed a light on his age. While there is no mention of Tom's age, we can assume he is probably just old enough to walk and talk since he does mention he was barely old enough to weep.
Blake is pointing out here that by parents selling their children to the chimney sweepers he is taking away their innocence and the best thing they can hope for is death. Tom, in the poem is dreaming of the day he will die because even as a child he knows that will be the best day of his life. He knows as soon as he dies and goes to heaven he will have god to take care of him and he will not have to perform those awful tasks anymore. For a young child to have to be put into a situation where they know if they work hard and do the right thing they will be able to go to heaven is intense. I believe Blake was outraged at the fact these children were put into such harsh conditions and he wanted to point out how bad it was for them in this poem.
He also uses white and black alot to make his points in this poem. Everything black is associated with the dirty job of the chimney sweepers. The soot that they sleep in and their naked bodies covered in the black soot. However, when Tom dreams of heaven he dreams of everything being white and clean. He also uses sunlight in the same way to represent happiness because these boys were always in dark, dirty conditions, on top of London already never being very sunny- I know I visited there last week.
It is also interesting how Tom forgets of his own father, but refers to going to heaven and having god as his father. What a terrible thing for a young child to have to know their own father sold them into the awful situation they are in. All of these things take away "childhood" and "innocense" and Blake is making this point in the poem.
Blake is pointing out here that by parents selling their children to the chimney sweepers he is taking away their innocence and the best thing they can hope for is death. Tom, in the poem is dreaming of the day he will die because even as a child he knows that will be the best day of his life. He knows as soon as he dies and goes to heaven he will have god to take care of him and he will not have to perform those awful tasks anymore. For a young child to have to be put into a situation where they know if they work hard and do the right thing they will be able to go to heaven is intense. I believe Blake was outraged at the fact these children were put into such harsh conditions and he wanted to point out how bad it was for them in this poem.
He also uses white and black alot to make his points in this poem. Everything black is associated with the dirty job of the chimney sweepers. The soot that they sleep in and their naked bodies covered in the black soot. However, when Tom dreams of heaven he dreams of everything being white and clean. He also uses sunlight in the same way to represent happiness because these boys were always in dark, dirty conditions, on top of London already never being very sunny- I know I visited there last week.
It is also interesting how Tom forgets of his own father, but refers to going to heaven and having god as his father. What a terrible thing for a young child to have to know their own father sold them into the awful situation they are in. All of these things take away "childhood" and "innocense" and Blake is making this point in the poem.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Introduction
My name is Jenny Morris. I am a Senior at Mercer and I will be finished with all of my classes after this summer. I played 4 years on the women's golf team and loved it! I am a Marketing Management Major with a Minor in Communications. I am taking this class mainly because it is required for the business school. I have never taken an on-line class so I am a little nervous about not realizing when the deadlines are, and what to do if I have computer problems. I feel this class will be good for me because I am very independent and enjoy working on my own.
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