Alex MacInnis

Good Old Summer Days Are Just Around the Corner

2005-04-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

I came across this poem by accident. Literally opened the good ol' Norton and there she was. I thought it was fitting for this time of year - end of the school year and the beginning of spring (as long as the snow stays away!). I found it to be a very soothing poem as it painted a very tranquil picture of those relaxing summer days we all long for after months of dreaded winter weather. One particular part I liked was the part about "their yearly trickery of looking new..." The rings of grain are quite obvious to be the rings of a tree trunk which are representative of each time it had died and started anew.

The Trees

by Philip Larkin

The trees are coming into leaf

Like something almost being said;

The recent buds relax and spread,

Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again

And we grow old? No, they die too.

Their yearly trick of looking new

Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unrestling castles thresh

In fullgrown thickness every May.

Last year is dead, they seem to say,

Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

Sacred Language

2005-03-24T08:53:00.000-08:00

This week's lecture was a great way to tie up loose ends in order to give a complete look at the course. The idea that language is sacred is really important, particularly when it comes to poetry. I feel that Prof Kuin was right on the nail when he explained that the impluse of sacred becoming language in turn becomes language becoming sacred - it is reciprocal. We take for granted the ability to communicate with others in our surroundings. If one looks at the mass amounts of history, it all involves language. It was the primary way of maintaining sacred traditions in cultures through storytelling, and because of this, has become a sacred tool itself. If one could imagine life without the ability or knowledge of language - written or spoken - it seems quite 'cavemanish' (best word I could think of to describe the picture in my head - you know the man grunting and banging stones together). This 'caveman' mentality is an ancestral, historic language, but the evolution of thought and human capabilites has increased the capacity to grunt to diverse and formal human interaction through the use of actual words with meaning. When the ability of understanding language comes into the picture, so does the idea of intelligence. A few years ago, I had taken a philosophy course. One of the debates we were discussing was what differientates humans from animals. The most common response to this question was humans are able to speak and write (therefore knowledge of language and intelligence) whereas the majority of animals can not do this (exception that comes to mind is a parrot). However, others can argue that there are intelligent animals and that they speak to their kind and us in their own languages. So you are probably wondering how this pertains to poetry. I think this is extremely relevant in the arguement that language is a sacred tradition. Moreover, that language and the ability to hear, write, see language, is a medium through which higher intelligent life forms are able to best communicate their needs and wants are able to survive. The issue that language is a survival tool is extremely important to recognize because without having the ability to communicate - verbally or non-verbally - most people would die. If not, others would make the decisions for them (think of the Terry Shiavo case that is causing huge political debates in the U.S. right now). I had mentioned that some people argue that animals do understand language - in their own right. This can relate to the many languages of the human form. People speak, write, and listen to hundreds of different languages around the world. One can relate this to the language of poetry. It is a general language, but it remains a specific language at the same time. People are able to communicate via poetry and only those who are intelligent enough or trained in the language of poetry will truly understand its relevance. Personally, I have difficulty understanding poetry and the language of poetry. I can assume what the poem is talking about, but ignorance is not a very intelligent pathway. All of this is not to say that one cannot have their own interpretation of the poem; however, there is always a real intention and history to a poem that those who understand the language of poetry will understand. This makes poetry, and any language for that matter, a sacred tradition.

Adam's Curse - William Butler Yeats

2005-03-11T12:34:00.000-08:00

It has been a seemingly long time since last blog due to some personal issues. However, in this time, I took notice of RK's incesent urges to use library resources (after one of his last comments on my blog, it definitely urged me to use other sources than the internet). Anyways, I have been doing a lot of reading on the poetry of William Butler Yeats. Yeats is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, poet in Irish history. His poems display images, symbols, and metaphors that are reflective of his personal experiences, but moreover, the troubled experiences of his homeland. He was extremely fascinated with mysticism and the occult (supernatural forces) and included elements of this in many of his poems. Perhaps the most interesting part to Yeats is poetry is the extent to which he imposed his personal experience onto history. It is evident that he was opposed to science, democracy and modernization and he strove to reaches his personal goal to arrive at the truth. For this blog, I want to specifically talk about his poem "Adam's Curse." It is one of his more mature works demonstrated through the use of specific "phonic and rhythmic performance" (Johnson, 78) techniques of the concept of the "rapidity of pronounciation of many monosyllabic words, first seen in the line > and then followed by polysyllabic words as in in the line " (Johnson, 78). It is written in heroic couplets (iambic pentameter) with full and partial rhymes. The poem is a recollection of an evening spent with his beloved and her friend. An arguement arises about the subject that any piece of achievement requires hard work. This is due the explusion of Adam from the Garden of Eden and his requirement to work hard outside of the Garden. This 'curse', as Yeats refers to, is passed onto generations and generations of people. The poem's theme then becomes about the topic of love because lovers were required to work as well. There is a sense of sadness in this part because Yeats states working for love has become an idle trade, as if to say that it is almost tedious and boring. This is also sensed in the end of the poem where he states that he spoke only for his beloved and yet even there hearts have drawn weary like the hollow moon. This allows for the metaphor for the effect time has on a heart, a weariness due to the extent of hard work put into the relationship or love.
I particularly like this poem because after learning about the matuirty of writing and the structure of the poem, there is a high level of coincidence, or one could say irony, between the principles stated in the first stanza of the poem and the structure of the poem itself. Yeats argues that in order for man to achieve something, man has to work hard. This seemingly effortless poem is a piece of hard work from Yeats, and has it the reason why it ranks among the best and most moving of his work.
Work Cited: Johnson, Anthony L. The Verbal Art of W.B. Yeats. Edizioni ETS, 1994

Love Poetry and Flowers

2005-02-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

Reading up on romantic and love poetry, I find that the comparison of love to a flower is quite common, almost tedious, such as in Robert Burns' A Red, Red Rose and John Clare's First Love. Some people might think that this is a beautiful metaphor to show that love blossoms, blooms, and grows like a flower. However, I can find it quite annoying. Must every love story contain phrases including flower and rose? Can't the poets use something different? I wondered as to why this pattern is as prominent as it is. If we look at Prof Kuin's blog, he says that victorian love poetry was influenced by the scientific evolution. In this case, poets' writings are more influenced by their surroudings than by their particular emotions or viewpoints. If we look at it from this perspective, the reason their is so much reference and comparison between love and flowers is that during this time people were much more focused on nature and the possibility of evolution. On the other hand, if one were to compare love to a flower, keeping in mind the natural cycle of flowers, one would expect the flower to die, and therefore one can say that the love in the poem will die. If the poem is suppose to be a story telling the enduring, passionate love between two people, why would a poet use the reference to a flower if flowers wither and die??? Another point I would like to draw on is that the most popular use of a flower is the rose.
"Roses have a long and colorful history. They have been symbols of love, beauty, war, and politics. The rose is, according to fossil evidence, 35 million years old. In nature, the genus Rosa has some 150 species spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from Alaska to Mexico and including northern Africa. Garden cultivation of roses began some 5,000 years ago, probably in China. During the Roman period, roses were grown extensively in the Middle East. They were used as confetti at celebrations, for medicinal purposes, and as a source of perfume. Roman nobility established large public rose gardens in the south of Rome. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the popularity of roses seemed to rise and fall depending on gardening trends of the time. During the fifteenth century, the rose was used as a symbol for the factions fighting to control England. The white rose symbolized York, and the red rose symbolized Lancaster, as a result, the conflict became known as the "War of the Roses." Roses were in such high demand during the seventeenth century that royalty considered roses or rose water as legal tender, and they were often used as barter and for payments. Napoleon's wife Josephine established an extensive collection of roses at Chateau de Malmaison, an estate seven miles west of Paris in the 1800s. This garden became the setting for Pierre Joseph Redoute's work as a botanical illustrator. In 1824, he completed his watercolor collection "Les Rose," which is still considered one of the finest records of botanical illustration. It wasn't until the late eighteenth century that cultivated roses were introduced into Europe from China. Most modern-day roses can be traced back to this ancestry. These introductions were repeat bloomers, making them unusual and of great interest to hybridizers, setting the stage for breeding work with native roses to select for hardiness and a long bloom season. Many of these early efforts by plant breeders are of great interest to today's gardeners" (http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/roses/history.html).
"The Greeks and Romans had a love story for almost every kind of flower. From the time of Solomon, the flower most closely linked with love has been the rose. It was sacred to Venus and connected with Cupid.In one myth, Cupid hurries off to a council of the gods on Mount Olympus, carrying a vase of nectar for them to drink. He stumbles and spills the nectar, and it bubbles up from the earth in the form of roses.Cleopatra contributed much to the popularity of the rose in Egypt. When she received a visit from her lover, Mark Antony, she spared no expense to entertain him. Roses, eighteen inches deep, were strewn on the floors of her palace, the couches were covered with rose petals, and the fountains were filled with rose water.The rose had been sacred to Bacchus, god of wine, as well as to Venus. At banquets for these gods, wealthy Romans would lay on couches spread with rose petals. Around their necks they wore garlands of roses. Chaplets of roses crowned their heads.Reclining on their beds of roses, they ate, drank, and gossiped. Anything said under the rose - the rose garland hung on the wall or the rose chaplets on their heads - was sub rosa. This Latin expression meaning "under the rose" is still a common way of describing something to be kept secret. But there are other explanations of how the phrase was attributed to secrecy.Cupid was said to have bribed Harpocrates, the god of silence, with the rose to prevent him from revealing the love affairs carried on by Venus.Queen Elizabeth I is said to have worn a rose behind her ear, probably copied after the Spanish. Some say this was a subtle way of expressing that the wearer "heard all and said nothing."There are those who claim the expression was started during the time of the War of the Roses in 15th century England. There were two taverns near the Houses of Parliament, one displaying the red rose, the other the white rose. Each tavern was frequented by adherents of one or the other faction, and conferences were held in great secrecy. The participants, in referring to their conversations, would not divulge their secrets, saying they had taken place "under the rose."After the fall of the Roman Empire, rose cultivation was continued by Benedictine monks, and as the excesses of the Romans were forgotten, the flower became the emblem of Christianity.At the same time, under Islam, in enclosed gardens from the Alhambra in Spain to Kashmir, the rose was celebrated as a symbol of perfection.In later times, traders brought back roses from their travels. Roses bloomed only once a year until 1792, when a new rose was introduced from China that was more prolific. In China, rose oil was considered a precious fragrance for emperors and the most wealthy. "By the 19th century, roses had been hybridized with other Chinese stock to produce the bush rose known as the hybrid tea," states Lee Murphy, president of the California Cut Flower Commission.Bashful Victorian suitors presented gifts of roses to reveal their emotions considered too delicate to express aloud. Different colors, varieties, and arrangements of roses were used to convey different messages. René van Rems, internationally known floral designer and director of promotions for the California Cut Flower Commission, says, "Meanings of flowers come from a variety of sources. One list of flower codes Charles II of Sweden brought back from the Ottoman Empire in 1714 was particularly romantic." Throughout the ages, the red rose has been the quintessential expression of love"(http://www.ccfc.org/editorsroom/newsstories/roseshistory.html).

Woman's Constancy

2005-02-09T13:40:00.000-08:00

John Donne's Woman's Constancy (p 265 in Norton) seems like an outlash at marriage. Maybe I am interpreting what he is saying wrong, but it seems like he is blaming women for failed relationships or false ones at that. When he says, "Wilt thou then antedate some new-made vow? Or say that now we are not just those persons which we were?
I think that he is making reference to how people will say they love someone, not really mean it , and then make excuses to get out of the relationship. Same goes for when he says, " So lovers' contracts, images of those, bind till sleep, death's image, them unloose?
He compares a marriage to a contract and that which really has no emtional ties to love. He blames a woman or women as the reason that marriage is so underappreaciated and has lossed it's sacredness. Women use reasons such as above to justify their unhappiness within the relationship. The speaker's idea that if women can do this, then so should he be able to do so. He hates the deceptions, but is willing to possibly commit some of them as well...
Possible reasons for his cynical nature in the poem would be that he was a religious man who valued the idea of sacred marriage based on true love. Another reason could be that because he was apart of the early 17th century, around the time of the English revolution. It was in this time that both gender hierarchy, with the man at the top, and the husband's patriarchal role as governor of his family and household — wife, children, wards, and servants — were assumed to have been instituted by God and nature. So ordered, the family was seen as the secure foundation of society and the patriarch's role as analogous to that of God in the universe and the king in the state. Women were continually instructed that their spiritual and social worth resided above all else in their practice of and reputation for chastity. Unmarried virgins and wives were to maintain silence in the public sphere and give unstinting obedience to father and husband, though widows had some scope for making their own decisions and managing their affairs. The Liturgy of Solemnizing Marriage from The Book of Common Prayer (1559), the established form of worship in the English Church, shows us the directives most English men and women heard at their own wedding and every wedding they attended, as to their respective roles and duties in marriage and the family. This liturgy emphasized for them the purposes of marriage (with procreation primary), the indissolubility of marriage, and the biblical texts undergirding that definition of marriage and establishing patriarchy. It also held up the ideal of mutual love and help. Donne's dipiction of relationships and marriage in the poem reinforces the values he gained from the English church and discouraged women who thought it was their right to be able to do otherwise within the confines of a marriage. It was later in the 17th century that rights of women were becoming more prevalent in society, but by then Donne had died.
*Information taken from The Norton Anthology of Literature

Robert Burns - A Red, Red Rose

2005-02-09T13:13:00.000-08:00

O my luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June;
O my luve's like the melodie
That's sweetly playing in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie last,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
O I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve,
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come away, my luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile.

I really enjoyed this poem. I wondered why love was spelt luve, except for only once in the poem. Doing some research, it was easy to find that Robert Burns was of Scottish descent and the term luve, literally meant love. But then why the English version spelling used once? It is at this part in the poem that the third stanza rhyme pattern changes from A, B, C, B and a meter of 8, 6, 8, 6 to one ofA, B, A, B and meter changes to 8, 7, 8, 7. The significance of this transition is that the poem is at the epitamal climax of the speaker's love for his dear. After this, is it let known that because the speaker's love is so great and grand, not even space apart can diminsh the love they share. Not even death can part them. For example, when the speaker is talking about the love being like a red, red rose and a melody, one can relate this to give the reader the impression that the dear the speaker is talking about is gone away. There is a sense of longing his the tone of the speaker. The metaphors being used (love like a rose, love like a melody) show that love can be physical and emtional. When it is physical is the sense, such as the rose, roses blossom, bloom, and wither. Just as people born, live, and die. The love for the rose/person remains. The poem really speaks of the speaker's eternal love for his dear, no matter how far apart they are using metaphors and similies.
One thing I did not really like about the poem is that for someone who say doesn't like roses as a metaphor to love (maybe because they are too commercialized or something), the poem can lose some of the strong sense of love and longing for a loved one.

Help anyone?

2005-01-31T19:43:00.000-08:00

Would it be possible for anyone reading this to be able to meet after the first tutorial next Monday to get the notes from lecture and tutorial for the previous week...If anyone can, post a comment or email me at alexjam@yorku.ca... Thanks to anyone who offers!

Dramatic Poetry in the Limelight... According to Frye

2005-01-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

I found this week's lecture quite fascinating. I liked how Mr Kuin told dramatic poetry as being a archetypical story. We already know what to expect if we are to see a dramatic play because its plot follows particular themes. This concept reminded me of a book that I had once read, The Educated Imagination by Northrop Frye. He claims that all themes, characters and stories that you encounter in literature belong to one interlocking family. For constructing works of art, such as poetry, you need a principle of repetition or recurrence. This allows the reader or audience to identify the human world with the natural world around it and finding analogies between them. He also stated, "the more realistic a writer is, the more his characters and incidents seem to be people like ourselves, the more apt he is to become ironic, which involves putting the audience in a position of superiority to them, so that they can detach their imagination from the world they live in by seeing it clearly." This demonstrates the idea presented that dramatic poetry as a play can distant itself from the audience. We relate the poems and plays we read and see, not to the men/women who wrote them, nor even directly to ourselves; we relate them to each other. It is a world that we try to build up and enter at the same time.

Favourite Love Line

2005-01-14T21:05:00.000-08:00

So, unfortunately I missed this week's class, but based on other's blogs I see that we are discussing love. This is probably my favourite type of poetry to read and write about. It brings out the best in people and sometimes also the worst. I refer to my one of my favourite 'poems' about love. It actually comes from the Bible, which I think is a great reference to use when discussing love because much of the Book is written on the premise of unconditional love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient and is kind; love doesn't envy.

Love doesn't brag, is not proud,

doesn't behave itself inappropriately,

doesn't seek its own way, is not provoked,

takes no account of evil;

doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never fails.

It is able to sum up much of what the ideal love should and could be. For those of whom can really feel and understand the message these lines send, I would think it would be a feeling of reassurance that love is great and that it does exist for everyone to experience it. I think everyone has those times in their lives where the idea of love seems unbearable or unthinkable. The present emotions override even the thought that love can exist in such turmoil or loneliness. However, I would think the verses above, as well as others, are excellent ways to help bring people back to love. Give them the feeling or idea that it does exist, in spite of the fact we may not always feel its presence. Like it says above, it hopes all things. Love poems give hope and reassurance that love can exist, even within a world where it may seem like all we can surmount to is hate, racism, death, etc.

Orlando Gibbons - The Silver Swan

2004-12-07T19:06:00.000-08:00

Going over the list of gloom and doom poems, I was particularly drawn to the one titled The Silver Swan by Orlando Gibbons. After having read it, I can understand why it is found to be sad. Not only because of the death of the swan, but the morbid idea set forth by the writer. When the swan cries out that the world is full of geese and fools, no longer of swans and the wise, I think it relates to the state of the world that the writer was living in. Orlando Gibbons lived during the historical high point of English music in the 17th century. This was a time of great change in England. There seemed to be a more positive outlook upon society, with more wealth being accumulated and an ease in political conflict. Gibbons is renowned as being the greatest English composer of his generation. He was born in Oxford, played and taught music to royalty, and died at the age 42. Along with other composers of the time, Gibbons wrote new music and developed new techniques for consort music. He is also famous for his choral music, English anthems, and verse anthems. Additionally, he wrote consort songs for vocal madrigals and solo songs with viol consort accompaniments. His madrigal The Silver Swan is well known. The Silver Swan. Published in The first Set of Madrigals and Motets of 5. Parts, 1612 .

The silver swan, who living had no note,

When death approached, unlocked her silent throat;

Leaning her breast against the reedy shore,

Thus sang her first and last and sang no more:

"Farewell, all joys; O death, come close mine eyes;

More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise."

I really enjoy this poem because for 1) It is short, yet to the point, and 2) It seems to convey a larger message than what is being said in the poem. I thought it would be important to understand the behaviour of swans in order to best examine the poem and I came across this description, found on http://www.animalinyou.com/Swan.htm.

Throughout the ages, swans have been venerated for their elegant grace and gentle beauty. So it's little surprise that these personalities attract such admiration as they sail serenely through life. The swan's noble reputation is its greatest asset and it takes care to cultivate its image by always appearing calm in public. But things are very different just below the surface, for fueling the swan's elegant glide, is a high-energy paddling that consumes most of its emotional energy. While it's common for a bird personality to exhibit this kind of emotional volatility, it is particularly noticeable in the swan when contrasted with its tranquil exterior. Princess Diana was a swan, displaying both its grace and flighty characteristics. Appearance is important to the swan who enjoys the finer things in life and it spares no expense in pampering itself. It would be a mistake to simply dismiss it as a fragile beauty though; for it is a well traveled, worldly bird who has seen the best and worst of the human condition. Its experiences have made it a well-rounded and worldly individual who can adapt to almost any career. It has no problem with taking direction from a boss and is always prepared to accept input from others. Its career is well integrated into its life and it strives to find balance in its career and family life. Because swan personalities are often gangly and awkward as children, they have substantial experience in dealing with difficult people and are well equipped to handle conflicts in the workplace. The swan swain is monogamous and mates for life. It brings an air of sophistication to its relationships and considers itself to be a connoisseur of sex -- willing to try anything at least once, provided it's in realm of good taste. These birds enjoy being pampered, and are willing to spoil their mates in return. If there is a weakness to its otherwise unflappable personality, it is in condoning its mate's boorish behavior, which is not always in the swan's best interests.

I found this site particularly interesting because the analogy between swans and humans is considerably strong between those humans who perceive themselves to be upper class. The way that the swan sings before her death, is almost like she herself is saddened by the way things have happened or are happening at present. Her perfect life must come to an end because all will be lost when the geese and fools take over. It is as if she prides herself and the wise as being the only creatures who should be granted life. It is something so tragic and important to her, that her usual calm nature is disrupted and she must say her mind before it is too late. It is interesting how this can pertain to the society that Gibbons was living in at the time. As we discussed in lecture, poems of sadness are written because it is an overwhelming, memorable feeling that seems to linger in time. It is one that causes a writer to write. So perhaps, Gibbons wrote this poem in hopes of being able to indentify with the time he was living in or perhaps he found himself able to identify with the swan better. In a time of wealth and class he did not feel like he belonged. His world was being overtaken by those whom he wished did not have power. I could be completely off base, but from what I have read on him and the 17th century (mind you it's not much) that is one interpretation I came up with.

Historical and Modern Heroes

2004-11-24T11:03:00.000-08:00

This week in one of my other classes, we were discussing the history of King Arthur. It’s quite interesting that I find many of my classes can be useful for other classes. Anyways, the main point of the discussion was that King Arthur (who was not a king at all) is a figure of the epitomic hero in the dominant western fantasy. He is a person that fought battles and saved people, but he is also an historic figure to those who are waiting for his return. According to legend, Arthur is to return in time of great darkness to save the people of England. Perhaps the idea that this great man will return one day keeps the idea of the modern hero alive. Not only for King Arthur, but for those who are considered heroes of their time, such as Achilles and Hercules. These figures in time allow for the dreams of heroes to be alive today. They provide a link from the time they were from to times we live in now. The only reason they are able to do so is because they were just that heroic. In modern society, it is much more difficult to see who the heroes are, but looking back at the late heroes of earlier centuries, we can use them as a template for what modern heroes should be. As in stated in lecture, heroes were that who carried a great honour, usually gained through battle. Today, however, it is harder to say that a man has honour when he has killed hundreds of people in battle. I think this has a lot to due with the manner in which people are killed. In earlier centuries, battles were fought using bow and arrow or swords. There was no direct contact with the victim when using bow and arrow. However, the modernization of weapons has created a more inhuman account of battle. We now have the technology to wipe out mass amounts of people in seconds, leaving behind destruction and ruin. We have guns and bombs. The weapons we use today seem much more violent. Another reason for the more inhuman image of war and battle today is the widespread media. We have the resources available to witness what takes place firsthand. Visual pictures have a much more powerful message than that of a re-told story. Both media and new technical weapons have created a world where we are more sensitive to the killings that take place in war and battle. They can be regarded as causes of why we find it hard to consider men who go war honourable. Perhaps if we looked towards the past and reflect upon the heroes of then, we will realize that they were no more humane than we are today, therefore the idea of an honourable modern hero is relevant.

The Book

2004-11-15T23:53:00.000-08:00

The book that I made reference to that I am using is Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry by John Frederick Nims. Just in case you might want to know (Susan).

The Use of Symbol

2004-11-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

Since the beginning of this course, I will be honest, I have felt kind of lost. I've mentioned this before, so I found a book that is fittingly titled Introduction to Poetry. It deals more with the study of poetry and how to apply one's knowledge of poetry to reading, analyzing and writing poetry - I thought great this will help, and so far it has. Going back a couple weeks to Prof. Kuin's lecture on the beginnings in poetry he mentioned that ritual played a role in poetry developing into what it is because it maintained solemnity. He also mentioned that rituals were done in two ways: 1) actions and, 2) texts. The actions were always done in the same way, and therefore became symbolic. This is where I began to think of the great importance of symbolism in poetry. If we were not aware of symbols, I do not think poetry would be where it was today. Symbol is an image that stands for more than it denotes literally and is like a metaphor because it transfers meaning from one thing to another. Symbolic images are usually physical objects which symbolize abstractions such as spirituality, vitality, and time. An example could be that a lion is a symbol for anger or light is a symbol for knowledge. The use of symbols is based on the way the mind works. Our senses are affected by something, which produces an image, a symbol of the original thing that moved them. Natural symbols are most meaningful - earth, air, fire, water because they have been in existence since the time man understood them to be so. Other symbols are invented and made up, such as words, as well as flags , crosses, and traffic signs. An excellent example of a natural symbol is Homer's use of fire throughout the Iliad. It is a symbol of war, anger, and destruction. For example, in Book II, there are several references to fire and fiery in the preparation for the war.

Lines 532 - 536

As in dark forests, measureless along

the crest of hills, a conflagration soars,

and the bright bed of fire glows for miles,

now fiery lights from this great host in bronze

played on the earth and flashed high into heaven.

This gives the reader a very powerful and grand image of this army wearing heavy bronze armor and carrying weapons. The group of men is so large and the amount bronze they wear flashes in the sky, so that the sky seems to be on fire. Fire is a recurring image and acts as a symbol of violence.
Symbolic images in poems provide satisfactory for the reader, even when we cannot find exact meaning in the symbols. In fact, it often seems that the most compelling symbols are those which lead us to speculation. An example of this is taken from the book I've been using, Intro to Poetry, and is William Blake's -

The Sick Rose

O Rose, thou art sick!

The Invisible worm

That flies in the night,

In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy:

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy.

"The rose, traditionally a symbol of love and beauty, is here something that has life and is in a bed of vivid joy. The worm is a source of corruption, is secret, works in the dark, is associated with a violent disorder in nature" (Nims, 1974 p47). It shows that many kinds of beauty and love are threatened by secret forces, but becomes powerful because it does not focus on one possibility, it allows us to think of other possibilities. It does not have to explain itself, and therefore the symbols used are good. It is up to the poet's discretion to use his senses in order to create symbols so that we as the reader can use our senses to create the image of that particular symbol the author was trying to convey.

Milton's Paradise Lost

2004-11-13T14:39:00.000-08:00

I read Tonia's post on Milton's How Soon Hath Time, and in trying to comment on it, i came across Milton's Paradise Lost. I've heard of it before, but had never read it, and in reading the short summary of it, I now find I will read it - well someday. I really liked what I have read because Milton had strong use of symbols and images. What I also find fascinating is how Milton's depiction of Satan has greatly influenced the devil's image in Western art and literature since the book's publication, which goes to show how powerful poetry and literature are. Milton is using poetry to tell his story, following most prominently the style of Homer. The work, therefore, can also be examined through the lens of poetry with an eye toward rhythm and sound. In the first sentence, Milton uses an alliteration to conduct what is referred to as a double discourse: "Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit of that forbidden tree..." Not only does the repeated "f" sound add to the aesthetic of the sentence, it connects the "f" words to present a different idea than the sentence itself is presenting. In this case, "first... fruits" are "forbidden." This double discourse, literally two sentences spoken at the same time, is repeated throughout Milton. Another reason Milton's work can be considered epic is the fact that the poem denotes the ideas (Milton's) of an eternal war between good and evil and evil's submission to good. This is just the beginning for the many things the poem established and making itself become an epic. There is no way I could blog on the entirety of Paradise Lost without having read the whole thing (and not boring half the people reading it), but I will leave you witha short summary of the poem below in hopes someone who perhaps hasn't heard or read it will be intrigued much as I am.
Milton's epic poem opens on the fiery lake of hell, where Satan and his army of fallen angels find themselves chained. Satan and his leutenant Beezlebub get up from the lake and yell to the others to rise and join them. Music plays and banners fly as the army of rebel angels comes to attention, tormented and defeated but faithful to their general. They create a great and terrible temple, perched on a volcano top, and Satan calls a council there to decide on their course of action. The fallen angels give various suggestions. Finally, Beezlebub suggests that they take the battle to a new battlefield, a place called earth where, it is rumoured, God has created a new being called man. Man is not as powerful as the angels, but he is God's chosen favorite among his creations. Beezlebub suggests that they seek revenge against God by seducing man to their corrupted side. Satan volunteers to explore this new place himself and find out more about man so that he may corrupt him. His fallen army unanimously agrees by banging on their swords. Satan takes off to the gates of hell, guarded by his daughter, Sin, and their horrible son, Death. Sin agrees to open the gates for her creator (and rapist), knowing that she will follow him and reign with him in whatever kingdom he conquers. Satan then travels through chaos, and finally arrives at earth, connected to heaven by a golden chain. God witnesses all of this and points out Satan's journey to his Son. God tells his Son that, indeed,Satan will corrupt God's favorite creation, man. His Son offers to die a mortal death to bring man back into the grace and light of God. God agrees and tells how his Son will be born to a virgin. God then makes his Son the king of man, son of both man and God. Meanwhile, Satan disguises himself as a handsome cherub in order to get by the angel Uriel who is guarding earth. Uriel is impressed that an angel would come all the way from heaven to witness God's creation, and points the Garden of Eden out to Satan. Satan makes his way into the Garden and is in awe at the beauty of Eden and of the handsome couple of Adam and Eve. For a moment, he deeply regrets his fall from grace. This feeling soon turns, however, to hatred. Uriel, however, has realized that he has been fooled by Satan and tells the angel Gabriel as much. Gabriel finds Satan in the Garden and sends him away. God, seeing how things are going, sends Raphael to warn Adam and Eve about Satan. Raphael goes down to the Garden and is invited for dinner by Adam and Eve. While there, he narrates how Satan came to fall and the subsequent battle that was held in heaven. Satan first sin was pride, when he took issue with the fact that he had to bow down to the Son. Satan was one of the top angels in heaven and did not understand why he should bow. Satan called a council and convinced many of the angels who were beneath him to join in fighting God. A tremendous, cosmic three-day battle ensued between Satan's forces and God's forces. On the first day, Satan's forces were beaten back by the army led by the archangels Michael and Gabriel. On the second day, Satan seemed to gain ground by constructing artillery, literally cannons, and turning them against the good forces. On the third day, however, the Son faced Satan's army alone and they quickly retreat, falling through a hole in heaven's fabric and cascading down to hell. This is the reason, Raphael explains, that God created man: to replace the empty space that the fallen angels have left in heaven. Raphael then tells of how God created man and all the universe in seven days. Adam himself remembers the moment he was created and, as well, how he came to ask God for a companion, Eve. Raphael leaves. The next morning, Eve insists on working separately from Adam. Satan, in the form of serpent, finds her working alone and starts to flatter her. Eve asks where he learned to speak, and Satan shows her the Tree of Knowledge. Although Eve knows that this was the one tree God had forbidden that they eat from, she is told by Satan that this is only because God knows she will become a goddess herself. Eve eats the fruit and then decides to share it with Adam.
Adam, clearly, is upset that Eve disobeyed God, but he cannot imagine a life without her so he eats the apple as well. They both, then, satiate their new-born lust in the bushes and wake up ashamed, knowing now the difference from good and evil (and, therefore, being able to choose evil). They spend the afternoon blaming each other for their fall. God sends the Son down to judge the two disobediant creatures. The Son condemns Eve, and all of womankind, to painful childbirths and submission to her husband. He condemns Adam to a life of a painful battle with nature and hard work at getting food from the ground. He condemns the serpent to always crawl on the ground on its belly, always at the heel of Eve's sons. Satan, in the meantime, returns to hell victorious. On the way, he meets Sin and Death, who have built a bridge from hell to earth, to mankind, whom they will now reign over. When Satan arrives in hell, however, he finds his fallen compatriots not cheering as he had wished, but hissing. The reason behind the horrible hissing soon becomes clear: all of the fallen angels are being transformed into ugly monsters and terrible reptiles. Even Satan finds himself turning into a horrible snake.
Adam and Eve, after bitterly blaming each other, finally decide to turn to God and ask for forgiveness. God hears them and agrees with his Son that he will not lose mankind completely to Sin, Death and Satan. Instead, he will send his son as a man to earth to sacrifice himself and, in so doing, conquer the evil trinity. Michael is sent by God to escort Adam and Eve out of the Garden. Before he does, however, he tells Adam what will become of mankind unitl the Son comes down to earth. The history of mankind (actually the history of the Jewish people as narrated in the Hebrew Bible) will be a series of falls from grace and acceptance back by God, from Noah and the Flood to the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people. Adam is thankful that the Son will come down and right what he and Eve have done wrong. He holds Eve's hand as they are escorted out of the Garden.
In all, it is a very unique way Milton has chosen to depict themes and stories of the Bible and put it in his own terms, all the while still being greatly influential.
Summary taken from http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/paradiselost/shortsumm.html

The Four Ages of Poetry...According to Thomas Love Peacock

2004-10-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

I came across this description of the origin of poetry. Thomas Love Peacock states that the origin of poetry came in different stages and ages, them being the the age of iron; the second, of gold; the third, of silver; and the fourth, of brass. The first, or iron age of poetry, is that in which men were warriors and society was built upon the premise of three characters - a king, the thief, or the beggar. In time, "...the successful warrior becomes a chief; the successful chief becomes a king: his next want is an organ to disseminate the fame of his achievements and the extent of his possessions; and this organ he finds in a bard, who is always ready to celebrate the strength of his arm, being first duly inspired by that of his liquor. This is the origin of poetry, which, like all other trades, takes its rise in the demand for the commodity, and flourishes in proportion to the extent of the market" (Peacock). Rude songs told by bards were of battles and the men killed. They tell of how the chiefs plundered others belongings and left many for the grave. His social standings were based on how successful he was in battle. According to Peacock, the subject speaking of these times is poetical because they are being expressed in that sense. He claims, "Poets are as yet the only historians and chroniclers of their time." They are also the only ones sharing something relevant without the need to be physical.
The second age of poetry (golden age) begins amidst the age of iron. "Poetry begins to be retrospective; when something like a more extended system of civil polity is established" (Peacock). This means that the men in the previous and current power positions are no longer as relevant as before. It is now the petty and poor who have acquired the stability and form. "It is cultivated by the greatest intellects of the age, and listened to by all the rest. This is the age of Homer, the golden age of poetry. Poetry has now attained its perfection: it has attained the point which it cannot pass: genius therefore seeks new forms for the treatment of the same subjects" (Peacock).
Then comes the silver age, or the poetry of civilized life. This poetry is of two kinds, imitative and original. The imitative is poetry of the golden age that is redone and 'polished.' The original is chiefly comic, didactic, or satiric. The poetry is very word and expression based, but labored. Hence the effect of numerous tries, but very little success. "This state of poetry is however a step towards its extinction" (Peacock). The poetry is a mix of feeling and imagination, and in this time society was very science driven and comprehensive. Therefore, according to Peacock, poetry could not follow along because these things it is not. " Thus the empire of thought is withdrawn from poetry, as the empire of facts had been before. In respect of the latter, the poet of the age of iron celebrates the achievements of his contemporaries; the poet of the age of gold celebrates the heroes of the age of iron; the poet of the age of silver re-casts the poems of the age of gold" (Peacock).
The final age, the age of brass, deals with poetry trying to get back to that golden age, "...the second childhood of poetry"(Peacock).
There is a lot more information to the Peacock's take on the origin of poetry, but still interesting to read. For anyone who wants to read up more on it, the website is as follows: http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/displayprose.cfm?prosenum=7
Work Cited: Copytext: Brett-Smith 1921: 3-19.Source: "The Four Ages of Poetry," Olliers Literary Miscellany in Prose and Verse by Several Hands to be Continued Occasionally, no. 1 (1820): 183-200.Ed. (text): H. F. B. Brett-Smith.Ed. (e-text): Ian Lancashire, Rep. Criticism On-line (1996).

Awful Poetics

2004-10-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

I don't really know what to write when it comes to the topic of bad poetry. I thought that bad poetry was defined by the reader, not on a structural format, but apparently it is. I am completely new to the concepts and technical terms of poetry, but as I discovered in class, bad poetry is based on the lack of meter and rhythm, as well as some other factors. Since, i was still unlcear of how to recognize bad poetry, I went on the net to see if I could find a deeper explanation - this was a bad idea. It confused me more. The poet William McGonagall, as mentioned in class, is classified as a bad poet. I read up some more on him and his works. A lot of the poems were intriguing but after awhile I began to realize that they did not follow a pattern like other great poems written by such poets as Shakespeare. On example that caught my eye was the poem titled The Little Match Girl.

William McGonagall (1830?-1902)
The Little Match Girl
1 It was biting cold, and the falling snow,
2 Which filled a poor little match girl's heart with woe,
3 Who was bareheaded and barefooted, as she went along the street,
4 Crying, "Who'll buy my matches? for I want pennies to buy some meat!"

5 When she left home she had slippers on;
6 But, alas! poor child, now they were gone.
7 For she lost both of them while hurrying across the street,
8 Out of the way of two carriages which were near by her feet.

9 So the little girl went on, while the snow fell thick and fast;
10 And the child's heart felt cold and downcast,
11 For nobody had bought any matches that day,
12 Which filled her little mind with grief and dismay.

13 Alas! she was hungry and shivering with cold;
14 So in a corner between two houses she made bold
15 To take shelter from the violent storm.
16 Poor little waif! wishing to herself she'd never been born.

17 And she grew colder and colder, and feared to go home
18 For fear of her father beating her; and she felt woe-begone
19 Because she could carry home no pennies to buy bread,
20 And to go home without pennies she was in dread.

21 The large flakes of snow covered her ringlets of fair hair;
22 While the passers-by for her had no care,
23 As they hurried along to their homes at a quick pace,
24 While the cold wind blew in the match girl's face.

25 As night wore on her hands were numb with cold,
26 And no longer her strength could her uphold,
27 When an idea into her little head came:
28 She'd strike a match and warm her hands at the flame.

29 And she lighted the match, and it burned brightly,
30 And it helped to fill her heart with glee;
31 And she thought she was sitting at a stove very grand;
32 But, alas! she was found dead, with a match in her hand!

33 Her body was found half-covered with snow,
34 And as the people gazed thereon their hearts were full of woe;
35 And many present let fall a burning tear
36 Because she was found dead on the last night of the year,

37 In that mighty city of London, wherein is plenty of gold --
38 But, alas! their charity towards street waifs is rather cold.
39 But I hope the match girl's in Heaven, beside her Saviour dear,
40 A bright reward for all the hardships she suffered here.
1. (http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem2756.html. Ian Lancashire for the Department of English, University of Toronto, 2003)
2. Original text: William McGonagall, More Poetic Gems, ed. D. W. Smith (Dundee: D. Winter, 1972): 68-69. MCC M34 Z7M35m 1972 Fisher Rare Book Library

I found this poem quite amusing rather than bad. But I do know that it is bad because some of the rhymes are forced and it did not rely on a specific pattern. I do hope to be able to recognize more diffiuclt poems as being badly written, but that takes time as well as practice - the same tools needed in order to appreciate and understand good poetry.

Wax on, wax off, wax on, wax off...

2004-10-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

Why does poetry turn some people on and many, many people off?
I think the answer to this question is very simple. Different.
My reasoning for such a response is explained further... people experience different things growing up. They view the world in its entirety different. There's that word again ~ Different. The word different is defined in Webster's New World dictionary as adj. 1. not alike; dissimilar 2. not the same; distinct; separate; other 3. various 4. unlike most others; unusual
All of the definitions above can be used to describe people and poetry alike. A person who reads poetry on a regular basis, it more inclined to appreciate and enjoy it. A person who rarely reads literature at all, will have certain notions about other literal texts, and therefore be not so inclined to enjoy poetry, especially in modern times. I've said this before and I'll probably say one more time before this course is through. Our lives have become so devoted to structure and technology that right now, there is no other way to be. By this I mean, we go to school, develop a career, get married, have kids, go to work, pay the bills, watch t.v., and entertain ourselves with the latest gadget Sony and all the other Big Heads have decided to market to our appeal. Hence, the technology incorporated into our structures lives. It all seems so boring and sad when I describe it like that. Everything is the same. Thankfully, there are still people and things out there to curve that planned line of events in this place we call life. I'd like to take you outside the box for a second and put you in a different place. There's that word again. Imagine you are in place where there are now cell phones, computers w/internet, t.v., automobiles, planes, X-box, PS2. There are no big city buildings or large corporations trying to make you buy something. What would you be doing to occupy your time? (Now I'm not saying we're living in the stone age or something, but just that we don't have all these distractions thrown in our face everywhere we turn) Things are more easy-going, not so much stress induced by working fifty hour weeks, and more quality time to spend using our imagination and mind. What would you being doing? I think I would spend a lot more time reflecting on things I've done, possibly writing them down, spending more time with family (watching t.v. w/family doesn't count), go on adventures in the outdoors more often, and experiencing things with a more hands-on approach. What would you be doing? I guess my whole point to this 'outside the box' experiment was to bring across the point of how living in society today directly affects the things we do on a daily basis, including the experiences we have. Those experiences change the way we view the world and I think directly have an impact how the activities you choose to partake in. One of these activities includes reading and writing literature. And to bring it down a further notch, poetry. Poetry is a reflection of experiences past, present and future. It represents something someone has put time and effort into creating in hopes to inspire someone else to carry on the tradition. However, over time, that tradition has been slightly derailed due to the induction of technology. We no longer seek out poetry because it is not necessary and that's why when it comes up, it is almost instantly rejected. Those who appreciate it and accept are those who can relate to it in some way and take the time to understand it. There are different types of poetry that speak to some different people, but as a whole, many people are turned off by reading poetry because it seems to be considered something of the past. It is not exciting as a action-packed movie starring character James Bond. It is not as sad as a theatrical performance of Phantom of the Opera. It does not rivet the attention of a audience, I'm going to use the word mature cause I cannot think of anything else, enough to understand it completely. Poetry definitely seems to be an art of the past, but fragments still remain in different forms. Musical lyrics are widely popular and a form of poetry, as well as graffiti and greeting cards from Hallmark.
Ok, so now that I've babbled on for so long that I've forgotten what I wrote at the beginning of this and where it was intended to go, I will leave with this. Poetry is disliked by so many because of difference. Different experiences, different people, different times. Poetry is liked by few because it is different. Different than T.V., different that movies, different than times today.

Poetry is...

2004-09-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

What is Poetry?
I think that poetry is the art of creating something. Something that represents the artist's thoughts, experiences, emotions. It causes readers to reflect and ponder one's own thoughts, experiences, and emotions. Poetry doesn't always have to rhyme or flow. It does not have to be written in a certain format. It can be a five page sonnet, a three lined Haiku, or it can even be comprised of a single word or phrase. Poetry can be made out of nothing and be turned into something beautiful to share with one person or thousands. For example, the term 'true love' was created to spark the imagination of those who dare to think that their is that perfect match out there for them; their soulmate. When someone speaks these terms to them, it is food for their heart. It speaks to them on a level that another may not understand, and therefore can be poetry for the heart, mind, and soul of that individual. I do not believe that every kind of poetry speaks to everyone. Poetry is personal. In order for a person to relate and understand poetry there first has to be some sort of connection to the writings and then they can begin to interpret it. I also think that poetry is work, it does not come naturally as some people might think. It is very easy to write down something you're feeling on a piece of paper and call it poetry, but that does not make it good, or even great poetry. It takes practice and hard work to develop the skills required to write poetry that is capable of capturing and inspiring the hearts of it's readers.

Hidden Layers

2004-09-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

Parts of me, you never see I'm hidden beneath my skin.
Pain is all I know, yet externally, laughter shows.
Confused soul, heart, and mind;
I'm unknown to all mankind.

I wasn't sure if I would put this up here or not. It is a very personal, dark poem for me. I wrote this in grade nine or ten. Now that I look back at it, it seems so childish and yet, sad. However, I remember that when I wrote it, I was so proud of myself. I thought to myself, "Wow. This is one of the best things I've written. It so short and simple, but yet it captivates a lot about how I feel." I would try and show as many people as possible to receive recognition. You can say I was REALLY proud. Now that I'm a little wiser, I realize it was used as a tool to reach out to those I longed to please. I craved the attention, which I thought I lacked and described so in the poem. Today, it brings about different emotions - to a time when I was more troubled, but also to a time when I began to realize that writing stuff down helped with those troubles and helped me say some of the things I could not say a loud directly. I think that other people can use this mechanism as help as well. Poetry is very therapeutic, to read or to write.

Affairs of the Heart

2004-09-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

I know I will never be your number one.
I won't stay being second,
So I choose to be none.
People fade, emotions stay;
So sorry to have to leave you this way.
You were a breath of fresh air.
This life began to care.
Your kisses and such,
Have meant so much.
So sorry to leave you this way.
The little time we spent together,
Has made me want to stay forever.
But I know you're hers,
It's a lesson to be learned.
Goodbye is the saddest word I'll ever say.

Pea Soup

2004-09-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

I like pea soup.
Pea soup is green.
Green peas are healthy.
Healthy eating habits include eating pea soup.
Pea soup is eaten by my friends and I.
I like pea soup.