January 1795
I really enjoy reading poetry from non-canonical writers like Mary Robinson and Barbauld because I have never been introduced to them as I was to the others. Robinson's January poem critiques the English society she lived in at the time. Without having any knowledge of the poem, one may assume the poem is one-sided after hearing it is a critique. But Robinson does not take a side, she acknowledges that there are flaws in her society and also good things in her society. Overall though, the poem seems to have a melancholy tone. The structure of this poem was intriguing to me because every line has an end rhyme and every stanza is a quatrain. The perfectly formulated structure of this poem speaks a lot to the content within the poem. As Robert Creeley says "form is never more than the extension of content." Robinson's poem speaks of a society that is filled with a variety of people and things through a formulaic structure. The society she speaks of is now controllable like the lines in her poem are which serves as very powerful contrast in the poem. Also, the rhyme scheme is consistent throughout the entire poem, making each line, regardless of its content, sound beautiful. It is also interesting to note that she wrote this poem in January, which is one of the coldest months of the year. This would be a dreary time of the year for everyone due to the cold. Again, Robinson makes sure to depict the good and bad of society but her overall tone is not the happiest of tones. The last lines of the poem, "Ruin hasten'd, peace retarded;/ Candor spurn'd, and art rewarded" end on a seemingly positive note. At first I read this and thought "well that's nice. She ended on a good note." But After reading her other poems and coming back to this one, I felt like "and art rewarded" could possibly be read sarcastically or cynically. I am not completely committed to this idea yet and I wonder what the rest of the class thinks about this line!
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Mice
As we wind down the semester, it becomes more interesting to examine patterns that have persisted throughout the readings we have done. It is far more interesting to consider these new poems as being part of this anthology and part of a time period, than as an isolated entity. That being said, in Robert Burns' To a Mouse I saw a connection, not just back to Barbauld's mouse poem, but many of the poems we have read this semester.
In the first footnote of the poem, the line reads "Burns's brother claimed that this poem was composed while the poet was actually holding the plow." I'm not even sure this necessarily adds meaning to the poem, but what it does do is present the poem with a myth to go along with it. It creates a mystical aura around the poem. This same technique has been used extensively throughout the semester.
Samuel Coleridge attached a description of his inspiration for Kubla Khan. His supposed was a drug induced dream that he supposedly has transcribed perfectly for us. We also see this attempt at myth in much of Byron's work. His poems bring up questions about countless stories from his own life. Barbauld's mouse poem from last class, brought with it the myth that the mouse (I am assuming the one responsible for "writing" the petition) was set free.
All of these poems are seemingly rich with meaning, yet there is an anxiety to further validate these works with (what I mostly believe to be false) stories about where/when/how the poems were created. It seems that much of the poetry in this time period was afraid to stand alone, so it came prepackaged meaning to ensure that people would consider it. It is almost as if these poets hoped there would be tabloid rumors about their poetry the way celebrities experience rumors now.
In the first footnote of the poem, the line reads "Burns's brother claimed that this poem was composed while the poet was actually holding the plow." I'm not even sure this necessarily adds meaning to the poem, but what it does do is present the poem with a myth to go along with it. It creates a mystical aura around the poem. This same technique has been used extensively throughout the semester.
Samuel Coleridge attached a description of his inspiration for Kubla Khan. His supposed was a drug induced dream that he supposedly has transcribed perfectly for us. We also see this attempt at myth in much of Byron's work. His poems bring up questions about countless stories from his own life. Barbauld's mouse poem from last class, brought with it the myth that the mouse (I am assuming the one responsible for "writing" the petition) was set free.
All of these poems are seemingly rich with meaning, yet there is an anxiety to further validate these works with (what I mostly believe to be false) stories about where/when/how the poems were created. It seems that much of the poetry in this time period was afraid to stand alone, so it came prepackaged meaning to ensure that people would consider it. It is almost as if these poets hoped there would be tabloid rumors about their poetry the way celebrities experience rumors now.
London's Summer Morning
One thing I thought was really important to Mary Robinson's London's Summer Morning was the form, and how the poem is written in blank verse. The image that the poem creates about a typical scene on London in the morning is made stronger because of the form the Robinson uses. The enjambment that Robinson uses to make the lines run together and stop abruptly create the illusion of a busy, bustling city, crowded with people and shops and products. Although she did use punctuation quite frequently, it helped the overall form and sound of the poem because it added more of a suspension while reading the poem. There was no real consistent rhythm to the poem, emphasized by the blank verse, but this lack of rhythm also emphasized the movement in the poem and how there is no consistent movement within a city as large as London.
The one spot in which the punctuation and the stop it created felt really natrual was the final two lines of the poem, when Robinson writes, "And the poor poet wakes from busy dreams, / To paint the summer morning" (41-2). Here, the stop feels a little bit more abrupt because the first line is a complete thought, and the comma forces a stop, causing the line to feel like the poet has actually woken up from a dream. The last line of the poem also perfectly sums up exactly what Robinson has done. The rest of the poem moves so quickly through each idea, that it almost feels like a blur. To paint the images that she has described, every single stroke would have to be quick and concise, exactly like the lines she has written.
The one spot in which the punctuation and the stop it created felt really natrual was the final two lines of the poem, when Robinson writes, "And the poor poet wakes from busy dreams, / To paint the summer morning" (41-2). Here, the stop feels a little bit more abrupt because the first line is a complete thought, and the comma forces a stop, causing the line to feel like the poet has actually woken up from a dream. The last line of the poem also perfectly sums up exactly what Robinson has done. The rest of the poem moves so quickly through each idea, that it almost feels like a blur. To paint the images that she has described, every single stroke would have to be quick and concise, exactly like the lines she has written.
The Haunted Beach
The structure of Mary Robinson’s “The Haunted Beach” perfectly
parallels the content of the poem in a jarring manner that leaves the reader
feeling somewhat uncomfortable. The poem emphasizes the idea of permanence, a
concept that we have seen before in other romantic poems; however, unlike the permanence
desired in a poem like “Bright Star” this permanence appears, as the title
suggests, as somewhat haunting – a ghost that cannot be shaken off. The cause
of which is of course, the guilt of the Fisherman.
The poem has a rhythmic flow to it, mimicking the undulating
waves of the ocean that are mentioned in every stanza. The lines themselves
visually imitate waves in the way that they are printed on the page, alternating
between being indented or not. Within each stanza is a steady rhyme scheme that
is broken by a rhyming couplet in the 7th and 8th line
and followed by the final 9th line to complete the previous rhyme.
This pattern somewhat mimics the rising and breaking of waves – lines 7 and 8
represent the crescendo of the wave as it reaches is peak before finally
crashing in line 9 – fittingly, always the line mentioning the “green billows.”
The repetition of this pattern throughout the poem helps
emphasize the fact that there is no escaping the ebb and flow of the ocean in
the way that there is no way for the Fisherman to escape his guilt. We especially
see this in the final stanza which takes place thirty years after the murder, “day
after day more weary;/ For Heav’n design’d his guilty mind/ Should dwell on
prospects dreary” (75-76). Robinson accurately depicts the feeling of guilt by
describing it as a “strong and mystic chain” (77) that prevents him from
straying. Like the ocean, and the structure of the poem, the Fisherman is
unable to escape the guilt he has created for himself and thus must live with
it until his death – or the end of the poem.
Some Mary Robinson Info
Because I missed my blog post last week, I am posting this as a supplementary one for this week. This is really more-so additional biographical information about Mary Robinson than a true blog post. Mary Robinson wrote an autobiography for herself, and though she never finished it, it seems like the manuscript would be interesting. As the Norton anthology headnote for Mary Robinson notes, she "lived a more sensational life than any other poet of the period, Byron and Shelley included" (77). From what we've discussed of Byron and Shelley in class, that's saying something.
Below is an excerpt from the editor's preface of the memoirs that helps to illustrate Mary Robinson the person:
Below is an excerpt from the editor's preface of the memoirs that helps to illustrate Mary Robinson the person:
"THE author of these Memoirs, Mary Robinson, was one of the most prominent and eminently beautiful women of her day. From the description she furnishes of her personal appearance we gather that her complexion was dark, her eyes large, her features expressive of melancholy; and this verbal sketch corresponds with her portrait, which presents a face at once grave, refined, and charming. Her beauty, indeed, was such as to attract, amongst others, the attentions of Lords Lyttelton and Northington, Fighting Fitzgerald, Captain Ayscough, and finally the Prince of Wales; whilst her talents and conversation secured her the friendship and interest of David Garrick, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Charles James Fox, Joshua Reynolds, Arthur Murphy, the dramatist, and various other men of distinguished talent. [Page viii]
Though her Memoirs are briefly sketched, they are sufficiently vivid to present us with various pictures of the social life of the period of which she was the centre. Now we find her at the Pantheon, with its coloured lamps and brilliant music, moving amidst a fashionable crowd, where large hoops and high feathers abounded, she herself dressed in a habit of pale pink satin trimmed with sable, attracting the attention of men of fashion. Again she is surrounded by friends at Vauxhall Gardens, and barely escapes from a cunning plot to abduct her–a plot in which loaded pistols and a waiting coach prominently figure; whilst on another occasion she is at Ranelagh, where, in the course of the evening, half a dozen gallants "evinced their attentions"; and ultimately she makes her first appearance as an actress on the stage of Drury Lane before a brilliant house, David Garrick, now retired, watching her from the orchestra, whilst she played Juliet in pink satin richly spangled with silver, her head ornamented with white feathers."
Here are some portraits of Mary, as well:
A Red, Red Rose
In his poem, "A Red, Red Rose," Robert Burns closely links love with time. He first compares his "newly sprung" love to a fresh rose in June (2), and then to a melody (3). Time comes up again in the next stanza when he says that his love is as deep as his lover is fair. He claims that he will love her until the seas go dry and the rocks melt with the sun (9). So, Burns suggests that his love is endless, presumably. Next, though, he pronounces: "O I will love thee still, my Dear,/ While the sands o' life shall run" (11). This image of an overturned hourglass gives the meaning of the poem a slightly different tone from the last two comparisons, however.
Why did Burns choose the word "life" rather than the sands of "time"? Using the word "time" wouldn't alter the meter or rhyme scheme, but it would fit better with the other metaphors in the poem because it would extend the idea of a forever love. Instead, Burns puts an end on that endless love by choosing to specify the point at which the sands of his life runs dry as the expiration for his love. I wonder what significance this has, especially considering the fact that in the last stanza, it seems like the lovers have to part for a time. Perhaps "the sands o' life" in this context refer to the sands of all life on earth, rather than just Burns' own? That reading might make the metaphors more compatible.
One explanation for this seeming inconsistency in comparisons is simply that love is such a difficult idea to really pin down. Burns (and everyone else) has such trouble defining the feeling that he even begins with a metaphor right off the bat. He then uses more metaphors to circle around the idea of love, but he never really lands right on it. Is it possible then, we must ask, to actually write about such an abstract feeling in a way that feels straight-up? Further, is it even remotely possible to do so in a way that refers to a generalizable love too? I honestly don't know if a poem that were more frank but more personal would also be more profound. Because then, could we apply Burns' idea of love to our own conception of it?
Here's a video version of the poem (for the sake of understanding a Scottish accent):
Why did Burns choose the word "life" rather than the sands of "time"? Using the word "time" wouldn't alter the meter or rhyme scheme, but it would fit better with the other metaphors in the poem because it would extend the idea of a forever love. Instead, Burns puts an end on that endless love by choosing to specify the point at which the sands of his life runs dry as the expiration for his love. I wonder what significance this has, especially considering the fact that in the last stanza, it seems like the lovers have to part for a time. Perhaps "the sands o' life" in this context refer to the sands of all life on earth, rather than just Burns' own? That reading might make the metaphors more compatible.
One explanation for this seeming inconsistency in comparisons is simply that love is such a difficult idea to really pin down. Burns (and everyone else) has such trouble defining the feeling that he even begins with a metaphor right off the bat. He then uses more metaphors to circle around the idea of love, but he never really lands right on it. Is it possible then, we must ask, to actually write about such an abstract feeling in a way that feels straight-up? Further, is it even remotely possible to do so in a way that refers to a generalizable love too? I honestly don't know if a poem that were more frank but more personal would also be more profound. Because then, could we apply Burns' idea of love to our own conception of it?
Here's a video version of the poem (for the sake of understanding a Scottish accent):
Of Mice and Men
I know I already posted this week but I missed my post a different week, so I thought I would make up for it. And while reading Robert Burns's "To a Mouse", I was delighted to come across the line "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men / Gang aft agley" (39 - 40). "o' Mice an' Men" was too unique of a phrase to not be somehow linked to John Steinback's "Of Mice and Men".
I found that Steinback did in fact name his book after this line in the poem. Looking at the poem again, there is a similar theme that is found in "Of Mice and Men".
For those of you that haven't read the book (which is one of my favorites), it's about two characters, George and Lenny, who work together in order to save enough money so that they can buy their very own home.
Burns was actually inspired to write the poem when he destroyed a mouse's "home" while ploughing. The poem then explores how the mouse picked this field and dreamt of using it to stay warm all winter and then his plan was ruined.
In "Of Mice and Men", George and Lenny's plan to buy a home ended when things went suddenly very wrong for them. I don't want to spoil the ending, but things go so wrong that it becomes impossible for the plan to ever be continued or acted upon because it wouldn't be the same.
This same themes arise in "To a Mouse". I can't help but wonder if Steinback read the poem and wanted to write about these same theme or if it was more of a coincidence.
I found that Steinback did in fact name his book after this line in the poem. Looking at the poem again, there is a similar theme that is found in "Of Mice and Men".
For those of you that haven't read the book (which is one of my favorites), it's about two characters, George and Lenny, who work together in order to save enough money so that they can buy their very own home.
Burns was actually inspired to write the poem when he destroyed a mouse's "home" while ploughing. The poem then explores how the mouse picked this field and dreamt of using it to stay warm all winter and then his plan was ruined.
In "Of Mice and Men", George and Lenny's plan to buy a home ended when things went suddenly very wrong for them. I don't want to spoil the ending, but things go so wrong that it becomes impossible for the plan to ever be continued or acted upon because it wouldn't be the same.
This same themes arise in "To a Mouse". I can't help but wonder if Steinback read the poem and wanted to write about these same theme or if it was more of a coincidence.
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