Vocabulary from Vendler's Appendix on Prosody

Foot: A single metrical unit, consisting of both the stressed and unstressed syllables that form that unit.

Rising rhythm: Rhythms in which each foot consists of unstressed syllables leading up to a stressed syllable.

Types of rising rhythms:

Iambic: Each foot is two syllables, the first unstressed, the second stressed

Anapestic: Each foot is three syllables, the first two unstressed the third, stressed

Falling rhythm: Rhythms in which each foot consists of a stressed syllable followed by one or more unstressed syllables.

Types of falling rhythms:

Trochaic: Each foot is two syllables, the first stressed, the second unstressed

Dactylic: Each foot is three syllables, the first stressed, the second two unstressed



Pyrrhic: A "light" foot in which all syllables are unstressed.

Spondee: A "heavy" foot in which all syllables are stressed.

Caesura: A pause in the middle of a line, usually punctuated with a comma, period, or semicolon.

"Helen" by H.D.

The Trojan War, whether fact or fiction, is a huge part of ancient Greek history and culture. The “cause” of this colossal war is the subject of H.D.’s poem, “Helen.” The title refers to Helen, wife of Menelaus, a great king of Greece. Helen falls in love with, and flees Greece with Paris, a prince of Troy, sparking the great, deadly event known as the Trojan War. In his poem, H.D. mainly focuses on describing the way the Greeks feel about Helen, most obviously their hatred towards her and the things she has done to cause such tragedy.
One of the main things I first noticed about the poem, and one that made the poem stick out to me and become very effective, was the author’s strategic use of repetition. The main key word that is constantly used and reused is “white.” It is always used to refer to Helen, and some part or parts of her body. In the first stanza, it is used twice. First the poet uses the word to describe her face with its still eyes and “white” complexion. Then in the final line of the stanza, Helen’s hands are referred to by this colorless word. In the second stanza, her face is once again described as “white,” only this time emotions are brought into play, and certain expressions she gets when she thinks of certain events. In the third and final stanza, The color is no longer used to refer to her skin color as a living, breathing being, but instead it is used in the final line of the poem to describe the ashes that would be left if Helen were burned on funeral cypresses. The fact that this word, meaning an absence of color, is one that is constantly brought up is effective in portraying this mood of emptiness that the Greek people feel towards her now. This great woman they once respected and loved is now essentially dead to them, and they would be happy if she actually were dead. Another word that is repeated and appears once in every stanza, on the very first line of each stanza, is “Greece.” I think this serves not only to reference the poem to its context (Helen’s involvement in the Trojan War), but also to enforce the sense of pride that these people had for their country, adding even more to the sense of hate evoked by something that almost destroyed it.
Another key structural component I noticed was the three separate stanzas. Each one to me sort of refers to this hatred the Greek people feel towards Helen in a different way. In the first stanza, we are introduced to this woman, and informed that all of Greece hates her. In the second stanza, the author provides us more information to allow us to explore a little further into this hatred. We see that when they see her face, and expressions meaning she is remembering part times, they hate “it deeper still.” In the third stanza we reach the climax of it all. We see the full extent of the hatred. These people will only be happy with her if she is dead.
There are lots of pretty images describing Helen throughout the poem. “Lustre as of olives,” and “beauty of cool feet, and slenderest knees” are a few examples. This beautiful imagery throughout the poem juxtaposes the hatred shared by the Greeks because we see that despite her unsurpassable charm and beauty, the people still wish she was dead for what she did to their homeland.
I really like this poem because of the way H.D. uses a very familiar story as a backdrop. He also uses great diction and language, vivid imagery, and many useful structural components to make this a very enjoyable and effective piece of literature to read.

"Helen" by H.D.

The poem Helen by H.D. is a description of the contrasting views of how history views Helen and how Greece viewed her at the time of her incident with Paris, Prince of Troy. Whereas history tends to take the side of Helen as a victim in being seduced by Paris, H.D. is cold toward Helen in terms of Greece’s attitude toward her. H.D. presents Helen as a woman hated by Greece and her only escape of the hatred is death. In death, Helen will then become appreciated and admired for her beauty.

H.D.’s choice of words gives the reader the image of Helen being frozen in time. Starting each five line stanza (cinquain) with a statement about how Greece views Helen puts the reader among an audience of people who are simply examining Helen. Helen is therefore portrayed as an object that caused great anger and scorn among the Greeks. The Greeks are completely objective toward her and show no feeling of remorse for their attitudes toward her.

Several of the pairs of words H.D. uses when describing Helen contrast each other, illustrating the contrast between the current vision of Helen and the image of Helen during the Greek times. In the first cinquain, H.D. describes Helen with “still eyes in the white face” which contradicts “the luster as of olives where she stands.” Still eyes and a white face suggest colorlessness and maybe even shame whereas olives suggest a radiance and olives are also known as a symbol of peace in Greek culture. Later on in the poem, the last line describes Helen as “white ash amid funereal cypresses,” meaning Helen is dead. Cypresses are a distinctly different tree than olives and also have a different meaning. The cypress tree is a symbol of mourning whereas olives represent peace. H.D. is trying to explain to the reader that the only way for there to be peace is if Helen is being mourned for when she is dead.

When H.D. says that Helen is “God’s daughter, born of love,” she is making an ironic statement. In doing some light research, I came to know that Helen was not born out of love at all, it was out of lust. Zeus came down to the world as a swan and seduced Helen’s mother, Leda, into having sex with him. She then gave birth to Helen. H.D. intensifies this irony by describing Helen, who had just been seduced and abducted by Paris. The irony of love is summed up by H.D. describing Greece as only being able to love Helen once she is ash in the ground. Helen will not be any old ash either; she is “white ash.” The color white exemplifies that Helen’s beauty has died out and she is no longer alive. While alive, it is almost as if Greece has alienated Helen because of her unbelievable beauty. Once the color is removed from her body she is capable of being loved.

H.D. – Helen

As Jonathan Young stated in his blog, Helen, by H.D. was based on the expressions exhibited by the Greeks in reference to the statue, Helen of Troy. It is clear to see the discretion that the Greeks have towards Helen of Troy as they look at the statue. The poem is rather contradicting throughout the three stanzas as the Greeks go from describing the great things about the statue to denouncing their relationship with Helen completely.

When I first read the poem, I received imagery of death, not a statue at all. I think that the statue is the more literal meaning of the poem, but I believe that the statue is supposed to represent Helen’s death. Furthermore, the poem appears to be radial; all the information in the poem is being centered around one main idea: Helen.

In stanza one, the narrator allows the reader to see how he feels the Greeks feel about Helen and her Statue. They start off by describing her appeal as being “still [eyed]” and having a “white face”. I did see the imagery of a statue, but as I said before,

I think that H.D. gave the statue a literal meaning of being a representation of dedication to her country after she died, but I feel that H.D wanted the poem to resemble something a little more passionate and concealing like most poets do. It is clear that there is hatred in Greece’s heart, according to H.D., towards Helen since in line one of stanza one the narrator uses the word “hates”.

In stanza two, Greece furthermore express their hatred towards Helen as they describe how the “statue” smiles and they hate it. But, the statue also allows the people of Greece to remember the things that Helen has done for them that was great as well as the things that were not. The statue is served as a monument to the Trojan War: a reflection of the past. When H.D. said “remembering past enchantments and past ills,” I think that that was what Helen is suppose to emphasize: a reflection of the past, but yet she is dead.

Finally, in stanza three, the characters change from “All of Greece” to just “Greece”. I think that H.D. was emphasizing that there were some obvious citizens of

Greece that supported Helen’s leadership in the war (possibly more than others) and the remainder just stuck to their denouncements, but as well grieved.

The reason I strongly believe that H.D. intended on Helen being a representative poem of imagery toward heroism, death, and reflections from the past is because every hero has people who disagree with what they do/did and their purposes and visa versa. This poem clearly expresses that, and her death was monumental, which is why the statue was created. I also believe that Helen was represented as a statue because in stanza three lines six and seven H.D. says “only if she were laid, white ash amid funeral cypresses”. Reading that line a couple of times gave me a picture of Helen not being properly buried, but cremated instead, and as an effect, Helen (statue) was created. This made the mourning more appreciated and dramatic. In fact, cypresses are branches on coniferous trees that represent “mourning”.

H.D.- Helen

In the poem “Helen” H.D. describes the Greek mythological statue of Helen of Troy. H.D. establishes the tone of the poem by stating in the first line the hatred Greeks have when looking at the statue of Helen. Helen’s statue is pictured as having “still eyes” standing amidst “the luster of olives.” This gives the relative location of this statue. As the poem continues in the second stanza, H.D. describes the hatred the Greeks feel looking at “the wan face” of Helen “when she smiles.” For the Greeks, the smile of Helen is a reminder of their past ills. With the poem’s conclusion in stanza three, H.D. describes the “love hate” relationship the Greeks have with the statue of Helen. For the Greeks, love of Helen’s legacy must come with the destruction of her statue. By analyzing the deeper meaning behind the images described by H.D. of the statue of Helen, one can see how the literal interpretation is established.

In the first stanza, the image that I feel is most significant is the image of Helen’s “white hands” and the reflection of olives on her face. Though the Greeks detest Helen for starting the Trojan War, the statue seems to represent her beauty. The statue’s white hands represent the statue’s purity overtime, something the Greeks greatly resent.

In the second stanza, the description of Helen’s smile seems to be a mockery of the turmoil Greeks had in the Trojan War. For the Greeks, the beauty of her smile brought death and destruction. The lust after her beauty by two men ultimately caused an empire to declare a full scale war.

In the third stanza, the depiction of Helen’s statue becoming “white ash amid funeral cypresses” displays the contradictions the Greeks have with Helen. Throughout poem, Helen is described as pure and having physical characteristics that no other woman can rival. Although Helen is pleasing to their eyes, the Greeks believe her image must be destroyed to the point of becoming just ash. As a result, her image will not invoke anger but her memory will be cherished.

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

Walt Whitman's poem "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" is a simple narrative about an event in which Whitman attended a lecture on Astronomy. The poem begins by telling the reader when and vaguely where Whitman is: in a lecture room when a well respected Astronomer is speaking. Afterward Whitman describes the normal proceedings of a scientific lecture on Astronomy, one containing math, charts, diagrams, etc. And everyone around Whitman seems to be greatly enjoying the lecture. However, Whitman grows tired and contrite as he listens to the speaker drone on and on, and after some time he can't take it anymore, and so he leaves. Once outside he finds peace in the twilight while looking up at the starts that the Astronomer was explaining.

This poem is written in one stanza, but it is clearly divided into two sections: an account of the lecture, and a description of Whitman's feelings and deeds. This is visually divided in the poem by the four repetitions of 'When' at the beginning of the first four lines. Which are followed by the last four which begin with 'How', 'Till', 'In', and 'Look'd'. Whitman is obviously showing the stylistic differences between himself and the lecturer. Where the lecturer is organized and structured, Whitman is chaotic and unpredictable. So, there is the initial difference the Astronomer's predictability and Whitman's spontaneity.

The first piece of the poem, about the Astronomer, creates an atmosphere for the reader. There are "proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns" and there were "charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure" the stars. And everyone sits listening with much adoration and "applause" to this man (or woman). But this atmosphere is exactly counter to Whitman's own belief in how stars should be viewed. Rather than sitting and talking about stars inside with a bunch of people stars should be looked at and viewed alone, where one can get away from the hassle of other people and simply be quiet. He also states that stars are "mystical", and cannot be explained by math. To do so is taking away from what they are.

In this poem we are shown the science and the art of viewing nature, specifically stars. And according to Whitman, viewing them as divine art is the better way. It's the way that brings you closest to them, and sooth's the soul. It is also obviously considered the better option because it comes last, inferring that it is the most accurate method of observation. I believe Whitman wrote this poem in one stanza rather than two to show how these two differing view points exist within one world, and that we have the option to choose one or the other.

Mock Orange- Louise Gluck

Mock Orange, written by Louise Gluck, displays the author's negative perception, or better yet currently bitter towards the idea of love.  The poet opens with telling us that one would be mistaken if they thought that the moon was lighting up her back yard, because it really is her flowers.  She goes on to say how much she dislikes the flowers, as well as how much she hates sex.  We see the author struggle over some sort of "mock orange" scent that enters through her window, and in the end she tells us that she is having trouble being happy with the smell of orange still present in her life.  

The first paragraph lets us know that the author is a pessimistic woman.  It is a common staple of romance novels, or stories about love, to use the moon as an object of beauty.  The idea of moonlight has a romantic connotation, one that Gluck is letting us know from the get go is not real.  She says that "It is not the moon, I tell you.  It is these flowers lighting the yard."  I think this is significant, mainly because while the moon is always present in ones life, flowers grow and die.  Flowers are plants that you plant yourself, and take care of yourself while the moon is something much larger than the flowers that one has no control over.  

Gluck goes on discussing the flowers, saying that she "hates them.  I hate them as much as I hate sex, the man's mouth sealing my mouth, the man's paralyzing body."  I think this lets the reader know that Gluck does not believe in love or sex.  Her description of sex, using such terms as "sealing my mouth", and "paralyzing body", comes off as violent if not unwilling.  She is even negative when discussing the orgasm, saying "the cry that always escapes, the low, humiliating premise of union--." Gluck has completely depersonalized sex.  It is no longer an act of love.  

I am led to believe that Louise Gluck, throughout this whole poem, is telling us that she was once in love, yet now tries to replace this man or woman she loves with sex, even though she knows that it hurts even more.  I believe that the "scent of orange" that wafts in through the window that Gluck talks about, is symbolic of her loyalty to the person that she loves.  I believe that she feel as if sex is horrible, and that she is embarrassed to orgasm, because she knows that it is not with the right person.  I would also argue that it is possible that the person she loved is no longer alive.  For one, flowers are a common gift for funerals.  Also, she ays that this odor that she loves so much, that of orange, is still in the world, yet she never says where the scent comes from, and if the source is still in this world.  I think that Gluck is telling us that she cannot move on, or find someone knew, when everything around her constantly reminds her of the one she lost.  

THE GIFT OUTRIGHT
By: Robert Frost


“The Gift Outright” is a poem that examines the 19th century American concept of ‘Manifest Destiny’ and righteousness of Revolutionary War, though the latter theme is only addressed in the final quatrain. He begins with a general, straightforward claim that “the land was ours before we were the land’s”, which can be viewed as an undisguised affirmation that Manifest Destiny is in fact a real and true force at work in our world, bonding man to nature and urging him to sequester the land that is his birthright. After briefly elaborating on the fact that North America was destined to be ‘ours,’ Frost then explains that we were simply unable to take possession of said land due to our unfortunate position in England, where hierarchy and accountability to our superiors prevented us from reaching our true potential. Eventually, through surrender to our destiny and revolution against our tyrants, Americans were able to claim our identity and take advantage of the endless possibilities associated with the blank canvas that was our ever westward-expanding wilderness.

The structure and form of “The Gift Outright” are both nothing special. It is written in loose iambic pentameter with no rhyme scheme and a healthy mixture of both enjambment and end-stopping (this probably stems from the fact that Frost was prone to think of and read his poems in a prose-like manner, even though he structured them into lines and stanzas [evidenced by numerous easily available recordings]). With that in mind, the peculiar and sometimes jarring language that Frost chooses to use becomes the most influential of the formal elements in the poem. The first example of this is the use of the Native American name ‘Massachusetts’ in relation to the European name ‘Virginia.’ This contrast reminds us that even though the poem is centered on the Anglo-American myth of Manifest Destiny, it cannot escape or erase the bloody and violent history of our rise to power.

Another Example of a phrase that is extremely influential in one’s interpretation of the poem comes in the ominous thirteenth line, “(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)”. First of all it holds a significant amount of dramatic foreboding, and secondly it seems to have a complete lack of tonal or grammatical connection to any other section of the poem, being inserted between parentheses as a result. In fact, if one were to remove this line altogether, the poem would still make perfect sense, but it would take on a completely different meaning. With the thirteenth line included, “The Gift Outright” becomes less of a poem about realizing destiny and forming a spiritual commitment to the land, and more of a poem about Revolutionary War. The key to the peculiarity of the line, however, comes in the phrase “The deed of gift,” which in legal terms is “A deed executed and delivered without consideration” (http://rod.brunsco.net/definitions.html). Yet the phrase is more memorable for its appearance in Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, in which Mephisto informs Faust that a deed of gift must be drawn up that indicates intent to give his soul over to Lucifer at the conclusion of their agreement (http://www.donaldtyson.com/mephisto.html). Thus, in Frost’s own interpretation of Manifest Destiny, our revolutionary wars and further expansion into the “unstoried, artless, [and] unenhanced” west was the selfsame deed of gift (or gift outright) that bequeathed our soul to Lucifer himself.

Robert Frost’s “The Gift Outright” is a timeless poem that remains relevant even after half of a century has passed since its composition, for whether Frost liked it or not, the Faustian spirit of America was redeemed from weakness by a surrender to and immersion in the violent destructiveness of nature, self-reliance and war.

-Dan Silva

Still to Be Neat

On the literal level, “Still to Be Neat” is a poem about lust. The speaker is a man talking about this woman whom he wants to have sex with. The setting of the poem is back in the old days, during a ball. In the first stanza the speaker tells the reader about how she is all dressed up and ready to go to this ball. The woman is powdered and perfumed as if she were going out somewhere. It is in the second stanza that we see the speaker is more attracted to her natural looks. He is more attracted to her simplicity than he is when she has make-up and fancy clothing on. He states, “give me a look, give me a face/ that makes simplicity a grace;/ robes loosely flowing, hair as free.” He obviously would rather have this woman in her natural state, and is more attracted to her in this state than when she putting on a face for other people. This poem could be interpreted not only as a poem about lust but also a poem about pretending to be someone you are not when you are in the public eye. The speaker could be admiring the women for who she is, yet in the public eye she turns into someone he doesn’t even know.

The ending rhyme scheme in the poem is very interesting. In the first stanza, the first two lines don’t rhyme, the second two lines rhyme with each other, as do the final two lines in the stanza. However, when one looks at the second stanza it is apparent that the first two lines rhyme, as do the second two lines and the third two lines. These ending rhymes in the second stanza seem to make the poem flow in a better, more organized way. The poet may be trying to make the point that being natural is better than forcing yourself to be someone your not.

The alliteration in the stanzas reveals much about the poem as well. In the first stanza it is apparent that there is a lot of blatant alliteration. Examples of this include powdered, perfumed, and presumed. In the second stanza, it becomes harder to find such obvious alliteration. Overall the second stanza feels freer, there are no restraints holding it back, other than the end rhymes. The alliteration in the first stanza also keeps the view that the setting is in a ballroom or public affair. The words used throughout the alliteration are also bigger words. Instead of saying smelled good the poet uses the word perfumed, and instead of using assume the word presumed was used. This just adds to the theory that this poem is indeed about public face vs. private self.

Repetition in the poem appears to be important yet as a reader I can’t quite figure out why. Several times in the poem phrases such as “still to be” and “give me” repeat themselves for no real reason. The only reason that the poet may have wanted to use repetition is to give it more of a lullaby sound, which makes the poem, flow better, and keeps it more upbeat. Since the poem may have real depth and meaning to it, depending on how you read it, the poet may have used this lullaby effect to keep the poem upbeat for the reader rather than depressing. If one wanted to go more in depth, the poet uses the upbeat nature of the poem to prove his point. Rather than saying what he wants to say straight out, he flowers up the language and makes it acceptable for the “public.” This would prove his point about public and private even further.

"Mock Orange" by Louise Gluck

In Louise Gluck’s poem “Mock Orange”, the title essentially means ridicule orange. At the
beginning of the poem, the brightness of flowers in a yard is mistaken for a moon. The
next stanza moves toward how much the author hates the flowers and relates the flowers
to sex. The in depth analysis of sex and how a man acts during sex is portrayed after that. The author describes the moaning of an individual and how moaning is a way to release the “premise of union”. Then, she hears a question but gets the answer “fused in one sound”. The following stanza continues to speak on sex and the moaning but takes a dramatic turn to state “And the scent of mock orange drifts through the window”. The last stanza asks the question of “How can I be content when there is still that odor in the world?” Throughout the poem Gluck uses different literary elements to convey her detestation for the smell of flowers and sexual intercourse.

One theme that stood out was the tone of the entire poem. At the beginning, the tone is very hostile. “It is not the moon, I tell you. It is the flowers lighting the yard”. This shows that the author is holding a conversation with someone else and also tells the other person how she feels about the flowers. This also means, for the flowers, that they are lustrous just like the moon. The moon is very appealing to the eye as well as bright and as the author refers the flowers to the moon, she signifies that the flowers in the yard are too vivid at night. Another line that portrayed the tone as hostile is the second stanza when the author states “I hate them. I hate them as I hate sex, the man’s mouth sealing my mouth, the man’s paralyzing body-“. Hear Gluck expresses her internal feelings about sexual intercourse. She seems to “hate” the external things that are going on such as the “man’s paralyzing body” and the “cry that always escapes”. The tone shows Gluck’s hatred of flowers by her stating “How can I rest? How can I still be content when there is still that odor in the world?” in the last stanza. Here she clearly cannot stand the smell of the flowers and then relates to sexual intercourse as well.

Another theme used throughout “Mock Orange” is persona. The complete poem is written in first person. Gluck uses first person to incorporate the readers more deeply into the poem. By using first person, Gluck is not necessarily describing how she feels about the flowers and sex but maybe how someone else feels about them. “I” is used six times in the poem to show how Gluck (who might be representing someone else) views these items. She takes these words and makes them her own so that the reader can understand how an individual may feel about the flowers in the yard and sexual intercourse. By using persona Gluck tries to make the dislike of the flowers and sexual intercourse her own. Using first person gets the reader trapped inside the world of the poet because it seems as if this is how the poet feels and most of the time in actuality, the poet is speaking for someone else.

Last of all, the final theme that stuck out was the diction. Gluck uses words such as “flowers”, “hate”, “sex”, “paralyzing”, “humiliating”, “mount”, “fools”, and “odor” for readers to vision these images. When one looks at these words, certain images come to mind. For flowers, a variety of colors, different types of flowers, sizes, and a list of other things come to mind. These words used in the same poem create a bizarre visual image in the readers head. Using these words in the poem also helps Gluck to show her detestation for the flowers in the yard and sexual intercourse.

Compilation of Vendler-derived Questions

• What piece of life, private or public, is the poem concerned with? Where and when is this life being lived?
• How does the author avoid cliché? How does he or she bring originality to this moment?
• Where is the moment of disequilibrium in the poem? How is the status quo disturbed?
• What patterns (phonetic, grammatical, syntactic, psychological, temporal, spatial, etc.) appear in the poem? How do these patterns impact the sense of the experience depicted?
• How does the structure of the poem reinforce (or work against) the central contrast or comparison being made in the poem?
• Does the poem have a plot or a narrative? Does it begin at the beginning, in the middle, at the end, or somewhere else entirely? How does the author’s decision to begin at this point affect your interpretation of the action?
• What did you feel and think as you followed the poet on his or her journey? What aspects of the poem--structure, images, argument--generated those feelings and thoughts?
• What is the best (most efficient, most rewarding, etc.) way to navigate the poem using the map Vendler proposed in Chapter 4? What aspects of the map are more or less useful? Why?
• What are the interesting or unusual words in the sentence?
• What speech acts are taking place?
• What is implied in the "white space" between sentences or stanzas?
• Is the organization linear (start-to-finish), radial (a cluster of phrases around a center), or recursive (doubling back on itself)?
• Does the language change from concrete to abstract, or vice versa?
• Where is the speaker in time and space?
• Over how long a period does the poem take place?
• What are the speaker's motivations? How are they typical? Atypical?
• What tones of voice does the speaker use?
• Does the speaker resemble the poem's author or not?
• How does the poem "lyricize" landscape; that is, how is the land made a bearer of human feeling?
• Are there multiple points of view in the poem? How do these points of view represent an emotional or moral quarrel within the poet?
  
• How does the poet resolve the tension between the copiousness of history and the brevity of lyric?

Vendler's Questions from Chapter 8

• How does the poem "lyricize" landscape; that is, how is the land made a bearer of human feeling?
• Are there multiple points of view in the poem? How do these points of view represent an emotional or moral quarrel within the poet?
  
• How does the poet resolve the tension between the copiousness of history and the brevity of lyric?
  

Easter 1916

Analysis by: Sarah Phillips

William Butler Yeat’s Easter 1916 is, in general, is the poet’s reflections on the Easter Rising that took place in Ireland against the British rule on Easter Sunday April 24, 1916. The first stanza of the poem really shows Yeat’s apathetic feelings towards the uprising. He speaks of how he passes the “vivid faces” of people who were involved and excited about the revolution and reacts to them nonchalantly responding to them with “polite meaningless words.” He even emphasizes this point by repeating that line “polite meaningless words.” He even mentions poking fun at the uprising and making jokes about it to entertain his friends. However, at the end of the first stanza he realizes that regardless of whether he embraces it or not the uprising affects him and everyone else around him. “All changed, changed utterly.”

In the second stanza Yeats switches gears a bit and starts talking about specific people that he knew who were directly involved in the Easter Rising like the woman who’s nights were spent in arguments until her voice grew shrill. He was referring to his friend Countess Markiewicz who, although she was involved in the rebellion, was not executed only because she was a woman. Another person involved in the revolution that Yeats talks about is Patrick Pearse who was the founder of a Boy’s school and a poet and long with Pearse’s friend “helper and friend” Thomas MacDonagh. He doesn’t mention these people by name at the beginning of the poem but he does allude to them by referring to the part they played in the uprising and the way he portrayed them in a somewhat heroic light regardless of his previously overtly apathetic outlook on the Easter Uprising. One person that he did not portray in such a positive light was Major Thomas MacBride who had been married to the woman that Yeats loved, and had treated her badly. He did recognize the fact, however that did not stop Yeats from recognizing that “he, too, has resigned his part in the casual comedy; He, too, has been changed in his turn, transformed utterly.” Once again, Yeats ends the stanza with the resonating line, “A terrible beauty is born.” This phrase is very important because it is repeated at the end of every stanza except the third and emphasizes the fact that Yeats recognizes this revolution is a beautiful dream of independence that results in the ugly death of the majority of the people involved, an “ignorant good-will.”

Something that is very important to note in the third stanza is the fact that Yeats stops using the pronoun “I” and moves into a more descriptive metaphorical tone and takes on a third person voice. The poem changes from people to a more ethereal realm that included imagery involving nature themes like a stream, birds, clouds, and the all important symbol of the rock that is carried on to the fourth stanza. The rock symbolizes the steadfastness of the revolutionaries’ will, drive, and passion that troubles the “living stream” and “the horse that comes from the road.” The Irish were an obstacle that the British government had to deal with. “The stone’s in the midst of all” refers to how the uprising stood strong in the midst of the turbulence of the much stronger British government.

In the fourth stanza the symbol of the stone is again used, but this time in a different light. “Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.” The stone, in this final stanza, symbolizes how their stubborn determination ended in the end of the loss of their lives. The 4^th stanza is all about remembering the sacrifice of lives that the previously mentioned martyrs (with the exception of the countess) whose only fate, it seems through this poem, is their own demise. The lines “our part to murmur name upon name, as mother names her child...” tells the reader that our jobs as people aren’t to judge whether or not the sacrifices that these martyrs made were worth it, but just to simply remember them, specifically their names. The final stanza closes with once again the repetition of “a terrible beauty is born,” where Yeats’ once again reminds us that this uprising was a waste of lives for a beautiful ideal.

A final interesting thing about this poem is the fact that Yeats using the number of lines in the stanzas to mirror the date of the Easter Rising. Two of the stanzas contain 16 lines which are a reflection of the year (1916) and there are also two stanzas that contain 24 lines which reflect the day (April 24).

Ode on a Grecian Urn - It's a popular one!

John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn” immortalizes the already immortal urns left to posterity by the Ancient Greeks, while simultaneously attempting to immortalize his own poetry. Keats’ choice of form, meter, and subject all elevate his poem to the level of a canonical Grecian work.

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” verbally depicts a variety of scenes that have been painted onto a Grecian Urn. These urns were a specific art form that came out of Ancient Greece. They depicted events that were significant in the cultural lives of the Greeks. Keats begins his ode by generally questioning the nature of the Grecian urn. He then describes the many images that are depicted on the urn. These images include lovers just before a kiss, trees in the spring, a cow being led to a sacrifice, and a funeral procession. Keats concludes by considering the immortality of the urn. The images on the urn will never change, they are in the past, but having already taken place, are as unknown as the events of the future. A man can be overwhelmed thinking of the eternity of the past and of the future. Keats concludes with a final thought, which transcends history and the future: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty…” That is the only statement of fact that will remain constant throughout the history of the earth.

Keats’ choice to write his poem in the form of an ode automatically links him to the classical Ancient Greek poets. The ode was a popular form of lyrical verse for ancient poets. It was a more elevated form, which could be performed by a chorus or put to music. However, Keats’ ode is silent. Keats almost acknowledges this in his first stanza, “Thou still unravished bride of quietness,/Thou foster child of silence and slow time.” These lines not only refer to an image on the urn that is silent and will be forevermore, but indicate the silence of his immortalized work. His words stand on a page to be read by an individual, but not performed by a chorus or set to music with a flute. Keats repeats this sentiment in his second stanza: “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard/Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;/Not to the sensual ear, but more endeared,/Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone.”

Keats also links his own ode to the poetry of the Ancient Greeks with his metrical unites. Keats writes in iambic pentameter, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable totaling five stressed syllables per line. This meter was made famous to most literate citizens of the world by Shakespeare, but it was in existence long before The Bard became The Bard. Iambic pentameter lends the ode a highly rhythmical quality, making it easy to set to music. Because Keats has already established that his ode will not be put to music, he uses the meter of the iambs to create his own rhythm. This rhythm remains constant until the final stanza, when the most famous lines of the ode “Cold Pastoral!” and “Beauty is truth, truth beauty” appear. These lines comply with the rules of syllables and stresses when read robotically. However, the natural pronunciations of the words themselves break up the lilting rhythm of the ode. This draws attention to these lines, which seem to make the point of Keats’ poem. In this line, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” Keats states all that man is privileged to know in life.

The imagery Keats uses to describe the urn draws the reader into the beauty of the urn, and thus into the meaning of his ode. Keats enlivens the depictions by going beyond stating, “two lovers pose as if about to kiss” by describing the desire of the lover to finally enjoy the sweet lips of his conquest. Rather than stating that “a tree is in bloom,” Keats calls the boughs happy and paints the picture of the warmth and passion of a perpetual spring. In writing this poem, Keats not only immortalizes the images on the urn, but the human emotion behind the events it depicts: the passion of two young lovers, the despair of a community in mourning, the desperation of a cow being led to his demise. In this, Keats demonstrates that “beauty is truth, truth beauty.” His poetic rendering of these events and images makes them true; they come to life for all those who read this poem as for those who are depicted on the urn itself. The experiences described here become part of the experiences of the reader, and thus become true. Thus, Keats has written a canonical poem since his words will be the words by which mankind will remember these events, these images, and these emotions. By adopting the style of an Ancient Greek Poet, Keats adopts their authority and acclaim as well.

John Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn"

Dealing with concepts similar to those in one of his other odes, “Ode to a Nightingale,” Keats once again expresses his views on the nature of time and mortality/immortality in his “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” In the poem, Keats presents an ancient Grecian urn depicting scenes that cause the speaker to reflect on the ideal condition of the subjects. In the pictures, the speaker sees visions of life in which nothing can change, fade, or end: love is eternal; nature is untouched by decay; and life cannot be taken. However, as in “Nightingale,” the speaker acknowledges that this unfortunately differs from real life and that the world presented on the urn is only a tease for its observers.
The point of view of the poem is second-person throughout the five stanzas, even during the speaker’s reflection on the urn’s images. In his thoughts about each of the scenes depicted, the speaker addresses the subject(s) of the scene. He gives no description of what he was doing before he came upon the urn, no information about himself or his life, and only a generalization about what will happen when he is gone. Thus, very little information is given about the world Keats’ speaker is from. The message that life as seen on the urn is sweeter in its timelessness than real life is only given through the speaker’s addresses to the urn and the people and objects pictured on it, subtly distancing this everlasting quality from the facts of the real world.
Adding to the tension between the urn’s fantasy world and reality are several instances of irony within the poem. First, Keats calls the urn a “historian” and proceeds to ask it what myths and legends it depicts, ruefully acknowledging that although the urn is a real piece of history, its decoration goes beyond the realms of possible mortal happiness. He asks it what stories it tells “Of deities or mortals, or of both,” yet he goes on to reflect that all the characters of the urn are made immortal; frozen in time, they cannot fade or die. Also, he calls the urn a “Cold Pastoral,” an apparent paradox, referencing the fact that while the scenes on the urn are happy and warm, in an endless summer, they are cold in that they are indeed frozen, and tease mortals with their immunity to time.
The alternation of silence and sound associated with the urn also tend to add to the overall theme of the incompatibility of art’s ideality with life’s reality. Initially, the urn is referred to as the “unravished bride of quietness,” the “foster child of silence.” The speaker then encourages paradoxical unheard melodies, coming from the piper in one of the scenes. He then returns to silence a last time before ultimately foretelling that the urn will speak to future generations, actually giving the urn spoken lines. According to the speaker, the urn will say, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” The urn in its silence has spoken, but alas, its message is only appropriate for the world that lives painted on it. As a silent work of art, the urn is a testament to beauty, but when its pictures connect to the observer and actually communicate, it only serves as a reminder that the deathless ideal world presented by the urn can never be a living part of reality.

Africa Says
Carl Phillips

Before you arrive, forget. The first line of Africa Says pretty much sums up what Africa is trying to say. Of course many people have ideas about Africa and feelings connected to what it is or who the people are that live there. But none of that matters, for Africa is not what you think it is. The speaker in this Poem speaks with an air of authority and knowledge, which is fitting as Carl Phillips is an African Studies and African American History professor. He seems to be talking specifically to a Western audience, one that has misconceptions and preconceived notions based on literature and cultural presumptions rather than facts. He seems to have the goal of informing the reader, or even warning the reader, who has never been to Africa before, what and what not to expect. Carl Phillips uses vivid diction and a recursive style to get across the point that Africa is not a static idea, easily characterized, but rather a dynamic entity not to be tamed, changed or even understood from the outside.
The author uses lots of very vivid and intense diction in this poem, portraying very savage and powerful feelings and settings. The analogy between Africa and a woman, which goes on throughout the poem, takes on life-like vividness in some parts. “She smells of henna or attar, or rises steeped in musk that in other women does not stray from between the legs.” This intense invocation of a smell has such a savage nature and strong effect on the reader, its hard not to read twice. With other descriptions such as “the running sores at the breasts of the women who bed beside stalled trains,” he is clearly trying to invoke an emotional response from the reader who can only imagine what this reality must be like if he has in fact never been to Africa. This vividness overpowers any preconceived notions you have while reading this poem.
This vivid language is also manifested in his continued use of the imperative and the purposeful actions carried out by the woman who represents Africa. The speaker commands the reader to forget, which, obviously, is nearly impossible to comply with. Other commands such as “Don’t be surprised…” and “…know better…” he gives to the reader, as if these were actions which they could actually control. But one can not consciously forget something, or not be surprised by something. By giving these commands which are so hard to obey, the author seems to be acknowledging the futility of his own intent to change your ideas. He may also be warning you of the difficulty of actually understanding Africa, even if you want to. The lines “She says she has no desire to return,” and “she takes nothing you offer, and moves on bare feet away from you” give Africa the sense of having free will and intentions, creating a more vivid image of an actual woman with personality and motive. His use of the second person (you) throughout the poem enforces his authoritative perspective, and knowledge on the subject. He walks the reader through actions and experiences as if you have no choice in the matter and are merely subject to the will of Africa.
The author uses a recursive style in this poem, as if he tries to undermine his own language several times in order to get the reader to rethink what he supposedly knows. He compares Africa to a human body, but then compares your body to a machine (equipment), giving two very contrasting metaphors for the human body. The former represents a holistic view of and entire continent functioning as one body, while the latter embodies an opposite and more western idea which represents a dichotomy between the mind and body and the individual and society. He says to forget all you know about Africa, then proceeds to list numerous things as if he wants you to learn or remember something. Toward the end of the poem, he says, “you were never here.” He writes over half of the poem about you, the reader, being in Africa, then flips that idea on its head. Then he resumes, saying “For this reason, you may decide to stay put thinking you have left nothing finished.” Again, he makes you completely rethink what he has said up to this point, citing not being there as a reason to stay. It is as if all along he is not only undermining what he is saying, but actually what you are thinking.
This makes you feel like you do not know what to expect or what even to think anymore. Then he says “You may have an urge” leaving that line hanging, invoking again a sexual idea or an urge toward Africa as a woman, but he follows it with “to make each move count” which brings you away from the idea of an urge at all and instead to some kind of plan or purpose. Finally, the last line seems to undercut the entire poem. “You may have learned nothing at all.” The author this whole time has been trying to teach you something and change your idea about Africa, yet here he says, almost admittedly, that you may have learned nothing. Or perhaps he is talking about the “you” in the poem who will experience all of the things he talks about. This “you” is supposed to realize upon going to Africa that it is not what “you” thought and going to Africa should change your idea, but it may have had no effect at all.
The entire poem uses very vivid language, yet at the same time is ambiguous and even undermines what it has already said in order to try to force you to rethink that which you presume. The author is constantly making you reanalyze what you read, as you should do with what you think you know about Africa. More generally, the poem serves almost as a reminder not to judge or make assumptions that are not based on experience. Whether it’s a foreign country or a strange person, we are not all the experts we think we are.

Dulce et Decorum Est

In Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est,” we see a very intense picture of war. Owen fought and died in WWI, and we see a picture of his experience in this poem. We are thrown right into the action with the first line beginning with “Bent double,” and are carried through a tale of battle and war scenes. With graphic diction and metaphors that help us get a sense of the feelings that went through the author’s mind, the second stanza leads us into a gas attack on his group of soldiers. After describing the death of one of his comrades, we are quickly thrown into the author’s dreams. After going through his terrible and horrifying dreams the poem wraps us with the crux of the message: “you would not tell with such high zest…The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.” This Latin phrase means “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.” After a vivid and mortifying description of the war he has seen, the author warns those at home that this thing called war is not all that it’s cracked up to be.

One very important structural feature of this poem is the dramatic thematic shift in line 15. The first two stanzas present a picture of the ugliness of war, with the first one showing a general view of different areas of his war life, and the second a very specific scenario of a gas attack and the death of a fellow soldier. But beginning with stanza three, we are taken on a very stark transition into the dream life of the author. “In all my dreams” begins the stanza, and “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning” continues the theme of the no-holds-barred approach to his descriptions of his surroundings. Just before he starts to talk about his dreams, Owen is describing the death of a soldier, so I think the transition to his dreams deliberately follows such a traumatic event. As we now know, soldiers often struggle to cope with the sights and experiences of war, and this trauma comes through very clearly in this section as his dreams follow directly after watching this death. Of course, showing this effect of war would support his point of how awful war is, and not at all what many people proclaim it to be with the phrase “dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”

Another point of structural importance is the rhyme scheme. Owen follows the pattern ABABCDCDEFEF… This pattern is very structured, maybe alluding to the structure of the military, but I think the most important part of the rhyme scheme comes in lines 14 and 16. Here we see, for the only time in the poem, Owen does not rhyme the line with its partner. Instead, drowning is used at the end of both lines. This agrees very well with the point made above, that the event of watching his fellow comrade die was both traumatic and unforgettable. This also crosses over the boundary between recounting his experiences and revealing his dreams. I think the intertwining of experience and mental thoughts and dreams is a key part of the horrifying part of war. The fear of death obviously would be a key feature to how bad of an experience war would be, but surviving also presents terrible consequences such as this dream that is being described and emphasized with this repetitive line.

The third structural part that jumps out at the reader is the diction used throughout the poem. The laundry list of image-evoking words becomes almost overwhelming: “blood-shod,” “guttering,” choking,” “writhing,” “gargling,” “froth-corrupted,” “vile, incurable sores.” These words not only create mental images that disgust and disturb, but also are just painful to speak. The images are not pretty, but the words aren’t either. These rough war-filled words are contrasted sharply with the last stanza and its word choice of “zesty,” “children,” and the Latin phrase that hardly feels choppy or harsh: “Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.” Owen is further proving his point that what people at home heard when they were being recruited to fight is absolutely nothing like the actual experience of war. A great gap existed and it amounted to a lie that covered the terrible thing of war.

History by Gary Soto

This poem is about the author’s grandmother and the way she went about her daily routine. She use to grind potatoes and chiles in the morning, and after grandpa left in the morning, she would hose down the sidewalks, count her money, and go to the market and bring back food items. But underlying all this, the grandmother suffered much throughout her life. The grandmother, at the time this was written, is in her fifties and slowly declining in health, as the passage says that “her insides were washed of tapeworm, her arms swelled into knobs.” Clearly, she and her husband/family are from another country because the poem mentions that the grandmother brought a stone from Guadalajara and the poem talks about them going “from Taxco to San Joaquin, Delano to Westside.” She missed her old home and exhibited sorrow throughout her days being away from there.
One particular thing I noticed about this passage is its structure. It is made up of very short, incomplete sentences that contain about four words per line. I feel there may be two main reasons behind this. One is that the grandmother lived a very simple life, carrying out the same basic routine everyday. The fact that she wakes up every morning and completes the same tasks sets her into a sort of peace and a sense of order amidst her sad thoughts. When she returns from the market and pulls out her peppers, beets, asparagus and chocolates, she smiles due to her satisfaction in completing this task. Another explanation for this is that the grandmother knows Spanish and well as English. Perhaps her English is not sufficient and she is limited in what she is able to say and comprehend. Therefore, the author uses a limited number of words in each line possibly to mimic her broken English and keep the poem as simplistic as possible.
Another interesting point in the structure of the poem to point out is that of line 12. The rest of the poem follows some type of form throughout except for this part, where only one word exists, and that is the word “after.” This word is in context with the sentence “After Grandpa left for work…” which leads me to assume that maybe these “chores” she accomplishes throughout the day aren’t supposed to be done by her. To say it another way, maybe she does these things everyday without Grandpa knowing. Maybe she does these things to console herself from her sorrow that we know she feels as we read later on in the poem; To console herself from her second son’s death and from moving away from her motherland.
Another quality of the sentence structure that stands out is the fact that some sentences start with the same form. For example, Soto uses the word “And” and the word “Of” to start 13 of the 63 total lines in the poem, and each topic isn’t necessary related to one another. These particular sentences are mostly used though to continue a thought about some description. For example, “Of bright coins, AND bills, counted them” and also “Pepper and beet, spines OF asparagus.” One last point to mention is that Soto, in this poem, uses very descriptive word choices in helping use picture his grandmother, saying her eyes were “small with sleep”, her face “streaked” and “shines”, and her skin was “loose.”