Poetry Response #9

Merrell Pressley

Mrs. Jernigan

English Lit AP

28 March 2011

Poetry Response #9

            The poem “Sestina” was written by Elizabeth Bishop, first published in 1956. Like the traditional sestina, it has thirty-nine lines, ending with a tercet that contains the overall meaning. It is a narrative poem, telling the story of a grandmother and her granddaughter in the kitchen. The day seems ordinary, but the reader can tell that the grandmother is attempting to cover up her hurt with the routines of the day. On the other hand, the child is residing in this world of pain and loss as she draws “half-moon tears” in her drawing.

            The poem is written with an almost playful, trivial tone of voice. For example, the grandma “[reads] jokes from the almanac,” something that is quite mundane and of no importance. In the following stanza, the tea kettle “sings on the stove.” In addition, the child is merely sitting and talking with her grandmother, drawing with crayons. These images draw a picture of a not-so-sad day in the life of any human being.

            However, there is more than meets the eye in this poem, as is very obvious through the grandma’s futile attempts to “[laugh] and [talk] to hide her tears.” In addition, several things in the kitchen are referred to or seen as tears. The tea kettle is full of tears, the grandma’s “teacup is full of dark brown tears,” and the child draws tears in her painting. While the grandmother tries to hide the pain from the child, the child is not afraid to admit or express the pain or sorrow she must obviously feel.

            The grandmother’s actions are very telling of how adults attempt to create a utopia for their children or for young people around them, not believing that they are old enough to handle the truth. However, their denial usually causes more trauma, fear of problems, or a tendency to always feel like the victim. Bishop’s seemingly surface level poem speaks more deeply to all humans, saying that there needs to be an acknowledgement of trouble and painful circumstances, despite the initial reaction.

Poetry Response #8

Merrell Pressley

Mrs. Jernigan

English Lit AP

21 March 2011

Poetry Response #8

            Theodore Roethke’s poem “The Waking” is a romantic villanelle. It is separated into five tercets and one quatrain, with the rhyme scheme of a villanelle as well. Roethke’s tone in this poem is extremely romantic, given that he exalts nature, “[thinking] by feeling,” and takes every day as it comes. The romanticist highly praises and almost worships nature, believing that god can be found within nature itself. Everything is worthy of worship in the romanticist’s world.

            Roethke repeats the line “I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow” in four of the six stanzas. He also constantly mentions that all humans learn as we go. I think that Roethke wants the readers of his poem to understand that the most important things have to be experienced and learned through life. He doesn’t want anyone (or himself) to take life too quickly and miss the important things and lessons in life. And these lessons cannot merely be taught, as he writes we “think by feeling.” He believes that only true thought is stimulated by emotions.

            Also, Roethke deals with the idea of fate in the second line of the poem; he writes, “I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.” Roethke is wise in knowing that he cannot control the fate that governs the universe. No matter what, fate has predetermined his life, and he is not going to waste time fretting over it. Roethke “[learns] by going where [he] has to go.” In other words, he continues on with life, no matter what, because he knows that experience and the things around him will teach him infinitely more than observation.

            In addition to experience producing knowledge, Roethke talks of struggle in life in his reference to the “lowly worm [climbing] up a winding stair.” Climbing stairs would be a nearly impossible act for a worm; his statement is that everyone should keep pushing onward, pursuing wisdom through life’s experiences, despite the closed doors and hard circumstances.

(As you said, its hard to write about villanelles without sounding trite or repetitive. Ha!)

Poetry Response #7

Merrell Pressley

Mrs. Jernigan

English Lit AP

8 March 2011

Poetry Response #7

            “Ode to a Grecian Urn” is written by the romantic poet John Keats. Obviously, this poem is an ode, which is defined as a lyric poem typically of elaborate or irregular metrical form and expressive of exalted or enthusiastic emotion. Keats dedicates this particular poem to a Grecian urn. He describes the paintings on the urn throughout the poem, and the pictures on the urn represent years of Grecian history.

            The entire poem culminates in the romantic lines of the very last stanza in which Keats writes, “’Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.’” These last two lines reveal the commonly held beliefs of the romanticist: everything in nature holds truth, everything is beautiful. The romantic time period was full of elaborative language, flowery images, and the worship of everything beautiful, for beauty’s sake. The Grecian urn’s history, whether a good memory or mournful war, is beautiful, according to Keats.

            Keats also expresses the idea that while everything is beautiful, sometimes words cannot begin to express the full meaning they are supposed to illicit. For example, In the first stanza, he writes, “Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, / Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, / Sylvan historian, who canst thus express / A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme.” In these lines, he tells the reader that the beautiful inscriptions of history on the urn tell the story of life better than anyone could. The art on the urn is timeless. It will never disappear, and it will always remain the same, as is shown when he writes, “She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss.” It is more capable of expressing the beauty and importance of history than even Keats is.

            From these themes, it is fitting that Keats should entitle his poem “Ode to a Grecian Urn,” because he exalts and praises its function throughout the poem. The asthetically pleasing urn represents history and the value and importance than can be found in the memories of ancestors. 

Poetry Response #6

Merrell Pressley

Mrs. Jernigan

English Lit AP

1 March 2011

Poetry Response #6

            John Donne’s poem “Death Be Not Proud” is an Italian sonnet, and it is identified as a sonnet with its fourteen lines. In addition to its length, the poem has a rhyme scheme consistent with Italian sonnets: a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a, c-d-d-c, e-e. As well as rhyme scheme, each line follows iambic pentameter with ten syllables or beats in every line. This box-like structure identifies it as a Petrarchan sonnet.

            Donne uses apostrophe throughout his poem, talking to death as if it is a person. This referral to death as a person seems to give death a great deal of power and authority, just as it has over the human life. He writes, “And soonest our best men with thee do go, / Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.” No one can escape death’s claim over their life; everyone must come to terms with the fact that they will eventually die.

            However, as the poem continues, Donne undermines death, saying that it does not have complete dominion, because it is “slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men.” Donne is suggesting that death no longer rampages the population, because now men attribute death to fate; fate now governs the universe. He wants death to “be not proud” anymore. Donne is inspiring courage into his readers; he does not want them to fear death any longer, as is shown throughout the rest of the poem.

            In addition to his dismissal of death as the ruler over life, Donne suggests an idea that had become popular at the time of his writing the poem. He writes, “One short sleep past, we wake eternally / And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.” This refers to the afterlife. Donne presents the idea that maybe death is not the end to life, but a bridge into the after life, where life will be fulfilled. John Donne lived during the late 15^th century and early 16^th century. In those times, men were learning and continuing the Renaissance attitude of questioning previous belief. Donne wrote an influential sonnet, writing, “Death, though shalt die.”

Poetry Response #5 (Skipped #4)

Merrell Pressley

Mrs. Jernigan

English Lit AP

23 February 2011

Poetry Response #5

            In Sonnet XVIII, which is more commonly known as “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” William Shakespeare epitomizes the art of “sonneting.” In addition, he tells the depth of a love that can only be explained through a heartfelt fourteen lines; Shakespeare makes every other man appear speechless, in a bad way. With the last two lines of the poem taking a step away and universalizes the theme of the poem.

            Shakespeare compares his love to a beautiful day in summer. However, as he writes, “often is his gold complexion dimmed,” he discusses the too truthful fact that summer quickly fades. Here the metaphor breaks down, and this distinguishes the woman of his desires from the beautiful days of summer. In addition, he calls her an “eternal summer,” establishing that her beauty will never dim, but “when in eternal lines [she grows].” This flowery metaphor is his way of describing that his appreciation for her beauty will only deepen and strengthen with time.

            In the last two lines, which rhyme and are referred to as a couplet, Shakespeare relates this poem to every common man in love. He writes, “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” In other words, from love springs life. His metaphor of her as a beautiful summer day, with the sun shining and flowers in full bloom represents not only that his love grows and blooms with time, but that life can only bloom from love. Without love, one must resign to no life at all, for it is not worth living without.

Poetry Response #3

Merrell Pressley

Mrs. Jernigan

English Lit AP

8 February 2011

Poetry Response #3

            The Victorian poet Robert Browning is one of the most famous poets in the genre of the dramatic monologue. His poem, “My Last Duchess,” is the embodiment of a perfect dramatic monologue. The speaker is an older man, looking back over his relationship with his late wife.

            The word “FERRARA” at the beginning of the poem gives the poem context; it was meant to be set during the Renaissance, in Italy. Most critics seem to believe that Browning intended the speaker to be Alfonso II d'Este, the fifth Duke of Ferrara.

            The speaker is talking to an unknown person, probably someone near him the art gallery, where the picture of his “Last Duchess” is hanging. In the poem, the speaker tells about his lover, who has died. She is the subject of the painting that sparks his interest. In the beginning of the poem, he tells of his memories of her, mostly positive and nostalgic ones. However, his attitude towards her shifts as he says, “She had / A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad, / Too easily impressed.” Apparently, his duchess was easily impressionable, which probably led to the end of the poem, where it can be inferred that he was not her only lover. This is confirmed when Browning writes, “‘twas not / Her husband’s presence only.” She could not keep herself confined to just her husband, and this is the one despicable quality about his “Last Duchess.”

            Further along in the poem, Browning writes, “Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt, / Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without / Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together.” In other words, he began to notice her flirtations with other men and that caused him to begin to control her life. This caused her to be very unhappy, so her “smiles stopped.” It is odd for the speaker to look at her painting, because she looks as beautiful and alive as ever, despite her disloyalty and death. Therefore, he keeps her hidden, away from public eye. This poem reveals the power than men held over women in the time of the Renaissance; however, because of her unfaithfulness, it is apparent that women are beginning to have more significance and freedom in their own lives. Women are stepping outside of society’s constraints from before the Renaissance.

            

Poetry Response #2

Merrell Pressley

Mrs. Jernigan

English Lit AP

1 February 2011

Poetry Response #2

            Written in 1833, by Lord Alfred Tennyson, “Ulysses” is a poem that tells of a conglomeration of Homer and Dante’s character Odysseus. In this poem, the speaker is Ulysses, and he is looking back over his life, telling his people of his unfulfilled past and advice for the future. Ulysses’ age is revealed in the lines that read, “All times I have enjoy'd / Greatly, have suffer'd greatly” and “Much have I seen and known” of the kingdoms and seas around the world. Only one who is old and wise can look back and experience both extremes. Despite being a king, all is not as grand as one would think, because he says, “[I was always] roaming with a hungry heart.” This line alludes to the fact that perhaps Ulysses never found value and meaning in life, which kept him from settling in one place. Instead of remaining with his family, he roamed the earth, searching for some light to point towards his purpose. It appears as if he is soon to die, no sooner to finding his purpose.

            Calling himself an “idle king” who “cannot rest from travel,” even at the end of his life, he cannot find happiness in peace and quiet. Despite his successes, victories, glory, and power, he writes, “Life piled on life / Were all to little.” Nothing seemed to satisfy Ulysses, no matter how much joy or sorrow he experienced.

            A realist, Ulysses has come to terms with the fact that he is near death as he says, “Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; / Death closes all.” In addition to its lack of meaning, the honor of his people cannot stop the inevitable end of life: death. A wise man, instead of lamenting his coming death, he offers advice, saying “’T not too late to seek a better world.” That line proves that Ulysses’ continuous quest for meaning was not futile. He discovered that if nothing else can be done, that attempting to make the world a better place is the best one can do. He realizes that death might wash away all of his former glories, so one cannot cling to one’s accomplishments.

            In the last two lines, Ulysses’ true character is revealed as Tennyson writes, “Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will / To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” Though he is too old to travel and to seek out other truths, he will not back down and give in to death’s dark cover. Instead of relinquishing his life prematurely, he will press on until his fateful death, all the while searching for something of value.