Poetry Appreciation

Poetry Appreciation is indispensable for BA English course as well as National Eligibility Test.

1. POETRY APPRECIATION Rajesh V. Nair Assistant Professor of English Government College Manimalakunnu Ernakulam

2. To criticize is to appreciate , to appropriate , to take intellectual possession , to establish in fine a relation with the criticized thing and make it one’s own - Henry James, Preface to ‘What Maisie Knew’   Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement. - Christopher Fry A poem is never finished, only abandoned. - Paul Valery Poetry…

3. 1.When to attempt the poetry appreciation? 2.Quick first reading 3.Reading the questions and direct your reading according to them 4.Slow reading , marking relevant parts and writing points 5.Difficult words and expressions 6.Concentration? Some useful hints …

4. 1. What is it about? ‘subject matter’ 2 . How is it done? 3 . Does the poet succeed? Basic approach to a poem

5. Criticism based on close textual analysis “Poetry analysis,’ “close reading” etc. Introduced in England in the eighteenth century A new methodology by I . A.Richards (1893-1979 ), a lecturer at Cambridge published Principles of Literary Criticism (1924) and Practical Criticism (1929) , the New Criticism What is practical criticism?

6. Reason?

7. PRACTICE, PRACTICE!! – the only solution The only solution…

8. A branch of literature which is suggestive , imaginative and emotive A poem is like an iceberg Politics / ideology Poetry: Introduction

9. Social and Political implications of the text Appreciation as ‘ discovery’ Characters in a poem Open text

10. Instability of critical judgments What is left ‘ unsaid’ in a text ‘ Tension ’ / ‘conflict’ in a poem ‘Creative’ reading Harold Bloom – ‘every reading is a misreading’

11. How the components contribute to the meaning of the poem 2 approaches to poetry – 1. Concentrate on the poet 2. Discussing the poem itself Poet as ‘a maker,’ a maker of meanings with words - craftsmanship in ‘content and ‘form’ Central themes – famous topics from everyday experience – love , death , nature, religion etc.

12. Image of poet as a designer ; carpenter and wood Labeling a poem is very useful for appreciation Majority of poems are lyrics Philosophy ‘message’ 2 worlds – the ‘real world’ and the ‘imaginary / ideal world’ Form of the poem  

13. 1.Type of poem Two types of poems – 1. Narrative – a poem that tells a story; kinds – the epic, ballad, romance etc. 2. Non narrative –the Lyric, sonnet, ode, elegy etc. Part One: Content

14. 2.Tension / movement Do look for a tension , conflict or opposition in a poem Do look for the positive images and impressions that can be set against negative images and impressions Positive impressions / Negative impressions Nice images / Nasty images Harmony / Lack of harmony Pattern / Lack of pattern Order / Disorder

15.   3. Theme What does the poem deal with? The explicit meaning 4. Philosophy / message / moral The ‘implicit’ meaning of the poem 5. Tone / atmosphere / mood Humorous – serious, sarcastic, meditative, ironic etc. Does the mood change?

16. It is never enough just to name the device or feature that you have spotted in the poem, you must also make sure that you describe how the device or feature functions in and contributes to the poem . 1. Speaker /persona Part Two : Form

17. Assonance , alliteration, hyperbole , simile, metaphor , synecdoche , metonymy, onomatopoeia , pathetic fallacy, personification, oxymoron etc. 2 . Figures of Speech

18. Common imagery; mental picture Paired image patterns – peace and war, male and female etc. Visual = Sight Auditory = Sound Tactile = Touch Thermal = Heat/Cold Olfactory = Smell Gustatory =Taste Kinesthetic = Movement 3. Imagery

19. An object which stands for something else ( for example , a dove symbolizes peace) An IMAGE is associated with is stated in the poem , but with a SYMBOL we have to infer the meaning and association Private /public symbols     4. Symbols

20. “ Metre ” (from the Greek metron ) means “measure” and denotes the rhythmical organization of verse lines No mere supplying of labels “The technical terms should be used to show how the poet has used rhythm to help in the poem’s total effect” ( V. S. Seturaman , Practical Criticism ) 5.METRICS

21. Rhythm and meaning cannot be separated. If the speaker is troubled, and then the rhythm will be troubled. If the speaker is happy and excited, so too will the rhythm be. If he or she is calm and contented the rhythm will be relaxed “Thus I : faltering forward, Leaves around me falling, Wind oozing thin through the thorn from norward , And the woman calling.( Hardy “The Voice”) 1. Rhythm

22. “Busy old fool, unruly Sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows and through curtains call on us?” (“The Sun Rising”)   “There is sweet music here that softer falls Than petals from blown roses on the grass”( “The Lotus Eaters”)

23. The smallest unit of metrics A word or part of a word produced with a single puff of breath In a syllable, there is always one nuclear element( a vowel or diphthong)), and with or without any marginal elements (consonants) One vowel or diphthong, one syllable Eg . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Tell / me/ not /in/ mourn/ ful / num/ bers (H.W. Longfellow, “ A Psalm of Life”) About 60 to 80 per cent of words in English poetry are monosyllabic, the remaining are polysyllabic. Eg . ‘Taught’ – ‘Property’ – In fact, the first step in determining the metre of a poem is to find out the average number of syllables in a line. 2.Syllables

24. In pronouncing words, one syllable carries more weight than another. Eg . ‘Property’ ‘Today’ 3.Stress

25. Feet : After marking the stresses of each line, it may be divided into smaller units or feet, each with the same number of syllables. 1. Iambic foot or Iamb ( U / ) an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. eg . Before   U / U / U / U / This bread/ I break /was once/ the oat (Dylan Thomas, “This bread I break”) U / U / U / U / Behold/ her sin/ gle in / the field (Wordsworth, “The Solitary Reaper”) Iambic verse is the most popular form and it is widely used in English poetry. Closest to the rhythms of speech, this ‘ speaking foot ’ is used in much narrative and dramatic verse. 4.Feet and Metres

26. 2. Trochaic foot or trochee ( / U ) a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable eg . Gently / U / U / U / U Once up/ on a / midnight/ dreary ( E.A.Poe , “The Raven”) 3. Anapaestic foot or anapaest ( U U / ) 2 unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable eg . Overturn U U / U U / U U / U / It was man/ y and man / y a year/ ago ( E.A.Poe , “Annabel Lee”)

27. 4. Dactylic foot or dactyle ( / U U ) one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables eg . Wanderer / U U / U U One more un/fortunate / U U / Weary of/ breath. (Thomas Hood, “The Bridge of Sighs”)

28. 5. Spondaic or spondee ( / / ) two stressed syllables. Eg . Flywheel, sidewalk / / U / Blow winds / and crack U / / / Your cheeks. / Rage! Blow. (Shakespeare, King Lear )

29. 6. Pyrrhic foot or pyrrhic ( U U ) two unstressed syllables eg . In the , of a 7. Amphibrach ( U / U ) one unstressed, then stressed and one unstressed syllable. Eg . Denoted

30. A line may consist of any number of feet, from one to eight. The terms are: Monometre – one-foot line Dimetre – two-foot line Trimetre - three-foot line Tetrametre – four-foot line Pentametre -five-foot line Hexametre -six-foot line ( Alexandrine ) Heptametre – seven-foot line ( Fourteener ) Octometre – eight-foot line 5.Line

31. A natural strong pause within a line is known as a caesura. It adds variety to the metre of the poem: eg . But where, where?//It was only the glib stream talking Softly to itself. ( R.S.Thomas , “The Lonely Farmer”) The pause may also occur at the beginning of the line to emphasize a word or phrase as in: eg.Begin ,// and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow,… (Arnold, “Dover Beach”) 6.Caesura

32. The caesura may also occur near the end as in: eg . It brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery;//we Find also in the sound of a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. (Arnold, “Dover Beach”) In a scansion, a caesura is marked by two slashes (//) between the feet. Very often a caesura contributes to the dramatic quality of the verse as in the following poem by

33. Speak naturally and smoothly when reading a poem Every foot must have one primary syllable, and one or more stressed or unstressed syllables Sound and not spelling counts in scansion. Diphthongs count as one vowel The rules of scansion are loose as nearly every line of verse can be marked in a number of ways. It may not be treated as an exact science. 7.Scansion

34. Rhyme is usually employed at the end of lines , but poets can make use of internal rhyme The idea of an order in things You have to construct a case about how the use of rhymes contributes to the overall meaning and effect of the poem “Had we but world enough, and time , The coyness, Lady , were no crime .” 8. Rhyme

35. 1. End rhyme , occurs at the end of lines 2. Internal rhyme , occurs within lines 3. Masculine or strong rhymes – a single stressed syllable – hill and still 4. Feminine or weak rhymes – two rhyming syllables , a stressed one followed by an unstressed one – hollow and follow 5. Eye rhyme or courtesy rhymes – words spelt alike but not actually rhyming – love and prove 6. Imperfect rhymes – words which do not quite rhyme and so produce a sense of discordance – soul and wall 7. Half –rhymes – repetition of the same consonant sounds before and after different vowels – groaned and grained Rhyme – kinds

36. These are stanzas of two lines, characterised by lightness, rightness and condensation eg . True wit is nature to advantage dressed, What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed. ( Pope,”An Essay on Criticism”) Couplets

37. Couplets can be subdivided into closed couplets and open couplets. Open couplets are rhymed couplets in which the second line will be run on instead of end-stopped. eg . A Thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep (Keats, “: Endymion ’)

38. Closed couplets are self-contained with end-stopped lines. The heroic couplet is a closed couplet written in iambic pentametre.Couplets may also be written in iambic tetrametre or anapaestic pentametre eg . Know then/ thyself; / presume/ not God/ to scan; The proper/ study of / Mankind/ is Man. (Pope. “An Essay on Man”)

39. Unrhymed iambic pentametre Sometimes lines are irregularly grouped so that the divisions mark the stages in a narrative or discussion Such units vary in length and do not follow any rhyme scheme. They are called verse paragraphs and they appear in long poems or plays. When read aloud, it sounds like speech. Marlowe, Shakespeare, Milton, and T.S.Eliot used blank verse. Blank Verse

40. The verse which does not conform to any exact metrical pattern. The poet using free verse must create a form without the metrical pattern. Free Verse / Verse libre seeks to free itself from the formality of metrical feet and syllable count. Walt Whitman has been considered the father of free verse eg . The river’s tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind Crosses the brown land unheard. (“The Waste Land”) Free Verse

41. Before I built a wall I’d ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense. ( “Mending Wall”)

42. The idea of order within the work ; why a writer might chose to organize a poem in this way ? Kinds: 1. Couplet – a pair of rhymed lines 2. Heroic couplet – rhymed lines in iambic pentameter 3. Tercet or triplet – three lines with a single rhyme 4. Quatrain – a four –line stanza 5. Rhyme royal – a seven – line stanza in iambic pentameter rhyming ababbcc 6. Octava rima – an eight – line stanza rhyming ababbcbcc 7. Spensaran stanza – a nine-line stanza rhyming ababbcbcc 8. Sonnet 9.Stanza

43. O Rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm That flies in the night, In the howling storm,   Has f ound out thy bed Of crimson joy, And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy. EXAMPLES 1

44. 1.What is the theme of the poem? 2.What does “invisible worm” stand for? 3. Comment on the expression “crimson” joy? 4.Explain the symbolism in the poem 5. Comment on the imagery in the poem Questions

45. so much depends upon   a red wheel barrow   glazed with rain water   beside the white chickens . Example 2

46. 1.What does red wheel barrow stand for? 2.Comment on the metrical pattern of the poem 3.Why “so much depends” upon the red wheel barrow? 4. Explain the symbolic significance of the poem 5.Elaborate the use of imagery in the poem? Questions

47. And as the smart ship grew In stature grace and hue In shadowy silent distance grew the iceberg too. Alien they seemed to be: No mortal eye could see The intimate welding of their later history…   Example 3

48. 1. Can you relate the poem to any historical event? 2. Do you think the poet is a fatalist? Justify your answer. 3. Do you think the poet sees nature as complicit with man’s gloomy fate? 4. Comment on the phrase “smart ship .” 5. What is the implication of the expression “mortal eye”?   Questions

49. The butterfly, a cabbage-white, ( His honest idiocy of flight) Will never now, it is too late, Master the art of flying straight, Yet has – who knows so well as I? – A just sense of how not to fly: He lurches here and here by guess And God and hope and hopelessness. Even the aerobatic swift Has not his flying-crooked gift. Example 4

50. What is the theme of the poem? Why flying crooked is a gift? Comment on the symbolism in the poem? Explain the use of figures of speech in the poem “Yet has – who knows so well as I.” Explain the line Questions

51. Word  The word bites like a fish. Shall I throw it back free Arrowing to that sea Where thoughts lash tail and fin? Or shall I pull it in To rhyme upon a dish? Example 5

52. 1. What is the theme of the poem? 2. The sea is a figure of speech here. Identify it. What does the sea signify? 3. What is the speaker of the poem trying to do? 4.Explain the last two lines. 5. How would you describe the speaker’s attitude towards the word? Questions

53. What passing-bells for those who dies as cattle?  Only the monstrous anger of the guns, Only the stuttering rifle’s rapid rattle Can patter of their hasty orisons. No mockeries for them; no prayers or bells.   Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,- The shrill demented choirs of wailing shells, And bugles calling for them from sad shires, What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes; The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds. Example 6

54. 1.What is the central theme of the poem? 2.What device of language is being made use of in this poem? 3.What are the “mockeries”? 4.What do you think is the appeal of the poem to mankind? 5.Examine the rhyme scheme and the meter of the poem. Questions

55. Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land! Whose heart hath ne’er within him burned, As home his footsteps he hath turned, From wandering on a foreign strand? If such there breathe, go, mark him well; For him no minstrel raptures swell; High though his titles, power, and pelf, The wretch , concentered all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung. Example 7

56. 1.What is the subject matter of the poem? 2.Why the man’s heart has never “burned”? 3.Explain the meaning of the expression “doubly dying”? 4.What is the relevance of the poem in modern era? 5.Comment on the use of imagery in the poem Questions

57. Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir , Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine, With a cargo of ivory, And apes and peacocks, Sandalwood, cedarwood , and sweet white wine. Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus, Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores, With a cargo of diamonds, Emeralds, amethysts, Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores . Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke-stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days, With a cargo of Tyne coal, Road –rails, pig-lead, Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays. Example 8

58. I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow. And I watered it in fears, Night and morning with my tears And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles. And it grew both day and night Till it bore an apple bright. And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew that it was mine And into my garden stole When the night had veiled the pole; In the morning glad I see My foe outstretched beneath the tree. Example 9

59. What is your impression of the poet’s attitude towards Christian forgiveness? How does the poet feel at his foe’s death? Comment on the use of figures in the poem Do you think the poem is a confession of the poet’s hypocrisy? Explain the use of imagery in the poem Questions

60. Who are these coming to the sacrifice? To what green altar, O mysterious priest, Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, And all her silken flanks with garlands dressed? What little town by river or sea shore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? And, little town, thy streets for evermore Will silent be; and not a soul to tell Why thou art desolate, can e’er return. Example 10

61. 1.Why does the poet say that the “little town” will remain “desolate” for ever? 2.What impression do you get of the poet’s tone? 3.There is a series of questions in the stanza. Who are they addressed to? 4.What category do you think the poem should be put into? Questions

62. Cold, delicately as the dark snow, A fox’s nose touches twig, leaf; Two eyes serve a movement, that now And again now, and now, and now Sets neat prints in the snow, Between trees……. Across clearings, an eye, A widening deepening greenness, Brilliantly concentratedly, Coming about its own business Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox It enters the dark hole of the head. The window is starless still; the clock ticks, The page is printed. Example 11

63. 1.What is the fox looking for? 2.Do you think the poem is written in the symbolist tradition? 3.Do you think the poet draws a parallel between animal and human activity? 4.Explain the significance of the concluding line. Questions

64. Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favour fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice. Example 12

65. What is the theme of the poem? In what way are ‘desire’ and ‘hate’ related to ‘fire’ and ‘ice’? What might be the source of destruction? Man, Nature or both? Comment on the imagery in the poem Comment on the metrics of the poem? Questions

66. He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ring’d with the azure world, he stands. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls. Example 13

67. I have learned not to worry about love; but to honour its coming with all my heart. To examine the dark mysteries of the blood with headless heed and swirl, to know the rush of feelings swift and flowing as water. Some inexhaustible spring within our twin and triple selves; The new face I turn up to you no one else on earth has ever seen. Example 14

68. 1.Why is the poet so confident of his/her love? 2.What is meant by “dark mysteries”? 3.How are “feelings” qualified in the poem? 4.What is the meaning of ‘twin and triple’ selves? 5.What does the ‘new face’ suggest in the poem? Questions

69. Ballad A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. Some Poetry Forms

70. Blank verse   Poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse is often unobtrusive and the iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of ordinary speech. Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in blank verse. Poetry Forms Burlesque Burlesque is a story, play, or essay, that treats a serious subject ridiculously, or is simply a trivial story

71. Carpediem   A Latin expression that means "seize the day." Carpe diem poems have the theme of living for today. Couplet A couplet has rhyming stanzas each made up of two lines. Shakespearean sonnets usually end in a couplet. Elegy   A sad and thoughtful poem lamenting the death of a person. An example of this type of poem is Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."

72. Epic   A long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic figure. Two of the most famous epic poems are the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer and the epic poem of Hiawatha. Epigram   A very short, satirical and witty poem usually written as a brief couplet or quatrain. The term epigram is derived from the Greek word epigramma , meaning inscription.  The epigram was cultivated in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by poets like Ben Jonson and John Donne

73. Epitaph An epitaph is a commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument written in praise of a deceased person. Free verse (also vers libre )   Poetry composed of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern or expectation. Haiku A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Haiku reflects on some aspect of nature.

74. Lyric A poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. The term lyric is now generally referred to as the words to a song. Narrative Poetry Ballads, epics, and lays are different kinds of narrative poems.  

75. Ode   John Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is probably the most famous example of this type of poem which is long and serious in nature written to a set structure. Pastoral   A poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, idealized way for example of shepherds or country life. Sonnet English (or Shakespearean) sonnets are lyric poems that are 14 lines long falling into three coordinate quatrains and a concluding couplet. Italian (or Petrarchan ) sonnets are divided into two quatrains and a six-line sestet.

76. Accent The prominence or emphasis given to a syllable or word. In the word poetry, the accent (or stress) falls on the first syllable. Allegory Allegory is a narrative having a second meaning beneath the surface one. Alexandrine A line of poetry that has 12 syllables and derives from a medieval romance about Alexander the Great that was written in 12-syllable lines. Poetry: Terms

77. Alliteration The repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words or syllables such as tongue twisters like 'She sells seashells by the seashore'  Eg.In a c ogne of the c liff between l ow l and and high l and It d ates from d ay Of his g oing in G alilee; W arm-laid g rave of a w omb - l ife g rey The relation must occur in words that are fairly close together as in the same line or near the end of one line and beginning of another line. Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds. It is also called interior rhyme. Only the sound is considered , not the spelling.

78. Assonance…. Eg . Thou st i ll unrav i shed Br i de of qu ie tn e ss Thou foster ch i ld of s i lence and slow T i me. (“ On a Grecian Urn”) Conceit  An example of a conceit can be found in Shakespeare's sonnet "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" when an image or metaphor likens one thing to something else that is seemingly very different.

79. Iambic pentameter   Shakespeare's plays were written mostly in iambic pentameter, which is the most common type of meter in English poetry. It is a basic measure of English poetry, five iambic feet in each line. Litotes  A litote is a figure of speech in which affirmative is expressed by the negation of the opposite. "He's no dummy" is a good example.

80. Meiosis Meiosis is a figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants.  Metonymy  A figure of speech in which one word is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. Some significant aspect or detail of an experience is used to represent the whole experience.

81. Onomatopoeia A figure of speech in which words are used to imitate sounds. Examples of onomatopoeic words can be found in numerous Nursery Rhymes e.g. clippety -clop and cock-a-doodle-do. Paradox A paradox is a statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements.

82. Persona Persona refers to the narrator or speaker of the poem, not to be confused with the author. Personification  Personification means giving human traits to nonhuman or abstract things. Quatrain A stanza or poem of four lines.

83. Refrain A phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated throughout a poem, usually after every stanza. Rising Meter Anapaestic and iambic meters are called rising meters because they move from an unstressed syllable to a stressed syllable.  Scansion The analysis of a poem's meter. This is usually done by marking the stressed and unstressed syllables in each line and then, based on the pattern of the stresses, dividing the line into feet.

84. Simile A figure of speech in which two things are compared using the word "like" or "as" to draw attention to similarities about two things that are seemingly dissimilar.  Synecdoche  Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole. 

85. 1.Peck, John and Martin Coyle. Practical Criticism . Macmillan, 1995. 2.Seturaman, V.S. Practical Criticism . Macmillan, 1998. 3.Thaker, Praveen K. Appreciating English Poetry. Orient Longman, 1999. 4.Cox, C.B. & A.E.Dyson . The Practical Criticism of Poetry: A Textbook . London, Edward & Arnold Ltd, 1965. Selected Bibliography