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LHE 3252 Teaching the Language of Poetry. Week 1 Semester 2 2011/2012 Juridah Md Rashid. “The greatest song-writer ever born of English race.” A.C. Swinburne. Robert Herrick (1591-1674). Born in London in 1591 Child of prosperous goldsmith
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LHE 3252 Teaching the Language of Poetry Week 1 Semester 2 2011/2012 JuridahMd Rashid
“The greatest song-writer ever born of English race.” A.C. Swinburne
Robert Herrick (1591-1674) • Born in London in 1591 • Child of prosperous goldsmith • Obtained his degree in 1617and Master of Arts in 1617 from Cambridge
Was ordained as minister in 1623 • Worked and lived in Devon from 1629 to 1647 • Published his major collection, Hesperides, in 1648 • Hesperides consists of 1200 poems • Died in Devon at the age of 83
Another (Here A Pretty Baby Lies)Upon a Child published in 1648 Here a pretty baby lies Sung asleep with lullabies: Pray be silent and not stir Th’ easy earth that covers her.
Discussion • Line 1 image of a pretty baby lying down • Line 2 the baby is sound asleep and perhaps the mother, is singing lullabies • Line 3 everyone in the close vicinity is asked to be silent and not to move about.
Line 4, the reader is informed the baby is lying down covered with earth and not blanket as expected. • Line 1-3 describe the baby in literal language • Line 4 the reader is introduced to figurative language • Sleep is used as metaphor to death
Subject in Robert Herrick’s Poems • Life is short • The world is a beautiful place • Love is splendor • We must use the short time we have to make the most of it.
Figurative Language • Simile – a figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another • The word, ‘like’ or ‘as’ is used in the structure • Metaphor - a figure of speech in which one thing replaces another. For example: My love is my life
Reading Poems • Denotative meaning: literal or dictionary meaning • Connotative meaning: underlying meaning or additional meaning that a word or image or phrase may carry. A word may carry many associations attached to it.