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Antar Abdellah. Unit 9 Poetry FORM AND MEANING IN POETRY: THE SONNET. THE POWER OF POETRY.
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AntarAbdellah Unit 9 PoetryFORM AND MEANING IN POETRY: THE SONNET
THE POWER OF POETRY • The purpose of this unit is to introduce the reader to Poetry, specifically to one of the oldest and most popular forms of poetry, the Sonnet. The well-constructed poem affects the reader before even knowing the real meaning of the words. • Poetry has a power of consoling as well as amusing the reader. Summarizing or paraphrasing a poem spoils the vivid meanings it contains.
THE SONNET FORM • The Sonnet is a poem, normally of fourteen lines, in any of several fixed verse and rhyme schemes that expresses characteristically a single theme or idea. • It normally talks about love, beauty of nature, horrors of war, political struggle, and religious devotion.
FROM ITALIAN COURT TO WORKING-CLASS LIFE • The Sonnet originated in Italy in the 13th century by a small group of poets writing for powerful people at the court of Sicily. The highly intellectual and skillful displayed language is called eloquence. • The sonnet has a very distinctive Rhyming Scheme. It is normally divided into two parts: the first part is of eight lines and called Octave, and the second part is of six linesand called Sestet. • Sometimes, the poem can be divided into two sets of four lines each called Quatrains and two sets of three lines each called Tersest.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: SONNET 18INTRODUCTION • Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 158 sonnets. In sonnet 18, as well as, in all his sonnets, Shakespeare imagines one whom he talks to. The sonnets of Shakespeare deal with different topics of life such as: love, hatred, life, death, beauty, and nature. • Sonnet 18 is one of the most famous of all the sonnets, the theme is of the descriptive power of verse, the ability of the poet to depict the fair youth adequately; and the immortality conveyed through being hymned in these “eternal lines”. • It is noticeable that here the poet is full of confidence that his verse will live as long as there are people drawing breath upon the earth.
INTERPRETATION • Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day: This is taken usually to mean, “What if I were to compare you to a summer’s day?” The figurative comparisons of the loved one to all the beauteous things in nature hover in the background throughout the sonnet. • Thou art more lovely and more temperate: The youth’s beauty is gentler, than the beauty of a summer day, more perfect, more temperate, and more restrained. Whereas the summer’s day might have violent excesses in store, such as are about to be described. • Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May: May was a summer month in Shakespeare’s time, and it is known to be a very windy month. May’s winds would roughly shake the tinny, beautiful, and much loved buds of the early summer favorite flowers.
And summer's lease hath all too short a date: That’s a legal terminology. The summer holds a lease on part of the year, but the lease is too short, and has an early termination (date). • Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines: On occasions, the eye of heaven (the sun) can be very hot in summer. • And often is his gold complexion dimmed: The lover’s gold complexion is equal to the sun’s golden face. They would both be dimmed by clouds and on overcast days generally.
And every fair from fair sometime declines: All beautiful things (every fair) occasionally become inferior in comparison with their essential previous state of beauty (from fair). They all decline from perfection. • By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed: By chance (by accident), or by the fluctuating tides of nature, which are not subject to control, nature’s wild changing course. • But thy eternal summer shall not fade: It refers to the eternity promised by the ever-living poet in the next few lines, through his verse.
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st: Your eternal summer shall not lose its hold on that beauty which you so richly possess. • Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade: In classical literature, the shades flitted helplessly in the underworld like gibbering ghosts. They always referred to death and eternal loss. • When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st: In the undying lines of my verse. You keep pace with time, and you grow as time grows. • So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see:So long lives this, and this gives life to thee: For as long as humans live and breathe upon the earth, for as long as there are seeing eyes on the earth.
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
من ذا يقارن حسنكِ المغري بصيف قد تجلّىوفنون سحرك قد بدت في ناظري أسمى وأغلىتجني الرياح العاتيات على البراعم وهي جذلىوالصيف يمضي مسرعا إذ عقده المحدود ولّىكم أشرقت عين السماء بحرّها تتلّهبو لكم خبا في وجهها الذهبي نور يغربلا بد للحسن البهي عن الجميل سيذهبفالدهر تغيير وأطوار الطبيعة قلّبلكن صيفكِ سرمدي ما اعتراه ذبولُلن يفقد الحسن الذي مُلّكتِ فهو بخيلُوالموت لن يزهو بظلكِ في حماه يجولُستعاصرين الدهر في شعري وفيكِ أقولما دامت الأنفاس تصعد والعيون تحدّقسيظل شعري خالدا وعليكِ عمرا يغدق. • فطينة النائب
JOHN MILTON: WHEN I CONSIDER HOW MY LIGHT IS SPENT • In “When I Consider How My Light is Spent”, John Milton employs a rhyme pattern, rhythm, meter, Biblical references, and the diction of archaic language to successfully complete this Petrarchan sonnet. • The speaker and audience are obvious and unique from other poems. All of these elements work together as the speaker reflects in the octet how the one who took away his light now expects labor from him; the sestet is the Lord’s kind answer to his servant.
When I consider how my light is spent, • Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, • And that one talent which is death to hide • Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent • To serve therewith my Maker, and present • My true account, lest He returning chide; • "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?“ • I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent • That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need • Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best • Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state • Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed, • And post o'er land and ocean without rest; • They also serve who only stand and wait."
The first eight lines are spoken by the one who raises the issue of the doubts that cloud his faith. Following these lines, the audience becomes the speaker who attempts to kindly give the doubting man peace. • Because of the contents of the octet, many are led to believe that the speaker was Milton himself.
Although there is not a great amount of figurative language in this work, the figurative language that it has is very strong. For example, the idea that hiding one’s talent (line 3) brings about death is a strong correlation to make, and it displays the speaker’s feelings on this parable. • The speaker’s reflection at this time shows that his wonderment is the basis for the poem, and his also tells the reader that this poem is to be about his uncertainty.
As the second line begins with the archaic contraction, “Ere,” the reader is led to know that the writing of this poem took place long ago and that the denotation of some words was no doubt different then. • Because of the content of the speaker’s question, the meaning of this word could signify his spiritual darkness or the physically dark world the writer had begun to live in.
Next, the speaker goes on to ask the question that seems to be weighing heavily upon his soul. Knowing of the talent God gave him, he fearfully asks how the Lord could give him an unusable quality and yet require that he put it to use. • These last two lines of the octet are quite possibly the most important, for it is here that the speaker presents his problem, yet knowing that it is foolish to ask questions of the all-knowing God.
As the sestet begins, it would seem that either the position of speaker is changed from the man to God, or the man simply reports on God’s response. • The Lord begins by reminding the man that he does not desire works, but rather those who take his mild yoke upon themselves, as he invites the man to do. • He then goes on to remind the man that, not only is he a king, but he also has thousands of angels at his disposal. Therefore, the man ought not to worry but instead put his faith in one higher than himself.
In conclusion, the audience cannot know definitely what the speaker’s “darkness” meant to him, or if he possibly meant this poem as a lesson for fellow Christians. However, by evaluating the different aspects of the work, it is possible for the reader to read someone else’s words and still make the text explicit for all to comprehend.
EMMONSAILS HEATH IN WINTER • I love to see the old heath's withered brakeMingle its crimpled leaves with furze and ling,While the old heron from the lonely lakeStarts slow and flaps his melancholy wing,And oddling crow in idle motions swingOn the half rotten ashtree's topmost twig,Beside whose trunk the gipsy makes his bed.Up flies the bouncing woodcock from the brigWhere a black quagmire quakes beneath the tread,The fieldfares chatter in the whistling thornAnd for the awe round fields and closen rove,And coy bumbarrels twenty in a droveFlit down the hedgerows in the frozen plainAnd hang on little twigs and start again.
JOHN CLARE: EMMONSAILS HEATH IN WINTER • It was common in Claire’s time for poets to praise (glorify) the virtues of a rural, pastoral (country) life in idealistic terms. • In Clare’s sonnets, the relationship between self and nature is a matter of intenseand sustainedengagement. His deep sense of attachment is immediately apparent in his poetry: Clare writes for and about a particular place and a particular community.
The sonnet opens with a declaration of personal affection for the heath (meadow) and the creatures that dwell (live) there. • There’s a constant introduction of new impressions. It is as if the speaker’s identity has emerged with the scene he describes, and as if the poem wishes to keep things going at a time when such places are threatened with change. The Heath is winter land; therefore it is withered (dry), crimpled (wrinkled), and frozen. The mood seems bleak (gloomy) and melancholic (sad). Clare’s attempt to establish his sense of being in relationship to the place he knew at a time of immense social upheaval (violent change) led to acute (severe) identity crisis. The poem speaks of the crushing defeat and loss of freedom that accompanied Claire’s deep sense of social alienation (isolation).
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING AND CHRISTINA ROSSETTI • Before the 19th century, the tradition of the sonnet was the man was usually the speaking, acting lover, and the woman was usually the silent, passive beloved. • In the love sonnets, the idealized woman is the object of desire but she is not seen to have desires of her own. In many instances, it is the absence or the death of the woman that inspires the poet’s love. It was very unusual for a woman to express her feeling openly in a sonnet. The sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 – 1861) and Christina Rossetti (1830 – 1894) contrast with a long tradition of love poetry by men, and they redefine the possibilities of the sonnet form.
The sonnet opens with a question and constructs a set of answers, and it creates a strong impression of a confiding, familiar voice. It lists the 8 ways in which the speaker admits her love. There’s very little imagery, and the language seems simple and modest. The images of space and of time are used very lightly to intensify the idea of a love that both spiritual and physical, both yearning for infinity and yet answering each day’s earthly needs. This love is given freely, purely, instinctively, and unselfishly. The sonnet proposes 4 ways of passionate love spent on past hopes and sorrow, intense religious devotion, all the emotions of an entire life, and eternal togetherness in heaven.
TONY HARRISSON: MARKED WITH D • The sonnet belongs to “The School of Eloquence”, but its main concern is the struggle of the inarticulate (people who suffer from a disability of a fluent speech). Harrison’s sonnet is different from the usual sonnet because it has 16 lines rather than 14, yet it retains the features of the traditional rhyme scheme of a sonnet.
“Marked With D” is an elegy (a poem or song of grief and praise for the dead) for Harrison’s father, who used to be a baker. The title is taken from a famous nursery rhyme, and it recalls the practice of marking the bread with initials and symbols. • “Marked With D” brings together two sets of images, from work (chilled dough, oven, & flour) and death (cold body, cremation, & ashes). The steady progression of the sonnet allows the voice of the poem to modulate (change) from sorrow to anger. Many of the words and images in the poem have to do with the working-class and with feelings of inferiority induced by class condescension (attitude towards lesser classes). • The sonnet shows an intimate elegy that shifts from paternal to an angry condemnation of England and its deep divisive class society.
