Poetry 2: Nature & Love Relations

1. Poetry 2: Nature & Love Relations Intro to Lit Imagery and Metaphor; Rhyme and Rhythm

2. Outline • Responses, Review & Your Questions • Unit 2: General Questions • Poems -- Wordsworth “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” (p 677)19th C-- Whitman “A Noiseless Patient Spider” (p. 1106)  19th C-- Mary Oliver “Wild Geese” 20th C --Robert Burns “A Red, Red Rose” (p 808) –late 18th C -- Aphra Behn “On Her Loving Two Equally” (p. 684) –17th C • For Pleasure: • Sting “Shape of My Heart” (Ref. Linda Pastan “Marks” p 806) • Conclusion & Next Week • Reference: Understanding Poetic Language: Figures of Speech, Rhyme and Rhythm

3. Mini Play Contest Responses A great learning experience for us all about • theatrical performance, both front and back stage, • “the stage” and overcoming stage fright, • team work and professionalism, • communication (including solving problems and expressing appreciation).

4. Identity, Lyric and Tone *

5. Identity and Tone: Your Interpretation • 1) “We Real Cool”: The “We” makes me put emphasis on the certain group, these individual words form to be collective, and I noticed that there are seven “We” at the bottom of the lines. • 2) The Afro-Americans would die if they want freedom. • 2) “I’m Nobody” This poem consists of a few words, but they convey an impressive theme: how a nobody can enjoy a private space of dignity. The speaker conveys an idea that being famous is a terrible thing. For her, “nobody” is incompatible with “somebody,” so the speaker stops another “nobody” to stay quiet for fear of their exile.

6. Identity and Tone: Your Interpretation • 2) The author was lonely and sick of her life. • 2) The poem talks about the pursuit of soul inside our mind. • 2) “I’m Nobody” In this poem, the author elucidates a strong dislike of “being somebody”. In terms of denotationApparently, it seems that the authorWhen the speaker asks, “I’m nobody! Who are you? Are you—nobody—too?” she is both careful and happy about finding another person, seemingly due due to her loneliness. But if we look at it in terms of connotation,  However, from the way she opposes nobody and somebody, it turns out that she is thrilled and happy because she has discovered another individual who is as smart as her and chooses to be a “nobody”. ….

7. Identity and Tone: Your Interpretation • 3) “Stopping By Woods” This poem gives us a sense of loneliness and desolation. The picture in front of us is crystal white and the sound is deep quite as well. The narrator is on the way back to his hometown. It seems like he has been doing his own business (or other things) outside for a long period. …. At last, even the forest and the surrounding atmosphere is attractive and enchanted, the narrator had already made up his mind to reach his missing lovely place, home.

8. Identity and Tone: Your Interpretation • 3) “Those Winter Sundays” Second, here comes the personification. “The chronic angers of that house” literally means the house is angry, but figuratively it means that it is like a person in a bad shape, and thus is angry about itself. Also, it can be explained as the angers of family members, which suggests that the atmosphere of the family is quite unhappy. …Next, the explosive consonant sounds ([k],[p] [b]) in phrases like “blueblack cold,” “banked fired blaze,” and “the cold splintering, breaking, ” create a sense of harshness and difficulty, make the coldness much more severe and vivid.

9. Identity and Tone: Your Interpretation • 3) “Those Winter Sundays” In this poem , writer put much emphasis on father’s old and sick image in the beginning. ? • 4) “the darkest evening of the year” –the brightest day? • 5) we sing sin  repent and improve themselves? • 6)

10. General Questions: Love and Nature • 1. How is nature treated in the 3 or 4 poems we read? • 2. Here we have two views of love? How are they each conveyed? And which do you agree with more?

11. You be the poets • 1) putting the poems together • 2) reading the poem out loud • 3) answering another group’s questions

12. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770 –1850) 

13. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” • How are the speaker and the daffodils set in contrast, each with different similes and/or metaphors? • Tense: What is the function of the use of present and past tenses? • What does “inward eye” refer to? • Rhyme and Rhythm: what do they convey?

14. I wandered lonely as a cloud • I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.Continuous asthe stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

15. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud The waves beside them danced; but theyOut-did the sparkling waves in glee:A poet could not but be gay,In such a jocund company:I gazed---and gazed---but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.

16. A Noiseless Patient Spider WALT WHITMAN (1819 - 1892) 

17. A noiseless patient spider A noiseless patient spider, I mark'd where on a little promontory (隆突) it stood isolated, Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast(1) surrounding, It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of it self, Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them. (2) And you O my soulwhere you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking(4) the spheres to connect them, Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile (柔軟的) anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul. (1. consonance, 2, assonance, 3. alliteration, 4. internal rhyme)

18. Spider – web construction 1.the spider bridges the open space between the two sticks http://pages.unibas.ch/dib/nlu/staff/sz/webconstruct.html 2. establishes the so-called proto-hub video

19. Spider – web construction 3. the construction of the frame and the radii http://pages.unibas.ch/dib/nlu/staff/sz/webconstruct.html 4. The circling of the hub  the construction of the auxiliary (or temporary) spiral. the sticky spiral

20. A Noiseless Patient Spider: Discussion Questions • Symbol: What are the implications in comparing the soul to a spider? • Compare & Contrast: How are the activities of the spider similar to and different from those of the soul? • Figurative language: What are the effects of the repetition of his apostrophizing (頓呼) the soul ("O my soul")? • Sound effects? • Form: the pattern of free verse depends a lot on repetition (with variation) of different poetic elements. Why are there not as many repetitions in the second stanza? From stanza one to two, we see similar kind of variation of line length (which gets longer and longer). What effects are achieved here?

21. Free Verse • Unrhymed; no regular length; • Rhythmical lines varying in length • Patterns produced through repetition and parallel grammatical structure. • Apostrophe-- figure of speech in which an absent person, a personified inanimate being, or an abstraction is addressed as though present; -- the poet talks to (and personifies) the one addressed.

22. Rhyme • Rhyme is a sound device that usually entails the repetition of the final vowel and consonant sounds in two words. • internal rhyme: Some poems have rhymes within the lines. This is called. • Assonance is the repetition of vowels sounds, either at the beginning of words or within words. • Head rhyme: Alliteration is related to assonance in that alliteration also involves the repetition of sounds, this time the repetition of consonantsat the beginning or middle of words. Walt Whitman "A Noiseless Patient Spider “ Poem animation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MLYFC1nBWU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7ui3PDC5to&feature=related

23. A noiseless patient spider as a symbol • Figurative language: the soul, something active (like spider working) and cherished (via apostrophe). • Symbol:a spider  the soul: • difficult, quiet and laborious work in setting up structures out in empty space. • The soul’s action: musing, venturing, throwing, seeking – intellectual and various. • Sound effects? –signifying their actions (slow, soft, quiet, continuousand non-violent). • Form: rhythm – regular; increasing line lengths -- the extension of their threads and connections. • (for your reference: http://www.cc.nctu.edu.tw/~sheen/al/notes.html#2 )

24. Extension Questions: A Noiseless Patient Spider • 1. If you were going to compare yourself to an animal, what animal would you choose? Why? • 2. Can you relate to the action of making connections in the world or universe? Is it difficult for you? • 3. The song "Sound of Silence" can be seen as another search for inner soul--by talking to darkness as an old friend.  Please pay attention to the contrasts in imagery between darkness and light, silence and sound.  The phrase "sound of silence" is an oxymoron; can you explain why?

25. Walt Whitman • A printer, teacher, journalist poet hospital worker, government clerk, later fired because of his poetry. • Publishes Leaves of Grass in 1855, later revised 8 times. • A free thinker, sometimes without regular jobs. (source) • portrait: from an 1854 engraving by Samuel Hollyer

26. Walt Whitman –Leaves of Grass -- challenged an American literary establishment that he believed was too influenced by Old World literary tradition. He characterized his poetry as experimental, termed his poetic mission "a war," and fought the battle to establish a body of truly American poetry--one that featured American language, American life, an American vision, and musical free verse--to his dying breath.

27. "Song of Myself“ –democracy and individualism I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself, And what I assume, you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. (ll. 1-3, part 1) … I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun, I effuse (使流出)my flesh in eddies (漩渦), and drift it in lacy jags (小路). I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. (ll. 7-10, part 52)

28. "Wild Geese“ (1990) 1. Speaker and Tone: Who is the "you" the speaker of this poem addresses in the first and the third parts of the poem? 2. Goodness vs. Soft Body –How are they opposed? 3. Despair vs. the Living World: Describe how nature is presented and what it suggests (with two kinds of movement: the sun and rain moving across different places, and the wild geese heading home). 4. lonely you vs. the world: What does the speaker say the world can do for "you" (or us)? Why is the world's call "harsh and clear" like wild geese?

29. "Wild Geese“ (1990) You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

30. "Wild Geese“ (1990) Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-- over and over announcing your place in the family of things.  

31. "Wild Geese“ (1990) 1. Speaker and Tone: You– can be the reader or the wild geese; (at the end) any being. 2. Theme: the poem celebrates the naturalness of our being (Soft Body), and communication among natural beings despite their loneliness. 3. Pattern: long lines and the repetition of “meanwhile” suggest the world’s connectedness and continuity. Two basic moments: regular and natural + ‘home’ 4. lonely you vs. the world: The world is not just beautiful; we are lonely. But the world’s various beings and happenings are there for us to comprehend and imagine, so the world’s call is "harsh and clear" like wild geese.

32. "Wild Geese“ (1990) 1. Speaker and Tone: Who is the "you" the speaker of this poem addresses? 2. Goodness vs. Soft Body –How are they opposed? 3. Despair vs. the Living World: Describe how nature is presented and what it suggests 4. lonely you vs. the world: What does the speaker say the world can do for "you" (or us)? Why is the world's call "harsh and exciting" like wild geese? 5. Is this a free verse? Why? 6. How is “Wild Geese” different in its approach to nature from that of “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud?”

33. "Wild Geese“ (1990) You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

34. "Wild Geese“ (1990) Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhilethe wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-- over and over announcing your place in the family of things.  

35. "Wild Geese“ (1990) 1. Speaker and Tone: You– can be the reader or the wild geese; (at the end) any being. 2. Theme: the poem celebrates the naturalness of our being (Soft Body), and communication among natural beings despite their loneliness. 3. Pattern: long lines and the repetition of “meanwhile” suggest the world’s connectedness and continuity. Two basic moments: regular and natural + ‘home’ 4. lonely you vs. the world: The world is not always beautiful, and we are lonely. But the world’s various beings and happenings are there for us to comprehend and imagine, so the world’s call is "harsh and exciting" like wild geese.

36. An Anecdote! • Swan falls in love with a swan-like pedal boat! (2006 Muenster, Germany) http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6130000/newsid_6137400/6137406.stm

37. A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns (1759-1796) Song versions: 1, 2 Also the song writer of “Auld Lang Syne” (「驪歌」)

39. 1. Why does the speaker compare his love to red rose “sprung in June” and sweet melody that “play in tune”? • 2. Besides the two similes above, he also uses some hyperbolic expressions (till the sea goes dry, the sun melts the rock and while sand of life “runs”). What could they possibly mean? • 3. At the end the speaker says that he’ll be back though “it were ten thousand mile.” Is it real or hyperbolic? Discussion Questions

40. Behn, Aphra “On Her Loving Two Equally” (p. 684; ref. 684-)

41. 1. The poem starts with a very interesting question: when one loves two persons at the same time, will his/her love be diminished in strength? What does the speaker think? And you? • 2. How are rhymes and the poetic syntax used to convey the speaker’s sense of struggle between the two? (Pay attention to repetition, parallel syntax and the rhymes.) Discussion Questions

42. ON HER LOVING TWO EQUALLY • I. • HOW strongly does my passion flow, • Divided equally 'twixt two? • Damonhad ne'er subdued my heart, • Had not Alexistook his part; • Nor could Alexis powerful prove, • Without my Damon's aid, to gain my love. • II. When my Alexis present is, • Then I for Damon sigh and mourn; • But when Alexis I do miss, • Damon gains nothing but my scorn. • But if it chance they both are by, • For both alike I languish, sigh, and die. Double negative Double negative; inserted phrase Alternating rhymes Repetition of two-ness and “die”

43. ON HER LOVING TWO EQUALLY III. Cure then, thou mighty winged god, This restless fever in my blood; One golden-pointed dart take back: But which, O Cupid, wilt thou take? If Damon's, all my hopes are crossed; Or that of my Alexis, I am lost. Cupid, love personified Shot by his arrow= falling in love Request made and regretted

44. Aphra Behn (1640-1689) • The first female writer that earned her living with the pen. • An introduction video • A paper sample and its analysis (also on your textbook; p. 684)

45. Linda Pastan “Marks” • My husband gives me an Afor last night's supper, an incomplete for my ironing, a B plus in bed.My son says I am average, an average mother, but ifI put my mind to itI could improve.My daughter believes in Pass/Fail and tells meI pass. Wait 'til they learnI'm dropping out. 

46. Discussion Questions • 1. The poem uses an extended metaphor for us to see how the female speaker gets evaluated by her family. What are the connotations when family relations get compared to teacher-student relations? What does each grade say about the graders, or the graded? • 2. What do you think the ending mean? • 3. Is your mother treated this way? • 4. What do you think about receiving grades at school? To what degree do they matter?

47. Shape Of My HeartSting • He deals the cards as a meditationAnd those he plays never suspectHe doesn't play for the money he winsHe doesn't play for respect • He deals the cards to find the answerThe sacred geometry of chanceThe hidden law of a probable outcomeThe numbers lead a dance • I know that the spades are swords of a soldierI know that the clubs are weapons of warI know that diamonds mean money for this artBut that's not the shape of my heart • He may play the jack of diamondsHe may lay the queen of spadesHe may conceal a king in his handWhile the memory of it fades

48. Shape Of My HeartSting • I know that the spades are swords of a soldierI know that the clubs are weapons of warI know that diamonds mean money for this artBut that's not the shape of my heart • And if I told you that I loved youYou'd maybe think there's something wrongI'm not a man of too many facesThe mask I wear is one • Those who speak know nothingAnd find out to their costLike those who curse their luck in too many placesAnd those who fear are lost • [refrain]

49. Review & Conclusion

50. Understanding Poetic Language