BBL 3101 A Survey of Prose Forms and Poetry

POETRY

Poetry Selections
The Lake Isle of Innisfree Piano Sir Patrick Spence Out, Out My Last Duchess My Papas Waltz For a Lady I know I wondered Lonely as a Cloud Oh No The Ruined Maid London The Eagle Flower in the Crannied Wall The Wind The Silken Tent Oh, My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose Richard Cory Gods Grandeur Desert Places In Memoriam John Coltrane We Real Cool Easter Wings The Boston Evening Transcript The Lightning is a Yellow Fork The Road Not Taken Sailing to Byzantium Ozymandias O Captain, My Captain Dover Beach The Sick Rose The Tyger

Read & Listen

What is Poetry?
Poetry is the kind of thing poets write ~ Robert Frost Comes in a great many shapes and forms (To the question What is jazz?,Louis Armstrong once replied Man, if you gotta ask, youll never know) To know poetry is to study poems and to let them grow in your mind Encountering poetry vs studying poetry A good poem has something to say that is well worth listening to People writing poems about what poetry is *Kennedy & Gioia pps1112-1116

The History of Poetry

In the ancient times, the hearing and making of poem can be a religious act (ie Psalms, Songs of Songs, Proverbs) Poetry was part of classic Greek drama, a holy-day ceremony for playwright, actor and spectator The Greeks believe that poems are supernaturally inspired as exemplified from the Iliad, the Odyssey and Socrates works Celtic poets were regarded as magicians and priests In modern days, poetry is involved with the primitive white-magic of children

Why read poetry?

It is rewarding when you understand it better It can be more difficult than prose initially Some poems can be understood on first encounter Good poems yield more if read twice The best poems continues to yield even after countless readings

Obstacles in reading Poetry

Identifying the specific focus
Its easy to tell the themes of the poem such as love and death, but its hard to pin down precisely what it is poets are saying about love or death. Behind the larger or general meanings in a poem, there are particular examples Eg. A poem about the death of a childwill not have a hidden meaning about nuclear war, but it will have a larger meaninga consideration of issues such as death, innocence, the love of a parent, and loss

Language of Poem
Archaic Anything before seventeenth-century

Deep and puzzling poems

Eg. Coleridges Kubla Khan.

Elements in a poem
Voices Sounds Images Rhythms Figures of speech Symbols * Read up about what they mean

How to read a poem?

Slowly, carefully, attentively Let it appeal to our mind and arouse your feelings Let it touch us, stir us, make us glad and possibly even tell us something Read it silently (in mind), read it aloud, hear someone else read it Try to paraphrase it line by line

 First reading
Read it straight through with no expectations Be open-minded Enjoy the experience without worrying the ideas Dont dwell on difficult words

Second reading
Read for the exact sense of all the words Look up new vocabularies in the dictionary Take time to reflect on the meanings

Understanding a poem
Search for a central tension, conflict or opposition in the poem in the opening lines
Look for something positive and something negative in the opening lines This will determine the issue of the poem and helps form your argument

Choice of words and combination of words that elevates the tension Complications / Escalation of tension

Writing about Poetry

First paragraph
Central tension of the poem story of the poem

Body of paragraphs
Number of paragraphs depend on number of stanzas Focus on how the poet links the poem to life Combine (not separate) formal choices (words, structures, etc) with the direction / ideas of the poem Each paragraph makes the case / argument stronger

Concluding paragraph
Pulling the threads together Secure your stand

Piano by DH Lawrence
Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me; Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings. In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside And hymns in the cozy parlor, the tinkling piano our guide. So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamor With the great piano appassionato. The glamor Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.

Questions to ask
What is the tone? Pick out a metaphor. What is being compared? What does the piano symbolize? What imagery can we find? Do you sense tension or conflict? Who is the speaker?

Analysing the Poem

Introduction
Lyrical poem based on an incident, or an experience in the poets life, or something that the poet has observed Lawrences own experience Happy memories of childhood which also brings sad nostalgia

Stanza 1
The voice of a woman singing reminds the poet of his childhood with his mother The word boom and the description of the feet and pedals suggests that he was that child, as he has drawn the sketch so accurately We can almost feel the vibrations in our arms and legs when reading the poem We feel that we are there with him

 Stanza 2
The rhythm of the poem has a slow, reflective quality, accentuated by the punctuation Insidious vs Mastery Insidious means the gradual, unnoticed change that eventually causes harm Mastery of the song represents the growing power / skill of the music Dangerously emotive words such as heart and weeps Negative word such as betrays against positive images of cozy Sunday evenings Readers who have happy memories of childhood also feels the nostalgia of it

 Stanza 3
Clamour vs Glamour The poet has achieved much of what he wanted to achieve as a man He has already broken away from his parents bindings But he also lost something ephemeral, priceless and dear: his innocence Maturity sometimes hurts Glamour is something which wears off and does not last The poet tries to be realistic At some low point of depression or failure or guilt in his life, he wept like a child for the past (line 12)

 Concluding paragraph
Many people have things they wish they had done differently with their parents when growing up It is only when we are adults ourselves that we realise how hard things may have been for them Lawrence looks back at the happy childhood which also brings nostalgic sorrow

Dos and Donts

DO look for a tension, conflict or opposition DO look for positive images and impressions that can be set against negative images and impressions DO concentrate on the opening lines. You dont need to sort out the poem as a whole at this stage. You are simply concerned with getting an initial confident hold on the poem DO try to see the larger issue that lies behind the particular details of the poem; the tension you have spotted should help you identify a larger issue

 DONT try to analyse the whole poem in advance. If you try to do this you are likely to tie yourself up in knots. DONT, at the outset, worry about details you dont understand in the poem. Such details can be dealt with later. DONT get side-tracked. You are analysing a poem. Concentrate on the effects that are actually taking place in the poem rather than talking about your own life and experiences. DONT become over-ingenious. You arent searching for hidden meanings in the poem. Stick to the plain sense of the poem and any larger issues that the plain sense suggests.

Formalism

 Marxism history records an evolving class struggle that will eventually overthrow the established order, evidence of this struggle is recognized and interpreted in literary works New historicism - the context in which a work of literature was produced (the social structure of the age, the authors personal history, issues of class, race, gender, the various artistic movements of the time, etc) affects the interpretation Feminism literary works portray the societal treatment towards degradation and discrimination of women Psychoanalysis literary works implies the unconscious desires expressed through the language and analyzed by critics Deconstruction the possibility of flawed and inaccurate use of language leads to failed communication and scholars rely heavily on the text itself for interpretation

Critical Theories

Piano through Critical Theories

Marxist:
From Lawrences background, we learn that hes poor. But how did his mother obtain such an expensive item as a piano? Is the piano a symbol of his familys social status? Was it a contrast to the quiet, wholesome life of leisure with his own?

Psychoanalysis:
Wheres the father? A typical family during the 20th century includes both parents Does the omission of the father figure show Lawrences close relationship with his mother and contempt for his father? Does Lawrence desire his mother? Oedipal complex? A figurative murder and his association between his mothers song and sex indicating his desire to return to his mothers womb?

 Deconstruction:
Through its hymn-like structure, pulsing rhythm, sensuous repetition of s sounds, and the close association it constructs between the piano and the female body, Piano seems to confuse sex with song, reading more like a description of a carnal act than a trip down memory lane.

New Historicism:
The poem was written in 1918. What happened in Lawrences life during that time?

Questions for Self-Revision

Jot down a brief paraphrase of this poem. In your paraphrase, clearly show what the speaker says is happening at present and also what he finds himself remembering. Make clear which seems the more powerful in its effect on him. What are the speakers various feelings? What do you understand from the words insidious and betrays? With what specific details does the poem make the past seem real? What is the subject of Lawrences poem? How would you state its theme? Homework: Read http://www.answers.com/topic/piano-poem-8

References
http://www.csudh.edu/class/services/studyskills/wor kshops/LITERATURE.pps Helium. http://www.helium.com/items/292732memoirs-empathy?page=2 Kennedy, X. J. and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. 8th ed. New York: Longman, 2002. Peck, John & Martin Coyle. Practical Criticism: How to Write a Critical Appreciation. New York: Palgrave, 1995.