European Literature

SONNETS
The sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in
iambic pentameter, which employ one of several
rhyme schemes and adhere to a tightly structured
thematic organization. Two sonnet forms provide
the models from which all other sonnets are
formed: the Petrarchan and the Shakespearean
• GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGIES
Greek mythology, body of stories concerning the gods,
heroes, and rituals of the ancient Greeks. In general, however,
in the popular piety of the Greeks, the myths were viewed as
true accounts.
Roman mythology is a collection of traditional stories, beliefs
and rituals that Romans used to describe the origin of Roman
civilization, culture, history and religion.
SHAKESPEARE PLAY
William Shakespeare, also known as the Bard, is
responsible for some of the bestplays and poetry
ever written in the English language. His most
well-known works include Romeo and Juliet, A
Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the
Shrew, Macbeth and Hamlet.
ILLIAD AND ODYSSEY
The Iliad tells the story of the Greek struggle to
rescue Helen, a Greek queen, from her Trojan
captors. The Odyssey takes the fall of the city of
Troy as its starting point and crafts a new epic
around the struggle of one of those Greek
warriors, the hero Odysseus.
Poetry
A Sick Rose by William Blake
O rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:

Has found out thy

Bed of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
• What words or phrases seem to go together?
Rose found out
Sick bed
Invisible crimson
Worm joy
Night dark
Howling secret
Storm love
Life destroy
• Rose and crimson
• Night and dark
• Destroy, storm, worm, howling
• Rose, love, bed, crimson, joy
Developing Themes
• Rose and crimson- Love, passion
• Night and dark- Evil, darkness
• Destroy, storm, worm, howling- Destruction,
death, chaos
• Rose, love, bed, crimson, joy- Passion, love
making, love
• The image of the worm resonates with
the Biblical serpent and also suggests a phallus.
Worms are quintessentially earthbound, and
symbolize death and decay. The “bed” into which the
worm creeps denotes both the natural flowerbed and
also the lovers' bed. The rose is sick, and the poem
implies that love is sick as well.
• The poem describes a sick rose and a worm that
manages to locate the rose's"bed of crimson joy." The
worm destroys the rose with his "dark secret love," a
not so subtle reference to some kind of destructive
sexuality.
The Eagle BY ALFRED LORD TENNYSON
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.
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

•The poet tries to humanize the bird using

the words, ‘he’ and ‘hands’. Even the verb
‘clasps’ has connotations of warmth and
friendship as when we shake hands with
others.
Close to the sun in lonely lands,

We see the bird against the sky, at a

superior height. The phrase ‘lonely lands’
seems to suggest the eagle’s domination
of the sky.
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

The words ‘azure world’ refers to the sky

of the colour of ocean blue. The bird is
circled or ‘ring’d’ by the blue sky.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
• The waves of the sea look like wrinkles of a cloth or
skin from that great height. The rolling of the waves is
diminished to ‘crawling’. The word ‘crawls’ also
reminds us about the reptiles who are eaten by
eagles. In addition, the word ‘wrinkled’ reminds us of
an old person while ‘crawls’ reminds us of a baby.
He watches from his mountain walls,
• The eagle is a bird with a sharp vision and he
may be watching some prey (a fish for example)
far below. The words ‘mountain walls’ suggest
the sharp incline of the rock and its
inaccessibility.
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

•Finally, the eagle dives off the cliff

and swoops downward in a straight
line in a graceful movement.
•It might also carry themes such
as, freedom, fate, power of
nature, etc.