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BBL 3101
A Survey of Prose Forms and Poetry
POETRY
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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
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Read & Listen
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What is Poetry?
Poetry is the kind of thing poets write ~ RobertFrost
Comes in a great many shapes and forms
(To the question What is jazz?,Louis Armstrongonce replied Man, if you gotta ask, youll neverknow)
To know poetry is to study poems and to let themgrow in your mind
Encountering poetry vs studying poetry
A good poem has something to say that is well worthlistening to
People writing poems about what poetry is
*Kennedy & Gioia pps1112-1116
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The History of Poetry
In the ancient times, the hearing and making of poemcan be a religious act (ie Psalms, Songs of Songs,Proverbs)
Poetry was part of classic Greek drama, a holy-dayceremony for playwright, actor and spectator
The Greeks believe that poems are supernaturallyinspired as exemplified from the Iliad, the Odysseyand Socrates works
Celtic poets were regarded as magicians and priests
In modern days, poetry is involved with the primitivewhite-magic of children
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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 firstencounter
Good poems yield more if read twice
The best poems continues to yield even aftercountless readings
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Obstacles in reading Poetry Identifying the specific focus
Its easy to tell the themes of the poem such as love anddeath, but its hard to pin down precisely what it is poetsare saying about love or death.
Behind the largeror generalmeanings in a poem, thereare particular examples
Eg. A poem about the death of a childwill not have ahidden meaning about nuclear war, but it will have a largermeaninga 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.
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Elements in a poem
Voices
Sounds
Images Rhythms
Figures of speech
Symbols * Read up about what they mean
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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, hearsomeone else read it
Try to paraphrase it line by line
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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
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Understanding a poem
Search for a central tension, conflict oropposition 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
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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
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Piano by DH LawrenceSoftly, 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 stringsAnd 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.
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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?
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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 suggeststhat he was that child, as he has drawn the sketch so accurately
We can almost feel the vibrations in our arms and legs when readingthe poem
We feel that we are there with him
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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 / skillof 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
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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 hislife, he wept like a child for the past (line 12)
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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 childhoodwhich also brings nostalgic sorrow
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Dos and Donts
DO look for a tension, conflict or opposition
DO look for positive images and impressions that canbe set against negative images and impressions
DOconcentrate on the opening lines. You dont need
to sort out the poem as a whole at this stage. You aresimply concerned with getting an initial confidenthold on the poem
DO try to see the larger issue that lies behind the
particular details of the poem; the tension you havespotted should help you identify a larger issue
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DONT try to analyse the whole poem in advance. Ifyou try to do this you are likely to tie yourself up inknots.
DONT, at the outset, worry about details you dontunderstand in the poem. Such details can be dealtwith later.
DONT get side-tracked. You are analysing a poem.Concentrate on the effects that are actually takingplace in the poem rather than talking about yourown life and experiences.
DONT become over-ingenious. You arent searchingfor hidden meanings in the poem. Stick to the plainsense of the poem and any larger issues that theplain sense suggests.
li
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Formalism
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Critical Theories 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 authorspersonal history, issues of class, race, gender, the variousartistic movements of the time, etc) affects the interpretation
Feminism literary works portray the societal treatmenttowards degradation and discrimination of women
Psychoanalysis literary works implies the unconsciousdesires expressed through the language and analyzed bycritics
Deconstruction the possibility of flawed and inaccurate useof language leads to failed communication and scholars relyheavily on the text itself for interpretation
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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 closerelationship with his mother and contempt for his father?
Does Lawrence desire his mother? Oedipal complex?
A figurative murder and his association between his mothers songand sex indicating his desire to return to his mothers womb?
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Deconstruction:
Through its hymn-like structure, pulsing rhythm,
sensuous repetition of s sounds, and the closeassociation 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 thattime?
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Questions for Self-Revision Jot down a brief paraphrase of this poem. In your
paraphrase, clearly show what the speaker says ishappening at present and also what he finds himselfremembering. Make clear which seems the morepowerful in its effect on him.
What are the speakers various feelings? What doyou understand from the words insidious andbetrays?
With what specific details does the poem make thepast seem real?
What is the subject of Lawrences poem? How wouldyou state its theme?
Homework: Readhttp://www.answers.com/topic/piano-poem-8
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References
http://www.csudh.edu/class/services/studyskills/workshops/LITERATURE.pps
Helium. http://www.helium.com/items/292732-
memoirs-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: Howto Write a Critical Appreciation. New York: Palgrave,
1995.
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