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 Solved Assignment 2018-2019

M.E.G.-1
British Poetry

Q. 1. Explain any two of the excerpts of poems given below with reference to their context:
(v) Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry
Ans. Ref.: These lines have been extracted from Blake’s ‘The Tyger’.
Context: This is the penultimate stanza of the poem which has total six stanzas. After presenting Tyger as a
strikingly sensuous image, the poet projects it as a symbolic character.
Comment: Here, the poet reminds the readers that a tiger and a lamb have been created by the same god and
raises questions about the implications of this. The poet also uses the images of “stars” and “heaven” to give a picture
of farfetchedness. He also puts questions to God asking him whether he is happy to see his work in this earth.
(vi) I wonder by my troth, what thou, and
Did, till we lov'd? were we not wean'd till
then?
But suck'd on countrey pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we i' the seaven sleepers den?
Ans. Ref.: These lines are from John Donne’s poem ‘The Good-Morrow’.
Context: ‘The Good-Morrow’, published in Donne’s 1633 collection Songs and Sonnets, is written from the
point of view of an awaking lover and describes the lover’s thoughts as he wakes next to his partner.
Comment: These are the opening lines of the poem. It has a reference to a Catholic legend. It also refers to the
Seven Sleepers, the Catholic legend of seven Christian children, persecuted for their faith during the reign of the
Roman emperor Decius, who fled to the shelter of a cave where they slept for more than 200 years. Donne, one of
six or seven children and a baptised Catholic during a time of strong anti-Catholic sentiment from both the populace
and the government, would certainly have been familiar with the story.
Q. 2. What are the main features of Metaphysical Poetry? Give examples from the poets and the
poems in the course.
Ans. Metaphysical Poetry: Esteem for Metaphysical poetry never stood higher than in the 1930s and ’40s,
largely because of T.S. Eliot’s influential essay “The thMetaphysical Poets” (1921), a review of Herbert J.C. Grierson’s
anthology Metaphysical Lyrics and Poems of the 17 Century. In this essay Eliot argued that the works of these men
embody a fusion of thought and feeling that later poets were unable to achieve because of a “dissociation of sensibility,”
which resulted in works that were either intellectual or emotional but not both at once. In their own time, however, the
epithet “metaphysical” was used pejoratively: In 1630 the Scottish poet William Drummond of Hawthornden objected

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to those of his contemporaries who attempted to “abstract poetry to metaphysical ideas and scholastic quiddities.” At
the end of the century, John Dryden censured Donne for affecting “the metaphysics” and for perplexing “the minds
of the fair sex with nice speculations of philosophy when he should engage their hearts . . . with the softnesses of
love.” Samuel Johnson, in referring to the learning that their poetry displays, also dubbed them “the metaphysical
poets,” and the term has continued in use ever since. Eliot’s adoption of the label as a term of praise is arguably a
better guide to his personal aspirations about his own poetry than to the Metaphysical poets themselves; his use of
metaphysical underestimates these poets’ debt to lyrical and socially engaged verse. Nonetheless, the term is useful
for identifying the often-intellectual character of their writing.
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The term metaphysical poet is now associated with any of the poets in 17 -century England who shows the
inclination to the personal and intellectual complexity and concentration that is displayed in the poetry of John Donne,
the chief of the Metaphysicals. Others include Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell, John Cleveland and Abraham
Cowley as well as, George Herbert and Richard Crashaw.
The major poets of this genre were John Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, Marvell, Vaughan and Traherne. We undertake
a detailed discussion of Donne, Marvell and Herbert later. As of now let us look at Vaughan, Crashaw and Traherne.
In his poem A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, John Donne relates his views on the human condition of love
and its relationship to the soul through the self-importance of drawing compasses. Donne shows the reader a separation
of body and soul in his first stanza: “As virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of
their sad friends do say The breath goes now, and some say, No;” (Donne). This seems to say that the soul is not a part
of the body, and it is only combined with the body until death, when it “goes”. The use of the word “whisper” suggests
that the soul and body can communicate with each other. Furthermore, the word “virtuous” implies that “un-virtuous”
men may not be able to whisper to their souls. The separation of body and soul is an essential concept to the poem as it
continues on.
If one has to look at Donne’s metaphysical concept of love then the poem ‘The Extasie’ is a brilliant example. The
poet depicts the communion of two souls of a loving couple without any erotic or carnal passion, on a grassy turf
besides a river. Donne does not attempt to use mention of the physical aspect of love. We are presented with two
lovers are in deeply moved in the thought of getting fused into each other. This is very well presented in lines:
So to engraft our hands, as yet
Was all our meanes to make us one
Q. 3. Does the Dejection: An Ode contain any elements of what comprises Romanticism? Discuss
with examples.
Ans. Introduction to Dejection: An Ode: Coleridge wrote the poem in its original form to Sara Hutchinson and
discusses his feelings of love for her. The various versions of the poem describe Coleridge’s inability to write poetry
and living in a state of paralysis, but published editions removed his personal feelings and mention of Hutchinson.
Coleridge wrote in his notebook about Hutchinson, a woman that was not his wife, and possible poems: “Can see
nothing extraordinary in her–a Poem nothing all the virtues of the mild and retired kind Poem on this night on Helvellin
/William and Dorothy and Mary /—Sara and I–Poem on the length of our acquaintance / all the hours that I have been
thinking of her &c.” During this time in 1802, Coleridge was separated from his family and he eventually returned
home during March. The relationship between him and his wife was restarted and they had a daughter in December,
1802. However, of the poems he intended to write about Hutchinson, he managed to complete one and an early draft
was sent to her in a letter on 4 April, 1802.
The original draft was titled “Letter to Sara Hutchinson” and it became Dejection when he sought to publish it.
There are many differences between the versions beyond the original being 340 lines and the printed 139 lines as they
reflect two different moments in Coleridge’s emotional struggle. Also, passages describing his childhood and other
personal matters were removed between versions. It was published in the 4 October, 1802 Morning Post. This date
corresponding to Wordsworth’s wedding to Mary Hutchinson and Coleridge’s own wedding anniversary. The poem
was grouped with the Asra poems, a series of poems discussing love that were dedicated to Hutchinson. Eventually,
Coleridge cut himself off from Hutchinson and renounced his feelings for her, which ended the problems that resulted
in the poem.
The poem belongs to the period of Coleridge’s depression about his love for Sara. The poem is very similar in
theme, from vocabulary and expression with Wordsworth’s Ode on the Intimations of Immortality, and this tells us
about his being in conversation with Wordsworth. Both the odes belong to the third category of the conversation poem

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in which, poets converse through their poetry. The position of reader is like an eavesdropper. The Ode has 139 lines
in eight sections and it uses iambic metre which varies from 3 to 6 feet. The rhyme scheme is primary couplet with
some abba and abab groups.
As a Romantic Poem
Though the theme of the poem is not a successful romantic imagination but the poem itself is one of the greatest
romantic poems. The poem shows the spirit of romantic revival in many ways, to name some would be its emotional
depth, passionate feeling, intensity of experience and expression, selection of image, lyrical flow and structural
arrangement.
The opening of the poem presents us with a strange reference. The connection that the poet draws between the
sight and a possible storm is magical or we can also say that it is superstitious. But it is the romantic imagination of the
poet which accepts it as something which is natural or inevitable.
Then we see that the outer storm becomes an inner fury for the poet and he wants to use it:
Might now perhaps their wanted impulse give,
Might startle this dull pain, and make its move and live!
Not to forget that the relationship that is shown here between external and internal is essentially a Romantic
belief. The subjective approach that the outer world is not more than what we think about it and that imagination is
most important thing is also romantic trait.
Another romantic trait which can be found in the poem is the importance given to the human mind. The theme of
the poem is but the ‘mood’ of the poet or mental state. This certainly draws our attention to the fact that something
psychological is coming up. And indeed that is what poet has to offer us. The importance of mind is essentially
romantic. But there is a bit of paradox as well. The poet says that he has lost the power to ‘feel’ but the entire poem
is about the expression of despair and anguish and intense feelings of a mind which is in great trouble. Therefore it
seems that the loss poet is talking about is the apprehension of loss than real loss.
Some parallels can be drawn with Wordsworth’s Immortality Ode, as Coleridge just like Wordsworth look back
and remembers those days which were much better, more glorious and without any sense of deprivation. The
remembering of a lost paradise again shows romantic spirit.
Q. 4. Write an eassay on Dylan Thomas’s use of images in his poetry?
Ans. Dylan Thomas once said that his poetry “is the record of my individual struggle from darkness towards
some measure of light.” He commented on his uses of images by saying – “A poem by myself needs a host of images,
because its center is a host of images I make an image–though ‘make’ is not the word, let, perhaps, an image be made
emotionally in me and then apply to it what intellectual and critical forces I possess - let it breed another, let that image
contradict the first, make (of the third image bred out of the other two together) a fourth, contradictory image and let
them all within my imposed formal limits, conflict”.
His poetry is filed with exuberant, elaborate, florid words to poems that offer obscure, mysterious insights into
metaphor and imagery. We are bombarded with lots of emotion and dropped into an overwhelming world of Dylan
Thomas’s language to describe his peculiar thoughts of life from his retrospect.
Thomas uses this device of exuberance to bring his poetry to life, forcing the reader to delve into the depths of his
writing, with its connotations of religion and sexual overtones. Thomas’s use of the life cycle and the virtues of life
mainly show the affluence of exuberance in his poems.
The influence of the seventeenth-century metaphysical poets is often cited in connection with Thomas’s unorthodox
religious imagery; while the influence of the Romantic poets is seen in his recurrent vision of a pristine beauty in
childhood and nature. Thomas’s vivid imagery, involved word play, fractured syntax, and personal symbology did,
however, change the course of modern poetry. Though a poet of undetermined rank, he set a new standard for many
mid-twentieth century poets.
The formation of imagery in Thomas’ poetry, in spite of the fact that he claims himself to be conscious craftsman,
cannot be said to be fully controlled as the images he uses in his poetry do not seem to be logically formed. He himself
admitted that, “A poem by myself needs a host of images, because its center is a host of images I make an image -
though ‘make’ is not the word, let, perhaps, an image be made emotionally in me and then apply to it what intellectual
and critical forces I possess - let it breed another, let that image contradict the first, make (of the third image bred out
of the other two together) a fourth, contradictory image, and let them all within my imposed formal limits, conflict.”

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 Thomas often uses words in an different sense. His attitude towards using words in unusual senses is contained
in a letter he wrote to Pamela Hansford Johnson (1933), commenting on Miss Johnson’s use of the description
“unquiet mouse”. Thomas says “unquiet” adds nothing to the word “mouse”. He continues that a writer should
always choose qualifying adjectives from one of two possibilities. Either find or invent an adjective that will include all
associations, or preferably, devise an adjective that will entirely replace all previous associations – one that will enable
the reader to see the object in a completely new light.
Another of Dylan Thomas’s favourite linguistic devices was to use different parts of speech in an unusual
context. For instance, in the poem “Over Sir John’s Hill”, he uses a verb as a collective noun in “wrestle of elms”.
Another example is“…the gulled birds have/To hawk on fire”, the latter meaning that “duped” birds are like hares in
a game of hares and hounds. In “Unluckily for Death”, the poet provides another startling instance of this type of
grammatical usage.
He enjoyed using slang and local dialect. Although Thomas did not speak or read the Welsh language, he was
totally immersed in its rhythms and lyricism. There is no doubt that all his work is deeply influenced by the sound and
flow of the dramatic and colorful Welsh language. Dr. Geoff Madoc-Jones, when he first met Thomas, commented:
“I was struck with how the verse sounded and felt Welsh”.
Welsh slang sits comfortably, without explanation, throughout Dylan Thomas’s writings and readings. For example,
in “Return Journey”, he refers to the schoolboy who “mitched, spilt ink, rattled his desk and garbled his lessons with
the worst of them”. “Mitched” is a local Welsh term for playing truant. Again in “In the White Giant’s Thigh”, he uses
the word “gambo” (farm cart) in the description “butter fat goosegirls bounced in the gambo bed”. In “Quite Early
One Morning”, he uses the word “billyduckers”, a corruption of the Welsh word “bilidowcar”, meaning “cormorant”.
But even more significant than Thomas’s use of local slang, was his adoption of Welsh intonation and the musical
flow and structure of the Welsh language. A simple, yet delightful example, is, “She was about eighteen and a fine-
looking girl, not a film star, mind, not Mr. Roberts’s type at all”. (excerpt from “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog”).
The Welsh have a tendency to end an observation with “throw away” words and phrases, such as “mind you”, “is it?”
and “I’m doing such and such, I am”.
Q. 5. Would you consider Sylvia Plath’s Daddy to be an expression against the voice of patriarchy?
Comment critically.
Ans. ‘Daddy’: ‘Daddy’ is a poem that deals with two conflicting strains within a girl which marry and paralyse
each other–psychological hereditary tensions because of girl’s mixed parental background, partly Nazi and partly
Jewish. However, it is noteworthy, that the lives of “Daddy” though they curse against one who has betrayed the
persona could only be uttered by one who cares, one who has loved deeply and truly, and who has been hurt because
her love has come to nothing. Such are the ambivalent feelings that “Daddy” expresses against the dead father.
Throughout Plath’s literary career the role of her father, or merely his influence, is something that permeated her
life and writing. ‘Daddy’ is a poem that is known for its brutal imagery and language. Plath holds nothing back, and the
speaker is not ashamed. She finds comfort and resolution in her words pouring out before her. In ‘Daddy’ she refers
to her father as a God-like figure. She doesn’t give him enough credit to be God, but he is composed of facets which
one associates with God. Her words are a type of bitter mockery. Later Plath introduces her father as the devil. Here
the imagery of the foot is used, though in a different way this time. A cleft, which is often associated with the devil’s
hoofs, is compared to the cleft in the father’s chin. This suggests that the father had some demonic characteristics
associated with his physical form.
In ‘Colossus’ she deals with the theme of lost father. The influence of this theme can be traced in much of her
earlier poems.
In her earlier poems Plath show the nostalgia of her lost father and resents about her parent lost situation. But in
her later poems she depicts her father as a symbol of patriarchal violence as evident in her poem Daddy. This shows
her development of Plath’s persona from a docile and submissive woman into fury ragging for revenge.