IIND SEMESTER BA ENGLISH

APPRECIATING POETRY

2019 ADMISSION

PREPARED BY

Asst.Prof. Mary Haritha PT (Dept. of English)

Asst.Prof. Sumayya.C.P (Dept. of English)
APPRECIATING POETRY

COURSE CODE: ENG2B02

TITLE OF THE COURSE: APPRECIATING POETRY

SEMESTER IN WHICH THE COURSE IS TO BE TAUGHT: 2

NO. OF CREDITS: 5

NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 108 (6 hrs per week)

AIM OF THE COURSE: The course is a wide spectrum of poems across the globe. The course aims
at the transaction of the suggested texts so that the learners understand the trends in poetry of the past
and the present. It also aims to foster the ability in students for appreciating poetry as an art form.

OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE:

a. To introduce the students to the basic elements of poetry, including the stylistic and rhetorical devices
employed in poetry, and to various genres of poetry.

b. To facilitate students to attain various perspective in reading poetry like gender, race, caste, ethnicity,
religion, region, environment and nation.

c. To familiarize the learners with different forms of poetry written in British and American literature.

d. To create an awareness among the learners about different forms and themes of poetry produced
across the globe in the history of literature.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

A. COURSE SUMMARY
Module 1: 16 hrs
Module 2: 40 hrs
Module 3: 30 hrs
Module 4: 10 hrs
Evaluation: 12 hours
Total 108 hours
B. COURSE DETAILS:
Module 1: Poetry- Some Key Concepts Basic Elements of Poetry: Prosody: Rhythm, Meter –
Rhyme - hard rhyme, soft rhyme, internal rhyme -Alliteration, Assonance – Diction. Figures of
Speech: Metaphor, Simile, Personification, Oxymoron, Metonymy, Synecdoche, Transferred
Epithet.Poetic Forms: Lyric, Ode, Sonnet, Haiku, Ballad, Couplet, Villanelle, Dramatic
Monologue, Elegy, Satire,Mock Epic, Free Verse, Tanka, Jintishi, Ghazal, Rubai, Prose poetry,
Narrative poetry, Performance Poetry.
Module 2: Poetic Forms
1. Sonnet: William Shakespeare: Shall I Compare thee to a Summer’s Day
(Sonnet XVIII), John Milton: On His Blindness
2. Ballad: John Keats: La Belle Dame sans Merci
3. Ode: P B Shelley: Ode to a Skylark
4. Elegy: W H Auden: In Memory of W. B. Yeats
5. Villanelle: Dylan Thomas: Do not go Gentle into that Good Night
6. (Dramatic) Monologue: Robert Browning: My Last Duchess
7. Metaphysical: John Donne: A Valediction Forbidding Mourning
8. Heroic Couplet: Alexander Pope: Extract from Essay on Man (Epistle I, Section II),
“Presumptous man! The reason wouldst thou find…”
9. Free Verse: Stanley Kunitz: The Layers
10. Song: Leonard Cohen: I’m your Man
Module 3: World Poetry
1. Childhood: Rainer Maria Rilke: Childhood
2. Love and Loss: Pablo Neruda: Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines
3. Protest: Nazim Hikmet: Some Advice to those who will Serve Time in Prison
4. Family: Langston Hughes: Mother to Son
5. Survival: Namdeo Dhasal: Stoneman, My Father & Me
6. Alienation: Diane Glancy: Without Title
7. War: Yehuda Amichai: Anniversaries of War
8. Environment: Joao Cabral de Melo Neto: Landscape of the Capibaribe River
9. Commitment and Passion: Charles Baudelaire: Be Drunk
10. Cultural Difference: Bassey Ikpi: Homeward
Module 4: Appreciation of Poetry
Students can be briefed about how to analyse a poem. A few poems other than those given for
the detailed study can be given to the students for practical analysis.
*NB: The learners are asked only short essay/s (paragraph/s) questions for appreciation (based
on unseen poems) in the end semester examinations. READING LIST:

CORE TEXT: A text containing the above lessons will be made available
FURTHER READING:
A Concise Companion to Literary Forms. Emerald, 2013. Bernard Blackstone. Practical English
Prosody: A Handbook for Students. Longman, 2009. C. T. Thomas Ed. Chaucer to Housman
Vol I .New Delhi: B.I. Publications 1990. Katherine Washburn and John S. Major Ed. World
Poetry: An anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time. New York: W. W. Norton, 1998.
Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter and Jon Stallworthy. The Noeton Anthology of Poetry. 5th
Ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. Neil Corcoran. English Poetry since 1940. London:
Longman, 1993. Neil Roberts. A Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry. Malden,
Blackwell,2003. Philip Hobsbaum. Metre, Rhythm and Verse Form. London: Routledge, 2006 .
Rajiv Patke, Postcolonial Poetry in English. Oxford: OUP, 2006. R. P. Draper. An Introduction
to Twentieth Century Poetry in English. Basingstoke, Palgrave,1999. Tom Furniss and Michael
Bath. Reading Poetry- An Introduction. London: Prentice Hall, 1996.
 MODULE 1: POETRY – SOME KEY
CONCEPTS BASIC ELEMENTS OF
POETRY

Prosody

 The study or science of all aspects of versification

 A literary technique, prosody is the study of meter, intonation, and rhythm of a poetic work.
 Prosody, the study of all the elements of language that contribute toward acoustic and
rhythmic effects, chiefly in poetry but also in prose.
 Prosody is the study of meter, intonation, and rhythm of a poetic work. It is a phonetic term
that uses meter, rhythm, tempo, pitch, and loudness in a speech for conveying information
about the meanings and structure of an utterance. In addition, prosody is an important
element of language that contributes toward rhythmic and acoustic effects in a piece of
writing. It includes different elements, such as scansion, sound, pace, and meaning.

Rhythm

 The word rhythm is derived from rhythmos (Greek) which means, “measured motion.” It
means a sense of flowing caused by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllable.
Rhythm is a literary device that demonstrates the long and short patterns through stressed
and unstressed syllables, particularly in verse form.
 A rhythm may be produced by the recurrence of a sound, but rhythm and sound are not
identical. When we speak of the rhythm of a poem we mean the recurrence of stresses and
pauses in it. Types of rhythm:
1. Iamb (x /): This is the most commonly used rhythm. It consists of two syllables, the first
of which is not stressed, while the second syllable is stressed. Such as: “Shall I compare
thee to a summer’s day?” (Sonnet 18, by William Shakespeare
2. Trochee (/ x): A trochee is a type of poetic foot commonly used in English poetry. It has
two syllables, the first of which is strongly stressed, while the second syllable is
unstressed, as given below: “Tell me not, in mournful numbers” (Psalm of Life, by Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow)
 3. Spondee (/ /): Spondee is a poetic foot that has two syllables, which are consecutively
stressed. For example: “White founts falling in the Courts of the sun”
(Lepanto, by G. K. Chesterton)

4. Dactyl (/ x x): Dactyl is made up of three syllables. The first syllable is stressed, and
the remaining two syllables are not stressed, such as in the word “marvelous.” For
example: “This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,”
(Evangeline, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) The words “primeval” and
“murmuring” show dactyls in this line.
5. Anapest (x /): Anapests are total opposites of dactyls. They have three syllables; where
the first two syllables are not stressed, and the last syllable is stressed. For example:
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,” (‘Twas the Night Before
Christmas, by Clement Clarke Moore) Rhythm in verse is determined by the presence
of various kinds of metrical pattern

Metre
 Metre is derived from a Greek word ‘metron’ which means measure. The pattern of stressed
and unstressed syllables in verse constitutes meter.
 Meter is a stressed and unstressed syllabic pattern in a verse, or within the lines of a poem.
Stressed syllables tend to be longer, and unstressed shorter. In simple language, meter is a
poetic device that serves as a linguistic sound pattern for the verses, as it gives poetry a
rhythmical and melodious sound.
 For instance, if you read a poem aloud, and it produces regular sound patterns, then this
poem would be a metered or measured poem. The study of different types of versification
and meters is known as “prosody”.
 Types of Metre: English poetry employs five basic meters, including:
-Iambic metre (unstressed/stressed)
-Trochaic metre (stressed/unstressed)
-Spondaic metre, (stressed/stressed)
-Anapestic metre (unstressed/unstressed/ stressed)
-Dactylic metre (stressed/unstressed/unstressed)
Rhyme
 A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounding words, occurring at the end of lines in poems or
songs. A rhyme is a tool utilizing repeating patterns that bring rhythm or musicality to
poems. This differentiates them from prose, which is plain.

 A rhyme is employed for the specific purpose of rendering a pleasing effect to a poem,
which makes its recital an enjoyable experience. Moreover, it offers itself as a mnemonic
device, smoothing the progress of memorization.
 The structure of a syllable is often represented as CVC.
 Kinds of Rhymes
-End rhyme occurs at the end of lines
-Internal rhyme occurs within lines
-strong rhymes: a single stressed syllable -‘hill’ and ‘still’
- weak syllable : two rhyming syllable, a stressed one followed by an unstressed on
‘hollow’ and ‘follow’.

Alliteration
 Alliteration is derived from the medieval Latin alliteratio which means repeating and
playing upon the same letter. It is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the
same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series. Consider the following
examples: But a better butter makes a batter better.
A big bully beats a baby boy.
 Both sentences are alliterative because the same first letter of words (B) occurs close
together and produces alliteration in the sentence. An important point to remember here is
that alliteration does not depend on letters but on sounds.

 Common Examples of Alliteration:

Best Buy
Coca-Cola
Life Lock
Park Place
Chuckee Cheese’s
  Alliteration has an important role in poetry and prose. It creates a musical effect in the text
that enhances the pleasure of reading a literary piece. It makes reading and recitation of the
poems appealing, and it renders flow and beauty to a piece of writing

Assonance
 Assonance comes from the Latin word assonare which means ‘answering with the same
sound’. It is the repetition of the vowel sound or diphthongs. Assonance takes place when
two or more words, close to one another repeat the same vowel sound, but start with
different consonant sounds.
 For instance, in the following sentence: “Men sell the wedding bells.” The same vowel
sound of the short vowel “-e-” repeats itself in almost all the words, excluding the definite
article.
 The words do share the same vowel sounds, but start with different consonant sounds –
unlike alliteration, which involves repetition of the same consonant sounds.
 See a line from Wordsworth’s poem ‘Daffodils’, “A host of golden daffodils”, there is a
repeated ‘o’ sound. Below are a few assonance examples that are common:
“Go and mow the lawn”.
“Men sell the wedding bells.”

Diction

 Diction can be defined as style of speaking or writing, determined by the choice of words by
a speaker or a writer. Diction, or choice of words, often separates good writing from bad
writing.
 Diction in the broadest sense of the term means the vocabulary used by a writer. Poetic
diction refers to the use of vocabulary and particular arrangement of vocabulary in poetry
with the purpose of creating a particular effect.
 Poetic Diction: Poetry is known for its unique diction, which separates it from prose. Usually,
a poetic diction is marked by the use of figures of speech, rhyming words, and other devices.
Debates about what constitutes poetic diction can be traced back to the eighteenth century.
Neo- classical writers of the eighteenth century developed a special poetic diction that mostly
derived from the characteristic usage of earlier poets such as Virgil, Edmund Spenser, and
John Milton. They often employed lofty and archaic words and used recurrent ‘epithets’ in
their poetry. For instance, “the finny tribe” for “fish”, the bleating kind” for “sheep” etc. In
Wordsworth’s Preface to the Lyrical Ballads, he has strongly attacked the neoclassical
 doctrine of special language for poetry and claimed that there is n “essential” difference
between the language of prose and metrical composition.

 Figures of Speech
 A figure of speech is a word or phrase using figurative language—language that has other
meaning than its normal definition. In other words, figures of speeches rely on implied or
suggested meaning, rather than a dictionary definition. We express and develop them
through hundreds of different rhetorical techniques, from specific types like metaphors and
similes, to more general forms like sarcasm and slang.

1. Simile

 In simile two unlike things are explicitly compared. For example, “She is like a fairy”. A
simile is introduced by words such as like, so, as etc.

 Simile is a very common figure of speech that uses to compare two distinctly different
things is indicated by words “like” and “as” .For example, “he is as tall as a mountain,”
doesn’t mean he was actually 1,000 feet tall, it just means he was really tall. Some other
well-known similes you will often hear are:
As cute as a kitten
As happy as a clam
As light as a feather
As blind as a bat
2. Metaphor

It is an informal or implied simile in which words like, as, so are omitted. For example, “He is like a
lion (Simile) “and “He is a lion (metaphor)”. In the following examples, metaphors are underlined.

 She is a star of our family.

 The childhood of the world; the anger of the tempest; the deceitfulness of the riches:
wine is a mocker.
 She is now in the sunset of her days.

3. Personification
 Personification is an attribution of personal nature, intelligence or character to inanimate
objects or abstract notions. For example, in some phrases we use, the furious storm, the
thirsty ground, and the pitiless cold. Some other examples are:
Little sorrows sit and weep. (Boccaccio)
In this poem, a female speaker tells the story of how she was visited by "Death"—
The dish ran away with the spoon. (Blake)
personified as a "kindly" gentleman—and taken for a ride in his carriage.
 when we say, “The sky weeps,” we are giving the sky the ability to cry, which is a human
quality. Another example from Emily Dickens’ poem “Because I Could not Stop for Death”
4. Metonymy
; “Because I could not stop for Death He
Metonymy is meant
kindly stopped for a change of name. It is a substitute of the thing names for the thing
for me”.
meant. Following examples will clarify the concept.

The pen is mightier than the sword.

From the cradle to the grave. = from childhood to death.

I have never read Milton. = the works of Milton.

Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is referred to by the name of
something closely associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word “crown” is
used to refer to power or authority is a metonymy. It is not a part of the thing it represents.
Metonymy is employed to add a poetic colour to words to make them come to life. The
simple ordinary things are described in a creative way.

5. Synecdoche

is a type of metonymy in which a part of something represents the whole, or it may

use a whole to represent a part.
  Synecdoche is the understanding of one thing by means of another. Here, a part is used
to designate the whole or the whole to designate a part. For example, “I have the
Viceroy, love the man.”, and “All hands (crew) at work.”

6. Transferred Epithetepithets, the qualifying objective is transferred from a person to a thing as in

 In transferred
phrases. For example, “sleepless night”, “sunburn mirth”, and “melodious plain”.

 Transferred Epithet is a literary device which use as a modifier (usually an adjective)

qualifies a noun other than the person or thing it is actually describing. It is really a
figure of description sharing similarities with personification and metonymy that arrest
audiences with incongruity.
 An example of a transferred epithet is: "I had a wonderful day." The day is not in itself
wonderful. The speaker had a wonderful day. The epithet "wonderful" actually describes the
kind of day the speaker experienced.
Poetic Forms
Lyric

 Lyric is a verse or poem being sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument.

The English lyric comes from the Greek work Lyra a musical instrument.
 Musical element is central to the concept of lyric. It is during the Alexadrine period
(356bc- 323bc) that the term lyric was used. It meant any poem that was composed to be
sung.
 A lyric poem is noted for the presence of sensuality, passion, relative brevity and
expresses personal emotions or feeling.
 Romantic period is often considered to be the golden period of lyric poetry (Burns,

Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley and Keats). Nineteenth Century also produced poets like
Tennyson, Browning and Arnold who produced some very fine lyrics.

Ode

 Ode is a subcategory of lyric poem.

 It often addresses a lofty subject or idea. There is a tone of reverence.
 The stanzaic structure of the ode is elaborate.
 Grandeur is the impression created by an ode. The sentiments are often of a lofty nature. The
subjects, the feeling and style are exalted.

 The length of the ode is generally to one hundred and fifty lines. Odes were introduced to
English by Abraham Cowley who publication of “Progress of Poesy”
 {Thomas Gray}
Sonnet

 Petrarch, the Italian poet established sonnet as a major poetic from.

 In Italian sonnet means little sound or song.
 The sonnet has fourteen lines, the exception being the curtal sonnet {G M Hopkin’s
term}which has ten lines. The metre is iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is variable.
 The sonnets stanzaic patterns can be divided into three. Petrarchan, Spenserian and
Shakespearean.
 Petrarchan sonnet has an octave and sestet. There is no rhyming couplet.
 The Spenserian variety has three quatrains and a couplet.
 The Shakespearean variety is similar to the Spenserian since it has three quatrains and
rhyming couplet.
 It was Sir Thomas Wyatt and Surrey who brought the sonnet to English.
 In the twentieth century Geoffrey Hill and Seamus Heaney wrote fine Sonnets. Lata
twentieth century saw the emergence of tony Harrison as a remarkable sonneteer.

Haiku

 Haiku is a relatively recent expression. Originally ‘hokku’, it became Haiku only in the
nineteenth century.
 This Japanese verse form established in sixteenth century has seventeen syllables in lines of
five, seven.
 Being short in length it is ideal for expressing a single idea or thought, image or feeling
 Some of the significant English poets to have used haiku are Robert Frost and W B Yeats.
The formal peculiarities of Haiku attracted the imagist poets like Ezra Pound and Amy
Lowell and they readily used the form in their poem. In the country of its origin Haiku found
its fullest expression in Basho and Komayashi.
Ballad

 Ballad in its original form was a song sung accompanied by dance,

 A ballad is a story in verse. The story has a single incident and it is dramatically treated. It is

not a continuous narrative. The statements in the poem do not express the author's emotions

directly.
 Most of the English ballads date from the fifteenth century.

 Oral traditions have contributed to the rise of genuine ballads. It was earlier believed that
ballads were the result of communal authorship. But this theory is now replaced by the
idea that ballad has a single authorship initially but later collaborative activity must have
contributed to it.
 Imitation of ballad both in form and style results in literary ballads. Samuel Coleridge's The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner is an example. The younger romantic poet John Keats'
"La Belle Dame Sans Mercy" is another example.
Dramatic Monologue

 Dramatic Monologue is a type of poem in which a single speaker speaks to an imagined

listener at a critical moment in his life, revealing to the readers his character,
temperament and intentions
 A poetic form, common in folk ballads, it was perfected by Robert Browning by bringing in
subtlety of characterization and complexity of situation. ‘The Wanderer’ and ‘The
Seafarer’ are dramatic monologues written in the Old English period.

Couplet
 Couplet means a rhyming pair of successive lines in English verse.
 It is widely used in satires, epigrams, verse essays and narrative verse. Heroic couplet is rhyming
iambic pentameter verse.
 Chaucer is one of the first poets to use it extensively. Shakespeare and Marlowe used it with great success.
 The invention of the heroic couplet dates back to the sixteenth century.
 It is the result of imposing a stress pattern of lambic nature on the decasyllabic line of Chaucer and
by imposing a pause in the first line and at the end of the couplet.
Villanelle

 Villanelle is derived from the Italian word 'Vilano' which means rural, rustic and peasant.
 The term was originally used as a general term to refer to pastoral poetry in its various forms.
Jean Passerat a sixteenth century French poet is generally credited with defining the specific
characteristics of villanelle.
 A villanelle is made up of five three line stanzas called tercets and a quatrain which consists of
four lines.
 The first and third lines of the first tercet recur alternatively in the following stanzas and
form a final couplet. Though villanelle is of French origin English poets like Wilde and
Auden have used it.

Elegy

 Elegy is a poem that laments the death of a person with an intense reflection on the theme of
human mortality.
 It is derived from the Greek word ‘elegus’, a song of bereavement, sung with a flute.
pentameter.
 A traditional elegy is written in elegiac metre - alternating lies of dactylic hexameter and
 A pastoral elegy is a distinct kind of elegy in a pastoral setting with characters who are
 shepherds. It begins with an invocation to the Muse, contains elaborate descriptions of
nature and ends with the acceptance of the inevitability of death.
 In English literature since the 16th century, an elegy meant any poem of lamentation written
in any metre. e.g. "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray.

Tanka

 Tanka is a Japanese poetic form supposed to have originated in the seventh century.
 One couplet added to Haiku makes Tanka.
 Tanka means a 'short song'. It has 31 syllables and is written in a continuous line.
 Some of the famous Tanka poets are Takuboku Ishikawa and Machi Tawara.
Jintishi

 Jintishi is a very popular Classical Chinese poetic form which evolved in the fifth century.
 The term refers to a modern form of poetry, distinguishing it from the ancient one.
 It is a regulated verse form which follows a set of tonal variations and rigid structural
features.
 Jintishi discusses common themes like history and politics.
 A typical Jintishi has eight lines in four couplets rhyming with each other.

Ghazal
 Ghazal is a seventh century Persian poetic form originated in Arabia and gained prominence
in the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century. Persian poets as Rumi and Hafiz had played
an important role in popularizing Ghazal.
 In the eighteenth-century, the Ghazal was used by poets writing in Urdu, a mix of the
medieval languages of Northern India, including Persian. Among these poets, Ghalib is
the recognized master. It is a collection of couplets called sher.
 A Ghazal may consist of six or seven Shers. Each Sher is a complete statement in itself and
contains an independent idea. These Shers are highly philosophical and exploring themes
of love and suffering. The metre of the Sher is called Beher..
 The rhyming pattern of the Ghazal is known as Kaafiya and the refrain is called Radif. It is
a very popular in India and Pakistan. Popular Ghazal singers are Ghulam Ali, Farida
Khan and Jagjit Singh.

Rubai
 Is a Persian verse form in the stanzaic structure of a quatrain. Rubai is the Arabic term for
quatrain. Rubaiyat is a collection of quatrains. Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat is one of the most
popular illustrations of this verse form.

Prose Poetry
 Prose Poetry is a fusion of prose and poetry that exhibits poetic quality and using emotional
effects and heightened imagery. Amy Lowell, Rainer Maria Rilke, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt
Whitman are some of the major writers of Prose Poetry.
Narrative Poetry
 It is a type of poetry that tells a story or narrates an event. In Western culture, narrative
poetry dates back to the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh (before 2000 B C) and Homer ‘s
epic Iliad and Odyssey. It may well have originated much earlier. It has characters,
settings and dialogues. Some of the popular narrative poems are “Out, Out” by Robert
Frost, “The Owl and the Pussy Cat” by Edward Lear.

Performance Poetry
 Performance poetry uses the stage as the page, transforming poetry readings into theatrical
events. It is invented by Hedwig Gorski in the 1970s. While the recent revival of
Performance poets is seen as a reaction against mainstream, print-based poetry, the style
reminds the classic role of the poet, who recited notable happenings, emotions, and
perceptions. Quite often experimental rhythms are used to engage the attention of the
audience. Patricia Smith’s performance of “Medusa”, a feminist poem and Sarah Kay’s
performance of “Hiroshima” are the two significant contributions in this genre.
 MODULE 2-POETIC FORMS

LESSON 1-SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER’S DAY (SONNET XVIII) BY

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

ABOUT THE POET:

 William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616), the English poet, dramatist, and actor often called
the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all
time and he was born on 23rd April 1564 at Stratford-upon-Avon.
 Shakespeare is known as Bard of Avon or Swan of Avon,
 Shakespeare is the eldest of the eight children of John and Mary.
 At 18 years of age, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, and they were blessed with
three children over the course of the next few years.
 Little is known about Shakespeare's activities between 1585 and 1592. These years are
often referred to as the “lost years” by scholars.
 Due to the plague, the London theaters were often closed between June 1592 and April
1594.
 In 1594, Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain's company of actors, the most
popular of the companies acting at Court.
 n 1599 Shakespeare joined a group of Chamberlain's Men that would form a syndicate
to build and operate a new playhouse: the Globe, which became the most famous theatre
of its time.
 He was the founding member of “The King's Men ''. It was during his time in this
company that he wrote some of his most famous tragedies like King Lear and Macbeth,
as well as romances like The Tempest and The Winter's Tale.
 His works include around 37 plays, 154 sonnets and a variety of other poems.
 Shakespeare died on the 23rd of April, 1616 at the age of 52 and was buried in Holy
Trinity Church.
 Shakespearean sonnet: A Shakespearean sonnet is a variation on the Italian sonnet
tradition. The form evolved in England during and around the time of the Elizabethan
era. These sonnets are sometimes referred to as Elizabethan sonnets or English sonnets.
 It is composed of three quatrains and a concluding couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg.
There are typically ten syllables per line, which are phrased in iambic pentameter.
 Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets published in his ‘quarto’ in 1609, covering themes such
as the passage of time, mortality, love, beauty, infidelity, and jealousy. The first 126 of
Shakespeare’s sonnets are addressed to a young man, and the last 28 addressed to a
woman – a mysterious ‘dark lady’.
 The procreation sonnets are Shakespeare's sonnets numbers 1 through 17.They are
referred to as the procreation sonnets because they encourage the young man to marry
and father children, thus securing his own permanence.

ABOUT THE SONNET

 Sonnet 18: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” is one of the most famous of all
154 sonnets written by William Shakespeare. First published in 1609, it has been linked
to the previous 17 sonnets, also called as the procreation sonnets, believed to be
addressed to a young man named W.H. whose identity remains a mystery.
 Eternity and immortality of art are the general themes of the poem.
 Written in typical Shakespearean sonnet format.
 William Shakespeare opens the poem with a question addressing his friend: “Shall I
compare thee to a summer’s day?”
 The speaker is in confusion whether he should compare the young man’s beauty with
that of summer or not. He believes that his friend is too perfect to be compared with the
summer.
 He emphasizes that his dear friend is more lovely and temperate than the summer.
 The speaker has personified summer, he says that the violent summer winds are a threat
to the buds of May. He argues that summer doesn’t last very long; it will end and is
only for a short time.
 The poet says that sometimes the sun (the eye of heaven) is too hot and sometimes too
dimmed due to clouds. So, the poet refers the sun as the “eye of heaven” and the golden
face of the sun as “his gold complexion”. The poet is praising the beauty of his beloved
friend indirectly.
 Here the speaker says that everything changes with time. He says that all the beautiful
things (every fair) will eventually become less beautiful (declines) from the previous
state of beauty (from fair).By the rule of nature (nature’s changing course) which
remains unmodified (untrimmed). Here the word “untrimmed” may also be taken as
 untrimmed sails on a ship. It explains that nature is a ship with sails which aren’t
adjusted according to the course of the wind for a better course.
 Though the beauty of things declines with time, the beauty of youth i.e. his beloved
friend will not degrade.
 Through 1-8 line, the poet has been pointing out the limitations of the summer and now
he has started praising his friend’s beauty directly.
 Death will not be able to boast (brag) seeing the lover wandering under its shade. The
speaker personifies death here. He opines that although death has always had an upper
hand over life, the beauty of his friend will live in his poem (eternal lines) through
eternity (to time thou grow’st). The death will never be able to lay hands on his beloved
as he is immortal.
 These two last lines are couplets and here William Shakespeare makes a prediction that
this poem about his beloved’s beauty will be acclaimed throughout the ages till men
live on this earth. As long as life will go on, his poem will be read by men and women
and through his poem, his love will also live.

LESSON 2: WHEN I CONSIDER HOW MY LIGHT IS SPENT BY JOHN MILTON

ABOUT THE POET:

 John Milton was born on 9th December 1908 in Breadstreet, London.

 He was a Puritan poet, pamphleteer, historian and a civil servant who had served the
British Commonwealth.
 John Milton wrote in English, Greek, Italian and Latin
 Milton is placed next to Shakespeare in the hierarchy of English poets.
 He wrote during a time of religious fluctuations and political upheaval.
 “Paradise Lost” is his magnum opus which was written after he became blind during
the period of 1658-1664, which was later published in 1667.
 In 1671, he wrote “Paradise Regained”.
 He faced imprisonment for his strong sentiments on popery and prelacy.
 “Areopagactica” and “On Education” are two famous pamphlets.
 Milton was a Puritan and his works revolve around themes of faith, liberty of the press,
freedom of expression etc.
  He made excessive use of blank verse in his poetry for which he gained appreciation
from the Romantic poets.
 Died on 8th November 1674.

ABOUT THE POEM:

 At the age of 44 in 1652, Milton went completely blind.

 “When I consider how my light was spent” is also known as Sonnet 19 and it is a poem
about how life before his blindness set in was spent.
 This sonnet was published under the collection Milton’s 1673 Poems.
 Although Milton gave it the number 19, it was published as number 16 in the book. The
sonnet is in the typical Petrarchan form with a rhyme scheme of a b b a a b b a c d e c
d e.
 The poem reflects on the physical and spiritual challenges the speaker faces as a blind
person.
 The poet says that the light has left his eyes even before half his life is over, that is, just
when he is about to reach his middle age.
 The poet says that God has given him the talent of poetic composition, and if he is not
able to produce something worthwhile using that talent, then he deserves to die. He
wishes to serve God by using his talent.
 He asks God whether he would be cruel enough to expect something productive from
a blind man as the price for providing him with the talent that has helped him earn his
bread and butter thus far.
 The poem ends with a note of consolation as the speaker calls attention to the fact that
those who are unable to rush over land and ocean, like Milton himself, who “only stand
and wait” can also serve God. There is hope in the end, after all, “darkness” prevails
just before the breaking of “light” at dawn.

LESSON 3: LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI BY JOHN KEATS

 Born on 31st October, 1795.

 Keats wrote short poems entitled “Imitation of Spenser '' which was inspired by
Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene.
 His first volume of poems was published in March 1817.
 Endymion: A Poetic Romance was Keats’ next work to be published in May 1818.
  The first of his great odes, namely, Ode to Psyche, Ode to a Grecian Urn and Ode
to a Nightingale were published in 1819.
 n the latter half of the same year, Keats published his only drama, Otho the Great.
His third and last volume, Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes and Other Poems
were published in July 1820.
 Keats passed away in Rome in 1821 at the age of twenty five.

About the poem

 La Belle Dame Sans Merci is a lyrical ballad by John Keats composed in 1819
 Ballad is one of the oldest forms in English, it arises out of folk literature just like the
Epic. It was handed down from generation to generation through oral tradition before
the invention of printing. Hence, the ballad is short story in verse intended originally to
be sung to an audience.
 La Belle Dame sans Merci.’ ‘The woman is beautiful, but merciless.’ Keats’s title,
which he got from a 15th-century courtly love poem by Alain Chartier (La Belle Dame
sans Mercy), provides a clue to the poem’s plot
 The poem begins with the speaker asking a knight what’s wrong – this knight-at-arms
is on his own, looking pale as he loiters on a hillside. This knight-at-arms has a lily-
white forehead (i.e. he’s pale), and a rose-coloured cheek. But symbolically, this rose
is withering: love has gone rotten.
 It’s at this point that the voice in the poem shifts from this first speaker – the one
questioning the knight about what’s up with him – to the knight-at-arms himself. The
knight then tells us his story: he met a beautiful lady in the meadows, who the knight
believes was the child of a faery – there was something fey or supernatural and
otherworldly about this woman. She had wild eyes, which imply an unpredictability in
her nature.
 The knight tells his interlocutor how he was inspired to shower this ‘faery’s child’ with
gifts: a garland or wreath for her head, bracelets for her wrists, and a sweet-smelling
girdle for her waist. The woman looks as though she loves these gifts, and moans
sweetly. The knight puts the lady up on his horse and rides all day without taking his
eyes off her – not a pursuit we’d recommend when riding a horse. As the lady delicately
rides his horse side-saddle, as befits a lady, she sings a ‘faery’s song’.
 As if to complement the three gifts (garland, bracelets, ‘zone’ or girdle) the knight gave
her, the belle dame sans merci gives the knight three sweet gifts: sweet relish, wild
 honey, and manna-dew (implying something almost divine: ‘manna’ was the foodstuff
that fell from heaven in the Old Testament). In a strange language, the lady tells the
knight she loves him. She takes him to her Elfin grotto, where she proceeds to weep
and sigh; the knight silences her with four kisses. The lady, in turn, silences the knight
by lulling him to sleep – presumably with another ‘faery’s song’ – and the knight
dreams of men, pale kings and princes, crying that ‘La belle dame sans merci’ has him
enthralled or enslaved.
 In the evening twilight, the knight sees the starved lips of these men – men who have
presumably also been enthralled or bewitched by such a belle dame sans merci – as they
try to warn him, and then the knight awakens and finds himself alone on the hillside
where the poem’s original speaker encountered him. And that’s how he ended up here,
alone and palely loitering.

LESSON 4: ODE TO A SKYLARK BY PERCY BYSHE SHELLEY

ABOUT THE POET:

 P.B.Shelley was born the 4th of August, 1792 in Sussex, England. He attended Eton
College from where he began writing poetry and later went on to study at Oxford
University. But he was expelled from Oxford within a year for writing and
publishing an article on atheism. Shelley then eloped with Harriet Westbrook and
published his first long poem two years later.
 This poem was titled Queen Mab: A Philosophical Poem. This poem was a result
of Shelley’s friendship with William Godwin. Shelley later took Godwin’s
daughter, Mary as his second wife after the suicide of his first wife Harriet. Two
years later he meets Byron in Switzerland and they develop a lasting friendship.
This happy period in Shelley's life however came to an end when Harriet suicides
and dies. He tries to gain custody of his children in vain. His later poems are marked
by melancholy. Shelley died in 1822 when his boat was caught in a storm and he
drowned
ABOUT THE POEM:

 The speaker passionately calls out to a skylark, praising it as a joyous “spirit.” The
speaker goes on to explain that the skylark was never really a bird. Rather, the skylark
is a creature from Heaven—or at least near Heaven—and from there, the skylark
spontaneously pours out its emotions in plentiful, artful strings of musical notes.

 The bird continues to soar, rising higher and higher from the earth, which reminds the
speaker of billowing flames. The bird glides throughout the vast, blue sky, flying as it
sings and singing as it flies.
 The sun begins to set, giving off a golden light that illuminates the surrounding
clouds. The bird drifts about the glimmering sky, as if it’s a disembodied form of
happiness only just beginning a race.
 The faint purple evening makes way for the skylark’s flight, dissolving around it and
enveloping the bird. The skylark is like a bright star in the sky that can't be seen during
the day. The speaker can't see the bird, but still hears its high-pitched song.
 The speaker deems the skylark's song as bright and piercing as moonbeams, whose
powerful glow is dimmed by the bright white of the morning sky. Although its light is
difficult to make out, the speaker notes, people still perceive that it is present.
 The skylark’s rich calls seem to fill the whole sky and earth below, reminding the
speaker of the moon on a clear night—its rays stream out from a solitary cloud,
appearing to fill the sky until it overflows.
 As human beings do not truly understand the power of the skylark, the speaker asks the
bird for help finding a worthy comparison for it, asking the skylark what other creature
or thing is most like itself. The speaker explains that even the light-reflecting water
droplets of rainbow clouds pale in comparison to the showers of beautiful music that
the skylark rains down.
 The speaker compares the skylark to a poet enveloped in a deep thought. The poet writes
uninvited lyrics—brought about by pure creative instinct—until humankind is made
sympathetic to the hopes and fears it has previously disregarded.
 Next, the speaker compares the skylark to an aristocratic young woman who secretly
sings from the tower of a castle to comfort her soul, which is burdened by love. Her
songs are as delightful as love itself, and they fill her chambers.
 According to the speaker, the skylark is also similar to a radiant glow-worm in a small,
dew-covered valley. Not out of obligation, but rather of its own free will, the glow-
 worm distributes its glowing light among the plant life, which hides the insect from
view.
 Finally, the speaker likens the skylark to a rose that is sheltered by its own leaves before
warm gusts of air sweep them away. The overwhelming sweetness of the flower’s
perfume intoxicates nearby bees.
 The speaker goes on to list all the pleasant sounds that cannot compare to the skylark’s
song—light springtime rain falling on glistening grass, flowers brought to life by
rainfall, and everything else that has ever been happy, sharp, and vibrant.
 Unsure whether the skylark is more like a bird or a fairy, the speaker asks the skylark
to educate humankind about its pure, delightful thoughts. The speaker claims to have
never heard human communication—lyrics worshiping things like romance and wine—
that was as heavenly as the skylark’s impassioned outpourings of emotion.
 In the speaker’s eyes, when measured against the birdsong, even wedding hymns and
songs celebrating victories are nothing but hollow boasts that hint at an unspoken desire
for something more.
 The speaker wonders aloud about the sources of inspiration behind the skylark’s calls,
asking the bird which objects have been the source of its joyful melodies—specific
stretches of open land, bodies of water, or mountain ranges? Formations of sky or
grassland? Love of other larks or unfamiliarity with suffering?
 Due to the clear, intense happiness in the skylark’s song, the speaker cannot imagine
that it is exhausted or has known any trace of irritation. The speaker concludes that the
skylark loves but has never experienced the sadness that excessive love can bring.
 Moreover, the speaker believes that the skylark—whether conscious or not—must
consider matters of death more deeply and insightfully than mere mortal human beings
could imagine. The speaker wonders what else could explain how the skylark’s music
flows forth with such beauty and clarity.
 The speaker elaborates on the differences between human concerns and those of the
skylark—people look towards the past and the future and long for what they don’t
have. Further, even the most genuine human laughter contains some degree of suffering,
and the most pleasing songs that people compose also express the most misery.
 Even if humankind was incapable of crying and could reject hatred, vanity, and fear,
the speaker still does not believe that it would be able to approximate the skylark’s
bliss.
  Addressing the skylark as a creature who dismisses earthly matters, the speaker explains
that, to poets, the skylark’s skill is greater than the rhythm of any beautiful sound or
any precious piece of information that can be found in a book.
 The speaker makes one final plea to the skylark, asking the bird to share half the
knowledge of happiness that it must have. The speaker believes that gaining such
knowledge would cause melodious chaos to spill from the speaker’s
mouth. Furthermore, the speaker believes that humankind would listen to such verses,
just as the speaker listens to the skylark.

LESSON: 5: W H AUDEN: IN MEMORY OF W.B.YEATS

 W.H. Auden’s poem In Memory of W. B. Yeats. It was written in 1939 when William
Butler Yeats, the famous Irish poet and dramatist died.
 ELEGY: A poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.Eg: Walt
Whitman's poem ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd’ on the death of Abraham
Lincoln, or it can mourn humanity in general, as in Thomas Gray's ‘Elegy Written in a
Country Churchyard’.
 Traditionally an elegy includes three stages of loss: the first is an expression of grief;
the second is full of praise for the deceased person; the third contains consolation and
solace. Auden’s poem draws on that traditional form but, makes it clear that while
memory deals with the past, it takes place in the present.
 The title suggests that this poem is an elegy and Auden is mourning Yeats. However
the poem as a whole does not focus exclusively on Yeats to praise him. Auden brings
the role of the poet, poetry, temporality, war and delusion.

ABOUT THE POET:

 English poet, playwright, critic, and librettist Wystan Hugh Auden exerted a major
influence on the poetry of the 20th century.
 Auden’s first book titled ‘Poems’ was published privately by his friend, Stephen
Spender, in the year 1928.
 Auden was granted US citizenship in 1946.
 Auden won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his poem, “The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque
Eclogue” in 1947.
 Auden died in Austria on 29th September 1973.
  W.B.YEATS: Nobel Prize winner William Butler Yeats was one of the founders of the
Irish Literary Revival.
 His works were based on Irish mythology and history.
 A devoted patriot, Yeats found his voice to speak out against the harsh Nationalist
policies of the time. His works explore the greater themes of life in contrast to art, and
finding beauty in the mundane.

ABOUT THE POEM:

 When Auden wrote "In Memory of W. B. Yeats" in February 1939, Europe was on the
verge of World War II.
 Auden’s poem breaks the mold of traditional elegies and chooses to not just lament the
death of Yeats, but it covers the great poet’s life and work.
 The poem begins with the description of the day W.B.Yeats died. Both the physical
world and the poet’s body are in a frozen state.
 Describes the status of European politics just before the beginning of the world war.
Everything together suggests that the day the poet died was a dark, cold day, literally
for the entire world.
 Although the poet is dead, his poetry still survives along with all its limitations,
weaknesses and failures.
 These works of W.B.Yeats are passed from one generation to the next and will continue
to exist independent of his personal history, thoughts or experiences.
 The world moves on unaffected by the death of the poet. People will continue to talk of
liberty, equality and democracy while their freedom is in constant danger. But in
between all these, a few people will remember the poet and his works.
 Although Yeats spent a lot of his time and effort for Irish snationalism, Ireland still
remains the same. The speaker feels that even great poetry don’t have the power to
correct or modify the course of history and thus emphasizes on the futility of poetry in
the modern world.
 In fact, poetry belongs more to the spiritual world rather than the material world. But
great poetry still survives and inspires others because it springs out of the suffering of
the poet
 The poem concludes by summing up Yeats achievements. Some of the messages
conveyed through the poem are that a poet’s work becomes independent of him after
the poet’s death as they are interpreted in different ways which are not under his control.
 Throughout the poem, we find weather and water taking is personified. The funeral is
taking place and the author is invoking the Earth in order to receive the body of the poet
and simultaneously regrets that Ireland is now devoid of its poetry.
 The speaker ends the poem in an optimistic note, hoping that Yeats’ poetry will enlarge
our sensibilities and help us in living a better life.

LESSON 6: DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT NIGHT

ABOUT THE POET:

 Dylan Thomas was born in Wales in the year 1914, the very same year that World
War I began. Therefore, we find his reaction to the two world wars leaving a strong
influence on his writings. His very first book of poetry made him instantly famous.
He was also known to be a heavy drinker and unfortunately, two years into writing
“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” about his father’s approaching death, he
himself dies.
 He died at the age of 39
 “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is a poem by the Welsh poet Dylan
Thomas, first published in 1951. Though the poem was dedicated to Thomas’s
father, it contains a universal message.

ABOUT THE POEM

 Don’t peacefully welcome death. The elderly should passionately fight against death as
their lives come to an end.

 Smart people at the end of their lives understand that death is inevitable- they haven’t
yet said anything startling or revolutionary, nothing powerful enough to shock the world
like a bolt of lightning, refuse to peacefully accept death.

 Good people, seeing the last moments of their lives pass by like a final wave, mourn
the fact that they weren't able to accomplish more, because even small actions might
have moved about joyously in a "green bay". So they resist, resist the oncoming
darkness of their deaths.

 Daring people who have lived in the moment and embraced life to the fullest,
metaphorically catching a joyful ride across the sky on the sun, they realize too late
that the sun is leaving them behind, and that even they must die—but they refuse to
peacefully accept death.
  Serious people, about to die, realize with sudden clarity that even those who have lost
their sight can, like meteors, be full of light and happiness. So they resist the oncoming
darkness of their deaths.

 At last the poet says to his dad, he is close to the death, as if on the peak of a
mountain. Burden and gift me with your passionate emotions, I pray to you. Do not go
peacefully into the welcoming night of death. Resist, resist the oncoming darkness of
your death.

LESSON 7: MY LAST DUCHESS: -ROBERT BROWNING

ABOUT THE POET

 ROBERT BROWNING: Robert Browning is one of the poets of the Victorian Era
alongside Tennyson.
 Born in London in 1812, he wrote his first poem at the age of 14. He dropped out of the
University of London after a year of study. He tried his hand at drama, but was
unsuccessful.
 Some of his early works include Sordello(1840) and Pippa Passes(1841) which is verse
drama.
 Since Elizabeth Barrett’s father didn’t approve of their marriage, they both eloped and
secretly married two years later. The next 15 years, they both spent living in Italy.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning died in 1861, after which Robert Browning gained a
reputation as a poet.
 Some of his most celebrated dramatic monologues include My Last Duchess, Fra Lippo
Lippi and Porphyria’s Lover.
 Browning died in 1889.

SETTING OF THE POEM

 Robert Browning's My Last Duchess was published in “Dramatic Lyrics” in 1842, in

“Dramatic Romances and Lyrics” in 1849 and finally in “Dramatic Romances” in 1863.
 In form, My Last Duchess is a dramatic monologue. The poem attempts to reveal the
Duke’s character as well as the character of man to whom the Duke is speaking in the
poem.
 Critics and scholars generally agree that the incident described in the poem has a basis
in history and that the Duke is a poetic recreation of Alphonso II, Duke of Ferrara
 (1523), the story of whose first and second marriage is similar to the story of Browning's
Duke in the poem.
 His first wife, Lucrezia, who died possibly a virgin at the age of 17, under suspicious
circumstances might be the model of the Last Duchess. After the death of Lucrezia, the
Duke did negotiate for his second marriage through the agent of the court of Tyrol, and
this agent, who was a native of Innsbruck may be the man in the poem to whom the
Duke is speaking to.
 It draws attention to the nature of the bond of marriage that existed in the Italian
Renaissance. The wife, in those days, was regarded as the private possession of the
husband, something like an object of art or architecture.

DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE:

 The dramatic monologue is a poetic form and not a dramatic art form. It is a speech in
the form of poetry addressed to a silent listener. Robert Browning is considered to be
one of the chief exponents of this form of poetry.
 Alfonso shows the painting of his deceased Duchess exhibited on the wall. He feels that
the image is alive and remarks the painting as a remarkable achievement. He reveals
that the artist is Fra Pandolf who spent a day to complete the portrait. His artistry has
resulted in the life like image of the Duchess and he asks the emissary to examine the
painting.
 The Duke acknowledges that whenever strangers look at the painting, they want to ask
how the artist was able to achieve such depth in emotion. So, he answers the emissary
without a question being asked. Moreover, the Duke is the only one who can unveil the
curtain of the painting and answer the questions as no else is allowed to go near the
painting. Alfonso explains that his last Duchess expressed joy not only in the presence
of her husband [the Duke], but also when others are present.
 It is the reason for her cheeks to express joy in the presence of Fra Pandolf.
 Alfonso tries to explain the smile on the face of his wife with the use of imaginary
claims. He thinks that Fra Pandolf might have said that the cloak of the Duchess covers
the wrists [a way of flirting] or remarking that such beauty can never be reproduced by
paints.
  The Duke says that such words were enough to produce a smile on her face as she
believed that they were the words of courteousness. She was the one who would derive
gladness from anything quickly. She admired everything and her sight could derive
happiness from everywhere. To the Duchess, according to the Duke, his expensive gift
at her breast, setting sun, cherries presented by a fool, riding on her mule, etc. were
things of joy and she blushed to enjoy any of them. Alfonso believes that she thanked
many men, but in a suspicious way.
 He could not believe that she thinks other gifts equivalent to the proud family name
given by the Duke. However, Alfonso expresses that it is too low to bend to her level
and try to mend her ways even if it is possible.
 The Duke goes on to explain that three factors stood in his way for advising the Duchess
– he claims his inability to deliver a good speech than can change the predicament of
his wife, even if he achieves it would be shameful if the wife gives out an excuse to
escape and lastly Alfonso says that he will not be stooping down for anything.
 Alfonso admits to the emissary that his wife smiled at him as a mark of love, but he felt
that the same smile was produced to anyone who passes her by. As this indiscriminate
behaviour of the Duchess grew, the Duke couldn’t bear it and gave orders to silence
her.
 After narrating a compelling story about the death of his wife, the Duke shows the
emissary the painting by Fra Pandolf where one can find the life like image of her. The
Duke resumes to business and asks the emissary to come with him to join the others.
 He emphasizes that the emissary’s master – a Count, is a rich man and he expects to get
a good amount as dowry. However, Alfonso also states that the Count’s daughter is
more important to him than dowry. On the way down, Alfonso points out at another art
piece – Neptune taming a sea-horse. The bronze statue was made by Claus of Innsbruck.

LESSON 8: A VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MOURNING: - JOHN DONNE

ABOUT THE POET

 John Donne (1572-1631), the most prominent poet of the metaphysical school of
poetry, was born in London, into a Roman Catholic family when practice of that
religion was illegal in England.
 His father was John Donne, a prosperous ironmonger and his mother was Elizabeth
Heywood, the daughter of John Heywood, the playwright
  Many of his poems were written for wealthy friends or patrons, especially Sir Robert
Drury, who came to be Donne’s Chief Patron in 1610.
 Donne wrote the two Anniversaries, An Anatomy of the World (1611) and Of the
Progress of the Soul (1612), for Drury.
 In 1610 and 1611 he wrote two anti- catholic polemics: Pseudo-Martyr and Ignatius
His Conclave.
 In 1615, he took Holy Orders. James I appointed him a royal chaplain and he began to
acquire a reputation as a fine preacher.
 Donne became unwell in 1630 and he died on 31 March 1631.
 Donne has innumerable songs and sonnets, divine poems, satires, epigrams, sermons
and other similar works to his credit.
 Some of his important works are A Nocturnall upon Lucies Day, A Valediction:
Forbidding Mourning, The Extasie, Devotions and Death’s Duell.
 The Metaphysical School of Poets: The term metaphysical’ was first used by Dryden
and further extended by Dr. Johnson. It refers to a group of British lyric poets of the
17th century who employed far-fetched imagery, abstruse arguments, scholastic
philosophical terms, and subtle logic. John Donne was the leading figure of the
metaphysical school of poets. The other poets who belonged to this group were George
Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Henry Vaughan, Thomas Carew and Abraham Cowley.

ABOUT THE POEM:

 A valediction Forbidding Mourning is one of the better-known poems of Donne for its
conceit of the compass. It was written in 1611. The poem was addressed to the poet’s
wife. It was written on the occasion of the poet’s departure for France with Sir Robert
Drury.
 Virtuous men are not afraid of death they pass away quietly, and gently ask their souls
to depart from this world without any fret or fever, even though their friends are sad at
their death, and want that they should live here for some time more. Others do not want
them to die at all.
 Speaking to his wife the poet says that like virtuous people, let them also bid good-bye
to each other without making any noise about it. The poet does not want to raise floods
by their tears nor tempests by their sighs. It would be a vulgarisation of their love, to
mourn and weep and in this way tell the world of it. Their love is something sacred and
 they must not defile it. The poet is actually making fun of the ordinary lovers who often
make a show off of their love.
 Moving of the earth, as during an earth quake, bring disaster and frightens people.
People calculate the damage it does. But the movement of the sun and other heavenly
bodies, though much greater, causes no damage and people are not afraid of it. Their
parting is like the trepidation of the heavenly bodies and so it is not to be dreaded.
 Their love is so spiritual and refined that even they themselves do not understand its
real nature. They are sure that their love will not diminish by the absence of the beloved.
Theirs is a spiritual passion that the physical self, eyes, ears, lips, hands etc do not
matter at all to them.
 Their souls are one and they are rather more strongly united by the temporary
separation. The departure of the poet would not cause any breach in his love. Rather it
will expand, like gold, when beaten, does not break but expands wider and wider.
 If their souls are considered as two, they will be like the two legs of a compass. Her
soul is the fixed foot which does not want to move itself but is made to move because
the other soul (the other foot of the compass) moves.
 The beloved is like the fixed foot of the compass which remains fixed at the centre. But
it leans and follows the other foot when it moves, and grows erect and unites with the
moving foot when it returns to the starting point after completing the circle. Similarly,
his going away would be like the moving of the foot of a compass and they would be
united when he returns home.
 The beloved has the same relations with the lover as the fixed foot of the compass has
with the moving foot, which moves and draws a circle. It is the firmness of the fixed
foot that enables the moving foot to draw the circle correctly, and then return to the
place where it began. Similarly, it is the firmness of her love that enables him to
complete his journey successfully and then return home.

LESSON :9 ESSAY ON MAN : ALEXANDER POPE

ABOUT THE POET

 ALEXANDER POPE :Alexander Pope was born in Lombard Street, London on 21 May
1688.
 Because of his religion , Pope was barred from attending public school or university
and was thus largely self-educated.
  He read widely and taught himself French, Italian, Latin and Greek. At 12 years, he
began suffering from a debilitating bone deformity which would plague the rest of his
entire life.
 He remained a hunchback, only four feet six inches tall, but proved his genius at a very
early age and still remains the most quoted writer after Shakespeare.
 He is a representative poet of the Neoclassical age as well as a satirist. Pope’s first
important work, “The Pastorals” (1709) was published when he was just sixteen years
old. This was followed by Essays on Criticism (1711) and Windsor Forest (1713). His
final important works were The Satires and The Epistles.
 Alexander Pope died at Twickenham on May 30,1744.

ABOUT THE POEM

 The first portion of "Essay on Man," called "The Design," is written in prose and serves
as an introduction to the piece. The speaker addresses the essay to his friend Henry St.
John, Lord Bolingbroke, who has written on similar subjects. The speaker explains the
purpose of the essay—to write about "Man in the abstract, his Nature and his State."
He believes it is necessary to know something thoroughly before criticizing it. The
speaker claims that human nature can be reduced to a few points of argument. He has
tried to avoid extreme opinions in the piece, striking a moderate stance.
 The speaker explains that he has written the essay in verse for two reasons. First, the
speaker believes that verse is easier than prose for the reader to understand and
remember. Second, he contends that it is easier to be concise in verse. The speaker also
says that this essay is merely a basic map of humanity. He alludes to the fact that his
health may prevent him from writing further.
 Epistle 1
 The poem is divided into four numbered sections that Pope calls Epistles, or letters.
Each epistle is preceded by an "Argument" that first states the topic of the epistle and
then summarizes the main point of each stanza in the epistle with a list corresponding
to the numbered stanzas.
 The basic message conveyed in this section is condensed into the beginning lines of the
final stanza in section II, “Then say not Man’s imperfect, Heav’n in fault; Say rather,
Man’s as perfect as he ought.” Pope makes use of this section in order to enumerate the
follies of “Presumptuous Man”.
  The poet states that human beings tend to focus more on their limitations and inabilities
rather than their abilities and skill. He further emphasizes that God has the ability to
mould and pilot our fate. He also asserts that we can only analyse what’s around us and
because of that we cannot be sure of the existence of a greater being or sphere beyond
our of comprehension.
 The speaker conveys that it is more logical to perceive the universe as functioning
through a hierarchical system.

LESSON: 10: STANLEY KUNITZ: THE LAYERS

ABOUT THE POET

 Stanley Jasspon Kunitz was born on the 29th of July, 1905 in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Stanley Kunitz did his Bachelor’s and Master’s from Harvard University and taught at
colleges like Columbia, Princeton and Yale. He was also the Poet Laureate in 2000.
“The Layers” was first published in 1978. Some of his other works are The Testing-
Tree (1971), The Terrible Threshold (1974), The Poems of Stanley Kunitz (1979) and
Next- to -Last Things (1985). He died on the 14th of May, 2006 in Newyork.
ABOUT THE POEM

 The speaker has been many people and lived different lives. Now, as he looks back on
his past, he sees a wasteland. He struggles to overcome it, but in the middle of the poem,
he makes a transition and decides that he’s going to accept the “layers” of his life and
not live off the “litter”. The poem concludes on a hopeful and determined note.
 The speaker begins by telling the intended listener, that he has “walked through many
lives” and some of them have even been his own. He has taken on different
personalities, belief systems, and patterns, as we all do, throughout his life.
 He has tried to maintain the “principle of being” that’s at his core. This could be
described as a basic set of moral principles or beliefs. Perhaps he is thinking of his soul
or the person he believes he was meant to be. It is a “struggle” he says not to “stray”
from this baseline.
  Through a metaphor, he compares it to “milestones” on the road and “slow fires trailing
from the abandoned camp-sites”. These “sites” represent moments in his personal
history that stick out.
 His memories are powerful and he worries over what he cannot change. He remembers
the past and things that used to be meaningful to him, like “affections” and his “tribe”.
 The speaker’s outlook is more positive and he considers the “stones” on his past road
as “precious”.
 The speaker recalls a moving and likely metaphorical memory from the past. There
were times in the “darkest night” when he would be roaming through the wreckage of
his personal history that he’d hear a god-like voice. The voice tells him to “Live in the
layers / not on the litter”. He should take strength from the layers of his own life, the
experiences he has and the people he’s been. It should be something that fuels him
rather than something he struggles to overcome.

LESSON 11: Leonard Cohen: I’m your Man

ABOUT THE POET

 Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and poet. “Let Us

Compare Mythologies” (1956) was his first book of poetry. His next major work was
“The Spice-Box of Earth” in 1961 which was the work which gave him a distinct voice
in Canadian poetry. His other important poetry collections are Death of a Lady’s Man
(1978), Book of Mercy (1984), Stranger Music : Selected Poems and Songs (1993) and
Book of Longing (2006).

ABOUT THE POEM

 “I am Your Man” was first released in February, 1988. It was praised by critics and
described as the album in which Cohen returned to form. It was ranked as 51 on
Pitchfork’s list of the 100 best albums of the 1980s.
 The speaker begins by stating that he is ready to do anything for his beloved. He is
ready to do whatever she would enjoy. The phrase “another kind of love” could refer
to sensual or physical love alone.
 The speaker goes on to say he is ready to hold her hand and be her partner. He is also
willing to stand while she strikes him in anger (probably for not keeping the promises
he had made in the past). He admits that he is also ready to be a boxer along with her
 in the same boxing ring. He is ready to be a doctor and examine her or even a driver to
take her anywhere she desires.
 He thinks begging at her knees is of no use. Instead, he is ready to crawl and fall at her
feet. He is even ready for just a temporary love affair He is also ready to be the father
to her child. There is a sense of urgency, aggressive love.

MODULE 3
WORLD POETRY

CHILDHOOD
RAINER MARIA RILKE

 “Childhood” is a poem of thirty-three lines divided into four stanzas. The title would generally
lead the reader to expect a poem describing a time of innocence and joy, and while “Childhood”
does this to some extent, it also describes a contrasting sad side to childhood.
 The poem is written in the third person, which often serves to distance the poet from the
speakers or perspectives in the poem. However, in “Childhood” the unnamed, pale child and
his feelings of loneliness, isolation, and sadness resemble Rilke’s remembrance of his own
childhood quite closely. “Childhood” begins with a short description of school; it is shown in
an entirely negative light. The atmosphere is stuffy, the hours spent there are long and boring,
and the feelings the child experiences are of anxiety and loneliness. The relief and joy of
dismissal contrasts sharply with the “heavy lumpish time” in school. The streets ring out with
children’s voices, the town squares are full of bubbling fountains, and the outdoor world has
endless space and possibilities.
 At the end of the first stanza a small child is introduced as different from all the others. Though
he shares in the exultant feeling of release from school, he walks a different path, alone and
lonely.
 The second stanza shows the wider world from the child’s perspective, one both distanced and
perceptive. He watches men and women, children in brightly colored clothes, houses, here and
there a dog. This description of the physical world suddenly changes to intense emotions
 underlying the seemingly simple neighborhood scene; feelings of silent terror alternate with
trust.
 The stanza ends, as they all do, with a few words or phrases expressing the child’s and poet’s
emotional perspective of the scene or event described. After observing the peaceful setting and
sensing the conflicting emotions of fear and trust, there is a feeling of senseless sadness,
dreams, and horror.
 The third and fourth stanzas narrow their focus to the child’s more immediate environment and
playtime. As daylight begins to fade, the small, pale child plays with balls, hoops, and bats,
rushes around blindly playing tag, and bumps into some grown-ups in the process. Evening
quietly arrives; playtime is over as the child is led home firmly by the hand. Sometimes the
child plays for hours at the pond with his sailboat, trying to forget the others whose boats are
prettier.
 The poem ends with the boy contemplating his reflection in the water, “looking up as it sank
down,” wondering where childhood is taking him, where it all will lead.

SOME ADVICE TO THOSE WHO WILL SERVE TIME IN PRISON

NAZIM HIKMET

 Nazim Hikmet is considered as the “first modern Turkish poet”. Hikmet was influenced by
Communist ideals. He studied in Moscow and met many artists and writers. Later on, he
went back to Russia as his writing was censored in Turkey. After returning to Turkey later,
he wrote nine books of poetry.
 He also worked as a journalist, script writer and translator. After being jailed for his
political beliefs, Hikmet decided to leave turkey for good in 1951. Initially Hikmet’s poetry
was political in nature. Later on, he focused on Turkish folk tradition. Unlike the highly
stylized poetry of other Turkish poets, Hikmet wrote in a colloquial and conversational
fashion. He was often compared to the American poet Walt Whitman.
 Hikmet was admired by people all over the world. Pablo Picasso and Pablo Neruda were
two of his supporters when he was imprisoned in Turkey. Hikmet died in Moscow in 1963.
 Hikmet was imprisoned for his political views while he was living in Turkey. Hence he had
firsthand knowledge of the impact of prison on the inmates.
 In this poem he tells people ways to overcome the challenges one faces in prison. The most
important thing is not to think that death is better than prison. Your death is your enemies
want, therefore living is a kind of victory over your enemies. Prisoners have to make up
their mind to survive, come what may.
 A prisoner lives a dual life as half of him is tied down to the prison whereas the other half
is concerned about what is happening in the outside world. Longing is something that will
weaken a prisoner.
 Therefore, it is not wise to wait for letters, sing sad songs and stay awake at night. What
one should do instead is to groom oneself well, forget how old one is and eat as much as
possible to retain physical health. It is also important to remain happy as sorrow can kill
people when they are imprisoned. While we are in prison, our lovers might ditch us. This
should not be taken too lightly as it is indeed a great emotional blow to the prisoner. While
in prison it is better to think about the freedom in nature symbolized by seas and mountains
rather than homely pleasures symbolized by roses and gardens.
 A prisoner may lose the love of his family, but his people and nature are eagerly awaiting
his return. It is also important keep oneself occupied by reading or writing, as it helps one
to free oneself from the confines of prison. One should also keep boredom away by weaving
or making mirrors. Doing time in prison is not impossible for people, as long as their hearts
don’t give up.
MOTHER TO SON
LANGSTON HUGHES

 Langston Hughes was an important poet of the Harlem Renaissance (also known as The
New Negro Renaissance). He is often called the Dean of African American Writers. He
wrote extensively about the discrimination faced by black people in America. Through his
writing he tried to create positive images of black life and identity. He used a simple and
direct style in his writings.
 He often wrote about the poorest of the poor among the black people. He is often referred
to as the Poet laureate of the Negro race. His first collection The Weary Blues was published
in 1926. It contains the famous poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” which he wrote while
crossing the Mississippi river to meet his dying father. He was a believer in the American
dream like Walt Whitman and was severely criticized by later Afro American writers for
this belief.
 Langston Hughes (1901-1967) was an American poet, novelist, playwright, and social
activist.
 Hughes is best known as the leader of Harlem Renaissance. Harlem Renaissance is a
flourishing of African American culture, especially in the creative art. This movement
occurred in the 1920s and the hub of which was Harlem, New York City.
 He is also one of the innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry.
 "Mother to Son" was first published in a magazine The Crisis in 1922, and it was later
collected in Hughes' first book The Weary Blues (1926).
 The poem, written in free verse, is a dramatic monologue.
 It describes the difficulties that black people face in a racist society.
 The poem also argues that the black people can overcome the obstacles and challenges in
their life through persistence and resilience.

Well, son, I'll tell you:

Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor-
Bare.

 The speaker of the poem is a mother, and she advices her son how to improve in a racist
society.
 The poet has used climbing a stair as an extended metaphor to describe the hardships of
life. When the white people climb up a "crystal stair", meaning they enjoy a luxurious life,
the blacks are forced to take a dangerous staircase. Succeeding in life is never easy for
them.

But all the time

I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
 The speaker has been moving forward with the life despite the difficulties she faces.
 “landin's” might refer to different periods of her life.
 The turns and landings in the mother's ascend may also resemble short achievements and
success in her life. She has turned around the difficult situations in her life using her
persistence and will power.

So boy, don't you turn back.

Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now-
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin",
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

 The mother uses the word "boy to make sure that he still listens to her.
 As a black boy, her son may have to face a lot of obstacles before reaching his goal. But it
should not discourage him or make him lose his hopes.
 The mother wants his son to see and learn how she is overcoming the racial discriminations
imposed on them by the Whites.
 In `Mother to Son' the author points out the love and concern of a mother to her son. She
charges herself with the duty to impart wisdom on her child by referring to her own
successes and failures in life. She depicts life as a stairway that need to be climbed through
and through.
 Langston incorporates diction, rhythm and metaphorical language in his lyrical work. In
this guide of graphical depictions, the author says that life is hard and is comprised of
stumbling blocks. However, this need be overcome by keeping focus ahead without halts
of sitting down, turning, catching a break or even landing. Langston Hughes depicts a
strong willed mother talking to her son in the poem "Mother to Son". This poem recounts
the ideal woman giving her son words of advice regarding life and its challenges that need
be overcome. The author applies the 'stair-way' metaphor in relation to the life she has
lived.
TONIGHT, I CAN WRITE THE SADDEST LINES

PABLO NERUDA

 Original name: Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto

 The most important Latin American poet of the 20th century
 Pablo Neruda is his pseudonym. He wanted to hide his publications from his father, so he
adopted this name in memory of the Czechoslovak poet Jan Neruda.
 He was born in the year 1904 in Parral, Chile. He started writing at the age of ten and
published his first work at the age of thirteen and published his first volume of verse even
before he was twenty !
 His poetry is influenced by Surrealist and Symbolist movements.
 Received Nobel prize for Literature in 1971.
 Neruda had been influenced by: Federico Garcia Lorca, Whalt Whitman, Rabindranath
Tagore, & Alexander Pushkin.
 Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombian novelist, referred to him as "the greatest poet of the
20th century in any language".
 Neruda served as his country's ambassador to France. But later he was involved in many
political activities and he had to undergo political trial for his writings. He joined the
Communist party which was considered as illegal by the Chilean government that time,
and so he had to go on exile from his country.
 Neruda died of cancer in 1973, at the age of 71.

About the poem

 The poem 'Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines' which is published in Twenty Love
Poems and a Song of Despair, has been translated into many languages.
 The poem is about an experience that cuts across all kinds of boundaries and cultural
barriers. It talks about one of the most powerful emotions . love and lost love.
 The poem takes place under the great, endless sky dotted with numerous stars. The speaker
who recently lost the love of his life is bitterly regretting the separation and the night sky
he now sat under only reminded him of the moments he spent with her.
 The past was beautiful because the narrator was in love and loved. The present is unbearable
because he is no longer loved. The poem is built on this contrast.
 Setting: The poem takes place under the great, endless sky dotted with numerous stars. The
speaker who recently lost the love of his life is bitterly regretting the separation and the
night sky he now sat under only reminded him of the moments he spent with her.
Themes:
 Memory and Reminiscence
"Tonight, I Can Write" is a poem about memories of a lost love and the pain they can
cause. Throughout the poem the speaker recalls the details of a relationship that is now
broken. He continually juxtaposes images of the passion he felt for the woman he loved
with the loneliness he experiences in the present. He is now at some distance from the
relationship and so acknowledges, "tonight I can write the saddest lines," suggesting
that the pain he suffered after losing his lover had previously prevented any
reminiscences or descriptions of it. While the pain he experienced had blocked his
creative energies in the past, he is now able to write about their relationship and find
some comfort in "the verse [that] falls to the soul like dew to the pasture."

 Love and Passion

Throughout the poem, the speaker expresses his great love for a woman with whom he
had a passionate romance. He remembers physical details: "her great still eyes," "her
voice, her bright body," "her infinite eyes." He also remembers kissing her “again and
again under the endless sky” admitting "how I loved her." His love for her is still evident
even though he states twice "I no longer."
By the line tonight I can write the saddest lines', he suggests that he could not
previously. We later learn that his overwhelming sorrow over a lost lover has prevented
him from writing about their relationship and its demise. The speaker's constant
juxtaposition of past and present illustrate his inability to come to terms with his present
isolated state. Neruda's language is simple and to the point, suggesting the sincerity of
the speaker's emotions. The sense of distance is again addressed in the second and third
lines as he notes the stars shivering "in the distance." These lines also contain images
of nature, which will become a central link to his memories and to his present state. The
speaker contemplates the natural world, focusing on those aspects of it that remind him
of his lost love and the cosmic nature of their relationship.

Tonight, I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example, 'The night is shattered
and the blue stars shiver in the distance."
 The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

 The poem begins with the single line 'Tonight I can write the saddest lines', which is its
recurring theme, and is repeated all through the poem. The poem consists of night imagery,
and the alliteration of 's' all through the lines reflect the quiet night. He begins writing at
night, a time when darkness will match his mood. The night sky filled with stars offers him
no comfort since they are blue and shiver." Their distance from him reinforces the fact that
he is alone. However, he can appreciate the night wind that "sings" as his verses will,
describing the woman he loved.
The speaker of the poem recently lost the love of his life. He says 'tonight I can write'
implying that till that day he couldn't. Maybe the emotions and pain he felt were still
too raw to put it down to words. In that case this line implies that he is slowly healing
from the separation.
Tonight, I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes?

 Neruda repeats the first line in the fifth and follows it with a declaration of the speaker's
love for an unnamed woman. The staggered repetitions Neruda employs throughout the
poem provide thematic unity. The speaker introduces the first detail of their relationship
and he admits "sometimes she loved me too." He then recalls his time with her in "nights
like this one." The juxtaposition of nights from the past with this night reveals the change
that has taken place, reinforcing his sense of aloneness. In this section, Neruda links the
speaker's lover with nature, a technique he will use throughout the poem to describe the
sensual nature of their relationship.
 In the eighth line, the speaker remembers kissing his love "again and again under the
endless sky" a sky as endless as, he had hoped, their relationship would be. An ironic
reversal of line six occurs in line nine when the speaker states, "She loved me, sometimes
I loved her too." The speaker may be offering a cynical statement of the fickle nature of
love at this point. However, the eloquent, bittersweet lines that follow suggest that in this
line he is trying to distance himself from the memory of his love for her and so ease his
suffering. Immediately, in the next line he contradicts himself when he admits, "How could
 one not have loved her great still eyes." The poem's contradictions create a tension that
reflects the speaker's desperate attempts to forget the past.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is stary and she is not with me. This is at. In the distance someone is singing,
in the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
 In line 11 Neruda again repeats his opening line, which becomes a plaintive refrain. The
repetition of that line shows how the speaker is struggling to convince himself that enough
time has passed for him to have the strength to think about his lost love. But these lines are
"the saddest." He cannot yet escape the pain of remembering. It becomes almost unbearable
"to think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her." His loneliness is reinforced by
"the immense night, still more immense without her." Yet the poem he creates helps
replenish his soul, "like dew to the pasture."
 In line 15 the speaker refuses to analyze their relationship. What is important to him is that
"the night is starry and she is not with me" as she used to be on similar starry nights. "This
is all that is now central to him. When the speaker hears someone singing in the distance
and repeats "in the distance," he reinforces the fact that he is alone. No one is singing to
him. As a result, he admits "my soul is not satisfied."

My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.

My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.
The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.
I no longer love her, that? s certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.
Another? s. She will be another? s. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.

 In these lines the speaker expresses his longing to reunite with his love. His sight and his
heart try to find her, but he notes, "she is not with me." He again remembers that this night
 is so similar to the ones they shared together. Yet he understands that they "are no longer
the same." He declares that he no longer loves her, "that's certain," in an effort to relieve
his pain, and admits he loved her greatly in the past. Again, linking their relationship to
nature, he explains that he had "tried to find the wind to touch her hearing" but failed. Now
he must face the fact that "she will be another's." He remembers her "bright" body that he
knows will be touched by another and her "infinite eyes" that will look upon a new lover.

I no longer love her, that? s certain, but maybe I love her.

Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.

 The speaker reiterates, "I no longer love her, that's certain," but immediately contradicts
himself, uncovering his efforts at self-deception when he admits, "but maybe I love her."
With a world-weary tone of resignation, he concludes, "love is so short, forgetting is so
long." His poem has become a painful exercise in forgetting. In line twenty-nine he explains
that because this night is so similar to the nights in his memory when he held her in his
arms, he cannot forget. Thus, he repeats, "my soul is not satisfied." In the final two lines,
however, the speaker is determined to erase the memory of her and so ease his pain,
insisting that his verses (this poem) will be "the last verses that I write for her."

STONEMASONS, MY FATHER AND ME

NAMDEO LAXMAN DHASAL

 Dhasal was a Marathi poet and Dalit activist from the Mahar community. He experienced
the hardships that Dalit people go through in India during his childhood itself. In 1972 he
published his first anthology of poems titled Golpitha. He wrote in the Marathi language.
Apart from poetry he also published two novels and a number of prose pieces. Inspired by
 the work of Dr B.R. Ambedkar and the Black Panther movement of the United States, he
founded the Dalit Panthers movement. Dhasal also started a magazine called Vidroh to
publish the works of the Dalits.
 The poem "Stonemasons, My Father and Me" is taken from his first book "Golpitha". It
talks about the unjust past of his forefathers. It expresses the inner outrage of the speaker
for being denied and oppressed in the name of caste.
 The stonemasons, represented by his father, have been much sinned against, like the other
marginalized and oppressed people.
 Stonemasons belong to an untouchable community called Vadari or Vaddera. They break
huge blocks of stones into gravel and chips for their livelihood, leading a nomadic life and
move across the country in groups.
 The poet detests any attempt to eulogize or romanticize the stonemasons. He thinks that his
forefathers haven't got any justice for the society.
 Dhasal begins the poem by saying how the society, especially, the uppercaste, romanticize
the work of stonemasons. He is going to set fire to all such eulogies. Instead, he shows his
determination to scratch and pull out the unpleasant past experienced by people like his
father.
 He is going to play horns and trumpets against those who praise stonemasons as creators
of flowers out of shapeless stones He remembers the pain and suffering his father had to
undergo, which makes him very angry, and he says that he will express this rage until the
last moment of his life (or till his lips get burnt).
 Stonemasons might have inseminated the stones, but in the process they have lost their
energy and enthusiasm. He compares them to exhausted horses. Now he wants to express
his father's oppressed past through his burning poetry. His forefathers have sacrificed their
lives for the sake of others, but the speaker is never going to follow his predecessors. They
have built houses with stones, whereas he is so outrageous that he wants to break heads
with stones.
 The poet's father was a stone mason. Though people advised brother not to be like his
father. He glorifies the work of the stone mason and his father met the fate of every
stonemason, he died in starvation. Many of the masons worked and died like him .The
memories of his father are bitter and harsh. The poet is filled with revolt. Stonemasons
build stone houses with stones. But the poet breaks heads with stones.

WITHOUT TITLE
DIANE GLANCY

 Diane Glancy (B. 1941) is an American poet, playwright and fiction writer. Glancy was
born to a Cherokee-descent father and an English-German-American mother. At a young
age, she had a hard time with determining her identity because of how her Indian lifestyle
did not relate to what she was learning in school. Glancy decided to reclaim her Cherokee
descent and found it easy to express in her poetry.
 The poem "Without Title" talks about the pain of losing one's native culture and identity.
 The speaker's father had to leave behind his own former way of life, culture and family
when he was forced to live in the city after marrying a white lady.
 The new life for him was very dull and boring as opposed to the ceremonious life he had
lived amog his fellow natives.
For my father who lived without ceremony
It's hard to know without the buffalo,
the shaman, the arrow,
but my father went out each day to hunt
as though he had them.

 Even when staying in the city after the marriage with a white modern lady, the narrator's
father thought of himself as a Cherokee hunter and each day went out for hunting,
 But, sadly, he didn't have his traditional equipments and rituals, though he acted like he had
them.
He worked in the stockyards.
All his life he brought us meat.
No one marked his first kill,
no one sang his buffalo song.
 He worked in the stockyards where livestock is kept and sorted.
 He brought meat to his family every day. No one noticed his first hunting and killing the
buffalo and no one sang the buffalo song because he was no longer with his fellow men.
 Usually, when a native American makes his first kill, beautiful celebrations are followed.
Without a vision he had migrated to the city
and went to work in the packing house.
When he brought home his horns and hides
my mother said
 get rid of them.
 He had migrated to the city without any vision and worked in a packing house
 After the work when he came back home, the narrator's mother would be angry with him
because he bought with him the horn and hides and the father is insulted in front of his
children.

I remember the animal tracks of his car

backing out the drive in snow and mud,
the aerial on his old car waving
like a bow string.
 The car of the father was marked with the feet of different animals. He loves animals and
even on his cars the feet of animals are painted.
 She remembers him driving his car in snow and mud as if ploughing with buffalo.
 The aerial of his car was like a bow string.
I remember the silence of his lost power,
the red buffalo painted on his chest.
Oh, I couldn't see it
but it was there, and in the night I heard
his buffalo grunts like a snore.
 He loved buffalo so much that he even painted it on his chest
 The speaker thinks that even his snoring has a resemblance to the grunting of buffalo.
 Culture is a defining thing in every person's life and affects them and how they perceive
the world. In the poem "Without Title," the theme is that leaving behind one's former way
of life, culture, and family can lead to the loss of joy, identity, and joy in culture. In this
poem by Diane Glancy, it has different ways of showing this loss of culture and identity.
 Without Title uses a lot of figurative language to show this. Line 14 says, "I remember the
animal tracks of the car,". This shows how the author knows the culture she used to have
and recognizes that it is gone and there is no true part of her culture now. She calls car
tracks, animal tracks, which is something she would have seen if she had gotten to stay
with her people and family.
 These all have a wistful longing feel in the poem, one of sadness. In the final part of the
poem it says, "The red buffalo painted on his chest. Oh, I couldn't see it but it was there,"
This can be a representation of the author's father's lost culture, how he still has it be he is
not allowed to show it at all, so he just keeps it to himself. In both it shows all the father
 and the author have left of their culture, their memories, and physical reminders. It shows
a loss of identity, and that they both miss it.

ANNIVERSARIES OF WAR

YEHUDA AMICHAI

 Yehuda Amichai is a great Jewish poet of Israel. Yehuda Amichai was born in Germany,
May 2, 1924, into an Orthodox Jewish family. His family immigrated to Palestine to escape
from the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews during World War II.
 Amichai served in the British army during World War II. He also served in the Israeli army
during the Arab Israeli conflicts. His experiences with war strongly influenced his work.
Many of his poems deal with themes of war and its aftermath and often characterized by
themes of alienation and loneliness.
 Amichai died in 2000.His only novel is Not of This Time Not of This Place published in
1963. It was later dramatized as a play titled Bells and Trains in 1967. Critics often refer to
him as the "The Walt Whitman of Jerusalem". His many volumes of poetry encompasses
issues of both modern and ancient Jewish identity, tradition, faith, and history.
 In his poems he talked about about holocaust, God, loss, love, war, etc…
 The poem 'Anniversaries of War' is about the narrator's visit to Tel Gath, birth place of
Goliath, the giant who fought against David.
 Gath was also an Arab settlement which was abandoned by the residents during the Israeli
War of Independence. The title refers not only to the wars the poet fought but all the wars
in the middle ages. The poet speaks of taking his children to the burial mounds in Tel Gath.
 The speaker talks about the visit that he made to Tel Gath which is considered as the birth
place of Goliath. Goliath was a giant who was killed by David according to the Bible.
 Tel Gath is famous for wars. Many battles were fought from there at different points in
history.
 Personally, the narrator has a memory associated with the war, as he too fought a war at
the place. He is taking his children along with him so that they will forgive him for what
he did and what he did not do.
 He thinks that the distance between his fighting days and the present has become bigger.
Those days have become a mere memory for him now, and he is also aware that the present
will also go away from him. He reminisces about the time when he was in the battlefield.
He is not among the soldiers now but with his children.
 He sees a light wind there but only a few people move in the blowing wind. The wind might
mean the struggle that people face in their life. Only a few people overcome such struggles.
It might also mean that only a few people become eternal like the dandelions which survive
all seasons.
 'Dandelions in multitude' may mean that Tel Gath is a place where many people became
martyrs, and the way they died made them eternal. They will be remembered forever.
 He says that he and his children sat there, as in the poem by Shmuel Ha-Nahid, "on its back
and its side". Shmuel Ha-Nahid was also a war poet. Unlike the speaker, he recited his
poems to the soldiers before the battle, but the speaker has his children in front of him.
 The speaker was not able to sing to the soldiers in the battlefield like Shmuel, but he has
only his children to sing to. Says that he has resurrected on the mountain after a while. The
old memories were like a second Life for him. It reminds him of the fact that life is both
fleeting and eternal at the same time as the spring.

BE DRUNK

CHARLES BAUDELAIRE

 Charles Baudelaire was a nineteenth century French poet, writer, and essayist. He was best
known for his collected works, Les Fleurs du Mal, translated as Flowers of Evil. He was
one of the first translators of Edgar Allan Poe. His work is known for questioning the
established order, especially the religious concepts. His books dealt with topics like sex
and lesbianism.
 Many of his poems were found offensive to religion and public morality. He had been
imposed heavy fine for writing obscene matters.
 The poem "Be Drunk" was published in his collection of short prose poems called Le
Spleen de Paris (Paris Spleen) in 1869. In this poem, he encourages his readers to be
intoxicated by something to forget about the harsh realities of life.
 He suggests the readers to get drunk to whatever they wish. It will free them from the
horrible burden of Time. He demands a change in the thinking of people.
 Now-a-days people have no time to do what they love and they spend all their time glued
to the work that brings them money or power. This is annoying the author and that is why
he is saying everyone to get drunk i.e., get attached to something which makes them happy.
 The poet wants the readers to get drunk again and again, when the effect of the intoxication
diminishes.
 Time is personified as the great enemy of all who hope to live and enjoy life. The wind, the
waves, the star, the bird, etc. can be the symbol of freedom.
 Be Drunk" is a poem on human psychology. The poet is questioning the act of working or
doing business just for the sake of earning money and becoming prosperous.
 This poem forces the readers to really start looking into their lives and see if they really
enjoy the work they do. He has taken the examples grains, birds, animals and other things
in nature which are enjoying the life in true sense. They are not living for money or any
other purpose. Therefore, they are enjoying their lives. Birds are flying, grains are about to
raise and sun is rising as usual. There is no intention of greed behind these tasks. They all
are doing everything what they wish to do and really enjoying it.
 In this poem poet suggests reader to take look at their life and compare it life with the life
he has mentioned in this poem. The poet's objective is met if the reader is able to draw the
differences and see the life in light of poet's thoughts.
 Charles Baudelaire is quite optimistic towards life. He is clear in his thoughts that one
should not waste their time in things that they do not enjoy when they can really do
something they enjoy. He says that one can get addicted to drink. But this drink can be a
wine or virtue or poetry. This depends on a person whether to select wine to drink or poetry
to drink. Drinking means getting addicted to or involving into certain kind of work. This
shows the purity of this poem. The poet has only tried to convey that the true way to live is
to do freely what you enjoy doing and not do anything just because it brings you money,
fame or other material pleasures.
 The poem focuses on the crucial and ever-changing conceptions of time. It conveys an
aversion to the overwhelming influence of time on everyday life.
 The poet is clear in his thoughts that we should not waste our time doing things we do not
truly appreciate.
 LANDSCAPE OF THE CAPIBARIBE RIVER
JOAO CABRAL DE MELO NETO

 Joao Cabral De Melo Neto is a Brazilian poet who served as a diplomat for his country. He
is identified with the Generation of 45, a group of poets of the post world war Il period.
Their poetry is marked by a bare and austere style. There are traces of surrealism and
cubism in his early poetry.
 His most famous work is The Death and Life of Severino. He is often considered as a
member of the concrete poetry movement. Some of his important works are A Knife of All
Blade, Museum of Everything and Two Parliaments. His last work is Walking around
Seville. Neto is noted for his use of concrete visual imagery in his poems. His poems are
not lyrical and he does not use romantic and sentimental elements in his poetry.
 The Dog Without Feathers-the source of this poem.
 This is a tightly woven, long narrative poem in which Cabral turns to the physical and social
reality of his native state. (Pernambuco)- An allegory of the river and its impoverished
people.
 The geographical ting of the poem: One of the most important landmarks of his native
North Eastern Brazil, is the river Capibaribe. It flows from the barren interior to the city on
Recife on the coast.
 The poem describes the Capibaribe river without any sentimentality. The images in the
poem describe a landscape and waterscape that are scarred by waste, poverty and
environmental pollution. The poet makes a lot of social commentary through the poem. The
poet says that the river does not know the blue rain, the rose coloured fountain, the water
in the pitcher and breeze on the water. These are images of relative purity. Thus the poet is
suggesting that the river is not at all pure. Then the poet goes on to say that the river knows
silt, mud and rust. All three are images of pollution and degradation. This suggests that the
river is slowly dying. The poet also says that the river must have known the octopus.
 This suggests that the biodiversity which once existed in the river is no longer present there.
The poet uses the image of the river to make comments on the society at large. The
stagnation of the river is symbolic of the stagnation of hospitals and asylums in the place.
As long as the river keeps flowing, it can maintain its purity. But the dirt and silt in the
river is slowly choking it to death. The sugar factories mentioned in the poem also
contribute to the pollution of the poem. Towards the end of the poem the poet challenges
 the use of the colour blue to represent rivers on maps. The rivers with all their pollution are
almost brown in colour. Thus brown is a better colour to represent rivers on maps. He says
that it is true not just of the Capibaribe river, but almost all rivers in the World.
 The poem opens with a few similes (comparisons using like or as): city crossed by the river
as a street is crossed by a dog, a piece of fruit by a sword.
 Suggesting a duality between dynamism and immobility.
 Metaphorically he compares the river to a dog's docile tongue
Meaning 0f the poem:
 Dog is the central image he has used in the poem. The river flows across the river, just like
a dog crosses a street. Just like a fruit is cut by a sword. It brings the comparison between
the River and the street dog. We understand that the river is not in a good condition. The
river made the poet remember The weak tongue of a dog or the sad belly of a dog. Or it
made him remember another river, which is like the dirty covering of the eyes of a dog.
 The river is hanging weak like a dog's tongue. The river is like the hungry belly of a dog.
It is dirty like the membrane over the two eyes of a dog. The river is in a polluted condition.
 Then the poet talks about the good old days of the river. Once, the river was like a thin dog
devoid of the fur and feather. The body of the river was clearly visible.
 River knew about -not rose-but the clear blue rain...
 The river knew about rose-colored fountain (streams) which flowed to it.
 The river knew about water that can be drunk from glass (pure water)
 The river knew about waters in jugs... (again referring pure water)
 The river once knew about fish in the water.
 The river once knew about the soft breeze over the water.
 The river had crabs in it, there was mud and rust and fertile soil underwater just like mucous
membrane lines on the sand--the protective layer. The river even had octopus. The poet
refers about women living in oysters. Probably a reference about folk stories about
mermaids.
 Now there is no fish in the river. The sparkling (shimmer) of water and on the scales of the
fish doesn't exist. The river now does not carry fish.
 The river is now so polluted that is no living things like fish, crab etc.
 Instead, the river has flowers now. But the flowers are poor and black. Just like the poor
black men and women who live on the banks of the river. The plants under the river had
dirty and beggarly appearance. (Beggarly-like a beggar) of black people who lives by
 begging. The river also develops | mangroves. But they are not beautiful. It is like the thick
hair of black man.
 Some part of the river has increased in width just like the belly of a pregnant dog. It has
grown big without bursting. The origin of the river is like that of a dog. It is flows like fluid
as if it is without backbone. (invertebrate)
 The poet has never seen the river rise up and flow noisily, just like the bread rise up during
fermentation. The river flows silently carrying its poor but big belly. It is full of dirty black
earth.
 The black earth carried by the river is so sticky. It gives black soil. In the black soiled edges
of the river, if you blunge your hand or foot, you will get black soiled boot or gloves.
(Referring the sticky black soil)
 The river sometimes, just like a dog stops at some place. The river stops as the water gets
thicker and warmer. Then the flow of the river will become slow like the movement of a
snake.
 The river becomes stagnant because of shedding the industrial waste to the river, thereby
polluting it.
 The river sometimes has the stagnation of a mad man as well. (Stagnation the state of not
moving or sleeping) The river stagnates like the stagnation we see at hospitals, prisons,
asylums etc. It is like the stagnation of the dirty and suffocating life of people. Stagnation
of water, where we wash our clothes.
 The cultured rich families of the city turn their back to the river. There in these houses they
sit brooding over the eggs of their words. (The rich people of the city speak loudly about
protecting the river) However, they are in fact doing nothing. Poet says in a poetic manner
that they are "viciously" (cruelly) stirring the pots of their indolence" (Laziness)
 He asks this because the colour of the water looks ripened (yellow), and flies moving over
it. The poet indirectly means that the water in the river is so dirty.
 In the concluding stanza, the poet asks whether any part of the river ever cascade in joy?
'Cascade' means I small waterfall. Was there ever happiness in this river?? Were there ever
a song or fountain in it? Why then the rivers are marked blue on maps??
 The poem is about the pollution of the river by human interference. The poet tells about the
beauty of the river once, and then tells how it is now. He describes with unusual images the
past and present of the river. Need for Environmental Conservation is the theme of the
poem. Capibaribe river in Brazil flows in between a number of sugar factories. The factory
wastes are dumped into the river, which made this river stagnant.
HOMEWARD

BASSEY IKPI

 Ikpi was born in 1976 in Nigeria and later migrated to the United States. She has made a
great impact in diverse fields. She is a popular spoken word artist, poet, T.V presenter and
a mental advocate. She suffered from the pangs of having left behind her homeland and
was bitterly nostalgic.
 Ikpi's poem "Homeward " is a spoken word poem, which narrates the pangs of a Nigerian
woman who lost her indigenous culture and language when she was, in her childhood, taken
to a foreign country.
 Bassey Ikpi opens the poem by saying how she remembers her grandmother.
 Her grandmother, when they occasionally returns to her homeland, she greats them with
the only English word she knows - "bye bye"
 Ipki loves her grandmother so much that she says that her grandmother is very much like
her mother and her.
 Ikpi says that it is her grandmother who taught her mother how to mother. It's different
from how the Whites mother their children.
 She learns the history and culture of her country of birth from her grandmother. The people
in Nigeria is so frank and open-minded as opposed to the hypocritical behaviour of the
Americans.
 Ikpi is so sad about the fact that she has almost forgotten the language of her grandmother.
She cannot even say hello in Lokaa language without being influenced by English. English
culture has dominated in every aspect of her life. Ikpi can never imagine that English is
only her language.
 Wherever she lives, she will always look for her grandmother's voice. Her grandmother had
a very loud and strong voice which can cross rivers and oceans etc. But she is afraid that
she will not find such a voice in her new place which is miles away from from the land
where she and her ancestors were born.
 Ikpi is concerned about what she will teach her children about the land that shaped her and
the hands that held her. She is not sure about her children. She doesn't know whether they
will go back to the country of their ancestors if asked.
 Even Ikpi finds it difficult to act like an African woman because of the English influence.
 The busy life in the cities of America never help her to remember the relatively slow lives
of African cities
 It doesn't matter wherever; she can never forget the tastes of fuu fuu or plantain fried in
palm oil. But seems to have lost the taste of her grandmother's gari, symbolic of her
indigenous culture.
 It is the cultural dichotomy or the divided culture that makes her depressed. (In 2004, Ikpi
underwent a bout of depression and the doctors confirmed her illnesses as Bipolar 2
disorder).
 When Nigeria quietly begs her to remember, America slowly urges to forget. But her mind
is so much rooted in Nigeria even though she is physically in America. She has to remember
her home for her past, for her future, for her children, etc.
 Homeward is a poem which talks about the loss of culture in a foreign land. The poem
begins with a reference to the poet’s grandmother who is a representative of the Nigerian
culture throughout the poem. The grandmother connects the poet with her Nigerian self.
Her skin smells of Nigerian history. She reminds the poet of her childhood in Nigeria. The
poet recollects memories involving her grandmother while she was in Nigeria. She says
that she was taken to America on an iron bird.
 However when the bird returned with the girl, she was no longer the girl who went away
from her grandmother. The white man’s language had destroyed her ability to speak her
mother tongue properly. She finds it difficult to utter some of the words in her native
language. The poet says that she finds herself unable to express her love for her
grandmother in their native language. The poet does not still believe that she belongs to
America. She has not accepted America as her home. She feels that Nigeria is her true
home. She wonders what she will teach her children. She wants to talk to them about the
place that shaped her. She wants them also to consider Nigeria as their home. The poet feels
that she has inherited the strength of women in her native country. However some of it has
been lost in her life in America. Life in places like Oklahoma, Washington DC and
Brooklyn has not helped her to remember her roots.
 MODULE 4-HOW TO WRITE CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF A POEM

INTRODUCTION
 Introduction of the poem and the poet
 Publication of the poem / analysis of the literary movement/the era, the poem
represents
 Title of the poem under analysis (write about the title and state how it relates to the
poem. Is it appropriate?)
 Background information about the poem
 Purpose or topic statement or thematic analysis of the poem

B. MAIN BODY
 Stanza-wise brief but critical description or summary of the poem
 Evaluation and interpretation of the poem with textual references (quotes from text
in support of your ideas)
 Critical discussion on literary aspects/language aspects and your personal opinions
as a whole

C. CONCLUSION

 Draw conclusions from your analysis, ideas and deliberations. Tell readers what
was the goal or theme of the poem that you were analyzing, tools that were used in
conveying the main idea or theme of the poem, how they were used and whether
they were effective.