In the wake of the sinking of the Titanic, Hardy wrote of the romanticized version of what happened. In the vastness of the sea the pride of those that created the failed ocean liner lay. Those that caused the death of 2200 will no longer be present thinking they have created the greatest of ships. The parts that once burned red hot are now cold and frozen at the bottom of the sea. The movement of the ship no longer a movement towards a destination but floating with the sea. The cleanliness of the ship contrasts to the sea worms being of an underworld like creature. "Over the mirrors meant To glass the opulent The sea-worm crawls--grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent. The contrast of the beauty of the ship when new versus the reality of the ship once sunk. Touted as the smartest fastest ship, its glory marred by the sinking before its first run was over. The pride of the creators taken by nature's simple creation, ice.

I'm not gonna write you a love song

Eliot's Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock isn't exactly the imagery I would have wanted. "Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherised upon a table;...Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent"(1194-1195). This isn't the romantic date I would think to come to me from my lover. An etherised body is under absolute "sleep" almost dead to allow for work to be done on the individual. Does that suggest that he wants the love to be so close to death that he could doctor it? Or that the night should be so dead that they not be disturbed. Onto the cheap hotels no one wants to be brought to be shown insidious intent by the city. I hear the slums ringing through and through. The smog is personifyed similar to cat behavior. The yellow fog being the fur, rubbing his body against the cool window pane. This love song doesn't seem to be about the person he is with, but rather a song of all the things on Prufrock's mind. He talks of all the time they will have. Time to meet the world and fo everything they have ever wanted to. Even time to make toast and tea. Something that would seems trivial to us, but to him with his love a serious situation.

No Second Troy

Women are the root of war? Troy was caused by 2 kings fighting over Helen of Troy. It would be the question of could Helen have prevented this situation. I would say no, there is nothing that she could do. The men decided that she was worthy of love and war and thus fought to vie for her affections. Yeats expresses this emotion through the narrator saying that she couldn't be blamed for vexing him in his emotions. Her affections caused men to find it worthy to rage war against one another. From this war came courage and nobleness. The poem seems to suggest that from the war and destruction came the creation in the hearts of the men fighting valiant attributes. Even to ask the question in the end to say that was there another way to instill these things into more men by creating another Troy. "Why, what could she have done, being what she is? Was there another Troy for her to burn?(1118)" This creates in my mind that the attributes the men gained from being in the war were more highly treasured than the death that may have ensued. "Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways, or hurled the little streets upon the great, Had they but courage equal to desire?" While in a bad situation the things that were learned could be considered valuable in the long run. For that small reason, Yeats suggests through the narrator that Troy may have been a success and that she can't be blamed for the small misery created in the same breath. I think its kinda funny, to almost excuse a war of love for the creation of chivalry almost.

Hardy

Hap



The idea of chance that this poem evokes was not what I thought it would be. His first stanza about the angry god that feeds on the suffering of the narrator doesn't sound like chance, but misfortune. It continues on to say that the tears he shed were of the same vengeful god caused. The god creates undesireable situations for the narrator to evoke pain upon him and his reactions to the pain give the god "jollies". The idea of dicing was the idea of chance that I would believe that his poem was to be about.



The Darking Thrush



This piece is different from the first. The imagery is different, more descriptive of the surroundings of the situation. Hardy takes special care to set a haunting tone over the poem, using a winter season and the words desolate. "I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost aas a spectre-gray, And Winter's dregs made desolate the weakening eye of day"(1074). The capitulization of the winter and frost suggests human characteristics. The emotion of the poem is dark and sullen. Almost sucking the life from the narrator as he walks through the winter scene.

Hopkins and birds

Ok again a very religious piece. The Windhover is basically reminiscient of the various descriptions we give to God. The falcon seems to express the watchful eye of God. Steady as he flies above with the sunlight shining on him, like the glory of God himself. The flight was masterful just as the works of God, and he has "brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here Buckle" (775). This piece is dedicated to God in honor of his masterfulness. The metaphor to the falcon is to try and make God more understandable to human eyes. The falcon is a creature that was readily available, it could be seen doing similar things whereever seen. Its flight was nothing short of amazing and this poem evokes that God too could be and is watching with every falcon they see. This poem would cause the reader to associate the flight of the falcon with the works of God, his pride in his people.

Religion and Poetry

Hopkins is an interesting writer, because I figured I'd see him in one of my Christianity classes but never have. His confusion about his relationship with God over the years, as well as his estrangment from the same is typical for liturgical writers. Most at some point feel as though religion has lost all meaning and attempt to give up in one way or another. He has described his life as a burden to him, because of the removal from those things he loved, namely family and the English church. He wrote in his sonnet that he was removed (773). His pieces remind me of that of the early prophets. The early prophets were often misunderstood in their own time periods and even persecuted for their beliefs. The prophets often exhorted God just as Hopkins does in the first line of his poem. "The world is charged with the grandeur of God" (774). Suggesting the idea that God reigns over all and that his prescence electrifyes the world. Then just as the prophets exalt God they then start on the meat of the message usually being repentence. Hopkins asks the question of his audience "Why do men then now not reck his rod?" This expresses his prophetic voice to cause the people to remember their faith even though his may have been failing in the very same moment. He then takes the reader on a history lesson showing them that God has since been faithful and that his people have had some hard times. With his Biblical background I'm not surprised by his take on the situation.

The GREAT WAR

In talking about war I decided to use a more subtle and calmer color. If only to appease my own right brained mind. WWI caused many people especially artists to think of those things of the past. With another revolution on the brink the Twentieth Century opened a lot of eyes to history as well as the future. The Great War was the first of its magnitude involving so many countries. Some artists recount the events of the day with exceeding idealism while others created propoganda. "The war's lasting legacy was a sense of bitterly rebuffed idealism, bringing with it a suspicion of progress, technology, government, bureaucracy, nationalism, and conventional morality--themes probed in new ways by the period's writers" (1080). Lewis wrote about the Vorticist Manifesto in "Blast" along with other poetry by Pound and others. Lewis seemed to declare war on other writers while Britain was declaring war a few weeks later (1082).

Robert Browning

Based on the intro of Browning, creates his characters to be epic. He would create this almost theatrical view of his characters by the 1840s (660) "applying to lyric poetry his theatrical instincts and his aversion to self-revelation, he found he could produce startling new effects. Henceforth he would present his audience with a cast of aberrant personalities, each starring in his or her miniplay"(660). He also placed his characters in historical places and periods. It is said that he didn't invent the poetic monolgue just complicated it, in a good way I'm sure. He created a new level using his distinctive language. The same language that can make you hate and love a character at the same time. "Browning induces his readers to sympathize--even identify--with speakers of dubious morality and intentions" (660).

Porphyria's Lover

Thought it was interesting his sullen tone to start a poem about a lover. In comparison to his wife, he begins this relationship almost sourly, not happy but vexed by his (the lover) love. "I listened with heart fit to break" (662). The female character is strong, exposing a sexual side, that most would never show in Victorian culture. "She put my arm about her waist, And made her smooth white shoulder bare, And all her yellow hair displaced, And, stooping made my cheek lie there, And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair, Murmuring how she loved me--she Too weak, for all her heart's endeavour, To set its struggling passion free From pride, and vainer ties dissever, And give herself to me for ever" (662-663). This imagery suggests a woman seducing her lover to take her virginity. Something she can only give to one man, forever. Her heart bursting with fire and emotion, love, not understanding but wanting to be released from the ties that bind her. Her social standings, and rank could cause this particular event to be taboo. If this is a sexual scene and there was no marriage prior too, she could be shunned from her family. And lose her social standings. However, she seems to want to be released unto her lover and her lover only not caring about the consequences. This is again a strong female character. Not playing into social roles of the day, but taking charge for what she wants. By the end they expect judgment for their act of promiscuity. "And thus we sit together now, And all night long we have not stirred, And yet God has not said a word!" (663)

Symphony in Yellow

Comparable to Impression du Matin comes this yellow emotion. He also plays another symphony again, which makes me happy. I don't really see the musical side of this poem like the other but the symphony could be just the way the yellows play together. The yellow butterfly dances up to yellow hay, while a yellow scarf blankets city. Yellow leaves fade onto a green background of the Thames. Wilde has an affection for yellow and its complement color green. He speaks of it with such emotion that it suggests that he is looking at a painting at the time of writing this, or that he is amongst the nature that he writes on while under a setting sun. The yellow of the butterfly carries him to the next bar of musical yellow in the hay, to the next bar of the fog. Each playing a different part in the movement of the symphony. A symphony is composed usually of 4 movements. Each piece telling a crucial part of the same story until it all compounds into a crescendo of emotion.