Author: richinaword

Remembrance – Emily Bronte – analysis

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Remembrance

Cold in the earth—and the deep snow piled above thee,
Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!
Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
Severed at last by Time’s all-severing wave?

Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover
Over the mountains, on that northern shore,
Resting their wings where heath and fern-leaves cover
Thy noble heart forever, ever more?

Cold in the earth—and fifteen wild Decembers,
From those brown hills, have melted into spring:
Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers
After such years of change and suffering!

Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,
While the world’s tide is bearing me along;
Other desires and other hopes beset me,
Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!

No later light has lightened up my heaven,
No second morn has ever shone for me;
All my life’s bliss from thy dear life was given,
All my life’s bliss is in the grave with thee.

But, when the days of golden dreams had perished,
And even Despair was powerless to destroy,
Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.

Then did I check the tears of useless passion—
Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine;
Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten
Down to that tomb already more than mine.

And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,
Dare not indulge in memory’s rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?

Emily Bronte

Eight four line stanzas with rhyming scheme abab. It is regarded as iambic pentameter though the lines vary in syllables – so iambic pentameter with variations …

And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,
^ ^^ ^ ^ / ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^ = 11
Dare not indulge in memory’s rapturous pain;

Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
^ ^^ ^ ^ / ^ ^^^ ^^ = 11
How could I seek the empty world again?
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ / ^^ ^ ^^ = 10

Emily Bronte wrote the poem for the heroine in the ‘Gondal’ story she created with her sister Anne – so it doesn’t relate to any personal event in her life.

C. Day Lewis stated that the effect of the rhythm in ‘Remembrance’ is ‘extremely powerful, extremely appropriate’ and that ‘it is the slowest rhythm he knew in English poetry, and the most sombre.’

It is certainly a slow and sombre lamentation. It also uses repetition to remain caught in any forward movement as in – cold in the earth in the opening line of stanza 1 and stanza 2. And in stanza 5 – All my life’s bliss from thy dear life was given, / All my life’s bliss is in the grave with thee, also the repeat of dare not in the last stanza.

The last stanza indicates a moving on and a more positive ending than remaining wallowing in the grave of another.

I think one syllable words lend themselves to a slow rendition (e.g. cold, snow, slow). Consider – the old train moves down the track – by a slow reading we can give the impression that the train is moving slowly.

To digress, consider these two lines …
Quick Mick do it – a case of not labouring the words and joining ‘do’ and ‘it’ as one.
John shook hands with great aunt Jo – difficult not to take your time when reading. If aunt Jo is old and feeble John would have to take his time when shaking hands!

Lauding the Tomato

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The Tomato

I love the tomato,
they come in all shapes and sizes.
There are so many varieties
it’s very hard to choose
best to keep to the one you know.

Perhaps they all taste the same.
But the real test, of course,
is when you actually taste them.
When they are ripe and just
ready for the taking.

It’s really up to you, you know
when you put them in your sandwich.
If you add your special spice of course
then you will really taste something!
But take your time, savour the flavour.

Richard Scutter 14 February 2016

My response to e e cummings in my previous post, and I hope you all enjoy your tomato sandwich!

 

may i feel – e e cummings – comments

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e e Cummings – may i feel

may i feel said he
(i’ll squeal said she
just once said he)
it’s fun said she

(may i touch said he
how much said she
a lot said he)
why not said she

(let’s go said he
not too far said she
what’s too far said he
where you are said she)

may i stay said he
(which way said she
like this said he
if you kiss said she

may i move said he
is it love said she)
if you’re willing said he
(but you’re killing said she

but it’s life said he
but your wife said she
now said he)
ow said she

(tiptop said he
don’t stop said she
oh no said he)
go slow said she

(cccome? said he
ummm said she)
you’re divine! said he
(you are Mine said she)

This e e cummings poem is very easy on the mind unlike many of his poems which require some thought. A rhyming conversation piece of sexual tension between ‘he’ and ‘she’ … and I guess that when this piece was written it would have been quite an audacious poem. As well as the simple four line ‘he/she’ voices there are internal rhyming words throughout.

The third stanza from the end provides a nice twist in thought as infidelity is at play and such liaisons always come at a cost. But love is always costly in one way or another. Is love, or is it lust, worth the cost of such a relationship?

At a recent poetry meeting there was some debate on the last line with the capitalisation of ‘Mine’. Perhaps this highlights the fact that the lady is taking ownership on a temporary basis to that which belongs to another. It reminded me of the praying mantis insect where the female devours the male after copulation!

It is a great conversational performance poem with a gentleman reading and a lady responding. We did this at our poetry meeting and it was very effective. Note that love and lust are four letter words unlike sex.

The Immortal Part – A. E. Housman -Comments

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The Immortal Part

When I meet the morning beam,
Or lay me down at night to dream,
I hear my bones within me say,
‘Another night, another day.

‘When shall this slough of sense be cast,
This dust of thoughts be laid at last,
The man of flesh and soul be slain
And the man of bone remain?

‘This tongue that talks, these lungs that shout
These thews that hustle us about,
This brain that fills the skull with schemes,
And its humming hive of dreams,—

‘These to-day are proud in power
And lord it in their little hour:
The immortal bones obey control
Of dying flesh and dying soul.

”Tis long till eve and morn are gone:
Slow the endless night comes on,
And late to fulness grows the birth
That shall last as long as earth.

‘Wanderers eastward, wanderers west,
Know you why you cannot rest?
‘Tis that every mother’s son
Travails with a skeleton.

Lie down in the bed of dust;
Bear the fruit that bear you must;
Bring the eternal seed to light,
And morn is all the same as night.

‘Rest you so from trouble sore,
Fear the heat o’ the sun no more,
Nor the snowing winter wild,
Now you labour not with child.

‘Empty vessel, garment cast,
We that wore you long shall last.
—Another night, another day.’
So my bones within me say.

Therefore they shall do my will
To-day while I am master still,
And flesh and soul, now both are strong,
Shall hale the sullen slaves along,

Before this fire of sense decay,
This smoke of thought blow clean away,
And leave with ancient night alone
The stedfast and enduring bone.

A. E. Housman

Strong iambic rhythm and rhyme in each of the four line stanzas (aabb).

As I get older my bones are in tune with the bone-talking words expressed in the first stanza (but I can recommend glucosamine). And I liked the way he talked of death as a birth in stanza five – And late to fulness grows the birth / That shall last as long as earth.

Getting to the bones of this poem, looking at the last stanza and the first line – before this fire of sense decay … while we are master over flesh and before the decay to everlasting bone – the immortal part (if indeed bones last forever) let us make the most of our being! And don’t let’s concentrate our thoughts on that enduring bone or that ancient night! This smoke of thought blow clean away – line two of  the last stanza.

Housman was an atheist and a somewhat depressive character. Even so it is interesting to have a look at one of his quotes …

The troubles of our proud and angry dust are from eternity, and shall not fail. Bear them we can, and if we can we must. Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale.

He believed that we can bear all our troubles and not only we can bear them but he states that we must bear them. Let’s face it, what creator (or God if you like) would design a universe where we were not capable of bearing our troubles – it’s not worth thinking of … it would be such a horrid scenario – in this sense he at least believed in a good creator.

And here is a link to A. E. Housman on Wikipedia

Book Release – and the humble worm

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I have just released my first poetry book for general distribution. A great moment in the life of Richard … according to a grand-daughter ‘epic’ … a new word that’s being bandied around by the young.

‘My Word in Your Ear’: Selected Poems: 2001 – 2015

A selection of eighty poems covering a wide variety from the the personal, philisophic and spiritual to the more lighter and sometimes firvolous.

Here is one poem …

The Healthy Worm
with apologies to William Blake

O worm, thou art ’earthy!
the visible flower
that shines in the light
of the bright day

has raised from thy bed
of rotten decay
and opened her face
from thy composted waste

This is my poetic response to the well known poem ‘The Sick Rose’ by William Blake. An interesting follow up on the previous post and the sonnet on ‘death and life’ by John Crowe Ransom.  In Blake’s ‘The Sick Rose’ the worm (death, or perhaps sin) is hidden from the beauty of the rose (young life) and the rose knows not of its fate. The worm being analogous to the serpent.

The last two lines … And his dark secret love / Does thy life destroy … so again there is a marriage where ‘death’ is seen as a lover – all beit an insidious lover … not quite the gentleman seen in the ‘Piazza Piece’ sonnet of John Crowe Ransom.

I give the worm credit in the creation of beauty in the rose (visible flower) and so laud the value of the worm that through decomposition new life is generated … part of the unending earth cycle of life and death.

Piazza Piece – John Crowe Ransom

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Piazza Piece

–I am a gentleman in a dustcoat trying
To make you hear. Your ears are soft and small
And listen to an old man not at all;
They want the young men’s whispering and sighing.
But see the roses on your trellis dying
And hear the spectral singing of the moon;
For I must have my lovely lady soon,
I am a gentleman in a dustcoat trying.

–I am a lady young in beauty waiting
Until my truelove comes, and then we kiss.
But what grey man among the vines is this
Whose words are dry and faint as in a dream?
Back from my trellis, Sir, before I scream!
I am a lady young in beauty waiting.

John Crowe Ransom

This is a Petrarchan sonnet – an eight line octave plus a six line sestet (with rhyme scheme ‘abbaacca’ / ‘addeea’). It is a well-crafted delightful conversation piece ostensibly between a gentleman wooing a young and beautiful lady.

The first line and the last line of the octave are the same. This is the story of the octave that of the gentleman trying to get the attention of the young and beautiful lady. The gentleman is old wearing a dustcoat and talks of the fading nature of the lady in terms of roses. He states emphatically that he must have my lovely lady soon and there is a ghostly presence in the spectral singing of the moon.

The first line and the last line of the sestet are the same and this is the story of the response – a lady young in beauty waiting and waiting for her truelove. The lady is young and dismissive of the grey old man and only hears him as in a dream.

I think this is really the age old story of a ‘romantic death’ in the form of a gentleman and his relationship with ‘life’ and making the most of life and the present moment. And of course the voice of death will become more prominent in the ears of the lady and eventually the old grey man will win her over. It is interesting that death is masculine and ghostly whereas life is feminine and beautiful. And very appropriate that the gentleman is wearing a dustcoat. I think there is something of a sweet pending marriage of the two taking place in this poem.

This poem gives emphasis to the present and not having idealistic expectations. Life is a present to be opened and used now– not waiting for that perfect moment before acting (carpe diem Latin – seize the day). Maybe it is time to open that special bottle of wine you have been keeping in your cellar!

Here is a link to John Crowe Ransom on Wikipedia 

Ode on the Poets – John Keats

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Ode on the Poets

BARDS of Passion and of Mirth
Ye have left your souls on earth!
Have ye souls in heaven too,
Double-lived in regions new?

—Yes, and those of heaven commune
With the spheres of sun and moon;
With the noise of fountains wonderous
And the parle of voices thunderous;
With the whisper of heaven’s trees
And one another, in soft ease
Seated on Elysian lawns
Browsed by none but Dian’s fawns;
Underneath large blue-bells tented,
Where the daisies are rose-scented,
And the rose herself has got
Perfume which on earth is not;
Where the nightingale doth sing
Not a senseless, trance´d thing,
But divine melodious truth;
Philosophic numbers smooth;
Tales and golden histories
Of heaven and its mysteries.

Thus ye live on high, and then
On the earth ye live again;
And the souls ye left behind you
Teach us, here, the way to find you,
Where your other souls are joying,
Never slumber’d, never cloying.
Here, your earth-born souls still speak
To mortals, of their little week;
Of their sorrows and delights;
Of their passions and their spites;
Of their glory and their shame;
What doth strengthen and what maim:—
Thus ye teach us, every day,
Wisdom, though fled far away.

Bards of Passion and of Mirth
Ye have left your souls on earth!
Ye have souls in heaven too,
Double-lived in regions new!

John Keats

Ode – lyrical poetic form … meant to be sung … 50 to 200 lines

Of their sorrows and delights
^ ^ ^^ ^ ^^
Strong seven syllable iambic rhythm

Keats is famous for his odes this is not one of his well-known like ‘Ode to a Nightingale’.

S1 and S2 … the first four lines question whether poets have a soul in any after-life … then from line five we have a view of heaven in terms of the nature of earth – daisies are rose-scented … always an impossible task to come to terms with the undefinable nature of heaven … but of course very fitting to use a garden image. It is nice and poetic to think of heaven in such positive terms. A gift in the mind of the living for those poets who have departed this life.

Elysian lawns = the final resting places of the souls of the heroic Dian’s fawns = the goddess of hunt, moon and childbirth who could talk to and control animals (Greek Mythology)

S3 …If the departed have an after-life soul then this stanza states there is communication with their earth-born soul – Here, your earth-born souls still speak … and the communication is very positive – Thus ye teach us, every day / Wisdom, though fled far away. This is apart from any words left behind which are brought to life by the living ( I immediately think of the ‘The Dead Poets Society’).

The first and last four lines of the poem give emphasis on the duality of the soul – for those that belief in some kind of after-life. The nature of any on-going connectivity between the living and the departed poet is up to the reader to discover.

Keats wrote his poetry in seven years from a teenager up to his untimely death at the age of twenty five. He died of ‘consumption’ (TB) in Rome – he went to Italy seeking a better climate because of illness. He had trained in medicine and it is ironic that the medical assistance at that time promoted his early demise. Unfortunately he was not given opium to alleviate his painful end. His soul lives on below the clouds.

A link to Keats on Wikipedia

The Road through the Woods – Rudyard Kipling – Analysis

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The Road through the Woods

They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.
It is underneath the coppice and heath
And the thin anemones.
Only the keeper sees
That, where the ring-dove broods,
And the badgers roll at ease,
There was once a road through the woods.

Yet, if you enter the woods
Of a summer evening late,
When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools
Where the otter whistles his mate,
(They fear not men in the woods,
Because they see so few.)
You will hear the beat of a horse’s feet,
And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road through the woods …
But there is no road through the woods.

Rudyard Kipling

Nice balance between the two stanzas and I like the internal rhyme … the first stanza defining the history of the area and the second exploring any on-going effect … a ghostly mystical effect as though the environment retains an imprint of its history and can speak to those sensitive to such communication … one negative – I question the need for the comment about the otter – it detracts.

And this could be regarded as an early environmental poem … an anti-development poem perhaps, and showing the after effect of mans’ intrusion on nature.

S1 … tells the story of change when once there was a road, presumably not bitumen, and now the road has been replaced by both man and nature … and to look at the environment you would never know that once it had been a thorough fare … however, the keeper knows … the person who looks after the area … he knows that the woods has been violated – perhaps ‘violated’ is the wrong word for the road through the woods might have been environmentally friendly … however the anemones are only thin now implying the old road still has a negative effect.

S2 … poses a question can the imprint from the past be heard again … at special times when more sensitive and when the ‘ghosts’ are likely to emerge … in this case the horses may have known the old road which could help their recall to previous times when they travelled through this area, especially if it was on a regular basis … I think animals have a greater sense to where they have been.

The last two lines in S2 says it all … although something has gone it is still alive – for those that have experienced the past … perhaps all experience is retained to some degree … the mind a continuous growing memory bank … and digressing as we age we start to recall events long forgotten … of course inanimate objects speak or show their past in their very own different ways … I like the element of mystery evident in the poem – a good poem should always make people think – don’t you think?

Rudyard Kipling is better known for his books especially ‘The Jungle Book’ here is a link to Wikipedia 

However, his poem ‘If’ – is very well known and was head of a popularity count in the UK in the nineties.

And here is Walter de la mere’s well-known poem ‘The Listners’ with an element of mystery