As Nina is working on an analytical essay comparing three poems' view on mortality, during our first two sessions, we completed an analysis on Keat's "Ode to a Nightingale." We focused on the poetic devices of imagery, metaphor, and symbolism and then extracted the poet's tone and attitude toward his own mortality. We discussed how Keats finds solace and acceptance in art and poetry that will survive his mortality. By contrast, we examined Donne who treats death with defiance and Bryant who welcomes death as a return to Nature. From there, I provided instruction on how to compose a thesis that synthesizes all three sources and how to structure the analysis. During our next session, we practiced scansion or identifying meter within a line of Wordsworth's poetry and further discussed the relationship between the poem's structure and meaning . We then began a study of Keat's "Ode to a Grecian Urn." After reviewing the characteristics of an ode, I provided instruction and introduction as this poem is not readily accessible to students. We then discussed each image on the urn as an artistic yet immortal representation of an aspect of life that dissipates but remains frozen in time or immortal through art.
During most of the first session, we reviewed my comments to Nina's final essays on Macbeth. We examined how to better incorporate quotes by explaining or commenting upon them in the context of the essay's thesis rather than just inserting them. We further looked at techniques to improve cohesion , to improve word choice, to correct run-on sentences, and to obviate the use of the passive tense. During our second session , we parsed and analyzed two difficult poems, "Thanatopsis" and "Ode to a Nightingale." Regarding "Thantopsis" we first identified the poetic devices of personification of Nature and the multiple metaphors referring to death or the earth. I then addressed the poem's tone and almost welcoming attitude toward death in final stanza. Nina then identified the poet's reasons for his conclusion. Keat's "Nightingale" is an iconic Romantic poem that addresses life, death ,and the use of art and poetry as a means to achieve escape from life's pain and sorrow. We discussed the nightingale's song as a symbol of the artistic imagination or fancy . I further addressed the now famous line "tender is the night" as F.Scott Fitzgerald used this line as a book title. We began to focus on the poet's view of life and view of death so that we can contrast this view with the poet's view in "Thanantopsis" and Donne's view of death in his sonnet"Death Be Not Proud." We explored the differences between Donne and the other poet's views as Donne's is founded in religious doctrine or a belief in an eternal afterlife.
We are studying within this unit the British Romantic genre of poetry, today discussing Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" and Wordsworth's "The World is Too Much with Us." Regarding Shelley's poem, I defined the term "ode" and identified the speaker as the poet himself .We then explored in detail the metaphoric meaning of the wind. In studying the poem, I emphasized the use of enjambment and the need to read the lines of this poem as running together until there is punctuation even running lines from one stanza to the next. We further noted the emotive tone and elevated language characteristic of an ode. Regarding Wordsworth, Nina identified the reverence for Nature in the poem as indicative of the Romantic genre, and we discussed why the poet expresses a strong displeasure at a materialistic. society and daringly expresses his preference of Paganism over Christianity observing that at least the Pagans saw the gods in Nature rather than seeing Nature as a resource .
We explored the contrast between the 17th Century rationalism of Donne's poetry with the poetry of the British Romantic movement. On the board, I outlined the characteristics of the Romantic genre-emotion, imagination, and reverence for nature. We then studied two poems by Blake noting the use of imaginative symbolism and emotion. We discussed the poems' tone and structure as well as their underlying question: Why and how did God "dare" create evil? Nina did well identifying the symbolism of the lamb and the contrasting symbol of the " tiger" and further discussed the metaphor comparing of God to a blacksmith . We then turned back to Donne's sonnet on death and I explained the use apostrophe and how this device complements the poet's personification of death .We again recognized the question and resolution structure of the sonnet. We examined the use of paradox, typical of Donne, and I explained the paradox - "death thou shall die." We then critically noted the distinct styles of Blake and Donne ,specifically Donne's academic intellectual approach to death versus Blake's imaginative emotive response to evil , characteristic of the Romantic genre.
We studied the poetry of John Milton and John Donne. Regarding John Donne, I provided biographical information and discussed the literary characteristics of "Metaphysical" poetry which include the use of the "conceit" and paradox. We then examined one of Donne's poems and parsed its structure and meaning by identifying the use of conceits and paradox as well as by identifying the influence of religious doctrine. We further studied John MIliton. I first provided historical and biographical background as well as explanations of the numerous religious allusions in the poem. We then noted how the structure of Milton's poem is similar to Donne's in that both pose rhetorical questions in the opening stanzas which the remainder of the poem answers. We further identified alliteration and rhyme scheme ,and I introduced the term metonymy and discussed its relationship to poetic synecdoche after which we located Milton's use of metonymy.
We in detail studied and analyzed the poetry of Robert Frost and Edna St Vincent Millay . We are beginning our poetry unit with these 20th Century poets as these poems tend to be more reader accessible due to their regular structure , contemporary diction, clear meter, and recognizable rhyme scheme. Using the analytical format I prepared, we discussed the identify of the speaker, the relationship between structure and meaning, and how figurative language and symbols convey meaning . We continue to work on the identification of personification , symbols, and metaphors and rising from the literal meaning to the symbolic or thematic significance . To aid interpretation I have Nina paraphrase certain stanzas and focus on the imagery.Through this exercise she has been able to improve her analysis and achieve some poetic epiphanies .
We analyzed two poems by Edwin A. Robinson applying the analytical checklist I distributed in class yesterday. After Nina identified the harmonious structural elements of "Richard Cory" I provided instruction on how to infer meaning from structure by describing the poem's theme of persona vs reality. Nina did well in recognizing the speaker as the collective "we" or townspeople similar to the narrative structure of Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Emily." We then identified symbols and figurative language. Moving to the second poem by Robinson, I provided instruction on how to infer theme or idea from figurative language in this case the use of personification to depict the modern world's cultural and artistic decline and its impact on society.
I distributed material I prepared which provides a step by step guide to interpreting poetry. During class, I explained each step from how to read a poem (noting the enjambment) ,to how to listen to a poem ,to how to interpret a poem's symbols ,images, and figurative language. I then distributed a very simple poem"Trees", and we applied the steps set forth in the outline. After noting the more mechanical steps, I then addressed how to identify the speaker . In this poem ,the speaker is the poet, and I explained how knowing the speaker relates to interpretation as the speaker observes that the art created by Man( here a poem) will always remain imperfect compared to the awe inspiring perfect creations of God.
We began our poetry unit today by creating and defining an analytical vocabulary . In this regard, we defined and discussed: rhyme, end rhyme ,internal rhyme, rhythm, meter, scansion ,foot, imagery, figurative language, and symbols. I provided examples of how rhyme and rhythm can contribute to a poem's meaning. We then explored the possible purposes of a poem: to evoke a feeling to ,make an observation, or perhaps to convey a theme or idea. Last, addressed how to read a poem by explaining poetic enjambment.
