What questions do the speaker in this poem ask? What answers does he give or receive?
This speaker has larger questions of his surroundings than Wordsworth seemed to. In Stanza 3, he questions the mountain, Mont Blanc. "Has some unknown omnipotence unfurled//The veil of life and death?" He doesn't believe the thing he is seeing that is the mountain and wonder if it might be a dream, "...or do I lie//In dream, and does the mightier world of sleep//Spread far around and inaccessibly//Its circles?" He can't even believe he is awake, that is how astonishing the sight of this place is to him. Other parts he casts in myth, "Is this the scene//Where the old Earthquake-daemon taught her young//Ruin? Were these their toys? or did a sea//Of fire, envelope once this silent snow?" He knows though that he will never be told the answer to this as "None can reply-all seems eternal now." Though he finds the voice of the mountain useful in finding the truth or at least denying the false, "Thou hast a voice, great Mountain, to repel//Large codes of fraud and woe"
In the fifth stanza, he again brings up an interesting question this is not answered directly. "And what art thou, and earth, and stars, and sea,//If to the human mind's imagining//Silence and solitude were vacancy?" Addressed to the mountain. What are Mont Blanc and all the natural wonders of the world if the people find in them nothing but "silence and solitude" which they find to be nothing, or at least the lack of anything? The fact is that silence and solitude are refreshing and often invigorating. However, people do often forget and overlook such wondrous sights, which I feel is part of the point he hopes to express.
Showing posts with label Percy Bysshe Shelley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Percy Bysshe Shelley. Show all posts
Saturday, February 6, 2010
England in 1819
"England in 1819" is a VERY bitter poem, an attack on the state of things in this place and time. Consult the footnotes before you respond to/explicate this. Discuss WHAT the poem attacks and WHY, but also address the end of the poem. Like "Ozymandias," this is a sonnet, so those of you who took the first half of this course, as well as those of you familiar with the sonnet form, might also discuss how Shelley adapts the form to his purpose.
The speaker wants the current leadership gone. He (or she, there's no sex indicated, and not to personify the speaker as the poet, but considering that and the topic, I personally find the voice masculine) has no love for the king and controllers of this country. "An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying King" which is true as King Charles had been declared insane and would die the following year. The princes of the time are equally useless and little liked by the public as well, "Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow//Through public scorn,-mud from a muddy spring". These people who run the country don't know the plight of the people below them and the speaker feels that they don't care, that these rulers are destroying the country by sucking it dry if nothing stopped them, "Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know,//But leechlike to their fainting country cling,//Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow." The people are the ones who will suffer from this, as they have in such cases as the Peterloo massacre where regular people were killed during a peaceful assembly, "A people starved and stabbed in th' untilled field; An army, whom liberticides and prey//Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield" This action will only end up injuring the ones in charge. In the end, the speaker seems to think that rebellion will come one day and that will be the only way that the monarchy will understand the hurt they've caused, "Are graves from which a glorious Phantom may//Burst, to illumine our tempestuous days."
I wouldn't have taken this for a sonnet had it not been pointed out to me. Shelley does take the basic structure, but adapts it so instead of each stanza containing a different ending pair, the entire thing but the final two lines fall into the same pattern and the eighth line. Perhaps this is why it isn't cut into separate stanzas. It's notable how many lines end with strong words with this poem's theme, "King" "cling" "blow" "prey" "wield" "slay" "sealed" "unrepealed" while the final lines end with "may" and "day" as they have a more positive look, something that mind change what's been happening currently. I did notice he did keep to the 10 syllables, mostly, though I could be mistaking my pronunciation on the lines that read like 11.
The speaker wants the current leadership gone. He (or she, there's no sex indicated, and not to personify the speaker as the poet, but considering that and the topic, I personally find the voice masculine) has no love for the king and controllers of this country. "An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying King" which is true as King Charles had been declared insane and would die the following year. The princes of the time are equally useless and little liked by the public as well, "Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow//Through public scorn,-mud from a muddy spring". These people who run the country don't know the plight of the people below them and the speaker feels that they don't care, that these rulers are destroying the country by sucking it dry if nothing stopped them, "Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know,//But leechlike to their fainting country cling,//Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow." The people are the ones who will suffer from this, as they have in such cases as the Peterloo massacre where regular people were killed during a peaceful assembly, "A people starved and stabbed in th' untilled field; An army, whom liberticides and prey//Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield" This action will only end up injuring the ones in charge. In the end, the speaker seems to think that rebellion will come one day and that will be the only way that the monarchy will understand the hurt they've caused, "Are graves from which a glorious Phantom may//Burst, to illumine our tempestuous days."
I wouldn't have taken this for a sonnet had it not been pointed out to me. Shelley does take the basic structure, but adapts it so instead of each stanza containing a different ending pair, the entire thing but the final two lines fall into the same pattern and the eighth line. Perhaps this is why it isn't cut into separate stanzas. It's notable how many lines end with strong words with this poem's theme, "King" "cling" "blow" "prey" "wield" "slay" "sealed" "unrepealed" while the final lines end with "may" and "day" as they have a more positive look, something that mind change what's been happening currently. I did notice he did keep to the 10 syllables, mostly, though I could be mistaking my pronunciation on the lines that read like 11.
Stanzas Written in Dejection
"Stanzas Written in Dejection" is our only example of Shelley adopting a Byronic attitude and tone, but in a very interesting way. Where Byron's speakers often see their inward states REFLECTED in nature, Shelley's speaker here CONTRASTS his inner state and the outward scene. Focus on this in your response/explication.
We find this speaker sitting upon a beach in his reflection around noon. The day sounds lovely at first, "The Sun is warm, the sky is clear,//The waves are dancing fast and bright" All of the images in the first stanza sound pleasant until you reach the end. "The City's voice itself is soft, like Solitude's." Here our our first hints of the Byronic male. We knew the man was alone, but here this fact is drawn attention to.
He observes the ocean, "the Deep's untrampled floor//With green and purple seaweeds strown." He relates to the waves crashing, "Like light dissolves in star-showers, thrown" as they come to their end on the sand likely not far from his solitude. There they are thrown, as he has felt he has been. He hears a sound, maybe the ocean itself, maybe a fog horn that sounds as mournful as this speaker feels, (would those exist during this time? It would make perfect sense here!) "...and a tone//Arises from its measured motion,//How sweet! did any heart now share my emotion."
He is a pessimistic man, "Alas, I have not hope nor health//Nor peace within nor calm around" He has no contentment in his life, "Nor that content surpassing wealth//The sage in meditation found" He feels that he has nothing and that nothing has been given him as it has been given to others, "Others I see whom these surround,//Smiling they live and call life pleasure;//To me that cup has been dealt in another measure." Did he have these things, he seems to not think he'd take enjoyment from them either.
He has a heavy load that he must bear until his death. He knows this and his despair is lessened somewhat at this time, though he still feels as though he could just stop and cry. "I could lie down like a tired child//And weep away life of care"
He claims that others might miss him were he to die, but compares it with his losing this lovely day instead of someone losing a loved one, Some might lament that I were cold,//As I, when this sweet day is gone" He feels that he isn't loved, but his lose would be regretted, "...for I am one//Whom men love not, and yet regret" but again compares his passing with the passing of that day, which he would remember fondly, "Unlike this day, which, when the Sun//Shall on its stainless glory set,//Will linger though enjoyed, like joy in Memory yet." He knows his death would be regretted, but he doesn't feel he will be remembered fondly. This is both a fine example of the Byronic hero, stealing himself into isolation and being aware that he is unliked by his peers. This is also somewhat selfish, thinking he could just die and that no one would honestly miss him in a way of love or friendship. What is the Byronic hero is not selfish?
We find this speaker sitting upon a beach in his reflection around noon. The day sounds lovely at first, "The Sun is warm, the sky is clear,//The waves are dancing fast and bright" All of the images in the first stanza sound pleasant until you reach the end. "The City's voice itself is soft, like Solitude's." Here our our first hints of the Byronic male. We knew the man was alone, but here this fact is drawn attention to.
He observes the ocean, "the Deep's untrampled floor//With green and purple seaweeds strown." He relates to the waves crashing, "Like light dissolves in star-showers, thrown" as they come to their end on the sand likely not far from his solitude. There they are thrown, as he has felt he has been. He hears a sound, maybe the ocean itself, maybe a fog horn that sounds as mournful as this speaker feels, (would those exist during this time? It would make perfect sense here!) "...and a tone//Arises from its measured motion,//How sweet! did any heart now share my emotion."
He is a pessimistic man, "Alas, I have not hope nor health//Nor peace within nor calm around" He has no contentment in his life, "Nor that content surpassing wealth//The sage in meditation found" He feels that he has nothing and that nothing has been given him as it has been given to others, "Others I see whom these surround,//Smiling they live and call life pleasure;//To me that cup has been dealt in another measure." Did he have these things, he seems to not think he'd take enjoyment from them either.
He has a heavy load that he must bear until his death. He knows this and his despair is lessened somewhat at this time, though he still feels as though he could just stop and cry. "I could lie down like a tired child//And weep away life of care"
He claims that others might miss him were he to die, but compares it with his losing this lovely day instead of someone losing a loved one, Some might lament that I were cold,//As I, when this sweet day is gone" He feels that he isn't loved, but his lose would be regretted, "...for I am one//Whom men love not, and yet regret" but again compares his passing with the passing of that day, which he would remember fondly, "Unlike this day, which, when the Sun//Shall on its stainless glory set,//Will linger though enjoyed, like joy in Memory yet." He knows his death would be regretted, but he doesn't feel he will be remembered fondly. This is both a fine example of the Byronic hero, stealing himself into isolation and being aware that he is unliked by his peers. This is also somewhat selfish, thinking he could just die and that no one would honestly miss him in a way of love or friendship. What is the Byronic hero is not selfish?
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Mutability
"Mutability" (p. 744) is one of Shelley's early philosophical poems, focusing on the concept of mutability, or change. Respond to/explicate this poem by relating the whole to the last line. Also, TRY to relate the verse--meter, lines, rhymes, even the punctuation--to the meaning.
Here we, the "we" to which the speaker identifies himself within is a general "we" in which the reader or listener is meant to include themselves within. It is meant to extend to all of mankind. We speed about through life, not questioning and all blending together, though we do often shine in our differences, we are still all a part of the same whole and fade into death all to easily, "Restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver,//Streaking the darkness radiantly!-yet soon//Night closes round, and they are lost for ever"
"Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings//Give various response to each varying blast" Not one person is quite like another, we all react different to what seems to be the same stimulus, person, or event. "To whose frail frame no second motion brings//One mood or modulation like the last." We will never react the same way twice either, no matter the circumstances. Humankind is utterly unpredictable.
One little thing can ruin out experiences. Whatever we do, this will always be so, "We rest.- A dream has power to poison sleep;//We rise.-One wandering thought pollutes the day" Each of us deals with this in different ways, "We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep;//Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away"
It's difficult to tell how one person will take something as not only are we all different, we are always changing. That is the only thing that remains the same, "Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;//Nought may endure but Mutability."
The points that the speaker calls attention to by way of his exclamation points and separations are interesting. "Streaking the darkness radiantly!" The clouds, which represented the "we" were doing this and it shows our lives beautiful and fast lived. "It is the same! -For be it joy or sorrow,//The path of its departure still is free" We're meant to know that though there are many differences described through this poem, we are still the same in that we live and are free to do so.
Here we, the "we" to which the speaker identifies himself within is a general "we" in which the reader or listener is meant to include themselves within. It is meant to extend to all of mankind. We speed about through life, not questioning and all blending together, though we do often shine in our differences, we are still all a part of the same whole and fade into death all to easily, "Restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver,//Streaking the darkness radiantly!-yet soon//Night closes round, and they are lost for ever"
"Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings//Give various response to each varying blast" Not one person is quite like another, we all react different to what seems to be the same stimulus, person, or event. "To whose frail frame no second motion brings//One mood or modulation like the last." We will never react the same way twice either, no matter the circumstances. Humankind is utterly unpredictable.
One little thing can ruin out experiences. Whatever we do, this will always be so, "We rest.- A dream has power to poison sleep;//We rise.-One wandering thought pollutes the day" Each of us deals with this in different ways, "We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep;//Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away"
It's difficult to tell how one person will take something as not only are we all different, we are always changing. That is the only thing that remains the same, "Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;//Nought may endure but Mutability."
The points that the speaker calls attention to by way of his exclamation points and separations are interesting. "Streaking the darkness radiantly!" The clouds, which represented the "we" were doing this and it shows our lives beautiful and fast lived. "It is the same! -For be it joy or sorrow,//The path of its departure still is free" We're meant to know that though there are many differences described through this poem, we are still the same in that we live and are free to do so.
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