Emily Dickinson on hope

First thought is maybe I should change my page name to include a female poet in the title. Just have to find some clever rhyme or pun or something...

Anyhow, this week I have chosen another great female poet (I'm against using silly diminutives like 'poetess').
Most of the ones I have researched are rather short, which I do like and could analyse in depth but this one rather took my fancy a little more.

'Hope' is the thing with feathers 

That perches in the soul, 

And sings the tune without the words, 

And never stops at all, 

  

And sweetest in the gale is heard;         

And sore must be the storm 

That could abash the little bird 

That kept so many warm. 

  

I’ve heard it in the chillest land, 

And on the strangest sea;        

Yet, never, in extremity, 

It asked a crumb of me.

(Written c.1861) 

Sources seem to suggest that Emily lived almost entirely in isolation and thus spent much time on internal reflection. This led me to notice how she is contemplating something internal - 'hope' - but by using an outdoor metaphor - a 'bird'. Yet she escapes the possibility that this hope is trapped inside the 'soul' by using lexemes denoting freedom: 'perches', 'sings'. After establishing the metaphor she extends it to the human in which the hope resides; troubling times are compared to a 'storm', now a cliche but probably less common in the 1800s.

The antithesis of 'little bird' when juxtaposed with 'so many' is where Dickinson comments upon how a little hope from one person can go a long way with others. Even if it is 'abash[ed]' (nice mimesis with the scansion emphasising the plosive /b/), this does not mean to say that hope will not return; it 'never stops', intensified with the tautological adverbial 'at all'. It has even been heard by the speaker 'in the chillest land', where superlative cold signifies loneliness, conjuring a deserted image with the help of the expanse of the concrete nouns 'land' and 'sea'; hope can be found anywhere on earth. Hope is strongest (the bird is 'sweetest') when there is a 'gale' - hope thrives in a little danger, for without it hope would not be necessary.

The final message is uplifting: hope will always be there because it has to be. The use of 'crumb' brings any problems back down to a small scale to encourage the reader to understand how effortless hoping is, as effortless as the rhyming triplet which rounds the whole off in a content tone.

If I remember in the coming weeks I'll try to find some of my own poetry and post that as an extra; at least that way I can never lose it!

Browning and Barrett Browning: star crossed lovers

This week I thought I'd look into the relationship between the poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. One of my favourite poems is Sonnet 43 by the latter. And from the former Meeting at Night is short and sweet and very effective. I would love to devote an analysis to these but I'm trying to look beyond my previous knowledge so instead I have chosen a romantic poem from Elizabeth (time for some female representation here), who did not believe he truly could love her as he professed: Sonnets from the Portuguese XIII (Portuguese being part of his pet name for her!).

As a background, their courtship lasted 20 months and he undertook the task of caring for her willingly, as she was an 'invalid' (I do not like the term but it is used in all sources).  They married secretly in 1846 and she was disowned by her father, whom she loved very much.

The correspondence of 600 letters is surely something I will look into in my own time as it is said to pertain to the most romantic relationship of the Victorian era.

If thou must love me, let it be for nought

Except for love's sake only. Do not say

I love her for her smile ... her look ... her way

Of speaking gently, ... for a trick of thought

That falls in well with mine, and certes brought

A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'—

For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may

Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,

May be unwrought so. Neither love me for

Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—

A creature might forget to weep, who bore

Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!

But love me for love's sake, that evermore

Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.

 

I love the commanding tone of this poem. EBB is not fawning on her lover; she seems to be using reverse psychology by overtly discouraging him from loving her to make him admire her boldness more. The use of the modal auxiliary verb 'must' in the first line sets the tone as if she did not want his love, or perhaps she wanted to save him from loving her. This with the conditional clause beginning 'if' presents an uncertain, insecure relationship which could either succeed or fail. Ending the first line on 'for nought' also gives a negative light, creating 'except' all the more last minute, a small hope in the relationship.

 

She uses the prohibition 'do not say' to command her lover, escalating to 'love me' by the penultimate line, showing she in truth does want the relationship to succeed. Her list of things which might be loved consists of both the concrete ('smile') and abstract ('trick of thought') nouns, which she claims 'may/ Be changed, or change for thee', showing a relationship is fluid, especially over the long 'eternity' which she wants to spend with him.

 

The concept of loving 'for love's sake' is rather abstract but after her argument when it I repeated one can see the logical sense in her reasoning, for love will not change if it exists purely for itself and for the sake of existing. This almost paradoxical climax (for what is there to love if one cannot love the things that change from person to person?) reveals her true feelings, for with the two lines, 'love' is written four times through figura etymologica and polyptoton.

 

The final thing I shall say is this: I like the very personal side to their relationship which she discloses in the lines 'Neither love me for / Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry'. Here she alludes to her condition and discourages his love of it, hopefully looking for a day when she accepts herself and 'forget[s]' to weep, so he will no longer pity her and thus not love her. This shows her to be perceptive, understanding that pity does not equate to love and therefore not indulging herself in her care naively. I suppose as the elder in the relationship she felt she has more control than many younger women might in that time. I'm glad they had their 15 years together, even though she died in his arms, which seems sadly apt for such a story-like relationship.

When I have fears: Keats commentry

So since he is in the title, I have decided to explore a Keats poem (I am a Keats virgin - yes shame on me).

As it is quite short I shall post it here:

1 When I have fears that I may cease to be

       Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,

   Before high-pilèd books, in charactery,

       Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;

5 When I behold, upon the night’s starred face,

       Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,

   And think that I may never live to trace

       Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;

   And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,

10   That I shall never look upon thee more,

   Never have relish in the faery power

       Of unreflecting love—then on the shore

   Of the wide world I stand alone, and think

       Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

First thing to notice is that it is all one sentence. Perhaps this is meant to mimic the brevity of life or a single breath for a single thought which is formed and then passes swiftly by as the present continues. This sentence begins with a subordinate clause, so uses a marked theme/left branching, and adds further subordinate clauses all the way to line thirteen. This leads to the climax of the main clause 'I stand alone', the change in rhyme scheme from ABAB to a finalising couplet making the tone all the more sombre. Also, the comma gives a caesura after 'alone' to let the reader pause to understand the weight of the statement, especially when the sense of loneliness is given when justaposed with 'wide world'. The sense of loss comes with the negative 'never' in line ten, repeated in line eleven.
I would like to look in more depth at the noun phrase 'unreflecting love'. Keats has prefixed 'reflecting' to form the neologism, meaning he wanted the concept to stand out as unfamiliar to the audience. Perhaps the initial assumption of the reader is the collocation 'unrequited love', beginning with the same phonemes. So the new word has sorrowful connotations unless you consider what it might mean; I interpret it to be closer to 'unconditional love'. The lover does not need to think about whom it is loving or how; it accepts that it gives love and needs no more think on it. Keats is devastated that he will lose this 'faery power' (perhaps an imagined, Utopian one which is unachievable) as he appears to over-think things; he presents a 'teeming brain' full of thoughts, so many that he needs to release them with his 'pen' or relate to others through 'books' (they are food for thought - 'grain'). His defeat comes when he admits he will 'think' of 'love' and this will cause his downfall as his musing rhymes with 'sink', linking the two concepts indefinitely.
At the time (1818) Keats was merely 22. He would have been surrounded by a world dependent upon reputation. However, even at this young age he could consider reputation and realise that in the grand scheme of things, when death is near (he died only three years later - did well to consider death so young, unfortunately) 'love' and 'fame' become worthless. I find this odd, as other poets and philosophers would probably claim that fame is eternal (I know Yeats did) as was love, or at least it was worth dying for. I think what he aims to convey is that if one did live entirely alone, fame would not exist as it is a perception others have of you, and neither would love for or from another human being. One would live on the edge ('shore') of life and death because what is to exist if you are alone in all the world? You would be living but would you live?

I've decided I like Keats very much.

See you next week! (Maybe some Elizabeth Barrett-Browning is due).

The Lady of Shalott: A tad of Tennyson

So my first entry is going to be concerning Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shalott' (1832), which can be found here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174626. Rather pushing myself into the deep end by studying a long poem but here goes!

As a little background to the poem, The Lady lives near Camelot (linked eternally by the single couple 'Camelot', 'Shalott' repeatedly rhyming) and has to weave what she sees from her castle window. However, she is not allowed to look directly at the world; she must use the reflection of her mirror.

Evidently, she sees Sir Lancelot and looks with her own eyes, meaning she must die.

There appear to be two versions of the poem, one adapted ten years after the original. I know not which to choose as they are both rather different (the latter ends with Lancelot's wish for grace, the former words from The Lady herself, written on her death-boat). I shall endeavour to stick to the original methinks, as this was influenced by an Italian story quite different to the English one, which he did not read until later, and so presumably contains the original essence which he wanted to convey. This includes his creation of the mirror, song, curse and weaving. How imaginative.

I might first point out that Tennyson wanted to soften the Italian 'Scalott' to 'Shalott'. This signifies how he wanted the female character to be ethereal, delicate, just as her curse was.

One of the most important lines is 'I am half sick of shadows'. This can be seen as a comment upon the poet's condition as he lives not in reality but in words which represent reality, just as the mirror represents reality to The Lady but is not quite enough. After all, the stanza started about 'delight' and quickly degenerated to this. 'Half' could refer to the fact that she has two options: to look or not to look. I.e to live or not to live, for once one has chosen to come into reality, one has chosen love or some passion, an emotional vocation. This is the struggle of the scholar: 'no time hath she to sport and play'.

I feel that Shalott, with the rhyme, must be a female version of Camelot. The harsh plosive has been softened to a fricative followed by a more close vowel, mimicking the femininity of its inhabitant contrasted to the knights inside the other building.

I found (perhaps only from a modern perspective) the early reference to 'the reaper' rather sinister, especially as it is juxtaposed with her 'angel[ic]' nature. Foreshadowing to me but perhaps not in context.

Alright, I've hardly touched the surface but feel glad I have at least paddled in some Tennyson. I might return to this post when I have more time; I certainly will return to the poem. I think it's beautifully tragic and fantastical.

I like this painting too - the expression on her face encapsulates her life to me: