I agree with Artqueen when she says that On My First Sonne contains a lot of religious reference e.g. the idea that the poet committed a "sinne" to love his son so much.
Other poems with reference to religion could be Tichborne's Elegie, if only because he died for his religion, wanting Mary Queen of Scots, a Catholic, on the throne of England instead of Elizabeth.
There's also religious reference in Storm on the Island, if you want to see it as a metaphor for the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland (The Troubles), and in Clarke's poem A Difficult Birth, which refers to the Easter story (the stone rolled back from the tomb), and, I guess, to the Christmas story, in that it deals with a birth, and Jesus is called "Lamb of God" in the Anglo-catholic mass.
Any more ideas for links to religion in the anthology poems?
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Seamus Heaney - use of sound
Heaney is known for using sound as a major literary device in his poetry. In Mid-Term Break, he talks about "counting bells nelling classes to a close", and the alliteration of the "c" gives the line a beat, just as a funeral bell has a steady beat.
Then the letter "c" is repeated in the next stanzas - his father is "crying", and the baby "cooing". All three sounds are linked by the "c", so that the alliteration stands out when the poem is read, and the reader connects them in his/her mind. Later, we have consonance of the letter "s" which is a quiet, shushing sound. The bedside is "soothed" and peaceful.
In Digging we have a "clean rasping sound", and the "squelch and slap", the "curt cuts" in which he uses alliteration to suggest the sound the spade makes as it goes through the earth.
Then you have Death of a Naturalist and all the delicate sounds of a childhood Spring day, followed by the ugly "coarse croaking" and the "slap and plop" of summer, and the day the frogs were mating.
If I was going to concentrate on the use of sound in poems, I'd compare any one of these poems with The Field-Mouse because Clarke uses sound in her poem too. The long grass is a "snare drum", and the air "hums" with jets, it's "stammering with gunfire".
She also uses metaphors of fighting and physical damage, "wounding my land" and the field "lies bleeding", and so does Heaney in Death of a Naturalist.
Then the letter "c" is repeated in the next stanzas - his father is "crying", and the baby "cooing". All three sounds are linked by the "c", so that the alliteration stands out when the poem is read, and the reader connects them in his/her mind. Later, we have consonance of the letter "s" which is a quiet, shushing sound. The bedside is "soothed" and peaceful.
In Digging we have a "clean rasping sound", and the "squelch and slap", the "curt cuts" in which he uses alliteration to suggest the sound the spade makes as it goes through the earth.
Then you have Death of a Naturalist and all the delicate sounds of a childhood Spring day, followed by the ugly "coarse croaking" and the "slap and plop" of summer, and the day the frogs were mating.
If I was going to concentrate on the use of sound in poems, I'd compare any one of these poems with The Field-Mouse because Clarke uses sound in her poem too. The long grass is a "snare drum", and the air "hums" with jets, it's "stammering with gunfire".
She also uses metaphors of fighting and physical damage, "wounding my land" and the field "lies bleeding", and so does Heaney in Death of a Naturalist.
Death of a Naturalist
Heaney uses sound a lot in this poem.
Firstly, the enjambment makes you read it as if Heaney is speaking, so that it sounds as if he is sharing a childhood memory with you. Then it is divided into two sections - the first is a happy childhood memory, with sounds like bubbles which "gargle delicately", as if they are too polite to do it loudly, and the "gauze of sound" with another suggestion of delicacy, and the "z" sound, like the buzz of insects.
Heaney also uses alliteration, to make certain phrases stick in the mind, "jampotfuls of the jellied specks", which sounds like something sweet, and thus attractive.
Then there is the second stanza, with very different sounds.
The croaking is now "coarse" and the alliteration there makes sure we remember the nature of the sound. The "bass chorus" sounds like a choir, or the chorus of an opera, and bass voices do sound more powerful and threatening, and that is made clearer with "slap" and "plop", as heaney uses onomatopoeia to suggest the rather ugly sounds the frogs makwe as they move about in the flax-dam. The final sound is their "blunt heads farting" which suggests that their heads are their anuses - a disgusting image, and one that comes complete with the idea of a forbidden sound and a nasty smell.
It's interesting that his other poems incorporate childhood memories, or sounds; he clearly gets a lot of his material from his sense of sound, and from his childhood. Do you remember things via sound, or smell? Or are your memories mainly visual?
If I were to be asked to compare this poem with another in the anthology, I'd look for poems which include a lot of sound, or are to do with death or childhood memories.
Firstly, the enjambment makes you read it as if Heaney is speaking, so that it sounds as if he is sharing a childhood memory with you. Then it is divided into two sections - the first is a happy childhood memory, with sounds like bubbles which "gargle delicately", as if they are too polite to do it loudly, and the "gauze of sound" with another suggestion of delicacy, and the "z" sound, like the buzz of insects.
Heaney also uses alliteration, to make certain phrases stick in the mind, "jampotfuls of the jellied specks", which sounds like something sweet, and thus attractive.
Then there is the second stanza, with very different sounds.
The croaking is now "coarse" and the alliteration there makes sure we remember the nature of the sound. The "bass chorus" sounds like a choir, or the chorus of an opera, and bass voices do sound more powerful and threatening, and that is made clearer with "slap" and "plop", as heaney uses onomatopoeia to suggest the rather ugly sounds the frogs makwe as they move about in the flax-dam. The final sound is their "blunt heads farting" which suggests that their heads are their anuses - a disgusting image, and one that comes complete with the idea of a forbidden sound and a nasty smell.
It's interesting that his other poems incorporate childhood memories, or sounds; he clearly gets a lot of his material from his sense of sound, and from his childhood. Do you remember things via sound, or smell? Or are your memories mainly visual?
If I were to be asked to compare this poem with another in the anthology, I'd look for poems which include a lot of sound, or are to do with death or childhood memories.
Thursday, 6 March 2008
The Laboratory
Browning has used a rather jaunty rhythm in this poem, which sounds almost comic in contrast to the subject matter. He also has his speaker move jerkily from one thing to another, as if she is distracted by what she sees around her in the chemist's shop.
Everyone's idea of the speaker will be different, but I see her as quite young, rather silly, and obviously with a jealous and vindictive nature.
There is a rather lengthy but comprehensive analysis of the poem here
and a powerpoint presentation which explains the subject matter and language in a simpler way here.
I'd be happy to hear any other ideas about the young woman in the poem, but Browning has certainly created a real character, and a believable setting for her.
Everyone's idea of the speaker will be different, but I see her as quite young, rather silly, and obviously with a jealous and vindictive nature.
There is a rather lengthy but comprehensive analysis of the poem here
and a powerpoint presentation which explains the subject matter and language in a simpler way here.
I'd be happy to hear any other ideas about the young woman in the poem, but Browning has certainly created a real character, and a believable setting for her.
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