Introduction to Poetry

INTRODUCTION TO POETRY

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings." - William Wordsworth

The ancient Greeks and Romans regarded poetry as the means in expressing their feelings spiritually and philosophically using oral tradition. It is the language of emotions, which is expressed from the heart of the poet (Kirzener & Mendel Pg. 659, 664).

Function of Poetry based on William Wordsworth:

Solely giving pleasure to the reader

It gives pleasure because:

a) It imitates nature well, and a thing well-imitated causes pleasure.

b) It increases the reader's knowledge of the primary nature of men.

c) It arouses sympathy that brings inner sympathy.

d) It increases the reader's knowledge of the essence of men and nature.

Four stages of Poetic Composition:

1. Stage one: Observation

Perception of the object, character or situation that brings in the emotional state of the poet's thought.

     2. Stage Two: Recollection

The poet will explore his or her past experiences stored in the part of their unexplored thoughts that will bring peacefulness in them.

     3.Stage three: Filtering

 The poet  is purged of non-essential elements and thus makes his experience communicable to all men. For instance, generating the emotion in his or her mind to gain the emotion that is needed to compose a poem.

    4. Stage four: Composition

The process of composing poetry starts here. The poet seeks to express his feelings on a paper and talks to the reader. Wordsworth claimed that it is important to share poetry with the reader by expressing your expression well in writing a poem.

Types of Poetry:

1.Narrative Poem

• Epics
• Ballad (Ballad Stanza)

2. Lyrical Poem

• Elegy
• Ode
• Aubade
• Ocassional Poem
• Meditation
• Pastoral
• Emblem Poem
• Visual Poetry (Dadaism, Surrealism, Futurism)
• Concrete Poetry

References:

Kriszner and  Mandell. Portable Literature: Reading, Reacting and Writing. Boston, 

Thomson Wadsworth, 2007.

Unit 3: Wordsworth: Preface to Lyrical Ballad, n.d, 6th October 2013.

             https://sites.google.com/site/nmeictproject/collections/3-2-3-definition-of-poetry

Raghukul, T (1996). History & Principal of Literary Criticism. New Delhi: Rama Brothers: William Wordsworth (Pg. 243-255)

Assignment: "Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note by Amiri Baraka

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
Amiri Baraka     1961

                                    For Kellie Jones, born 19 May 1959


    

Lately, I've become accustomed to the way
The ground opens up and envelopes me
Each time I go out to walk the dog.
Or the broad edged silly music the wind
Makes when I run for a bus...

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars.
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night I tiptoed up
To my daughter's room and heard her
Talking to someone, and when I opened
The door, there was no one there...
Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands

Explorations to The Text

1. What is the mood of the speaker in the opening lines? What images suggest his feelings?

The mood of the speaker in the opening lines is presumably to be in state of hopelessness and depressed as he was too accustomed to the life he had tried to adapt to. This statement can be explicated from Stanza 1, line 2 and line 4. This has suggested to be the speaker's state of emptiness as a result of doing the same daily routine.  

Lately, I've become accustomed to the way

The ground opens up and envelops me

Each time I go out to walk the dog.

Or the broad-edged silly music the wind

Makes when I run for a bus........ 

     2. What is the significance of the daughter's gesture of peeking into "her own clasped hands"?

The significance of the daughter's gesture of peeking into "her own clasped hands" can be imagined as an act of kneeling in prayer. The daughter's hope is suggested to be contrasted the father's state of hopelessness. The girl is suggested to have a belief in God and is suggested to pray for calmness and serenity from the obstacle that her father has gone through.

     3. What does the title mean? How does it explain the closing line?

The title of the poem represents the beginning of the speaker's melancholic monologue before coming to an idea of attempting suicide. This poem somehow shows a contradiction to the closing line as the last stanza the daughter's clasped hands has displayed a hope in himself which encourages him to persevere till the end.

     4. Why does Baraka have three short lines, separated as stanzas? How do they convey the message of the poem?

The three short lines are used to display the speaker's monologue where he is concluding his preceding stanzas per stanzas.

     5. Why does Baraka begin stanza with "Lately", "And now" and "And then"? What do these transition words accomplish?

These transition words "Lately", "And now" and "And then" show the arrangement of the situation which has been faced by the speaker.

On the first stanza, "Lately" is used to show the current daily routine which he has been repeating day by day."And now"shows the overwhelming hopelessness in him which has taken control of his emotion, which is suggested that he was in a state of depression. Lastly, "And then" shows the opening line of new hope where the speaker saw his own daughter was "Talking to someone"(Stanza 5, line 14) with her hands clasped, which is suggested in line 17.This can be suggesting the possible ending for the speaker's monologue and possibly wished to stop dwelling in hopelessness. 

     6. How does the speaker feel about his daughter? What does she represents to him?

The speaker sees her daughter as a ray of hope. The speaker can be suggested to be rather proud of his daughter for believing in the existence of God in providing serenity to her life. His daughter symbolises the speaker's remedy for his overwhelming hopeless in the first four stanzas.

My Mother's Monologue to Me

Think of The Moment of Your Pasts, The Moment of Conflict or of Closeness. Write a Point of View that You Have Experienced with Your Father or Your Mother.

The moment of closeness I remembered when she was five, mischievous however obedient girl. I remembered of her innocence and vanity while she was sleeping on my stomach. She was back then a curious girl who asked so many questions even to the simplest thing in her life. Even though sometimes I stopped her from asking me so many things, she is still the apple of my eyes. My frustrations may be the cause I caned her and scolded her with harsh words. Whenever I saw her crying with tears, I couldn't bear to see her suffering with me. However, whatever I have said to her was for her own good. I wished she could excelled well in exams and be proud of her own achievements. I also wished to see her happily walking into her primary school and meet new friends so she could make her own happy and memorable life. Even though sometimes I left her at home, I regretted that I have never taken the courage to bring her to her cousin’s house.  I will see her in few years’ time, with a graduation robe and cap on her head, and smiled at me joyfully that she has graduated with honours. I will definitely see her furthering her studies and be thankful of my well-taught upbringing.

Exploration of The Text in Marilyn Chin's "Turtle Soup "

 Turtle Soup




Image taken from: pyrrhite.deviantart.com))))

You go home one evening tired from work,
and your mother boils you turtle soup.
Twelve hours hunched over the hearth
(who knows what else is in that cauldron).

You say, "Ma, you've poached the symbol of long life;
that turtle lived four thousand years, swam
the Wet, up the Yellow, over the Yangtze.
Witnessed the Bronze Age, the High Tang,
grazed on splendid sericulture."
(So, she boils the life out of him.)

"All our ancestors have been fools.
Remember Uncle Wu who rode ten thousand miles
to kill a famous Manchu and ended up
with his head on a pole? Eat, child,
its liver will make you strong."

"Sometimes you're the life, sometimes the sacrifice."
Her sobbing is inconsolable.
So, you spread that gentle napkin
over your lap in decorous Pasadena.

Baby, some high priestess has got it wrong.
The golden decal on the green underbelly
says "Made in Hong Kong."

Is there nothing left but the shell
and humanity's strange inscriptions,
the songs, the rites, the oracles?

FOR BEN HUANG

Copyright © 1993 by Marilyn Chin, from The Pheonix Gone, The Terrace EmptyOnline Source: http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/m/mdherrin/turtle.html

1.   The word “cauldron” in Stanza 1, line 4 suggested to be a traditional stove. The word "cauldron" eventually opens an imagery of how was the turtle being boiled by her mother, which is later on explained in Stanza 2.The word also evokes an irony to the speaker as a result of her mother serving a bowl of turtle soup as a source of maintain her health instead of a significant symbol of longevity in Stanza 2. 

You go home one evening tired from work,

and your mother boils you turtle soup.

Twelve hours hunched over the hearth

(who knows what else is in that cauldron.)

You say, "Ma, you've poached the symbol of long life;

that the turtle lived four thousand years, swam

the Wei, up to the Yellow, over the Yangtze.

Witnessed the Bronze Age, the High Tang,

Grazed on splendid sericulture."

(So, she boils the life out of him)

     2.  The speaker refers to “the Wei”, “the Yellow” and “the Yangtze” as a way to amazed of  the chronological history in China. She is presumably amazed of how did her ancestors, which is represented as the wise old turtle, have preserved the traditional Chinese identity throughout the Bronze Age. Instead of mentioning the Nile, the Amazon or the Mississippi, she recited the geographical location of China as a way to remember the old identity of the her origins as a Chinese. This is suggested in Stanza 2, line 5-9

You say, "Ma, you've poached the symbol of long life;

that the turtle lived four thousand years, swam

the Wei, up to the Yellow, over the Yangtze.

Witnessed the Bronze Age, the High Tang,

Grazed on splendid sericulture."

 3. The tone of poem is suggested nostalgic as the speaker is presumably nostalgic of her Chinese identity. The conversation between the speaker and her mother has ended with troubled thought whether if her mother has also went through all the changes because of the cultural differences that has depleted the Chinese soul in her. 

"Sometimes you're the life, sometimes the sacrifice."

Her sobbing is inconsolable.

So, you spread that gentle napkin

over your lap in decorous Pasadena.

Baby, some high priestess has got it wrong.

The golden decal on the green underbelly

says "Made in Hong Kong."

 Is there nothing left but the shell

and humanity's strange inscriptions,

the songs, the rites, the oracles?

Ideas for Writing

1.“Sometimes you’re the life, sometimes the sacrifice.”  This quotation has suggested that in order to survive better in a foreign land, one must learn to leave their pasts behind regardless of culture and faces of people that you knew in the pasts so that the future generation of your children will follow your steps in accepting the ideology of the society. From the speaker’s point of view, she is quite reluctant to drink up the turtle soup for turtle symbolizes the longevity and wisdom based on Stanza She is still proud of her ancestry line in China who has established a long living history that the American’s cultures are not comparable to the

However, when her mother said in Stanza 3, line 14 to 15 and Stanza 4, line 16-17 that the speaker began to realize that in order to assimilate well in a new foreign land, her mother has learnt to live her on by letting go all of her previous culture and habits to lead her child to better future in America.

 “Eat , child,

its liver will make you strong.”

“Sometimes you’re the life, sometimes the sacrifice,”

Her sobbing is inconsolable.

In the context of an immigrant family, “In a Far Country” by K.S Maniam has  displayed the sense of otherness of the Lee Shin’s psychological journey, the minor character of the novel. Along his psychological journey in Malaysia, he couldn't assimilate well in the new environment which he has adapted in China. Therefore, he lost his sense of belongings and became a very lonely person.  He was initially being humiliated and teased by Wali Farouk till an extent that he did not collect his “mandarin coats” and “Chinese suit”. Therefore, he was transformed into an unhygienic person by wearing “limped shirts” with” frayed collars” (P.g 48) (P.g 163). He occupied his house with antique furniture and calligraphy posters just to reminiscence of his house back in his hometown (P.g 46) He became delusional due to extreme loneliness. Therefore, he chooses to join Rajan in seeing women in black in Crystal Palace. There again, he met a spotted lady or a prostitute, May, who resembles his fiancée, Mei Lin. So, he has requested her to wear some attire that her fiancée, has frequently worn, brought her out for dinner and shopping just to overwhelm his loneliness and “sexual favour”(P.g 165-166). Before he dies, he rampages his furniture and posters out of anger for he couldn't overcome his loneliness and sense of alienation and he died in his sleep with Mei Lin’s photo on his hand. Therefore, we can see that how an immigrant would end his life because of not assimilating well in the foreign land.

Even though the speaker seemed to feel vain after having a long conversation with her mother, it can assumed that her mother has grieved and cried initially at the stage of attempting to get used to the new environment in Pasedena. After a few years of adapting the lifestyle in America, her thinking has became less conservative and superstitious as the speaker. Based on Stanza 6, it is suggested that if an individual doesn't learn to move on in their life, they will eventually lose their sense of belongings in their new place or even the worse losing their own dignity and life.

Taken from the novel "In A Far Country" by K.S Maniam

Group Members
-Saffiyah
-Afiqah
-Nuralain

                           

The Night Has a Thousand Eyes by Francis William Bourdillon

Image taken from: www.athousandeyes.zoomshare.com

The Night Has A Thousand Eyes

The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one:
Yet the light of a whole life dies
When love is done. 

Francis William Bourdillon

Short Biography of Francis William Bourdillon

• Born in Runcorn, Cheshire
• Educated at Worcester College, Oxford.
• Tutored to the son of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein
• Tutored for the University of Eastbourne
• Well-known in composing single short poem, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes.
• Other Publications:

a) Among The Flowers, And Other Poems (1878) 

b) Romance in Form of Cantefable (1921) 

c) Preludes and Romances (1908) 

d) Nephelé (1896) 

e)Aucassin and Nicolet (1887) 

f) The Early Editions of the Roman de la Rose (1906)

g) Russia Reborn (1917)


The Explanatory of the Poem:

After reading this poem, it is a very simple and beautiful poem with the uses of personifications, hyperbole and it's rhythm. The usage of the personification has enhance the attribution of the day, the world, the moon and the sun with human personalities. The usage of hyperbole gives me an impression of the the night has a thousand shiny stars in the sky, which shows the important keyword of "love" as the speaker's main focus of the poem. It is suggested that when love fades, and the speaker's world will be darkened and living in a meaningless way of life. The rhythm in the poem is a-b-a-b and it was rather pleasant to be read on. Despite of the restricted traditional structure for each stanza, it has created a very tidy and well-organized poem overall. 

In Response of Naomi Shihab's "All Things Not Considered"

The mournful war cry
Deeply sunk the emotions
The Palestinians and Israelis
Losing the holiness and affections,
Of the language between two
were crushed into pieces.

Was this holy enough
to unite a language as one?

Was it holy enough
to pick up with sticks and stones
that were hunger for blood?

The Palestinians' cry
for Muhammad al-Durra
Asel Asleh too been wept on,
has uncover the Medusa's deceiving eyes
That petrified the Arabian women
and the Israelis
who sang the song of hope.

Was it holy enough?
To continue the marching guns
that projectiles their bullets
Killing the only seed
of their future.

Could you offer more mercy?
To end such tragedy
The holiness is not our enemy,
But our remedy in need.

Homeless, hopeless
As their beautiful nightmare began.
Even in their sleep.

Till the end
The baby's curls
died in the midst of agony,
The cloud cries for them
The sun shone for them
To the Holy God Almighty.

Explanation of the poem:
The poem is about the aftermath of the war between the Palestinians-Israelis where many innocent children have died in the battlefield. When it comes to the question of political conflicts, the Israelis put the holiness of religion and caused a riot of Palestinians who were demonstrating the dissatisfactions of the political system.

I have reused the style of poetry which has been used by Naomi Shihab, such as the repetition of "holy" as a way to show that religion is not the main factor of the war, but human nature themselves who started the war between themselves. Because of anger and strong disagreements which has been done by the two races, the riot began to dehumanize their sense of rationality and they have misused religion as a way that the war started. The incidents of Muhammad al-Durra  and Asel Asleh represent the cruelty of the Israeli politicians in order to gain power and belittle Palestinians. Language in this poem represents the unity of the two races of Israelis and Palestinians. Overall, most of the personification is used to classify the human characteristics of the "sun", "cloud", "sticks and stones that were hunger for blood", "marching guns", "That holiness is not our enemy" and "mournful war cry". It has eventually displayed how detrimental the situation happened in war.

Answering to the poem "Incident"

Exploration of The Text

1.Based on the poem "Incident", the nature of the interaction between the boys are mutually strangers who tried to greet each other. The persona is depicted as childish, innocent and happy boy. As the first stanza, line 2 has suggested the boy's feelings initially:

" Heart-filled, head filled with glee," (Line 2)

However, the persona is indicated that he is not from Baltimore but from somewhere which is far away from Baltimore. These three lines, Line 1, Line 3 and Line 4 have suggested in :

"Once riding, in old Baltimore," (Line 1)

"I saw a Baltimorean
   Keep looking straight at me." (Line 3 to Line 4)

And he tries to greet the boy who is from Baltimore with "a smile" based on stanza 2, line 7.

"And so I smiled". (Line 7)

However, the boy was suggested to be extremely antagonistic towards him when he called him a Nigger, which can be seen in stanza 2, line 7 and 8.

"but he poked out
   His tongue and called me, "Nigger"." (Line 7 to Line 8) 

 2. The speaker remember nothing more than the incident, even though he stayed in Baltimore from "May until December" is because the word "Nigger" in line 7 to 8 have been tormenting his mind since young until now. The incident has made the boy keenly aware of his social inferiority as black.

"but he poked out
   His tongue and called me, "Nigger"." (Line 7 to Line 8) 

Based on Stanza 3, it has suggested how powerful a word could cause so much pain in the boy's memories. The persona also is seen to be quite jaded on such blatant racism in an innocent child's point of view. It is presumably that the white child of Baltimore has affected the African child because of their skin colour (Line 6).

"I saw the whole of Baltimore
    From May until December
Of all things that happened there
    That's all that I remembered."  (Stanza 3, Line 9-12)

"And he was no whit bigger" (Line 6)


Even though it doesn't seem to be conveying any emotional statement in this stanza, the words "The whole of Baltimore" and "of all things" have suggested that this is the persona's pain and suffering from his past childhood.

The Reading and Writing Connection

1. Based on the poem "Incident", the main focus of the story is talking about the identity of the race and how did the other races discriminate the African Americans due to their skin colour. As a comparison to my previous experiences, I have known Christians as a good Samaritans and kind in nature towards new people around them. They will pray for their friends and love them as part of their family. However, when it comes to the question of religion, I saw the ugly side of the religion in closed doors. When there was a funeral ceremony happening around the corner, I realised some of the Christians do not respect the other religions for their culture and the tradition of their beliefs. For instance, when the Buddhists were doing their prayers, they were sitting there and talk among their religion instead of standing there respecting the prayer. From that day onwards, I promised myself to respect every different religion around me as a way to remember the importance of unity among different races.

Ideas For Writing

1. The form and rhyme of the poem adds in a very essential parts of the poet's writing style.
Forms are the structure of a piece of writing, rather than the ideas it expresses, event that describes the poem. The poet has used 12 form lines, which consist of 4 lines in 3 stanzas. And the poem is less wordy and pleasing to be heard.
The rhyme is the repetition of sounds usually at the end of the line in regular patterns. It represents a traditional technique of poetry composition. In this poem, the arrangement of the rhythm ends with a-b-c-b and I found it was quite easy to read on. Perhaps, the ending a-b-c-b has enhanced the effects of the images and symbols.

2. The power of the language is the language which empowers speech articulation with our intense emotions. It is not to be used for assaulting or abusing another individuals psychologically in the society. In this poem, it is used to share the information about nigger. The effects of the use of the term "nigger" will eventually create a paradigm for the American-Africans or Afro-Africans as one entity of black people. Because it was once a slang for a lowly rank black slave, it has also directly known as the racial insult for the blacks.





References:
http://www.mtoomey.com/poweroflanguage.html
Image taken from: dbhsharlemrenaissance6.wikispaces.com