Dr.

Saed Shahwan

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 Poetry

- Poetry is: an imaginative awareness of experience

expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic choices
so as to evoke an emotional response.
- It is imaginative and emotional interpretation of life.
- Poetry is either objective poetry or subjective poetry.
Subjective poetry is personal. It treats the subjects
which are drawn from within the poet’s own mind. The
Poet’s own personality forms the core of the poem.
Objective poetry, on the contrary, treats the subjects
which are outside the poet’s mind. Here, the poet deals
with the external human life and activity, like the epic.
- Characteristics of Poetry:
1- The first notable feature is that its content is emotional
and imaginative.
2- Metrical form (Rhythm): Metre means rhythmical
language. In poetry, the emotional and imaginative
interpretation of life is clothed in rhythmical language. It is
metre which functions as the dividing line between prose
and poetry.
3- Poetic Diction: Diction means both the choice and the
arrangement of words.
4- Rhyme: Poetry has rhyme. It may be regular or
irregular. Rhyme means the similarity in sounds between
words or syllables.
5- Figures of speech.
- A poem is: a metrical composition written in verse with
certain measures, whether in blank verse or in rhymes, and
characterized by imagination and poetic diction.

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 • Parts of the poem:
1- Speaker 2- Audience 3- Subject
4- Theme 5- Tone 6- Imagery
7- Sound 8- Rhythm and Meter
9- Figures of speech.
1- Speaker: The speaker is “the created narrative voice of the
poem". The person who is talking in a poem. The speaker is
not necessarily the poet. If the voice of the poem says "I”,
that does not mean it is the author who is speaking, it is just
a voice in the poem that speaks. When the poet creates
another character to be the speaker, that character is called
the persona.
When the poet uses one persona to narrate the entire poem,
the poem is called a dramatic monologue.
- Identifying the speaker of the poem helps to understand
and analyze the entire poem.
2- Audience:
The audience is "the person or people to whom the speaker
is speaking.
- There are different people the speaker can address in the
poem:
A- The speaker can address another character in the poem.
B- The speaker can address a character that is not present
or is dead, which is called apostrophe.
C- The speaker can address you, the reader.

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 3- Subject:
The subject is the general or specific topic of the poem. We
can say that the subject of a poem is the answer to some
questions like" what is the poem about?" and " what are the
key words in the poem?"
4- Theme:
The theme is "the main idea or underlying meaning of a
literary work". The theme differs from the subject or topic
of a literary work in that it involves a statement or opinion
about the topic.
5- Tone:
The tone is the poet's attitude toward the subject of the
poem. We can identify the tone of the poem by noting the
author's use of poetic devices such as diction and rhythm.
For example, if a poet uses words such as "light", "spring"
"blossom" and "breeze", the tone tends to be a happy and
joyful one. On the contrary, if he uses words such as
"black", "dark", "stormy", the tone is plainly gloomy and
depressing.
6- Diction:
Diction can be defined as style of speaking or writing,
determined by the choice of words by a speaker or a writer.
Diction, or choice of words, often separates good writing from
bad writing. School of Distance Education Appreciating Poetry
Page 11 It depends on a number of factors. Firstly, the word has
to be right and accurate. Secondly, words should be appropriate
to the context in which they are used. Lastly, the choice of
words should be such that the listener or reader understands
easily. Proper diction, or proper choice of words, is important to
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get the message across. On the other hand, the wrong choice of
words can easily divert listeners or readers, which results in
misinterpretation of the message intended to be conveyed.
Types of Diction Individuals vary their diction depending on
different contexts and settings. Therefore, we come across
various types of diction. Formal diction – formal words are used
in formal situations, such as press conferences and
presentations. Informal diction – uses informal words and
conversation, such as writing or talking to friends. Colloquial
diction – uses words common in everyday speech, which may
be different in different regions or communities. Slang diction –
is the use of words that are newly coined, or even impolite.
Poetic Diction Poetry is known for its unique diction, which
separates it from prose. Usually, a poetic diction is marked by
the use of figures of speech, rhyming words, and other devices.
Debates about what constitutes poetic diction can be traced back
to the eighteenth century. Neo- classical writers of the
eighteenth century developed a special poetic diction that mostly
derived from the characteristic usage of earlier poets such as
Virgil, Edmund Spenser and John Milton. They often employed
lofty and archaic words and used recurrent ‘epithets’ in their
poetry. For instance “the finny tribe” for “fish”, the bleating
kind” for “sheep” etc. In Wordsworth’s Preface to the Lyrical
Ballads, he has strongly attacked the neoclassical doctrine of
special language for poetry and claimed that there is n
“essential” difference between the language of prose and
metrical composition.
Diction is "the poet's choice of words".
- Denotation: the words' definition according to the
dictionary.

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 - Connotation: the emotion, thought and ideas associated
with and evoked by the word.
Example: the denotative meaning of the word "lion" is a
jungle fierce animal of the cat family that has long and
thick hair around its neck and which hunts in groups.
The connotative meanings that associate the word "lion:
are (bravery, strength, and cruelty).
- Some words are neutral as they can have negative and
positive connotations. For example, the word Island is
neutral. When it refers to a vacation on a beautiful island,
the word has positive connotations. When it describes
being shipwrecked on an island, the word has negative
connotations. Accordingly, the context of the poem is the
main factor that determines the appropriate connotations of
a word.
7- Imagery:
Imagery may be defined as " a vivid descriptive language
that appeals to one or more of the senses."
8- Sound:
Sound is "the specific use of vowels, consonants, and accent
in a piece of writing, particularly in poems".
Some of sound devices are:
A- Alliteration: it is the repetition of the same consonant
sounds at the beginnings of words that are near each
other in a poem.
Example: Five miles meandering with a mazy motion.

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 B- Rhyme: it is the sound effect caused by matching vowel
and consonant sounds at the end of words such as song
and long, hope and cope, sat and cat, and love and dove.
C- Rhyme scheme: it is a structural device that uses a pattern
of end rhyme.
D- Pun: is the clever or funny use of a word that has more
than one meaning, like the words "bank", "match", and
"light", or the words that have different meanings but
sound the same, like "knight and night", brake and
break", and "tale and tail".
E- The stanza: Is one of the divisions of a poem, composed
of two or more lines.
F- Organization: is the structure of the poem, the way the
lines are organized on the page.
G- Assonance: When two or more words, close to one
another repeat the same vowel sound.
For example: Men sell the wedding bells.
9- Figures of speech:
A- Simile: Simile is a very common figure of speech that
uses to compare two distinctly different things is
indicated by words “like” and “as”. For example, “he is
as tall as a mountain,” doesn’t mean he was actually
1,000 feet tall, it just means he was really tall. Some
other well-known similes you will often hear are: As cute
as a kitten, as happy as a clam, as light as a feather, as
blind as a bat.
It is a comparison between objects of different kinds
usually formed with 'like' or 'as', or verbs like 'seem' or
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 'appear' to draw these objects or images into a
relationship.

Example: Your eyes are as blue as the sky.

You eat like a bird.
B- Metaphor: it is a comparison or connection between two
objects not usually put together without using the words
'like', 'seem', or 'as'.
Example: Your cheeks are red cherries.
Here the author does not mean that his sweetheart's
cheeks are red cherries. Instead, the metaphor simply
conveys that her cheeks are the color of cherries.
C- Personification:
It is a figure of speech that attributes human qualities to
that which is non – human. For example, when we say,
“The sky weeps,” we are giving the sky the ability to cry,
which is a human quality. Another example from Emily
Dickens’ poem “Because I Could not Stop for Death” ;
“ Because I could not stop for Death
He kindly stopped for me”
In this poem, a female speaker tells the story of how she
was visited by "Death"— personified as a "kindly"
gentleman—and taken for a ride in his carriage.
Example: The wind stood up, and gave a shout.
D- Symbolism: it is the use of an object or idea to suggest
more than its literal meaning.
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 E- Irony: when one meaning is stated but another meaning is
intended
Irony: a contrast between what a character says and what
he really means, between what he expects and what he really
gets, between reality and appearance.
F- Allegory: Allegory is like symbolism. So it is often
called ‘multiplied” or “extended” symbolism. In other words it
stands for something else.
H- Allusions: Allusions are literary references. In other
words, they are the references used by a poet or writer, in
his work, of some other poets or writers or artists.
I- Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite
ideas are joined to create an effect. The common
oxymoron phrase is a combination of an adjective
proceeded by a noun with contrasting meanings, such as
“cruel kindness,” or “living death”. Oxymoron produces
a dramatic effect in both prose and poetry. For instance,
when we read or hear the famous oxymoron, “sweet
sorrow,” crafted by Shakespeare, it appeals to us
instantly. It provokes our thoughts, and makes us ponder
the meaning of contradicting ideas. This apparently
confusing phrase expresses the complex nature of love,
that can never be expressed through simple words
Shakespeare makes use of oxymora in his plays to
develop a paradox. “I will bestow him, and will answer
well The death I gave him. So, again, good night. I must
be cruel, only to be kind: Thus bad begins and worse
remains behind. One word more, good lady”. ( Hamlet by
William Shakespeare) In the above lines, Shakespeare
brings two contradictory ideas: “be cruel … to be kind”.
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 The contradiction is understood in the context of the play.
Hamlet wants to kill Claudius, the murderer of his father,
who has married his mother. Hamlet does not want his
mother to be the beloved of his father’s murderer.
Therefore, he is of the view that this murder will purge
her.
J- Ambiguity: It means double or doubtful meaning. It is the
use of a word or expression which has two or more
meanings.

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 “Meeting at Night”
By Robert Browning
I
1The grey sea and the long black land;
2And the yellow half-moon large and low;
3And the startled little waves that lea`p

4In fiery ringlets from their sleep,

5As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
6And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.
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7Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
8Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
9A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
10And blue spurt of a lighted match,
11And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
12Than the two hearts beating each to each!

Summary

‘Meeting at Night’ by Robert Browning describes a journey

undertaken by the speaker to meet with the person he loves at
night outside their farmhouse.
The poem begins with the speaker on a boat, sailing through the
dark waters of the sea. It is unclear at first if there is a point to
his travels or if he is just moving aimlessly through the
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landscape. He takes note of the moon, which is only half-full.
This provides him with just enough light to see the land in the
distance. It is not enough for him to make out any distinct
features. This does not bother the speaker—making it likely he
has taken this trip before.

Thereafter, he makes it to land and is welcomed by the “slushy

sand” in which he leaves his boat. He makes his way across fields
until a farmhouse is visible in the distance. Upon reaching its
window he taps on the glass and is rewarded with the spark of a
match and the voice of his lover. The two can meet in secret in
the final line.

Themes

There are several important themes in this poem. The most

important theme of the poem is love. This passionate kind of
love does not only involve the primal emotions of the body but
also of the deepest ones generating from one’s heart. The
secrecy between lovers is another important aspect to mention
here. The “meeting” seems to be a tryst between two souls.
When the body meets there is sound. While the meeting of
souls, there is no sound. It is the silence that makes that bond
stronger. Apart from that, the poet uses the themes of endurance,
passion, optimism vs pessimism, and physical love in this poem.

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William Blake’s ‘The Sick Rose’

O Rose thou art sick.

The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
The poem The Sick Rose tells us how the beauty and soft youth of a
rose becomes destroyed by a worm. The speaker addresses the rose
and informs it that it is sick. An invisible worm that normally flies under
the cover of night and in the midst of extreme storm has entered into
the bed of the rose. The bed of the rose is of red warm joy. And the
worm’s dark, secret love destroys the life of the rose itself.

Symbolism in The Sick Rose

1. The Rose – Allegorically the rose is a conventional symbol of
love. It also symbolizes beauty, innocence and purity.
2. The Worm- The image of the worm echoes the biblical serpent.
Worms are inclined to earthbound, so they symbolize death,
decay and destruction.
3. Bed- The bed into which the worm enters symbolizes the lover’s
bed.
4. Dark Secret Love- suggest the deceptive nature of the worm
5. Crimson- The colour crimson symbolizes the secret passion
6. Crimson Joy- It stands for sensual joy or sexual gratification.

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The use of Personification in the poem. •

• Types of poetry:
1- The Epic: it is one of the important forms of
impersonal poetry. It is a long narrative poem which
narrates heroic actions of its hero. The characters in
the epic too are heroic and even supernatural. The
epic is very vast and generally has twelve books.
2- The Sonnet: The sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines.
The sonnet originated in Italy, it is chiefly associated
with name of Petrarch.
The subject of the sonnet: The sonnet has no set range
of subjects and no prescribed manner. Milton and
Wordsworth have written sonnets on public occasions.
While Shakespeare’s sonnets express personal
emotions.

• Types of the sonnet:

(i) Petrarchan or Italian sonnet: The sonnet originated in
Italy. It was first composed in Italian. It consists of two
distinct parts: the octave and the sestet. The rhyming
scheme of the octave (first 8 lines) is “abbaabba”.
While the rhyme of the Sestet (next 6 lines) is “cde cde”
or “ced ded”.

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(ii) The Shakespearean Sonnet: It is a sonnet of three
quatrains and a couplet, rhyming as abab, cdcd. Efef,
gg”.
(iii) Spenserian Sonnet: It is just like Shakespearean but
it differs in rhyme. “abab, bcbc.cdcd.ee”.
3- The elegy”: it is a poem which is written to lament
the death of some one.
Its name shows that it is sorrowful in tone. It is
sympathetic in tone.
The term elegy comes from the Greek word “elegos”
which means mournful poem.
The elegy has its origin in ancient Greek.
The elegy is full of great images and symbols.

4- The lyric: Originally as its Greek name suggests, a

lyric poem sung to the music of a lyre (a stringed
musical instrument). It is related to the Classical Greek
word ‘mele’ which means air, melody. But the lyric that
is written today is defined as a short poem expressing
the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker. It is
during the Alexandrine period, the term lyric was meant
any poem that was composed to be sung, a meaning that
it retained till Renaissance. A lyric poem is relatively
short one and noted for the presence of sensuality and
passion. Romantic period in the British Literature is
considered as the golden period of Lyric poems as the
poets like Wordsworth, Shelly, Keats , Burns and
Coleridge were written many beautiful lyric poems.
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Nineteenth century poets like, Tennyson, Browning and
Arnold were also produced some very fine lyrics.
Examples: “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by W B Yeats,
“Piano” by D H Lawrence, “O, Wert Thou in the Cauld
Blast” by Robert Burns etc.
5- The Ode: Ode is a literary technique that is lyrical in
nature, but not very lengthy. In odes the poets praise
people, natural scenes, and abstract ideas. Ode is
derived from a Greek word aeidein, which means to
chant or sing. It is highly formal and serious in its tone
and subject matter, and usually is used with elaborate
patterns of stanzas. It is a poem which is addressed to
some person or thing. It is not written “about” but “to”.
6- The Ballad: Ballad is a song , transmitted orally
which tells a story. It was basically used in dance songs
in ancient France. Later on, during the late 16th and
17th centuries, it spread over the majority of European
nations.. Owing to its popularity and emotional appeal,
it remained a powerful tool for poets and lyricists to
prepare music in the form of lyrical ballads. The art of
lyrical ballad, as well as ballad poetry, lost popularity
during the latter half of the 19th century .it can be
defined as a ‘story in verse”. It is thus a narrative poem.
7- Pastoral elegy: it is a type of elegy in which the poet
considers himself to be a shepherd.
8- Satire is a type of literature that exposes and criticizes
foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society,
by using humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule. The
main intention behind writing a satire is to improve
humanity by criticizing its follies and foibles. In satire,
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School of Distance Education Appreciating Poetry Page
20 writer uses fictional characters, which stand for real
people, to expose and condemn their corruption. The
function of satire is not to make others laugh at persons
or ideas they make fun of. It intends to warn the public,
and to change people’s opinions about the prevailing
corruption and conditions in society. There are two
types of satire ; Formal and Informal. In formal satire
the satiric voice speaks out in the first person. ‘I’ may
addresses either reader or a character within the work.
E. g., In Alexander Pope’s “Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot”,
Two types of formal satire are commonly distinguished;
Horatian and Juvenalian. Named after the Roman
satirist Horace, Horatian satire is gentle , humorous and
light hearted. Horace himself described his aim as “to
laugh people out of their vices and follies”. Pope’s
“Moral Essays” is an example for Horatian satire. While
Juvenalian satire , named after the Roman satirist
Juvenal is abusive, scornful and sharp. Samuel
Johnson’s “London” (1738) and “The Vanity of Human
Wishes” (1749) are distinguished instances of
Juvenalian satire. Indirect satire is mainly found in
Fictional narratives, in which the object of the satire are
characters themselves and their opinions ridiculous by
what they think, say and do. John Dryden’s “Mac
Flecknoe is one of the best verse – satire in
English,”Mac Flecknoe” is personal satire which the
poet wrote to please himself.
8- Traditional Poetry: follows standard rules of
grammar and syntax with a regular rhythm and rhyme
scheme.

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 9- Free Verse: avoids rhyme and standard grammatical
organizations and seeks new ways of expression.
10- Dramatic monologue: it is atypical form of poetry.
In it there is one speaker and one or more listens. The
speaker expresses his / her thoughts and feelings to the
listeners who keep silence for all the time. The speaker
tries to convince the hearer of what he / she thinks.
Through the speech of the speaker the reader learns
everything about him / her and others.
The dramatic monologue resembles the soliloquy in
drama.
10- War poetry: it refers to the poetry about war. There are
two groups of war poets. One group praises war while the
other group blames war as horrible.
11- Narrative Poetry It is a type of poetry that tells a story or
narrates an event. In Western culture, narrative poetry dates
back to the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh (before 2000 B
C) and Homer ‘s epic Iliad and Odyssey.

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Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee To A
Summer’s Day?

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
Summary: Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare was born in the year 1564 on Stratford-
upon-Avon. Shakespeare is the eldest of the eight children of
John and Mary. At 18 years of age, Shakespeare married Anne
Hathaway, and they were blessed with three children over the
course of the next few years. There are no records of what
Shakespeare did between 1587 and 1592, thus these years are
often referred to as the “lost years” by scholars. It was in
London that he kicked off his career. He was the founding
member of “The King's Men ''. It was during his time in this
company that he wrote some of his most famous tragedies like
King Lear and Macbeth, as well as romances like The Tempest
and The Winter's Tale. His works include around 37 plays, 154
sonnets and a variety of other poems. His immense popularity
and success in the 1590s enabled him to buy a ‘New Place’, the
second largest house in Stratford. Shakespeare died on the 23rd
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of April, 1616 at the age of 52 and was buried in Holy Trinity
Church. School of Distance Education Appreciating Poetry Page
24 SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER’S DAY
(SONNET XVIII) Sonnet XVII is one of the best known from
among the 154 sonnets written by Shakespeare.It is also one of
the most straightforward poems both in language and intent. The
poem is made up of fourteen lines in length, consisting of 3
quatrains and a couplet like a traditional sonnet. It follows the
rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg. The sonnets were published
in 1609 and the first 17 sonnets revolve around the subject of
`procreation”. It is universally believed that Shakespeare’s
sonnets have been written for a “dark lady” and a “fair youth”
though there is no written evidence for this. This is probably the
first poem in the sonnets to not encourage procreation or hints at
the possibility of preserving one’s beauty without the need of
procreating. One of the main themes of the poem is the
preservation of the beauty of a young man(or the fair youth)
through the lines of the poem defying time. The opening lines of
this poem is one of the most quoted lines of Shakespeare's lines.

EXPLANATORY NOTES:
The speaker in the poem wonders aloud whether he should
compare the young man to a summer’s day. The most prominent
figure of speech in this sonnet is the extended metaphor
comparing the young man with a summer’s day. Then he
decides that the young man’s attributes surpass that of a
summer’s day as it is more “lovely” and more “temperate”. The
speaker also comes to a realization that even summer is subject
to change and will eventually lose its vibrancy. The speaker
personifies nature here. The strong summer winds are a threat to
the new flower buds of May, and at the same time summer
doesn't last very long. Summer is thus destined to end. The
summer sun is too hot and at other times it's not visible to our
eyes. Here, “eye of heaven” and “gold complexion” are used as
metaphors to describe the sun. The word “untrimmed” could
signify two things, one it could refer to unadorned(not
decorated) or can be taken as a metaphor for untrimmed sails on
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a ship. Here, nature is a ship with untrimmed sails or sails that
havent been cut out for properly sailing through the sea. The sail
of a ship is meant to provide it stability and decoration. So the
speaker is referring to nature as a ship with sails that have not
been adjusted to deal with changes in the wind in order to course
through the sea correctly. The speaker here indicates that
summer loses its beauty when nature is not paying School of
Distance Education Appreciating Poetry Page 25 attention to her
sailing and allows weather changes to happen. The speaker
declares that everything beautiful must eventually fade away
losing its charm. But as long as the poem is read, the young man
in the poem will live forever in the lines of the poem. The
beloved’s summer is “eternal” in that it does not fade as it is
captured in the words and lines of this poem. For ordinary
people, usually summer passes by quickly and they age along
with the passage of time but here both summer and the young
man are turned eternal because they exist in the poem. In the
final lines of the poem the poet personifies death. Here, death
wont get a chance to claim the young man as his immortal now.
The speaker predicts that this poem will continue to be read and
the fair youth(or young man) will continue to be analyzed
forever. As long as men live, see and read, this poem will
continue to exist. Here the poet is emphasizing the immortality
of both the poem and the young man in it. Here the word “thee”
could refer to either the fair youth or us readers, or both.

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JOHN MILTON

John Milton was born in Breadstreet, London. He was a Puritan

poet and a civil servant who had served the British
Commonwealth. Milton is considered as one of the greatest
English writers after Shakespeare. He wrote during a time of
religious fluctuations and political upheaval. Paradise Lost is his
magnum opus which was written after he became blind during
the period of 1658-1664, which was later published in 1667. In
1671, he wrote a sequel to Paradise Lost named Paradise
Regained. He faced imprisonment for his strong sentiments on
popery and prelacy. Milton advocate the abolition of the Church
of England and the execution of Charles I in his prose works.
Areopagactica is one of his best known prose to date. Milton
was a Puritan, and his works revolve around themes of faith,
liberty of the press, freedom of expression etc. He made
excessive use of blank verse in his poetry for which he gained
appreciation from the Romantic poets. John Milton wrote in
English, Greek, Italian and Latin and was therefore renowned
internationally. WHEN I CONSIDER HOW MY LIGHT IS
SPENT It was in the year 1652 that the poet John Milton went
completely blind. His talent at this point was not yet proven as
his best work, namely, Paradise Lost was yet to be written.

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 Sonnet 19: When I consider how my light is
spent
BY J OHN MIL T ON

When I consider how my light is spent,

Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”

“When I consider how my light was spent” is also known as

Sonnet 19 and it is a poem that ponders over how life before his
blindness set in was spent. This sonnet was published under the
collection Milton’s 1673 Poems. Although Milton gave it the
number 19, it was published as number 16 in the book. The
sonnet is in the typical Petrarchan form with a rhyme scheme of
a b b a a b b a c d e c d e. EXPLANATORY NOTES This poem
begins with the speaker pondering over how he spent the years
of his life. “Light” is used as a metaphor for life, and in a more
literal sense it refers to the period of Milton’s life in which he
had his vision and he could see before blindness sets in. He
laments that he is forced to live in a world that is “dark” even
before half of his life had passed. “Talent” here refers to the
School of Distance Education Appreciating Poetry Page 27
poet's skill with words as well as his love for writing upon
which his livelihood depended upon. The word “Talent” may
also refer to Milton’s skill in translating texts from foreign
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languages which was part of his job under the Cromwell
government. “That one talent” also alludes to the parable of the
talents in the gospel of Matthew. Being a Puritan, he relates the
loss of his ability to write to the servant in Matthew 25 who
buries the money given to him by God in the desert instead of
investing it in a wise manner. Miltons devotion towards God is
evident in the next few lines. He explains that his “soul is more
bent” to serve God and present his accounts through writing. He
yearns to serve God. The term “account” here refers to his
records in writing as well as money. He is afraid God might
scold (“chide”) him if he doesn't serve Him. Then the speaker
wonders if God requires “labour” from the blind (“those without
light”). To reply to this, patience is personified and in order to
“prevent that murmur” in which the speaker is questioning God.
Patience replies to the question by explaining that God has no
need for works from man, but instead he loves best those who
“bear his mild yoke”. Here, the word “yoke” literally refers to a
wooden harness that is placed around the neck of plowing
animals so as to direct them around the field. Metaphorically,
this term(“yoke”) could probably refer to those who give over
control of their lives completely to God and accept completely
that their fate is controlled by God. The image that is clear here
is that of God to drive and man to steer. Patience compares God
with a king and he points out that God does not ponder over
what a man is doing or what he attains, but rather what is
important is staying patient when faced with adversities.
Patience thus explains the true meaning of service to God,
which is in the willing acceptance of the fate decreed upon him.
The poem ends with a note of consolation as the speaker calls
attention to the fact that those who are unable to rush over land
and ocean, like Milton himself, who “only stand and wait” can
also serve God. There is hope in the end, afterall, “darkness”
prevails just before the breaking of “light” at dawn.

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 "There is no Frigate like a Book"
By: Emily Dickinson

There is no Frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human Soul –

"There is no Frigate like a Book" is a brief poem by Emily Dickinson,

which she enclosed in a letter to a friend in 1873. The poem's speaker
celebrates the power of literature, marveling that no splendid ship or
noble steed has the power a book does to carry people to another world.
Better yet, the speaker says, this magical transport is cheap: you don't
have to be rich to read a book and be carried away by the glory of
language.

There is no Frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry — (jumping)
This Traverse may the poorest take (voyage or cross)
Without oppress of Toll — (Toll: a charge
payable )
How frugal is the Chariot (Frugal: cheap)
(Chariot: vehicle)
That bears the Human Soul —
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 The Man He Killed
BY THOMAS HARDY
"Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!

"But ranged as infantry,

And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.

"I shot him dead because —

Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although

"He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,

Off-hand like — just as I —
Was out of work — had sold his traps —
No other reason why.

"Yes; quaint and curious war is!

You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown."
Summary:
The Man He Killed" was written by the British Victorian poet and
novelist Thomas Hardy and first published in 1902. A dramatic
monologue, the poem's speaker recounts having to kill a man in war with
whom he had found himself "face to face." Talking casually throughout,
the speaker discusses how this man could easily have been his friend,
someone he might have, under different circumstances, had a drink with
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in an "ancient inn." Struggling to find a good reason for shooting the
man, the speaker says it was "just so"—it was just what happens during
war. The poem thus highlights the senselessness and wasteful tragedy of
human conflict and is specifically thought to have been inspired by the
events of the Boer War in South Africa.

- “The Man He Killed” is a dramatic monologue in which the

speaker talks about the time he shot and killed a man during a war. The
poem itself is told as if it is a conversation taking place in a pub (and the
poem makes not one but two references to drinking establishments). The
speaker talks unguardedly to the addressee, who could be a friend, the
reader, or a combination of both. The poem builds a sense that the
speaker is talking to the addressee in the same way he would have talked
to the man he killed, had they met in a bar rather than on the battlefield.
- What is the message of the poem The Man He Killed?
The poem considers the irrational situation of war, and
diminishing patriotic motives of the soldiers that meet one another
on the battlefield. By giving his readers the perspective of an
ordinary man's life and experience, Hardy asked broader questions
about the purpose of war in general.
- What is the metaphor in The Man He Killed?
The poem is set on the battle field but the author uses an inn with a
bar as a metaphor where two soldiers who could of been friends shoot at
each other.

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 The Chimney Sweeper: When my mother died I was very
young
BY WILLIAM BLAKE

When my mother died I was very young,

And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!"
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head

That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, so I said,
"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."

And so he was quiet, & that very night,

As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,
Were all of them locked up in coffins of black;

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,

And he opened the coffins & set them all free;
Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,

They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark

And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

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The poem opens with a young boy explaining how he became a
chimney sweeper. When he was very young his mother died
and his father put him to work as a chimney sweep; a tough and
dirty job where young boys climbed into chimneys to sweep out
the soot.
The focus shifts to another young sweeper, Tom Dacre, who had
curly hair that was shaved. The narrator seeks to calm him
saying that since his head is now shaved, the soot can no longer
mess it up. Once calm, Tom goes to sleep and dreams that all of
the sweepers are in coffins.
In his dream, Tom sees an Angel who saves the boys free from
death (or their sweeper lives). While the beginning of the poem
is sad, this optimistic and positive tone shifts the reader, so that
by the 5th stanza the boys are playing while the angel tells Tom
that God wants him to be a good boy.
When Tom wakes up the next morning the weather is dreary and
cold, but he is happy because he knows that if they work hard
they do not have to worry about danger and will be rewarded.

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