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POETRY
AN INTRODUCTION
POETRY
Introduction: What is poetry?
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What Is Poetry?
o A short story condensed o From “concentrate” – just add the water of
your imagination (needs dilution) compressed, distilled, dense, nutritive value “Condensed by contraction of volume, with
proportional increase of strength.” without superfluity, excess
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What Is Poetry?
o Subjectiveo Emotionalo Lyrical
(expresses thoughts, feelings of a single speaker)o Narrativeo Descriptiveo Argumentativeo Philosophical
(waxes philosophic, embodies a philosophy)o Metaphorico Dramatico Didactic
(teaches, preaches, imparts knowledge)
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What Is Poetry?
o Good poetry: unique poetic elements (properly handled) consistent controlled form = function
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What Is Poetry?
o Bad poetry: mixed metaphors poor similes and metaphors
(“my wife is a shirt” or “a poem is a bra”) poor diction-word choice
wrong word inappropriate word poor word choice wrong sound of a word
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What Is Poetry?
o Bad poetry: form does not equal function
(style does not fit the content or message) inappropriate diction unsuitable style inapt form for the occasion
inconsistent tone lack of control
over language, emotion, vision
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What Is Poetry?
o Bad poetry: all emotion, no skill
ad misericordiam sentimentality “bathos”:
bad pathos when overly sentimental works move readers to
laughter instead of tears
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What Is Poetry?
o Bad poetry: creates unintended reaction
unwittingly comic unintentionally antagonizing
does not say what intended it to say/mean unconscious of double meanings
too contrived (trying too hard, overly ingenious)
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What Is Poetry?
o Bad poetry: trite, banal, hackneyed
lacks originality clichés, pat expressions, trite maxims, platitudes stale phrasing and imagery
too derivative too much impersonation, imitation ripping off the Greats
too aphoristic, preachy, didactic smacks of moral or intellectual superiority
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What Is Poetry?
o Bad poetry: only of private value
so personal only the poet gets it the extreme opposite of banality self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing
forced rhyme scheme come up with a word to make a rhyme rather than using a word that arises from the
thought/feeling) too mechanical
metronome rhythm robotic, “by t’ book”
POETRY
Introduction: Reading Poetry
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How to Read Poetry
Notice PUNCTUATION:o question marks, exclamation marks, periodo is a line (or more) a question or a statemento adjust your inflection accordingly
Read to a COMMA or SEMICOLON or PERIOD:o don't stop necessarily at the end of each lineo enjambment
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How to Read Poetry
Watch for “ROAD SIGNS”:o watch for changes in logic or timeo notice conjunctions such as “but” or “yet”o recognize transitions such as “then” or “meanwhile”
or “afterwards”
Read with a DICTIONARY at hand:o look up
key words words you do not recognize to note Connotation vs. Denotation
o look up various definitions of words to note how different meanings = different interpretations for the work
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How to Read Poetry
Sparingly and Cautiously use PERSONAL experiences or personal tastes, attitudes, beliefs:
o while your own views may, occasionally, shed light on the worko more often than not, they can lead to misinterpretations and
prejudiceso a “grain of salt”
Realize that the SPEAKER and the POET are not necessarily one and the same:
o because poetry is by nature quite subjective and emotional,o we readers have a tendency to confuse the views expressed in
the poem with the views held by the writero Disclaimer: “Please understand that the opinions, views, and
comments that appear in the poem will not necessarily reflect the views held by the poet….”
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How to Read Poetry
Notice the POETIC ELEMENTS employed:o diction, symbolism, imagery, metaphors, o similes, conceit, meter, rhythm, rhyme, o stanza, persona, alliteration, assonance …
Note the RHYME SCHEME and RHYTHM:o at the end of each line, note the rhyme with a letter
(a, b, c, …)o read the poem aloud, noticing and enunciating each
piece of punctuation, to discover its rhythm
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How to Read Poetry
READ, PARAPHRASE, and then SUMMARIZE:o read the poem through the first timeo then begin to put it into your own words, to simplify
its meaning (paraphrase)o then summarize the entirety in a brief statement
relating to its meaning, message, “theme” (summarize)
EXPLICATE and ANALYZE:o explain each line of the poem; interpret line by line
(explicate)o analyze the piece focusing on a single literary/poetic
element (analyze)
POETRY
Introduction: Writing about Poetry
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Writing About Poetry
I. LITERAL LEVELo Paraphrase: (parts)
put lines into your own words simplify the language and syntax
o Summarize: (whole) the gist/thrust of the entire work succinct, short
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Writing About Poetry
II. ANALYTICAL LEVELo Explication:
“close reading” line-by-line analysis tone, persona, imagery, symbolism, meter, … how the poetic elements work together to
form a unified whole & reveal hidden meanings
Edgar Allan Poe’s “unity of effect” * arrive at a conclusion about the work
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Writing About Poetry
II. ANALYTICAL LEVELo Analysis:
focus on a single poetic element note its relationship to the whole, especially
in terms of meaning
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Writing About Poetry
III. HOW to QUOTE POETRYo Slash marks: word space slash space word
o Line numbers: end quote” space (line #). no “line” or “#,” just the numeral
o End punctuation: include ? or !, otherwise omit o Ellipses: word space . space . space . space word
o Quoting multiple lines: block quote style indent all, no “ ” period at the end space (line #s)
o Brackets: when you change a letter or a word
POETRY
Introduction: Poems
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LANGSTON HUGHES
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LANGSTON HUGHES
o 1902-67o Born in Joplin, Missourio Mexico, NYC, Pariso Fiction, Drama, Essays, Biographies, o Newspaper column
In the Chicago Defender Jesse B. Simple (fictional Everyman)
o Poetry “Poet Laureate of the Negro Race”
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LANGSTON HUGHES
o “Harlem” (1951) re-titled in 1959 as “Dream Deferred” Which do you prefer?
o 11 lineso 1st and last –
questions 1-line stanzas
o Middle stanzas = 4 questions (possibilities) 2 lines, 2 lines, 1 line, 2 lines similes last = not a question
o Last line = italicized
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LANGSTON HUGHES
o “Harlem” (1951) Thesis Question:
“What happens to a dream deferred?” Answers:
dries up (raisin in sun) festers (sore) stinks (rotten meat) crusts over (sweet syrup) sags (heavy load) explodes (bomb)
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LANGSTON HUGHES
o “Harlem” (1951) Diction
Dream = hopes, aspirations, wishes, talents delusion
Fester = to rot, puss, ulcerate (ugly, repulsive images)
Heavy load & sag = Burden Slaves carrying bales of cotton, supplies
Raisin, sore, black meat, syrup, bomb = Black in color
Syrup = Not so disgusting Why?
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LANGSTON HUGHES
o “Harlem” (1951) Title
Harlem Renaissance (1920s) “New Negro Movement” post-Civil War, move North Harlem, Manhattan, New York
@ 3 miles, @ 175,000 blacks WEB DuBois, Langston Hughes Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, Jazz Age, Roaring ’20s Great Depression, Harlem Riots
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LANGSTON HUGHES
o “Harlem” (1951) Title
Harlem, 1950s Racial inequality Riots: 1935, 1943, 1964 (Watts 1965, Detroit 1967)
How did people react? Rot Anger, frustration festers “Uncle Toms” Anger, frustration explodes
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LANGSTON HUGHES
o “Harlem” (1951) Questions
Why are the 1st and last lines separated? Why is the last line italicized? Why is the last line w/o simile? Why is the “heavy load” not a question? What is the answer to the thesis question? Why are “load” and “explode” the only rhymes? Why the break from disgusting images with syrup?
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APHRA BEHN
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APHRA BEHN
o “Ay-fra Bean”o (1640-89)o 1st English woman to earn a living through
writing (1st professional woman writer)o Married London merchant of Dutch descento Served as a spy in the Dutch Wars, 1665-67
(after his death)o Novels
Oroonoko (royal slave, one of 1st English works to question slavery)
o Plays, Poetry
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APHRA BEHN
o “Song: Love Armed” (1676) Characters:
Love = Cupid, the god of love Persona = man Addressee = woman
Poetic conventions: Unrequited love of the man
toward a disdainful woman Unrequited love is painful
Yet pleasurable
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APHRA BEHN
o “Song: Love Armed” (1676) Structure:
2 4-line stanzas Rhyme scheme = ABAB Refrain
“from me” “from thee” (variations on)
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APHRA BEHN
o “Song: Love Armed” (1676) Structure:
What’s “Taken” (to arm Love)? From man (persona):
desire from his eyes sighs & tears languishments & fears
From woman: fire from her eyes pride & cruelty killing dart
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APHRA BEHN
o “Song: Love Armed” (1676) Themes:
Love & war connection Battle of the sexes All’s fair in love & war Cupid w/bow & arrow
Why do we enjoy suffering? Listening to others suffer?
The Blues Sad songs, break-up songs Why do we name hurricanes?
To impose form onto suffering = To master or control suffering, the unknown, uncontrollable
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APHRA BEHN
o “Song: Love Armed” (1676) Questions:
What is its theme concerning “love” or relationships?
Is this a man’s poem – to be enjoyed more by male readers than female readers?
Is it sexist in its portrayal of women? The persona = man, written by a woman – Does
that make a difference?
POETRY
Narrative Poetry
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BACKGROUND
o Transition from Prose to Poetryo Historically, move from “stories” in poetry to
stories in prose verse narratives stories in poetic form “narrative” =
beginning, middle, end basic Plot Action, Characterization, Setting, Dialogue Symbolism, Irony, Juxtaposition
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BACKGROUND
o Historically Oral Tradition
illiterate masses poetic structure makes it easy to remember & pass
along stories about heroes & history epic poetry (Homer) sagas (scops)
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BACKGROUND
o Historically Literacy –
Wm. Caxton’s printing press (1440) Gutenberg’s bible (1450)
More literacy = less oral tradition = change in literature
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POPULAR BALLADS
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POPULAR BALLADS
o authors = anonymous, undated
o persona = detached, objective, impersonal,
characterless 3rd person POV
o themes death, fate perils of sea
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POPULAR BALLADS
o use of repetition of sounds
alliteration (Anglo-Saxon hold-over) consonance (consonant) assonance (vowel)
of words, phrases
o musical rhythm meant to be sung
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POPULAR BALLADS
o omissions ellipses not so descriptive (omitting key details)
NO SHIPWRECK told in flashes, quick glimpses
photo slide show
o little description photo show omitted details, scenes (ellipses) some dialogue
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POPULAR BALLADS
o 4-line stanzas ABAB rhyme scheme (typically unrhymed) 1st, 3rd lines = 4 accents 2nd, 3rd lines = 3 accents
The king sits in Dumferling toune,
Drinking the blude-reid wine:
O quhar will I get guid sailor
To sail this schip of mine?
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POPULAR BALLADS
Belong to the Oral Tradition not written down
until 18th century multiple versions
Enlightenment (frowned upon) undignified lacks decorum
Romantics (resurgence) poetry of the people, masses Old ballads = written down New ballads = composed (“literary ballads”)
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“Sir Patrick Spence”
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
BACKGROUNDo Written
@ 15th century
o Published in 1765 Thomas Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English
Poetry (famous collection of folk ballads)
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
BACKGROUND possible (though never verified) historical allusion 1281 marriage:
of Margaret, daughter of Alexander III of Scotland to King Eric of Norway in 1281 on the return voyage, many of her noble escorts were
drowned 1290 succession:
the death of Margaret's daughter, "the Maid of Norway,"
while she was being brought back to Scotland in 1290 to succeed her grandfather, who died in 1286.
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o Dumferling: Dumferline, a town in Fife, on the Firth of
Forth an early residence of the Scottish kings
o “sits”: reigns, rules AND is stationary, seated BUT
will make others move
o “blood red”: mighty power, power over life & death,
foreshadowing
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o “wine”: party (Eros in “Love Armed”) suggests the ease with which he wields such
power suggests that the question (sailing mission) =
not well-thought, casual that the one who takes this mission will die
“The Lottery” win BUT lose by winning typically an honor to be chosen by the king BUT this is an impossible, dangerous “suicide
mission”
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o “good” sailor: skillful sailor brave decent human loyal, obedient to king
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o Elder Knight: elder = respected
(“respect your elders”) favored, respected by king, yields political
power (sits at king’s right knee)
line 14: suggests Elder Knight = enemy of Sir Patrick
Spence (“ill deid”)
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o alliteration & stanza #3: repetition of sound “s” sounds like snake, waves crashing on beach (foreshadows SPS’ death)
o Long Letter to SPS: written, signed, sealed by king = royal decree MUST be obeyed SPS must sail the royal ship
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o Sir Patrick Spence: 1st meeting = reading king’s letter, walking on the
beach at leisure his 1st reaction, 1st line = laugh
modest: laughs at praise humor: thinks the mission is a practical joke
his 2nd reaction = cry realizes this mission will be his death but he cannot refuse the king’s command feels set up/betrayed by someone “O who is this who has done this deed / This ill deed
done to me” (repetition = for emphasis in Oral Tradition -
foreshadowing)
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o “done deed” to deed done”: repetition certainty of death Mirror World:
Court vs. Ordinary, appearance vs. reality true friends court politics, stab in the back, set up for death
o Blinded by tears: tears = water = waves, storm,…his death blind seers of old – see the future, his future
is death
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o merry men: good men on leave
at leisure, as SPS was on the beach at leisure – yet dutiful to SPS
from merriment to death (Contrast)
o bad signs: bad moon rising – omens, harbinger
new moon with the old moon in its arms dangerous weather = bad sailing, danger,
death
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o repetition: “I fear, I fear” stresses the danger stresses the switch from “merry” to “fear”
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o nobles: Nobles don’t want to ruin their expensive
shoes IRONY
b/c SPS knows they will drown anyway CONTRAST
Nobles’ nobility (b/c of family inheritance)
SPS’ nobility (brave, loyal, follows orders on suicide mission)
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o Shipwreck = play: play = game (“like flies to wanton boys, they
kill us for sport”) humans = at the mercy of fate, the fates, the gods
play = drama, to be watched by nobles IRONY:
their hats swim while they drown their hats are symbols of their wealth BUT all the
money won’t save them from death perhaps drowned by the weight of their opulent
attire
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o hands: CAUSE-EFFECT –
King signs letter w/hand, sending them to their deaths
Women hold fans in their hands, awaiting in vain the men to return
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o Fans: used to control the weather (when it’s too hot) BUT cannot control the weather at sea CONTRAST:
women = hot men = drenched
women stand for their men’s return (tension) king sits to send them to their death (ease)
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o gold combs: symbols of opulence, richness misplaced focus b/c worldliness/materialism =
meaningless to Death their hair will turn gray as the combs stay gold – IRONY
Danse Macabre
o Their own dear lords: not “theirs” any more – belong to Death, the
Sea they wait to see them again (alive) BUT don’t reader sees them again (dead)
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o Mirror World: ironic twist of social class – IRONY the lords sit at SPS’ feet
he knew they were going to die had no illusions they had vanity, materialism Will he go to heaven before them?
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o Aberdour: “half over to Aberdour”
half-way from Norway to Aberdour two villages of Aberdour on the east coast of
Scotland – one in Aberdeenshire the other in Fife, on the north shore of the Firth of
Forth. Either may be meant.
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
THEMESo anti-materialism
anti-worldliness
o power: abuse of power (knight) reckless or indifferent wielding of power (king)
anti-monarchy?
o Fate, Death: cannot escape, control (like seas) must obey (like king’s command) SPS accepts his fate & gets his crew to, too Nobles are ignorant of their fate
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
THEMESo duty:
to king to men/sailors to wives Why do men serve those they serve?
in court – for political favor, power on ship – allegiance, respect, honor
o criticism of court life: pettiness spitefulness luxury materialism
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“SIR PATRICK SPENCE”
o “Sir Patrick Spens” videoo “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island”
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JOHN KEATS
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JOHN KEATS
o (1795-1821)o father = London stable keepero apprenticed to be apothecary & surgeono gave it up to be poeto books of poetry in 1817, 1818, 1820o dead at 25
tuberculosis
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o 1819o Latin
“The Beautiful Woman without Mercy”
o “Literary Ballad”o 12 4-line stanzaso repetitionso supernatural o knights, kings, princeso dialogue
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o title: “The lovely lady without pity” medieval ballad by Alain Chartier
title = quoted in “The Eve of St. Agnes” but Keats borrows only the title, not the
subject matter story: mortal destroyed by his love for a
supernatural femme fatale
o format = folk ballad dialogue form 1st 3 stanzas = addressed to the Knight 4-12 = Knight’s reply
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o setting = late fall no birds, withered grass plant harvest is done squirrels’ holes are fully stocked
o Speaker comes upon a knighto refrain: “O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms”
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o Knight = pale, haggard, woe-begone, fever, sweats described as flowers: lily & rose
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o Knight’s story: met a beautiful lady in the meads
meadow, fields “a fairy’s child” – (?)
really – (language, home) OR her beauty
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o Knight’s story: made her
garland for her head bracelets, girdle/belt
rode with her on my horse she sang “a fairy’s song” she fed him roots, honey, manna she spoke in a strange language
he didn’t understand BUT assumed she was saying she loved him
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o Knight’s story: she took him to “her elfin grot” she cried
Why does she cry? What was she trying to say in her language?
he calmed her with kisses truly calmed or mask, faking it? what she really needed?
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o Knight’s story: she lulled him asleep dreamed
nightmare warned by previous kings, princes, & warriors
that “La belle dame sans merci / Hath thee in thrall!”
previous victims = pale as death, life sucked out of them high social status (literary genre) trying to warn him (title)
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o Knight’s story: he awoke in this same spot and that’s why he’s there, pale & alone
“sojourn” BUT “loitering” movement BUT stationary
moved emotionally, creatively, spiritually
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o La Belle Dame: WHO is she?
fairy, elf, supernatural being woman, beautiful creativity, muse
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o La Belle Dame: THEMES based on who she is?
2 different worlds, culture love between 2 worlds = doomed, never work communication breakdowns
women = different creatures, unknowable to men assumptions of men, women need to be taken care
of, “comforted” “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” unrequited love (“Love Armed”)
Dame = Beauty – can only be glimpsed
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o La Belle Dame: THEMES based on who she is?
She = Muse, Knight = Poet men cannot live in World of Imagination once in World of Imagination, men can no longer live
in the Ordinary World Poet = caught between 2 worlds
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
THEMES o Love:
dangers of love danger signs at the start of relationships unrequited love (“Love Armed”)
embarrassment, frustration losing oneself in love, loss of control despair – emotionally crippled shock of sudden end after this love is gone – now what?
can’t go back once been there supernatural?
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
THEMESo Despair:
in life, in love lost all hope
o Nature: seasons in Nature Nature in Death (winter, his imagery) She = child of Nature – “wild”
food = of Nature home = of Nature
Civilization vs. Natural World (Romanticism)
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o Knight: WHY is he there?
lost, bewildered can’t leave – for some reason can’t go back to his old lifestyle there looking for her again
wants to go back there warning others against her
what others did in his dream he’s doing in reality The Poet-Prophet? Is that the role of the Poet?
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o SUPERNATURAL: “Eve of St. Agnes” “La Belle Dame” STC’s “Christabel”
o Other related works: “To Autumn”
Keats celebrates the season season of completion, summation, peace…death (remember, Keats is dying, brother = dead)
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o Other related works: “Lamia”
female snake transforms into woman man & woman live in blissful love until scholar intervenes &
dispels the spell suspension of conscious state (reasoning, thinking) = magic ruined by reason, logic = “unweaving of the rainbow”
“Ode to a Nightingale” enthralled out of the ordinary life by beauty, nature suspension of conscious state - reasoning, thinking
“On Melancholy” melancholy, despair only the Poet can appreciate sadness (of all things are
ephemeral) “Ode on a Grecian Urn”
a scene of beauty is captured forever eternal moment = better than “reality”
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o KEATS & DREAMS: fine line between reality & dream ** dreams = related to poetic vision ** “Eve of St. Agnes” “La Belle Dame sans Merci” “Ode to Psyche” “Ode to a Nightingale”
91
“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o Like Popular Ballads narrative Repetitions musical quality – rhythm noble men (victims) supernatural plain language dialogue no background slide show images
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o Unlike Popular Ballads Literary
allusions, imagery, craftsmanship multiple meanings, themes, interpretations rhyme scheme (ABCB) lines 1-3 = 8 syllables/beats last line = only 4/5 syllables/beats
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o FEMINIST reading Femme fatale, succubus = Sexist?
powerful, beautiful women = supernatural, succubae to weak, threatened men
Knight doesn’t know what she says BUT assumes it’s that she loves him
Knight doesn’t know why she’s crying BUT assumes he needs to comfort her, that she needs him to comfort her, with kisses
She = powerful pretends to be weak & sucks him in to traditional
male-female role has ruined men of power before
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“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o BIOGRAPHICAL reading What if she is NOT
fairy, supernatural, proto-Feminist? What if she = TUBERCULOSIS?
effects of TB = effects of Dame victims = pale, dying, haggard Keats = physician Keats’ brother died of it Keats himself would soon thereafter
95
“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o OTHER readings Cults & Ideologies Drug addiction Vampires Religious rapture English history of fairies Beauty – realm of Ideals vs. of Shadows
96
“La Belle Dame sans Merci”
o JW Waterhouse’s painting
o <http://www.jwwaterhouse.com/paintings/images/waterhouse_la_belle_dame_sans_merci.jpg >
