AN ANTHOLOGY OF POLITICAL POEMS THAT USE THE ELEMENT OF METAPHOR

I intend to present an anthology of political poems in which the various authors use

the poetic element of metaphor to explain the themes. The poems in this collection

have a relatively common theme. The poems offer patriotic commentary from the

protagonist's perspective on disfunctional governments or political entities or

realities. I will discuss this central theme as it relates to each of the poems and

then elaborate on how the use of metaphor helps to explain the themes in the various

poems.

The poems that are included in this anthology include: "England in 1819" by Percy

Bysshe Shelley; "London" by William Blake; "London, 1802" by William

Wordsworth; "Dirge (the glories of our blood and state)" by James Shirley; "Here

Dead Lie We Because We Did Not Choose" by A.E. Houseman; "Chicago" by Carl Sandburg,

and "The Rights of Woman" by Anna Laetitia Barbauld.

The poem "England in 1819" appears to relate the author's detest of the British

royal family, army and Senate of his time. This sentiment can be seen from the

following excerpt from the poem:

An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king
Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow
Through public scorn-mud from a muddy spring;
Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know,
But leechlike to their fainting country cling,
Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow. 1.

The use of metaphor is evident when the author alludes to the eventual emergence of

liberty from the desperate situation the country is in. This can be seen from the

following excerpt:

Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay;
Religion Christless, Godless-a book sealed;
A Senate --Time's worst statute unrepealed--
Are graves, from which a glorious Phantom may
Burst, to illumine our tempestuous day. 1.

"London" by William Blake describes the appalling condition of the city of London in

the 16th century. It describes a cycle of devastation, pollution, political crises,

health issues including those stemming from promiscuity. An excerpt explains this:

How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls. 1.

The metaphor used in this poem points at the moral decay and infidelity that feeds a

cycle of the spread of disease through promiscuity. This use of metaphor can be seen

in lines 13-16:

But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse. 1.

"London, 1802" continues this theme with the author yearning for a "savior," the

protagonist named "Milton" to come and save England from degeneracy. The author

describes his sentiments in the following excerpt from the poem:

Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. 1.

Milton is addressed wih the use of metaphor in the poem. He is chided for pursueing what the author relates as unimportant pursuits. The use of metaphor can be seen in the poem:

So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay. 1.

I believe that the poem "Dirge" (the glories of our blood and state)," is a poem

that deals with the vanity of the pursuit of stately glory or royal glory. It

admonishes that only good deeds endure. An excerpt from the poem can illustrate this:

The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armor against fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings.
Scepter and crown
Must tumble down
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade. 1.

Metaphor is used to illustrate the author's point in the following excerpt:

Your heads must come
To the cold tomb:
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in their dust. 1.

"Here Dead Lie We Because We Did Not Choose" is a poem that can have dual but

equally significant meanings. It appears to be a poem about patriotic young men who

have given their lives for their country. Or it can be understood as a poem about

patriotic young men who refused to surrender to serve a currupt government and were

slain for their non-complacancy. An excerpt from the poem can explain this:

Here dead lie we because we did not choose
To live and shame the land from which we sprung. 1.

The importance of the protagonist's sacrifice is explained in the following use of

metaphor in the poem:

Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose;
But young men think it is, and we were young. 1.

"Chicago" is a poem in which the protagonist offers a patriotic depiction of the

socio-political problems of the city of Chicago in his era, with a rebuttal to

detractors. An excerpt will show this:

And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of
women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this
my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to
be alive and coarse and strong and cunning. 1.

Metaphor is used here to explain the protagonist's patriotism towards the city:

Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic cursed amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a
tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft citeis;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunninig as a savage
pitted against the wilderness... 1.

"The Rights of Woman" is a political poem that speaks of female empowerment. It

encourages women to rise up and take the mantle of power and speaks negatively of

the status quo.From the poem:

Yes, injured Woman! rise, assert thy right!
Woman! too long degraded, scorned, oppressed;
O born to rule in parial Law despite,
Resume thy native empire o'er the breast! 1.

Metaphor is used by the author as she admonishes women to take the mantle of power:

Go forth arrayed in panoply divine;
That angel pureness which admits no stain;
Go, bid proud Man his boasted rule resign,
And kiss the golden scepter of thy reign. 1.

The poem "England! Awake! Awake! Awake!" appears to admonish the British to pay

attention to the plight of the Jewish population. An exerpt from the poem explains:

England! awake! awake! awake!
Jerusalem thy Sister calls!
Why wilt thou sleep the sleep of death?
And close her from thy ancient walls. 1.

When apparently describing the relationship of the Jewish people to England the

author uses the following metaphor in lines 4-7:

Thy hills & valleys felt her feet
Gently upon their bosoms move:
Thy gates beheld sweet Zion's ways;
Then was a time of joy and love. 1.

The following is a collection of the poems in the anthology:


1. "England in 1819" by Percy Bysshe Shelley

An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king
Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow
Through public scorn-mud from a muddy spring;
Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know,
But leechlike to their fainting country cling,
Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow;
A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field-
An army, which liberticide and prey
Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield;
Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay;
Religion Christless, Godless-a book sealed;
A Senate-Time's worst statute unrepealed-
Are graves, from which a glorious Phantom may
Burst, to illumine our tempestuous day.

2. "London" by William Blake.

I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every man,
In every infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.

How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.

But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues th Marriage hearse.

3. "London, 1802" by Percy Blysshe Shelley.
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfieted thier ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue. freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

4. "Dirge (the glories of our blood and state) by James Shirley.

The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armor against fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings.
Scepter and crown
Must tumble down
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

Some men with swords may reap the field
And plant fresh laurels where they kill,
But their strong nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still.
Early or late
They stoop to fate
And must give up their murmuring breath,
When they, pale captives, creep to death.
The garlands wither on your brow,
Then boast no more your mighty deeds;
upon death's purple altar now
See where the victor-victim bleeds.
Your geads must come
To the cold tomb;
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in their dust.

5. "Here Dead Lie We Because We Did Not Choose" by A.E. Houseman.

Here dead lie we because we did not choose
To live and shame te land from which we sprung.
Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose;
But young men think it is, and we were young.

6. "Chicago" by Carl Sandburg.

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat'
Playeer with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulder.

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your
painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer; Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of
women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to theose who sneer at this
my city, and i give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be
alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a
tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage
pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white
teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man
laughs,
Lauhging even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a
battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under
his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half naked,
sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool maker, Stacker of
Wheat, Player with Railroes and Freight Handler to the Nation.

7. "The Rights of Woman" by Anna Laetitia Barbauld.

Yes, injured Woman! rise, assert thy right!
Woman! too long degraded, scorned, oppressed;
O born to rule in partial Law's despite,
Resume thy native empire o'er the breast!

Go forth arrayed in panoply divine;
That angel pureness which admits no stain;
Go, bid proud Man his boasted rule resign,
And kiss the golden scepter of thy reign.

Go, gird thyself with grace; collect thy store
Of bright arillery glancing from afar;
Soft melting tones thy thundering cannon's roar,
Blushes and fears thy magazine of war.

Thy rights are empire: urge no meaner claim,-
Felt, not defined, and if debated, lost;
Like sacred mysteries, which withheld from fame,
Shunning discussion, are revered the most.

Try all that wit and art suggest to bend
Of thy imperial foe the stubborn knee;
Make treacherous Man thy subject, not thy friend;
Thou mayst command, but never canst be free.

Awe the licentious, and restrain the rude;
Soften the sullen, clear the cloudy brow:
Be, more than princes' gifts, thy favors sued;
She hazards all, who will the least allow.
But hope not, courted idol of mankind,
On this proud eminince secure to stay;
Subduing and subdued, thou soon shalt find
Thy coldness soften, and thy pride give way.
Then, then, abandon each ambitious thought,
Conquest or rule thy heart shall feebly move,
In Nature's school, by her soft maxims taught,
That separate rights are lost in mutual love.

8. "England! Awake! Awake! Awake!" by William Blake.

England! awake! awake! awake!
Jerusalem thy Sister calls!
Why wilt thous sleep the sleep of feath?
And close her from thy ancient walls.


Thy hills & valleys felt her feet
Gently upon their bosoms move:
Thy gates beheld sweet Zion's ways;
Then was a time of joy and love.


And now the time returns again:
Our souls exult & London's towers,
Recieve the Lamb of God to dwell
In England's green & pleasant bowers.

Works Cited:

1. Percy Bysshe Shelley. "England in 1819". Ferguson, Salter and Stallworthy 871-872.

Ferguson, Margaret, Mary Jo Salter and Jon Stallworthy, The Norton Anthology of Poetry. New York: Norton, 2005.

William Blake. "London." Ferguson, Salter and Stallworthy 744-745.

William Wordsworth. "London, 1802." Ferguson, Salter and Stallworthy 795.

James Shirley. "Dirge(the glories of our blood and state)." Ferguson, Salter and Stallworthy 390-391.

A.E. Houseman. "Here Dead Lie We Because We Did Not Choose." Ferguson, Salter and Stallworthy 1180.

Carl Sandburg. "Chicago." Ferguson, Salter and Stallworthy 1252-1253.

Ann Laetitia Barbauld. "The Rights of Woman." Ferguson, Salter and Stallworthy 705-706.

William Blake. "England! Awake! Awake! Awake!." Ferguson, Salter and Stallworthy 747.

THE USE OR AVOIDANCE OF SENTIMENTALITY IN POEMS

I will discuss the issue of sentimentality in two poems from the readings. The

poems that I will discuss include "The Truth the Dead know" by Anne Sexton

and "Momentos 1" by W.D. Snodgrass. It is my conclusion that Sexton's poem was

written with the author having the protagonist avoid sentimentality while the poem

written by Snodgrass describes a protagonist that expresses sentimentality.

The poem "The Truth The Dead know" by Anne Sexton apparently tells the story of a

person who has lost both parents in a short period of time in quick succession. The

protagonist is acknowledging the passing of the parents but apparently refuses to be

broken by grief, and avoid sentimentality. An excerpt from the poem can illustrate

this:

Gone, I say and walk from church,
refusing the stiff procession to the grave,
letting the dead ride alone in the hearse,
It is June. I am tired of being brave.

The poem "Momentos 1" by W.D. Snodgrass, relates the story of a man who once

loved a woman through WWII when he went ot war and fought Japanese forces. He later

got married to this woman and eventually divorced. The author did not avoid

sentimentality and used sentimental language when writing the poem. An example of

this can be seen from the following excerpt:

Then through the war and those two long years
Overseas, the Japanese dead in their shacks
Among dishes, dolls, and lost shoes; I carried
This glimpse of you, there, to choke down my fear,
Prove it had been, that it might come back.
That was before we got married.

Sentimentality has been both used and avoided by these two poets.

COMPARISON OF POEMS FROM THE "BEATS" AND "NEW YORK" SCHOOLS.

I intend to compare two poems from the "Beats" and the "New York" schools. The poems that I will discuss are "Sometime

During Eternity" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti of the Beats and " Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams" by Kenneth

Koch of the New York school. My first impression when reading these poems was that both of these poems share the

similarity of being rather comedic in nature. They appear to differ in the way that the verses are constructed.

The poem "Sometime During Eternity" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a poem that discusses the legacy and death of Jesus

Christ and casts doubt on the authenticity of the scrolls discovered in the Dead Sea in 1947. It displays the use of "cool" or

"hip" language and this is one of the first things that I noticed. I also noticed that the versification was rather different in its

layout from the structures that we have been dealing with in the class till this point. An example can be seen in an excerpt

from the poem:

Sometime during eternity
some guys show up
and one of them
who shows up real late
is a kind of carpenter

In the poem "Variantions on a Theme by William Carlos Williams" by Kenneth Koch, the antagonist is comically relaying to

the protagonist several devious things that he has done to her. The versification scheme in this poem is different from the

type I observed in the poem by Ferlinghetti. The number of lines per stanza alternated between four and three lines. An

example of the hilarity that I found in this poem that is similar to the comedic nature of the poem by Ferlinghetti can be

seen in the following excerpt:

Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.
Forgive me. I was clumsy, and
I wanted you here in the ward, where I am the doctor.

VERSIFICATION AND A COMPARISON OF POEMS

Versification can be described as the way a poet decides to arrange the structure of a poem as relates to the formation of

verses. Versification can involve fixed verse and rhyme forms or Free Verse. Free Verse poems are poems that are written

with verses that do not follow a set format for sentence length or rhyme scheme. The poems that are currently being studied

mostly follow the Free Verse format, but also share some characteristics that are similar to poems that the class has studied

in the past.

The poems I will discuss are both written by Randall Jarrellr and are entitled "The Death of The Ball Turret Gunner," and "Next

Day." These poems are as poetic as those written in previous eras because they not only use Free Verse as can be seen in

other poems but they also employ the use of poetic elements such as figures of speech, such as metaphor.

The poem "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" discusses the experience of an airman who is stationed on a Bomber

aircraft and is ordered to operate the machine guns in the "ball turret" of the aircraft. Metaphor is very apparent in the poem

as can be seen from an excerpt:

From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loossed from its dream of life,

In the poem "Next Day" the use of metaphor is also used extensively. The protagonist is an old lady who relates that she is

doing shopping and wishes that a boy that is helping her would "notice" her. She explains that as a younger woman she was

"noticed" all the time by the world but does not experience this as much at her current age. This can be compared to her not

paying much attention to the individuality of the poultry she had just purchase. An example of this can be seen from and

excerpt from the poem:

... Now that I'm old, my wish
Is womanish:
That the boy putting groceries in my car
See me. It bewilders me he doesn't see me.

The use of figures of speech like metaphor is common in these essays and those written in previous eras and I believe that

the poetic nature of these poems can easily be observed

USE OF METAPHOR IN THE POEM "HARLEM" BY LANGSTON HUGHES

I intend to discuss the use of metaphor in the poem entitled "Harlem" by Langston Hughes. I believe that Hughes used this

figure of speech extensively in the poem and that it is used to better express meaning in the poem. I would like to believe

that the poem is making reference to the community of Harlem in New York. Apparently it is discussing what I would assume

is the dreamed or hoped for advancement of Harlem. It asks questions about what happens to a dream deffered or

postponed, to be realized at another time. I intend to show how metaphor is used in the poem by explaining the meaning

that I have drawn from the poem, line by line.

In the first five lines of the poem the author asks the question "what happens to a dream deferred?." He continues:

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or feser like a sore--
And then run?

In the first three lines I believe the metaphor refers to if the dream would simply fall apart and become mute, ineffective or

something that is no longer pursued. In lines four and five the author seems to ask if accomplishment of the dream would be

hoped for but action not taken and the dream simply die-away.

In lines six to eight it appears that the author uses metaphor to ask the question whether a dream deferred could be

likened to is pondered on by people with no action taken until it becomes an irritant and begins to seem like it is nothing

more than wishful thinking. This can be seen in the excerpt of these lines from the poem:

Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over ---
like a syrupy sweet.

In lines nine and ten the author appears to use metaphor to ask whether a dream deferred could become like a huge

burden born by the persons "bearing" these dreams. According to the poem:

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

In line eleven the author apparenly uses metaphore to question whether the stress of the dream deferred is so much that

people who share the dream do anything to make the dream become a reality. This question is asked in the final line of the

poem:

Or does it explode?.

It is my contention that Hughes uses metaphore in the poem extensively to better impart meaning to almost every line in

the poem.

POETIC INFLUENCES OF TWO POETS

I will discuss two poets who I believe have been influenced by two other poets in the writing of their poems both thematically and as concerns other style similarities that can be observed in the poems. The poets and poems that I will discuss are Edna St. Vincent Millay and her poem entitled "[ I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed]," which I believe was influenced by the poet John Keats and his poem " This living hand;" and the poet Carl Stranburg and his poem "Grass," which I believe was influenced by the poet Archibald MacLeish and his poem "Snowflake." It is my contension that Millay was possibly inspired to write a poem that thematically was the opposite of the poem written by Keats, while maintaining a similarity in use of figures of speech such as metaphore and language use. I also maintain the position that Stranburg was influenced by MacLeish to write a poem that I believe is thematically similar to the poem written by MacLeish while also maintaining similarity in the use of figures of speech in his poem.
I feel that Millay was influenced to write her poem "I Being Born Woman and Distressed" from the poem written by Keats. Both poems were written as dialogues between the protagonists directed at an antagonist. In Keats' poem it described a situation in which the lead character had escaped or survived a murder, manslaughter or accident. He was describing the possible guilt that would or coud have been visited on the antagonist if the protagonist had died. At the end of the poem however it appears that the protagonist is extending the "hand" of friendship to the antagonist as described in the poem:
And thou be conscience-calmed--see here it is--
I hold it towards you.
In the poem written by Millay, she describes a protagonist who is also speaking directly to an antagonist. In this poem, the protagonist (who obviously had some sort of falling-out with a former lover (the antagonist), is telling him that even though she is pysically attracted to him she will be logical and does not consider that fact as a sufficient reason to continue to be friendly with him:
Think not for this, however, the poor treason
Of my sout blood against my saggering brain,
I shall remember you with love, or season
My scorn with pity,--let me make it plain:
I find this frenzy insufficient reason
for conversation when we meet again.
Even though Millay may have written a similar poem where the protagonist is speaking directly to the protagonist, the protagonist in Keats poem attempts to reconcile with the antagonist while the protagonist in Millay's poem does not.
Other similarities include the use of metaphore in both poems, and language used is readily understandable.
In tracing the influence of MacLeish's poem on Stranburg's one can note the thematic similarities. Both poems appear to espouse the notion that life itself can be seen as vain as people, places, things and events that once may have been regarded as important can dissappear and fade-away, forgotten by society with the passage of time. An example of this thematic similarity can be seen from excerpts of both poems:
In MacLeish's poem:
Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and le me work--
I am the grass; I cover all.
From Millay's poem:
Will it last? he says.
Is it a masterpiece?
Will generation after generation
Turn with reverence to the page?
Both poems make use of metaphore and language in a similar way.
I believe that it can thus be seen how Millay and Stranburg were possibly influenced in their writing of these poems by MacLeish and Keats.

ANALYSIS OF THE POEM "PIANO" BY D.H.LAWRENCE EXAMINING POETIC ELEMENTS USED BY THE POET

I make an analysis of the poem entilted "Piano" by D.H. Lawrence examining the poetic elements used in the poem. I will examine the use of Language and Figures of Speech in the poem.
The poem "Piano" by D.H. Lawrence appears to tell the story of a protagonist who is being serenaded by a woman. The woman's singing triggers a state of yearning and nostalgia in the protagonist that makes him recollect fondly memories of his childhood and a wish to return to the uphoria of his past. The language used in the poem is relatively casual and direct. The author begins the story relating how a woman is singing to the protagonist and it causes him to begin to remember the musical enjoyment he used to enjoy as a youth. In casual language this can be seen in an excerpt from the poem:
Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.
I believe that the poem has been written in the midst of emotion. The protagonist is depicted as going through a serious yearning for the uphoric existence he experienced as a child and really wants to return to that innocent time in his life. An excerpt from the poem depicts this:
The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in he flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.
Figures of speech used in the poem include metaphores and paradoxes. I believe that explicit metaphore is used when the protagonist is depicted as yearning for the time of his childhood in lines 11 and 12:
The glamour of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in he flood of remembrance.
The metaphore does contribute to the meaning observed in the poem.
I can see a paradox used when the author describes the protagonist expressing what I believe to be the notion that at a certain point it would not matter how well the singer sang with a piano accompaniment it would not improve his situation or satisfy his yearning. This can be seen from an excerpt from the poem in lines 9 and 10
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
Wih the great black piano appassionato.
I believe that poetic elements were effectively used in the poem.

Engl. 2306 Paper 1

I intend to do a comparison and contrast of two poems that have been reviewed by the class this semester. These poems are

from the Norton Anthology of Poetry and are authored by George Gordon, Lord Byron "Written after Swimming from Sestos to

Abydos," and Percy Bysshe Shelley "Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples."

I will compare and contrast the themes of the two poems as well as the poetic elements used in the writing of the poems.

The poem entitled "Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos" possesses themes dealing with great endeavor,

comparison of different outcomes and the vanity sometimes associated with the effort to accomplish great feats. The poem

entitiled "Stanzas Written in Dejection" deals with themes concerning talk of gloom and dejection, comparism of different

realities experienced by different peoples in society and gives the portrait of a person seemingly rejected by society. Poetic

elements drawn from both poems that I will compare and contrast include Figures of speech, Images (sensory), and

Language.

Themes from the two poems "Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos" by George Gordon, Lord Byron and "Stanzas

Written in Dejection" by Percy Bysshe Shelley are very different. "Written after Swimming..." talks about great endeavor and

two men who reached out and took action to accomplish their goals--to cross from Europe to Asia Minor over the

Dardanelles strait for differing reasons. The poem describes a tale of one man who made a noble effort to swim across the

Dardanelles strait from Abydos to Sestos inorder to be with his lover. This can be seen from the following lines in the poem:

"But since he crossed the rapid tide,
According to the doubful story,
To woo-and Lord knows what beside,
And swam for Love, as I for Glory." 1.

In contrast the poem "Stanzas Written in..." has talk of gloom and dejection in its theme. The protagonist seems to be in a

current state of dejection and outcast from society. No great feats of courage are being attempted here. Apparently the

protagonist seems to feel that success and prosperity have eluded him unlike the experience of others in society. An excerpt

from the poem can show this:

"Alas I have nor hope nor health,
Nor peace within nor calm around,
Nor that content surpassing wealth
The sage in meditation found,
And walked with inward glory crowned-
Nor fame, nor power, nor love, nor leisure.
Others I see whom these surround-
Smiling they live, and call life pleasure;
To me that cup has been dealt in another measure." 1.

A poetic element that can be observed from these two poems is that of -figures of speech. Both poems use metaphors,

however it is of my opinion that the poem "Written after Swimming..." contains both implied and explicit metaphors while the

poem "Stanzas Written..." contains mainly implied metaphors.

In Byron's poem, he spoke of the difference between the quests of the mythical Leander and compared with those of the

protagonist using these words in what I believe to be an explicit metaphore:

"But since he crossed the rapid tide,
According to the doubtful story,
(To woo-and -Lord knows what beside),
And swam for Love, as I for Glory;" 1.
An implicit metaphore was used to explain the results of the efforts of the two men who swam accross the Dardanelles strait seen from an excerpt from the poem:
"'Twere hard to say who fared the best:
Sad mortals! thus the gods still plague you!
(He lost his labor, I my jest);
For he was drowned, and I've the auge." 1.

The poem written by Byron appears to only feature explicit metaphors as compared to the poem written by Shelley. In

contrast the poem written by Shelley contains both explicit and implied metaphors and also endeavors to

compare and contrast the state of affairs of the protagonist with that of other more prosperous members of society, as seen

from lines 28-36 in the poem:

"Alas! I have nor hope nor health,
Nor peace within nor calm around,
(Nor that content surpassing wealth)
(The sage in meditation found),
And walked with inward glory crowned-
Nor fame, nor power, nor love, nor leisure.
Others I see whom these surround-
Smiling they live, and call life pleasure;
(To me that cup has been dealt in another measure)." 1.

Another theme from Byron's poem is the comparison of similar results experience by the two men in the poem as well as

the signifcance of those results. This can be contrasted with the theme from Shelley's poem which describes a comparison of

different realities as they are experienced from the point of view of the protagonist and that of the society that is described in

the poem. In Byron's poem, the two men attempted to cross the Dardanelles strait, but experienced different outcomes. One

of them-Leander-lost his life while the other, the protagonist, became ill. They experienced similar results because both of

them lost something from the effort. As explained in the poem:

"'Twere hard to say who fared the best;
Sad mortals! thus the gods still plague you!
He lost his labor, I my jest;
For he was drowned, and I've the ague." 1.

In Shelley's poem the author strives to show the difference between the reality of life as experienced by a seemingly dejected

protagonist as compared to members of the society at large that have appeared to have rejected him and consider him to be

an outcast. An excerpt from the poem can illuminate this:

"Nor fame, nor power, nor love, nor leisure.
Others I see whom these surround-
Smiling they live, and call life pleasure;
To me that cup has been dealt in another measure." 1.

There is an ample amount of imagery used in both poems. I believe that the imagery used in Shelley's poem was used

extensively to advance the meaning and the readers understanding of the poem. The use of imagery in this poem was also

much more extensive and prevalent as compared to Byron's poem and the images did connect to each other. Byron's poem

used imagery much more sparsely and I consider it to be much more decorative.

In Shelley's poem the author used imagery extensively in the first part to describe the breath-taking environment that the

protagonist was surrounded by and this was a good set-up to use for the later contrast with the protagonist's pitiable state

of life. An example of this use of imagery to explain the environment can be seen in the following lines:

"The sun is warm, the sky is clear,
the waves are dancing fast and bright,
Blue isles and snowy mountains wear
The purple noon's transparent might.
The breath of the moist earth is light,
Around its unexpanded buds;
Like many a voice of one delight,
The winds, the bird, the ocean floods,
The City's voice itself is soft like Solitude's." 1.
In Byron's poem the use of imagery is much more sparse and as I noted appears to be more decorative. The author was

explaing the custom of the mythical and love-struck Leander to cross the Dardanelles strait (or Hellespont), to visit his

girlfriend Hero. Byron described this and gave a description of the Hellespont in the following lines:

"If, when the wintry tempest roared,
He sped to Hero, nothing loath,
And thus of old thy current poured,
Fair Venus! how I pity both!" 1.
Another difference in themes between the two poems can be seen by the focus in the Shelley's poem on what appears to be

the vanity sometimes involved in the attempt to accomplish great endeavours by successful people, as compared to the

theme in Byrons poem which seems to focus on a portrait of a person rejected and outcast by society.

In Shelley's poem the author relates a story of two people who are very successful in their endeavours but who unfortunately

experience what could amount to moments of truth when it becomes apparent that their efforts might have been in vain and

could be regarded as mere vanity. An example of this can be seen in the following excerpt:

"If when the wintry tempest roared,
He sped to Hero, nothing loath,
And thus of old thy current poured.
fair Venus! how I pity both!
For me, degenerate modern wretch,
Though in the genial month of May,
dripping limbs I faintly stretch,
And think I've done a feat today." 1.
Comparing this to Byron's poem, the theme of this poem does not focus on two successful people who had their efforts end

ultimately in vain but on a seemingly unsuccessful person who appears to be an outcast from society and despised by other

members of the public. An excerpt from the poem can show this:

"Some might lament that I were cold,
As I, when this sweet day is gone,
Which my lost heart, too soon grown old,
Insults with this untimely moan;
They might lament-for I am one
Whom mwn love not-and yet regret,
Unlike this day, which, when the sun
Shall on its stainless glory set,
Will linger, though enjoyed, like joy in memory yet." 1.

When comparing the language used in two poems I believe that the diction used in Byron's poem is rather mixed being

neither casual or elevated completely, while that used in Shelley's poem is comparatively elevated. Byron's poem also seems

to have been written at some emotional distance while Shelley's poem appears to have been written in the midst of emotion.

An example of the mixed diction and relative emotional distance found in Byron's poem can be seen in the following excerpt:

"If in the month of dark December,
Leander, who was nightly wont
(What maid will not the tale remember?)
To cross thy stream, broad Hellespont!" 1.

When reading Shelley's poem in contrast one can notice the emotional investment of the author while describing the

circumstance of the protagonist. The diction used is also comparatively elevated as compared to Byron's poem. An example

of this can be seen from the poem:

"Some might lament that I were cold,
As I when this sweet day is gone,
Which my lost hear, too soon grown old,
Insults with this untimely moan;
they might lament-for I am one
Whom men love not-and yet regret,
Unlike this day, which, when the sun
Shall on its stainless glory set,
Will linger, though enjoyed, like joy in memory yet." 1.

It is possible to see from the foregoing that the poems "Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos" and "Stanzas

Written in Dejection, Near Naples," have several contrasts in themes and characteristics as well as the use of poetic elements

such as Figures of Speech, Images and Language.

WORKS CITED:

1. George Gordon, Lord Byron. "Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos". Ferguson, Salter and Stallworthy. 833-834.

Ferguson, Margaret; Mary Jo Salter and Jon Stallworthy,
The Norton Anthology of Poetry. New York: Noron, 2005.

Percy Bysshe Shelley. "Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples." Ferguson, Salter and Stallworthy. 870-871.

USE OF FREE VERSE IN POEMS

The poems that I will discuss, use free-verse in the structure and I believe there are a few reasons why the author chose to use this form. The poems that I will discuss include "Danse Russe," and "This is just to say," by William Carlos Williams.
The poem "Danse Russe" by Williams portrays a man dancing naked in his room (while his family sleeps) declaring and reiterating his guardianship of his household. The lines in the poem are self explanatory and end just in time to make the point in the phrase as well as prepare the reader for continued explanation of meaning in the line to follow. An example can be seen in the following excerpts from the poem:
If I in my north room
dance naked, grotesquely
before my mirror...
and singing softly to myself:
"I am lonely, lonely'
I was born to be lonely.
I am best so!"...
Who shall say I am not
the happy genius of my household?
In the poem "This is just to say" by Williams, it portrays the protagonist eating someone else's plums. Each line possesses great and strong meaning on its own. No ryhme scheme or metrical pattern is needed or necessarily desirable. The significance of each line to the relaying of the story encourages the reader to really look at the sentences or phrases and get their impact. An example of this can be seen from an excerpt from the poem:
I have eaten
the plums..
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious

I believe that the author's use of free-verse and not metrical patterns or a rhyming scheme is appropriate for these poems.

Review of the poem "Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos" by George Gordon, Lord Byron.

I would like to do a review of the poem entitled "Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos" by George Gordon, Lord Byron. The speaker who I would assume to be the author is apparently an English Lord. At the time of the writing of this poem, Lord Byron who was born in 1788 was 24 years old. He was also apparently a young man ( he died young at the age of 36), who seems to have enjoyed adventure as the poem revolves around an account of his effort to swim across the strait of Hellespont which was a feat that is also credited to a character in Greek mythology named Leander.
The speaker appers to be reliable. He seems to understand ancient Greek mythology in his account of the exploits of Leander who customarily crossed the Hellespont from Abydos in Greek to Sestos in Asia minor to visit his sweetheart Hero. The difference with the speaker is that the lead character in this poem is reported to have crossed from Sestos to Abydos for shear vanity. The two crossings are similar in location but different in motives and outcomes.
The audience that this poem is directed to is general. The account is a comparism and contrast between the endeavours of the mythological Leander and the speaker. Leander who swam accross the Hellespont in the wintery month of December to visit the fair Hero unfortunately drowned on one of his attempts. The Speaker who swam across the Hellespont in May was successful, but developed a fever with chills.
The diction used in the poem can be described as both casual and elevated with more of a scew towards elevated. I would call it a mix. An example of this can be seen in the following verses at the beginning of the poem:
If, in the month of dark December
Leander, who was nightly wont
(What maid will not the tale remember?)
To cross thy stream, broad Hellesoont!
The word choice used in the poem was reletively clear and good, meaning could be easily deciphered and there are no unecessary repetitions. The tone of the poem is slightly rhetorical slightly admonition. There is some emotional distance that can be seen from the following verses:
For me, degenerate modern wretch,
Though in the genial month of May,
My dripping limbs I finally stretch,
And think I've done a feat today.
The language is moderately intense and I found that I needed to do a second reading to get the full import of the poem.

Importance of nature to the romantic poets.

I believe that nature plays an important role in the poems written by Romantic poets such

as Willian Blake, Wiliam Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge. These poets used examples of

things occurring in nature to allude to laws of nature that could be related to the human

experience as concerns issues of cause and effect, innocence and maturity, as well as good and

evil and general comparisms.

William Blake used an allusion to nature and cause and effect in his poem entitled

"London" as well as "Holy Thursday (II)." William Wordsworth used different symbols from

nature to explain his thoughts in his essay entitled" London 1802." Samuel Coleridge also used

examples from the natural world to help the reader visualize and better understand his poem

entitled "Frost at Midnight."

In the William Blake poem "London," the poet described the bleak condition of the British

capital city, London, at the time of his writing. The city and the nation was experiencing the

after-effects of the industrial revolution at the time and society was changing from a mostly

rural agrarian existence to a more urbanized and industrial mode. In describing the breakdown

of social mores and the incidence of cause and effect, Blake uses nature and disease to explain

the cause and effect relationship of increased promiscuity and moral breakdown. He describes

how a man who sought the services of a prostitute contracted a venereal disease and passed it

on to his wife. Eventually his wife became pregnant and unfortunately passed this disease on to

her newborn child. Blake notes in the poem:

"But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage hearse."

In the poem by William Wordsworth entitled "London, 1802," he described England at the

time as having stagnated and in need of a charismatic leader that would bring it back to

greatness. In describing his proposed leader in the poem, called"Milton," he used natural

symbols to explain his characteristics:

"Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

Samuel Coleridge used allusions to the natural world in his essay "Frost at Midnight." I

believe that he explained how he grew up a dreamer who was not very much exposed to nature

as he grew up in a big city. It was his dream that his child would grow up with the opportunity of

much greater exposure to nature. If he too was a dreamer he would have ample sources of

reference in nature and the instruction and guidance of the laws of nature to rely on.

First assignment-letter of introduction

Hello, my name is Aham Iwu and I am from St. Louis Missouri, though I have been a resident of the city of Houston for many years. I am currently a post-bach. student at UH, having completed my bachelors degree requirements for broadcast journalism during the summer session '07. I started writing poetry in high-school and I am an aspiring songwriter. I also took Engl. 3331 during the summer session. I enjoy creative writing and though not directly related to poetry, this is one of the reasons why I decided to pursue a career in journalism. I intend to use the experience in this class to continue to develop as a writer and deepen my understanding of poetry. I am a very inquisitive person and I enjoy interesting and challenging topics and discussion. I am also an actor and a singer and generally enjoy anything related to the creative or performing arts.