Skimming down to Camelot: But who hath seen her wave her ha

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Understanding Poetry

• Poetry is similar to fiction in that both may
  utilize plot, symbolism, imagery, and setting
  however, poetry differs in that it is much more
  concentrated. Each line of a poem must be
  unpacked before it can be fully understood. When
  deconstructing a poem, the reader must keep
  several things in mind.
• An understanding of the poets society
• The type of poem
• The Metaphors and Allusions used

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Understanding Poetry

• Poetry is more complex than fiction because it
  employs devices not normally found in fiction.
  These devices are necessary for poetry because
  where fiction is used to communicate thoughts and
  events, poetry is primarily used to express
  feeling. Fiction makes readers think, and poetry
  makes them feel. Some of these elements
  include
• Diction Imagery
• Speaker Sound

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Understanding Poetry

• Diction is the language chosen for its poetic
  quality. Since poetry is so compact, word choice
  becomes vital to understand the poems meaning.
  Connotations associated with words may work to
  imply the poems meaning.
• Also the sounds of the words themselves may also
  aid in revealing the poems meaning.
  Onomatopoeia a word which sounds like what it
  represents may evoke images or feelings. Meter,
  or the sound pattern the poem makes also helps to
  reveal the poems meaning.

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Understanding Poetry

• A poems speaker is not necessarily the poet,
  but often a character created by the poet.
  Understanding the point of view the poem is
  written from is vital to understanding the poem.
  
• An image is the pictures created in the mind of
  the reader by the poets words. Imagery works
  together with sound and diction to evoke the
  feelings the poet desires in the reader.

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• Lyric  A kind of poetry, generally short,
  characterized by a musical use of language. Lyric
  poetry often involves the expression of intense
  personal emotion. The elegy, the ode, and the
  sonnet are forms of the lyric poem.
• Sonnet A lyric poem of fourteen lines, often
  about love, that follows one of several strict
  conventional patterns of rhyme.
  
• Free verse  Verse without regular meter or rhyme.

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• ode  A kind of poem devoted to the praise of a
  person, animal, or thing. An ode is usually
  written in an elevated style and often expresses
  deep feeling. An example is Ode on a Grecian
  Urn, by John Keats.
• elegy  (EL-uh-jee) A form of poetry that mourns
  the loss of someone who has died or something
  that has deteriorated. A notable example is the
  Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, by
  Thomas Gray. (Compare eulogy.)   

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• epic  A long narrative poem written in elevated
  style, in which heroes of great historical or
  legendary importance perform valorous deeds. The
  setting is vast in scope, covering great nations,
  the world, or the universe, and the action is
  important to the history of a nation or people.
  The Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid are some
  great epics from world literature, and two great
  epics in English are Beowulf and Paradise Lost.

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• Narrative Poetry- A narrative poem tells a
  story. The poet takes on a role similar to that
  of a narrator in a work of fiction. The oldest
  stories were recorded in poetry and recited by
  bards who used the rhythms of the verse to help
  them memorize their lines.
• Villanelle- a fixed nineteen-line form,
  originally French, employing only two rhymes and
  repeating two of the lines according to a set
  pattern. An example is Dylan Thomas Do Not Go
  Gentle into That Good Night

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• imagery  The mental pictures created by a piece
  of writing The imagery of The Waste
  Landcrumbling towers, dried-up wells, toppled
  tombstonesconveys the authors sense of a
  civilization in decay.
• allusion  An indirect reference to some piece of
  knowledge not actually mentioned. Allusions
  usually come from a body of information that the
  author presumes the reader will know. For
  example, an author who writes, She was another
  Helen, is alluding to the proverbial beauty of
  Helen of Troy.

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Literary Allusions

• Good literature often makes use of literary
  allusions.  An allusion is a reference to some
  well know character, story, author, or setting in
  some previous writing.  Dont confuse it with
  word illusion which means something altogether
  different.  You will certainly have a better
  appreciation, as well as understanding, of
  literature if you are able to recognize the
  source of these allusions.  Some very common
  references might be to mythology, Shakespeare,
  and the Bible, to name just a few.  You might
  also hear some literary allusions that are very
  common in everyday conversation.  Read on and see
  if you recognize any of the following literary
  allusions.

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Literary Allusions
Literary Allusions

• Doubting Thomas one of the twelve apostles
  who would not believe Jesus was resurrected from
  the dead until he actually saw the wounds on
  Jesus hands.  Today, anyone who doubts or
  questions things that others believe might be
  called a doubting Thomas.
• Catch-22 from Joseph Hellers book of the
  same title.  The main character tried to get out
  of combat by claiming insanity.  Doctors advised
  him that anyone who wanted to avoid combat was
  sane, and if he really was crazy, he wouldnt be
  sane enough to apply for a discharge.  Today, a
  no-win situation could be called a Catch-22.

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Literary Allusions

• Feet of Clay from the book of Daniel in the
  Old Testament.  King Nebuchadnezzar dreamt of a
  being with a gold head, sliver arms, brass belly,
  iron legs, and feet of clay.  In Daniels
  interpretation of the Kings dream, he saw the
  feet as a weakness and predicted the fall of the
  empire.  The expression now refers to an
  otherwise strong and admirable person as having
  some weakness or flaw in his character.
• Don Juan in Gabriel Tellezs El Burlador
  de Seville, the main character, Don Juan, engages
  in many passing love affairs.  Today, we refer to
  a man who is a playboy as a Don Juan.

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Literary Allusions
Literary Allusions

• Ugly American is the title of a novel by
  Lederer and Burdick in which the main character,
  an American living abroad, was physically ugly. 
  However, the phrase today is used to describe
  arrogant American behavior in foreign countries.
  
• Trojan Horse in Virgils Aeneid, the Greeks
  conquer Troy by filling a large wooden horse with
  their soldiers and deceiving the Trojans into
  letting it through their city gates.  Today, any
  seemingly innocent scheme that is designed to
  harm is called a Trojan horse.
• Prodigal Son comes from a parable in the New
  Testament in which a son spends all his
  inheritance foolishly, repents, and is welcomed
  home by a loving father.  Anyone who has had a
  similar wayward experience, changes his ways, and
  returns home, is called a prodigal son.

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Literary Allusions
Literary Allusions

• Platonic Love in Symposium, Plato speaks of
  love based on purely intellectual and spiritual
  closeness rather than sexual attraction.  Today
  we use this term to describe that kind of
  relationship between a man and a woman.
• Peyton Place Grace Metaliouss novel Peyton
  Place was about the immoral and evil goings on
  beneath the respectable appearance of a
  community.  Today we use the term to describe any
  situation where one might doubt the appearance of
  respectability.
• Silent Spring in her book of the same name,
  Rachel Carson wrote about the destruction of our
  environment because of the use of herbicides and
  pesticides.  She predicts a time when we will no
  longer hear the sounds of birds and other
  creatures that will be destroyed as a result. 
  Today, the words silent spring refer to any
  ecological disaster.

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• Stanza A group of lines of verse, usually set
  off from other groups by a space. The stanzas of
  a poem often have the same internal pattern of
  rhymes.
• Symbol  An object or name that stands for
  something else, especially a material thing that
  stands for something that is not material. The
  bald eagle is a symbol of the United States of
  America. The cross is a symbol of Christianity.
  The Star of David is a symbol of Judaism.  

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• Verse  A kind of language made intentionally
  different from ordinary speech or prose. It
  usually employs devices such as meter and rhyme,
  though not always. Free verse, for example, has
  neither meter nor rhyme. Verse is usually
  considered a broader category than poetry, with
  the latter being reserved to mean verse that is
  serious and genuinely artistic.  

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• meter  The highly organized rhythm characteristic
  of verse. The pattern of stressed and unstressed
  syllables in a line.
  
• iambic pentameter  (eye-AM-bik pen-TAM-uh-tuhr)
  The most common meter in English verse. It
  consists of a line ten syllables long that is
  accented on every second beat.

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• metaphor  The comparison of one thing to another
  without the use of like or as A man is but a
  weak reed The road was a ribbon of moonlight.
  Metaphors are common in literature and expansive
  speech.
• simile  (SIM-uh-lee) A common figure of speech
  that explicitly compares two things usually
  considered different. Most similes are introduced
  by like or as The realization hit me like a
  bucket of cold water.   Some similes, such as
  sleeping like a log, have become clichés.

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• General Terms- up is good, down is bad, heat is
  interesting or sexy, cold in dull or frigid,
  significant is big, unimportant is small, left is
  liberal, right is conservative. Dark is evil.
  Light is good. Red is sexy.
• Pennant Races Heat Up.

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• Arguments are Buildings- what is the foundation
  of your theory? The theory needs more support.
  The argument is built on shaky ground. The
  argument collapsed.

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• Life is a gambling game- Ill take my chances.
  Ive got an ace up my sleeve. Play your cards
  any way you want to. Hes bluffing. The
  president is playing it close to his vest.
  Thats the luck of the draw. You bet.

23

• Ideas are food- That left a bad taste in my
  mouth. This paper has only raw facts and half
  baked ideas. I cant swallow that concept. Let
  me stew on it for a while. I have to spoon feed
  you information.

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• Ideas are people- Einstein gave birth to the
  theory of relativity. He is the father of modern
  science. Whose brainchild was that? That idea
  died off during the middle ages.

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• Ideas are plants- His ideas have finally come to
  fruition. That idea died on the vine. Thats a
  budding theory which will soon come to full
  flower.

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• Love is an electromagnetic force- I could feel
  the electricity between us. There were sparks
  between them. His whole life revolves around
  her.

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• Love is madness- Im crazy about her. She drives
  me out of my mind. He constantly raves about
  her. Hes mad about her.
  

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• Love is magic- She cast a spell over me. The
  magic is gone. She is bewitching. I was
  charmed.
  

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• Love is War- He is known for his rapid conquests.
  She fought for him, but the mistress won out. He
  fled from her advances, but she pursued him and
  is slowly gaining ground. He overpowered her.
  She was besieged by suitors.

30

• Love is a patient- This is a sick relationship.
  They have a strong, healthy marriage. Were
  hoping to get back on our feet.

31

• Emotional effect is physical contact-
• The death hit him hard. The idea bowled him
  over. Shes a knockout. I was struck by his
  sincerity. He blew me away. He made his mark on
  the world.

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• Metonymy- The substitution of the name of an
  object closely associated with a word for the
  word itself. For example she is just a pretty
  face, or we dont hire long-hairs. In both
  examples one part of an individual to represent
  the whole. An article of clothing or other
  object can also be substituted for the person or
  institution. As in I wont wear the black boots
  of oppression.

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• I stand in front of my cathedral of truth
• surrounded by a Hooverville of impropriety.
• I beckon an occasional passerby to enter,
• only to be spurned casually.
• Instead she chooses to build on the sands of
  illusion
  
• with blocks of lust and the cement of alcohol.
• But the winds of change blow both hot and cold,
• toppling her walls and burying her foundation.
• I offer my foyer, with its warm hearth waiting,
• to be told that my castle is too unbecoming for a
  lady.
  
• "Truth is rarely beautiful," I reply,
• "but its wonders please more than just eyes."
• Before I can open the grand halls of trust,
• once again the lady is struck with lust.
• Into the arms of another incubus the maiden
  flies,
  
• off to build yet another house of lies.

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• The basic metaphor in this poem is relationships
  are buildings. I elaborated the metaphor by
  comparing a grand cathedral to a cardboard shack.
  The models which I had in mind were Westminster
  Abbey and the tar paper shacks of the early
  1930's. The choice of models represents how I
  feel about relationships. The former is a
  building which has withstood the tests of time,
  it is solid and sacred. Its walls and vaulted
  ceiling protect its occupants from the cold
  biting English weather. The latter is a
  temporary construction built from refuse and
  garbage. It offers little in the way of
  protection or warmth.

35

• The choice of the word "Hooverville" was not
  accidental. There are many terms that I could
  have used such as, shanty town, honky tonk,
  ghetto, slum, skid row, and warren. I chose the
  word Hooverville because it implies poverty
  through poor leadership. The unkept promise of a
  chicken in every pot and two cars in every
  garage. Strangely enough the advertising man who
  wrote that slogan was reduced to begging to
  support his family during the depression (Conlin
  719). I chose that word to hopefully map an
  image of unkept promises and despair onto the
  concept of relationships.

36

• The next two lines deal with the aesthetic stage
  of life. Soren Kierkegaard defined life in three
  stages, aesthetic, ethical, and the religious.
  In the aesthetic stage of life individuals are
  only interested in sensory stimulation. They
  also have no real identity, instead they are
  driven by a group consciousness (Paul et al.
  179-82). The poet stands in front of his
  cathedral like a barker stands in front of a
  carnival attraction. Hoping to attract a
  passerby, but the other sights and sounds
  overwhelm his cries for attention.

37

• The next two lines deal directly with the
  relationships are buildings metaphor. I extended
  the metaphor by determining both where she
  chooses to build and the materials used. Sand is
  a poor substance to build upon. Sand does not
  have a uniform compactness and will shift and
  settle for years after a foundation has been
  laid. The metaphor "sands of illusion" will
  hopefully map the idea of a shifting foundation
  on to the concept of belief in the unreal or the
  unsound. The ideas behind the materials with she
  builds are also important. Both lust and alcohol
  are temporary sensory stimulations. When the
  stimulus is removed, the mental rationalizations
  which justify romantic actions crumble to dust.
  I chose these materials because anything built on
  such a fleeting substance will not endure.

38

• The next two lines deal with the time as a
  changer metaphor. The metaphor "winds of change"
  is clearly a cliche, but I extended it by adding
  "blow both hot and cold." Through the use of
  this extension, I have changed the meaning of the
  cliché. I've added the "hot is interesting" and
  possibly the "hot is sexy" and of course its
  opposite "cold is uninviting" or "cold is frigid"
  metaphors. These compositions change the entire
  meaning of the time as a changer metaphor by
  implying what kind of change is blowing in the
  wind. In physics when something goes from hot to
  cold the substance undergoes stress. If the
  temperature change is great enough the substance
  will crack and break. Thus when the walls of
  lust and alcohol are exposed to the extreme cold,
  they collapse.

39

• The next line the poet offers a slower longer
  lasting warmth of the hearth. Once again the
  poet is rejected because he fails to offer the
  sensory stimulation required to captivate her.
  In the two lines that follow the poet attempts to
  question the maiden's choice. The poet implies
  that there is more to life than sensory
  stimulation.
• In the last line of the poem the maiden leaves
  the poet to enter an empty relationship. The
  poet leaves the reader with the idea that the
  maiden will travel from one empty relationship to
  another endlessly.

40

• Before the poet can make his case, the maiden is
  beguiled by an incubus. Again the use of this
  term was not an accident. An incubus is a male
  demon who preys upon women and leads them astray.
  The only power that a demon has is illusion.
  Thus creating an image of a maiden being
  willingly lead to hell with promises of splendor
  and riches, not unlike the story of Dr. Faustus.

41

• In writing this poem I tried to stay well within
  the boundaries of common experience. I hope that
  in some aspects I have moved beyond the
  conventional uses of metaphor to express my
  feelings concerning relationships.

42

• From my mothers sleep I fell into the State,
• And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur
  froze.
  
• Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of
  life,
  
• I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
• When I died they washed me out of the turret with
  a hose.
  
• Randall Farrell 1914-1965

43
My Mistress Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun

• MY mistress eyes are nothing like the sun 
• Coral is far more red than her lips red 
• If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun 
• If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
•  I have seen roses damaskd, red and white, 
• But no such roses see I in her cheeks 
• And in some perfumes is there more delight 
• Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
•  I love to hear her speak, yet well I know 
• That music hath a far more pleasing sound  
• I grant I never saw a goddess go, 
• My mistress, when she walks, treads on the
  ground   
  
• And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare   
• As any she belied with false compare. 
• William Shakespeare

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• Because I could not stop for death-
• He kindly stopped for me-
• The Carriage held but just Ourselves-
• And Immortality.

45

• We slowly drove- He knew no haste
• And I had put away
• My labor and my leisure too,
• For His Civility-

46

• We passed the School where Children strove
• At Recess-in the Ring-
• We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain-
• We passed the Setting Sun-

47

• Or rather-He passed Us-
• The Dews drew quivering chill-
• For only Gossamer my Gown-
• My Tippet- only Tulle-

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• Gossamer- something light, delicate, or
  insubstantial
  
• Tippet- a shoulder cape of fur or cloth often
  with hanging ends
  
• Tulle- a sheer often stiffened silk, rayon, or
  nylon net used chiefly for veils or ballet
  costumes

49

• We passed before a House that seemed
• A Swelling of the Ground-
• The Roof was scarcely visible-
• The Cornice- in the Ground-

50

• Cornice-the molded and projecting horizontal
  member that crowns an architectural composition

51

• Since then-tis Centuries- and yet
• Feels shorter than the Day
• I first surmised the Horses Heads
• Were toward Eternity-

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53

• On either side the river lie Long fields of
  barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet
  the sky And through the field the road run by
  To many-tower'd Camelot And up and down the
  people go, Gazing where the lilies blow Round
  an island there below, The island of Shalott.

54

• Willows whiten, aspens quiver, Little breezes
  dusk and shiver Through the wave that runs for
  ever By the island in the river Flowing down to
  Camelot. Four grey walls, and four grey towers,
  Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent
  isle imbowers The Lady of Shalott.

55

• By the margin, willow veil'd,Slide the heavy
  barges trail'd By slow horses and unhail'd The
  shallop flitteth silken-sail'dSkimming down to
  Camelot But who hath seen her wave her hand?
  Or at the casement seen her stand? Or is she
  known in all the land, The Lady of Shalott?

56

• Only reapers, reaping early, In among the
  bearded barley Hear a song that echoes cheerly
  From the river winding clearly Down to tower'd
  Camelot And by the moon the reaper weary,
  Piling sheaves in uplands airy, Listening,
  whispers, " 'Tis the fairy The Lady of Shalott."

57

• There she weaves by night and day A magic web
  with colours gay. She has heard a whisper say,
  A curse is on her if she stay To look down to
  Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be,
  And so she weaveth steadily, And little other
  care hath she, The Lady of Shalott.

58

• And moving through a mirror clear That hangs
  before her all the year, Shadows of the world
  appear. There she sees the highway near Winding
  down to Camelot There the river eddy whirls,
  And there the surly village churls, And the red
  cloaks of market girls Pass onward from Shalott.

59

• Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, An abbot on
  an ambling pad, Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,
  Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad Goes by to
  tower'd Camelot And sometimes through the
  mirror blue The knights come riding two and two.
  She hath no loyal Knight and true, The Lady of
  Shalott.

60

• But in her web she still delights To weave the
  mirror's magic sights, For often through the
  silent nights A funeral, with plumes and lights
  And music, went to Camelot Or when the Moon
  was overhead, Came two young lovers lately wed.
  "I am half sick of shadows," said The Lady of
  Shalott.

61

• A bow-shot from her bower-eaves, He rode
  between the barley sheaves, The sun came
  dazzling thro' the leaves, And flamed upon the
  brazen greaves Of bold Sir Lancelot. A
  red-cross knight for ever kneel'd To a lady in
  his shield, That sparkled on the yellow field,
  Beside remote Shalott.

62

• The gemmy bridle glitter'd free, Like to some
  branch of stars we see Hung in the golden
  Galaxy. The bridle bells rang merrily As he
  rode down to Camelot And from his blazon'd
  baldric slung A mighty silver bugle hung, And
  as he rode his armor rung Beside remote Shalott.

63

• All in the blue unclouded weather
  Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather, The
  helmet and the helmet-feather Burn'd like one
  burning flame together, As he rode down to
  Camelot. As often thro' the purple night, Below
  the starry clusters bright, Some bearded meteor,
  burning bright, Moves over still Shalott.

64

• His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd On
  burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode From
  underneath his helmet flow'd His coal-black
  curls as on he rode, As he rode down to Camelot.
  From the bank and from the river He flashed
  into the crystal mirror, "Tirra lirra," by the
  river Sang Sir Lancelot.

65

• She left the web, she left the loom, She made
  three paces through the room, She saw the
  water-lily bloom, She saw the helmet and the
  plume, She look'd down to Camelot. Out flew the
  web and floated wide The mirror crack'd from
  side to side "The curse is come upon me," cried
  The Lady of Shalott.

66

• In the stormy east-wind straining, The pale
  yellow woods were waning, The broad stream in
  his banks complaining. Heavily the low sky
  raining Over tower'd Camelot Down she came and
  found a boat Beneath a willow left afloat, And
  around about the prow she wrote The Lady of
  Shalott.

67

• And down the river's dim expanse Like some bold
  seer in a trance, Seeing all his own mischance
  -- With a glassy countenance Did she look to
  Camelot. And at the closing of the day She
  loosed the chain, and down she lay The broad
  stream bore her far away, The Lady of Shalott.

68

• Lying, robed in snowy white That loosely flew
  to left and right -- The leaves upon her falling
  light -- Thro' the noises of the night, She
  floated down to Camelot And as the boat-head
  wound along The willowy hills and fields among,
  They heard her singing her last song, The Lady
  of Shalott.

69

• Heard a carol, mournful, holy, Chanted loudly,
  chanted lowly, Till her blood was frozen slowly,
  And her eyes were darkened wholly, Turn'd to
  tower'd Camelot. For ere she reach'd upon the
  tide The first house by the water-side, Singing
  in her song she died, The Lady of Shalott.

70

• Under tower and balcony, By garden-wall and
  gallery, A gleaming shape she floated by,
  Dead-pale between the houses high, Silent into
  Camelot. Out upon the wharfs they came, Knight
  and Burgher, Lord and Dame, And around the prow
  they read her name, The Lady of Shalott.

71

• Who is this? And what is here? And in the
  lighted palace near Died the sound of royal
  cheer And they crossed themselves for fear,
  All the Knights at Camelot But Lancelot mused
  a little space He said, "She has a lovely face
  God in his mercy lend her grace, The Lady of
  Shalott."