Poetry and Study Notes

English Home Language GRADE 12 2016

CONTENTS POEM POET PAGE 1. Autumn Roy Campbell 1

2. The wild doves at Louis Trichardt William Plomer 3

3. Lake Morning in Autumn Douglas Livingstone 5

4. An abandoned bundle Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali 7

5. In detention Chris van Wyk 9

6. On the move Thom Gunn 11

7. Old folks laugh Maya Angelou 14

8. Rugby League Game James Kirkup 16

9. Sonnet 30: When to the sessions ... William Shakespeare 18

10. London William Blake 20

11. When I have fears that my cease to be John Keats 22

12. Futility Wilfred Owen 24 Roy Campbell (1901 – 1957) Autumn

I love to see, when leaves depart, The clear anatomy arrive, Winter, the paragon of art, That kills all forms of life and feeling Save what is pure and will survive. 5

Already now the clanging chains Of geese are harnessed to the moon; Stripped are the great sun-clouding planes: And the dark pines, their own revealing, Let in the needles of the noon. 10

Strained by the gale the olives whiten Like hoary wrestlers bent with toil And, with the vines, their branches lighten To brim our vats where summer lingers In the red froth and sun-golden oil. 15

Soon on our hearth’s reviving pyre Their rotted stems will crumble up: And like a ruby, panting fire, The grape will redden on your fingers Through the lit crystal of the cup. 20

GLOSSARY:

2 anatomy  person’s structure paragon  a model of excellence or perfection save  except for

clanging  ringing noise

harnessed  strapped on planes  tall trees with peeling bark strained  weakened by force gale  very strong wind hoary  white-haired with age to brim  to fill to the top vats  large barrels lingers  stays on, remains hearth  stone or brick floor of a fireplace pyre  large pile of wood on which a dead body is burnt ruby  precious red stone

3 ROY CAMPBELL (1901 – 1957) This poet was born and brought up in Durban. He won a scholarship to Oxford University; but after a year he gave this up and went to live in various Mediterranean countries. He quarrelled with a lot of his friends and wrote cruel poetry about other poets. In the 1930s he supported the fascist leader Franco in Spain (at a time when most young poets and artists were strongly opposed to Franco). He also supported Mussolini in Italy, and he supported Hitler in Germany. Then in the 1940s he joined the British army to fight against the Germans! He died in Portugal in a car crash.

About the poem The speaker states his love of autumn, when trees losing their leaves are stripped down to their basics, and geese have started migrating. The olive trees and vines ripen, and their fruits are turned into oil and wine. Soon the dead wood removed from the vines and olive trees will be used to make huge fires. In front of these warm fires we can enjoy the fruits of summer - like the wine and olive oil - in great comfort.

Understand the poem 1. What word indicates that the poet is personifying trees in the first stanza?

2. ‘Already now the clanging chains / Of geese …’ a) To which two senses (sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell) does this metaphor appeal? b) What is it about the way geese migrate that makes the poet compare it to ‘chains’. c) What is the poet describing by using the adjective ‘clanging’?

3. What causes the olive trees to bend?

4. Explain why the olive trees whiten. (Clue: the underside of an olive leaf is silvery.)

5. For the olive trees and vines to lose their fruit is a form of loss or even death. But from that fruit come two products that bring much pleasure to people - name these two products.

6. ‘This theme - of something positive emerging from the negative, of pleasure coming from pain - is continued in the final stanza.’ What facts in the first two lines of this stanza confirm this statement?

Explore poetic devices 1. Write out the rhyme scheme for the first two stanzas.

2. Write out the stressed and unstressed syllables for each line in the first stanza (this is also called ‘scanning’ the lines). Use a small curved symbol (˘) for an unstressed syllable and an accent (´) for a stressed syllable. 3. Choose the statement that sums up the effect of this metrical pattern in the poem: it helps convey a sense of a) calm and order and certainty b) growing breathless excitement

4 c) sadness and frustration Explain your choice.

5 William Plomer (1903 – 1973) The wild doves at Louis Trichardt

Morning is busy with long files Of ants and men, all bearing loads. The sun’s gong beats, and sweat runs down. A mason-hornet shapes his hanging house. In a wide flood of flowers 5 Two crested cranes are bowing to their food. From the north today there is ominous news.

Midday, the mad cicada-time. Sizzling from every open valve Of the overhead earth 10 The stridulators din it in  Intensive and continuing praise Of the white-hot zenith, shrilling on Toward a note too high to hear.

Oven of afternoon, silence of heat. 15 In shadow, or in shaded rooms, This face is hidden in folded arms, That face is now a sightless mask, Tree-shadow just includes those legs. The people have all lain down, and sleep 20 In attitudes of the sick, the shot, the dead.

And now in the grove the wild doves begin, Whose neat silk heads are never still, Bubbling their coolest colloquies. The formulae they liquidly pronounce 25 In secret tents of leaves imply (Clearer than man-made music could) Men being absent, Africa is good.

GLOSSARY:

Louis Trichardt  a town in Limpopo province

6 files  lines mason-hornet  kind of insect crested cranes  kind of bird ominous  threatening, worrying

cicada  an insect that makes a loud chirping noise

valve  opening of a pipe

stridulators  insects that make a noise

din  make a noise zenith  highest point attitudes  positions grove  group of trees colloquies  conversations formulae  sums, questions with answers liquidly  like liquid pronounce  say

7 WILLIAM PLOMER (1903 – 1973) William Plomer was born in Polokwane (Pietersburg). He started a famous literary magazine called Voorslag (‘Whiplash’) with Roy Campbell that promoted equality for all South Africans. Plomer left South Africa at the age of 23 and settled in England. He worked for a publisher and wrote novels, short stories and an autobiography. He also edited some of the original James Bond novels by Ian Fleming. He won many awards for his work.

About the poem The speaker starts by describing the overwhelming heat and loud insect sounds of the morning. There is tension over the ‘news from the north’, though we are not told what that news is. In the afternoon, there is silence as people sleep exhausted in the heat. But in the trees, wild doves make a beautiful, cool sound that seems to say that without men, the natural world of Africa is at peace and happy.

Understand the poem

1. What do you think the men are doing in the first stanza?

2. a) What animals and insects are named in this poem? b) In view of the whole poem, why do you think the poet named specific animals and their activities?

3. What are the two things that seem to make the environment uncomfortable for people?

4. ‘From the north today there is ominous news.’ The speaker mentions this but does not bring it up again in the poem. What could this line suggest about the society he is describing?

5. What message do the doves seem to be giving in the last stanza?

6. What do you think the doves’ message means? Do you agree with it?

Explore poetic devices

1. Find a metaphor in the first and third stanzas that describes the heat. Name the two things that are being compared, and then explain why they are similar.

2. Why do you think the poet chooses such graphic images (‘the sick, the shot and the dead’) to describe the reclining people?

8 3. What words does the poet use to make us feel that the doves and their music are refreshing?

4. The title refers to the doves, but they are only referred to in the last few lines. Why do you think the poet has chosen this title for the poem?

9 DOUGLAS LIVINGSTONE (1932-1996) Lake morning in autumn

Before sunrise the stork was there resting the pillow of his body on stick legs growing from the water. 3

A flickering gust of pencil-slanted rain swept over the chill autumn morning: and he, too tired to arrange 6 his wind-buffeted plumage, perched swaying a little, neck flattened, ruminative, 9 beak on chest, contemplative eye filmy with star vistas and hollow black migratory leagues, strangely, 12 ponderously alone and some weeks early. The dawn struck and everything, sky, water, bird, reeds 15 was blood and gold. He sighed. Stretching his wings he clubbed the air; slowly, regally, so very tired, 18 aiming his beak he carefully climbed inclining to his invisible tunnel of sky, his feet trailing a long, long time. 21

GLOSSARY:

stork  a long-legged wading bird

10 gust  a sudden rush of wind

plumage  bird’s feathers perched  settled (on his legs) ruminative  meditative; in deep thought about something contemplative  thinking filmy  covered with a thin layer, glazed over vistas  long views migratory  moving from one place to another league  a measure of travel, about 5 kilometres ponderously  heavily clubbed  beat heavily regally  like a king inclining  going up at an angle trailing  following behind

11 DOUGLAS LIVINGSTONE (1932-1996) Douglas Livingstone was regarded for many years as South Africa’s best English-speaking poet. He was not born in South Africa, however. His family brought him here from Malaysia when he was ten. He studied biology at university and became a marine biologist at Natal University. He was in charge of research into sea pollution. His poetry is strongly influenced by his work as a scientist in the natural world. He won many awards, both in South Africa and

overseas.

About the poem The poem describes a stork perched in the shallows of a lake. A cold autumn wind blows and rain falls, but the stork does not move because it is too tired to do so. The stork is described in human terms: the poet says it is in a meditative mood, with a faraway look in its eyes. Something is out of place with regard to the stork: it has arrived too early at the gathering place and it has arrived alone. As the sun comes up the stork flies slowly and tiredly up into the sky.

Understand the poem

1. What word in stanza one suggests that the bird was tired?

2. The imagery makes us think of the stork as a person. Find a four-word phrase in stanza two that is normally used to describe the behaviour of a person.

3. The stork’s eyes are unfocused because it is thinking about ‘hollow black migratory leagues’. What does this phrase mean?

4. In stanza five the poet notes two unusual facts about the stork’s presence in the lake. What are these facts?

5. What word in stanza five suggests that for the bird the arrival of the new day was an unwelcome event?

6. How does he respond to the new day?

7. What does his response to the new day suggest?

8. Taking all the facts into account, what ultimately is the reason for the stork being ‘so very tired’?

9. Is there a parallel between the experience of the stork and human beings at a late stage of their lives? Explain your answer.

1. Now read the poem aloud to a classmate and then have her or him do the same for you.

12 Listen carefully. Jot down any words at the end of lines that seem to share similar sounds (whether consonants or vowels). Compare your findings.

2. Here is a definition of half-rhymes: words at the ends of lines that share similar vowel or consonantal sounds, but not both. Does Livingstone use half-rhymes (imperfect rhymes) in this poem? If so, write them out and explain what effect they have.

3. Explain the descriptive power of the metaphor in line 2.

4. Write out three consecutive words from stanza four that form a personification.

13 MBUYISENI OSWALD MTSHALI (1940 - ) An abandoned bundle

The morning mist and chimney smoke of White City Jabavu flowed thick yellow as pus oozing 5 from a gigantic sore.

It smothered our little houses like fish caught in a net.

Scavenging dogs 10 draped in red bandanas of blood fought fiercely for a squirming bundle.

I threw a brick; they bared fangs flicked velvet tongues of scarlet 15 and scurried away, leaving a mutilated corpse  an infant dumped on a rubbish heap 

20 ‘Oh! Baby in the Manger

sleep well on human dung.’

25 Its mother had melted into the rays of the rising sun, her face glittering with innocence her heart as pure as untrampled dew.

14 GLOSSARY:

abandoned  left behind Jabavu  Suburb in Soweto

pus  infected tissue

oozing  flowing slowly smothered  suffocated, took away the air scavenging  searching for something to eat bandanas  scarves squirming  wriggling, moving scarlet  bright red mutilated  badly injured, pulled apart untrampled  not walked on

15 MBUYISENI OSWALD MTSHALI (1940 - ) Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali broke new ground in South African poetry. His book Sounds of a Cowhide Drum (1972) was the first book of poems to describe daily life in the townships under Apartheid. It was a huge success and sold more than any other book of poetry ever had in South Africa. He became involved in the Black Consciousness movement of the 1970s, and his work was banned for several years. He took up a scholarship to Columbia University in the USA and returned in 1980 with a new book of poetry, Fireflames, which was banned by the South African government. Mtshali has spent time in

New York in the USA in recent years and continues to write poetry.

About the poem This South African poem is about a baby that is left on a rubbish dump. The speaker first describes the setting: morning near Johannesburg in a township. Then he describes how he saw dogs with blood all over them fighting over a wriggling bundle - a baby. He threw a brick at the dogs and they ran away, but the baby was now dead. The poem ends by saying that the ‘pure’ and ‘innocent’ mother had disappeared.

Understand the poem

1. What are ‘our little houses’ in line 7? (Use the notes above if you need to.)

2. Why do the dogs appear to be draped in red scarves (line 10)?

3. Who was the real ‘Baby in the Manger’ (line 19)? (You might need to ask people who know Christian Bible stories.)

4. Many people struggle to understand the last four lines. Is the speaker being ironic, saying the opposite of what he feels? Does he mean that the mother is so ignorant that she is innocent of the crime she has committed? Or does he mean that she lives in such an unjust system of Apartheid that she is relatively innocent, because Apartheid has caused this to happen, not the mother? What do you think?

1. What images does the poet use in the first two stanzas that make the suburb of Jabavu’s pollution sound disgusting and overpowering?

2. What do the images tell you about the way that the workers feel about Jabavu?

16 3. Why do you think the poet compares the baby to Jesus, and then says the baby is lying on ‘human dung’ (lines 19-21)? What contrast is he creating?

4. a) What images does he use to suggest the mother’s purity and innocence? b) Comment on the description of the dew as ‘untrampled’.

17 CHRIS VAN WYK (1957-2014) In detention

He fell from the ninth floor He hanged himself He slipped on a piece of soap while washing He hanged himself He slipped on a piece of soap while washing 5 He fell from the ninth floor He hanged himself while washing He slipped from the ninth floor He hung from the ninth floor He slipped on the ninth floor while washing 10 He fell from a piece of soap while slipping He hung from the ninth floor He washed from the ninth floor while slipping He hung from a piece of soap while washing

18 19 CHRIS VAN WYK (1957-2014) Chris van Wyk was born at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. He told his parents he was going to be a writer when he was five! One of six children, he was brought up in a happy home in the working-class suburb of Riverlea near Johannesburg. He says his favourite pastime is to skinder (gossip). His latest book is his own story of growing up in a coloured township in the 1960s. He says he interviewed a lot of people while writing the book, and got to hear all the skinder: ‘I’ve been a writer for 25 years and I find writing more exciting now than ever.’ He was an active member of anti-Apartheid movements in the 1980s. He says that humour is a weapon in life and that he used it against Apartheid. He is married to Kathy, his childhood sweetheart, and they have chosen to bring up their two sons in Riverlea. He laughs gleefully, ‘It’s skinder that I want.’

About the poem During Apartheid, police were allowed to arrest people and put them into prison without a trial. When you are held in jail without a trial, you are ‘in detention’. Many people died in detention. The police gave various reasons for their deaths. Some reasons were completely ridiculous. It was obvious that the police had killed them. In the first three lines the poet uses three excuses the police gave for these deaths. Then he mixes them up so that they sound more and more ridiculous. He is making the point that the reasons given were made-up nonsense.

Understand the poem

1. Look at the first three lines. Each line contains one reason for someone dying. Explain what each reason probably really means. In other words, if the police lied when they said ‘He fell from the ninth floor’, what really happened to him?

2. In which line does the poet start mixing up the reasons?

1. It is unusual for each line in a poem to start with the same word, and use the same sentence structure. Why do you think Van Wyk uses this kind of repetition?

2. a) Which word best describes the tone of the poem: bitter, mocking, or humorous? b) Give a reason for your answer.

3. Do you think this poem is effective - that is, does it achieve its aim? Give reasons for your answer.

20 THOM GUNN (1929-2004) On the move

‘Man, you gotta Go.’

The blue jay scuffling in the bushes follows Some hidden purpose, and the gust of birds That spurts across the field, the wheeling swallows, Have nested in the trees and undergrowth. Seeking their instinct, or their poise, or both, 5 One moves with an uncertain violence Under the dust thrown by a baffled sense Or the dull thunder of approximate words.

On motorcycles, up the road, they come: Small, black, as flies hanging in heat, the Boys, 10 Until the distance throws them forth, their hum Bulges to thunder held by calf and thigh. In goggles, donned impersonality, In gleaming jackets trophied with the dust, They strap in doubt  by hiding it, robust  15 And almost hear a meaning in their noise.

Exact conclusion of their hardiness Has no shape yet, but from known whereabouts They ride, direction where the tires press. They scare a flight of birds across the field: 20 Much that is natural, to the will must yield. Men manufacture both machine and soul, And use what they imperfectly control To dare a future from the taken routes.

It is part solution, after all. 25 One is not necessarily discord On earth; or damned because, half animal, One lacks direct instinct, because one wakes Afloat on movement that divides and breaks. One joins the movement in a valueless world, 30 Choosing it, till, both hurler and the hurled, One moves as well, always toward, toward.

A minute holds them, who have come to go: The self-defined, astride the created will They burst away; the towns they travel through 35

21 Are home for neither bird nor holiness, For birds and saints complete their purposes. At worst, one is in motion; and at best, Reaching no absolute, in which to rest, One is always nearer by not keeping still. 40

GLOSSARY:

blue jay  kind of bird scuffle  move about in a confused way swallow  kind of bird gust  a burst of wind spurt  move fast suddenly

instinct  automatic behaviour

poise  a state of balance baffled  confused approximate  not exact robust  strong hardiness  toughness whereabouts  where a person can be found yield  surrender, give in routes  paths travelled discord on earth  out of harmony with nature hurl  to throw with great force self-defined  having created one’s own image astride  sifting with one leg on either side

THOM GUNN (1929-2004) This poet was born in England. Shortly after he published his first book of poems, he and his lover, Mike Kitay, moved to the USA. Thom Gunn lived in San Francisco for nearly forty years and taught at a university there. San Francisco was one of the first places in the world to experience the AIDS epidemic, and much of his later poetry deals with tragic losses and fear surrounding AIDS.

About the poem In this poem the poet uses motorcyclists to represent people in general. Stanza 1: Birds behave as if they are driven by instinct. Stanza 2: Motorcyclists are coming up the road. They look like flies in the distance. As they get closer, they look strong. But hidden behind their goggles and protective helmets, they are not really sure of themselves. Stanza 3: These bikers do not know where their toughness will take them. They come from

22 known addresses, but have no destination. Scared off by the bikers, the birds (representative of nature) have to give in to the will of humans. Humans make amazing machines (like the motorcycle), and even think they can make souls too. But our control of these machines is imperfect - they don’t always work. People try to shape their future with their machines. Stanza 4: Our machines, and how we control nature, are a partial solution to our problems. The speaker says we are not condemned for lacking direct instinct like the birds, and we don’t have to live out of harmony with nature. People just find themselves in movements or organisations that divide society. We are the cause of this division (the hurler), and are affected by the division (the hurled). We are always moving on from one thing to another. Stanza 5: He hears the noisy bikes only for a minute, then they move past. They only come in order to leave again. They move off with a burst on the machines (bikes) they have created. They travel through towns that have no nature in them, and that lack a spiritual purpose. While birds (nature) and saints (holy people) might complete what they set out to do, regular people are constantly on the move. By always moving on from one thing to another, human beings are always getting nearer and nearer to their final destination, although they never reach it.

Understand the poem

1. Describe what the motorcyclists look like, using your own words.

2. The subtitle ‘Man, you gotta Go’ has the following possible meanings (choose which ones apply): a) Humans are by their nature constantly on the move b) Men are born to ride motorcycles c) Planet Earth has to rid itself of humankind

3. According to the poem, what motivates people to join a gang of motorcylists?

4. Why, according to lines 28-29, does one lack ‘direct instinct’?

5. Find a three-word phrase in the last stanza that refers to a motorcycle.

6. What does ‘the Boys’ in line 10 suggest?

7. The bikers have ‘come to go’ - they move endlessly from one town to the next, never finding a resting place. How does this tie in with ‘a valueless world’ (line 30)?

8. Explain lines 35-36.

1. If we interpret the title literally, the speaker talks about (a) ___ and (b) ___ being ’on the move’. Complete the sentence.

23 2. Line 10 uses a simile  ‘as flies hanging in heat’. How do ‘the Boys’ resemble flies?

3. Identify and explain the figure of speech in lines 11-12: ‘their hum / Bulges to thunder’.

4. Name and identify the figure of speech in stanza 4 that tells us that human life consists of a series of changes.

5. Identify the figure of speech in line 33.

6. Find an example of repetition in the poem and show how it contributes to the meaning of the poem.

24 MAYA ANGELOU (1928-2014) Old folks laugh

They have spent their content of simpering, holding their lips this and that way, winding the lines between 5 their brows. Old folks Allow their bellies to jiggle like slow tambourines. The hollers rise up and spill 10 over any way they want. When old folks laugh, they free the world. They turn slowly, slyly knowing the best and the worst of remembering. 15 Saliva glistens in the corners of their mouths, their heads wobble on brittle necks, but their laps 20 are filled with memories. When old folks laugh, they consider the promise of dear painless death, and generously forgive life for happening to them. 25

GLOSSARY:

simpering  smile in a silly self-conscious way tambourines  musical instrument that you beat hollers  calls, noises brittle  hard, easily broken

26 MAYA ANGELOU (1928-2014) Maya Angelou overcame a sad childhood in Missouri, USA, to become a world-famous novelist. She was born into a poor family and was raped by a family friend when she was eight. The experience made her mute (unable to speak) for years. She wrote movingly about this in her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She has been an actor, a singer and a dancer. She was the first black woman director in Hollywood. She has a son and holds a lifetime appointment as Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

About the poem This poem describes how old people no longer have to control their expressions, be polite and controlled, and worry about things. They now are free to laugh as they wish, and it makes everyone feel better when they do. They have good and bad memories. They look old with saliva in their mouths and their heads wobble. In their laughter they are welcoming death that will release them, and are making peace with all that has happened in their lives.

Understand the poem

1. Describe in your own words what old people have finished doing in lines 1 to 6, according to the speaker.

2. How do they behave now that they are old?

3. What do you think the poet means by the line: ‘When old folks laugh, they free the world’ (line 12)?

4. a) What is the old folks’ attitude to death? b) Why do you think death is referred to as ‘painless’ - what does it imply about their bodies in life?

5. How do we know that by now they have made peace with what has happened in their lives?

6. Do you think this is an accurate portrayal of some old people? Explain your answer.

1. a) What figure of speech is ‘their bellies jiggle like slow tambourines’? b) Explain why the poet uses this comparison.

2. Comment on the length of line 7 after much shorter lines - what effect does this have?

3. a) What descriptions make these old folk seem physically unattractive? b) Why do you think the poet included these descriptions when she is elsewhere being positive about old age?

27 4. Why do you think the poet has chosen to use colloquialisms such as ‘folk’ and ‘holler’?

28 JAMES KIRKUP (1918-2009) Rugby League Game

Sport is absurd, and sad. Those grown men. Just look, In those dreary long blue shorts, Those ringed stockings, Edwardian, Balding pates, and huge 5 Fat knees that ought to be heroes’.

Grappling, hooking, gallantly tackling  Is all this courage really necessary?  Taking their good clean fun So solemnly, they run each other down 10 With earnest keenness, for the honour of Virility, the cap, the county side.

Like great boys they roll each other, In the mud of public Saturdays, Groping their blind way back 15 To noble youth, away from the bank, The wife, the pram, the spin drier, Back to the Spartan freedom of the field.

Back, back to the days when boys Were men, still hopeful, and untamed. 20 That was then: a gay And golden age ago. Now in vain, domesticated, Men try to be boys again.

GLOSSARY:

absurd  silly, ridiculous dreary  dull pates  heads solemnly  seriously Spartan  tough (like Spartans in ancient Greece) domesticated  tamed Edwardian  from King Edward’s time, 1901-1910

29 JAMES KIRKUP (1918-2009) This English poet wrote poetry from the age of six. During the Second World War he was a conscientious objector (someone who refuses to become a soldier). Kirkup says ‘I try to express the fundamental absurdity of all sport, especially when played with deadly earnest.’ He says ‘Courage is very overrated, and I nearly always distrust it. It is something we should never be called upon to use, and it should never be invoked in the cause of “just wars”. It often creates its own violence, as in rugby.’ Kirkup left England in the 1970s after one of his poems, ‘The love that dares to speak its name’ (about a Roman soldier’s love for Jesus) was banned.

About the poem The speaker says that men playing sport are silly. They look ridiculous in their funny clothes, bald heads and fat knees. They play rugby bravely and seriously for their side. They are trying to escape their boring worlds of work and home and recapture their youth. However, the speaker believes that it is not possible for them to recapture their youth.

Understand the poem

1. According to the speaker, why do these men play sport? Answer as fully as you can, referring to all the stanzas except the first one.

2. What words in the third and fourth stanzas show that the men don’t really know how to recapture their youth?

3. Do you agree with the speaker’s idea of sport? Give reasons for your answer.

1. Why do you think the speaker chose to describe the socks as ‘Edwardian’?

2. Why do you think the poet ended off the first stanza with the word ‘heroes’?

3. Why does the poet use a rhetorical question in the second stanza?

4. What effect does the poet intend when he describes the aim of rugby teams as running each other down (line 10)?

5. Why do you think the poet chose the ‘bank’ as the place where the men might work?

6. Why do you think the poet mentioned a ‘spin drier’?

7. a) What is the irony in the last stanza of ‘back to the days when boys were men’?

30 b) Explain exactly what the poet is implying by this irony.

31 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616) When to the sessions of sweet silent thought (Sonnet 30)

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste: Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow, 5 For precious friends hid in death’s dateless night, And weep afresh love’s long since cancell’d woe, And moan the expense of many a vanish’d sight: Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, And heavily from woe to woe tell o’er 10 The sad account of fore-bemoanèd moan, Which I new pay as if not paid before. But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored and sorrows end.

GLOSSARY:

session  period of time summon  call sought  looked for, wanted woes  sadnesses wail  cry grievances  sad happenings foregone  gone before fore-bemoaned  already moaned about

32 33 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616) William Shakespeare is the most famous writer in English, but the things we know about him as a person could fit on a postcard. We have evidence about him from two sources. The first source is his poetry and his plays, which he wrote, directed and acted in. The second source is official documents. We have no letters or diaries that can tell us what kind of person he was. The few pictures of Shakespeare that exist are unreliable, and even copies of his signature don’t match! We do know that he was born in the village of Stratford, where his father became chief alderman (mayor). We know that his parents could not read and write. He was the sixth of eight children. When he was 18 he married Ann Hathaway, who was 26 and pregnant. (We can only guess that his marriage might not have been perfect: in his will he left his wife his second-best bed!) They had a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, a boy and girl called Hamnet and Judith. We know nothing of the ten famous ‘missing years’ that follow. Then he is mentioned working in a theatre in London, and called an ‘upstart crow’ by a fellow playwright. Shakespeare became famous in his own lifetime. He died of natural causes in Stratford aged 52.

About the poem In this poem the speaker talks about how he remembers sad things in his past, and how they make him sad all over again. He mourns people who have died, and lost loves, and things he no longer sees. But if he thinks of his friend, his loved one, all these sadnesses disappear.

Understand the poem

1. What word in the first line suggests that the speaker enjoys his memories in some way?

2. What are the things he finds to be sad about?

3. What takes all the sadness away?

4. Somehow, it is hard to take the speaker’s sadnesses very seriously. Why do you think this is so?

1. What form of poem is this? How do you know?

2. Comment on the effect of the alliteration in line 4.

3. a) Find all the examples of the metaphor of accounting (balance sheets, expenses, accounts, etc.) in the poem. b) How is this image neatly rounded up in the last line?

34 WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827) London

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 blackening 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 the Marriage hearse.

GLOSSARY:

charter’d  mapped out Thames  river in London mark  note (verb); also a visible sign (noun) woe  great sorrow, grief ban  forbidding law, curse

35 forg’d  shaped, made manacles  chains appalls  fills with horror hapless  unfortunate, unlucky Harlot  prostitute curse  swearing; also means disease blights  destroys, ruins plague  deadly disease hearse  vehicle for carrying a corpse to a funeral

36 WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)

William Blake is generally considered to have been a genius ahead of his

time. He came from a poor family and did not go to school. He trained as an engraver (book illustrator) as a young man and eventually managed to open his own print shop. He developed a unique artistic style, and he wrote, illustrated and printed his own books. In these books he criticised religion, showed a passion for justice, and put forward unusual ideas about the meaning of life. His ideas were so way-out that people thought he was mad. He saw visions, heard imaginary singing and wrote in a letter, ‘I am drunk with intellectual vision’. In 1803 his controversial ideas provoked the government to put him on trial for high treason. He was married to Catherine, whom he described as ‘my shadow of Delight’. They had no children, and she supported and loved him throughout his controversial life. After his death, his revolutionary ideas inspired poets and artists, and he is now recognized as one of the most important English poets ever.

About the poem The ‘I’ of the poem wanders through the streets of London and notices pain and defeat in every face he meets; he says that every cry of fear or pain or rage he hears comes from a mind enslaved. He gives examples of children forced to sweep chimneys and soldiers conscripted to fight in wars; but most telling of all is the foul language used by the young prostitute on her new-born child, and the effect of prostitution on marriage.

Understand the poem 1. What fact suggests that for the poet the words ‘charter’d’ and ‘mark’ have a special significance?

2. Blake uses hyperbole to make his point - what three-word phrase in stanza one is hyperbolic?

3. Chimney sweepers in Blake’s day were usually children small enough to fit into narrow chimneys. Why would they cry?

4. The word ‘blackening’ refers to two things: (a) the church building becoming black; (b) a criticism of the church by Blake. Explain these two meanings.

5. The word ‘curse’ refers to both something said and to a disease, such as a sexually transmitted infection (in Blake’s time it was often used to refer to syphilis). Who else could the curse ‘blight’ in a marriage?

6. In the light of your answer to 5, explain what Blake means when he speaks of the ‘marriage hearse’.

Explore poetic devices 1. Give the rhyme scheme used in stanzas one and two.

2. What statement most accurately sums up the rhythm of this poem?

a) It has a strong driving rhythm.

37 b) It has a slow, but very expressive rhythm. c) It has a very regular but monotonous rhythm.

3. Is the tone of the poem (a) angry, aggressive, and cynical; (b) passionate, pessimistic, and sad; or (c) calm, meditative, and optimistic?

38 JOHN KEATS (1795-1821) When I have fears that I may cease to be

When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 5 Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance; And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, 10 Never have relish in the fairy power Of unreflecting love;  then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

GLOSSARY:

cease  come to an end glean’d  harvested teeming  crowded with ideas charactery  letters of the alphabet chance  something unexpected, fate unreflecting  not engaging in thought

39 JOHN KEATS (1795-1821) Keats was the son of a stableman who overcame his poverty and qualified as a doctor. As soon as he had done this, he gave it all up to write poetry. In 1818 he fell in love with Fanny Brawne but could not marry her because he had to pay off his debts. The next year, in a single year, he wrote all of his great odes and many of his other masterpieces. In his poetry he struggled to make sense of a world filled with ‘misery, heartache and pain, sickness and oppression’. He caught tuberculosis (TB), the disease that had killed his mother and his beloved younger brother, Tom. Keats went to Italy to recover, but he died in Rome a few months later at the age of 26.

About the poem Keats wrote this poem around the time that he was diagnosed with TB. He had seen both his mother and his brother die of TB. We can see how the poem captures his sadness at the time. He thinks of the opportunities in life that he may have lost, such as the chance to write many books and be famous, and the chance to experience romantic love.

Understand the poem

1. Find synonyms in the poem for the following words: a) anxieties b) storehouses c) see d) great e) find f) beautiful g) magic h) you i) enjoy j) coastline

2. What is the central theme of the poem? Fear of death, unfulfilled dreams, or fear of ageing?

3. How does the speaker resolve his fears in the couplet? Use your own words to explain.

1. a) What form of poem is this? b) Write out the rhyme scheme of the poem.

2. In your own words, carefully explain the simile in the first quatrain (lines 1-4). (Remember that in a simile two things are compared.)

3. Find an example of personification in the second quatrain.

4. How does this image reflect the speaker’s view of romantic love?

5. Identify the alliteration in the closing couplet.

6. What effect does the image here have on the tone of the couplet?

7. a) Refer to the last line of the couplet: find an image that could describe death, and identify the figure of speech used here. b) Identify and explain the figure of speech used to describe death in the title of the

40 poem.

41 WILFRED OWEN (1893-1918) Futility

Move him into the sun  Gently its touch awoke him once, At home, whispering of fields unsown, Always it woke him, even in France, Until this morning and this snow. 5 If anything might rouse him now The kind old sun will know.

Think how it wakes the seeds  Woke, once, the clays of a cold star. Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides, 10 Full-nerved  still warm  too hard to stir? Was it for this the clay grew tall? O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth’s sleep at all?

GLOSSARY:

unsown  not planted for growing rouse  wake fatuous  pointlessly foolish toil  work hard

WILFRED OWEN (1893-1918)

Wilfred Owen was the son of a stationmaster, and the oldest of four children in a poor family. After school he worked as an assistant teacher. In 1915, the year after the First World War broke out, he volunteered to fight in the English army. He was short, weak and often ill, but by that stage the army was not fussy about who joined. In 1916 he was sent to the front line in Belgium (where soldiers

42 fought in deep trenches - ditches - against the German army). The next year he was trapped by enemy fire with 18 other soldiers in a tiny, flooded, collapsing trench for four days. He described the experience: ‘each of us three-quarters dead, all shaking uncontrollably and vomiting.’ He was sent to a military mental institution suffering from shell- shock. He began writing poetry at the institution. Five of his poems were published, but were not noticed. The next year he was sent to the front again. He was killed by German gunfire on a canal, as he was trying to anchor a bridge. He was awarded a medal for bravery after his death. His parents received the telegram informing them of his death on the day the war ended.

About the poem The poem is a meditation on the purpose and meaning of life, prompted by the death of a soldier. (The poet was himself a soldier in the First World War (1914-1918) and was injured before being killed a week before the war ended.)

The speaker describes how the sun used to wake the dead soldier back home in England, and later in France where he fought  until the morning of his death. He thinks about the power of the sun: how its warmth makes seeds sprout into life, and how once, millions of years ago, its warmth started life on earth. Finally he asks, if the sun cannot bring the soldier back to life now, why did the sun start life on earth in the first place?

Understand the poem

1. Why does the speaker ask that the dead man be moved into the sun?

2. Which three words in lines 1-3 indicate the sun is being personified?

3. The literal meaning of ‘fields unsown’ (line 3) is that fields had not yet been planted with seed. Can you think of a figurative meaning of this phrase, particularly sad in the light of the soldier’s death?

4. What does ‘it’ refer to in line 8?

5. To what does the poet refer when he talks of ‘a cold star’?

6. Explain what ’Woke ... the clays of a cold star’ means.

7. The poet asks a question in lines 10-11. Complete the following: If the sun can wake the cold clay of earth, surely it can wake ... ?

8. ‘Was it for this the clay grew tall?’ What does ‘for this’ refer to?

9. In lines 13-14 there is a change in attitude towards the sun - what word indicates this?

10. Give a reason for the speaker’s change in attitude towards the sun.

43 1. Quote two pairs of rhyming words from the poem.

2. Scan lines 8-11. To do this, use a small curved symbol (˘) for an unstressed syllable and an accent (´) for a stressed syllable. Is the rhythm completely regular, completely irregular, or mostly regular?

3. What metrical foot dominates the rhythm of this poem?

4. How does the poet slow down line 11, to force us to focus on the emotion of the words in the line? Why do you think he does this?