Dr. Varghese ENGL 2307

Exercise 3: Thirteen Ways of Looking OR Form Poem

NOTE: For this assignment, you have two options: (1) Write a poem after the example of Wallace Stevens’s poem; or (2) write a form poem.

Option 1 Read the following poem by Wallace Stevens. As the title states, he provides 13 lyrical, surprising ways of “looking” at (or perceiving or interpreting) a blackbird. Notice the imaginative treatment of the subject, the ways in which he creates vivid, memorable images.

For this exercise, choose a concrete subject (Stevens' subject is the blackbird)—do not use abstract nouns such as happiness, hope, success, etc—and write a poem in which you provide 13 different ways of looking at it. Follow Stevens' format by writing the poem in 13 numbered sections. Each section should provide a specific way of “looking” at the subject.

Pay close attention the imagery that Stevens uses—it is tangible and vivid. Note that he does not use cliches or well worn idioms—all his images, metaphors, etc. are original and interesting, making the reader think them through.

Avoid abstract language. This is an exercise in fine tuning the way you look at things, with an emphasis on how you use language to paint a picture. Avoid abstract language and cliches. Focus on creating images (sensory details) that will make the readers experience the subject in different ways.

Your poem must be typed, single-spaced, and in 10-12 point, Times New Roman font.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird I Among twenty snowy mountains, The only moving thing Was the eye of the blackbird.

II I was of three minds, Like a tree In which there are three blackbirds.

III The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds. It was a small part of the pantomime.

IV A man and a woman Are one. A man and a woman and a blackbird Are one.

V I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections Or the beauty of innuendoes, The blackbird whistling Or just after.

VI Icicles filled the long window With barbaric glass. The shadow of the blackbird Crossed it, to and fro. The mood Traced in the shadow An indecipherable cause.

VII O thin men of Haddam, Why do you imagine golden birds? Do you not see how the blackbird Walks around the feet Of the women about you?

VIII I know noble accents And lucid, inescapable rhythms; But I know, too, That the blackbird is involved In what I know.

IX When the blackbird flew out of sight, It marked the edge Of one of many circles.

X At the sight of blackbirds Flying in a green light, Even the bawds of euphony Would cry out sharply.

XI He rode over Connecticut In a glass coach. Once, a fear pierced him, In that he mistook The shadow of his equipage For blackbirds.

XII The river is moving. The blackbird must be flying.

XIII It was evening all afternoon. It was snowing And it was going to snow. The blackbird sat In the cedar-limbs.

– Wallace Stevens

Option 2 Read the following poems. They are all examples of specific poetic forms; I have chosen four common forms, namely the , , , and ghazal. Choose one of these forms and write a poem in that form. Your poem must be about a concrete subject and must have tangible imagery—remember to avoid cliches and well-worn language. Instead, pay attention to how y ou construct your lines and paint a picture through your words. Your poem must have a clear, specific title. It must be ty ped, single-spaced and in 1 0-12 point, Times New Roman font.

Sonnet The sonnet is a fixed verse form that contains 14 lines. The classical or conventional sonnet has two possible schemes and these demonstrate whether the sonnet is English/Shakespearean or Italian/Petrarchan. The English or Shakespearean sonnet is composed of three (a is a 4 -line ) and a (a 2 -line stanza). The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet is composed of an octave (an 8-line stanza) and a (a 6-line stanza). There is always a turn or volta in a sonnet; this is where a surprising or interesting turn of ev ents occurs in the poem. In the English sonnet the turn or volta occurs i n the couplet. In the Italian sonnet the turn or volta occurs in the sestet. The of the English sonnet could be like this: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE or any such combination. The rhyme scheme of the Italian sonnet could be like this: ABABABAB CDCDCD or any such combination. Modern forms of the sonn et do not necessarily have a rhyme scheme. If y ou choose to write a sonnet in a modern interpretation, you do not have to have a rhyme scheme; instead, pay attention to the way in which you break up your —either in the English sonnet form or in the Italian sonnet form. Remember the volta— where the content makes a surprising turn.

Sonnet 130 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun My mistress' ey es 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 damask'd, 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 lov e 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 y et, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.

– William Shakespeare

Leda and the Swan A sudden blow: the great wings beating still Abov e the staggering girl, her thighs caressed By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.

How can those terrified vague fingers pu sh The feathered glory from her loosening thighs? And how can body, laid in that white rush, But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?

A shudder in the loins engenders there The broken wall, the burning roof and tower And Agamemnon dead. Being so caught up, So mastered by the brute blood of the air, Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?

– W. B. Yeats

Villanelle The v illanelle is a fixed verse form that contains 19 lines. The villanelle consists of fiv e (a is a 3 -line stanza) and one quatrain (a 4-line stanza). The first and third line of the first stanza are repeated alternately throughout the poem; the final stanza contains both the lines.

Lonely Hearts Can someone make my simple wish come true? Male biker seeks female for touring fun. Do y ou live in North London? Is it y ou?

Gay vegetarian whose friends are few, I'm into music, Shakespeare and the sun. Can someone make my simple wish come true?

Executive in search of something new - Perhaps bisexual woman, arty, young. Do y ou live in North London? Is it y ou?

Successful, straight and solvent? I am too - Attractive Jewish lady with a son. Can someone make my simple wish come true?

I'm Libran, inexperienced and blue - Need slim non-smoker, under twenty-one. Do y ou live in North London? Is it y ou?

Please write (with photo) to Box 1 52 Who knows where it may lead once we've begun? Can someone make my simple wish come true? Do y ou live in North London? Is it y ou?

– Wendy Cope

Sestina The sestina is a fixed verse form that consists of six stanzas of six lines each and a final stanza (or envoi —this is a stanza that addresses an imagined or actual person or comments on the preceding body of the poem) that has fewer lines than a regular stanza (in the following example it has three). The six six -line stanzas () are arranged in a specific form. The final word of each of the six lines in the first stanza is repeated throughout the poem in a specific form as the final word of each line. So in the following example, the final words that are repeated throughout the poem are: house, grandmother, child, stove, almanac, tears. If we assign numbers to these words, the form of the poem will be as follows: Stanza 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 (house grandmother child stove almanac tears) Stanza 2: 6 1 5 2 4 3 (tears house almanac grandmother stove child) Stanza 3: 3 6 4 1 2 5 (child tears stove house grandmother almanac) Stanza 4: 5 3 2 6 1 4 (almanac child grandmother tears house stov e ) Stanza 5: 4 5 1 3 6 2 (stove almanac house child tears grandmother) Stanza 6: 2 4 6 5 3 1 (grandmother stove tears almanac child house) Env oi: All six words are used in the final three lines in any way the poet chooses.

Sestina September rain falls on the house. In the failing light, the old grandmother sits in the kitchen with the child beside the Little Marvel Stove, reading the jokes from the almanac, laughing and talking to hide her tears.

She thinks that her equinoctial tears and the rain that beats on the roof of the house were both foretold by the almanac, but only known to a grandmother. The iron kettle sings on the stove. She cuts some bread and says to the child,

It's time for tea now; but the child is watching the teakettle's small hard tears dance like mad on the hot black stove, the way the rain must dance on the house. Tidy ing up, the old grandmother hangs up the clever almanac on its string. Birdlike, the almanac hov ers half open above the child, hov ers above the old grandmother and her teacup full of dark brown tears. She shivers and says she thinks the house feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove.

It was to be, says the Marvel Stove. I know what I know, says the almanac. With crayons the child draws a rigid house and a winding pathway. Then the child puts in a man with buttons like tears and shows it proudly to the grandmother.

But secretly, while the grandmother busies herself about the stove, the little moons fall down like tears from between the pages of the almanac into the flower bed the child has carefully placed in the front of the house.

Time to plant tears, says the almanac. The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove and the child draws another inscrutable house.

– Elizabeth Bishop

Ghazal A ghazal has a minimum of five (2-line stanzas), each line of roughly the same length. The first couplet introduces a scheme, made up of a rhyme followed by a refrain. This scheme is then picked up by subsequent couplets in the second line only , repeating the refraining and rhyming the second line with both lines of the first couplet. The final couplet includes the poet's own name or a derivation of its meaning.

Tonight Where are you now? Who lies beneath your spell tonight? Whom else from rapture’s road will you expel tonight?

Those “Fabrics of Cashmere--“ ”to make Me beautiful--“ “Trinket”-- to gem– “Me to adorn– How– tell”-- tonight?

I beg for haven: Prisons, let open your gates– A refugee from Belief seeks a cell tonight.

God’s v intage loneliness has turned to v inegar– All the archangels– their wings frozen– fell tonight.

Lord, cried out the idols, Don’t let us be broken Only we can convert the infidel tonight.

Mughal ceilings, let your mirrored convexities multiply me at once under your spell tonight.

He’s freed some fire from ice in pity for Heaven. He’s left open– for God– the doors of Hell tonight.

In the heart’s veined temple, all statues have been smashed No priest in saffron’s left to toll its knell tonight

God, limit these punishments, there’s still Judgment Day– I’m a mere sinner, I’m no infidel tonight.

Executioners near the woman at the window. Damn you, Elijah, I’ll bless Jezebel tonight.

The hunt is ov er, and I hear the Call to Prayer fade into that of the wounded gazelle tonight.

My rivals for your love– you’ve invited them all? This is mere insult, this is no farewell tonight.

And I, Shahid, only am escaped to tell thee– God sobs in my arms. Call me Ishmael tonight.

– Agha Shahid Ali