by Sir Walter Raleigh
IF all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love.
Time drives the flocks from field to fold,
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold;
And Philomel becometh dumb;
The rest complains of cares to come.
The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields:
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.
The gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,—
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.
Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.
But could youth last and love still breed,
Had joys no date nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy love.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Reader Response Assignment: Due Mond...
Reader Response Assignment: Due Monday or Tuesday before class.
Does the sonnet you read adequately capture your experience with love? Explain (250-300 words).
You might want to write two paragraphs. The first would describe the general theme of the sonnet. The second would explain how (if) it relates to you.
Note: You may choose any of the four sonnets below.
Four Sonnets
Sonnet 30
by Edmund Spenser
My love is like to ice, and I to fire:
how comes it then that this her cold so great
is not dissolv'd through my so hot desire,
but harder grows, the more I her entreat?
Or how comes it that my exceeding heat
is not delayed by her heart frozen cold,
but that I burn much more in boiling sweat,
and feel my flames augmented manifold?
What more miraculous thing may be told
that fire, which all thing melts, should harden ice:
and ice which is congealed with senseless cold,
should kindle fire by wonderful device?
Such is the pow'r of love in gentle mind
that it can alter all the course of kind.
Sonnet 75
by Edmund Spenser
One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away:
Agayne I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tyde, and made my paynes his pray.
"Vayne man," sayd she, "that doest in vaine assay.
A mortall thing so to immortalize,
For I my selve shall lyke to this decay,
and eek my name bee wyped out lykewize."
"Not so," quod I, "let baser things devize,
To dy in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your vertues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens wryte your glorious name.
by Edmund Spenser
My love is like to ice, and I to fire:
how comes it then that this her cold so great
is not dissolv'd through my so hot desire,
but harder grows, the more I her entreat?
Or how comes it that my exceeding heat
is not delayed by her heart frozen cold,
but that I burn much more in boiling sweat,
and feel my flames augmented manifold?
What more miraculous thing may be told
that fire, which all thing melts, should harden ice:
and ice which is congealed with senseless cold,
should kindle fire by wonderful device?
Such is the pow'r of love in gentle mind
that it can alter all the course of kind.
Sonnet 75
by Edmund Spenser
One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away:
Agayne I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tyde, and made my paynes his pray.
"Vayne man," sayd she, "that doest in vaine assay.
A mortall thing so to immortalize,
For I my selve shall lyke to this decay,
and eek my name bee wyped out lykewize."
"Not so," quod I, "let baser things devize,
To dy in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your vertues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens wryte your glorious name.
Where whenas death shall all the world subdew,
Our love shall live, and later life renew."
Our love shall live, and later life renew."
SONNET 130
by William Shakespeare
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 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 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.
SONNET 18
by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:- So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
From TPS-FASTT to Essay
So you've done the prep work, by reading the poem and following the TPS-FASTT method. Now, it is time to assemble what you have into an essay. Follow these steps and you will have all the ingredients in an organized format for a poetry analysis essay.
1. Write the thesis. Remember, the thesis statement should directly and specifically address the prompt (or answer the question). Note: some people write the entire introduction first. Not me. I find that by writing the thesis, I can bring my entire essay into focus.
Your thesis statement should read something like this:
Through a variety of techniques, Poet X has illuminated Theme Y.
2. Body Paragraphs Organize body paragraphs around specific examples of poetic devices, showing how they are used by the poet to "illuminate his/her theme". This is similar to the paragraph you have written for lit term assignments, although it won't be necessary to go through all the definitions and set up. Just go straight for the poetic devices and the effect (most important).
Topic Sentence
Context of first quote
First quote (citation).
Explanation of effect (how did the author use this technique?)
Context of second quote
Second quote
Explanation of effect (how did the author use this technique?)
Final thoughts, summary, conclusion of paragraph.
3. Final Touches - Add necessary elements to introduction and conclusion.
Introduction - Attention grabber or Central Idea ("Poet X's poem explores the idea of XYZ."), background information (title, author, paraphrase or summary of poem), thesis.
Conclusion - thesis, summary of basic points, reference to attention grabber.
You're done. Wasn't that easy?
If you have questions, be sure to post them here below. Either I, or someone else in the class, can answer the question you might have.
And now, a treat for you:
1. Write the thesis. Remember, the thesis statement should directly and specifically address the prompt (or answer the question). Note: some people write the entire introduction first. Not me. I find that by writing the thesis, I can bring my entire essay into focus.
Your thesis statement should read something like this:
Through a variety of techniques, Poet X has illuminated Theme Y.
2. Body Paragraphs Organize body paragraphs around specific examples of poetic devices, showing how they are used by the poet to "illuminate his/her theme". This is similar to the paragraph you have written for lit term assignments, although it won't be necessary to go through all the definitions and set up. Just go straight for the poetic devices and the effect (most important).
Topic Sentence
Context of first quote
First quote (citation).
Explanation of effect (how did the author use this technique?)
Context of second quote
Second quote
Explanation of effect (how did the author use this technique?)
Final thoughts, summary, conclusion of paragraph.
3. Final Touches - Add necessary elements to introduction and conclusion.
Introduction - Attention grabber or Central Idea ("Poet X's poem explores the idea of XYZ."), background information (title, author, paraphrase or summary of poem), thesis.
Conclusion - thesis, summary of basic points, reference to attention grabber.
You're done. Wasn't that easy?
If you have questions, be sure to post them here below. Either I, or someone else in the class, can answer the question you might have.
And now, a treat for you:
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Thinking Through a Poem
In order to dissect a poem (analyze it), it is necessary to take it in steps. I have here a tool for analyzing a poem. It is called TPS-FASTT (I pronounce it "Tips Fast"). If you follow each step, by the end of the process you will have everything you need to put together an analysis of a poem.
T - Title First , you make predictions regarding the poems content, intent, deeper meaning. Don't worry about being wrong. Just make some predictions. (Note: If there is no title, as in several of the sonnets we read, use the first line of the poem.)
P - Paraphrase Next, you go through the poem and paraphrase (or rewrite in your own words) each line or stanza. Note: You are not interpreting or reading into the poem. Just rewrite the literal meaning of the line.
S - Speaker Who is the speaker of the poem? What can you tell about them?
F - Figurative Langugage Look for examples of figurative language (similes, metaphors, hyperbole, personification, symbolism) or other poetic devices.
A - Attitude What is the attitude of the speaker at the beginning of the poem?
S - Shift Does the attitude shift at any point? Where? How do you know?
T - Title Revisit the title. Now, what do you think it means?
T - Theme What is the theme of the poem?
If you have followed all these steps, you have everything you need to write an analysis of the poem. Watch for future blogs on how to organize that essay.
T - Title First , you make predictions regarding the poems content, intent, deeper meaning. Don't worry about being wrong. Just make some predictions. (Note: If there is no title, as in several of the sonnets we read, use the first line of the poem.)
P - Paraphrase Next, you go through the poem and paraphrase (or rewrite in your own words) each line or stanza. Note: You are not interpreting or reading into the poem. Just rewrite the literal meaning of the line.
S - Speaker Who is the speaker of the poem? What can you tell about them?
F - Figurative Langugage Look for examples of figurative language (similes, metaphors, hyperbole, personification, symbolism) or other poetic devices.
A - Attitude What is the attitude of the speaker at the beginning of the poem?
S - Shift Does the attitude shift at any point? Where? How do you know?
T - Title Revisit the title. Now, what do you think it means?
T - Theme What is the theme of the poem?
If you have followed all these steps, you have everything you need to write an analysis of the poem. Watch for future blogs on how to organize that essay.
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
by Christopher Marlowe
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers and a kirtle
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle:
A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold:
A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.
The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers and a kirtle
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle:
A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold:
A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.
The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.
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