POETRY

LITERARY WORKS CRITIQUE 2

John Keats’ poetry in the “Ode to a Nightingale” comes from the modern free verse where poetic conventions such as rhyme, meter, etc. are broken in favor of the free flowing lines and imagery.  This particular poem is almost reminiscent of the Japanese Haiku which is known to only comprise of three lines to describe a fleeting moment in one’s surroundings.  Keats’ poetry consists of only two lines subtly describing and presenting a scene.  This kind of poetry continues to be rejected by forefronts of traditional and conventional poetry, or the New Critics who would seek that poetry by a lofty experience that will need to be analyzed through its symbolisms and allusions.  The poetry is seemingly stripped to its bare essentials and has only portrayed the use of language in two short lines.  It is an impression that starts and begins with a picture as though poetry is a snapshot of a nightingale.  For example,

“Away! away! for I will fly to thee,  

  Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,  

But on the viewless wings of Poesy,  

  Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:  

Already with thee! tender is the night,  

  And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,  

    Cluster’d around by all her starry Fays  

          But here there is no light,  

  Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown  

    Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways”

“The Lamb” or an animal meant to be sacrificed is the best description of this poem by William Blake.  This kind of poetry has been the style of William Blake.  All of his poems are also brief and attempting to illustrate or draw an image of an animal.  In this manner, his poetry can be called as an Imagist poetry.  “The Lamb” is known for its rejection of past conventions to favor the precise description of the animal “lamb” in a language that is clear, frank and straight to the point.  The words are common, ordinary and non-elevated and employed in everyday use. For example,

 “Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,

  Little Lamb I’ll tell thee:

He is called by thy name,

For he calls himself a Lamb:

He is meek & he is mild,

He became a little child:

I a child & thou a lamb,

We are called by his name.

  Little Lamb God bless thee.

  Little Lamb God bless thee.”

On the other hand, critics recognize Blake’s “The Tyger” as poetry because it is able to fit the definitions of a “Tyger” as an artful display of language.  Blake’s “The Tyger” the poetry is very deep, sufficient, and could suggest more meanings and symbolisms to the animal tiger.  Blake emphasized how each word was used and combined, and these were carefully selected and meaningful in their own.  The image of the tiger is not supposed to be an end but a means towards an inspired feeling or mood brought by the picture.  The tiger, despite its size and the circumstances it faces, may capably inspire thought and feeling because this animal may reach out and communicate with its viewers or readers.  For example,

Tyger Tyger. burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

 

In Samuel Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, the poem describes (or rather more appropriately, records) the albatross literally.  It attempted to print a fleeting moment or instant thought in words.  The poetry is short, swift and versatile like an albatross in order to capture the moment at the risk that it will be gone.  Coleridge’s poem is compact for a reason other than its mere superficiality.  It is a package of real emotions that would strike the reader directly.  The creation is without total contemplation but rather, spontaneous move.  The poem consists of nothing more than:

And a good south wind sprung up behind;

The Albatross did follow,

And every day, for food or play,

Came to the mariner’s hollo!

This strikes the reader as a description of the speaker of the poem of an albatross.  It should be said that the words chosen for the poetry are not chosen random but in fact they come from the poet’s feelings and personal impression.  However, unless this is properly discerned, there will really be no output coming from the reader. 

Lastly, the poem “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns is a subjective attempt to interpret the mouse that is objective, and that alone would say a lot about the poem.  The mouse registers to the speaker of the poem as:

But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,

In proving foresight may be vain:

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men,

Gang aft agley,

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,

For promis’d joy!

This presents the mouse as outstanding bright and beautiful amidst the hustle and bustle of the circumstances.  Burns wanted to capture this spontaneous feeling in the stanza mentioned above.  Somehow, it could not be described in a poem more than 2 lines as it will fail to evoke the instant feeling one would chance upon in seeing an actual mouse.  The mouse, to emphasize, is a very busy and fast-moving animal.  The mouse above all, emphasizes this as people are literally coming and going, a point of arrival and departures.  Mice are perceivably always in the move.  It’s hard to pin them down in a thought or a long poetry, the trigger needs to be instantaneous and follow a snapping movement to precisely capture the moment in sharp concentrated (rather elaborated) language.   In this manner, poem may be transparent and it may transport an impression in a manner that is quick and understandable to the reader.

Conclusion

It must be said that these poems illustrate every author’s attempt to inculcate and take in influences such as that of the various animals mentioned.  The poems are an attempt to adapt to the animalistic style of perception.  Finally, it must be mentioned how these poetries are truly dynamic languages that are capable of so much flexible and  versatile styles, forms and moods in order to communicate a human impression. 

REFERENCES

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