Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss some of the greatest and most challenging poems in English
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The most obvious interpretation is that the speaker would prefer to be dead– lying flat, as in a coffin. The subsequent lines, though, reveal that Plath is using “horizontal” in quite a pointed way. The speaker’s affinity for the powerful natural forces in the poem suggest that it could well mean “of the horizon”, i.e., part of the natural phenomenon that is the Earth’s horizon, created by our perception of the sun.
`The man hath penance done
And penance more will do.' Samuel Taylor Coleridge – The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
And penance more will do.' Samuel Taylor Coleridge – The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
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The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World
Gabriel García Márquez – The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World
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In this short story, full of delicious hyperbole, Márquez portrays what it means to be “larger than life”–or even larger than death–and comments on the natural human reaction of transforming heroic figures into myths.
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What is this?
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A fairly straightforward carpe diem, ‘seize the moment’, poem by Herrick, which implores people to love while they still can, in the same vein as Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”. and Marlowe’s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. It can also be categorised as a ‘persuasion’ or ‘seduction’ poem.
The metaphor of gathering flowers is, of course, sexual; bluntly, make love before beauty fades; a line probably familiar to most readers. This is all the more urgent in an era when little was known about healthy diet and ‘medical care’ was more dangerous than untreated illness. So, beauty was short-lived.
Where Andrew Marvell’s “To his coy mistress” had one addressee, Herrick’s poem is directed to ‘The Virgins’ — an appeal to all girls to ‘get on with it’ while they can or they may lose their chance with the men. Modern young women, of course, may baulk at this sexist attitude.
It is interesting to note that Herrick was a priest, but wasn’t ordained until he was thirty. He therefore lived in the world for a good period of his adult life and was no doubt fully aware of life’s realities.
Structure
The poem comprises four quatrains, that is, four-lined stanzas. The composition is spare and tight, with a regular ABAB interlocking rhyme scheme. The metrical rhythm is also regular, comprising alternating Iambic tetrameters, that is four metrical feet per line, and imabic trimeters, that is three metrical feet per line. Note that a iamb is made up of one unstressed followed by one stressed syllable. The style of these quatrains are sometimes known as ‘hymn’ stanzas, as they take the form often found in hymns. The effect is rhythmic and concise — like the message Herrick is conveying.
Despite the tightness of the rhyme scheme a sense of softness is achieved by the two syllable rhyme in lines two and four of each stanza. This is known as feminine rhyme.
Language and Imagery
The voice is that of the speaker, probably the poet, addressing the second person ‘You’, the virgins. There is no indication whom they are; unspecified young women who, in the poet’s view, need to get on with things! The tone is light and maybe intended to be humorous.
The dominant metaphor is the ‘rose-buds’ which represent the young women’s virginity. The erotic implications are clear; not only do they rapidly open into full flowers and then die, but visually the bud bears similarity to female genitals. The meaning is definitely not subtle.
The second metaphor is the sun, the ‘lamp of heaven’, representing time. The relationship of the day to a life-span appears frequently in literature. In Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part II, Falstaff declares that ‘We have heard the chimes at midnight’; he is predicting his death. Herrick would agree; a life-span metaphorically compressed into a day and a night needs to be lived fully.
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This sonnet continues to focus on the rival poet who troubled the Bard in Sonnet 79, but marks a slight progression, too.
Werner Habicht sums it up:
He begins to accept the challenge, to see and to grapple with the paradox of inexpressibility, to consider the weight and the relative value of speech and silence, to defend actively the virtue that resides in his dumbness and in the humble plainness of his silence-like words…
Shakespeare’s Universe: Renaissance Ideas and Conventions, p. 195)
Sonnet 80 in the 1609 Quarto.
About Sonnets
A sonnet is a poem which expresses a thought or idea and develops it, often cleverly and wittily.
The sonnet genre is often, although not always, about ideals or hypothetical situations. It reaches back to the Medieval Romances, where a woman is loved and idealised by a worshipping admirer. For example, Sir Philip Sydney in the Astrophil and Stella sonnet sequence wrote in this mode. Poems were circulated within groups of educated intellectuals and they did not necessarily reflect the poet’s true emotions, but were a form of intellectual showing-off. This may not have been true of all; it is a matter of academic debate today. It is generally believed, however, that Shakespeare’s sonnets were autobiographical, though some dispute this.
BBC Podcast, Melvyn Bragg, “In Our Time” Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Sonnets are made up of fourteen lines, each being ten syllables long. Its rhymes are arranged according to one of the following schemes:
• Italian, where eight lines consisting of two quatrains make up the first section of the sonnet, called an octave. This section will explore a problem or an idea. It is followed by the next section of six lines called a sestet, that forms the ‘answer’ or a counter-view. This style of sonnet is also sometimes called a Petrarchan sonnet.
• English, which comprises three quatrains, making twelve lines in total, followed by a rhyming couplet. They too explore an idea. The ‘answer’ or resolution comes in the final couplet. Shakespeare’s sonnets follow this pattern. Edmund Spenser’s sonnets are a variant.
At the break in the sonnet — in Italian after the first eight lines, in English after twelve lines — there is a ‘turn’ or volta, after which there will be a change or new perspective on the preceding idea.
Language
The metre is iambic pentameter, that is five pairs of stressed and unstressed syllables to the line. The effect is elegant and rhythmic, and conveys an impression of dignity and seriousness. Shakespeare’s sonnets follow this pattern.
Rhyme Scheme
The rhyming pattern comprises three sets of four lines, forming quatrains, followed by a closed rhyming couplet.
In sonnet 80 it forms ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG. This is typical of Shakespeare’s compositions.
See Don Paterson – Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Faber & Faber, 2012
Helen Vendler The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets Harvard University Press
Shakespeare’s Sonnets with Three Hundred Years of Commentary, Associated University Press 2007
BBC Podcast, Melvyn Bragg, “In Our Time” Shakespeare’s Sonnets
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
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The speaker addresses the personified figure of Time directly, a device known as apostrophe, in which an unseen listener, often an idea or an object is “spoken to”.
He tries to to erect the usual artistic defence as in the final line, “My love shall in my verse ever live young.”
There is also an underlying awareness that Time’s inescapable effects may themselves follow an artistic pattern, as they’re compared to the movement of a pen, complicating the usual trope of art immortalizing life.
Text of Sonnet 19 from the 1609 Quarto.
Possible candidate for the Fair Youth, Henry Wriothesley
About Sonnets
A sonnet is a poem which expresses a thought or idea and develops it, often cleverly and wittily.
The sonnet genre is often, although not always, about ideals or hypothetical situations. It reaches back to the Medieval Romances, where a woman is loved and idealised by a worshipping admirer. For example, Sir Philip Sydney in the Astrophil and Stella sonnet sequence wrote in this mode. Poems were circulated within groups of educated intellectuals and they did not necessarily reflect the poet’s true emotions, but were a form of intellectual showing-off. This may not have been true of all; it is a matter of academic debate today. It is generally believed, however, that Shakespeare’s sonnets were autobiographical, although some dispute this.
BBC Podcast, Melvyn Bragg, “In Our Time” Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Sonnets are made up of fourteen lines, each being ten syllables long. Its rhymes are arranged according to one of the following schemes:
• Italian, where eight lines consisting of two quatrains make up the first section of the sonnet, called an octave. This section will explore a problem or an idea. It is followed by the next section of six lines called a sestet, that forms the ‘answer’ or a counter-view. This style of sonnet is also sometimes called a Petrarchan sonnet.
• English, which comprises three quatrains, making twelve lines in total, followed by a rhyming couplet. They too explore an idea. The ‘answer’ or resolution comes in the final couplet. Shakespeare’s sonnets follow this pattern. Edmund Spenser’s sonnets are a variant.
At the break in the sonnet — in Italian after the first eight lines, in English after twelve lines — there is a ‘turn’ or volta, after which there will be a change or new perspective on the preceding idea.
Language
The metre is iambic pentameter, that is five pairs of stressed and unstressed syllables to the line. The effect is elegant and rhythmic, and conveys an impression of dignity and seriousness. Shakespeare’s sonnets follow this pattern.
Rhyme Scheme
The rhyming pattern comprises three sets of four lines, forming quatrains, followed by a closed rhyming couplet.
In Sonnet 19 it forms ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG. This is typical of Shakespeare’s compositions.
See Don Paterson – Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Faber & Faber, 2012
Helen Vendler The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets Harvard University Press
Shakespeare’s Sonnets with Three Hundred Years of Commentary, Associated University Press 2007
BBC Podcast, Melvyn Bragg, “In Our Time” Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Run around the corner to pick up the new shit
Toss this in the deck so niggas can catch rep Slum Village – Fall in Love
Toss this in the deck so niggas can catch rep Slum Village – Fall in Love
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Baatin wants you to toss the tape of Fantastic Vol. 2 in your tape deck and play it for your homies so SV can blow up.
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What is this?
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In quite freely-rhymed couplets, Plath ponders her state of existence as a human being, comparing it unfavorably with the way trees and stars exist as awe-inspiring, ancient things.
“Vertical” suggests the speaker’s status as an upright human being, as well as the limiting, mundane fact of being alive as a human, rather than the curious kind of immortality which is ascribed to the non-human things in the poem.
but what does the rest of this mean