The Canonization by John Donne detailed explanation

For God’s sake hold your tongue, and let me love,

         Or chide my palsy, or my gout,

My five gray hairs, or ruined fortune flout,

         With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,

                Take you a course, get you a place,

                Observe his honor, or his grace,

Or the king's real, or his stampèd face

         Contemplate; what you will, approve,

         So you will let me love.

Alas, alas, who’s injured by my love?

         What merchant’s ships have my sighs drowned?

Who says my tears have overflowed his ground?

         When did my colds a forward spring remove?

                When did the heats which my veins fill

                Add one more to the plaguy bill?

Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still

         Litigious men, which quarrels move,

         Though she and I do love.

Call us what you will, we are made such by love;

         Call her one, me another fly,

We're tapers too, and at our own cost die,

         And we in us find the eagle and the dove.

                The phoenix riddle hath more wit

                By us; we two being one, are it.

So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit.

         We die and rise the same, and prove

         Mysterious by this love.

We can die by it, if not live by love,

         And if unfit for tombs and hearse

Our legend be, it will be fit for verse;

         And if no piece of chronicle we prove,

                We’ll build in sonnets pretty rooms;

                As well a well-wrought urn becomes

The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs,

         And by these hymns, all shall approve

         Us canonized for Love.

And thus invoke us: “You, whom reverend love

         Made one another’s hermitage;

You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage;

         Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove

                Into the glasses of your eyes

                (So made such mirrors, and such spies,

That they did all to you epitomize)

         Countries, towns, courts: beg from above

         A pattern of your love!”

 

Stanza 1

The poem begins with an explicit dramatic scene in which the speaker expresses his frustration or rather dissatisfaction, because he can not freely engage in love. He pleads to those who never let him love. The poet remarkably deconstructs the notion of a lover. The lover presented here is not at all handsome and undergoes several health issues like paralysis and joint pain, due to his old age. Surprisingly, he still talks about romance.

The people may be his own friends do not allow him to love. Hence, he raises his voice of frustration against them and give some suggestions. Those who mocks at the speaker can either criticize his ill health and even his ruined financial state.  Speaker reacts the fact that, it is better to improve themselves by focusing on their own wealth or concentrate to come up with a perfect work of art. It is also possible for them to join for a course/ programme and get themselves settled. They can also observe the king’s real face or illustrated one, then contemplate about it to produce something noble and worthy. After giving these suggestions, the speaker pleads others to permit him to love.  

Stanza 2

The speaker goes on with his dramatic expression by implementing hyperboles. He wants to know that if anyone affected negatively because of his love. Does it cause the drowning of the ships? And do his tears create any troubles in the ground ?

The hot and cold of his love (two states/ moods) do not create any problem for others. The cold of his love does not extend the arrival of spring season, and the heat of his love does not add a figure in the list of death due to plague. His love is completely harmless for others. Soldiers are busy and lawyers are engaged because of their dispute settlement with litigious men. The life goes smoothly despite of their romance.

 

Stanza 3

Poet gathers strength and states that others can call them anything as they are so special and powerful. Love is the motivating force behind their life. Speaker suggests that others can call them as fly (can be butterfly, housefly, firefly). Butterfly is the most romantic symbol. Lovers also ramble around just like houseflies.

They are like tapers (candles) as they are ready to sacrifice anything for love. Just like the candles burn too bright for the light. Speaker also presents the contrasting imagery of eagle and dove. The eagle represents all the masculine qualities while the dove stands for the feminine.

Speaker makes use of a battalion of metaphysical conceits, such as fly, candles, eagle, dove and most strikingly the image of phoenix bird. The myth of phoenix can powerfully reflect their love. Love has the capacity to raise from the ashes of destruction. The feeling of love is delphic and mysterious as it fades and rises right away.

 

Stanza 4

The speaker is even ready to forsake his life if he is incapable of going on with his love. After his death, the speaker may not fit for the great tombs and royal funeral carriages (hearse). But, he perfectly fits for poetry. He can not record his name in the historical chronicles. Still, his platonic love is the fittest subject matter for sonnets. Their love can no longer create history but beautiful verses. The well made urn and the huge mighty tombs are the right place for the ashes of heroes. For them, a single piece of poetry itself is a perfect monument. Gradually people shall accept them as saints in the religion of love. The speaker wanted to explore the spiritual side of the love.

 

Stanza 5

Since they are the mediators of love, others shall pray to them. Their special love provides a spiritual sanctuary (hermitage) for each other. Their platonic love proved the spiritual aspects in it. Love can also offer immense peace but they are highly frustrated. They captured the attention of the whole world and move on with it by reflecting the true and genuine love in their eyes. Their love epitomizes the real and universal spirit. The entire world (countries, towns and courts) ask heaven to provide this supreme pattern of their love.

     

Thought Fox by Ted Hughes summary and analysis

 

About the author :

Ted Hughes was the most influential modern poet in England. He had a deep insight on animals. Hence, plenty of animal imageries come in his poetic circle. He is popularly known as an animal poet. 

 

About the poem:

‘Thought Fox’ is a significant piece of metapoem, as it exceptionally explains the process of poetic composition or creativity. The speaker interestingly illustrates that, how does a poem originate in the mind of the poet.

When the poem begins, the speaker was sitting in front of a blank paper and imagining the dark forest. His mind was sharp and active like a lonely clock in the midnight. His fingers move through the blank page.

There was not even a single star in the distance, nothing to inspire and no scope for any spark of ideas. But, something gradually appears through the deep and within the darkness. That stops by the woods in a snowy darkness. A fox’s nose touches the twig and leaf. Only its eyes are visible in the darkness. Fox places its footprints slowly, patiently and boldly into the snow. With intense care, it moves slowly among the trees. Through the deep and wide greenness fox engages in its own business ‘brilliantly and concentratedly’.

Which enters into the empty dark space of the poet’s mind. The window is still starless and clock ticks. The page is finally printed.

 

Analysis:

The poem ‘Thought Fox’ is obviously about the art of creative writing. The dark night and the starless sky indicate the uninspired mind of the poet. Because, there was nothing to evoke the poetic mind of the speaker. Afterwards he slowly formulates a thought regarding the fox. The brilliant movement of the fox with utmost concentration symbolises the formulation of poetic thought. Hence, fox is the powerful metaphor for poetic creation. Fox is indeed an intelligent creature, who prefers silence and solitude just like an intelligent poet is deeply in love with solitude.

Memoirs of a Madman by Gustave Flaubert summary

 

About the Author

 Gustave Flaubert  is regarded as one of the most influential French writers of the nineteenth century. He is known for his novels, short stories and plays. His narratives are known for the realistic depiction of the nineteenth century lower middle-class life in France. The novel, Madame Bovary published in 1857 is often regarded his masterpiece.

 Memoirs of a Madman is one of Flaubert's earliest writings. He was sixteen when he wrote Memoirs, It is one of his rare first person narratives. These memoirs form the Reflections of a young man.

Summary of the text

At the outset he states that there is a soul in the memoir, it may be his own soul or someone else's.   In fact he wanted to write an introspective( self examining) novel but due to his doubtfulness he could not accomplish it. Whenever he started writing the personal feelings took over the story.

The soul (his own or someone else's) managed his pen and took a complete control over his writing.  He wanted to leave everything about writing in the area of mystery and speculation. Readers can never formulate a definite conclusion. In many places readers may believe that writer has used an elevated language and deliberately used certain unclear imageries. But remember one thing, it is the mad man who has written all these pages. There should be a frequent feeling that the words go beyond the boundaries of feelings (exaggeration). It is simply because they were overburdened by the weight of the heart.

Farewell,  may your thoughts be with me.

 
But, he thinks it is foolish to go asking people the reason for their actions or their writings.  Do you know why did you open these miserable pages that are to be covered with the scribblings of a mad man. A mad man how horrifying.
And what kind of a reader are you fool or madmen. Your vanity would prefer the second one. So, yes let me ask you once again that why do you read or what is the use of a book which  is not at all instructive, nor amusing, nor chemical, nor philosophical, nor agricultural, nor elegiac, a book which gives no formula for sheep or for fleas, which does not speak of the railways, of the stock exchange, of the intimate recesses of the human heart, of dress in the Middle Ages, of God or of the Devil. But, which speaks of a Madman. In other words it's book by a fool who has been turning around in space for so many years without physically moving an inch, who cries by shedding tears and tear himself apart.

I know more than you what are you going to read . This is not a novel or drama with a fixed plan or single idea. All that he did is converted his thoughts into words.  His ideas and his memories. His impressions,  dreams, follies, everything that may pass through his thoughts and through his soul, from laughter to tears and from white to black, the sobbing that begins in the heart and is spread like paste through loud  sentences, the tears that are diluted into romantic metaphors. It weighs on him, however, to think that he shall wear out a whole packet of quills(feather used for writing in ancient times), use an entire bottle of ink. bore the reader and bore myself.

He has the habit of mocking and being in doubtfulness in his writing. There is also a sense of irony. Those who like to laugh can find out the moments of laughter or sometimes author himself brings it.

In this book you will see how we have to believe in the order of the universe, in the moral duties of man, and in the ideas of virtue and philanthropy (generosity/ humanitarianism)-the latter being a word I should like to have inscribed on my boots (when I get some) so that all people may read and learn it by heart, even those with the lowliest vision, the smallest and most crawling of bodies, the nearest to the gutter. It would, then, be wrong to see in this anything other than the distractions of a poor madman! A madman!

Poetry by Marianne Moore - Question and Answers

 

I. Answer these questions in a sentence or two.

1. Which are the useful things listed by the speaker ?

The genuine physical reactions (useful things) listed by the poet are hands that can grasp, eyes that can dilate, and hair that can rise.

2. According to the poet, how can one find something genuine in poetry?

Genuine poetry is useful and one can find  genuine poetry by observing the physical reactions such as the hands that can grasp, eyes that can dilate, and hair that can rise.

3. Is the speaker impatient with 'half poets'? Why?

 The speaker is indeed impatient with 'half poets' or Poetasters. They are not able to write and appreciate genuine poetry. They are fake.

4. How does the speaker define people who are really interested in poetry?

 The poet in fact creates an imaginary world with real life in it. Hence, the raw material of poetry is the exact life with the true and genuine color of reality. Then the poetry will be interesting for the people.

5. "We do not admire what we cannot understand." Can you explain?

Readers cannot admire and appreciate something that is beyond the reach of their understanding.  Admiration  for something comes only when we can understand it properly. We do not admire what we cannot understand.

 
II. Answer the following questions in a paragraph:

1. On what grounds does the speaker say that she is not a fan of poetry?

 
Moore says that she is not a fan of poetry or rather  she dislikes some poetry because such poems are not genuine and incomplete as well. Those poems are insignificant and like a fiddle.
Genuine poetry can even instigate physically the readers by creating certain spark among them. It happens not because of the high sounding interpretation but it is useful for human kind. Poetry also deals with the simple things in life. Readers do not admire poetry when
They cannot understand it. There are also fake poets, they can't produce genuine poetry.

2. How does the speaker criticise “high-sounding interpretation”?

 The speaker was of the opinion that the high-sounding interpretation makes poetry difficult to understand. Readers usually admire those poems which are quite simple to grasp.

 Any trivial things can be the subject matter for poetry like the bat holding on upside down or in search of something to eat. Some poems speak about elephants pushing or a wild horse taking a roll, or a tireless wolf under a tree. Some others write about the immovable critic, the base-ball fan and the statistician. Such serious writings may keep people away from poetry.

3. List out the important phenomena as mentioned by the speaker. Why does she think they are important?

 A genuine poet can create the rhythm of poetry in everything. The speaker mentions some important phenomena like the bat holding on upside down or in search of something to eat, and elephants pushing. There is also a wild horse taking a roll, and a tireless wolf under a tree. Then there is the immovable critic who moves his skin like a horse that feels a flea, the base-ball fan and the statistician. Business documents and school-books.

All  these phenomena are important because they help readers to think about and understand the simple, the trivial and the unnoticed side of  life.

4. According to the speaker, what happens when we read good poetry?

 While the poet dislikes bad poetry she also talks about the benefits of good or genuine poetry.  

Good poetry helps to perceive things in clear manner. The language of poetry is intense and honest.  Poetry doesn't discriminate. It helps readers to think about the simplest, unnoticed side of life. This  may not sound interesting to intellectuals or literary critics.

But poetry can indeed influence genuine readers  who can understand and appreciate these qualities. It also helps people to understand the real face of life and nature. Poetry reflects the simplicity and the beauty of life.

5. "Then you are interested in poetry." According to the speaker, which are the possible ways to analyse one's interest in poetry?

The speaker talks about the possible ways to analyse one's interest in poetry. A genuine piece of poetry is like an "imaginary gardens with real toads in them". This statement can be considered as the heart and core of the poem. The poet was of the opinion that the imaginary world should be true to life. Thus, the raw material of poetry is the exact life with the true and genuine color of reality. Then the poetry will be interesting.

 

 II. Answer the following question in about 300 words.

1. Do you agree with the speaker’s opinion that real poetry is "imaginary gardens with real toads in them"? Why?

‘Poetry’ is a remarkable piece of poem written by Marianne Moore which celebrates the benefits of reading genuine poetry.  As a modern poet she follows free verse and conversational tone. The central argument of the Poetry is how poetry is viewed by various kinds of  readers. She favours a genuine physical reaction than an intellectual one in the readers.

 The poem begins with the expression, "I too dislike it", as the poet dislikes some poetry that are not genuine or such poems are created by fake poets. Those poems are incomplete and failed to inspire the readers. Hence, she compares poetry to a fiddle.

Obviously, A true poetry can even instigate physically the readers by creating certain spark among them. It happens not because of the high sounding interpretation but it is useful for human kind as the Great poet William Wordsworth puts it poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge. According to the Victorian poet and critic “poetry is the criticism of life”. These epigrams highlights the importance of poetry. A genuine poetry can transform human life by providing thought provoking ideas. Useful poems are not an imitation of other works.

Readers cannot admire and appreciate something that is beyond the reach of their understanding. They admire what they can easily grasp.

 
Further the poet remarks that there is no such proper stuff of poetry. Anything can be a subject matter for poetry. Like the bat, holding on upside down, elephants carrying weights, movement of the wild horse, energetic wolf under the tree and so on. It is not possible to discriminate anything from the poetic circle. Each has its own values.

 One should capable enough to differentiate between poetasters (half poets) and genuine poets. They are fake poets and can't produce poetry. A true poet with a literal imagination can never be an autocrat. A genuine poet and find out the poetic pulse in everything and he/she   shall never approach poetry with disrespect and insignificance.

 She presents a thought provoking analogy of garden with the process of writing or the approach towards poetry, "the imaginary gardens with real toads in them". The process of writing takes place from the imaginary world of the poet’s mind. The world created by the poet may or may not be real. But the characters should be true to life. The characters must exhibit real human nature.   So, Poetry helps those readers to understand the life and the nature in clear manner.

Thus, the raw material of poetry is the exact life with the true and genuine color of reality. Then the poetry will be interesting.