Response in Poem

7/28/2019 Response in Poem

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. , .

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Sophocles Antigone 442 BC

This translation by Ian Johnston of Malaspina University-College,Nanaimo

O Eros, the conqueror in every fight,*

Eros, who squanders all mens wealth,who sleeps at night on girls soft cheeks,and roams across the ocean seasand through the shepherds hutno immortal god escapes from you,nor any man, who lives but for a day.

900

And the one whom you possess goesmad. [790]

Even in good men you twist their minds,perverting them to their own ruin.You provoke these men to family strife.The brides desire seen glittering in her eyesthat conquers everything, its powerenthroned beside eternal laws, for therethe goddess Aphrodite works her

will, [800]whose ways are irresistible.*

*Eros: the god of erotic sexual passion*Aphrodite: goddess of sexual desire

Antigone By Sophocles Written 442 B.C.ETranslated by R. C. Jebb

CHORUSsinging

strophe

Love, unconquered in the fight, Love, who makest havoc of wealth, who keepest thy vigil
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on the soft cheek of a maiden; thou roamest over the sea, and among the homes of

dwellers in the wilds; no immortal can escape thee, nor any among men whose life is for

a day; and he to whom thou hast come is mad.

antistrophe

The just themselves have their minds warped by thee to wrong, for their ruin: 'tis thou

that hast stirred up this present strife of kinsmen; victorious is the love-kindling light

from the eyes of the fair bride; it is a power enthroned in sway beside the eternal laws; forthere the goddess Aphrodite is working her unconquerable will.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Loveby 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 mountains 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

Embroidered 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.

Love Declared


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Sonnet CXVIby William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love,

Which alters when it alteration finds,Or bends with the remover to remove.

Oh, no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests.. and is never shaken.

It is the star to every wand'ring bark

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love is not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come.

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out.. even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me prov'd,

I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

Notes

4] remover: the one who departs from love.

8] worth's unknown: man cannot grasp the star's heavenly worth and astrological

infuence.

12] edge of doom: the brink of Doomsday.

and structure of Shakespeare's sonnets.

Shakespeares sonnets are written predominantly in a meter called iambic pentameter, a rhyme scheme inwhich each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs oriambic feet. An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.

An example of an iamb would be good BYE. A line of iambic pentameter flows like this:

baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM.

Here are some examples from the sonnets:

When I / do COUNT / the CLOCK / that TELLS / the TIME (Sonnet 12)

When IN / dis GRACE / with FOR / tune AND / mens EYESI ALL / a LONE / be WEEP / my OUT/ cast STATE (Sonnet 29)

Shall I / com PARE/ thee TO / a SUM / mers DAY?Thou ART / more LOVE / ly AND / more TEM / per ATE (Sonnet 18)

Shakespeares plays are also written primarily in iambic pentameter, but the lines are unrhymed and notgrouped into stanzas.


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Unrhymed iambic pentameter is called blank verse. It should be noted that there are also manyprosepassagesin Shakespeares plays and some lines oftrochaic tetrameter, such as the Witches' speeches inMacbeth.

Sonnet Structure

There are fourteen lines in a Shakespearean sonnet. The first twelve lines are divided into three quatrainswith four lines each. In the three quatrains the poet establishes a theme or problem and then resolves it inthe final two lines, called the couplet. The rhyme scheme of the quatrains is abab cdcd efef. The couplethas the rhyme scheme gg. This sonnet structure is commonly called the English sonnet or theShakespearean sonnet, to distinguish it from the Italian Petrarchan sonnet form which has two parts: arhyming octave (abbaabba) and a rhyming sestet (cdcdcd). The Petrarchan sonnet style was extremelypopular with Elizabethan sonneteers, much to Shakespeare's disdain (he mocks the conventional andexcessive Petrarchan style in Sonnet 130).

Only three of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets do not conform to this structure:Sonnet 99, which has 15 lines;Sonnet 126, which has 12 lines; andSonnet 145, which is written in trochaic tetrameter.

This poem tries to define "true" love. What qualities does such love have, according tothe poet? A "bark" is a ship, so love is compared to a fixed star which may be steered by

(a sailor would sight such a star's altitude to aid in locating his ship's position on the sea,

specifically the north star, Polaris), but its true nature is far beyond ordinary humanknowledge. The sickle or scythe of time is a traditional symbol of death, or its approach.

What two unlikely/impossible things does the poet compare to the possibility of his being

wrong about love?

Let me not declare any reasons why twoTrue-minded people should not be married. Love is not loveWhich changes when it finds a change in circumstances,Or bends from its firm stand even when a lover is unfaithful:

Oh no! it is a lighthouseThat sees storms but it never shaken;Love is the guiding north star to every lost ship,Whose value cannot be calculated, although its altitude can be measured.Love is not at the mercy of Time, though physical beautyComes within the compass of his sickle.Love does not alter with hours and weeks,But, rather, it endures until the last day of life.If I am proved wrong about these thoughts on loveThen I recant all that I have written, and no man has ever [truly] loved.

Sonnet 116 is about love in its most ideal form. It is praising the glories of lovers who

have come to each other freely, and enter into a relationship based on trust andunderstanding. The first four lines reveal the poet's pleasure in love that is constant and

strong, and will not "alter when it alteration finds." The following lines proclaim that true

love is indeed an "ever-fix'd mark" which will survive any crisis.

In lines 7-8, the poet claims that we may be able to measure love to some degree, but thisdoes not mean we fully understand it. Love's actual worth cannot be known it remains a

mystery. The remaining lines of the third quatrain (9-12), reaffirm the perfect nature of
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love that is unshakeable throughout time and remains so "ev'n to the edge of doom", or

death. In the final couplet, the poet declares that, if he is mistaken about the constant,

unmovable nature of perfect love, then he must take back all his writings on love, truth,and faith. Moreover, he adds that, if he has in fact judged love inappropriately, no man

has ever really loved, in the ideal sense that the poet professes. The details of Sonnet 116

are best described by Tucker Brooke in his acclaimed edition of Shakespeare's poems:

[In Sonnet 116] the chief pause in sense is after the twelfth line. Seventy-five per cent of the words aremonosyllables; only three contain more syllables than two; none belong in any degree to the vocabulary of'poetic' diction. There is nothing recondite, exotic, or metaphysical in the thought. There are three run-onlines, one pair of double-endings. There is nothing to remark about the rhyming except the happy blendingof open and closed vowels, and of liquids, nasals, and stops; nothing to say about the harmony except topoint out how the fluttering accents in the quatrains give place in the couplet to the emphatic march of thealmost unrelieved iambic feet. In short, the poet has employed one hundred and ten of the simplest words inthe language and the two simplest rhyme-schemes to produce a poem which has about it no strangenesswhatever except the strangeness of perfection. (Brooke, 234)

Although in former times this sonnet was almost universally read as a paean to ideal andeternal love, with which all readers could easily identify, adding their own dream of

perfection to what they found within it, modern criticism makes it possible to lookbeneath the idealism and to see some hints of a world which is perhaps slightly moredisturbed than the poet pretends. In the first place it is important to see that the sonnet

belongs in this place, sandwiched between three which discuss the philosophical question

of how love deceives both eye and mind and judgement, and is then followed by fourothers which attempt to excuse the poet's own unfaithfulness and betrayal of the beloved.

Set in such a context it does of course make it appear even more like a battered sea-mark

which nevetheless rises above the waves of destruction, for it confronts all thevicissitudes that have afflicted the course of the love described in these sonnets, and

declares that, in the final analysis, they are of no account.

In addition, despite the idealism, there is an undercurrent of subversion which permeates

all. It is ironic that a poem as famous as this should be seized on by the establishment as adeclaration of their view of what love should be. Does the establishment view take

account of the fact that this is a love poem written by a man to another man, and that the

one impediment to their marriage is precisely that, for no church of the time, or scarcelyeven today, permits a man to marry a man? It is useless to object that Shakespeare is here

talking of the marriage of true minds, for the language inevitably draws us to the

Christain marriage service and its accompanying ceremonies, and that is a ceremonydesigned specifically to marry two people, not two abstract Platonic ideals which have

decided to be wed. It is almost as if the exclamation 'Oh No!' in the second quatrain is a

recognition of this one great impediment that overhangs all others 'and all alone stands

hugely politic'. (SB notes that the exclamation presents, among other things, 'a logically

incidental example of a suitable prefatory exclamation introducing an impedimentvolunteered by a parishioner responding to the injunction in the marriage service').

Of course it is partly due to the slow process of being drawn into the sonnets, with their

continuous change and varying cycles of elation and depression, that the view isgradually inculcated into one's soul that this is a history of love which anyone might have

known, a mortal and immortal love such as any two lovers in the tide of times might have

experienced, or might even be experiencing now. We tend to forget that it is also an


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unconventional love, even more unconventional in the Elizabethan world than it is today.

But it is precisely this unconventionality that gives to the sonnets their subversive tone,

and it is that tone which forces us, not so much to be on the defensive, but to questionmore profoundly what we mean by the word love. What is that strange attraction which

draws two minds so irresistibly together? Must we classify or restrict it? Does it dependon time, or place, on beliefs, on the sex of the lovers, on the Church, or politics, life,death, change, removal, doom, eternity, the day of judgement? Or on none of these? Is

human love an allegory of divine love? Or should one prefer instead the all too human

conclusion of W. H. Auden:

I thought that love would last forever. I was wrong.

1.Let me not= Whatever else I agree to, I will not concede that etc.; I will not be forced

to admit that.

The negative wish, if that is how it might be best described, almost reads like the poet's

injunction against himself to prevent him from admitting something which he was on thepoint of conceding. Perhaps he was being told frequently by others, and the beloved

himself, that love could not last for ever, that there were impediments, that there was

change and alteration, loss and physical decay, all of which militate against true love.And finally, as an act of defiance, he insists that it is not as others see it, that love can

surmount all these obstacles, that although nothing can last forever, yet true love can last

and hold out until the final reckoning.

the marriage of true minds - this suggests a union that is non-physical, Platonic andidealistic. See the introduction above.

true = constant, faithful, unchanging, truthful. Compare Polonius in Hamlet:

--to thine own self be true,

And it must follow as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man. Ham.I.3.78-80.


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2. Admit

impediments. Love

is not love

2.Admit= accept, agree that there are; allow to enter or to intrude.

By all commentators this is taken to be a clear reference to the

marriage ceremony, when the officiating clergyman proclaims: 'Irequire and charge you, as you will answer at the dreadful day of

judgement, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if

either of you do know any impediment why ye may not be lawfullyjoined together in matrimony, that ye confess it.' However the onlyword which links this extract from the Marriage Service in The

Book of Common Prayer to the sonnet is impediment, which has

become the plural impediments here. But the use ofmarriage in line1 and impediments immediately following makes the connection

almost inevitable. In Much Ado the word is used three times in

connection with preventing a marriage:

It is so; the Count Claudio shall marry the daughter of Leonato.BOR. Yea, my lord; but I can cross it.

DON J. Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be medicinable tome MA.II.2.1-4.

Means your lordship to be married to-morrow?DON P. You know he does.

DON J. I know not that, when he knows what I know.

CL. If there be any impediment, I pray you discover it. MA.III.2.78-83.

FRIARIf either of you know any inward impediment why you

should not be conjoined, I charge you, on your souls, to utter it.

MA.IV.1.11-13.

Love is not love = that sort of love is not true love which etc.

3. Which alterswhen it alteration

finds,

3. Which changes (ceases, becomes unfaithful, becomes less) when

it finds a change in the beloved, or a change in circumstances.

4. Or bends with

the remover toremove:

4. bends = yields, changes direction, is untrue and inconstanttowards a loved one.

the remover= one who moves, one who shifts his ground, one who

changes himself.

to remove = to make oneself different in accordance with thechanges in the other person. In this context, the word remove has a

rather indefinite meaning, suggestive of moving something or

someone out of the way, possibly even suggestive of subterfuge.Compare however:

Then happy I, that love and am beloved

Where I may not remove nor be removed. 25Not being moved or removed implies eternal constancy and fidelity.


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5. O, no! it is an

ever-fixed mark,

5. an ever-fixed mark= a sea mark, a prominent navigational

feature, a beacon, for guidance of shipping. In the days beforelighthouses, mariners used well known and prominent features on

the land as a guide to fix their position at sea. The spires of coastal

churches, towers, outcrops of rock of a particular shape or colour

were obvious sea marks. Beacons were no doubt also lit at theentrances to major ports, but there was no widespread network of

lighthouses as in modern times. Mostly sailors were highly

dependent on local knowledge. The point of the metaphor here isthat the ever-fixed mark is permanent and unshakeable, always

there as a guide to the storm tossed mariner.

fixed- pronounced fixd.

6. That looks on

tempests and is

never shaken;

6. That looks on tempests -because of their height, the sea-marks

would appear to be looking down on the world below, and almost

riding above the tempests. Because of their solidity storms had no

effect on them.

7. It is the star toevery wandering

bark,

7.It- i.e. love, as in line 5. Love is both the ever fixed mark and

the Pole star to guide the lover through the stormy waters of life.the star- the most obvious reference is to the Pole or North star. In

the Northern hemisphere it always appears to be unmoving in the

Northern sky, while all the other stars circle around it. Julius Caesarboasts of being immovable, like the northern star:

But I am constant as the northern star,

Of whose true-fix'd and resting qualityThere is no fellow in the firmament. JC.III.1.60-2.

wandering bark= ship or boat that is wandering and possibly lost.

It can identify its position by reference to the Pole star.


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8. Whose worth's

unknown, althoughhis height be taken.

Cruger's azimuthquadrant, 1673.

8. Whose worth's unknown = the true nature and value of which is

unknown. It was not known at the time what the stars were madeof, or how they shone, although vatious theories existed. Modern

astronomy cannot be said to begin before the eighteenth century,

even though Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo had more or less

overturned, by Elizabethan times, the Ptolemaic system of an earthcentred universe.

although his height be taken = although its angle of elevation above

the horizon could be measured. The height of the Pole star abovethe horizon at its zenith was a guide to the ship's latitude. The

measurement would probably have been done with a quadrant. The

sextant was introduced slightly later. (See OED quadrant5,sextant3.) The illustration of a quadrant opposite is of one which would be

used on land. For sea travelling no doubt much more compact

versions were available.

his height= the height (angle) of the star. Q gives higth, which isprobably intended to be highth, a variant form ofheight.

To take the height of (something) = to measure its position relative

to the horizon. The phrase could also be used in a figurative sense

meaning 'to assess the importance, quality, type etc. of something'.As in this example from Ben Jonson's The Alchemist:

The doctor, I asssure you, shall inform you,

To the least shadow of a hair, and show you

An instrument he has of his own making,Wherewith no sooner shall you make report

Of any quarrel, but he will take the height on't

Most instantly, and tell in what degreeOf safety it lies in, or mortality.

And how it may be borne, whether in a right line,

Or a half circle; or else may be cast

Into an angle blunt, if not acute. Alc.III.2.352-61.

In this, the alchemist and his assistant are attempting to trick a

young jacakanapes to give them money, and they try to impress him

with scientific mumbo-jumbo, pretending that they can, using aninstrument, tell when it is safe to quarrel with someone. The

Alchemistwas written circa1609-10.


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9. Love's not Time's

fool, though rosy

lips and cheeks

9. Time's fool- In Shakespeare's day readers would probably

understand this in terms of the fool employed in largeestablishments by the nobility, a favoured character whose wit

enlivened many a dull day. But their position was probably

precarious, and they were liable to physical punishment, or

dismissal. See King Lear:

Prithee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can teach

thy fool to lie: I would fain learn to lie.

Lear. An you lie, sirrah, we'll have you whipped.

Fool. I marvel what kin thou and thy daughters are:they'll have me whipped for speaking true, thou'lt

have me whipped for lying; and sometimes I am

whipped for holding my peace. I had rather be anykind o' thing than a fool: KL.I.4.177-183.

There is also the more general meaning of being the dupe orplaything of someone, being led by the nose. The following is also

from King Lear:

None of these rogues and cowards

But Ajax is their fool. KL.II.2.118-9.

where Kent is implying that Cornwall is being easily duped by

lying servants.

rosy lips and cheeks - symbolic of all mortal beauty, but especially

between lovers. They are cut down by Time's sickle.

10. Within his

bending sickle'scompass come;

10. bending sickle - the sickle had a curved blade, and severalmeanings of 'bending' are appropriate, as 1.) curved; 2.) causing the

grass that it cuts to bend and bow; 3.) cutting a curved swathe in the

grass.

compass = scope, the arc of the circle created by the sweep of thesickle. But with a reference back to the nautical metaphors of the

previous lines. Time, with his scythe, or sickle, sweeps down the

mortal lovers, the rosy lips and cheeks, as if they were blades ofgrass.

11. Love alters notwith his brief hours

and weeks,

11. his = Time's. All life is fleeting, and human life is measured bythe brief hours and weeks of experience. In comparison with theeternity of love, any unit of time is short. But see SB pp.390-1.


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12. But bears it out

even to the edge ofdoom.

12. bears it out= endures, continues faithful.

the edge of doom = the last day, the day of judgement, the day of

death. doom in Shakespeare can mean a person's death, as it stilldoes in the phrase, to meet one's doom. Or it can be applied to the

day of the Last Judgement, or the judgement itself. Macbeth

exclaims in horror against the long sequence of Banquo'sdescendants who are to reign in his place hereafter:What, will the line stretch out till the crack of doom! Mac.IV.1.117.

13. If this be errorand upon me

proved,

13.If this be error= if my claim that love lasts for ever is

erroneous. erroralso suggests wandering (from the truth), as above

in line 7. every wandering bark. From the Latin verb errare - towander.

upon me proved- a legalistic term, meaning, approximately,

'proved against me'. The combination of this term with that oferror

possibly implies religious heresy and action taken against it, as forexample in the frequent practice used by the Inquisition to compel

victims under torture to confess to the error of their ways. See JKp.334. Compare also the following from Volpone by Ben Jonson,circa 1605:

Volt. Would you have him tortured?Bon. I would have him proved.Volt. Best try him with goads or burning irons;

Put him to the strappado; Volp.IV.2.

14. I never writ, nor

no man ever loved.

14.I never writ= I have never written anything.

nor no man ever loved= and no man has ever loved (even though

he believed himself to be in love).

The fact that there is no logical connection between love's eternal

status and whether or not the poet has written anything, or men

think themselves to be in love, is largely irrelevant, because thepoem has by now made its seemingly irrefutable claim. The

weakness of the concluding couplet does contribute to a slight sense

of disappointment, because the preceding lines are so vibrant withlife and love. Perhaps this is intentional, in order to underscore the

transitory nature of all that we experience, and to show that, despite

our grandiose claims to immortality, we all must depart beneath the

eternal vault, and love itself paradoxically, though eternal, is part ofmortality:

For the sword wears out the sheath

And the soul wears out the breast,

And the heart must pause to breathe,And love itself have rest.


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Love Described

Ah, My Belovedby Omar Khayyam

Ah, my beloved, fill the cup that clearsToday of past regrets and future fears;

Tomorrow? Why, tomorrow I may be,

Myself, with yesterday's sev'n thousand years

Love and Death

What If I Sayby Emily Dickinson

What if I say I shall not wait!

What if I burst the fleshly Gate-

And pass, escaped- to thee!

What if I file this Mortal- off-

See where it hurt me- That?s enough-

And wade in Liberty!

They cannot take me- any more!

Dungeons can call- and Guns implore;

Unmeaning- now- to me-

As laughter- was- an hour ago-

Or Laces- or a Traveling Show-

Or Who died- yesterday!

Love and Death

A Charm Invests a Faceby Emily Dickinson

A charm invests a face

Imperfectly beheld.

The lady dare not lift her veil

For fear it be dispelled.

But peers beyond her mesh,

And wishes, and denies,

?Lest interview annul a want

That image satisfies.

Future Love

The Rose in the Deeps of his Heartby William Butler Yeats

All things uncomely and broken,

all things worn-out and old,

The cry of a child by the roadway,

the creak of a lumbering cart,


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The heavy steps of the ploughman,

splashing the wintry mould,

Are wronging your image that blossoms

a rose in the deeps of my heart.

The wrong of unshapely things

is a wrong too great to be told;

I hunger to build them anew

and sit on a green knoll apart,

With the earth and the sky and the water,

remade, like a casket of gold

For my dreams of your image that blossoms

a rose in the deeps of my heart.

Love Described

She Walks In Beauty, like the nighta poem by Lord Byron George Gordon (Lord) Byron (1788-1824)

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meets in her aspect and her eyes:Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,Had half impair'd the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o'er her face,Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,-

A mind at peace with all below,A heart whose love is innocent!

In June, 1814, Lord Byron attended a party at Lady Sitwell's. While at theparty, Lord Byron was inspired by the sight of his cousin, the beautiful Mrs.Wilmot, who was wearing a black spangled mourning dress. Lord Byron was


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struck by his cousins dark hair and fair face, the mingling of various lights andshades. This became the essence of his poem about her.According to his friend, James W. Webster, "I did take him to Lady Sitwellsparty in Seymour Road. He there for the first time saw his cousin, the beautifulMrs. Wilmot. When we returned to his rooms in Albany, he said little, but

desired Fletcher to give him a tumbler of brandy, which he drank at once toMrs. Wilmot's health, then retired to rest, and was, I heard afterwards, in a sadstate all night. The next day he wrote those charming lines upon her--She walksin Beauty like the Night"The poem was published in 1815.

Lord Byrons opening couplet to She Walks In Beauty is among the most memorable

and most quoted lines in romantic poetry. The opening lines are effortless, graceful, and

beautiful, a fitting match for his poem about a woman who possesses effortless grace and

beauty.

Life in England

Lord Byron was born George Gordon Noel Byron in London in 1788. He became a Lord

in 1798 when he inherited the title and the estate of his great-uncle. Byrons mother hadtaken him to Scotland for treatment for his club foot, but she brought him back to

England to claim the title and the estate.

Byron was privately tutored in Nottingham for a short period. He then studied in Harrow,

Southwell, and Newstead, and finally at Trinity College. Byron discovered a talent for

writing poetry and published some early poems in 1806 and his first collection, calledHours of Idleness, in 1807 at the age of 19. When he turned age 21 he was able to take

his seat in the House of Lords.

However, Lord Byron left England for two years with his friend, John Hobhouse, totravel through Europe. They toured Spain, Malta, Greece, and Constantinople. Greece

especially impressed Byron and would create a recurring theme in his life.

After returning to England Lord Byron made his first speech to the House of Lords. Later

that year he published a poetic travelogue titled, Childe Harolds Pilgrimage, arespectable collection of verses about his recent travels in Europe. The collection earned

Lord Byron lasting fame and admiration. Lord Byron had become a ladies man and thenewly earned celebrity brought him a series of affairs and courtships.

Lord Byron married Anna Isabella Milbanke in 1815 and his daughter, Augusta, wasborn later that year. However, the marriage did not last long. In early 1816 Anna and

Augusta left Lord Byron and later that year he filed for legal separation and left England

for Switzerland, a self-imposed exile.


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Life in Europe

While in Switzerland Lord Byron stayed with Percy Bysshe Shelley, a prominent

metaphysical and romantic poet, and had an illegitimate daughter, Allegra, with ClaireClairmont. After that affair ended, Lord Byron and his friend, John Hobhouse traveled

through Italy, settling first in Venice, where he had a couple more affairs, including anaffair with the nineteen year old Countess Teresa Guicciolo. Here Lord Byron began his

most famous and most acclaimed work, the epic poemDon Juan.

Lord Byron and Teresa moved to Ravenna, then to Pisa, and then to Leghorn, near

Shelleys house, in 1821. The poet Leigh Hunt moved in with Lord Byron later that year

after Shelley drowned off the coast near Leghorn in a storm. Lord Byron contributedpoetry to Hunts periodical, The Liberal, until 1823 when he took the opportunity to

travel to Greece to act as an agent for the Greeks in their war against Turkey.

Lord Byron used his personal finances to help fund some of the battles by the Greeks

against the Turks. He even commanded a force of three thousand men in an attack on theTurkish-held fortress of Lepanto. The siege was unsuccessful and the forces withdrew. At

this time Lord Byron suffered one or two epileptic fits. The remedy of the day, blood-

letting, weakened him.

Six weeks later, during a particularly chilly rainstorm, Lord Byron contracted a severecold. The accompanying fever was treated by repeated bleeding by trusted physicians, but

his condition worsened until he eventually slipped into a coma and died on April 19,

1824.

Lord Byron was a hero in Greece and was deeply mourned there. His heart was buried in

Greece and his body was sent to England where it was buried in the family vault nearNewstead. He was denied burial in Westminster Abbey because of the perceived

immorality of his life and numerous controversies. Finally in 1969, 145 years after hisdeath, a memorial was placed in the Poets Corner of Westminster Abbey,

commemorating his poetry and accomplishments.

Shortly after his arrival in Greece, Lord Byron had written these appropriate lines.

"Seek outless often sought than foundA soldier's gravefor thee the best

Then look around, and choose thy ground,

And take thy rest."

An interesting and exceptionalbiography of Lord Byrons life was written in 1830 by acontemporary and friend, John Galt, titled, The Life of Lord Byron. The 49 chapters give

a good measure of Lord Byrons complexity.

She Walks in Beauty
http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/jgalt/bl-jgalt-byron-table.htmhttp://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/jgalt/bl-jgalt-byron-table.htm


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In June, 1814, several months before he met and married his first wife, Anna Milbanke,

Lord Byron attended a party at Lady Sitwells. While at the party, Lord Byron was

inspired by the sight of his cousin, the beautiful Mrs. Wilmot, who was wearing a blackspangled mourning dress. Lord Byron was struck by his cousins dark hair and fair face,

the mingling of various lights and shades. This became the essence of his poem about

her.

According to his friend, James W. Webster, I did take him to Lady Sitwells party inSeymour Road. He there for the first time saw his cousin, the beautiful Mrs. Wilmot.

When we returned to his rooms in Albany, he said little, but desired Fletcher to give him

a tumbler of brandy, which he drank at once to Mrs. Wilmots health, then retired to rest,and was, I heard afterwards, in a sad state all night. The next day he wrote those

charming lines upon herShe walks in Beauty like the Night

The poem was published in 1815. Also in that year Lord Byron wrote a number of songs

to be set to traditional Jewish tunes by Isaac Nathan. Lord Byron included She Walks in

Beauty with those poems.

She Walks in Beauty

1


And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

2

One shade the more, one ray the less,Had half impair'd the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet expressHow pure, how dear their dwelling place.

3

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,


Discussion of the Poem


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The first couple of lines can be confusing if not read properly. Too often readers stop at

the end of the first line where there is no punctuation. This is an enjambed line, meaning

that it continues without pause onto the second line. That she walks in beauty like thenight may not make sense as night represents darkness. However, as the line continues,

the night is a cloudless one with bright stars to create a beautiful mellow glow. The first

two lines bring together the opposing qualities of darkness and light that are at playthroughout the three verses.

The remaining lines of the first verse employ another set of enjambed lines that tell us

that her face and eyes combine all thats best of dark and bright. No mention is made here

or elsewhere in the poem of any other physical features of the lady. The focus of thevision is upon the details of the ladys face and eyes which reflect the mellowed and

tender light. She has a remarkable quality of being able to contain the opposites of dark

and bright.

The third and fourth lines are not only enjambed, but the fourth line begins with an

irregularity in the meter called a metrical substitution. The fourth line starts with anaccented syllable followed by an unaccented one, rather than the iambic meter of the

other lines, an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. The result is that theword Meet receives attention, an emphasis. The ladys unique feature is that opposites

meet in her in a wonderful way.

The second verse tells us that the glow of the ladys face is nearly perfect. The shades and

rays are in just the right proportion, and because they are, the lady possesses a namelessgrace. This conveys the romantic idea that her inner beauty is mirrored by her outer

beauty. Her thoughts are serene and sweet. She is pure and dear.

The last verse is split between three lines of physical description and three lines thatdescribe the ladys moral character. Her soft, calm glow reflects a life of peace andgoodness. This is a repetition, an emphasis, of the theme that the ladys physical beauty is

a reflection of her inner beauty.

Lord Byron greatly admired his cousins serene qualities on that particular night and he

has left us with an inspired poem.

The poem was written shortly before Lord Byrons marriage to Anna Milbanke and

published shortly after the marriage


And all that's best of dark and brightMeet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellowed to that tender lightWhich heaven to gaudy day denies.


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One shade the more, one ray the less,Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet expressHow pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,But tell of days in goodness spent,


"Love: a temporary insanity, curable by marriage..."

- Ambrose Bierce

So now what do you want to do? Take me...to the homepage | to the Cupid's Flying Arrows page | to the top of this page

about the poem | about the painting | linksABOUT THE POEM:

meaning:Of course it's obvious that this poem is somewhat of a love poem, expressing howbeautiful this woman is that Lord Byron is looking at. She combines opposites (or

extremes) in perfect proportions in her looks and in her personality. Whether it is atrue declaration of love or a statement of admiration (of her beauty) is left to the

reader, since it's known that this poem was about his cousin, Mrs. Wilmot, whom hemet at a party in a mourning dress of spangled black.

mechanisms:

The poem opens with a line that doens't have punctuation (enjambment): it runsover to the next. Not only that but the next line has a different kind of meter. Poetsuse this mechanism together with enjabment to attract attention to certain words.

For example in the fourth line, the word "meet" is emphasized. It is an importantword in the poem because it is the premise of the entire poem. Opposites "meet" in

this woman. Just as enjabment and a change in meter are joined as mechanisms inthis poem, the unlikely pair of darkness and light meet in this woman.

Also, this poem makes use of alliteration, the repeating of the first letter of a word toget an easy-reading effect. Look at the second line: "Ofcloudless climes and starry

skies."

imagery:Lord Byron describes a night (associated with darkness) with bright stars (light) and

compares this woman to that night. She brings together these opposites in herbeauty and creates a "tender light." Not a light like the daytime, since he describesthat as gaudy (showy in a vulgar way), but a light that "heaven" doesn't even honor

the daytime with.Byron describes light and dark coming together in her appearance (or "aspect"), as

in her dark hair ("tress") and the light complextion of her face. But her also says

they meet in her eyes. The eyes are often associated with a person's soul, and revealthe heart. So he is suggesting that opposites meet in her soul as well.

Note also, that Byron says that if this darkness and lightness wouldn't be in the right
http://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/index.htmhttp://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/romance.htmhttp://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/shewalks/shewalks.htm#top%23tophttp://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/shewalks/shewalks.htm#poem%23poemhttp://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/shewalks/shewalks.htm#painting%23paintinghttp://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/shewalks/shewalks.htm#links%23linkshttp://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/index.htmhttp://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/romance.htmhttp://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/shewalks/shewalks.htm#top%23tophttp://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/shewalks/shewalks.htm#poem%23poemhttp://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/shewalks/shewalks.htm#painting%23paintinghttp://poetrypages.lemon8.nl/romance/shewalks/shewalks.htm#links%23links


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proportions ("One shade the more, one ray the less"), her beauty wouldn't becompletly ruined as you might expect. He says that she would only be "half

impaired," and thus still half magnificent.

Today's poem embodies both a lot of what I like, and a lot of what I dislikeabout Byron. It starts off brilliantly; the first four lines are beautifully

phrased, and the opening couplet in particular has ingrained itself in thecollective consciousness, on a par with other famous openings like 'How do Ilove thee? let me count the ways' and 'All the world's a stage'. Also inevidence is the effortlessly perfect scansion that characterizes Byron'swork (see, especially, Don Juan[1], his undisputed masterpiece)

However, the latter two verses lose that quality of delicate beauty, anddegenerate into a somewhat lifeless portrayal of a somewhat insipid set oftraits. To be perfectly fair to Byron, it may just be that the poem has notaged well, but phrases like 'how pure, how dear' tend to jar, and the wholelast verse has a 'pious' quality that borders on affectation.

[1] ; dip into it at random to

get the feel of the verse

m.

Note:

In 1815, Byron wrote a series of songs to be set to adaptations oftraditional Jewish tunes by Isaac Nathan. She Walks in Beauty is thefirst of those songs.

The woman described is the cousin of Byron's wife, Mrs. Robert JohnWilmot. When Byron first saw her, she was wearing a black mourning gownwith spangles.

-- Bob Blair

Biography:

Byron, George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron

b. Jan. 22, 1788, London, Eng.d. April 19, 1824, Missolonghi, Greece

byname LORD BYRON, English Romantic poet and satirist whose poetry andpersonality captured the imagination of Europe. Renowned as the "gloomyegoist" of his autobiographical poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-18)in the 19th century, he is now more generally esteemed for the satiricrealism of Don Juan (1819-24).

-- EB

Lord Byron (1788-1824), as his title would indicate, was born into anaristocratic English family; even so, he led the life of a vagabond; a"haughty and aristocratic genius" subject only to his own ruling passions.He was born with a malformation of one foot, which left him with a lifelong limp; he grew up, however, to be a dark, handsome man; the womenliked Byron and he liked women; his sexual exploits are legend. Byron
http://www.geocities.com/~bblair/donjuan.htmhttp://www.geocities.com/~bblair/donjuan.htm


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spent most of his adult life on the continent, making his first trip in1809 with his school chum, John Hobhouse. Hobhouse returned to Englandleaving Bryon to go on to Greece by himself. During this eastern tripBryon wrote the first two cantos of "Childe Harold," which tells the storyof his tour. On his return to England he arranged for its publication andit "took the town by storm; seven editions were sold in a month." Byrontried to settle down into a regular aristocratic life, even to the pointof getting himself married (it lasted but a few months); but none of itworked very well for Byron. By 1821, Byron was permanently living in Italywhere he is part of a romantic literary circle, a circle which includesthe Hunts; the Shelleys; and, of course, Trelawney. Byron was to gethimself caught up with the war between the Greeks and the Turks, and, in1824, Byron embarked for Greece. Shortly, thereafter, at the age of 36,though likely not seeing any action, Byron dies at Missolonghi, Greece.

This is by far, the most quoted poem of Lord Byron's. It was inspired by Mrs.

Wilmot, Byron's cousin, when he saw her wearing a spangled dress at Lady Sitwell's

party in June, 1814.

Byron's friend, James W. Webster, had written about the event . . . .

"I didtake him to Lady Sitwell's party in Seymour Road. He there for the first time

saw his cousin, the Beautiful Mrs. Wilmot. When we returned to his rooms in

Albany, he said little, but desired Fletcher to give him a tumbler of Brandy, which

he drank at once to Mrs. Wilmot's health, then retired to rest, and was, I heard

afterwards, in a sad state all night. The next day he wrote those charming lines upon

her --She walks in Beauty like the Night...."*

Many Romantic poets embrace the concept of self -expression through the use ofimagination to convey their personal visions of love and life. The power of emotions is

evident in Lord Byrons poems. It can be possible that light can be emitted through the

darkness of night. In his poem, "She Walks In Beauty", Lord Byron epitomizes thebalance between two opposing forces. The two forces involved are the darkness and the

light at work in a womans beauty both internal and external. Throughout the poem,

Byron uses imagery through the visual senses that allows us to observe the symmetry

between a womans beauty and the mixing of the darkness and light.

"She Walks in Beauty" can be viewed as a love poem about a beautiful woman. It seems

as though the poem is addressed to a lover. In fact, the poem was written about Byrons

cousin, Anne Wilmot, who was dressed in a black mourning gown brightened withspangles. (Norton 556) This fact lends support to understanding the origin of the poem.

Byron portrays the mixing of the darkness and light by describing her physical beauty, as

well as, her interior strengths. . The use of his metaphorical description of this particular

woman allows us to imagine that this womans beauty is strong enough to brighten up thesky at nighttime.


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Byrons diction in this poem is quite metaphorical. "She walks in beauty, like the night /

Of cloudless climes and starry skies" (lines 1-2 Norton 556). His use of imagery has

allowed us to visualize an aura that surrounds this woman. The imagery he uses alsobrings together two opposing forces, darkness and light which works quite well together

as one united force. We can visualize a dark sky filled bright stars, a perfect picture for an

ideal evening, which can be compared to his picture of a perfect woman.

This woman, as well as the night, contains opposite features within her. "And all thatsbest of dark and bright / Meet in her aspect and her eyes" (lines 3-4 Norton 556). The

joining of these opposite forces can be associated with internal aspects of this woman.

Although this poem begins with a description of a woman walking, there are not anyimages of her body. Byron continuously refers to her hair and face. "One shade the more,

one ray the less, / Had half impaird the nameless grace / which waves in every raven

tress, / Or softly lightens oer her face;" (lines 7-10 Norton). Again, the combination ofopposite forces, "shade" and "ray", used to create balance in this woman. If the woman

were any different, she would be less perfect. His use of imagery allows the picturing of

an angelic looking woman with dark hair and a light face. The woman, similar to thenight creates a "tender light". This type of light cannot be presented during the day, and is

so powerful that not even heaven can bestow this light on any day.

Byron also has demonstrated the use of alliteration by focusing on her mind. "Where

thoughts serenely sweet express / How pure, how dear their dwelling place"(lines 11-12Norton 556). This description creates an insight of a womans mind, not her body. The

repetition of the s sound is soothing because he is describing her thoughts. Again,

Byron is more focused on this womans internal features.

Byron has successfully convinced his readers that this woman is perfect. Even though the

descriptions of this woman may have contradictory attributes, the overall portrayal of thiswoman implies that these attributes have created a perfect balance within her. The use of

the opposites darkness and light has helped to create this balance. The language, rhythm,and the use of human characteristics have proved that external and internal beauty can be

viewed on the same scale, as well as darkness and light.

Constantine Cavafy(Egypt, 1863)

DANGEROUS THOUGHTS

Said Myrtias (a Syrian studentin Alexandria during the reignof the Emperor Konstans and the Emperor Konstantios;in part a heathen, in part chistianized):Strengthened by study and reflection.I wont fear my passions like a coward;Ill give my body to sensual pleasures,to enjoyments Ive dreamed of,


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to the most audacious erotic desires,to the lascivious impulses of my blood,

with no fear at all, because when I wishand Ill have the will-power, strengthenedas I shall be by study and reflection

when I wish, at critical moments I will recovermy spirit, ascetic as it was before.

Translation: Edmund Keeley and Philip SherrardFrom: Collected poemsPublished: Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1992

Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard

Dangerous things

Said Myrtias (a Syrian studentin Alexandria; in the reign of

Augustus Constans and Augustus Constantius;in part a pagan, and in part a christian);"Fortified by theory and study,

I shall not fear my passions like a coward.

I shall give my body to sensual delights,to enjoyments dreamt-of,

to the most daring amorous desires,

to the lustful impulses of my blood, without

any fear, for whenever I want --and I shall have the will, fortified

as I shall be by theory and study --

at moments of crisis I shall find againmy spirit, as before, ascetic."

Constantine P. Cavafy (1911)

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--

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. (1911)

was to earn him international recognition as one of the most important poets of the twentieth century.

that Cavafy discovered his own poetic voicethat unique tone of voice as W.H. Auden has calledit that survives translation.

fall into three categories, which the poet himself identified as follows: poems which, though notprecisely philosophical, provoke thought; historical poems; and hedonistic (or aesthetic)poems. Cavafys first daringly-hedonistic poem (Dangerous Thoughts) was published only in1911 (the year which Cavafy indicated as a dividing line in his poetic production). Later poems

became increasingly explicitalthough Cavafy did not begin publishing poems in which theeroticism is specified as homosexual until after 1918and acquire a social dimension as theydepict characters living on the margins of society in sometimes harshly realistic settings.

Cavafy was keenly aware that his poetry was ahead of its time, especially within the sphere ofmodern Greek letters

the poets work has been translated into most of the worlds languages. But beyond being the most

widely translated poet of modern Greece, Cavafy is a poet with whom a host of other poets

worldwide have been conversing through their own work for over seventy years. His unique

tone of voice, which he laboured so hard to discover and then to perfect, has thus become the

foundation for a rich new poetic dialogue.

Documents

Response in Poem