Poetry: Key Concepts PDF

Poetry: Key Concepts Session 4: 08.11.2024 Seminar structure 3 sessions on 4 sessions on Poetry: key literature and different levels of concepts literary studies poetry analysis...

Poetry: Key Concepts Session 4: 08.11.2024 Seminar structure 3 sessions on 4 sessions on Poetry: key literature and different levels of concepts literary studies poetry analysis Midterm exam Christmas break Poetry forms (terminology) AI-poetry & Final exam Wrap-up social media (poem analysis) Revision of the key concepts so far: What is literature? What are defining features of literature? What is the function of language (Jakobson) that is dominant in literature? What is genre? Can you name different genres? What is the literary canon? What is literary interpretation? What is the methodology we use to study poetry in this class and why? “The Lamb” – Blake (1789) Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Gave thee life & bid thee feed, By the stream & o’er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight Gave thee clothing wooly bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice! Little Lamb who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? (…)  A tendency towards: Fundamental Features of Poetry (1) Relative brevity (2) Compression, condensation and reduction of the subject-matter (3) Increased subjectivity (4) Musicality and lyricism (proximity to songs) (5) Structural and phonological complexity (6) Morphological and syntactic complexity (7) Deviation from everyday language + increased artificiality (8) Increased aesthetic self- referentiality Communication model for poetry addressee addresser Communicative situation in the poem Describes how a poem communicates Answers the wh-questions: who (speaker) says what (content) to whom (addressee), when and where (temporal and spatial setting), and why (speaker motivation)? Remember: just as the addressee can be implicit or explicit, the addresser/speaker can also be either explicit or implicit Level of the enounced vs level of enunciation Level of the enounced = content of the poem (WHAT is said) Level of enunciation = form of the poem (HOW it is said) → When analysing literature we are usually interested in both the content and the form of the text  Starter-pack poetry terminology A stanza: group of lines A verse: a line of verse (verse = poetic composition written in metre) Metre: basic rhythmic structure Rhyme scheme Rhyming couplets Aa bb cc Couplet 2 line stanza Alternate/cross rhyme Abab cdcd Tercet, triplet 3 line stanza Embracing rhyme rhyme Abba cddc Quatrain 4 line stanza Chain rhyme/interlocking Aba bcb cdc Sestet 6 line stanza rhyme Octet (octave) 8 line stanza Tail rhyme Aab ccb Petrarchan/Italian Sonnets Sonnet named after Francesco Petrarca/Petrarch (14th century) Developed by Renaissance poets Il Canzoniere, collection of poems by Petrarch, many addressed to his beloved Laura often standardized catalogue of images to describe female beauty Octave + sestet (rhyme scheme usually: abbaabba cdecde/cdcdcd) Strict Italian sonnets do not end with a couplet (not always observed in Italian sonnets in English) Octave introduces conflict in the mind of the speaker (first quatrain), next quatrain explains problem/provides exposition Sestet beging with a volta (= turn; marks change/solution) “Sonnets from the Portuguese 43: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” - Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. a I love thee to the depth and breadth and height b My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight b For the ends of being and ideal grace. a I love thee to the level of every day’s a Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. b I love thee freely, as men strive for right; b I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. a I love thee with the passion put to use c In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. d I love thee with a love I seemed to lose c With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, e Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, c I shall but love thee better after death. e English/Shakespearean Sonnets Continuation of the sonnet tradition Shakespeare often deviates from or mocks Petrarchan conventions His quarto with 154 sonnets was published in 1609 Three quatrains + rhyming couplet (abab cdcd efef gg), volta after third quatrain Rhyming couplet concludes/resolves the poem Topics: passage of time, love, infidelity, jealousy, beauty, mortality The first 126 are addressed to a young man (in a dedication), the last 28 to a woman (or she is referred to) Tasks in class Close read Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130”. 1) Describe the communicative situation: who (speaker) says what (content) to whom (addressee), when and where (temporal and spatial setting), and why (speaker motivation)? 2) After you have figured out the level of the enounced (what is said), think about the level of enunciation (how is it said). How do form and content contribute to the meaning of the poem? Shakespeare (?1590s) 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 damasked, 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. My Miſtres eyes are nothing like the Sunne, Currall is farre more red,then her lips red, If ſnow be white,why then her breſts are dun: If haires be wiers,black wiers grow on her head: I haue ſeene Roſes damaskt,red and white, But no ſuch Roſes ſee I in her cheekes, And in ſome perfumes is there more delight, Then in the breath that from my Miſtres reekes. I loue to heare her ſpeake,yet well I know, That Muſicke hath a farre more pleaſing found: I graunt I neuer ſaw a goddeſſe goe, My Miſtres when ſhee walkes treads on the ground. And yet by heauen I thinke my loue as rare, As any ſhe beli'd with falſe compare. I remember when we broke up the first time Saying, "This is it, I've had enough," 'cause like We hadn't seen each other in a month When you said you needed space (What?) Then you come around again and say "Baby, I miss you and I swear I'm gonna change, trust me" Remember how that lasted for a day? I say, "I hate you," we break up, you call me, "I love you" Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh We called it off again last night, but Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh This time, I'm telling you, I'm telling you We are never, ever, ever getting back together We are never, ever, ever getting back together  learned this week Key terms/concepts ✓Speaker ✓Lyricpersona / implicit speaker / explicit speaker ✓Communicative situation in the poem ✓Level of the enounced (content) vs. level of the enunciation (form) ✓Sonnet (Italian and English)