To Autumn (all tasks)

Beautiful creature!
Where dost thou go?
Away, away!
Amber whispers are after you!

• The use of insects typical of spring (we used a buttefly as inspiration, while Keats used a bee; however one may interpret we are talking about a bee when reading our poem)
• The use of rhethorical questions to show how the omniscient speaker is envolved and engage the reader (Keats uses them in his last stanza: "Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?"
• Synesthetic images typical of Keats: Our poem "Amber whispers" (colour/sight combined with sound) and in Keats' ode "Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft/The red breast whistles from a garden-croft" (sound combined with touch and in the next stanza colur/vision combined with sound) SHOWS the way we experience the world, the unity of it all

Mother says not to worry,
Orange tears will resurface
As green fantasies

• Personification of Mother Nature (the use of the capital letter just like the speaker does with "Spring" in Keats' poem)
• The cycle of life: Spring will come again
• Use of colours to describe emotions; connection between people's essence and nature.

Golden floor let me through
Let Mother's children embrace you

• The allusion to the orange/golden colour; in "to Autumn" the speaker alludes to the sun in stanza one
• The personification of Mother, just like Keats personifies Spring
• Nature is a metaphor for life
• "Embrace" alludes to comfort, hope: although autumn is here, spring will come again and autumn "hast (...) music too". Enjoy the whole of the human experience, embrace life in its totality.

 How does "To Autumn differ from the other poems you have studied?

• There is no wish to escape reality, it is grounded in the real world (no myths, no dreams)
• There is no narrative voice
• No feelings to other human beings, no romance. It's all about the interaction with the natural, Pastoral world, which makes it seem more pure.

How do I communicate a sense of warmth in my poem?

• Specific, vivid, concrete visual images
• Begins with autumn at the peak of fulfillment:
• Soft sounds in the beginning lines:

  SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

• Visual images portraying the warmth of the countryside
• Sibilances: "moss" "blossom" "conspiring" "swell"
• The actions expressed in Stanza Two: Autumn (personified as a harvester) watches a cider press; Autumn is listless and falls asleep
• "Keats blends living and dying, the pleasant and the unpleasant, because they are inextricably one; he accepts the reality of the mixed nature of the world." SOURCE: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/autumn.html

How do I use language to reflect the passing of time and a sense of an ever-changing world in the poem?

• Constant sense of progress
• The circle of life is portrayed in nature: it is born and life is at its peak in Spring, "matures" (like the Sun) in Autumn, and softly dies ("soft-dying") just like the clouds
• Autumn has its charm just like Spring (the sun casts a "bloom" when setting): embrace the whole of the human experience

Rhythm

• The rhythm of the poem is generally iambic pentameter
• BUT there is a variation of rhythm at the start of every stanza
• Every stanza starts with a trocaic rhythm
• The acceleration of the change in rhythm accelerates the pace; it suggests an onwards motion
• Thus, it may be interpreted the change in rhythm is significant since it alludes to the constant change in the world, the never-ending circle of life

Ode on Melancholy: Structure in the Poem

Writing down a word/phrase that sumarizes the main argument for each stanza

STANZA 1

• What not to do: Do not fall into the self-indulgence and pity, don't let it control you.

STANZA 2

• What to do: Embrace melancholy and the beauty of life

STANZA 3

• Paradox of pain and pleasure (beauty that must die, sorrow and joy, IT'S ALL CONNECTED)
• We cannot separate our life experiences
  

Ode on Melancholy

Lyric poetry and its conventions

• One of the three genres of poetry
• Short poem with one speaker, makes its impact in a very brief space
• Expresses thought and feeling
• The emotion is/seems personal
• Mood is musical and emotional
• Aims to imprint itself in our memory
• Special rhythm, derived from a very old form of oral poetry (written to be sung)

Melancholy (≠ sadness)

• Melancholy: beyond sad
• The gloomiest of feelings
• Overcome in sorrow

Notes on the poem

• "But when the melancholy fit shall fall/Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud" : shall fall suggests there is no escaping, pessimistic. Sudden seems violent, aching. Weeping cloud is a personification that alludes to clouds always full of water (tears), there is always a sadness, gloom over us about to come. Connects feelings and experiences to nature.

• "She dwells with Beauty- Beauty that must die": emphasizes his idea of melancholy (opposes to his idea of eternal beauty expressed in Ode on a Grecian Urn). Linking melancholy (death) to joy (beauty).

• "By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine": nightshade is a reference to a type of plant producing a poisonous grape. Dangerous beauty. Connects feelings and experiences to nature.

• "Emprison her soft hand": strong aggressive feelings. Emprison contrasts with soft hand. CONTRAST! Value all experiences of life.

• "Vail'd melancholy has her sovran shrine": idealizing melancholy, people stuck in gloom making melancholy a goddess. Something we should embrace it as a part of our experience.

• "Life, death, nature, experience, art- it's all connected in Keats' world view!"

• Many images suggest the colour red (berries, the lips, the tongue, the wine): color reflects the sensuous nature of Keats' poetry (sexuality and passion)

• Religious imagery? "A partner in your sorrow's mystery" = don't go too dark. Hints of catholic belief. 

• "Make not your rosary of yew-berries" don't make death your religion (but accept melancholy)

Exploring images (Done with Belen Alberti)

STANZA 1

Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd

By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine

This image creates meaning in the poem since it alludes to various elements with negative connotation, such as suffering, pale skin, and poisonous plants. This manages to create a gloomy mood/tone. "Kiss'd" contrasts with the implicit knowledge that nightshade is poisonous; although the action seems to be sweet we, as readers, know this affection would be deadly. Furthermore, the allusion to Prosperine (the Greek goddess) is a characteristic of Romanticism and the fascination by mythology.

Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be

Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl

A partner in your sorrow's mysteries

This image is meaningful since it creates a tension between what we feel as readers and what we are supposed to feel. Although the speaker indicates we should not feel gloomy "nor the death-moth be/Your mournful Psyche ", the dark tone and pessimistic language does make us feel this way. Furthermore, the death-moth is a symbol of death (not only because of the skull-like image on its head, but also because of its historical value: people in Ancient Greece believed our Psyche (mind and heart) left our body through a moth when we die). The reference to the moth and the owl is also serves as an example to state that nature is always referenced to in Keats' poems.

STANZA 2

But when the melancholy fit shall fall 

Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud

We are able to see the strength and violence of the rain falling like melancholy being the gloomiest of spririts, hence being so empowering and strong, yet appealing to something so weak and soft like a weeping cloud.

Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave, 

And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eye 

The image shows the tension between the lovers, how close yet far away they are from each other therefore how he has to “emprison” her because of her “rave” so the clashes are clearly seen: from the fact he has to force her to calm down and stay with him; to the feeling of love from her “Soft hand” and “peerless eyes”.

STANZA 3

  She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;

  And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips

  This image is very meaningful since it personifies Melancholy and Joy as a goddess and a god. It also depicts the conflicting relationship between these two deities: although they live in the same world, Joy tries to silence Melancholy. However, Melancholy is full of "Beauty", and the whole theme of the poem is how we must embrace both Joy and Melancholy since both are essential to the experience of life.

(...) aching Pleasure nigh,Turning to poison while bee-mouth sips:

This image is one of my personal favourites from the poem. The "aching Pleasure" is a perfect oxymoron that describes how painful pleasure can be, once again Keats highlights how our life is composed by contradictory and opposing emotions. Another interesting thing to notice is how Pleasure turns to poison once we taste it, since all sweet things (like nectar for bees) turn sour eventually, nothing is forever pure and good in our world. The comparison to the bee is interesting not only because our life experience is compared to nature like in many other instances, but also because it compares human beings to something so seemingly small and insignificant as a bee. This creates the impression that our life isn't really that different to a bee's life. We're both attracted by sweet nectar, and both of us can't help it turning into poison.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci (all tasks)

What do I expect from a poetic ballad?

I expect a story to be told in a poem written in ABAB rhyme and in quatrains, alternating lines of three and four beats.

Notes on the poem

• At first it seems like a sweet and tender love story UNTIL stanza X: plot change
• Themes: beauty of the Dame, attraction, youth and vitality (long hair)
• The impossibility of love (love never has a happy ending), reality is not like in a fairy tale (we may associate this with Keats and Fanny's relationship)
• Nature as a setting (characteristic of romanticism)
• Mood/atmosphere is reflected in the setting: late autumn signalling the onset of death
• Use of beautiful, celestial, perfect, imagined setting and storyline (characteristic of romanticism) transmitted through beautiful, poetic language
• The Dame as a femme fatale, angel of death, BUT
• It is suggested she is a victim of her powers as well (sadness) = greater sense of tradgedy

Rhythm and meter in "La Belle Sans Merci"

The poem does not follow the natural scheme (subverts the traditional ballad form), the last line of each stanza ends too quickly. This creates an emphasis on these lines by affecting the pace of the poems that foreshadows the knight's tragic destiny: "and no birds sing", "and the harvests done"

Waterhouse (Painter of "La Belle Dame Sans Merci")

About the artist

John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) was a painter who painted primarily in oils. There is very little known about his private life, He based his painting on classical, literary, and historical subjects. Some of the recurring themes in is work are the tragic and powerful femmes fatales (like in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"). During his last years he painted a series of painting that were based upon, amongst other things, literature and mythology.

How does the painting reflect the poem?

This painting reflects perfectly the poem's mood since at first sight it seems sweet and romantic. 
However, as we look a little closer we start noticing details such as the Dame's firm grasp on keeping the soldier down, and the fake look of vulnerability in her eye.
Other elements that correspond to romanticism are the flowers, and the abundance of vegetation. These elements are described in the poem and are depicted in the painting as well. It is also important to highlight that Waterouse was very true to the poem's speaker's description of this young woman: her long, silky hair and porcelain skin, and delicate feet are part of the artwork.
Furthermore, it may be argued that Waterhouse's portrayal of the knight kneeling down corresponds to his actions in Keats' poems. His trying to seduce the Dame with bracelets and garland for her head is his way of symbolically surrendering to her by putting his guard down and trying to win her love.

The same poem, another painting 

"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" by Henry Meynell Rheam (1901)

Comparing and contrasting to Waterhouse's painting

Although both paintings are depctions of the same poem, it is important to notice how different they are. The setting of Waterhouse's painting more accurately depicts the kind of place where flora can be found to produce "garland" for the Dame's head. In this way, it is more similar to beautiful, exotic scenarios that are characteristic of Romanticism. Some may argue, however, that Rheam's painting more accurately depicts the "cold hill's side", which is also essential in the poem (specially after the plot twist in stanza X).

Moreover, the darker shadows of Waterhouse's painting is more similar to the dark undertones of the poem, and serves to be a sort of hint of the implicit darkness in this story. This darkness is more explicit in Rheam's painting, where the knight lies lifelessly in the ground.

It is also important to highlight how the Dame appears in the first plane in Waterouse's painting, unlike in that of Rheam (where the knight is the center of attention). I personally prefer the prior one since it showcases the Dame's magnetism and attracting, "wild eyes" more accurately.

John Keats Treasure Hunt (Section 4): IB and me

PART 2 IB LITERATURE COURSE

Five abilities I need to develop

1. Analysis of a work in terms of content and technique; engage with the details of the works
2. Acquire deeper knowledge and understanding of the works studied
3. How language, theme, setting, and character can have particular effects
4. Be familiarized with a variety of interpretation and critical perspectives
5. Demonstrate appropriate analytical responses

How will I be assessed by the IB for Part 2?

• Individual Oral Commentary and discussion
• Formal oral commentary of poetry studied in Part 2
• Subsequent questions (10 minutes)
• Followed by a discussion based on one of the other Part 2 works (10 minutes)

• Knowledge and understanding of the poem
• Appreciation of writer's choices
• Organization and presentation of the commentary
• Knowledge and understanding of the work used in the presentation
• Response to the discussion questions
• Language

John Keats Treasure Hunt (Section 3): Poems

What is an Ode?

• Lyric poetry
• Originally accompanied by dance and music
• Later became a typical mean by which Romantic poets transmitted their deepest feelings
• Elevated style
• Usually has an elaborate stanza pattern
• Often praises people, the arts of music and poetry, abstract concepts, or natural scenes

Keats' Odes

• Ode to Apollo (1815) "In thy western halls of gold"
• Robin Hood- To a Friend  (1818) "No! Those days are gone away,"
• Lines on the Mermaid Tavern (1818) "Souls of Poets dead and gone,"
• Ode to a Nightingale (1819) "My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains"
• Ode on a Grecian Urn (1819) "Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness!"
• Ode to Psyche (1819) "I wandered in a forest thoughtlessly,"
• To Autumn (1819) "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,"
• Ode on Melancholy (1819) "No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist"
• Ode on Indolence (1819) "One morn before me were three figures seen,"
• Ode to Fancy/Fancy (1820) "Ever let the Fancy roam,"
• Ode (Bards of Passion and of Mirth) (1820) "Bard of passion and of Mirth"

Some themes in Keats' poetry, and some of the poems in which they appear in

1. Beauty (the contemplation of beauty): Ode on a Grecian Urn ("Beauty is truth, true beauty") ; Ode to a Nightingale ("But being too happy in thine happiness")
2. The passing of Time: Ode on a Grecian Urn ("When old age shall this generation waste,/Thous shalt remain); To Autumn ("Where are the songs of Spring?")
3. The mortality of human life: Ode to a Nightingale ("Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies"); When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be ("(...) I may never live to trace/Their shadows")
4. Connection vs. separation: Ode on a Grecian Urn ("Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave"), To Autumn ("To bend with apples the moss'd cottage trees")

Synaesthetic images

What are they? Combining more than one sense in one image (the senses are: sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell), resulting in attributing the characteristics of one sense to another

What is their function? They captivate the reader with their sensual effect. In addition, combining different senses in one image gives the impression of how all life is a mixture of the combining of these senses.

Example: "Isabella; or, the Pot of Basil" (stanza XLIX): "And taste the music of that vision pale"

Combines visual images (someone pale), with the hearing sense (hearing what we see is a metaphor), with taste (adds liveliness to the "music of that vision", it's a metaphor)

Poetic Ballads: what they are and some characteristics

• Alternate lines of four and three beats
• Often in quatrains
• Rhymed ABAB
• Often tell a story

Reading of "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"

Part 1

Part 2

John Keats Treasure Hunt (Section 2): Context

Image representing the Romantic Period

This image represents the Romantic Period since it alludes to some of its characteristics, like the interest in the rural and natural, the faith in the senses and the imagination, and the interest in the imagination and intuiton.

Dates of the Romantic Period: 1785-1832

Find one historical event which shape the Romantic Period

The French Revolution helped shape the Romantic Period since it evidenced how human passion and emotion revealed the human nature in its most profound sense, and how these emotions (love, freedom, nationalism, idealism, and equality) were able to transform the preexisting norms. During this Revolution, the monarchy in France was completely abolished by the peoples who were tired of the extravagant expenses of the First and the Second estates, and of the high tax and bread prices. As seen on this painting ("La liberté guidant le peuple" by Delacroix) They took to the streets in protest and violently took control over the governing of the country. Human passions and emotion characterize this painting, and the Revolution.

Characteristics of the Romantic Period/Romanticism

• Faith in senses, feeling, imagination
• Interest in what is rural and natural (idealization of country life)
• Subjective poetry
• Interest in what is infinite, mysterious, exotic, and gothic
• Imagination and intuition over reason and formal rules
• Attraction to rebellion, revolution, human rights, freedom
• Emphasis on introspection, melancholy, sadness
• Artist = individualistic creator, his/her creative spirit is more important than the adhesion to rules
• Knowledge is gained through intuition
• Celebration of the individual (achievements of the misunderstood, heroic outcast)

Otto Scholderer "Lesendes Mädchen" (1883) and my living recreation of it

Lord Byron (Keats' rival)

Keats and Byron's rivalry was founded on the prior's jealousy. Byron was charming and handsome upper class socialite whose works were immediately regarded as successes, while Keats was a struggling middle class poet whose works were deeply criticized as soon as they were published. This led him to describe Byron's work as unoriginal and overrated.