IB English IV—Paper 2 Study Guide (Class Notes for Poets)
Wislawa Szymborska
Wole Soyinka
Wislawa Szymborska (1923- )
Biographical details (Relevance):
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Born in Western Poland (Bnin) in 1923, later moves to Krakow where she spends most of her life
Nobel Prize—1996-- Nobel lecture was self-deprecating, she isn’t a “true poet”
Lived near railroad tracks—watched people go by, inspires some of her poetry
Heavily influenced/affected by:
o Nazi occupation of Poland/WWII
o Stalinism/Communism in Poland
o Inspired by illegal poems and theater
Member of communist party, but leaves in 1966
o Won’t let her earlier poetry be read/published for political reasons
 Communism in Poland
 Early poetry fits within socialist model (only way to publish at the time)
 Denounces socialism in 1960s
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Modest, shy, humble (“lucky couch” won the Nobel prize)—no real public persona, “poet embarrassed of being
a poet”
o Reclusive—hates publicity, travels very little
Humorous/witty
Very particular about what is published—revises over and over, very few poems published
POETRY IS TRANSLATED!!!
Married once, partnered once
Techniques/devices:
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Anaphora—frequent use, creates rhythm, convinces reader, covers a lot of beliefs/topics, brings emphasis
Epistrophe
Parallel structure
Imagery—visual, vivid, NUMBERS (especially relating to human life)
Personification/anthropomorphism—Cat in “Cat in an empty apartment”; Death “On Death, without
exaggeration”
Irony—“contribution to statistics” “Hitler”
Short sentences—clinical/detached/factual
Repetition
Simplistic, sparse, direct diction
Understatement
Juxtaposition/contrast—“Hitler’s First Photograph”
Paradox
Symbolism—“On Death, without exaggeration” (words represent different aspects of human life), animals (“In
praise of feeling…”)
Ambiguity (speaker in “Cat”)—usually narrator
Dialogue (usually entire poem—see “Vietnam” and “Funeral (ii)”)
Tone—sarcastic, sincere/serious, satiric, lofty, hopeful (varies—see VOICE)
Ekphrastic poetry (Brueghel’s Two Monkeys, Pieta)
Rhetorical questions
Wit/Humor
Introspective voice
Occasional Elision—usually to fit a meter or create a desired sound effect
Starts with a bold statement or claim, broadens theme (mocking effect)
Voice (body of work):
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Pensive
Serious
Humorous/witty
Reflective
First person is common
Neutral gender (not especially feminine or masculine)
Personal connection to event or theme
Purpose of poetry:
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Informative—effects of communism, WWII, holocaust, human rights
Focus on details of life—appreciation, acknowledge war/events/importance
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Human dignity
Poetic inspiration/role of the poet in society
Use of the speaker/effect on the reader:
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Inspires you to think about things in a new way (change/new perspective—use of understatement and simple
diction accomplishes this)—“The Terrorist, He’s Watching”
Key Ideas/Themes:
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Humanity
Life/death
Political ties—Vietnam, war
Existence (entire universe)
Nature
Focus on minutiae/details—downplays bigger picture, but emphasizes larger theme after audience realizes
(UNDERSTATEMENT)—ambiguity (“Vietnam” “On Death, Without Exaggeration”)
Time (“View with a grain of sand” “Cat” “Terrorist”)
Ideas about future of mankind—“The Century’s Decline” “The End and the Beginning” “Nothing Twice” “I’m
working on the world” “Brueghel’s two monkeys” (ekphrastic) “View with a grain of sand” “Discovery”
(scientific progress)
Humanity/Human Relationships (moment in time)—“Vietnam” “In praise of my sister” “Beheading” “Buffo” “In
praise of feeling bad about yourself” “Life While-You-Wait” “Pieta” (ekphrastic—based on work of art)
Juxtaposes an event in progress with aftereffects (war/picking up after the war) “The End and the Beginning”
“Hitler’s first photograph” “Starvation Camp” “Maybe all this”
Statistics/numbers (usually compared to human life—“A contribution to statistics,” “Starvation Camp” “Maybe
all this”)
Brevity of life--“On Death, Without Exaggeration” “Funeral” “I’m working on the world” “Pieta” (ekphrastic)
“Nothing Twice”
Phrases:
John Keats (1795-1821)
Biographical details (Relevance):
British Romantics: elaborate, passion/love (perspective), inspired by nature/love (equally), fascination with the
supernatural, sonnets/odes, prefer feeling over thinking, Emphasizes the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the
imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental
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Wrote most famous works in 9 month period
(winter 1818-spring 1819)
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British Romantic poet
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Died of tuberculosis at age 25, mom died of it,
brother Tom died of it, Fanny’s family had a
history of tuberculosis as well
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Charles Armitage Brown—Hampstead Heath;
Keats lived here during his 9 month creative
time
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Flirtation with Isabella Jones
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Three siblings, one brother died (Tom—
tuberculosis)
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Volatile personality—bouts of depression,
intense emotion
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Charles Armitage Brown, Charles Clarke (son
of headmaster of first school), Joseph Severn
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Too poor to marry Fanny Brawne
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Trained as a doctor and apothecary, never
practiced medicine
ROMANTIC—love, nature, sonnet form,
WORDSWORTH, P. B. SHELLEY,
respect/return to Classical learning
Techniques/devices:
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Apostrophe—“Bright Star” “Ode to a Grecian Urn”
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Use of sonnet form—Italian/Petrarchan (octave/sestet—abba abba VOLTA cde cde), English/Shakespearean
(abab cdcd efef gg)
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Ode (Pindaric/Horatian)—grandiose/grand theme/subject or occasion; highly developed language
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Synaesthesia—mixing sensations/sensory experiences (“taste the south wind”)
Allusion: classical Greek/Roman gods, goddesses, mythical figures
Tone: passionate, loving,
Elision—usually to fit a meter or create a desired sound effect
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Epezeuksis!
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Puns/play on words—On the sonnet (foot of poesy)
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Euphony
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Anaphora, repetition for emphasis/development
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Sibilant “s” sound (whooshing)
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Vivid imagery (nature, classical references—sacrifice, gods/goddesses, mythical figures)
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Juxtaposition of ideas
Rhyme (couplets or specific to form—sonnet)—emphasizes idea, creates coherence within the poem (ideas,
within stanzas)
Voice (body of work):
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Highly personal
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Distance between narrator/speaker and what is being observed (e.g. “Elgin Marbles” “Chapman’s Homer”)
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Passionate/emotional
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Expressive
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Explicative
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Hopeless—acceptance of fate/brevity of life
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Reflective
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Pathetic/mournful
Purpose of poetry:
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Evoke emotions/empathy from the reader
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Appreciating/romanticizing details of life (preserving moments/experiences)
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emphasis on feeling/experiencing the poem
Use of the speaker/effect on the reader:
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Sad, reflective
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Emotional response (pathos)
Key Ideas/Themes:
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Mortality/brevity of life—“Elgin Marbles” “Grecian Urn” “Bright Star” “Cease to be”
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Nature—“Grecian Urn” “Psyche” “Nightengale” “Grasshopper and the Cricket” “Bright Star”
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Classical references/allusions—“chapman’s homer” “elgin marbles” “ grecian urn” “ode to psyche”
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Love/passion—“Bright Star” “Grecian Urn” “La belle dame”
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Artistic inspiration—“Nightengale” “On the Sonnet”
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Sleep/rest/death?—“To Sleep”
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Love “Ode to a nightingale” “Grecian urn” ”Ode to Psyche” “Bright Star!”
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Transient/fleeting passion--ODES
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Life/death—mortality “Elgin Marbles” “Bright Star”
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imagination and beauty--ODES
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Individual experiences
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Joy/melancholy
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Poetic inspiration and development: “On the sonnet” “On first looking into Chapman’s Homer” ALL ODES
Phrases:
John Keats' letters and ideas
Written by Stephanie (SOURCE: http://www.keatsian.co.uk/keatsian-ideas.htm)
Italics= quotes from letters sent by Keats to others
Normal= notes on Keatsian ideas (developed from his poetry) related to these quotes
Beauty and the Imagination
To Benjamin Bailey
Nov. 1817
'I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of Imagination- What the imagination seizes as
beauty must be truth'
-The beauty and truth paradox
From 'Ode on a Grecian Urn':
'Beauty is truth and truth beauty,- that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know'.
Keats could be saying that pain is beautiful. There is the issue of whether it is the poet (a persona), Keats, or the urn
speaking. Also which of them is being addressed? It could be a philosophical statement about life or it may only make
sense in context of the poem,
As in 'Ode to a Nightingale, Keats wants to create a world of pure joy. In this poem the world of fantasy is the life of the
people on the urn. Keats sees them, simultaneously, as carved figures on the marble vase and live people in ancient
Greece. Existing in frozen time, they cannot move or change, their feelings cannot change, yet the sculptor has
succeeded in creating a sense of action. As in 'OTAN' the real world of pain contrasts with the fantasy world of joy.
Some critics feel that Keats is saying art is superior to nature. Is Keats thinking, feeling or talking about the urn only as a
work of art?
The last 2 lines may merely sound as if they mean something, or speak to some deep part of us that apprehends the
meaning but it's an experience/meaning that cannot be put into words.
A final statement is made on the relation of the ideal to the actual. The urn is rejected at the end because art can't and
will never be a substitute for real life.
- He's saying that the Imagination can make things real: 'Sleep and Poetry' and you can dissolve the harsh reality in
escapism
- Anything that is beautiful to him is his own truth and beauty is truth. But to Keats, the truth was horrible, painful due
to his impending death. So is he saying beauty is horrible and painful, and that it must end at some point?
-Every time he sees beauty, it's tainted, transient- won't last
- Relevant poems: Ode on Melancholy, Ode to Autumn, Le Belle Dame
Senses over thoughts
'O for a Life of Sensations rather than of thoughts!'
'Imagination and its empyreal reflection is the same as human Life and its spiritual repetition'
- Idea of escapism again
- Senses over thoughts
- Saying life, in a sense, is unreal? Purely Imagination
- Thoughts worry the mind, but with sensations, there is no worry, you can escape into feeling without concern.
- Life as a repetition- Buddhist idea of cycle of life, reincarnation.
Negative Capability
To George and Thomas Keats
Dec 1817
'Negative Capability, that is when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after
fact and reason'
'With a great poet the sense of Beauty overcomes every other consideration'
To Richard Woodhouse
Oct 1818
'A poet is the most unpoetical of anything in existence; because he has no Identity- he is continually in for- and filling some other
Body- The Sun, the Moon, the Sea and Men and Women who are creatures of impulse are poetical and have about them an
unchangeable attribute'
- Negative Capability
'being capable of eliminating one's own personality, in order imaginatively to enter into that of another person, or, in
extreme cases, an animal or an object.'
The phrase was coined by Keats in the very letter to his brothers, as quoted above.
The whole concept is a bit hazy, probably because his own identity is precarious, and he was continually being invaded
by the identities of others. The person of fixed opinions, such as Wordsworth, enjoys/suffers from the 'egotistic sublime'
In his letter to Bailey, Nov 1817, Keats affirmed that 'Men of Genius' do not have 'any individuality' or 'determined
character'
Another letter to Woodhouse Oct 1818 defines 'the poetic Character' as taking 'as much delight in conceiving an Iago as
an Imogen' adding: 'What shocks the virtuous philosopher delights the chameleon poet'
Chameleon poet: You can change to your surroundings temporarily, and you can move to different identities to hide
from the world. Let your imagination take you away- Negative Capability is the way Keats escapes- possibly allowed him
to cope with the knowledge that he didn't have long to live. But you are still a chameleon even when you have changed
your colour. Underneath, Keats is still Keats, no matter what he does to escape the harsh reality.
- Negative capability is 1. the ability to engage. To see beauty in things that are seen as negative, and experience
everything; good or bad. You can get inspiration from everything. Sublime. Solitary- staring at the world (Chapman's
Homer) Passive, contemplating, waiting.
- Negative capability is 2. Being at one with nature. Keats told Woodhouse that he could conceive of a billiard ball taking
a sense of delight in 'its own roundness, smoothness and rapidity of its motion'. When in a room with the dangerous,
leopardess-like woman Jane Cox, he felt her identity pressing in upon him- letter in Oct 1818: 'I forget myself entirely
because I live in her'.
- You can detach yourself and become something else without being limited.
- However, you can't get rid of your own personality, because for example, the billiard ball is still your subjective view,
and another poet would see it in a different way.
- Many writers have identified themselves as having 'negative capability', even if they have not always used the phrase.
Coleridge speaks in a letter Nov. 1819 of 'a sort of transfusion and transmission of my consciousness to identify myself
with the object'. This suggests an actual movement to something else, with extreme personification by losing actual
consciousness.
Danger and pain --> Terrible --> Distanced --> Modified --> Delightful --> Experience
Poems with the idea of negative capability:
- Eve of St Agnes: the passive poet, waiting. Also because of the half-states, dreamlike.
'While legioned faeries paced the coverlet, And pale enchantment help her sleepy-eyed'. Sensory experience, dreamlike
half-state, voyeuristic tendency.
- La Belle Dame sans Merci. A Ballad: Beauty and negativity- beauty must die
'Alone and palely loitering, though the sedge is withered from the lake and no birds sing'. Loitering- half-state, between
being with nature and elsewhere. A sense of unawareness but sensory knowledge makes up for it.'Palely'- reference to
Keats' tuberculosis.
- On First Looking into Chapman's Homer: passive observer
'He stared at the Pacific- and all his men looked at each other with a wild surmise- silent, upon a peak in Darien'. Solitary
character, engaging in world, but from a distance.
- Ode on Melancholy: depression is positive, use it.
'Whose strenuous tongue can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine'. Sensory experience, personifying beauty and
melancholy. Hard to achieve, requiring great effort, but when you do, its satisfying.
- When I have Fears: Moulding into the landscape
'Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and Fame to nothingness do sink'. Sensory, solitary. Separated from
landscape- half-state.
Ode to Autumn- nature, life and death
'Close bosom friend of the maturing sun'- contrast between giver of life and dying of nature makes a half-sta
Poetic Beliefs
To John Taylor
Feb 1818
'I think poetry should surprise by a fine excess'
- Poetry should involve the element of surprise, with the use of excessive imagery, but in a refined way; pure yet bold
and dazzling.
'The setting of imagery should like the sun come natural to him'
'If poteetry comes not as naturally as the Leaves to a tree it had better not come at all'.
- Poetry should be a natural thing, not forced but fluid and inspired.
Vale of Soul Making
To George and Georgiana Keats
April 1819
'The common cognomen of this world among the misguided and superstitious is 'a vale of tears' from which we are to be
redeemed by a certain arbitrary interposition of God and taken into Heaven- What a little circumscribed straightened notion! Call
the world if you please 'The Vale of Soul- making. Then you will find out the use of the world'
'I say 'soul making' Soul as distinguished from an Intelligence- There may be intelligences or sparks of divinity in millions- but they
are not souls until they acquire identities, till each one is personality itself'
'I think it a grander system of salvation than the Christian religion- or rather it is a system of Spirit Creation'
'I will call the world a school instituted for the purpose of teaching little children to read. I will call the human heart the hornbook
used in that school. And I will call the child able to read, the soul made from that school and its hornbook'.
'Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul? A place where the
heart must feel and suffer in a thousand diverse ways'
'As various as the lives of men are- so various become their souls, and thus does God make individual beings, souls, identical souls
of the sparks of his own essence'
(In this same letter was an original of 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci')
The poem is a story that leaves questions unanswered, but in this letter he seems to finding an answer to what his life
means, trying to come to terms with his impending death.
- Keats does not deal with conventional religion in his poems.
- States that he does not believe in Christianity, or in any of the other received faiths of his era. 'cosmology' and
'ontology' (cause-belief system)
- As he faced death, it's clear that Keats did struggle to find meaning in life, but in this letter he finds an answer.
- Rejects Christian 'Valley of Tears' and accepts 'Vale of Soul Making'
- The Romantics in general were spiritual rather than religious.
- Says religion is a process by which a soul is made- described as human heart going to school.
-States there are different stages a soul passes through: Copes with experiences, discovers misery and oppression.
Compared to chambers in a mansion'
- The final stage the soul passes through recognising the burden of the mystery.
Quotes from Keats:
'I would rather give women a sugar plum than my time'
Suggests that he thinks women are shallow, and that they'll accept something so meaningless instead of attention. 'Sugar
plum' is also a sickly reference, and perhaps suggests that women are like this too, sweet but with slightly sinister
connotations; we already know that Keats didn't trust women.
About Fanny Brawne in a letter to his brother George, Dec 1818:
'she manages to make her hair look well- her nostrils are fine though a little painful- her mouth is bad and good... Her arms are
good and her hands badish- her feet tolerable.. She is ignorant- monstrous in her behaviour flying out in all directions. I am
however tired of such style and shall decline any more of it'
Keats' words in this letter make him out to be a 'nitpicker' frequently finding faults and making harsh and unfair
judgments about Brawne. It makes one wonder if this letter was meant to be comical, because many of the comments
are too ridiculous to be taken seriously. It is ironic that the following year he becomes engaged to the woman he
scrutinized so meticulously.
On Keats' grave:
'Here lies one whose name was writ in water'
- Ripples go on forever, he'll always be remembered. Arrogant, or just insecure, depressed.
Link to the poem 'When I have Fears'
Robert Frost
Biographical details (Relevance):
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American
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4 Pulitzer prizes
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Two kids died in infancy, wife Elinor died, sister
died, history of mental illness in family
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Read poetry aloud often
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Modernist poet
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JFK inaugural poet—FIRST POET TO READ
AT PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION
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Died in 1963 (heart attack)
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Dartmouth, Harvard, lectures at Amherst,
Harvard, Dartmouth, Cambridge
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Lives on a farm (Derry farm)
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Rural/isolated from society
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Warmer welcome in England initially/early in
career (rejected by The Atlantic)
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England (WWI), Russia (met with Khrushchev)
Techniques/devices:
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Observational poet
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Narrative—“Love and a question” “death of the hired man”
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Blank verse—unrhymed iambic pentameter
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Precise, conversational, simple diction—experiments with cadence of vernacular speech (sound of sense)
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Blended sonnet
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Personification
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Pathetic fallacy/anthropomorphism
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Uses rhyme, but with no set structure
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Ambiguity (usually speaker’s voice)
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Juxtaposition of nature/mankind, natural/man-made forms
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Dialogue—“Mending wall”
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Allusions—historical (Cortez, Balboa, Columbus—explorers; founding of America)
Voice (body of work):
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Serene
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Grandfatherly—wise, reflective
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Reflective/nostalgic—wistful (“Good Hours” “Birches”)
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Neutrality towards certain subjects/mild –“Vantage point” “Quandary”
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Sympathetic/empathetic attitude (wants reader to feel experience/share in experience)
Purpose of poetry/effect on reader/purpose of speaker:
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Appreciate/admire nature
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Enjoy life/details (carpe diem?)
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Limitations on humans (from nature/man/society)
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Insignificance of man (to nature, to god)
Key Ideas/Themes:
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Nostalgia—“birches” “After apple-picking”
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Nature/rural life—“birches”
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Limitations on humans—“Out, out—“
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Time
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Nature vs. world—“Mending Wall”
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Insignificance of man—“bound and free” “dust
of snow” “birches”
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Relationships—“mending wall” “love and a
question”
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Love—“love and a question”
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History—“America is hard to see” “JFK”
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Truth vs. authentic/real knowledge--
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Nobel Prize—1986—first African to receive
prize in literature
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Speech about apartheid, dedicated to Mandela,
HELPED FREE NELSON MANDELA BY
BRINGING INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION
TO CAUSE
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Yoruba—polytheistic, outside Hausa-Ibo
conflict, western Nigeria
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Ogun--Warrior god, machines, metallurgy,
exists in “fourth phase”—can skip between
world of ancestors, world of living, world of
unborn—completely free
Phrases:
Wole Soyinka
Biographical details (Relevance):
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Solemn, mournful poetry
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Politically active—speaking out against the
corrupt government (dictatorships in Africa,
colonial system, human rights offences in Africa
and abroad)
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Imprisoned for 22-25 months in SOLITARY
CONFINEMENT—snuck out writings on scraps
of tissue paper
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Educated in Nigeria and England—University of
Ibadan, University of Leeds
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Drama, poetry, essays, films, novels,
EVERYTHING (primarily drama)
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Abiku—“belly-jumping”—meant to torment
mother, can reappear multiple times in different
women (usually haunts one)
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Strife between tribal factions—Hausa-Fulani vs.
Ibo/Igbo
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Nigeria—colonial British rule until 1960
(imperialism—seeking palm kernels and oil—
primary export of Nigeria; imposed false
hierarchy within tribes, even in groups with no
social hierarchy e.g. Ibo), several power
changes/revolutions (great political unrest)
Techniques/devices:
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Metaphors/similies—acorns in “Massacre”; comparisons to animals or nature (plants)
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Symbolism—acorns, hogs, dawn
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Palm—kernels, oil (allusion—colonial imperialism/exploitation, economic product)
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Enjambment—emphasize certain words/phrases, flow
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Repetition—anaphora, epistrophe, epezeuksis (repeats same word in line—“happy happy joy joy”)
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Personification—anthropomorphism/pathetic fallacy
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Duality (multiple interpretations)/ambiguity
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Political messages/aspects
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Direct tie between title and subject of poem (not as ambiguous as some)
Voice (body of work):
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Hope/devestation (juxtaposed)
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Highly political/charged
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Provides insight/moral guidance
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Serious
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Morbid
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Shocking—doesn’t “sugarcoat”; “Hunchback of Dugbe”
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Purposeful ambiguity/veiled meanings (product of political situation he’s writing in)
Purpose of poetry:
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Political change
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Pathos
Key Ideas:
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dawn—symbol for beginning, life fading/hope fading (usually sunset)—“Death in the dawn”
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ethnic conflicts/massacres—“Massacre, October 1966”
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revolution/war—“Civilian and Soldier” “Massacre” “Harvest of Hate”
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death/dying—”Death in the dawn,” “Abiku” “Post Mortem”
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despair/hopelessness”Abiku” “Massacre” “Luo Plains” “Hunchback”
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darkness/light—aftermath of traumatic event (massacre, war, battle, funeral, death) “Civilian and Soldier”
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ambiguity/veiled nature—“Apres” “Massacre”
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rebirth/new life (cyclical nature)—“Abiku” “night” “Her joy is wild”
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blending of cultural/personal experiences to enact/inspire change
Phrases:
SZYMBORSKA/FROST
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time
o szymborska:
o Frost:
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Death
o Szymborska: death as an abstract concept (society/larger whole); death has a persona;
weakens death (its power is exaggerated)
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“On death, without exaggeration”—critiquing death and its
ineptitude/incompetence
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“Funeral”—people aren’t as concerned as they should be (no fear), entirely
dialogue/conversation snippets; flow of ideas between people at a funeral (death
is irrelevant—living people don’t focus on it); ambiguity—goodbyes addressed to
the deceased or to the living
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“Still”—
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“Cat in an Empty Apartment”—practical
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“Seen from above”—
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“Starvation Camp at Jaslo”—death is important, powerful, far-reaching
(contradicts “On Death, Without Exaggeration”)—discusses absence of people
after death and its effect on society (lost potential—empty cradle)
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“The Terrorist, He’s Watching”--
o Frost: death is individual, singular, focused inward (biographical details); death is an
occurance
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“Out, Out—“—last lines about others ignoring death/continuing life (compare
with “On Death, Without Exaggeration” because death doesn’t erase presence
or what you have done in life—death does not affect legacy)

“Disused graveyard”—view of death through gravestones—people are
irrelevant; compare with “Cat in an Empty apartment”—abstract concept
Observations on life
o Szymborska:

“Terrorist”
o Frost:
SZYMBORSKA/KEATS

Both are very particular about what is published/seen
o Limited publication (Keats died at 25, Szymborska is a ruthless editor)

Biographical influences
o Szymborska

Real relationships—family

WWII and Nazi occupation of Poland

Living near railroad tracks/people watching
o Keats


Real relationships—Fanny as inspiration, Charles Cowden Clarke (“Chapman’s
Homer”)
Poetry itself (as an art)
o Szymborska:

“In praise of my sister”—describes what sister does not do
o Keats:

“On the Sonnet”--

Mortality

Szymborska: close to modernists—simplistic, direct
o “Still”-o “Cat”--

Keats: romantic, flowery, classical allusions
o “When I have fears”--
SZYMBORSKA/SOYINKA

Atrocities of War
o Szymborska: use of statistics—people forget about the individuals after war (a thousand
and one rounds down to one thousand—loss of humanity, loss of importance/life,
history has little respect for the dead)

“Starvation Camp near Jaslo”

“A contribution to statistics”
o Soyinka: public perception


“Massacre, October 1966”—minimizing death tolls to avoid public backlash,
“arithmetics of death”—death doesn’t care about particulars/individuals, only
sums
NATURE
o Szymborska:
o Soyinka:

“Dawn”—common goals/accomplishments (civil war), destructive tone,
contradictory statement (dawn is usually positive, but here it “destroys peace of
night”—destructive and constructive simultaneously)

“Luo Plains”—extended litote (almost, not quite—used negative connotative
words to emphasize beauty of plains)

“Night”—cyclical nature, birth/rebirth (“Abiku”)

“Her joy is wild”--

“Death in the Dawn”—unnatural death (death of bird by the car, car crash),
dawn=new life but here death occurs at dawn, nature as an explanation for death
(cyclical nature of death), death is “futile rite”—must occur, but doesn’t have
much meaning

“Harvest of Hate”—hate is a natural, growing product (“reap what you sow”)

“Around us, dawning”—sun, death, airplane (unnatural),

2 readings: plane crashes=death; sun rises=life

Elements of nature=elements of human world (beast=plane,
uncontrollable, beyond man, form of death)
o Frost:

“birches”—

“after apple-picking”—cider apple pile—wasted resource, wasted life, does not
achieve full potential
o Keats:

DEATH (use of animals—comparing humans to animals to emphasize mortality)
o Szymborska:

“In praise of feeling bad about yourself”
o Soyinka:

“Abiku”

“Death in the dawn”
KEATS/FROST

Insects (small/large—connection between individual and universe)
o Keats--Grasshopper and cricket
o Frost--Fireflies in the garden

NATURE (nature’s relationship to humanity; plants)
o Keats—“Grecian Urn,” “Psyche”
o Frost—“Birches” “Rose Family”

Narrative Poetry
o Keats
o Frost—“Death of the hired man” “Out, Out—“
FROST/SOYINKA