St. Robert C.H.S.
Sp ec ial po in ts
o f i n te re st:
ALLEGORICAL VERSE
FREE VERSE
Volume 1, Issue 1
LYRICAL VERSE
DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE
SONG LYRICS
Inside this issue:
The Sound of Words
2
The Meaning of Words
3
The Arrangement of Words
4
The Arrangement of Words
cont.
5
The Images of Words
6
Poetry Explication Essay
Structure
7
Allegorical Verse: Because I
8
could not Stop for Death
Free Verse:
9
I, Icarus
Lyric Poetry:
10
Summer Night
Song Lyrics:
11
Afternoons and Coffeespoons
Dramatic Monologue: The Love
Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Dramatic Monologue: The Love
Song of J. Alfred Prufrock cont.
Dramatic Monologue: The Love
Song of J. Alfred Prufrock cont.
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12
13
14
Personal Notes
15
Publication Information
16
2010
Thoughts on Poetry
APOET IS LIMITED in
simple, self-contained, and
unpretentious
listener even as they delight
his ear
• they must have a meaning
which might have been unanticipated, but seems to be
the perfectly right one
• they must be arranged in a
relationship and placed on the
page in ways that are at once
easy to follow and assist the
reader in understanding
• they must probe the depths
of human thought, emotion,
and empathy, while appearing
Fortunately, the English
language contains a wide
range of words from which
to choose for almost every
thought, and there are also
numerous plans or methods
of arrangement of these
words, called poetic devices, which can assist the
writer in developing cogent
expressions pleasing to his
readers.
Even though most poetry
today is read silently, it
must still carry with it the
feeling of being spoken
aloud, and the reader
should practice “hearing” it
in order to catch all of the
artfulness with which the
the
materials he can use in
creating his works: all he
has are words to express
his ideas and feelings.
These words need to be
precisely right on several
levels at once:
• they must sound right to the
“Words mean more than what is
set down on paper.
It tae the
human voice to infuse them with
deeper meaning.”
~Maya Angelou
poet has created his work.
Words or portions of words
can be clustered or juxtaposed
to achieve specific kinds of
effects when we hear them.
The sounds that result can
strike us as clever and pleasing, even soothing. Others we
dislike and strive to avoid.
These various deliberate arrangements of words have
been identified.
Avoid the Unnecessary Use of the
Verb "to be" (CONSIDER USING THE FOLLOWING INSTEAD:)
dramatizes
presents
illustrates
characterizes
underlines
asserts
posits
enacts
connects
portrays
asserts
posits
enacts
connects
portrays
addresses
emphasizes
stresses
accentuates
enables
Page 2
"A poem
should not
mean but
be."
~ Archibald
MacLeish
American Poet
(1892-1982)
"The true philosopher and
the true poet are
one, and a
beauty, which is
truth, and a
truth, which is
beauty, is the
aim of both."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
American Poet (18031882)
THE SOUNDS OF WORDS
Words or portions of
words can be clustered
or juxtaposed to
achieve specific kinds
of effects when we
hear them. The sounds
that result can strike us
as clever and pleasing,
even soothing. Others
we dislike and strive to
avoid. These various
deliberate arrangements of words have
been identified.
Consonance: Repeated
consonant sounds at the
ending of words placed near
each other, usually on the
same or adjacent lines.
These should be in sounds
that are accented, or
stressed, rather than in
vowel sounds that are unaccented. This produces a
pleasing kind of nearrhyme.
Example: boats into the
past
Cacophony A discordant
series of harsh, unpleasant
sounds helps to convey disorder. This is often furthered
by the combined effect of
the meaning and the difficulty of pronunciation.
Example: My stick fingers
click with a snicker
And, chuckling, they
knuckle the keys
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Alliteration: Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words placed near
each other, usually on the
same or adjacent lines. A
somewhat looser definition
is that it is the use of the
same consonant in any part
of adjacent words.
Asso na nce : Repeated
vowel sounds in words
placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent
lines. These should be in
sounds that are accented, or
stressed, rather than in
vowel sounds that are unaccented.
Example: Peter and Andrew
patted the pony at Ascot
Example: He‟s a bruisin‟
loser
Euphony: A series of musically pleasant sounds, conveying a sense of harmony
and beauty to the language.
Rhythm: speech rhythms
(verbal stresses) into a regular pattern of accented syllables separated by unaccented syllables. Rhythm
helps to distinguish poetry
from prose.
Example: Than Oars divide
the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam—
Onomatopoeia: Words that
sound like their meanings.
Example:
crackle
boom,
buzz,
Repetition: The purposeful
re-use of words and phrases
for an effect.
Example: I was glad; so
very, very glad.
Rhyme: Words that
have different beginning
sounds but whose endings
sound alike
Example: time, slime, mime
Example: i THOUGHT i
SAW a PUSsyCAT.
Meter: is measured by the
number of feet. A line with
five feet is called pentameter; thus, a line of five
iambs is known as “iambic
pentameter”
The most common line
lengths are:
monometer: one foot
tetrameter: four feet
heptameter: seven feet
dimeter: two feet
pentameter: five feet
octameter: eight feet
trimeter: three feet
hexameter: six feet
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 3
THE MEANING OF WORDS
M
Allegory: A representation of
an abstract or spiritual meaning.
Sometimes it can be a single
word or phrase, such as the
name of a character or place.
Often, it is a symbolic narrative
that has not only a literal meaning, but a larger one understood
only after reading the entire
story or poem
Ambiguity: A word or phrase
that can mean more than one
thing, even in its context. Poets
often search out such words to
add richness to their work. Often, one meaning seems quite
readily apparent, but other,
deeper and darker meanings,
await those who contemplate
the poem.
Allusion: A brief reference to
some person, historical event,
work of art, or Biblical or
mythological situation or character.
Example: Robert Frost‟s „The
Subverted Flower‟
Analogy: A comparison, usually something unfamiliar with
something familiar.
Example: The plumbing took a
maze of turns where even water
got lost.
what distinguishes the precisely
correct word from one that
is merely acceptable.
Metonymy: A figure of speech
in which a person, place, or
thing is referred to by something
closely
associated with it.
Apostrophe: Speaking directly
to a real or imagined listener or
inanimate object; addressing
that person or
thing by name.
Example: O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done…
Euphemism: An understatement, used to lessen the effect
of a statement; substituting
something innocuous
for something that might be
offensive or hurtful.
Example: She is at rest.
(meaning, she‟s dead)
ost words convey several
meanings or shades of meaning
at the same time. It is the poet‟s
job to find words which, when
used in relation to other words
in the poem, will carry the precise intention of thought. Often,
some of the more significant
words may carry several layers
or “depths” of meaning at once.
The ways in which the meanings of words are used can be
identified.
Cliché: Any figure of speech
that was once clever and original but through overuse has
become outdated. If
you‟ve heard more than two or
three other people say it more
than two or three times, chances
are the
phrase is too timeworn to be
useful in your writing.
Example: busy as a bee
Connotation: The emotional,
psychological or social overtones of a word; its implications
and associations apart from its
literal meaning. Often, this is
Denotation: The dictionary
definition of a word
Hyperbole: An outrageous exaggeration used for effect.
Example: He weighs a ton.
Irony: A contradictory statement or situation to reveal a
reality different from what appears to be true.
Example: Wow, thanks for expensive gift...let‟s see: did it
come with a Fun Meal or the
Burger King
equivalent?
Example: The White House stated
today that... Example: The Crown
reported today that...
Oxymoron: A combination of
two words that appear to contradict each other.
Example: a pointless point of
view; bittersweet
"Poetry lifts
the veil from
the hidden
beauty of
the
world, and
makes familiar objects
be as if they
were not familiar."
Percy Bysshe
Shelley
English Poet
(1792-1822)
Paradox: A statement in which
a seeming contradiction may
reveal an unexpected truth. Example: The faster I go the more
behind I get.
Personification: Attributing
human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea.
Example: The days crept by
slowly, sorrowfully.
Synecdoche: Indicating a person, object, etc. by letting only a
certain part represent the whole.
Example: All hands on deck.
William
Shakespeare
Page 4
"Poets are
masters of us
ordinary men,
in knowledge of
the mind,
because they
drink at
streams which
we have not yet
made accessible to science."
~Sigmund Freud
"Poetry is an
orphan of silence.
The words
never quite
equal the experience behind them."
Charles Simic
American Poet
born in 1938
The Arrangement of Words
Words follow each other in
a sequence determined by
the poet. In order to discuss
the arrangements that result,
certain terms have been
applied to various aspects
of that arrangement process.
Although in some ways
these sequences seem arbitrary and mechanical, in
another sense they help to
determine the nature of the
poem.
Point of View: The au-
• 3rd Person omniscient: the
speaker is not part of the
story, but is able to “know”
and describe what all characters are thinking.
series of metrical feet. Generally, but not always, the
line is printed as one single
line on the page. If it occupies more than one line, its
remainder is usually indented to indicate that it is a
continuation.
There is a natural tendency
when reading poetry to
pause at the end of a line,
but the careful reader will
follow the punctuation to
find where natural pauses
should occur.
Verse: One single line of a
Stanza: A division of a
poem arranged in a metrical
pattern. Also, a piece of
poetry or a particular form
of poetry such as free verse,
blank verse, etc., or the art
or work of a poet. The
popular use of the word
verse for a stanza or associated group of metrical lines
is not in accordance with
the best usage. A stanza is a
group of verses.
poem created by arranging
the lines into a unit, often
repeated in the same pattern
of meter and rhyme
throughout the poem; a unit
of poetic lines (a
“paragraph” within the
poem). The stanzas within a
poem are separated by
blank lines.
Stanzas in
modern poetry, such as free
verse, often do not have
lines that are all of the same
length and meter, nor even
the same number of lines in
each stanza. Stanzas created
by such irregular line
groupings are often dictated
by meaning, as in paragraphs of prose.
Line: The line is fundamental to the perception of
poetry, marking an important visual distinction from
prose. Poetry is arranged
into a series of units that do
not necessarily correspond
to sentences, but rather to a
12 University Poetry
thor‟s point of view concentrates on the vantage point
of the speaker, or “teller” of
the story or poem. This may
be considered the poem‟s
“voice” — the pervasive
presence behind the overall
work. This is also sometimes referred to as the persona.
• 1st Person: the speaker is
a character in the story or
poem and tells it from his/
her perspective (uses “I”).
• 3rd Person limited: the
speaker is not part of the
story, but tells about the
other characters through the
limited perceptions of one
other person.
In traditional verse forms,
the length of each line is
determined by convention,
but in modern poetry the
poet has more latitude for
choice.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 5
Stanza Forms: The names
given to describe the number of
lines in a stanzaic unit, such as:
couplet (2), tercet (3), quatrain
(4), quintet (5), sestet (6), septet
(7), and octave (8). Some stanzas follow a set rhyme scheme
and meter in addition to the
number of lines and are given
specific names to describe them,
such as, ballad meter, ottava
rima, rhyme royal, terza rima,
and Spenserian stanza.
Enjambment: The continuation of the logical sense —
and therefore the grammatical construction —beyond
the end of a line of poetry.
This is sometimes done with
the title, which in effect becomes the first line of the
poem.
Form: The arrangement or
method used to convey the
content, such as free verse,
ballad, haiku, etc. In other
words, the “way-it-is-said.” A
variably interpreted term,
however, it sometimes applies
to details within the composition of a text, but is probably
used most often in reference to
the structural characteristics of
a work as it compares to (or
differs from) established
modes of conventionalized
arrangements.
SOME FORMS:
scribed pattern or structure —
the poet determines all the variables as seems appropriate for
each poem
 Quatrain: a four-line stanza,
or a grouping of four lines of
verse
Open: poetic form free from
regularity and consistency in
elements such as rhyme, line
length, and metrical form
Closed: poetic form subject to a
fixed structure and pattern
Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic
pentameter (much of the plays
of Shakespeare are written in
this form)
Couplet: a pair of lines, usually
rhymed; this is the shortest
stanza
Heroic Couplet: a pair of
rhymed lines in iambic pentameter (traditional heroic epic
form)
Free Verse: lines with no pre-
Lyric: derived from the
Greek word for lyre, lyric
poetry was originally designed to be sung. One of the
three main groups of poetry
(the others being narrative
and dramatic), lyric verse is
the most frequently used
modern form, including all
poems in which the speaker‟s
ardent expression of a
(usually single) emotional
element predominates. Ranging from complex thoughts to
the simplicity of playful wit,
the melodic imagery of skillfully written lyric poetry
evokes in the reader‟s mind
the recall of similar emotional experiences.
"Poetry
should be
great and
unobtrusive, a
thing
which enters into
one's
soul,
and does
not startle it or
amaze it
with itself, but
with its
subject."
John Keats
English Poet
(1795-1821)
Page 6
The Images of Words
"There's no
money in
poetry, but
then there's
no poetry
in money,
either."
Robert Graves
English Poet
(1895-1985)
"A poem is
never finished, only
abandoned."
Paul Valery
French Poet
(1871-1945)
Imagery: The use of vivid
language to generate ideas
and/or evoke mental images, not only of the visual
sense, but of sensation and
emotion as well. While
most commonly used in
reference to figurative language, imagery can apply to
any component of a poem
that evoke sensory experience and emotional response, and also applies to
the concrete things
brought to mind.
Related images are often
clustered or scattered
throughout a work, thus
serving to create a particular mood or tone. Images of
disease, corruption, and
death, for example, are recurrent patterns shaping our
perceptions of Shakespeare‟s Hamlet.
Sound: Tom placed his ear
tightly against the wall; he
could hear a faint but distinct thump thump thump.
Ex: Sight: Smoke mysteriously puffed out from the
clown‟s ears.
Tone, Mood: The means by
which a poet reveals attitudes and feelings, in the
style of language or expression of thought used to develop the subject. Certain
tones include not only irony
and satire, but may be loving, condescending, bitter,
pitying, fanciful, solemn,
and a host of other emotions
12 University Poetry
so
through imaginative use and
combinations of diction.
Poetry works it magic by
the way it uses words to
evoke “images” that carry
depths of meaning.
In addition to its more tangible initial impact, effective imagery has the potential to tap the inner wisdom
of the reader to arouse
meditative and inspirational
responses.
The poet‟s carefully described impressions of
sight, sound, smell, taste
and touch can be transferred
to the thoughtful reader
Touch: The burlap wall
covering scraped against the
little boy‟s cheek.
• Taste: A salty tear ran
across onto her lips.
Smell: Cinnamon! That‟s
what wafted into his nostrils.
and attitudes. Tone can
also refer to the overall
mood of the poem itself, in
the sense of a pervading
atmosphere intended to
influence the readers‟ emotional response and foster
expectations of the conclusion. Another use of tone is
in reference to pitch or to
the demeanour of a speaker
Synesthesia: An attempt
to fuse different senses
by describing one kind of
sense impression in
words normally used to
describe another.
Example: The sound of
her voice was sweet.
Example: a loud aroma, a
velvety smile
as interpreted through inflections of the voice; in poetry,
this is conveyed through the
use of connotation, diction,
figures of speech, rhythm
and other elements of poetic
construction.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 7
Poetry Explication Essay Structure
Paragraph #2 – literal
summary of the poem.
Last sentence of paragraph is the thesis
statement (the theme
and the tone – positive
or negative)
Last Paragraph – the
title on a connotative
level, auditory devices
(sound devices), discuss
the meaning of the last
line of the poem.
Paragraph #1 – Background to the author (if Paragraph #3-? – full
connotation analysis of
you know anything)
the poem…remember
to use the lit devices
TP-CASTT
Title: What does the title
mean?
Consider carefully
the title’s connotation before
reading a selection or poem.
Paraphrase: Translate the
poem into other easily understandable words. Literal/
denotative meaning only,
resist the urge to interpret.
Look for syntactical units,
complete sentences and enjambment.
Connotation: Extend beyond the literal level mentioned above.
Emotional
overtones of diction. Con- stanza division, changes in
line and or stanza length,
sider figurative language.
irony, (which sometimes
Attitude: the poet's (TONE) hides shifts), effects of strucBasic analysis of Tone: ture on meaning.
DIDLS or PDIDLS. Look for
speaker’s attitude toward Title: Examine title again,
self, other characters, and this time on an interpretative
the subject. Observe both level.
the speaker’s and the poet’s
(TONE) attitude. Do not con- Theme: Determine what the
poet is saying. List what the
fuse them.
poem is about (the subjects),
Shifts: in speakers and in then determine what the
attitudes. Look for occasion poem is saying about each of
of poem (time and place), these subjects (purpose,
key words, punctuation, theme, message).
PDIDLS for Tone
Point of View: the narrative‟s
perspective. First, third person,
limited or omniscient.
Details: facts included or omitted based on speakers perspective.
Diction: the connotation of the
word choice.
Language: The overall use of
language such as formal, clinical, jargon, emotional. These
words describe force or quality
of diction, images, and details-they qualify how the work is
written .
Images: vivid appeals which
create understanding through
the senses using figurative language.
Sentence Structure:
how structure affects
the reader‟s attitude.
Determine what the
poet is saying..
"A poet who
makes use
of a worse
word instead of a
better, because the
former fits
the rhyme or
the measure, though
it weakens
the sense, is
like a jeweler, who
cuts a diamond into a
brilliant, and
diminishes
the weight
to make it
shine more."
Horace Walpole
English Poet
(1717-1797)
Page 8
Allegorical Verse
"Each memorable verse of a
true poet
has two or three
times the written
content."
Alfred de Musset
French Romantic Poet
(1810-1857)
"Poets utter
great and wise
things which
they do not
themselves understand."
Plato
An allegory is a
narrative having a
second
meaning
beneath the surface one - a story
with two meanings,
a
literal
meaning and a
symbolic meaning.
Examples of allegories are the
Fairie Queen by
Edmund Spenser,
Pilgrim's Progress
by John Bunyan
and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
~Emily Dickinson
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.
We passed the school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
Or rather, he passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.
12 University Poetry
Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a family well known for educational and political activity. Her father was
an orthodox Calvinist who was a lawyer and
served for a time in Congress. Emily studied
at Amherst Academy (1834-47) and a couple of years after finishing her education she
began writing poetry. At the age of 23 Emily
withdrew more and more into a secluded life,
rarely venturing out into social circles. Emily
spent most of her time in her room often composing poetry. Although Emily led a reclusive
outer life, she did correspond with writers
such as John Keats, John Ruskin, and Sir Thomas Browne. However although her outer life
was one of great simplicity the poetry of
Emily Dickinson offers a wealth of spontaneity and creativity.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 9
Free Verse
Free verse (or, in French, vers
libre), a kind of poetry that
does not conform to any
regular metre: the length of
its lines is irregular, as is its
use of rhyme—if any. Instead
of a regular metrical pattern
it uses more flexible cadences
or rhythmic groupings, sometimes supported by anaphora
and other devices of repetition. Now the most widely
practised verse form in English, it has precedents in
translations of the biblical
Psalms and in some poems of
Blake and Goethe, but established itself only in the late
19th and early 20th centuries
with Walt Whitman, the
French Symbolists, and the
poets of modernism. Free
verse should not be confused
with blank verse, which does
observe a regular metre in its
unrhymed lines.
I, Icarus ~Alden Nowlan
There was a time when I could fly. I swear it.
Perhaps, if I thing hard for a moment, I can even tell you the year.
My room was on the ground floor at the rear of the house.
My bed faced a window.
Night after night I lay on my bed and willed myself to fly.
It was hard work, I can tell you.
Sometimes I lay perfectly still for an hour before I felt my body
rising from the bed.
I rose slowly, slowly until I floated three or four feet above the
floor.
Then, with a kind of swimming motion, I propelled myself toward
the window.
"He who
draws noble delights from
sentiments of
poetry is a
true poet,
though he
has never
written a
line in all
his life."
George Sand
Female
French writer
who used the
pseudonym
George Sand
(1804-1876)
Outside, I rose higher and higher, above the pasture fence, above
the clothesline, above the dark, haunted trees beyond the
pasture.
And, all the time, I heard the music of flutes.
It seemed the wind make this music.
And sometimes there were voices singing.
Alden Nowlan left school before graduating and during his adolescent years worked at a variety of
jobs, all of them menial, manual, or both. He was a pulp cutter, a farmhand, a sawmill worker, a
night watchman, a ditch digger and a logger. Primarily self-educated, he later went on to work as a
newspaperman, and published poetry, plays, short stories, and novels. Born on January 25, 1933
at Windsor, Novia Scotia, he is widely recognized as one of the most important poets to appear in
Canada in the last thirty years. His poetry collection Bread, Wine and Salt won the Governor’s General award in 1967. Much of his work reflects his regional roots and an affection for the ordinary
people. He died in Fredericton June 27, 1983.
Page 10
Lyric Poetry
Lyric Poetry consists of a poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. The term lyric is now commonly referred to as the words to a song. Lyric poetry does not tell a
story which portrays characters and actions. The lyric poet addresses the
reader directly, portraying his or her own feeling, state of mind, and perceptions.
Summer Night ~Langston Hughes
"When critics
disagree, the
artist is in accord with himself."
Oscar Wilde
(1854-1900)
"From Mozart I
learnt to say important things in
a conversational
way."
George Bernard Shaw
(1856-1950)
12 University Poetry
Langston Hughes was born in 1902
and died in 1967 of cancer. He was
a great poet that inspired many lives.
He had many experiences traveling
the world and living in Harlem that
influenced his writing. Hughes was
known as Harlem’s Poet”(Langston).
Hughes inspired many through the
depression giving motivational
speeches and writing. He kept black
American life a reality in front of a
wide audience of readers.
Page 11
Song Lyrics
Verse or poem that can, or supposedly can, be sung to musical accompaniment (in ancient times, usually a lyre) or that expresses intense personal emotion in a manner suggestive of a song. Lyric poetry expresses the thoughts
and feelings of the poet and is sometimes contrasted with narrative poetry
and verse drama, which relate events in the form of a story.
Bradley
Kenneth
"Brad"
Roberts
(born January 10,
1964,
W i n ni p e g,
Manitoba) is the lead
singer and guitarist for
the Canadian folk-rock
band Crash Test Dummies. He sings in the
bass-baritone range.
His musical career
began with a Bachelor's degree with Honours from University
of Winnipeg in 1986.
Roberts began performing in a house
band for the Blue Note
Cafe in Winnipeg under the moniker Bad
Brad Roberts and the
St. James Rhythm
Pigs. The band gradually evolved into The
Crash Test Dummies.
While studying at university and working as
a bartender at The
Spectrum Cabaret,
Roberts began writing
his own songs and introducing them to the
band. After attending a
songwriters' workshop
with Lyle Lovett at the
Winnipeg Folk Festival, Brad wrote
"Superman's Song."
Afternoons and Coffeespoons
What is it that makes me just a little bit queasy?
~Brad Roberts
There's a breeze that makes my breathing not so easy
I've had my lungs checked out with X rays
I've smelled the hospital hallways
Someday I'll have a disappearing hairline
Someday I'll wear pyjamas in the daytime
Times when the day is like a play by Sartre
When it seems a bookburning's in perfect order I gave the doctor my description
I tried to stick to my prescriptions
Someday I'll have a disappearing hairline
Someday I'll wear pyjamas in the daytime
Afternoons will be measured out
Measured out, measured with
Coffeespoons and T.S. Eliot
Maybe if I could do a play-by-playback
I could change the test results that I will get back
I've watched the summer evenings pass by
I've heard the rattle in my bronchi …
Someday I'll have a disappearing hairline
Someday I'll wear pyjamas in the daytime
Afternoons will be measured out
Measured out, measured with
Coffeespoons and T.S. Eliot
12 University Poetry
Page 12
Dramatic
Monologue
A dramatic monologue is a
combination of the words
dramatic and monologue
(obviously). The "dramatic"
says that it could be acted
out, and is a form of drama,
while the "monologue" defines it as a speech that one
person makes, either to
themself or to another. A
dramatic monologue is written to reveal both the situation at hand and the character herself.
Biography:
Thomas Stearns Eliot (September 26,
1888 – January 4, 1964) was born in St.
Louis, Missouri, the youngest of seven
children raised as a Unitarian. He studied at Harvard University where he was
recognized as a brilliant student and
where he began work on his poem "The
Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," one of
his best-known works. After graduating,
he continued his studies in Germany,
France and at
Oxford University.
Poem
Introduction
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero,
Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo. (1)
12 University Poetry
(1) A passage from Dante Alighieri's
Inferno (Canto 27, lines 61-66) spoken by Guido da Montefeltro in response to the questions of Dante,
who Guido supposes is dead, since
he is in Hell:. The flame in which
Guido is encased vibrates as he
speaks: "If I thought that that I was
replying to someone who would
ever return to the world, this flame
would cease to flicker. But since no
one ever returns from these depths
alive, if what I've heard is true, I will
answer you without fear of infamy."
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 13
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ~T. S. Eliot
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized (2) upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust (3) restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question . . .
Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair-[They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!"]
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin-[They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!"]
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo. (4)
For I have known them all already, known them all:-Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
And I have known the eyes already, known them all-The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
And I have known the arms already, known them all-Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
...
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?
Page 14
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock cont.
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
...
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep . . . tired . . . or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, (5)
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a platter,
(6)
I am no prophet--and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: "I am Lazarus, (7) come from the dead
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"-If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: "That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all."
And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the
floor-And this, and so much more?-It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern (8) threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
"That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all."
.....
12 University Poetry
.....
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, (9) nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous-Almost, at times, the Fool.
I grow old . . .I grow old . . .
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the
beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
(2) Anesthetized with ether; but also suggesting "made etherial," less real.
(3) Cheap bars and restaurants used to
spread sawdust on the floor to soak up
spilled beer, etc.
(4) The great Renaissance Italian artist.
(5) Cookies and ice cream.
(6) Like John the Baptist (see Matthew 14: 112)
(7) A man raised from death by Jesus (see
John 11: 1-44). Eliot may also have had in
mind the Lazarus in the parable told by Jesus
in Luke 16:19-31, in which case the poetical
Lazarus would have returned to deliver a
message which the Biblical Lazarus could not.
(8) Early form of slide projector.
(9) Shakespeare's sensitive hero known
for procrastination.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 15
NOTES:
St. Robert C.H.S.
8101 Leslie Street
Thornhill, Ontario
L3T 7P4
Phone: 905-889-4982
English is the backbone of
every job!
St. Robert Catholic High School was the first high
school in the York Catholic District School Board.
The high school was first established in 1975 on the
original site of St. Robert Elementary School. In
January 1989 the final addition was added to the
school to complete the high school, as it exists today. Over the years St. Robert Catholic High School
has developed a reputation in the community for
academic excellence, exuberant school spirit, and
commitment to the needs of others. Our staff, students and parents work hard to maintain the 29-year
tradition that has enabled our graduates to contribute both personally and professionally to their communities. One of our most gratifying accomplishments is the number of graduates who have entered
the teaching profession, many of them returning to
teach for the Y.C.D.S.B.