The Appreciation of Poetry

THE APPRECIATION OF POETRY

What is poetry?; Though many have tried to define poetry, no one has succeeded in giving a satisfactory definition of it. Poetry seems to elude all attempts to describe it. Yet we should know something about poetry, and learn to cultivate our feeling for it, so that we may gradually come to recognize it, and know when it is present. The best we can do is to point out some essential characteristics of true poetry. Before we discuss these essential characteristics, let us try and understand the connection between poetry and verse. Verse is the form of poetry. Poets generally (but not always) write their poetry in verse-form. But there is a lot of verse written which is no poetry at all. Verse is the body, and the poetry is the soul; and body without a soul is a dead body. We shall understand this better as we go on.

Verse is usually printed in a particular way, so that you can tell it from prose at a glance. But it is the ear, not the eye, which is the true test of verse; for when verse is read aloud it sounds quite different from prose. Just listen to the different sounds of these two passages, one in prose and the other in verse :-

"The untrodden snow lay all bloodless on Linden, when the sun was low; and the flow of Iser, rolling rapidly, was dark as winter."

"On Linden, when the sun was low.

Alt bloodless lay the untrodden snow;

And dark as winter was the flow

Of Iser, rolling rapidly."

The two passages are exactly the same in meaning. In fact, the very words are the same. No. (ii) contains the first four lines of Campbell's poem called "Hohenlinden'. No. (i) contains the same lines with the same words differently arranged. Yet how differently they sound when read aloud ! If we can hear this difference, we shall soon be able to tell the difference between prose and verse.

The first two points about the verse-form of the passage that we notice are its :-

(1) Regular Rhythm :-

As you read it, can you not hear the regular beat of sound, like the regular tramp of soldiers marching; or the regular beat of the feet of people dancing? There is nothing like this regular swing in prose passage. It is caused by the fact that the poet arranges his words in such a way that the accented syllables, on which we naturally lay stress in speaking, come at equal intervals. If all the accented syllables in the first line are

italicised you will see that every second syllable must be pronounced more loudly or emphatically than the others.

"On Linden when the sun was low."

The regular rising and falling in the flow of sounds in poetry, these recurring intervals of strong and light sounds, like the beat of a

drum regulating dance movements, is called rhythm; and rhythm is the chief, and an essential characteristic of verse, as distinguished from prose. This will be made clear later on.

(2) Rhyme :-

The next point we notice is that the words at the end of the first three lines all have the same sound - low, .mow, flow. When words have the same vowel sound and end with the same consonant sound, they are said to rhyme, e.g., keep, peep; jump, lump; hate, late; crew, few; glide, slide. Rhyme is not necessary to verse (i.e., you can have verse without rhyme); but generally verse is rhymed. Rhyme serves two purposes; it makes verse more musical, by giving it pleasing sounds, like the chimes of bell; and it serves to preserve the verse-form in which the poem is arranged by marking the ends of the lines.

Stanzas :-

If you look at the whole of the poem, "The Daffodils", given on pages 452 and 453, you will notice another characteristic of verse. You will see that the poem is divided up into units and that all the units are exactly alike in form. Each unit is of six lines, the first line rhyming with the third, the second with the fourth and the fifth with the sixth. Such units or divisions in a poem are called stanzas. Most poems, though not all, are written in stanzas all of which are of the same pattern.

Verse, then, is characterized by regular rhythm, rhyme and stanzas. Of these characteristics, rhythm is essential. You cannot have verse or poetry without rhythm. But while most poems have rhyme and stanza-forms, these are not essential characteristics of poetry, for we have poems written in blank verse, i.e., verse in which each line has ten syllables but there are no rhymes at the end.

Having discussed the connection between verse and poetry, we shall now consider some essential characteristics of true poetry.

(1) Music :-

The first essential of poetry is verbal music. The poet chooses instinctively words of beautiful sound, and so arranges them that the words near each other will harmonise in sound, so as to produce what may be called "word music." And he varies this music to suit the subject, so that the sound of the lines helps to make clearer their meaning. But verbal music depends not only on the musical sound of the words, but also on rhythm. It is the combination of lovely rhythms with sweet-sounding words that gives us the music of poetry. Here are two verses from Dryden's "Song for St. Cecilia's Day". The rapid rhythm of the first verse well expresses the excitement caused by the war alarm given by trumpet and drum; the slow and quiet rhythm of the second verse suits the soft and tender music of the flute and the lute.

"The trumpet's loud clangour

Excites us to arms,

With shrill notes of anger,

And mortal alarms.

The double double double beat

Of the thundering drum

Cries, Hark ! the foes come;

Charge, charge, 'tis too late to retreat

The soft complaining flute,

In dying notes, discovers

The woes of hopeless lovers,

Whose dirge is whisper'd by the warbling lute."

Now let us examine in detail how poets obtain some of the musical effects.

(a) Rhyme :-

Words rhyming together give a musical chime of sound, and this is one reason why rhyme is so much used in poetry. Listen to the chime of the rhymes in this verse :-"Strew on her roses, roses,

And never a spray of yew, In quiet she reposes:

Ah ! would that I did too !"   (M. Arnold)

Internal rhymes (i.e., rhymes written within a line and not merely at the ends of lines)

also add music (and a slight apparent acceleration of the rhythm) to a verse; e.g.,

"The ice was here, the ice was there,

The ice was all around;

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled.

Like noises in a swound !" (Coleridge)

(b) Vowel and Consonant Sounds :-

Words with long open vowels and soft consonants (like 1, ra, n, v, w, z, etc.) produce sweet, soft, soothing music in these lines :-

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness." -- (Keats)

"Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn." -- (Keats)

"To dream and dream, like yonder amber light." -- (Tennyson)

"The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves." -- (Keats)

(c) Onomatopoeia :-

This is the name given to the figure of speech

by which the sound of the words is made to suggest or echo the sense. There are many onomatopoeic words in English; e.g., roar, bang, crash, clap, bump, bubble, screen, pop, moan, hum, murmur, etc. When they are talking of sounds, poets will use words to represent those sounds if they can. For instance :-

"The moan of doves in immemorial elms

And murmuring of innumerable bees." -- (Tennyson)

Can you not hear the cooing of the doves and the humming ot the bees? How is it done? Some of the words are onomatopoeic, e.g., moan, murmuring; in others the soft vowels,

and above all the m and n sounds, give a humming murmur, e.g., immemorial, innumerable.

(d) Alliteration :-

This is another figure of speech used in poetry. It brings together words which begin with the same consonant (or vowel) sound. For Example :-

"The fair breeze below, the white foam flew

The furrow followed free." -- (Coleridge)

Here the/sounds give the impression of wind blowing.

"I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore." -- (Yeats)

Here the I sounds represent the liquid sounds of little waves, and the sand sh sounds help. A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire." -- (Chesterton)

The r sounds help the description of a wandering road.

(e) Repetition :-

Repetition of words and phrases not only serves to emphasise the meaning, but often also to increase the musical effect of a poem.

"The woods decay, the woods decay and fall." -- (Tennyson)

"What hope of answer, or redress?

Behind the veil, behind the veil. " -- (Tennyson)

"A weary time ! A weary time !

How glazed each weary eye !" -- (Coleridge)

"In ever climbing up a climbing wave." -- (Tennyson)

"The western tide crept up along the sand.

And o'er and o'er the sand." -- (Kingsley)

And round and round the sand."

(1) Refrains :-

A refrain is a form of repetition. In some poems the same line, or part of it, is repeated at the end of each verse. Such a repeated line or phrase is called a burden or refrain.

(2) Vision :-

The second essential of poetry is vision. A great poet is a "seer", i.e., a "see-er"; one who has spiritual insight and can see truths that others do not. The ordinary unimaginative man is aware only of what he perceives by his senses, and sees only the outward aspect of what he sees. But the poets see much more. They have, in moments of vision, the power of understanding, by a kind of instinct, things, their qualities and the relations between them, which ordinary people cannot see. All true poetry is the product of vision or imagination for it is the expression of it,

Wordsworth wrote a poem about a matter-of-fact, unimaginative man, called Peter Bell. Peter Bell saw .nothing but what he saw with his physical eyes. He had no "vision." "A primrose by a river's brim A yellow primrose was to him, And it was nothing more." Now see what a primrose, or any common wild flower, is to a real poet. Wordsworth himself says :-

"To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

The poet idealises the real. He helps us to see natural objects “Apparelled in celestial light, the glory and the freshness of a dream”

There is suggestiveness in great poetry. It suggests or implies much more than it says. It has a depth of meaning that cannot be fathomed by one or two readings.

(3) Imagery :-

The suggestion of vivid mental pictures, or images, by the skilful use of words, is called "imagery." A poet can create or suggest beautiful sight-effects, as well as beautiful sound-effects, by means of words. This capacity is, of course, part of a poet's gift of imagination, Poetry, much more than prose, produces much of its effect by images. It often talks in pictures. The poet's pictures may be drawn from the real world, or the ideal world of imagination in which he dwells.

Poets have three ways of making us see mental pictures.

By Description :- He may, as a prose-writer does, describe a scene, real or ideal, in words. Here is Gray's description of the evening of a summer day :-

'The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea. The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me. Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds. Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds."

[For examples of verbal descriptions see, "The Sands of Dee" (2nd verse); Hohenlinden", "Rain in Summer."]

By certain Figures of Speech such as simile, metaphor, and personification about which you have learnt in Chapter 29. Read carefully the examples of simile, metaphor and personification given in that chapter. A poet compares one thing with another, and so suggests some important point about it by an image.

By Picturesque Epithets :- A poet can also call up a picture with a single illuminating word or phrase. Just examine the epithets of adjectives in these lines :-

"All in a hoi and copper sky,

The bloody sun, at noon." -- (Coleridge)

- What a picture of colour these two epithets call up !

(4) Emotion :-

The third essential of poetry is emotion. Ordinary prose writing (other than fiction) appeals more to the head than to heart; but the function of poetry is to touch the heart; that is, to arouse emotion. Who can read such lines as these without emotion? "And the stately ships go on.

To their haven under the hill;

But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand,

And the sound of a voice that is still!" -- (Tennyson)

But it is only emotion that can rouse emotion. If the poet feels

nothing when he writes a poem, his readers will feel nothing when they hear it. Heart must speak to heart.

To sum up, therefore, the essentials of poetry are music, vision (including imagery), and emotion. So we may say that poetry springs from imagination roused by emotion, and is expressed in music and imagery. This is not a definition for, as we have seen, we cannot define poetry, but a description of its essential characteristics.

Let us now take the well-known poem "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth to try and find out what essentials of good poetry are contained in it.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A has! of golden daffodils,

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay :

Ten thousand saw I at a glance

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

Outdid the sparkling waves in glee :

A Poet could not but be gay

In such a jocund company !

I gazed - and gazed - but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills.

And dances with the daffodils.

APPRECIATION OF THE POEM

Substance :- The first thing we must do is to read the poem through, carefully. Then we must ask ourselves: What is it all about? What is the subject? And what does the poet say about the subject?

The poet tells us that as he was taking a solitary walk beside a lake one bright and breezy Spring morning, he suddenly came upon a sight that filled him with delighted wonder at its beauty, and with gaiety of heart. There stretched before his wondering gaze thousands

and thousands of yellow daffodils under the trees beside the sparkling waters of the lake, "Fluttering and dancing in the breeze." The sight filled him with pleasure; but he did not know at the time all that the experience had added to his life. For many times afterwards, memory brought back that beautiful scene as a mental picture, which gave him over and over again the same scene of gladness.

(2) Language :- The poem is in very simple language and their

are really no difficult words. (Daffodil is a bulbous plant of the lily family bearing a yellow trumpet-shaped flower that grows wild in English woods and flowers in Spring).

(3)Imagery :- (a) The first three verses are a description of a host of daffodils under the trees by the side of a lake, lit up by the sun and dancing in the wind.

There are two similes : the comparison between the solitary poet and a lonely cloud in the first stanza, and the comparison between the endless line of daffodils and innumerable stars in the milky way given in the second stanza.

There is also an example of personification in the second stanza and again in the third stanza. The daffodils are described as dancing in glee and tossing their heads like human beings and are said to be "such a jocund company."

The statement, "Ten thousand saw I at a glance", is a figure of speech known as hyperbole; it is a poetic exaggeration not intended to be taken literally.

Sound effects :- (a) The quickened movement of line 6 of the first stanza, in comparison with the stately movement of the preceding lines, well echoes and reinforces the sense.

There is an example of alliteration in line 6 of the fourth stanza. "And dances with the daffodils". Note also the repetition in line 5 of the third stanza, "I gazed - and gazed"; it emphasises the length of time the poet stood looking in delighted wonder at the beautiful scene.

Striking lines. The most striking lines are lines 3 and 4 of the last stanza. The "inward eye" is the faculty of visualising, or calling up mental pictures from memory or the imagination. Such mind-pictures give us joy when we are alone and at leisure.

We have given here a somewhat detailed appreciation of the poem, "The Daffodils". The points amplified above in connection with Wordsworth's beautiful poem will make you understand what you should look for in good poetry in order that you may enjoy in a better way. But at the high school stage, a continuous description of all the essential qualities of a good poem is not required. A student's appre-ciation of a particular piece of poetry may be judged by asking specific questions like the following; What is the central idea of the poem. What is the poet's attitude to life, or to nature, or to whatever is the subject of the poem? What is the significance of certain given lines or expressions in the poem? What picture is sketched in the specified? How are certain sound effects produced by the poet? figures of speech are to be found in the poem and how can they be explained? What title for alternative title can be given to the poem?

SPECIMENS

Here are two short poems with certain questions on appreciation given below each of them and the answers worked out.

She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove;

A maid whom there were none to praise And very few to love.

A violet by a mossy stone Half-hidden from the eye ! -Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be;

But she in her grave, and, oh, The difference to me !

- W. Wordsworth

Questions

Give a suitable title to the poem.

Name and explain the figure of speech used in the second stanza.

Which lines in the poem show intense feeling? What feeling has the poet expressed in these lines?

What do you think of the language used in the poem?

Answers

"The Lost Love" or "She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways."

The figure of speech is simile. The girl is compared to the half hidden violet and the lonely star to emphsise (a) her solitude and obscurity, and (b) her beauty of soul as well as body.

The last two lines. They express the feeling of love and bereavement.

The most striking feature of the language is its simplicity. The poet has used simple, everyday words, mostly of one syllable; yet they produce a poem that has a magic charm.

Laugh and be merry, better the world with a song. Better the world with a blow in the teeth of a wrong. Laugh, for the time is brief, a thread the length of a span. Laugh and be proud to belong to the old proud pageant of man. Laugh and be merry : remember, in olden time, God made Heaven and Earth for joy. He took in a rhyme,

Made them, and filled them with the strong red wine of His mirth. The splendid joy of the stars; the joy of the earth.

So we must laugh and drink from the deep blue cup of the sky. Join the jubilant song, of the great stars sweeping by,

Laugh, and battle, and work, and drink of the wine outpoured In the dear green earth, the sign of the joy of the Lord. Laugh and be merry together, like brothers akin, Guesting awhile in the rooms of a beautiful inn,

Glad till the dancing stops, and the lilt of the music ends. Laugh till the game is played : and be you merry, my friends. -John Masefield

Questions

What is the central idea of the poem?

What is the “blow” with which the poet wants us to better the world

Quote three sinking examples of metaphors used in the poem.

Explain :-

"the old proud pageant of man."

"Guesting while in the rooms of a beautiful inn."

Answers

Life is short and we must therefore laugh and be cheerful, and enjoy all the beauty and happiness that can be found on this earth.

It is our laughter and merriment that will serve as a blow and hit out boldly against wrong and injustice in the world.

(i) "Laugh, for the time is brief, a thread the length of a span."

"Made them and filled them with the strong red wine of His mirth"

"Laugh till the game is played."

(a) We are part of the spectacular progress of mankind which is marked with many glorious achievements.

(b) We should be happy and cheerful together during the short time we are in this beautiful world in the same way as brothers who are staying for a short while in a beautiful inn where there is dancing and music.

Exercise

Read each of the following poems and answer the questions set below it:

What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare?

No lime to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night?

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance?

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

- William Henry Davies

      What kind of life does the poet condemn?

      What are the "stars" of which the streams are full?

      Name and explain the figures of speech in lines 9-10.

      Explain :

"No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began".

        My days among the Dead are past; Around me I behold,

Wherever these casual eyes are cast, The mighty minds of old;

My never - failing friends are they,

With whom I converse day by day;

With them I take delight in weal

And seek relief in woe;

And while I understand and feel

How much to them I owe,

My cheeks have often been bedew'd

With tears of thoughtful gratitude.

- Robert Southey

       What is the central idea of the poem?

      Who are the "mighty minds"?

      Who are the poet's friends and how are they never-failing?

       Explain:

My Cheeks have often been bedew'd

With tears of thoughtful gratitude."

        We scatter seeds with careless hand And dream we ne'er shall see them more : But for a thousand years

Their fruit appears

In weeds that mar the land, Or healthful store.

The deeds we do - the words we say Into still air they seem to float; We count them ever past -

But they shall last,

In the dread judgement, they And we shall meet !

      What is the central idea of the poem?

      Explain the imagery of the first stanza.

      Show how wrong we are about the consequences of our words and our deeds.

      Explain :

"In the dread judgement, they

And we shall meet."

        Oh, sweet content, that turns the labourer's sweat To tears of joy, and shines the roughest face; How often have I sought you high and low

      And found you still in some quiet place;           Here in my room, when full of happy dreams With    no life heard beyond that merry sound Of moths that on my lighted ceiling kiss Their shadows as they dance and dance around;

Or in a garden, on a summer's night

When I have seen the dark and solemn air

Blink with the blind bat's wings, and heaven's bright face Twitch with the stars that shine in thousands there.

Where does the poet seek sweet content? Where does he find it?

What striking word-pictures are contained in the poem?

Name and explain the figures of speech in the last two lines.

Give a suitable title to the poem.

        Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.

Oft of one wide expanse had I been told.

That deep – brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;

Yet did I never breathe its pure serene

Till 1 heard Chapman speak out loud and hold;

Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific - and all his men Look'd at each other with a wild surmise-Silent, upon a peak in Darien. - John Keats

           What idea is expressed in the first four lines of the sonnet?

            Explain the significance of the phrase "deep-browed Homer".

           What striking pictures are presented in the last six lines of the poem?

            Quote the line which you think produces the greatest musical effect.

           Explain : "pure severte"; "eagle eyes";"wild surmise".

        Strew on her roses, roses, And never a spray of yew ! In quiev she reposes;

Ah, would that I did too; Her mirth the world required; She bathed it in smiles of glee But her heart was tired, tired, And now they let her be.

Her life was turning, turning, In mazes of heat and sound.

But for peace her soul was yearning, And now peace laps her round, Her cabin'd, ample spirit,

It fluttered and fail'd for breath. To-night it doth inherit

The vasty hall of death. - Matthew Arnold

(a) Does the poet show any grief at the person's death? What exactly are his feelings on the occasion?

(b) Quote examples of repetition from the poem.

(c) What do you gather about the life of the dead person from the poem?

(d) Explain :

          "Her cabin'd, simple spirit. It flutter'd and fail'd for breath."

            "To-night it doth inherit The vasty hall of death."

        Books ! 'tis a dull and endless strife : Come, hear the woodland linnet, How sweet his music ! on my life

There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark ! how blithe the throstle sings,

He too is no mean preacher :

Come forth into the light of things,

Let Nature be your teacher...

Enough of Science and of Art;

Come forth, and bring with you a heart That watches and receives.

      Name and explain the figure of speech in the sixth line.

     What feelings does the poet seek to awaken in you by the following exclamations?

"Books !""hark!"

       What kind of teaching does Nature give?

Explain ."the light of things"; "a heart that watches and receives". - S.S.C. Examination

        They tell us of an Indian tree Which, howsoever the sun and the sky May tempt its boughs to wander free And shoot and blossom wide and high Far better loves to bend its arms Downwards again to that dear earth, From which the life that fills and warms Its grateful being first had birth.

Tis thus, though wooed by flattering friends And fed with fame (if fame it be),

This heart, my own dear mother, bends 

The With love's true instinct back to thee.

(a) Name the figures of speech in the second and the third lines.

(b) Why is the tree considered "grateful"?

(c) In what respect is the poet like the tree?

(d) Explain : "Wooed by flattering friends"; "Shoot and blossom wide and high." - S.S.C. Examination