Questions tagged [poetry]
Questions about poetry in general or about any specific poem. Please use this tag with the appropriate author tag, and, if applicable, a language tag (such as [french-literature].
801
questions
3
votes
0
answers
150
views
Who is the "lady weeping at the crossroads" in W. H. Auden's poem?
... and why does she need to go to the end of the world to plunge a penknife into her false heart?
W. H. Auden's poem
Lady Weeping at the Crossroads
starts with the stanza
“Lady, weeping at the ...
- 11.6k
4
votes
2
answers
40
views
What did Walt Whitman mean by "a pennant universal"?
(Edit: This was closed because it was marked as "opinion based" and I was asked to edit the question so that it could be answered by facts and citations.
@Fumblefingers gave citations, ...
- 1,835
5
votes
0
answers
141
views
Reference to Novalis in Ghérasim Luca's poem "La Poésie Pratique"
Ghérasim Luca's poem "La Poésie Pratique" / "Practical Poetry" contains the following lines:
En pratiquant le bouche à bouche de mot à mot
de « feu » le mort à « feu » vif
d' « ...
- 9,554
2
votes
2
answers
179
views
Name for device in "Possessions" by Hart Crane?
The poem 'Possessions' by Hart Crane contains a lot of what I call 'false units', that is, sentences which appear to have predicates describing subjects, but in reality the predicates do not modify ...
2
votes
1
answer
85
views
What does this line from an essay on T. S. Eliot mean?
The following extract is from Charles Altieri's essay "Eliot's Impact on twentieth-century Anglo-American poetry" published in The Cambridge Companion to T. S. Eliot. Here, Altieri is ...
- 21.8k
3
votes
0
answers
45
views
Are there standard guidelines on apostrophising to denote swallowed syllables for scansion?
There are various words in English which can be pronounced in different ways with different numbers of syllables. Poetry often requires them to be read in a particular way for appropriate scansion, ...
- 71k
5
votes
3
answers
403
views
How do we know that Shelley's "Adonais" refers to Byron and Moore?
In every site I've seen that analyzes Shelley's Adonais, they all agree that in the following stanza the "Pilgrim of Eternity" refers to Byron. Here is one example:
From stanza 30 to 35, ...
0
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What does “inward eye” mean?
William Wordsworth’s poem "The Daffodils" contains the following lines:
For oft, when on my couch I lie,
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
which is bliss of ...
1
vote
0
answers
20
views
What early copy of Kobzar was discovered in 2003?
The translator notes for the Taras Shevchenko poem Tribute to Shternberg in The Complete Kobzar mentioned that the authorship of the poem was in dispute until the 2003 discovery of a "rare early ...
4
votes
2
answers
215
views
Did Lord Byron fluff his Greek in his poem beginning 'Maid of Athens, ere we part'?
One of Lord Byron's most famous poems appears, in the earliest editions of his works, under the simple title of 'Song', but is now more widely know by its first line, 'Maid of Athens, ere we part'. ...
- 584
1
vote
0
answers
49
views
Why was a time of war described as "good"?
The poem Ivan Pidkova by Taras Shevchenko (in The Complete Kobzar) contains the following lines:
There was an age - that trouble
Pranced about Ukraine,
Grief quaffed honeymead
Like rebels in a tavern....
8
votes
3
answers
232
views
Is there any known tune for the last two verses of Rudyard Kipling's Parade Song of the Camp Animals?
The last section of the Jungle Book is a song by the animals serving in the army in India, split into sections for each animal. For the first four sections the verses closely mirror well known tunes ...
- 986
0
votes
1
answer
41
views
What do ellipses mean in the context of this Taras Shevchenko poem?
I recently encountered the following in a Taras Shevchenko poem (To Osnovianenko) in The Complete Kobzar (Peter Fedynsky translation):
Our idea and our song
Will neither die nor perish...
And that, ...
- 1,835
2
votes
1
answer
131
views
Is "the Kozak in a stormy meadow" part of a traditional song?
The Taras Shevchenko poem To Osnovianenko (in The Complete Kobzar, translated by Peter Fedynsky) has the following lines:
I ramble through the snow
And to myself I sing:
The Kozak in a Stormy Meadow!...
9
votes
3
answers
714
views
Who is the 'pale Titan-woman' in Swinburne's 'Ave atque Vale'?
For those fond of intertextual references, 'Ave atque Vale' by Algernon Charles Swinburne, an English poet's lament for the French poet Charles Baudelaire, is something of a goldmine, being absolutely ...
- 151
6
votes
0
answers
93
views
Who or what is 'our God' in Swinburne's 'Ave atque Vale'?
The following is a bonus question to "Who is the 'pale Titan-woman' in Swinburne's 'Ave atque Vale'?", which I was advised to separate into its own question.
The twelfth verse of 'Ave atque ...
- 1,835
1
vote
3
answers
252
views
What does “be one traveler” mean in “The Road Not Taken”?
In “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, the first stanza reads as follows:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down ...
3
votes
1
answer
91
views
What did W M Praed mean by 'see if he turns out his toe'?
I had the pleasure of coming across one of Winthrop Mackworth Praed's better-known poems the other day, his 'A Letter of Advice', which purports to be a verse epistle from one young woman to another, ...
- 53.5k
4
votes
1
answer
319
views
Which poet explained 'why sweet Hesper glows'?
I came across a rather good poem by Michael Field (actually a pseudonym for an incestuous aunt-and-niece literary double act) the other day, which begins 'Adown the Lesbian vales'. It's just a bit too ...
- 53.5k
2
votes
1
answer
171
views
Who are the 'sweet Saterian dames'?
I came across a beautiful (and subtly extremely rude!) poem called 'A Present to a Lady' the other day, penned by that most prolific of poets, Anonymous. I think I understand all the references - ...
- 53.5k
3
votes
2
answers
125
views
Is Plarr's 'Epitaphium Citharistriae' a translation?
Victor Plarr is most famous for a short poem called 'Epitaphium Citharistriae', which reads as follows:
Stand not uttering sedately
Trite oblivious praise above her!
Rather say you saw her lately
...
- 53.5k
4
votes
2
answers
505
views
What is the "slow wheel" in Frost's "Into My Own"?
Into My Own, by Robert Frost (first two stanzas):
One of my wishes is that those dark trees,
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as 'twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But ...
- 111
7
votes
1
answer
92
views
Was there a unified "First World War poetry" movement (during the war itself)?
There is a massive body of literature which can collectively be called "First World War poetry", written by a huge number of poets from many different countries. Many of these poems were ...
- 21.8k
7
votes
1
answer
498
views
What are 'The cobweb clues of Rosamond'?
I came across a rather good poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson today. It's called simply 'April'. It's just a bit too long to post in full here, but here's a link.
I was a bit confused by these lines:
The ...
- 1,024
14
votes
1
answer
5k
views
What happened on April 22, 1838?
The poem Kateryna by the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko (also known as Kobzar) is dedicated to Vasilii Andreyevich Zhukovsky "in memory of April 22, 1838." What is this heading referring to?...
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
What does "pull down the blinds" mean in Yeats's poem "The Mountain Tomb"?
Pour wine and dance, if manhood still have pride,
Bring roses, if the rose be yet in bloom;
The cataract smokes on the mountain side.
Our Father Rosicross is in his tomb.
Pull down ...
- 21.8k
8
votes
6
answers
7k
views
What does "ceremony of innocence" mean In "The Second Coming"?
The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The ...
7
votes
1
answer
254
views
'Wild-bee hours' and 'wild-parrot days' in Sarojini Naidu's "A Rajput Love Song"
Sarojini Naidu's poem A Rajput Love Song has the stanza:
Haste, O wild-bee hours, to the gardens of the sunset!
Fly, wild-parrot day, to the orchards of the west!
Come, O tender night, with your ...
- 53.5k
4
votes
1
answer
274
views
Pronouns in Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"
I have four questions regarding Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard".
What is the subject of "molest" in this stanza?
Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r
The ...
- 11.6k
7
votes
1
answer
243
views
Rhyme scheme in two of William Blake's poems
I have a question regarding rhymes in two English poems by William Blake.
Here is the first poem, "The Ecchoing Green":
The sun does arise,
And make happy the skies.
The merry bells ring
To ...
- 584
4
votes
1
answer
678
views
Did George Bernard Shaw write the poem "Living Grave"?
You can read it here
The poem gets shared a lot in vegan circles but I can't find where it was originally published.
- 53.5k
5
votes
1
answer
147
views
How does the figure of “dropping oil to catch the air-borne motes” work in George Eliot’s “The Spanish Gypsy”?
The Spanish Gypsy (1868) by George Eliot is a closet drama in blank verse, set in Spain in the late 15th century, during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Duke Silva of Bedmár is engaged to Fedalma,...
- 889
3
votes
2
answers
83
views
What is the "pride of a soul that has conquered fate"?
The second half of Sarojini Naidu's "The Bird of Time" ends like this:
O Bird of Time, say where did you learn
The changing measures you sing? . . .
[...]
In the sigh of pity, the sob of ...
CommunityBot
- 1
8
votes
2
answers
6k
views
What figure of speech is "transient feet" in "A Photograph" by Shirley Toulson?
In the poem "A Photograph" by Shirley Toulson, the phrase "transient feet" appears in the last line of the first stanza:
All three stood still to smile through their hair
At the ...
2
votes
1
answer
173
views
Who are the '12 children of Aiolos Hippotadês', as introduced in Book 10, The Grace of the Witch, of Homer's Odyssey?
Below is an excerpt of Book 10, The Grace of the Witch, of Homer's Odyssey
We made our landfall on Aiolia Island, domain of the Aiolos Hippotadês, the wind king dear to the gods who never die- an ...
- 53.5k
7
votes
1
answer
155
views
"The legend of the oyster and the pearl" by Dario Fo
A poem written by Dario Fo, "The legend of the oyster and the pearl", text here (included in the play Isabella, tre caravelle e un cacciaballe) ends with the lines
di morte nel pallore
lei ...
- 588
2
votes
1
answer
137
views
In George Meredith's "Ode to the Comic Spirit", what does "Thou guardian issue of the harvest brain !" mean?
The Internet Archive (see my tips for using this website at the end of this question) has in it's entirety J. B. Priestley's biography of George Meredith. On page 115 Priestley says that the first ...
6
votes
1
answer
136
views
Poet who asserted that poets lack personality and collect objects to give them one
In about the mid-90s I read part of a book of literary criticism by a poet (so focused mainly on poetry and poetic theory) where he said that poets lack a personality and often collect trinkets to ...
- 539
7
votes
2
answers
293
views
Why is the 1820 Indicator version of La Belle Dame Sans Merci seen as more "politically correct"?
In his textbook Theory of Literature, Paul Fry writes at length about Jerome McGann's critique of Keats. As part of this he has this to say about the comparison between the 1819/1848 and the 1820 ...
- 21.8k
12
votes
0
answers
306
views
About Sappho's epigram for the little girl Aithopia: first line (manuscript tradition and experts' take), and authorship
Background and research:
As I am planning to post this poem on my blog relatively soon, I was doing some research on the first line. From what I had written previously, I seem to have found two ...
- 1,835
5
votes
1
answer
367
views
What do the saint, the angel, the musician and the sandalwood refer to in Mallarmé's poem Sainte?
Stéphane Mallarmé was a major symbolist poet. One of his poems is Sainte (available on Wikisource). On the surface, it talks about musical instruments, a sandalwood tree, religious ceremonies, an ...
2
votes
1
answer
193
views
The text of Wordsworth's "To Toussaint L'Ouverture"
Several different versions of Wordsworth's sonnet "To Toussaint L'Ouverture" can be found online. Here is one version, from Haram Lee's blog on the Brandeis University website:
Toussaint, ...
- 53.5k
2
votes
1
answer
74
views
"Chieftain" and Toussaint's ethnicity in Wordsworth's "To Toussaint L'Ouverture"
Wordsworth's "To Toussaint L'Ouverture" apostrophises the eponymous freedom fighter as "O miserable Chieftain!" (line 5). In "Black Heroes/White Writers: Toussaint L'Ouverture ...
- 18.6k
2
votes
1
answer
99
views
Meaning of "No turban walks across the lessened floors" in Wallace Stevens' "The Plain Sense of Things"
In Wallace Stevens' "The Plain Sense of Things", the meaning of every sentence, the sense of every verse, every image, is clear and straightforward; nothing is impressionistic or vague - ...
- 889
3
votes
1
answer
190
views
Why is there a kokila in the henna-spray?
In Sarojini Naidu's short poem "In Praise of Henna", both stanzas start with the same two lines:
A kokila called from a henna-spray:
Lira! liree! Lira! liree!
I presume that "kokila&...
- 53.5k
3
votes
1
answer
92
views
Meaning of "a bride high-mated with the spheres" in Sarojini Naidu's 'To India'
Sarojini Naidu's To India uses a nurturing mother as a metaphor for the country throughout the poem. The first few lines run so:
O young through all thy immemorial years!
Rise, Mother, rise, ...
- 21.8k
4
votes
3
answers
6k
views
Explain "If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you"
In Kipling's poem IF, there is this line:
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you
To achieve that, it seems you would have to be so closed off, insulated, and emotionally barricaded that ...
- 1
3
votes
1
answer
138
views
What does the title of "Leili" mean?
The poem "Leili" by Sarojini Naidu goes like this:
The serpents are asleep among the poppies,
The fireflies light the soundless panther's way
To tangled paths where shy gazelles are ...
- 1,835
1
vote
1
answer
61
views
What is "The sounding cheer of Time's prophetic horn" in Naidu's "An Anthem of Love"?
The middle stanza of Sarojini Naidu's "An Anthem of Love" goes like this:
Two ears are we to catch the nearing echo,
The sounding cheer of Time's prophetic horn;
Two eyes are we to reap the ...
- 21.8k
2
votes
1
answer
235
views
Why are the champak flowers in particular "foredoomed... to shrivel and shrink and fade"?
Sarojini Naidu's "Champak Blossoms" contains the following lines:
Amber petals, ivory petals,
Petals of carven jade,
Charming with your ambrosial sweetness
Forest and field and glade,
...
- 21.8k