The Last of the Flock

I have decided to discuss Katie Kessler’s blog entry written on “The Last of the Flock”. The second half of Kessler’s entry really struck me. She drew a parallel between the loss of the man’s flock and what is going on in the United States, economically, today. Throughout the semester at school, home, and on my way to work I have continuously reflected on this poem because of the same parallel Kessler brought to light in her writing.
While I disagree with the first part of Kessler’s entry, in that I do not believe the man in the poem was overly connected to his sheep, I think the emphasize put on the sheep was because of the loss the sheep was representative of. The man was experiencing losses that were likely to trigger more deep losses, as once you are selling assets to feed your family and in the case the assets are also his way of life, what happens when you are out of assets, how do you feed your family then? The anxiety or deep depression of getting his last sheep from a rock, I felt was representative of almost a temporary insanity as that type of deep loss brings so much, sadness, confusion, anger, anxiety, depression, questions, fears about the future, and how he is going to continue to take care of his ten children.
Kessler wrote that he rarely mentioned his children and that she felt they came second to the sheep and it seems she felt he needed to straighten out his priorities. I disagree with Kessler in that I don’t think the problem is so much that he hates his children as much as it is what the children represent. I find the children to be representative of the question, how is he going to survive and provide a life for all of them when he is losing his life for them and his mind. I think this speaks to the temporary insanity, not any type of true hatred for his children. Nor do I think the man was cursed as he felt he was in the poem for hating his children. I think when you lose what you perceive to be “everything” you lose your mind and one would feel cursed if they were depressed.
Again, I find that the reaction to the loss of the sheep was a reaction to much more and shows what can happen to a man or person due to hard economic times and a changing world. He lost more than his sheep. He lost his way of life, stability, security, and he does not know what money shortages or food shortages may be ahead, as well as political changes. Kessler seems to have agreed with me on this point, as she wrote, “The death of his sheep could be interpreted as his slow but very real reality of the political system crumbling from under him.” This quote speaks to the changes occurring during Wordsworth tine, due to the industrial revolution and draws a parallel to what is happening today in terms of the economy including the unemployment rate, outsourcing of jobs, the housing market crash, our recent stock market crash. Kessler included the loss of jobs, the housing crises, and the debate over healthcare reform as changes in our society that can parallel the changes the man who lost his sheep in Wordsworth poem.
While Kessler did not close on a positive note, I would like to try. I may be reaching but I would like to include the idea, that overall the man did do the right thing; as he sold his flock to feed his family. Just as things cycled then economically speaking and eventually improved, I would hope things will cycle for the U.S. as well. I believe Wordsworth would remind us that there is nature and we should be able to find contentment in that.

From Letter to Robert Southey

I would like to focus on the sonnet “From Letter To Robert Southey”; particularly “Tears of doubt-mingled Joy...(Coleridge 214).” Coleridge appears to be foreshadowing the emotions he intends to feel upon his arrival at the Cottage Dell. As discussed in class Coleridge planned to set up a Pantisocracy. Doubt could be understood as Coleridge would be embarking upon a journey of the unknown. Although he may have felt the need to flee from his living situation in Europe he seems to know that there is not a guarantee that the future will be brighter elsewhere. It seems to me, Coleridge would be crying tears of joy as he would have been able to leave the heartaches of home behind him. Prior to writing about tears of joy and doubt Coleridge spoke of eyes that ached from sadness. Joy could come from the feeling of having overcome the past and excitement and hope tied to beginning a new life. It seems to me, the idea of doubt-mingled joy parallels nicely with the closing sentiments of the sonnet, Coleridge closed with a feeling of “Pleasance trembling to the Heart (Coleridge 214).” While Coleridge plans to feel joy and positivity in the future he seems to know that there will be feeling mixed emotions which tells me he understands that an intended utopia may turn out to be dystopia.

“Effusion XXIII To The Nightingale"

As discussed in class, effusion was said to mean an outpouring of emotion. I became very curious as to why Coleridge regarded his poem as an outpouring of emotion to the nightingale. At the time Coleridge was writing the nightingale was thought of as a melancholy bird. Coleridge disputed this idea as he felt the nightingale was his connection to nature per Wikipedia. After further consideration of this idea I do believe Coleridge is defending the nightingale. In addition to the title of this poem being “To The Nightingale” within the poem Coleridge addresses the nightingale as the “Minstrel of the Moon!(Coleridge343)”. The exclamation point makes me feel that Coleridge is almost yelling as if to rename the nightingale in opposition to its being referred to as the melancholy bird. He also appears to explain that he can see and truly hear the nightingale and when he does he becomes connected to nature. Coleridge included the nightingale in another poem we looked at. In “The Nightingale, a Conversational Poem” Coleridge wrote, “In nature there is nothing melancholy(Wordswoth48).” in defense of the nightingale. It seems to me, he explained in this poem that someone labeled the nightingale as melancholy because its melody reminded them of their own sorrow. In this same poem Coleridge referred to the nightingale as merry as opposed to melancholy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHPbrmYZxdI&feature=related

Work cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightingale_(Coleridge)

Lines Left upon a Seat in a Yew-Tree

Lines Left upon a Seat in a Yew-Tree
Which Stands near the Lake of Esthwaite,
on a Desolate Part of the Shore,
yet Commanding a Beautiful Prospect

During our last class discussion the title of Wordsworth piece was brought into question in terms of the meaning of “Lines left upon a Seat in a Yew-Tree”. More specifically what exactly Wordsworth meant by the word upon. In the following I will attempt to answer this question. It seems to me he is using the word metaphorically in parallel to the man’s life, the speaker is unraveling, being imprinted upon the tree. Wordsworth wrote of the tree being planted and raised and seemed to parallel this to the man in his youth being “pure in his heart”. Later in life his spirit was broken which seems to be parallel to the tree growing wild with bent branches. In the title Wordsworth explains the area around the tree as desolate, the yew-tree as lonely in the first line, and then explains the man in the poem soul as being “sustained in solitude”. The man’s life is referred to as an unfruitful life and the branches of the trees are referred to as barren which seem to be in parallel to one another. The speaker stated that the man died and this seat in the yew-tree was his only monument. Being that the lines of the poem tell the story of the man’s life and parallels are made between the man and the tree, metaphorically these lines are left upon the tree as was the imprint of the man’s life.

Charlotte Smith

I would like to focus on the last two lines of Charlotte Smith’s Sonnet “XLIV”.
“While I am doom’d-by life’s long storm opprest,
To gaze with envy, on their gloomy rest (Smith 153).”

It seems to me that Smith wants the release of death because she is deeply depressed. Smith may have situational depression as we discussed in class Smith is a single mother and struggling to survive on her writing. I am sure she was exhausted. Sleep deprivation alone is enough to make someone depressed. We discussed the idea that Smith is looking to write about what causes of depression. Speaking to that, in my opinion, abundant usage of negative language can cause depression. The few poems I read of Smith’s appear to use low vibrating language even when referring something positive. For example in “Written at the Close of Spring” she writes, “Each simple flower (Smith 144)”, she did not say beautiful flower or amazing flower, just simple. In the above lines Smith is jealous of the deceased’s “gloomy” rest, why gloomy? If one was depressed and exhausted wouldn’t death be a sweet release? It seems many of her words carry a very low vibration and People such as Dr. Wayne Dyer tell us that vibrations of this form attract other vibrations of the same form back to themselves, the idea being what you vibrate you will attract to yourself. Even if Smith was faced with situational depression maybe if she was able to use high vibrating language for the last half of her sonnets or a piece of her sonnets she would be able to start to put a positive spin on her language which may positively impact her thought patterns and maybe she would be able to attract positivity back to herself.
http://www.drwaynedyer.com/daily-inspiration

Charlotte Smith wrote in her Italian “Sonnet I”,
“…Far happier is the lot of those
Who never learn’d her delusive art, (Smith 143)”

As discussed in class Smith connects suffering with being an artist. In the selected quote Smith seems to be saying that life is happier or easier psychologically for people who do not have the minds of artists or poets. In this quote “her” refers to the “partial muse” or the art God that “smiled” on the speaker, Smith in this case. Many of the artists I have studied appear to see the world through eyes that belong to bleeding hearts. These artists’ minds almost have to concern themselves with the extra weight of the sufferings of the world. Pain runs so deep for a poet and needs to in order to be expressed in such a manner that other people can get close to feeling the poets emotions without suffering the poets suffering or having been part of that moment in time; or to pull out the readers own emotions. Smith ties the poets emotionally deep perception of life to the partial muse that, “…Reserves the thorn- to fester in the heart…(Smith 143). ” Smith closes with the idea that those that feel sadness to the deepest extent can paint it for others. Smith made it clear that those who never learned her delusive art, the non-poets and non-artists have a happier lot in life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9d5hjvFne8

To Sensibility

After reading “To Sensibility” several times I have continuously come back to the same question. Who is the “she” the speaker is referring to throughout the poem? The only idea I have been able to decide upon includes that in the poem both the “I” and the “she” are Helen Maria Williams. I find this to be the case because the speaker, the “I”, knows such intimate details about the “she”. I understand that I am probably very incorrect in say this but when I read the poem from this point of view it comes to life for me. In the fifth stanza Williams writes that “She knows the price of ev’ry sigh, The Value of a tear (Williams 149).” While Williams has taken on a new perception of life in terms of “sensibility” and these statements could apply to that alone, I still find them to be deeply understood details about the “she” in the poem. Because the “she” in the poem thinks and perceives in terms of “sensibility” I believe this could further defend the idea that the “she” very well could be the “I”. Williams later wrote, regarding the “she”: her heart rises to joy, sinks to anguish, that her soul has grief that only she knows and that she is vainly secure in her mortality. These are profound understandings of a person’s emotions and thoughts. About line 57 Williams wrote “She oft will heave a secret sigh, Will shed a lonely tear…(Williams).” How could Williams have known what “she” did secretly or alone?