MADHU MALTI

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free : William Wordsworth : : Evening Poems : :

**Image of William Wordsworth ( 1770 – 1850 ) Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library / Alamy Stock Photo**

It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free : :
BY William Wordsworth ( 1770 – 1850 ) : : : :
It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquility;
The gentleness of heaven broods o’er the Sea;
Listen! the mighty Being is awake,
And doth with his eternal motion make
A sound like thunder—everlastingly.
Dear child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here,
If thou appear untouched by solemn thought,
Thy nature is not therefore less divine:
Thou liest in Abraham’s bosom all the year;
And worshipp’st at the Temple’s inner shrine,
God being with thee when we know it not.

“It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free” , Most tranquilizing , conditioner elevator 🛗 Words in the Opening line of A Sterling quality that leads one’s Outing in a Beauteous Evening 🌆 and A Sonnet Written at Calais in August 1802 ,By Poet Laureate of England ( 1843 ) William Wordsworth ( 1770 – 1850 ) is About an Evening Walk on the beach with his 9 year-old daughter Caroline Vallon and describes the tranquility of the quiet 🤐 🤫 holy time when the broad sun is sinking down. Wordsworth reflects that if his young daughter is seemingly unaffected by the majesty of the scene it is because, being young, she is naturally at one with nature. : It was first published in the collection Poems, in Two Volumes in 1807, appearing as the 19 Th poem in a section entitled ‘Miscellaneous sonnets‘. : : Until that Friday 21 May 1802, Wordsworth had shunned the sonnet form, but his sister Dorothy’s recital of Milton’s sonnets had “fired him” and he went on to write some 415 in all. : : : : : : : : : : : The following information is as per Wikipedia’s Article. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : “It is a beauteous evening” is the only “personal” sonnet he wrote at this time; others written in 1802 were political in nature and “Dedicated to Liberty” in the 1807 collection. : : The simile “quiet as a nun / Breathless with adoration” is often cited as an example of how a poet achieves effects. On the one hand “breathless” reinforces the placid evening scene Wordsworth is describing; on the other hand it suggests tremulous excitement, preparing the reader for the ensuing image of the eternal motion of the sea. : : The reference to Abraham’s bosom (cf. Luke 16:22) has also attracted critical attention as that is normally associated with Heaven (or at least Purgatory) in the Christian tradition, inviting comparison with the Lucy poems. : : However, a natural reading is that Wordsworth was simply stressing the closeness of the Child to the divine: Stephen Gill references Wordsworth’s ode: “Intimations of Immortality”. : : : : : : : : : : : : The ‘natural piety’ of children was a subject that preoccupied Wordsworth at the time and was developed by him in “Intimations”, the first 4 stanzas of which he had completed earlier in the year but had put aside because he could not decide the origin of the presumed natural affinity with the divine in children, nor why we lose it when we emerge from childhood. : : : : By 1804 he believed he had found the answer in the Platonic doctrine of the pre-existence of souls and was able to complete his ode. The 5 Th line in the sonnet, “The gentleness of heaven broods o’er the Sea”, references the creation story of Genesis 1:2 ( compare Milton’s Paradise Lost 7:235, a poem Wordsworth knew virtually by heart ), and a similar use of “broods” eventually appeared in “Intimations” in stanza VIII
“Thou, over whom thy Immortality
Broods like the Day, a Master o’er a Slave,
A Presence which is not to be put by … ” : : : :

The reference to the everlasting motion of the sea in the sonnet recalls the argument for immortality in Plato’s dialogue Phaedrus (which also treats erotic love). Directly across the water, these images ( and the direct imperative “Listen!”) were to be later echoed by Matthew Arnold, an early admirer ( with reservations ) of “Intimations”, in his poem “Dover Beach”, but in a more subdued and melancholy vein, lamenting the loss of faith, and in what amounts to free verse rather than the tightly disciplined sonnet form that so attracted Wordsworth. : : : :

Calais sky to West at 9 pm 1 August 1802 using Stellarium : : : : Wordsworth ‘s Sister, Dorothy’s journal entry references the evening star sinking down in the west across the channel over Dover Castle, as does another of Wordsworth’s Calais sonnets, “Fair Star of Evening, Splendour of the West”. In fact on the day they arrived, Venus was in close conjunction with a three-day crescent moon, while Jupiter and Saturn, themselves in a relatively infrequent great conjunction (they occur roughly every 20 years) less than a fortnight before, were close by to the East. It must have been a beautiful sight and Dorothy, a knowledgeable observer of the night sky, must have been aware of it, possibly prevented from recording it earlier in her journal by the poor weather they had experienced journeying down from the North.Some forty years later, six weeks as it happened after the death of Annette Vallon on 10 January the preceding month, Wordsworth composed these lines which were published in 1842:

**The Crescent-moon, the Star of Love,**
**Glories of evening, as ye there are seen**
**With but a span of sky between**
**Speak one of you, my doubts remove,**
**Which is the attendant Page and which the Queen?**

**— William Wordsworth, Evening Voluntary XI, 25 February 1841**

Notes for each of the Stanzas / lines Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India August 3 , 2023 : : : : :

Black Beans ( Schwarze Bohnen ) : Sarah Kirsch ( German ) : Anne Stokes ( English Translation ) : : Afternoon Poems : :

Sarah Kirsch (German: [ˈzaː.ʁa ˈkɪʁʃ] (listen); 16 April 1935 – 5 May 2013) was a German poet. originally born Ingrid Bernstein in Limlingerode, Prussian Saxony but had changed her first name to Sarah in order to protest against her father’s antisemitism. She studied biology in Halle and literature at the Johannes R. Becher Institute for Literature in Leipzig. In 1965, she co-wrote a book of poems with writer Rainer Kirsch, to whom she was married for ten years. She protested against East Germany’s expulsion of Wolf Biermann in 1976, which led to her exclusion from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).
One year later she left the country herself, nevertheless being critical of the West as well. She is mainly known for her poetry, but she also wrote prose and translated children’s books into German. According to complete review, “the great German-language post-war poets were largely East German (or Austrian) born in the mid to late 1930s which included towering figures such as Volker Braun, Heinz Czechowski” and Sarah Kirsch who was “the most prominent female representative of that generation. She won many prizes and honours including the German international literary Petrarca-Preis in 1976, the Peter-Huchel Prize in 1993 and the Georg Büchner Prize in 1996. From 1960-1968 she was married to lyricist Rainer Kirsch. Sarah Kirsch died in May 2013 following a brief illness.

**The Woman’s Hands Press – grinding Coffee Beans**

Schwarze Bohnen /Black Beans : : German Poem By Sarah Kirsch (1935 – 2013), : : Translated in to English, in the year 2014 By Prof. Anne Stokes , Ph. D. ( German Literature ) , Ohio State University. : : * ©️ Carcanet Press/From theguardian.com- Educational Purposes only. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : In the afternoon I pick up a book 1
In the afternoon I put a book down 2
In the afternoon it enters my head there is war 3
In the afternoon I forget each and every war
In the afternoon I grind coffee 5
In the afternoon I put the ground coffee 6
Back together again gorgeous 7
Black beans 8
In the afternoon I take off my clothes put 9 them on 10
Apply make-up first then wash 11
Sing don’t say a thing 12

“Schwarze Bohnen”that is “Black Beans”, A Love Poem/ Afternoon Poem in German Literature By Sarah Kirsch , the acclaimed East German poet is About The long and dull , repetitive and uneasy 😰 afternoon 🫦 which is characterised by discourteous attention. : : : :

In the Afternoon, the pronoun “I” occurs 6 times , in lines 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 9 : : Which speeds up the Story and quickens the eventless activity. Whether the Woman in the Poem is waiting for her lover or what is a mystery . Perhaps his arrival as well as departing can be presumed in lines 9 , 10 & 11 , “In the afternoon I take off my clothes put 9 them on 10
Apply make-up first then wash” 11 : : And here, repetitive and persistently continual activities succeed in hiding the arrival and departing of a lover; and in line 11 , it appears in the hide out that keeps the duos and an event of love – making , in between them out of sight. : : : : : : : : : : : Last line 12 , “Sing don’t say a thing” 12 : : presents the final resolution as dénouement
|dey’noo,moÑ| |,dey,noo’moÑ| , that is , the outcome of the complex , mysterious Activities in which The Woman 👠 The Poet Speaker has indulged in. : : Carol Rumen in ‘The Guardian’ argues in the following Words , : : : : : : : : “Perhaps the last line (“sing don’t say a thing”) alludes to political astuteness ( deep & shrewd intelligence ) In a repressive society , ( Of East Germany in 60s of the last century , when this Poem was written. ) the poet might favour the traditional “song of love“- or “nature poetry” in preference to political comments the censor could interpret as ( punishable ! ) subversion. Singing and not speaking might also imply madness / love-dementia, where song becomes the only kind of speech available. The simple, cheery musical chime of the sing/thing rhyme lightens the mood and raises the possibility of a happy outcome. What drives the poem is its inner narrative – the story of an “I” who perceives, thinks, knows, forgets, and apprehends the world.” ( Mon 10 Feb 2014 in theguardian.com ) : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : The Woman – Poet signifies her comprehensive perceptions with ‘Good Sense‘ although ‘tedium‘ prevails through inconsolable afternoon. : : However In a chance act of coming together of the two 💜 ❤️ hearts and minds with resultant insights out of her doing and undoing , Her “I” at last finds a voice, and sings.”: : : :

A book is picked up and put down ( lines 1 & 2 ) ; then The Poet Speaker invites us penetrate into her own head, “there is war” that enters into her head 🗣️( line 3 ) : The power of some unexpressed emotion or event makes this speaker – woman “forget each and every war”( line 4 ) , And that is the repressive Society or a State , a sensitive Poet has to live on with, Perhaps everyday ; by virtue of the events / that are named as eventless talking by the people as the authorities have been asked to disclose that way ( that it has never happened )

“In the afternoon I grind coffee 5
In the afternoon I put the ground coffee 6
Back together again gorgeous 7
Black beans” 8 : : lines 5 To 8 : : : :

About a futile exercise that involves the Poet Speaker , first in “grind(ing) coffee ( line 5 ) , and then “put(ting) the ground coffee ( line 6 ) , ” Back 🔙 together again” as “gorgeous” ( line 7 ) revealed as ” Black beans” ( line 8 ) : Jolly good teasing one – another. Is it a kid’s silly 😜 clever tongue 👅 in cheek 😛 to be asked to disclose it out !? Yet it should not be viewed as implying a bad wit or provoking a laughter. The task of putting “the ground coffee/ Back together again” is not deliberately wanted by the Poet. It’s seriousness can be viewed as The Poet Speaker’s inner desire to get everything around her in her total control while living in then, a repressive Society of East Germany. : : Used material 🔙 to Usable Form is a recycling process that has been continuously invented by the capitalists and also approved and accepted by communists / Socialists. The books and information, The Coffee, Clothes and Cosmetics mentioned in the poem are the Means and Materials required for Use & Reuse. By the way, Shouldn’t we forget The various items of Prasada offered to The Deities , and garlanded Flowers 🌺🌹 for Poojas that decorates the Religious Ambience as well as the Offerings to invited/ summoned Great Gods through The Family Priests/ Purohits are also brought to Reuse by its Market Associates !? We see our roadside chaiwala /Tea vendor using dusted Tea mixture , again and again , to sell it as a late afternoon Tea for relaxation from the boredom. Hence the seriousness of the Fantastic stories in “Black beans” Of The Coffee , Etc. Can be viewed as a HARD HITTING Criticism of Markets – Driven , Money Makers Capitalists as well as Communists / Socialists as well as the authoritarian dictatorship of the Prevailing World. In the meanwhile , Shall we forget the Wars going on around Us / be it Actual OR Civil in the midst of Our ” “LOVE STORY” !? In the “Afternoon ” !! ??

Black Beans ( Schwarze Bohnen ) : Sarah Kirsch ( German ) : Anne Stokes ( English Translation ) : : Afternoon Poems : : Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India August 2 , 2023 : : : : : : : :

Afternoons : Philip Larkin : : Afternoon Poems : :

Afternoons: : By Philip Larkin : :

Summer is fading:
The leaves fall in ones and twos
From trees bordering
The new recreation ground.
In the hollows of afternoons
Young mothers assemble
At swing and sandpit
Setting free their children. 8

Behind them, at intervals,
Stand husbands in skilled trades,
An estateful of washing,
And the albums, lettered
Our Wedding, lying
Near the television:
Before them, the wind
Is ruining their courting-places 16

That are still courting-places
(But the lovers are all in school),
And their children, so intent on
Finding more unripe acorns,
Expect to be taken home.
Their beauty has thickened.
Something is pushing them
To the side of their own lives. 24

“Afternoons” A 24 lines unrhymed yet Lyrical Poem in 3 Stanzas , each of 8 lines. written in 1959, By Philip Larkin is About the loss of youth filled with a sadness making way for the tedious routine of adult life – seen from the outsider’s perspective of Larkin, who was never a father. This is an example of the poet’s pessimism and cynical eye that typifies his rather negative and perhaps misogynistic outlook on life. Humans are varied, and for some the move to suburbs and away from pre-war city slums and post-war bomb sites was an improvement in life. Also, the apparent loss of romance in marriage and the raising of families would have been different for each couple, This poem is very much Larkin’s perception. Most importantly, Larkin views child-raising negatively, while for many women motherhood was, and still is, fulfilling.
Critic Steve Clark considers that Larkin mythologised the past, which he saw as a distant image much like the set of a play – a fiction to play with. He believed that Larkin intended to invent a tradition to fend off the infiltration of American Modernism, and sought an imaginary time when the world was the way he wanted it to be.

The effect is spare and concise, suitable for a poem about pared down emotions and the loss of romance.
There is a single, flowing sentence – moving from detail to detail like a photograph. It’s like Larkin is trying to preserve a particular moment before it changes. The rhythm is slow and there is only one rhyme per stanza, making the poem seem as unhurried and relaxed as the time Larkin is describing.

The voice is that of a 3 Rd Person nNarrator, almost certainly the poet. The tone is subdued and pessimistic, creating a mood of lost happiness and lost romance.

Through the use of symbolic objects — a wedding photo album, a swing and sandpit, washing on lines etc — Larkin conveys the loss of romance that, in his view, characterises life once the excitement of marriage has faded.

Afternoon : Dorothy Parker : ( 1 ) : : Video Song of Dorothy Parker : ( 2 ) Afternoon Poems : :

**Young Dorothy Parker 1910s / 1920s** **: : (née Rothschild ) ; August 22, 1893 Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S. – June 7, 1967 aged 73)**
New York City, U.S.) was an American poet, writer ( short stories ), screen play writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. Named with American Modernism. Notable works
**Enough Rope, Sunset Gun, A Star Is Born. : : Notable awards**
**O. Henry Award** **1929 : :**
From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary works published in magazines, such as The New Yorker, and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the breakup of the circle, Parker traveled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. Her successes there, including two Academy Award nominations, were curtailed when her involvement in left-wing politics resulted in her being placed on the Hollywood blacklist.

Dismissive of her own talents, she deplored her reputation as a “wisecracker.” Nevertheless, both her literary output and reputation for sharp wit have endured. Some of her works have been set to music; adaptations included the operatic song cycle Hate Songs by composer Marcus Paus. : : On August 22, 1992, the 99th anniversary of Parker’s birth, the United States Postal Service issued a 29¢ U.S. commemorative postage stamp in the Literary Arts series.

Cover of ” Enough Rope ” By Dorothy Parker , Her First Volume of Poetry , 1926. Parker released two more volumes of verse, Sunset Gun (1928) and Death and Taxes (1931), along with the short story collections Laments for the Living (1930) and After Such Pleasures (1933). Not So Deep as a Well (1936)She collaborated with playwright Elmer Rice to create Close Harmony, which ran on Broadway in December 1924. The play was well received in out-of-town previews and was favorably reviewed in New York, but it closed after a run of only 24 performances. It became a successful touring production under the title The Lady Next Door. Parker was listed as a Communist by the publication Red Channels in 1950. The FBI compiled a 1,000-page dossier on her because of her suspected involvement in Communism during the era when Senator Joseph McCarthy was raising alarms about communists in government and Hollywood. As a result, movie studio bosses placed her on the Hollywood blacklist. Her final screenplay was The Fan, a 1949 adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, directed by Otto Preminger. Parker died on June 7, 1967, of a heart attackat the age of 73. In her will, she bequeathed her estate to Martin Luther King Jr., and upon King’s death, to the NAACP.

**A beautiful woman with A scalloped hair beneath her finely washed White Cap.**

**Fragment of a sprigged Gown : A Victorian dress with a brooch. White blouse with lace decoration and high collar appeared like kissing her throat.**

**“I will draw my curtain /( Gown ) to the town”** –**– Dorothy Parker : A woman pulling her gown from the surface of the walkway of a town: Her fashionable half – day outing for a pleasurable social gathering.**

**A Happy Woman with her Partner in her Old Age Dancing to the Tune of a Rock Music 🎶 Song : A vector illustration. : ” And hum a purring note 🎵” 🎶**

**“And I’ll forget the way of tears,**
**And rock, and stir my tea.”: Dorothy Parker : : A smiling Woman in her old age stirring Tea for her relaxing mood while looking away happily .**

**A Short Song By Dorothy Parker : : CLICK HERE In BELOW to listen to this Very Short Love Song posted on You Tube**.

https://youtu.be/QJLVPWZqtTY

Afternoon : By Dorothy Parker , Long Branch / New Jersey : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

When I am old, and comforted,
And done with this desire,
With Memory to share my bed
And Peace to share my fire,

I’ll comb my hair in scalloped bands
Beneath my laundered cap,
And watch my cool and fragile hands
Lie light upon my lap.

And I will have a sprigged gown
With lace to kiss my throat;
I’ll draw my curtain to the town,
And hum a purring note.

And I’ll forget the way of tears,
And rock, and stir my tea.
But oh, I wish those blessed years
Were further than they be!

“Afternoon”, 16 lines Short Poem in the rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF , By A renowned American Poetess , Writer and Critic, Dorothy Parker is About Aging and loss expressed humorously as well as with a Cry of Sorrow and Grief Amidst the possibility of Peace , contentment and Beauty. The Poet Speaker’s days of old age are closer than she’d wish them for which she wishfully feels “comforted.”: : : :

Stanza 1 : : “When I am old, and comforted, 1
And done with this desire, 2
With Memory to share my bed 3
And Peace to share my fire,” 4 : : lines 1 To 4 :

About a younger woman ♀️👠 who is contemplating what her life will look like once she is older as much as one sees reaching a future of evening 🌆 from her present state of an Afternoon. : : Having “Memory to share my bed / And Peace to share my fire.”( lines 3 & 4 ) are suggestive of her companionship and memories attached to it. She feels better in her present- day life which is “peace(ful)” and “comforted” : And she is thorough with it having no further concern ; hence says that she is ” done with her desire” ( line 2 ) as she is ready to view her future in becoming old. : : : :

Stanza 2 : : “I’ll comb my hair in scalloped bands 5
Beneath my laundered cap, 6
And watch my cool and fragile hands 7
Lie light upon my lap.” 8 : : lines 5 To 8 : : : :

About two imageries she imagines she will get herself engaged with a view to carefully keeping her personality subtly, polished and pleasing . : Like , she sees herself combing her hair in scalloped bands , that is, she will form a series of rounded projections in several hairs banded together with notches between them formed by curves along its edge beneath her cleansed cap. ( as stated in lines 5 & 6 ) : : The line 6 captures her exhilarating mood , a sense of adequacy and elation reflected in tidiness seen as a Clean Cap 🧢 she keeps washed off for wearing. : : Lines 7 & 8 reveals that she will watch her “cool and fragile hands ( line 7 ) /” Lie light upon my lap.” ( line 8 ) in future time of being old. : : This image is one of relaxation and peace, and it perfectly captures the delicate beauty 😍 , and her good show in calm and composed adept as well as modded fashionableness that induces attractive and stylish impression at the time of her old age sociability. : : : :

Stanza 3 : :”And I will have a sprigged gown 9
With lace to kiss my throat 10
I’ll draw my curtain to the town, 11
And hum a purring note.” 12

About settling in the Afternoon that sounds with “hum(ming) a purring ( puring ) note.” ( line 12 ) that is a vibrant sound indicated in ‘pleasure’ : : A gown decorated with patterned design of sprigs , is a ” sprigged gown” she will have “With lace to kiss her throat” ( lines 9 & 10 ) This trendsetting image and an another image in which she says , she will draw her curtain to the town ” ( line 11 ) / ( Meaning , she will cause her sprigged gown to move by pulling ) together exhibit her desire to settle for the “Afternoon” outing , a half – day devoted to pleasurable social gathering in her old age. She views her ‘ contentment’ in this way she will live happily in an old age. : : : :

Stanza 4 : :”And I’ll forget the way of tears,13
And rock, and stir my tea. 14
But oh, I wish those blessed years 15
Were further than they be! ” 16

About forget(ting) “the way of tears,”( line 13 ) Meaning , she will be cheery and will not show up her sorrows by teary – eyed 👀 face ; and will (be) “rock(ing) and stir(ring) her tea.” (line 14 ) Meaning, she sees herself dancing to a happy tune of “rock” Music and will be seen in the image of preparing for her “Tea” at the peaceful time of relaxation in her old age. : : Figuratively, she views her picture of an old age as someone who is strong , stable and dependable. She is comfortable with the present – day imageries when she imagines of herself in becoming old in future time. : : : : : : : : ” But oh, I wish those blessed years 15
Were further than they be! ” 16 : : Last lines 15 & 16 which are fragmentary or halting due to the emotional strain which utters these few halting words of sorrow : : : : She bewails the facts of the ‘Evening’ time of her future days of becoming old , in her sensing that her days of old age are closer than she’d wish them. Hence the learned facts are at odds with her clashing findings in the present day ‘halting’ time of the ( late) -“Afternoon” in her life. : : Her last expression, “further than they be !” : This is ‘Her wishful thinking’ About ‘Aging and inclusive loss‘ expressed ‘humorously’ as well as with a thinner -‘Cry of Sorrow and Grief’ Amidst the possibility of ‘Peace contentment and Beauty ‘ that this beautiful poem By Dorothy Parker , carries in the “AFTERNOON“: : : :

“Afternoon” Poem By Dorothy Parker Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India July 31 , 2023 : : : : : : : :

Afternoon on a Hill : Edna St. Vincent Millay : : Afternoon Poems : :

Edna St Vincent Millay ( 1892 – 1950 ) : : Photo : Carl Van Vechten : : : : Poet and playwright , Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in Rockland, Maine, on February 22, 1892. In 1912, Millay entered her poem “Renascence” to The Lyric Year’s poetry contest, where she won fourth place and publication in the anthology. This brought her immediate acclaim and a scholarship to Vassar College, where she continued to write poetry and became involved in the theater. In 1917, the year of her graduation, Millay published her first book, Renascence and Other Poems (Harper, 1917). At the request of Vassar’s drama department, she also wrote her first verse play, The Lamp and the Bell (1921), a work about love between women.

After graduating from Vassar, Millay moved to New York City’s Greenwich Village, where she lived with her sister, Norma, in a nine-foot-wide attic. Millay published poems in Vanity Fair, the Forum, and others while writing short stories and satire under the pen name Nancy Boyd. She and Norma acted with the Provincetown Players in the group’s early days, befriending writers such as poet Witter Bynner, critic Edmund Wilson, playwright and actress Susan Glaspell, and journalist Floyd Dell. Millay published A Few Figs from Thistles (Harper & Brothers, 1920), a volume of poetry which drew much attention for its controversial descriptions of female sexuality and feminism. In 1923, Millay was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver (Flying Cloud Press, 1922). In addition to publishing three plays in verse, Millay also wrote the libretto of one of the few American grand operas, The King’s Henchman (Harper & Brothers, 1927).

Millay married Eugen Boissevain in 1923, and the two were together for twenty-six years. Boissevain gave up his own pursuits to manage Millay’s literary career, setting up the readings and public appearances for which Millay grew famous.

Edna St. Vincent Millay died at the age of fifty-eight on October 18, 1950, in Austerlitz, New York. : : : : ( Based on Information from poets org ) ‘I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed’ , ‘Wild Swans’, ‘God’s World ‘, are Some of the Renowned Poems by Edna St Vincent Millay.

Afternoon on a Hill : : Edna St. Vincent Millay ( 1892 – 1950 ) : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun! 2
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one. 4

I will look at cliffs and clouds
With quiet eyes, 6
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
And the grass rise. 8

And when lights begin to show
Up from the town, 10
I will mark which must be mine,
And then start down! 12

— Edna St. Vincent Millay

“Afternoon On A Hill”A 12 lines Nature Poem in 3 Quatrains in Rhyme of ABCD , By Edna St Vincent Millay is About The Poet Speaker’s theatrical announcement of “touch and watch , as well as look and mark during An Afternoon On A Hill”, under the sun, encircled by flowers 🌺🌹: :

1 St Quatrain : : ” I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun! 2
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.”4 : : lines 1 To 4 : : : :

About a plan of “touch(ing) a hundred flowers” without picking any one while eagerly disposed in showing her feeling of happy appreciation on intended occasion “Under the sun” ( line 4 ); and for becoming the “gladdest thing” ( line 1 ) for feeling sunrays on her Skin, in which she will succeed in her cheerful and bright beaming 😁 in the “Afternoon On A Hill” : : : :

2 Nd Quatrain : : “I will look at cliffs and clouds
With quiet eyes, 6
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
And the grass rise.” 8 : : lines 5 To 8 : : : :

About a plan of look(ing) at cliffs and clouds “( line 5 ) and “With quiet 🤐 eyes ( line 6 ) , that is , with calm and serene mind, watch(ing) the wind bow down the grass,” ( line 7 ) , that is, thrown down flat as on the ground , And the “grass rise”, Meaning , the grass will rise again in its natural erect position when the “Wind”moves on. : : : :

3 Rd Quatrain: : ” And when lights begin to show
Up from the town, 10
I will mark which must be mine,
And then start down! “12 : : lines 9 To 12 : : : :

About “mark(ing) ‼️her home with some distinguished trait / tag line, her own space of living ( “which must be mine”Meaning, She will perceive with the mind that differentiates of her home -run : line 11 ) ❣️ before she “start(s) down!”( line 12 ) to succeed in achieving her goal ; “Up from the town”( line 10 ) ,that is, seeing things in a specific perspectives, from a distant place at hights with an invigorating mountain air. She will have then a wide wise look, objectively : And this could happen on her stay on a hill in an “Afternoon”: : “when lights begin to show up from the town.”: : : :

“Afternoon On A Hill”, An Afternoon Poem By Edna St Vincent Millay Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India July 30 , 2023 : : : : : : ::

Afternoon : Pierre Reverdy ( French ) : Lydia Davis ( Translation ) : : Afternoon Poems : :

Afternoon
BY PIERRE REVERDY
TRANSLATED BY LYDIA DAVIS
In the morning that comes up behind the roof, in the shelter of the bridge, in the corner of the cypresses that rise above the wall, a rooster has crowed. In the bell tower that rips the air with its shining point, the notes ring out and already the morning din can be heard in the street; the only street that goes from the river to the mountain dividing the woods. One looks for some other words but the ideas are always just as dark, just as simple and singularly painful. There is hardly more than the eyes, the open air, the grass and the water in the distance with, around every bend, a well or a cool basin. In the right-hand corner the last house with a larger head at the window. The trees are extremely alive and all those familiar companions walk along the demolished wall that is crushed into the thorns with bursts of laughter. Above the ravine the din augments, swells, and if the car passes on the upper road one no longer knows if it is the flowers or the little bells that are chiming. Under the blazing sun, when the landscape is on fire, the traveler crosses the stream on a very narrow bridge, before a dark hole where the trees line the water that falls asleep in the afternoon. And, against the trembling background of the woods, the motionless man.
— Pierre Reverdy : : Source: Poetry ( October 2013 ) From poetryfoundation.org For Educational Purposes only.

“Afternoon”, A French Prose Poem By Pierre Reverdy ( One of the leading lights of early 20 Th Century French avant-garde poetry ) is About the sounds and sights of the day, as a traveller wanders through the landscape and the sun brightening in the afternoon. : :

Afternoon : T S Eliot : : Afternoon Poems : :

**T S Eliot Eliot in 1934 by Lady Ottoline Morrell. Thomas Stearns Eliot ( 1888 – 1965 ) Poet essayist playwright publisher critic : : American (1888–1927)**
**British (1927–1965) : Spouse**
**Vivienne Haigh-Wood**
**( m. 1915; sep. 1932 ) AND Esmé Valerie Fletcher( m. 1957 ) : : Awarded**
**Nobel Prize in Literature (1948)**
**Order of Merit (1948) : Named with ” literary Movement of ”** ***Modernism*** **: : “Notable Works “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915)**
**The Waste Land (1922)**
**The Hollow Men (1925)**
**Murder in the Cathedral (1935)**
Four Quartets (1943) Born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a prominent Boston Brahmin family, he moved to England in 1914 at the age of 25 and went on to settle, work, and marry there. He became a British subject in 1927 at the age of 39 and renounced his American citizenship.

Eliot first attracted widespread attention for his poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” from 1914 to 1915, which, at the time of its publication, was considered outlandish. It was followed by The Waste Land (1922), “The Hollow Men” (1925), “Ash Wednesday” (1930), and Four Quartets (1943). He was also known for seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935) and The Cocktail Party (1949).Considered one of the 20th century’s major poets, he is a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry. Through his trials in language, writing style, and verse structure, he reinvigorated English poetry. He also dismantled outdated beliefs and established new ones through a collection of critical essays. : : He was awarded the 1948 Nobel Prize in Literature, “for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry”. : : Cleo McNelly Kearns notes in her biography that Eliot was deeply influenced by Indic traditions, notably the Upanishads. From the Sanskrit ending of The Waste Land to the “What Krishna meant” section of Four Quartets shows how much Indic religions and more specifically Hinduism made up his philosophical basic for his thought process. It must also be acknowledged, as Chinmoy Guha showed in his book Where the Dreams Cross : : T S Eliot and French Poetry ( Macmillan, 2011 ) that he was deeply influenced by French poets from Baudelaire to Paul Valéry. He himself wrote in his 1940 essay on W.B. Yeats: “The kind of poetry that I needed to teach me the use of my own voice did not exist in English at all; it was only to be found in French.” (“Yeats”, On Poetry and Poets, 1948 ).

Afternoon : : By T S Eliot :

The ladies who are interested in Assyrian art
Gather in the hall of the British Museum. 2
The faint perfume of last year’s tailor suits 3
And the steam from drying rubber overshoes 4
And the green and purple feathers on their hats 5
Vanish in the sombre Sunday afternoon 6

As they fade beyond the Roman statuary 7
Like amateur comedians across a lawn 8
Towards the unconscious, the ineffable, the absolute 9
— T S Eliot

“Afternoon”, A 9 lines Short Poem On “Sunday Afternoon “By Thomas Stearns Eliot : T S Eliot ( 26 September 1888 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S – 4 January 1965 (aged 76) London, England ), Published in 1996 after 30 years of his death, is About “The ladies who are interested in Assyrian art” and “Gather ‘in the hall of the British Museum,” On a Sunday Afternoon. Notable imageries in describing these ladies in the Museum include The ” faint perfume of last year’s suits” , And the “steam from drying rubber overshoes ” And the ” green and purple 🟣💜 🪶🪶 feathers on their hats” which “vanish in the sombre Sunday Afternoon” This is a dull picture lacking in brightness and colour ( hence “sombre ” ) : : In the concluding remarks Eliot relate the “Ladies” to “Roman Statuary ” , that is ‘ Statues’ collectively in the lines 7 To 9 : : “As they fade beyond the Roman statuary 7
Like amateur comedians across a lawn 8
Towards the unconscious, the ineffable, the absolute.” 9 : : : : : : : and thereby calls them “amateur comedians across a lawn” in line 8 : Here in the word “amateur ” , Eliot makes a satirical remarks on the Ladies ” of his time of Early 20 Th Century English Society, Meaning , the ladies are portrayed as unskilled and unprofessional visitors to the “British Museum” of “Assyrian Art” ( Art produced by the ‘Akkadian People’ of an ‘Ancient Assyria’ who spoke Assyrian language of its origin in Mesopotamia ( now extinct ) : As with no qualification to understand this “Assyrian Art” Such Ladies visiting this British Art Museum are engaged in some recreational pastime activities which could have been uncalled for of a show of “comedians” : “Towards the unconscious “that is , of ‘not knowing or pursuing ‘ ; ” ineffable “, that is, ‘defying description ‘ or say , like the ‘un-speakable’: ” Roman Statues” they fade / pass off. This is “absolute”, unquestionably a psychic activity of their minds of which they are unaware of. : : : :

“Afternoon”, By T S Eliot Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India July 28 , 2023 : : : : : :::

The Afternoon Sun : C P Cavafy : ( 1 ) : Video Song in Greek With English Subtitles : Music by Yannis Petritsis : ( 2 ) : : Afternoon Poems : :

**Found in the collection of Constantine Cavafy Museum, Alexandria. Artist : Anonymous. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images) : : Based as from POETRYFOUNDATION :POEMS & POETS**
**C. P. Cavafy**
**1863–1933**

C.P. Cavafy is widely considered the most distinguished Greek poet of the 20th century. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, where his Greek parents had settled in the mid-1850s. Cavafy’s father was an importer-exporter whose business responsibilities frequently led him to the port city of Liverpool, England. Cavafy’s father died in 1870. So , The family consequently moved to Liverpool, where the eldest sons assumed control of the family’s business operations.

Cavafy lived in England for much of his adolescence, and developed both a command of the English language and a preference for the writings of William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde. Cavafy’s older brothers mismanaged the family business in Liverpool, and Cavafy’s mother was ultimately compelled to move the family back to Alexandria, where they lived until 1882. Then Cavafy’s mother, sensing danger, returned to Constantinople with Cavafy and the rest of her children. When the British bombarded Alexandria, the Cavafy family home was destroyed in the battle, and all of Cavafy’s papers and books were lost.

Cavafy remained in Constantinople with his mother until 1885; many of his brothers had returned to Alexandria. At this time, Cavafy—a teenager—was writing poems, preparing for a career, and discovering his queerness, which would inform much of his later poetry. Cavafy found work as a newspaper correspondent. In the late 1880s he obtained a position as his brother’s assistant at the Egyptian Stock Exchange, and he worked there for a few years before becoming a clerk at the Ministry of Public Works. Cavafy stayed at the ministry for the next 30 years, eventually becoming its assistant director. In 1933, 11 years after leaving the ministry, he died of cancer.

During his lifetime Cavafy was an obscure poet, living in relative seclusion and publishing little of his work. A short collection of his poetry was privately printed in the early 1900s and reprinted with new verse a few years later, but that was the extent of his published poetry. Instead, Cavafy chose to circulate his verse among friends.

This lack of concern for publication was due, perhaps, to the highly personal nature of many poems. Cavafy wrote many sexually explicit poems. W.H. Auden noted as much in his introduction to the 1961 volume “The Complete Poems of C.P. Cavafy” when he wrote, “Cavafy’s erotic poems make no attempt to conceal the fact.” Auden added: “As a witness, Cavafy is exceptionally honest. He neither bowdlerizes nor glamorizes nor giggles. The erotic world he depicts is one of casual pickups and short-lived affairs. Love, there, is rarely more than physical passion … At the same time, he refuses to pretend that his memories of moments of sensual pleasure are unhappy or spoiled by feelings of guilt.”

Cavafy was also an avid student of history, particularly ancient civilizations, and in a great number of poems he subjectively rendered life during the Greek and Roman empires. Some of these poems treating ancient times eventually reached English novelist E.M. Forster, who was sufficiently impressed to write an essay entitled “The Poetry of C.P. Cavafy” ( later published in Pharos and Pharillon ). In his essay, Forster hailed Cavafy for providing a compelling alternative to conventional renderings of ancient Greece, and he described Cavafy’s perspective as “intensely subject; scenery, cities and legends all re-emerge in terms of the mind.” Forster added: “Such a writer can never be popular. He flies both too slowly and too high … He has the strength … of the recluse, who, though not afraid of the world, always stands at a slight angle to it.”

As a stylist Cavafy was atypical. His language was flat, his delivery direct, whether he was writing about mortality, beauty, or despair; and whether he was writing about eroticism, the past, or the anxiety-inducing present. C.M. Bowra, in the essay “Constantine Cavafy and the Greek Past” ( published in The Creative Experiment ), affirmed, “Cavafy used neither Greek nor Western European models. Still less did he owe anything to the East. His manner was his own invention, the reflection of his temperament and his circumstances, guided by a natural instinct for words. Even in his language he went his own way.”

Among Cavafy’s most acclaimed poems is “Waiting for the Barbarians,” in which leaders in ancient Greece prepare to yield their land to barbarians only to discover that the barbarians, so necessary to political and social change, no longer exist. In “Ithaca,” another of Cavafy’s highly regarded works, the poet evokes Homer’s Odyssey in stressing the importance of the journey over the destination. And in poems such as “The Battle of Magnesia” and “To Antiochus of Epiphanes,” Cavafy emphasizes that decadence in a civilization leads to its destruction. Philip Sherrard acknowledged this in The Marble Threshing Floor: Studies in “Modern Greek Poetry”, when he wrote that such poems “imply … that the corruption and decadence of [ancient Rome] invites its own overthrow, that the Romans are simply the unconscious instruments in the execution of a sentence which those who live the superficial, self-indulgent life of the senses call down on themselves.”

Cavafy’s more erotic poems treat themes similar to those addressed in his historical verses. In Alexandria Still: Forster, Durrell, and Cavafy, Jane Lagoudis Pinchin acknowledged this, writing, “Cavafy’s love poems build a 20 Th Century Mythological Kingdom that has much in common with the crumbling world of ancient days. Here lovers meet ‘On the Stair’ of wretched brothels, ‘At the Theatre,’ ‘At the Cafe Door,’ in front of ‘The Windows of the Tobacco Shop’… [They] work in dull offices, or for tailors, ironmongers, or small shopkeepers. Like Ptolemy Philomiter, they are often forced to beg. Like Antiochos Epiphanis’ beloved, they give their perfect bodies for the rewards of this world. The mood is the same, but Greater Greece is so much smaller than it was.”

Ultimately, Cavafy’s erotic poems and historical verse are products of a singular vision, one which explores, in various ways, the gratifications, and ramifications, of the pursuit of pleasure. Eroticism, history, and death are all part of what George Seferis, writing in On the Greek Style, calls “Cavafy’s panorama,” and he observes, “All these things together make up the experience of his sensibility—uniform, contemporary, simultaneous, expressed by his historical self.”Cavafy’s consciously individual style earned him a place among the most important figures not only in Greek poetry, but in Western poetry as a whole.

**Afternoon Sun touching half of the bed**

https://youtu.be/Tx5ahIjOU3I

The Afternoon Sun : : Constantine Peter Cavafy (1863-1933) : : Translated by Edmund Keeley : : : : : : : : : : : :
This room, how well I know it.
Now they’re renting it, and the one next to it,
as offices. The whole house has become
an office building for agents, businessmen, companies.

This room, how familiar it is.

The couch was here, near the door,
a Turkish carpet in front of it.
Close by, the shelf with two yellow vases.
On the right—no, opposite—a wardrobe with a mirror.
In the middle the table where he wrote,
and the three big wicker chairs.
Beside the window the bed
where we made love so many times.

They must still be around somewhere, those old things.

Beside the window the bed;
the afternoon sun used to touch half of it.

. . . One afternoon at four o’clock we separated
for a week only. . . And then—
that week became forever.
— C. P. Cavafy : : From”The City” from C.P. Cavafy: “Collected Poems”,Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Translation published by Princeton University Press, 1975 : : From : poetryfoundation.org : For Educational Purposes only.

“The Afternoon Sun”,By Constantine Peter Cavafy (April 17, 1863- April 29, 1933) (“a Greek gentleman in a straw hat, standing absolutely motionless at a slight angle to the universe.”as described by his friend E M Forster ) : Translated by Edmund Keeley, is About An Instance of The Poet Speaker’s Unhappy Separation exactly at 4 O’clock proven forever , from his beloved person describing the room , the bed beside the window 🪟 where the afternoon sun used to touch half of the bed ; the two divisions of the memory of the bed is suggestive of physical separation partially , by the interval before the event of revisiting of the place of love. : : Cavafy completed 155 poems, while dozens more remain incomplete or in sketch form. He consistently refused to publish his work in books, preferring to share it through local newspapers and magazines, or even print it himself and give it away to anyone who might be interested. His most important poems were written after his fortieth birthday, and were published two years after his death. : : In “The Afternoon Sun”, Cavafy reminisces sorrowful memories about the room – now part of an office complex – that was once a familiar yet unfortunate home. It’s his emotional worldview watched right from the foyer of the house and then thoroughly in comparison to the new changed look that remains reflecting the grief instantaneously. : : : : Involving the readers fast with final concluding in a touching manner that The Poet Speaker’s Week-long Separation exactly occurred at 4 O’clock ( that is an end of Afternoon , and a start of an Evening ) “became forever.” ♾️. : “One afternoon at four o’clock we separated
for a week only. . . And then—
that week became forever.” : : : :

“Afternoon ☀️ Sun” , An Afternoon Poem By C P Cavafy Information ℹ️ Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India July 27 , 2023 : : : : : : : :

Last Lesson of the Afternoon : D H Lawrence : : Afternoon Poems : :

Last Lesson Of The Afternoon : : By D. H. Lawrence ( 1885–1930 ) : : : : : : : : :

When will the bell ring, and end this weariness?
How long have they tugged the leash, and strained apart,
My pack of unruly hounds! I cannot start
Them again on a quarry of knowledge they hate to hunt,
I can haul them and urge them no more. 5

No longer now can I endure the brunt
Of the books that lie out on the desks; a full threescore
Of several insults of blotted pages, and scrawl
Of slovenly work that they have offered me.
I am sick, and what on earth is the good of it all? 10
What good to them or me, I cannot see!

So, shall I take
My last dear fuel of life to heap on my soul
And kindle my will to a flame that shall consume
Their dross of indifference; and take the toll 15
Of their insults in punishment? — I will not! —

I will not waste my soul and my strength for this.
What do I care for all that they do amiss!
What is the point of this teaching of mine, and of this
Learning of theirs? It all goes down the same abyss. 20

What does it matter to me, if they can write
A description of a dog, or if they can’t?
What is the point? To us both, it is all my aunt!
And yet I’m supposed to care, with all my might.

I do not, and will not; they won’t and they don’t; and that’s all! 25
I shall keep my strength for myself; they can keep theirs as well.
Why should we beat our heads against the wall
Of each other? I shall sit and wait for the bell. 28

“Last Lesson Of The Afternoon”, A 28 Lines ( Initial Version ) / 23 lines ( Revised version ) , Afternoon Poem By A Great influencing English Writer D H Lawrence ( 1885 – 1930 ) is About A teacher exhausted with his thoughtless class of 60 students. Published in Lawrence’s “Love Poems”. It is in one of the three sections in the volume titled, “The Schoolmaster”: HERE In ABOVE is A longer six stanza version, later revised by Lawrence, as well. Lawrence addresses themes of education, emotional wellness, and duty of A Teacher. His Speaker is aware of his duties to his school and his students Yet , finds that it is beyond him to educate his dull and lustreless students who don’t want to learn. He is tired as they snub his instructions. In the end, he challenges the probity and propriety , in a way, of the Teaching Profession by posing a question ❓ ” Why should we beat our heads against the wall 27
Of each other? I shall sit and wait for the bell.” 28 : : This questioning prepares him to 🛑 stop and drop out of the pace in his teaching efforts, with a view to sustaining his strength and preserving for something loveable ; instead of hateful dislikes and a detested rude graffiti of the Books lying on the desk ( and by a reader’s imagination, perhaps of the classroom blackboard , and learning notes !? ) : : The Speaker is thus gaining with his eyes open , alongside his new 🆕 insight ; As he finally says, ( in the 2 Nd revised version of the Poem ) “.. . for I will keep 20
Some of my strength for myself, for if I should sell 21
It all for them, I should hate them – 22
– I will sit and wait for the bell. 23 : : : :

Given HERE In BELOW is The revised two-stanza version which is more concise and includes powerfully, the gist core of the poem with an additional metaphor of likening the soul to embers of a fire. Get this in lines 17 & 20 : : : : : :

Afternoon in School : : The Last Lesson : : : : :
When will the bell ring, and end this weariness? 1
How long have they tugged the leash, and strained apart 2
My pack of unruly hounds: I cannot start 3
Them again on a quarry of knowledge they hate to hunt, 4
I can haul them and urge them no more. 5
No more can I endure to bear the brunt 6
Of the books that lie out on the desks: a full three score 7
Of several insults of blotted pages and scrawl 8
Of slovenly work that they have offered me. 9
I am sick, and tired more than any thrall 10
Upon the woodstacks working weariedly. 11

And shall I take 12
The last dear fuel and heap it on my soul 13
Till I rouse my will like a fire to consume 14
Their dross of indifference, and burn the scroll 15
Of their insults in punishment? – I will not! 16
I will not waste myself to embers for them, 17
Not all for them shall the fires of my life be hot, 18
For myself a heap of ashes of weariness, till sleep 19
Shall have raked the embers clear: I will keep 20
Some of my strength for myself, for if I should sell 21
It all for them, I should hate them – 22
– I will sit and wait for the bell. 23

Stanza 1 : : “When will the bell ring, and end this weariness? 1
How long have they tugged the leash, and strained apart 2
My pack of unruly hounds: I cannot start 3
Them again on a quarry of knowledge they hate to hunt, 4
I can haul them and urge them no more.” 5 : lines 1 To 5 : : : :

About Notes .. . Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India July 26 , 2023 : : : :

There’s a certain Slant of light : Emily Dickinson : : Afternoon Poems : :

Emily Dickinson ( 1830 – 1886 ) : : Photo by Wendy Maeda/The Boston Globe via Getty Images : : A daguerrotype type of Emily Dickinson at the age 16 , displayed at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst , Wednesday , September 4 , 2013.

**Birmingham Cathedra : East Facade , Misty November of One Winter Afternoon.**

There’s a certain Slant of light, (320) : :
BY EMILY DICKINSON ( December 10 1830 – May 15, 1886 )
There’s a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons –
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes –

Heavenly Hurt, it gives us –
We can find no scar,
But internal difference –
Where the Meanings, are –

None may teach it – Any –
‘Tis the seal Despair –
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the Air –

When it comes, the Landscape listens –
Shadows – hold their breath –
When it goes, ’tis like the Distance
On the look of Death –
— Emily Dickinson : : THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON: READING EDITION, edited by Ralph W. Franklin, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999 : : : : From : poetryfoundation.org : : : : For Educational Purposes only.

“There’s a certain Slant of light”, A four quatrains , ‘Lyrical’ ( Afternoon ) Poem By American Poet, Emily Dickinson, is About Religion and Death in connection to the theological concept of ‘despair’ as commented by Vendler, Helen (2010) in her book ( Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press. pp. 126–129. The Poet Speaker likens winter sunlight to cathedral music, and considers the spiritual effects of the 🚨 light.It was published posthumously in 1890 by her friends Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson in Poems by Emily Dickinson: Series 1 as the 31st poem in section three: Nature. In their edition it was given the title “Winter.” Thereafter, Published again in Thomas H. Johnson’s 1955 collection at No 258 : The Poems of Emily Dickinson & W. Franklin’s 1998 edition The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Variorum Edition, at No. 320 as in the chronological compilation (s). The metrical pattern resembles ballad meter (4-3-4-3), Stanzas two and three appear to shorten the beginning of each line (3-3-4-3), End-rhyme follows a scheme of abcb defe ghih jklk, a typical ballad pattern. The information about the poem given HERE In BELOW are as per the Wikipedia’s Article. : : : : : : : : : : : : There is alliteration, consonance, and assonance scattered throughout the poem. There is idiosyncratic capitalization, especially for nouns. The initial simile of winter light “that oppresses, like the Heft / Of Cathedral Tunes -” This simile creates a synesthetic effect, mixing sound, sight, and weight.. . This simile first introduces religious connotations to the poem. Literary critic Helen Vendler has noted in Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries that “Despair” was commonly known in the 19th century as one of two sins that could prevent someone from entering Heaven, the other being “Presumption.” With Vendler’s interpretation, Dickinson conceptualizes this religious Despair, the ultimate loss of hope, to what one feels at the onset of winter by connecting abstract terms to sensory details, such as “Slant of light” to “Heavenly Hurt” and “Shadows” to “the look of Death.” Other scholars, such as Paula Bennett in Emily Dickinson: Woman Poet, have explored the inaccessibility of the poem without a grounded speaker or setting and the ambiguous nature of the “hurt” and “imperial affliction” described by the speaker.

“Afternoon” light and the indirect nature of the poems discussion of death, Thomas H. Johnson has also noted that the term “slant” can have a mocking tone when defined as an oblique reflection or gibe. [failed verification] Thus the light and the heavenly hurt it causes may be interpreted as mocking, much like man’s awareness of the irreversible Fall to mortality, which is the ultimate despair, especially if redemption is not an option. This realization may set an irrevocable seal of despair upon a person, but since it is “Sent us of the Air” it is still heavenly, and the seal of ecstasy may yet be waiting—though this poem does not touch on that alternative.

There is also personification in the poem as the landscape “listens” and the shadows “hold their breath,” to a degree that it seems as though the landscape is the protagonist in the absence of any human figures in the poem. The pathos of the landscape and shadows waiting to disappear when the already slanting light is finally gone parallels how despair reduces spiritual hope. The poem contrasts transformations in both the intangible, interior world and the exterior world in order to show the relationship between them. It is indeterminate whether the speaker’s despair is inspired by the landscape or whether the ominous appearance of the landscape is a projection of the speaker’s despair. Scholar Sharon Cameron, however, notes in Lyric Time: Dickinson and the Limits of Genre that the poem enacts both of these impressions, expressing how interior changes may be invisible, but they are affected by the visible, exterior world.

Donald E. Thackrey referred to “There’s a certain Slant of light” as one of Dickinson’s best lyric poems for its force of emotion but resistance to definitive statements on meaning. He likened it to Keats’s “Ode to Melancholy,” claiming that although it is less specific, it transmits the experience of the emotion just as effectively. He further claims that the poem contains none of the self-conscious mannerisms some of her other work exhibits.

Critic Charles R. Anderson, in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry: Stairway of Surprise, claimed it was Dickinson’s “finest poem on despair.” Similarly, Inder Nath Kher, in The Landscape of Absence: Emily Dickinson’s Poetry, lauds it as one of Emily Dickinson’s best poems and a well-balanced expression of absence and presence.

Ernest Sandeen, in his essay “Delight Deterred by Retrospect,” called “There’s a certain Slant of light” Dickinson’s best poem on the winter season for the ways in which it goes beyond mere description of winter to embody more metaphysical subjects.

Critic Yvor Winters claims in ‘In Defense of Reason’ that it is amongst three of Dickinson’s most successful poems, alongside “A Light exists in Spring” and “As imperceptibly as grief.” Winters also claims that despite some defects in her writing, Emily Dickinson is the greatest lyric poet of all time.

Notes for each of the Quatrains Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India July 25 , 2023 : : : :