MADHU MALTI

A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky : Lewis Carroll : : July Poems : : Months Poems : :

**Mary Evans Library – stock.adobe.com : : Black & White Side Portrait of Lewis Carroll ( 1832 – 1898 ) : :**

A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky
BY LEWIS CARROLL
A boat beneath a sunny sky, 1
Lingering onward dreamily 2
In an evening of July — 3

Children three that nestle near, 4
Eager eye and willing ear, 5
Pleased a simple tale to hear — 6

Long has paled that sunny sky: 7
Echoes fade and memories die: 8
Autumn frosts have slain July. 9

Still she haunts me, phantomwise, 10
Alice moving under skies 11
Never seen by waking eyes. 12

Children yet, the tale to hear, 13
Eager eye and willing ear, 14
Lovingly shall nestle near. 15

In a Wonderland they lie, 16
Dreaming as the days go by, 17
Dreaming as the summers die: 18

Ever drifting down the stream — 19
Lingering in the golden gleam — 20
Life, what is it but a dream? 21 : : : : : — ( 1871, Through the Looking-Glass )

“A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky” A July Poem By Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) is About unappeasable time through images of its consequences—the “pal[ing]” , that is getting tired of a “sunny sky,” ( of a lot of sunshine or sunniness ), the changing of a season, and the loss of wonder / interest or innocence that often accompanies also , the transition to adulthood. : : Lewis Carroll talked about the boat ride that he went on with his friend, Alice, and her sisters (Popova). On this boat ride, he told the children about the story of Wonderland which later inspired his book called Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ( Popova ). : : An “acrostic poem” is one in which the first letter of each line spells out a word – “A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky” has been read for years as a tribute to Carroll’s young muse : a source of an artist’s inspiration : [ ” Alice Pleasance Liddell” ( 6 + 9 + 6 ) in 21 letters Formed from 1 ST Letter of each of the 21 lines : ; Hence , it is an “Acrostic” Poem ] who inspired his famous protagonist( supporter ) . : : ” A boat beneath a sunny sky” is a poem by Lewis Carroll that closes his 1871 novel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. It is an acrostic of the name, “Alice Pleasance Liddell.” : : : : : : : : : : As one of the “children”who listened with strained attention to his “simple tale[s],” ( line 6 & 13 ) he witnessed her “eager eye and willing ear” ( line 5 & 14 ) be “slain” by the “Autumn frosts” ( line 9 ) that is , of ‘adolescence’. He is now “haunt[ed]” ( line 10 ) “phantom wise”, that is , unreal : appears in perception only ; by the ghost of her childhood self, and aches to realize that he won’t ever again see this Alice with “waking eyes.”( line 12 )

Carroll attempts to find consolation in reminding himself that there will be more children to fill his “boat” and hear his stories. But he realizes that just as Alice drops her youth, these children will also inevitably “[drift]ing down the stream”( line 19 ) from “Wonderland” to understandably ‘adulthood’. : : The flowing water is the passage of time and generates life’s vessel, leaving “golden gleam”( line 20 ) , that is ‘ briefly appeared shine’ of summers of youth to “Echoes fade” into “memories” that will eventually “die.” ( line 8 ) : In the last verse, a last ( line 21 ) “Life, what is it but a dream?” Carroll hauntingly echoes this certain reality as overpowering , strongly felt and uncontrollable “a dream.” There is a nursery rhyme “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” which imply the same with urgency. : : : :

Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of Charles Dodgson, an English mathematician, logician, photographer, Anglican deacon, and writer. His literary works reveal a remarkable grasp of word play, fantasy, and logic. Carroll’s writing career was greatly influenced by his relationship with the Liddell family. The “tales” he told “on a boat ride” with three of the Liddell children, including Alice, would become the basis for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. : : : :

This poem reflected the loss of Carroll ‘s loved one. As Alice grew up, she is not naïve and optimistic like she used to be when she was a little girl. As a result, Carroll was disheartened by her transition into adulthood because he adored the childlike image of Alice in her childhood. In a broader sense, Carroll encourages people to enjoy the times of youth because it is short, and they can do anything they want without …show more content…
To create his message, Carroll uses diction, transition in time, structure, and metaphor to help the readers understand his viewpoint. In other words, Carroll uses diction in his poem to explain how the shift in tone makes him disappointed when Alice has grown up. : : The tone of the first and second stanza is enthusiastic and warmhearted because Carroll and the children are on a boat ride on a beautiful summer day. However, the tone changes unexpectedly in the third stanza; words like “die,” “fade,” and “slain” show a gloomy and mournful tone that some awful things had happened. This stanza demonstrates that Carroll was heartbreaking because Alice has changed, and he adored the imagination and innocence of her childhood self. The first stanza describes a boat on a sunny day, in the middle of summer. The boat is on the countryside and he is in the ⛵ Boat and it is a warm day :

“A BOAT beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July — ” : Stanza 1 : :

He describes three children who are in the boat with him. They want Carroll to tell them a story:

“Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear —” : Stanza 2 : :

Carroll describes how the sunny and warm days are fading away and the weather is turning cold. Summer is turning into autumn : : : : Stanza 3 : :

“Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July” *** : : : : : : : ; : ; : : : : ; : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : She, ( line 1 ) that is, Alice from the ( line 2 ) : Lewis Carroll is famous for writing about Alice Liddell ( the girl who was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland ), and this is the same Alice. It is no longer summer, and he is describing how she and the other children have left the countryside and have gone back to the city for the autumn. When Carroll writes, Still she haunts me, he is expressing that only her memories remain. When he writes Never seen by “waking eyes” , Carroll is saying that the only time he sees her is when he is asleep:
“Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.” : : Stanza 4 : :

Carroll is now writing about the children’s’ situation. How they are no longer with him, yet they haven’t forgotten him. They still want to hear more of his stories and can’t wait to see him again:

“Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.” : : Stanza 5 : :

He describes how the children are living in a dreamworld. They waste away the days, fantasizing and dreaming about the summer. The children don’t go back to the countryside ever again:

“In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:” : : Stanza 6 : :

Finally , he goes back to the boat, describing how even though he will never see the children again, he will always remember drifting down the stream and the time spent with them. He will always have those memories. The final line is a question: Life, what is it but a dream? He is asking the reader if all there really is to life is one’s memories:
“Ever drifting down the stream —
Lingering in the golden gleam —
Life, what is it but a dream?” : : Stanza 7 : :

” A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky” has colourful imagery and a beautiful picture. : :
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : The ending metaphor states “Life, what is it but a dream?” relates the boat to life and call life “a dream.” Basically, life is a dream because people tend to forget about beautiful childhood memories as they get older. Everyone forgets the innocence of their childhood. The poet Carroll has feelings of ‘loss’ and ‘heartbroken memory’, since Alice had grown up. Beside, Carroll asks us the meaning of life , and the importance of memories in everyday life. : : In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice falls asleep while she was reading a book next to her sister. In her sleep, she entered the wonderland world by falling down the rabbit hole (Geddes). The rabbit also guides her throughout her adventures in the fantasy world. Eventually, Alice woke up and realized everything is just a dream. In the book, Carroll depicts a unique world that is perfect for children who love to dream about the fantasy world. Everyone loves to dream about things that they could not obtain in life. Children are very adorable because everything about them even their dreams are innocent and naïve. : : The poet remembers the happy times when the children were young , full of bubbling happiness , curiosity , eagerness to listen to the magical stories of A Wonderland , that he created for them. : : : :

A far more gentle and charm wise simple and delightful July is suggested in Lewis Carroll’s poem Of “Alice in Wonderland” , but the pensive sadness is that the poem realises that the dream of happy and contented summer is subject to the frosts of autumn. What endures is the rich memory of summer, more important and surviving than season itself. : : : :

“A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky” , A July Poem By Lewis Carroll Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India March 26 , 2023 : ; : ; : ; : ;

July in Washington : Robert Lowell : : July Poems : : Months Poems : :

Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (/ˈloʊəl/; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the Mayflower. His family, past and present, were important subjects in his poetry. Growing up in Boston also informed his poems, which were frequently set in Boston and the New England region. The literary scholar Paula Hayes believes that Lowell mythologized New England, particularly in his early work. : : : : He was appointed the sixth Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, where he served from 1947 until 1948. In addition to winning the National Book Award, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1947 and 1974, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977, and a National Institute of Arts and Letters Award in 1947. He is “widely considered one of the most important American poets of the postwar era.” His biographer Paul Mariani called him “the poet-historian of our time” and “the last of [America’s] influential public poets.”

At the Grolier Poetry Bookshop in Harvard Square, 1965 : Robert Lowell : Poet : 1944 – 1977 : : Literary Movement : Confessional Poetry : Notable works : Lord Weary’s Castle, Life Studies, For the Union Dead, The Dolphin (1973) : : : : Lowell stated, “The poets who most directly influenced me … were Allen Tate, Elizabeth Bishop, and William Carlos Williams. An unlikely combination! … but you can see that Bishop is a sort of bridge between Tate’s formalism and Williams’s informal art.”Lowell wrote in both formal, metered verse as well as free verse; his verse in some poems from Life Studies and Notebook fell somewhere in between metered and free verse. After the publication of his 1959 book Life Studies, which won the 1960 National Book Award and “featured a new emphasis on intense, uninhibited discussion of personal, family, and psychological struggles,” he was considered an important part of the confessional poetry movement. : : his poems, “Waking in the Blue”, references his stay in this large psychiatric facility. While bipolar disorder was often a great burden to the writer and his family, it also provided the subject for some of Lowell’s most influential poetry, as in his book Life Studies.. Lowell died from a heart attack in a taxi cab in Manhattan on September 12, 1977, at the age of 60, while on his way to see his ex-wife, Elizabeth Hardwick. He was buried in Stark Cemetery in Dunbarton, New Hampshire.

**The Potomac River in Washington, D.C., with Arlington Memorial Bridge in the foreground and Rosslyn, Arlington, Virginia in the background**

**Map showing the five geological provinces through which the Potomac River flows**

Tundra swans were the predominant species of swan on the Potomac River when the Algonquian tribes dwelled along its shores, and continue to be the most populous variety today. : : : : : : ” On the Potomac, swan-white
**power launches keep breasting the sulphurous wave.”**

**View of the Potomac River from George Washington’s birthplace in Westmoreland County, Virginia.**

**The Potomac running next to the Lincoln Memorial and under the Arlington Memorial Bridge.**

**Union defenses along the Potomac near Washington, DC**
**Top row: Chain Bridge (two views) and Pimmit Run Bridge; Bottom Row: Aqueduct Bridget {two views) and Georgetown Ferry.**

Confederate troops crossing the fords of the Potomac in early September 1862 for the invasion of Maryland, which would culminate in the Battle of Antietam. (Print of a wood carving based on a drawing by Thomas Nast; first published in the September 27, 1862 edition of Harper’s Weekly.)

July in Washington
BY ROBERT LOWELL
The stiff spokes of this wheel
touch the sore spots of the earth.

On the Potomac, swan-white
power launches keep breasting the sulphurous wave.

Otters slide and dive and slick back their hair,
raccoons clean their meat in the creek.

On the circles, green statues ride like South American
liberators above the breeding vegetation—

prongs and spearheads of some equatorial
backland that will inherit the globe.

The elect, the elected . . . they come here bright as dimes,
and die dishevelled and soft.

We cannot name their names, or number their dates—
circle on circle, like rings on a tree—

but we wish the river had another shore,
some further range of delectable mountains,

distant hills powdered blue as a girl’s eyelid.
It seems the least little shove would land us there,

that only the slightest repugnance of our bodies
we no longer control could drag us back. : : — From poetryfoundation . org : For Educational Purposes only.

“July In Washing”, A July Poem By Robert Lowell ( March 1 ,1917 , b. Boston , Massachusetts – September 12, 1977, aged 60 yrs. At New York city, U. S. ) is About rejoicing proudly of the importance of America & positive side as well as the imperfections & downside that were instilled in it.

The Poet , Robert Lowell is not obsessed with the July 4 Th Celebration , yet his harsh cuttings are on the American political “elect and the elected”, with their lost idealism , and shown dislike for democracy, “like South American liberators”, wants to throw sarcastic remarks on the great national fe’te of freedom. Yet, being a true American, Lowell closes on a note of hopes, of “another shore,/ some further range of ‘delectable mountains’ ( fanciful ) where the ideals celebrated on Independence Day might find strong and secure foothold. : : The Poet shows love for the nation. Yet, he expresses his dislikes for the defects, and malaise that exist in the political arena. But , he is optimistic about finding a different “shore”. A look on the darker side and expecting the worst in everything , lingers throughout the poem. : : : :

“The stiff spokes of this wheel
touch the sore spots of the earth.

On the Potomac, swan-white
power launches keep breasting the sulphurous wave. ” : : : : In the Opening lines , Here , Washington is likened to a wheel whose spokes reach out to “the sore spots of the earth.” The Policies in Washington , especially after Post World Wars Era , set down by political parties and their Senators , secretaries /Respective politicians, affect and impress upon what goes on , in other parts of the world , alongwith their Economies. This is concerning Wider Role Play By U.S. : : : : : : Here, the “Potomac” is another name for ‘Washington’ city ; as well as it references the ‘Potomac’ River in east central U. S. rises in West Virginia ( elevated on 930 meters ) the Appalachian Mountains and flows eastward, forming the boundary between Maryland and Virginia to the Chesapeake Bay. See and refer to the picture post as HERE In ABOVE to refer to the lines On Potomac flow , White Swan ( Of Tundras ) and significantly , it references the 1862 Battle on the sides of Potomac River , fought between North & South , For Independent United States , : : : : : : : : : : : : : : In the Opening lines , The Capital City Washington likened to a “wheel” which is a Symbol of Progress and Continuous revolutionary development of the Nation , too ; in most significant and commendable ways so far. The “stiff spokes” of the wheel suggests America’s dominance, , and the expression, “touch the sore spots” are suggestive of the American masterful influence everywhere in the world. : : : :

“Otters slide and dive and slick back their hair,
raccoons clean their meat in the creek.” : : : :

The Poet sees and shows the readers , the Potomac River in July with various wild lives of Animals and Greens. , full of “power launches,” including “otters” and “raccoons” who vibrantly live by the creek( s) ( There are several Creeks & Creeksides along the Potomac River ) and the “breeding vegetation” Too. : : : : .”The “Otters” are fresh water carnivorous mammal having webbed and clawed feet and dark brown fur. : : By ” slick back their hair,” smooth and glossy appearance and by “slide and dive ” skilled , artful and bright ” attention are drawn HERE In the Poem. : : The “racoons” are omnivorous nocturnal ( fur providing ) mammals of North & Central America. By expression, ” clean their meat in the creek.” the good part/ clean & good habit of the animals in the country is suggested here in the act of ‘removing unwanted substances from the food / meat’ that is sufficient for setting up an example for a public life. : : : :

“On the circles, green statues ride like South American
liberators above the breeding vegetation—

prongs and spearheads of some equatorial
backland that will inherit the globe.” : ; : :

The Poet, talks about “green statues .. . ( looking Godly , splendid and befitting Supreme ruler ) : “On the circles” Meaning : ‘On the central road junctions that streams around all and everything circulatory’ .. . . “above the breeding vegetation — ” where he sees the ” ride like South American liberators ” who “prongs and spearheads of some equatorial backland ( that is , related conditions ) that will inherit the globe.” With the words “spearheads” and “prongs” , the said “liberators” become prongy , that is , the leader of the pointed project , extant in Nature as “breeding vegetation” : the rich , juicy vegetations continue to grow abundantly , and this is how the ‘flora and fauna’ exemplified as above “will inherit the globe” ( after all the politicians with vested interests and lobbyists have gone home ! ) The lush green “breeding vegetation.” creates a calm , clear and fine beautiful ‘View’ of Washington Which evokes idealized and romantic scene. : : : : However, politics raises its ugly head, even among these descriptions, in the form of the “South American/liberator” to which Lowell compares the “green statues.” It is as if even while observing the natural picturesque beauty of Washington and country side out of the city, the political associations of the area cannot quite be forgotten. The physical environment of Washington is beautiful. In addition, there is majestic beauty in the green statues of the Noble Men And Historical Personalities on the circles; these “ride like South American liberators above the breeding vegetation…” : : : :

“The elect, the elected . . . they come here bright as dimes,
and die dishevelled and soft.

We cannot name their names, or number their dates—
circle on circle, like rings on a tree— “

The Poet’s harsh cuttings HERE In ABOVE are on the American political “elect and the elected”, on their lost idealism and shown dislike for democracy, “like South American liberators,” Who ( have had ) “come here bright dimes, and die dishevelled and soft.” : “Dime” is U. S. Coin worth Of 1 /10Th Of Dollar. As a newb ( nyoob ) Or Political entrant they were Fresh blood with Idealized shinning like new bright dimes and they started in the political arena to bring ‘positive change over’ in the life of everyone and for the betterment of everything. Yet, they “die dishevelled and soft.” : Meaning , they messed up in the System of the Capital City Politics & cronyism ( favouritism to friends and associates without qualifications ) , and hence all their smoothness and idealism have got disturbed and rumpled in to their own folds. They could not pursue their intended ‘ideas’ and model ‘Paragon’ ( excellence & perfection ) have been defeated. Because they lived in a politics of ‘no values and ‘gridlock’ and have ultimately become , a worthless figure of failures. In essence, they have not served their country well , nor their constituents. In this fashion they “die dishevelled and soft.” : : : :

Lowell states that there are too many of such politicians to name, they are numerous, “like rings on a tree.” : : “We cannot name their names, or number their dates—
circle on circle, like rings on a tree— ” The demarcation through the passage of time might be attempted to a certain extent, but they are indistinguishable from each other.

“but we wish the river had another shore,
some further range of delectable mountains,

distant hills powdered blue as a girl’s eyelid.
It seems the least little shove would land us there,” : : : :

Lowell states states that people wish there was another ‘purer’ and ‘true’ “Washington” on “another shore” of the “Potomac” riverfront. No one can spur on or encourage the United States People to go to the present day ( historical ) Washington DC and live thereby , pushing along their activities and socio – political life, in such a city of ‘unease’ and ‘discomfort’ for them and for their families. “We wish some further range of delectable ( tasteful & fanciful ) mountains… . distant hills powdered blue as a girl’s eyelid.”which represents Godly watch over Humanity as well as healing and warding off the negativity. The Poet wishes some act of the least shoving , that is , ‘giving least little push to someone or something , “would land us there.” : : So, Hello, is there someone with such stuff , to give a squeeze or thrust.. . .. . !? : : : :

“that only the slightest repugnance of our bodies
we no longer control could drag us back.” : :

The Word “repugnance” suggests Lowell’s feelings about the prevailing political system involving any inconsistency, incompatibility and mutual exclusiveness : : : : that is, even “only the slightest repugnance of our bodies , We no longer control” he wants to say , would turn ourselves or our gaze , away from the intended directions , and that “could drag us back.” : In that sense , a lingering , wasting time in the same futile hopeless conditions ; and ultimately waning of all dreams of independence and freedoms and dying of an idealized Nation . A stand off by an act of repulsion / “repugnance” is the political reality in the present milieu of Washington which cannot be acceptable. Hence it must have to be invaded with all possible resistance to the prevailing forces that have taken over the complete arena of life of the People. : : : :

The poem conveys the sharp contrast between the natural beauty of the land and cliffs and riverfront on which the nation’s capital, Washington DC, sits and the socio — political life of the city sets up. Yet, the Nature goes on, not dismayed by a slightest set back and will remain persistent and vibrant while the elected officials come “bright as dimes / and die dishevelled and soft.” These politicians are so numerous, so alike, and unimportant, that they are not remembered; on the land, however, animals continue to live their lives, unmindful and inattentive to the life and politics of the city . : : : :

“July In Washington”, A July Poem By Robert Lowell Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India March 25 , 2023 : : : : : : : :

**Otter : A Carnivorous aquatic Mammal**

The Potomac River is home to one of the most adorable aquatic animals- the river otter. Otters around the world have faced centuries of decline due to hunting, trapping, and habitat loss. But our local species is on the rebound.

Racoon: : Raccoons have a whitish gray coat, sometimes yellowish with black patches of fur. It is often recognized by its black mask and tail covered by white rings. Adult raccoons may be up to three feet long and weigh up to 30 pounds, although some male raccoons can weigh up to 40 pounds. Their fur is long and dense, a grizzled brown and black color that has often been described as “salt and pepper.” The tail can grow to be fifteen inches. A tail can have five to seven black rings on it. Raccoons look like they have a bandit mask on their face. Raccoons are omnivores and eat plants and animals Although raccoons are flesh eaters and have long canine teeth, their molar teeth are adapted for a varied diet which includes more than just meat. They have sharp claws so they can climb trees and open shellfish like clams and oysters. Raccoons are also nocturnal animals. The name “raccoon” come from the Indian word “arakum” which means “he scratches with his hands.”

Habitat: The raccoon lives in wooded areas near water. It is very adaptable, though, and is also found in suburbs and cities. Their unusual use of their thumbs makes foraging in city trashcans a way to find foods when dwelling in urban areas. It usually makes its den in a tree, but it can make its home in an abandoned woodchuck burrow, a cave, barn, sewer, or even a house!

Fourth of July at Santa Ynez : John Haine : : July Poems : : Months Poems : :

**John Haines**
**1924–2011**

American poet and essayist John Haines was born in 1924 and studied art and painting at the National Art School, the American University, and the Hans Hoffmann School of Fine Art. In 1947, Haines bought a 160-acre homestead claim 80 miles outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, intending to pursue painting. According to Haines, when his paints froze, he turned to writing. His collections of poetry include Winter News (1966); The Stone Harp (1971); Cicada (1977); News from the Glacier: Selected Poems 1960-1980 (1982); New Poems 1980-1988 (1990), which received the Lenore Marshall Poetry Award and the Western States Book Award; The Owl in the Mask of the Dreamer: Collected Poems (1993); and For the Century’s End: Poems 1990-1999 (2001), among others. His poems are noted for their stark, spare imagery, and evocative rendering of the brutal beauty of his adopted home. Poet Lawrence Raab noted the elemental character underlying Haines’s verse: “One feels that the poet,” Raab commented, “through the act of the poem, is reaching toward something as basic and as necessary as food or shelter.”

Haines’s experiences trapping, hunting, and surviving as a homesteader in Alaska inform his work as a both a poet and essayist. According to Dana Gioia, “While one might read his early poetry as a subjective record of the time, the most accessible account comes from his two books of essays, Living Off the Country (1981) and The Stars, the Snow, the Fire (1989). These superbly-written collections of mostly autobiographical prose reveal the importance of the dream-like solitude the empty Northern wilderness provided the author.” Gioia went on to note that, “by stepping out of the man-made rhythms of the city into the slower cycles of nature, Haines entered—perhaps unknowingly at first—a world of meditation. There are few overtly religious themes in Haines’ writing, but both his poetry and prose are suffused with a sense of the sacred.” Other collections of Haines’s essays and autobiographical writing include Fables and Distances: New and Selected Essays (1996) and Descent (2010). Haines moved to San Diego in 1969, and lived in the lower 48 states for several years before returning to Alaska. He taught at numerous institutions including Ohio University, the University of Cincinnati, and George Washington University. Named a Fellow by the Academy of American Poets, his other honors and awards included two Guggenheim Fellowships, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, an Amy Lowell Traveling Fellowship, the Alaska Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Library of Congress.

Harper’s critic Hayden Carruth once described John Haines as “one of our best nature poets, or for that matter one of the best nature writers of any kind.” Though Haines is sometimes categorized as a regional writer, or an autobiographical poet, Gioia noted that his work eludes simple categorization: “He is an obstinately visionary poet,” Gioia wrote of Haines, “who characteristically transforms individual experience into universal human terms. One would be tempted to call him a philosophic poet if his imagination were not so frequently mythic. He deals in serious ideas, but the concepts are not presented abstractly. They are revealed in bare narrative terms like ancient legends, half obscured by time.” John Haines died in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2011. ( From poetry magazine )

Fourth of July at Santa Ynez
BY JOHN HAINES
I
Under the makeshift arbor of leaves
a hot wind blowing smoke and laughter.
Music out of the renegade west,
too harsh and loud, many dark faces
moved among the sweating whites.

II
Wandering apart from the others,
I found an old Indian seated alone
on a bench in the flickering shade.

He was holding a dented bucket;
three crayfish, lifting themselves
from the muddy water, stirred
and scraped against the greasy metal.

III
The old man stared from his wrinkled
darkness across the celebration,
unblinking, as one might see
in the hooded sleep of turtles.

A smile out of the ages of gold
and carbon flashed upon his face
and vanished, called away
by the sound and the glare around him,
by the lost voice of a child
piercing that thronged solitude.

IV
The afternoon gathered distance
and depth, divided in the shadows
that broke and moved upon us . . .

Slowly, too slowly, as if returned
from a long and difficult journey,
the old man lifted his bucket
and walked away into the sunlit crowd.

(1972-76)
“Fourth of July at Santa Ynez.” Copyright © 1993 by John Haines.
Source: The Owl in the Mask of the Dreamer: Collected Poems (Graywolf Press, 1993) From : poetryfoundation.org : For Educational Purposes only.

“Fourth of July at Santa Ynez ” John Haine (1924–2011 ) is About the joys of independence and the aboriginal ( indigenous ) structure on which the great built-up of American liberty has stood and how that indigenous culture was lost in the process of its work up. : :

Notes for each of the Iv Parts Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India March 24 , 2023 : : : : : : : :

simply, In Memoriam, July 19, 1914 : Anna Akhmatva : : July Poems : : Months Poems : :

**Akhmatova in 1922 (portrait by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin) Anna Andreevna Gorenko**
**23 June [O.S. 11 June] 1889**
**Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire — 5 March 1966 (aged 76)**
**Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. : : Poet, translator, memoirist : : Literary movement**
Acmeism. : : : : better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova, was one of the most significant Russian poets of 20th century. She was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in 1965 and received second-most (three) nominations for the award the following year. Anna Akhmatova, wrote under the name of her maternal great grandmother. She married in 1910 and had a son in 1912 the year in which she published her first collection of poems. Its success and the critical acclaim lavished on her second collection in 1914 meant that she became a cult figure amongst the intelligentsia of St Petersburg. Akhmatova and her husband were influential leaders of a literary movement called Acmeism which reacted against vagueness in symbolist poetry and promoted the virtues of clarity and precision of expression.

Her work was often condemned during the time of Stalin and censorship meant it was often difficult and dangerous for her to publish. However, she chose not to leave Russia acting instead as a witness to the atrocities and tragic personal loss all around her. One of her most celebrated works is a long poem ‘Requiem’ dedicated to the memory of Stalin’s victims.

Censorship and governmental disapproval continued after the Second World War but she remained loved and lauded by the Russian people. When Akhmatova travelled to Italy and Oxford to receive awards in 1965 it was the first time she had left Russia since 1912. She died in St Petersberg where she had spent most of her life aged 76. **( From poetrybyheart.org. uk ) : :**

Stephen Edgar ( Australian Poet / Translator : born 1951 in Sydney, Australia. He studied classics and English at the University of Tasmania and has worked as an editor and a librarian. He is the author of the poetry collections Queuing for the Mudd Club (1985), Ancient Music (1988), Corrupted Treasures (1995), Where the Trees Were (1999), Lost in the Foreground (2003), Other Summers (2006), and History of the Day (2009). A lyric formalist, Edgar probes the ordinary and often overlooked details of life. Attentive to the natural world, his work touches on memory, science, and observations of personal and historical events and uses regular stanzas and subtle rhymes. Gregory Kratzmann, reviewing Other Summers for the Australian Book Review, noted that Edgar’s “form exists in delicate equipoise with a passionate and highly individual vision of the world. The range of this vision is impressively wide, from the elegies for lost lovers to gentle tributes to parents, from political and social satire to gazes into the realm of nightmare.”

Edgar’s awards include the Harri Jones Memorial Prize, the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry, the Australian Book Review Poetry Prize, and the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal for excellence in literature. He has twice received the William Baylebridge Memorial Prize.

**Edgar has been poetry editor of Island magazine. He has lived in London and Hobart and currently resides in Sydney.**
**http://stephenedgar.com.au/**

**“In Memoriam, July 19 , 1914” Poem By Anna Akhmatva , is taken from the Poetry Magazine , April 2008 PROSE FROM POETRY MAGAZINE**
**Translator’s Note: “In Memoriam, July 19, 1914” by Anna Akhmatova**
**BY STEPHEN EDGAR**
Because I write formal poetry myself, it is this aspect of poetry which usually draws me to try my hand at translation. Some say that attempts to replicate rhyme schemes and the like can only lead to distortion of the sense and that those features should be sacrificed. For me it is only the challenge of reproducing, or finding a counterpart for, those features that makes me want to go to the trouble of translating at all. There is no perfect equivalence in translation. Insisting that every word and phrase of the original must appear in the translation and no word or phrase may be added seems misguided, particularly with a formal poem. A poem is about many things and the literal sense is only one of them. The rhetorical and musical features of poetry are as intrinsic to a formal poem as its ostensible meaning, which may be little more than a coat hanger; the dazzling gown draped on that hanger may be made of quite other elements.

Some poets have been served well by translation—Seferis and Holub come to mind—but others seem to lose a lot of their magic in the process, Akhmatova among them. The intense singing quality of her verse seems not to come through. It is often because I find existing translations of a formal poem unsatisfactory in some way that I try my hand. Of course, I am not claiming that my versions succeed, merely identifying what impels me to make the attempt.

“In Memoriam, July 19, ” commemorates Germany’s declaration of war on Russia: August 1 in our calendar, July 19 Old Style. It is written in iambic pentameter—except for line two, which is tetrameter, perhaps to match the abruptness of its meaning—rhyming abab, the a rhymes being feminine and the b rhymes masculine. That is the formal element that I have reproduced. The main difficulty is trying to do just that: to dismantle the original Russian and remake it in English in the same pattern. I first make a literal version and then begin the remolding. There is nothing very illuminating that I can say about the process, and my drafts don’t reveal much, because I spend most of the time staring at the page with my pen motionless in my hand, while running through innumerable permutations in my mind until something falls into place.

**Originally Published: March 27th, 2008**

In Memoriam, July 19, 1914
BY ANNA AKHMATOVA
TRANSLATED BY STEPHEN EDGAR
We aged a hundred years and this descended
In just one hour, as at a stroke.
The summer had been brief and now was ended;
The body of the ploughed plains lay in smoke.

The hushed road burst in colors then, a soaring
Lament rose, ringing silver like a bell.
And so I covered up my face, imploring
God to destroy me before battle fell.

And from my memory the shadows vanished
Of songs and passions—burdens I’d not need.
The Almighty bade it be—with all else banished—
A book of portents terrible to read.

” Simply, In Memoriam, July 19, 1914″, A July Poem By Anna Akhmatva is About commemorating Germany’s declaration of war on Russia: August 1 in our calendar, July 19 Old Style ; Here , Summer’s brief lease takes on a much deeper significance. The soldier-poet Siegfried Sassoon found himself sitting At Carnoy enjoying the contentment of a summer sunset, despite the knowledge that morning would bring an engagement that could easily have seen the lease’s final termination for him and his comrades. : : : :

[In this translation from Russian the original organisation of the poem is retained. Note the abab rhyme pattern and the general use of iambic pentameter apart from in line two. The use of tetrameter here helps to convey the abrupt shock of the news of impending war.

The summer season’s ease and warmth should still lie ahead at the end of July but now summer has ‘ended’. Images of ploughed fields and smoke in line 4 inevitably suggest battlegrounds and at the start of the second verse references to a road bursting in colours prompt thoughts of shells and destruction. Passionate expression of grief and sorrow is suggested in the single word “lament” , and reinforced by the way the narrator implores God to destroy her before the battles begin.

There is now no place left for memories of “songs and passion” , and instead a book of “portents” or terrible and calamitous events must be read. Consider the impact of the repeated use of a ‘b’ sound in a poem which heralds the beginning of a catastrophic period of Russian history. ] : : ( From poetrybyheart.org.uk : : )

Notes for each of the 12 lines Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India March 23 , 2023 : : : : : : : :

To Mrs. Will H Low : Robert Louis Stevenson : : July Poems: : Months Poems : :

Robert Louis Stevenson

To Mrs. Will. H. Low.
From Underwoods
Even in the bluest noonday of July,
There could not run the smallest breath of wind
But all the quarter sounded like a wood;
And in the chequered silence and above
The hum of city cabs that sought the Bois,
Suburban ashes shivered into song.
A patter and a chatter and a chirp
And a long dying hiss — it was as though
Starched old brocaded dames through all the house
Had trailed a strident skirt, or her whole sky
Even in a wink had over-brimmed in rain.
Hark, in these shady parlours, how it talks
Of the near autumn, how the smitten ash
Trembles and augurs floods! O not too long
In these inconstant latitudes delay,
O not too late from the unbeloved north
Trim your escape! For soon shall this low roof
Resound indeed with rain, soon shall your eyes
Search the foul garden, search the darkened rooms,
Nor find one jewel but the blazing log.

12 Rue Vernier, Paris.

“To Mrs. Will. H. Low”, A July Poem By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) From “A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods. 1913” : ( Two of Stevenson’s best-loved collections of verse comprising 121 poems, some in Scots) With Life of Robert Louis Stevenson by Alexander Harvey ; is About the scene of 12 , Rue Vernier, Paris, and the peril comes straight way from brimful of summer rain, which serves as a reminder of “near autumn” and evenings spent before “the blazing log”: :

Notes for each of the 20 lines Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India March 22 , 2023 : : : : : : : :

Poppies in July : Sylvia Plath : : July Poems : : Months Poems : :

Poppies In July
Little poppies, little hell flames,
Do you do no harm?

You flicker. I cannot touch you.
I put my hands among the flames. Nothing burns

And it exhausts me to watch you
Flickering like that, wrinkly and clear red, like the skin of a mouth.

A mouth just bloodied.
Little bloody skirts!

There are fumes I cannot touch.
Where are your opiates, your nauseous capsules?

If I could bleed, or sleep! –
If my mouth could marry a hurt like that!

Or your liquors seep to me, in this glass capsule,
Dulling and stilling.

But colorless. Colorless.
— Sylvia Plath : : From allpoetry.com : For Educational Purposes only.

“Poppies In July” , A July Poem By Sylvia Plath is About Poppies in July and sinister images like hellfire and bloody skirt and bloodied mouth and acute and intensified voyage into the speaker’s own consciousness, In this one of two famous poems about poppies that Plath (1932-63) wrote – she refers to the flowers as “little hell flames” ( as in line 1 , opening the poem. ) : “Little poppies, little hell flames,
Do you do no harm?”

Notes for each of the 16 lines Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India March 21 , 2023 : : : : : : : :

Inniskeen Road: July Evening : : Patrick Kavanagh : : July Poems : : Months Poems : :

**Patrick Kavanagh: The poet “pondering the Stony Grey Soil of Monaghan at his native Inniskeen” in 1963 : : Born 21 October 1904**
**Inniskeen, County Monaghan, Ireland — 30 November 1967 (aged 63)** Dublin , Ireland. : Irish Poet , Active from 1928 – 1967. : Written Poems & Novels on subjects of Nature & Irish life. : often overlooked in our rush to get to his fellow twentieth-century giants, W. B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney. : : : : Kavanagh Archive

**Me I will throw away.**
**Me sufficient for the day**
**The sticky self that clings**
**Adhesions on the wings.**
**To love and adventure**
**To go on the grand tour**
**A man must be free**
**From self-necessity.**
**See over there**
**A created splendour**
**Made by one individual**
**From things residual**
**With all the various**
**Qualities hilarious**
**Of what**
**Hitherto was not**

**From “The Self-Slaved**“

Patrick Kavanagh statue along the Grand Canal in Dublin . : : When the Irish Times compiled a list of favourite Irish poems in 2000, ten of Kavanagh’s poems were in the top 50, and he was rated the second favourite poet behind W. B. Yeats. : The statue was inspired by his poem “Lines written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin”:

**“O commemorate me where there is water**
**canal water preferably, so stilly**
**greeny at the heart of summer. Brother**
**commemorate me thus beautifully.”**

A wax statue of Kavanagh at the National Wax Museum, Dublin : : On 24 February 2002, after winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in “A Beautiful Mind”, Russell Crowe quoted Kavanagh during his acceptance speech at the 55th British Academy Film Awards : : : : : “To be a poet and not know the trade,
**To be a lover and repel all women;**
**Twin ironies by which great saints are made,**
**The agonising pincer-jaws of heaven.”**

**Lonely bicycle rider in the evening of the City.**

**the cycling teams, on the eve of the Milan**

Inniskeen Road: July Evening
The bicycles go by in twos and threes –
There’s a dance in Billy Brennan’s barn to-night,
And there’s the half-talk code of mysteries
And the wink-and-elbow language of delight.
Half-past eight and there is not a spot
Upon a mile of road, no shadow thrown
That might turn out a man or woman, not
A footfall tapping secrecies of stone. 8
I have what every poet hates in spite
Of all the solemn talk of contemplation.
Oh, Alexander Selkirk knew the plight
Of being king and government and nation.
A road, a mile of kingdom, I am king
Of banks and stones and every blooming thing. 14
— Patrick Kavanagh

“Inniskeen Road : July Evening” A ( July ) Sonnet Poem By Patrick Kavanagh is About The Poet’s Own Feelings of Isolation from his inability to join Society. : : The Poem , between the title and the lovely ‘blooming’, the Next To Last word of the poem, lingers to and fro , remaining undecided between gentle surprise and simple poetic anger : between swearing in / pledge taken and distress as being appeared which in all floats in the air of July Evening & party night. : : : : The Poem is a 14 line Sonnet. The lines follow a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCD EFEFGG. This is the traditional Shakespearean or English pattern. The meter is also consistent, sticking to iambic pentameter. : : : :

Stanza 1 : Octave : : “The bicycles go by in twos and threes – 1
There’s a dance in Billy Brennan’s barn to-night, 2
And there’s the half-talk code of mysteries 3
And the wink-and-elbow language of delight
Half-past eight and there is not a spot 5
Upon a mile of road, no shadow thrown 6
That might turn out a man or woman, not 7
A footfall tapping secrecies of stone.” 8. : : : : lines 1 To 8 : : : :

The event is in July . The attendant meeters are on their “bicycles,” accompanying in groups of “twos and threes,”going on Inniskeen Road in the evening to “Billy Brennan’s barn.” Who is holding a dance party that night, that is, drawing a large crowd. : : The Poet is alone, without any company of a partner. He doesn’t understand the “half talk” code of mysteries “( line 3 ) and also “the ‘wink -and-elbow’ language of delight” ( line 4 ) : : The Poet doesn’t explain about mysteries in half talk . One may understand this in common parlance as it could be half hidden or partial mention; or insincere / trivial speaking in one or two / three Key Word(s). The “wink language” could be with signalling in ‘shutting’ eyes or keep back by ‘blinking away’ or quick ‘closing of one eye’: The “elbow language ” could be shoving one’s elbow in to another person’s ribs , or jostling each other while cycling or merely rough contact while passing on. By such references we understand that the party going revellers are described as taking delight/ pleasure in.

At “Half-past eight” there is “no spot Upon a mile of road” , “no shadow thrown” , where a “man or woman” is not “footfall tapping.” 😦 lines 5 To 8 ) There is not a sound of footsteps. How that party is happening is a mystery to The Poet who describes the partying as “secrecies of stone”. As lonely , perplexed and distant from the fellow party goers The Poet becomes bemused at wondering how he will attend the same party. : : : :

Stanza 2 : Sestet : : “I have what every poet hates in spite 9
Of all the solemn talk of contemplation. 10
Oh, Alexander Selkirk knew the plight 11
Of being king and government and nation.12
A road, a mile of kingdom, I am king 13
Of banks and stones and every blooming thing.”14 : : lines 9 To 14 : : : :

HERE in the poem takes a turn of Volta. The perplexing deep thoughts of Octave are further expanded with explanation.The poet speaks here in First Person as ( I ) to particularise his own role clearly destined as different Poet among every / other poet(s), who is having “solemn talk of contemplation”, Meaning , “All the talk of ” dignified / earnest and sober intent , may it be looking grave and gloomy or with melancholy; yet of calm and lengthy , thoughtful reflections on what is being observed. The Poet might “talk” about the necessity of “contemplation” but in reality he “hates” it. ( As said in lines 9 & 10 ) : :

The next line 11 references naming Alexander Selkirk , “Oh, Alexander Selkirk knew the plight
Of being king and government and nation.” ( lines 11 & 12 ) : :
This is A reference to the Royal Navy Officer castaway Alexander Selkirk spending away for 4 years in South Pacific Islands and who was eternalised by Daniel Defoe as “Robinson Crusoe” : : : : The Poet like Alexander / Crusoe , understands the plight Of being king and government and nation.” The “plight” is a situation from which an untangling is difficult especially an unpleasant and trying one . It is a state of quandary or dilemma of uncertainty and perplexity which requires a choice between equally unfavourable options. Like Alexander Selkirk , The Poet , Our Hero: The Speaker , The King , The Government of the King with his Nation : Each One Of Them is forced to be all of these things For his own world . : : Like a legendary Robinson Crusoe , The Poet feels as distinguished and separate from the Civilization of which he is a secernated part as Alexander Selkirk / Robinson Crusoe was. That’s why he is forced to make his own of everything actually his nation possesses and so he says :: ” A road, a mile of kingdom, I am king 13
Of banks and stones and every blooming thing.”14 ( lines 13 & 14 ) : : : : The Poet has come to know At last , the Sights and Sounds Of Nature and only there : ” Of banks ( of rivers ), stones ( of the hills and mountains ) and every blooming thing.”( line 14 ). He would notice the gesticulated communicatory and bodily signals in delightful moods of his partner(s) : : His Poetic isolation with deep serious thoughts for all good considerations , as well as becoming part of the celebrating dancing crowd of cheerful partying fellows , in one single spirit , may remain decided or undecided. Afterall , the beautiful Nature in all the Treasures of the Nation belongs to one and all , as everyone is an inseparable part of One Whole. : : : :

“Inniskeen Road: July Evening” By an Irish Poet Patric Kavanagh Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India March 20 , 2023 : : : ::

London in July : Amy Levy : : July Poems : : Months Poems : :

**Beloved Duo : Bridge Bicycle Date In** **Summer** **of July**

London In July : : by Amy Levy ( 1861 – 1889 ):

What ails my senses thus to cheat?
What is it ails the place,
That all the people in the street
Should wear one woman’s face?

The London trees are dusty-brown
Beneath the summer sky;
My love, she dwells in London town,
Nor leaves it in July.

O various and intricate maze,
Wide waste of square and street;
Where, missing through unnumbered days,
We twain at last may meet!

And who cries out on crowd and mart?
Who prates of stream and sea?
The summer in the city’s heart–
That is enough for me.

— Amy Levy

“London In July”, By Amy Judith Levy : b. 10 November 1861 , Clapham, London, England- 9 September 1889 (aged 27) Resting place :
Endsleigh Gardens, London, England ) who pioneered symbolist methods in England, is About the capital in the hot summer month of July. : :

Stanza 1 : :
What ails my senses thus to cheat? 1
What is it ails the place, 2
That all the people in the street 3
Should wear one woman’s face?” 4 : : lines 1 To 4 : : : :

The poet questions her senses asking what is that cause of complaint in which ailing- like she feels “cheating,” that deprives her awareness by some deceit . She also has a similar question that ails the place ( “street where all the people seem to her as having one person’s face ,as said in line 4 , ” .. . wear one woman’s face ?”) : They seem to have one and the same mask concealing real under a false appearance. : : : :

Stanza 2 : : : : “The London trees are dusty-brown 5
Beneath the summer sky; 6
My love, she dwells in London town, 7
Nor leaves it in July.” 8 : : : : lines 5 To 8 : : : :

About “London town , ( its ) dusty brown trees beneath the summer sky.”( lines 5 & 6 ); These are the acquired changes in city’s appearance. : Here, she wants to reveal this masking face of everyone, the covering that hides the unrecognisable. Against this background of London town where she dwells, she must see: her beloved as her beloved is a Londoner and “she doesn’t leave it in July” ( line 7 & 8 ) for the sake of short stay in country side, even in the summer heat of July. : : : :

Stanza 3 : : “O various and intricate maze, 9
Wide waste of square and street; 10
Where, missing through unnumbered days, 11
We twain at last may meet!” 12: : lines 9 To 12 :: :

Here, “various and intricate maze”( line 9 ) are addressed. Meaning, in the untidy elaborate paths which confuse one to get lost , the size of the city “of square and street”( line 10 ) are proved “Wide waste,”( line 11 ) over a big range. ( As no-one Bother to go out in the hot city. ) : We “Twain” ( in line 12 ) Meaning , the like-minded ‘duo’: she as also her beloved are “missing ( one another ) through unnumbered days .. . at last may meet” ( lines 11 & 12 ) : They haven’t met since last two months. Thus , she expresses her one and only one wish to remain at the place where she has a hope to be with her beloved. : : : :

Stanza 4 : : : : “And who cries out on crowd and mart? 13
Who prates of stream and sea? 14
The summer in the city’s heart– 15
That is enough for me.“16 : : : : lines 13 To 16:

Here, she wants her readers know “who cries on crowd and Mart?” ,( line 13 ) and also , “Who prates of stream and sea?” ( line 14 ) By this question, ‘Who are the Londoners while sitting at the streams and sea,?’ : “prats”there , she conveys by addressing them with the word “prats”, that is , she shows her dislike for the People in a mocking mask and so she insults them , in a British way labelling them, as stupid , irritating and ridiculous people in the crowd. The valid reason is that the crowd and market place as appeared to her in her state of longing desire to meet her beloved, as wearing the same woman’s face with what they appear to her as mocking her. The reader should understandably view her Gabby and Voluble chit chat about Others as a womanly gossip. She wishes perhaps where she wants them go ; to the countryside or at some cooler Seaside out of the hot city for this year’s summer of July. Then , in contrast to These Other Londoners as The poet concludes : she is not leaving during “The summer in the city’s heart” ( line 15 ) 💖💖 ” That is enough for me.” ( line 16 ) : In The hot city of London among various people , comprising also ‘Two Beloved Duo’ , in grieving state of separation , constantly pining to be together, have become capable to check the expansion or influence of the heat and dust of the hot summer of July. : : : :

“London In July” , A July ( Love ) Poem By Amy Levy Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India March 19 , 2023 : : : : : : : :

A Calendar of Sonnets : July : Helen Hunt Jackson : : July Poems : : Months Poems : :

Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, was born Helen Fiske on October 15, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Alma Mater : Ipswich Female Seminary; Abbott Institute. : She became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the United States government. She described the adverse effects of government actions in her history “A Century of Dishonor (1881)”. Her novel Ramona (1884) dramatized the federal government’s mistreatment of Native Americans in Southern California after the Mexican–American War and attracted considerable attention to her cause. Commercially popular, it was estimated to have been reprinted 300 times and most readers liked its romantic and picturesque qualities rather than its political content. The novel was so popular that it attracted many tourists to Southern California who wanted to see places from the book.She is most famously known for her novel Ramona, about the mistreatment of Native Americans in Southern California. Reprinted hundreds of times it is often cited as one of the most ethical novels ever written. Ramona along with Uncle Tom’s Cabin, as the two most ethical novels of the 19th century. Sixty years after its publication, 600,000 copies had been sold. There have been over 300 reissues to date and the book has never been out of printWe publish here most of her poetic output. Her series ‘A Calendar Of Sonnets’ took the months in turn and gave a crisp and vivid description of each. A fine American poet Jackson died of stomach cancer in on August 12th 1885 in San Francisco, California. Whilst she was best known for her prose works and activism, she wrote a large number of poems, many of which are still in publication **today**.

A Calendar of Sonnets : July : : By Helen Hunt Jackson ( 1830 – 1885 ) : : : : Some flowers are withered and some joys have died;
The garden reeks with an East Indian scent
From beds where gillyflowers stand weak and spent;
The white heat pales the skies from side to side;
But in still lakes and rivers, cool, content,
Like starry blooms on a new firmament,
White lilies float and regally abide.
In vain the cruel skies their hot rays shed;
The lily does not feel their brazen glare.
In vain the pallid clouds refuse to share
Their dews, the lily feels no thirst, no dread.
Unharmed she lifts her queenly face and head;
She drinks of living waters and keeps fair.

— Helen Hunt Jackson

“A Calender Of Sonnets : July ” is about the scourge of July sun and drought upon Nature and her previously vibrant flowers who are withering and dying in the savage heat. Helen Jackson’s Calendar of Sonnets offered a sonnet for every month of the year, accompanied by related illustrations. : :

Notes for each of the 14 lines of the Sonnet Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India March 18 , 2023 : : : : : : : :

Emily Dickinson, ‘Answer July : Emily Dickinson : : July Poems : : Months Poems : :

Answer July : : : : by Emily Dickinson : : : : : : : :

386

Answer July—
Where is the Bee—
Where is the Blush—
Where is the Hay?

Ah, said July—
Where is the Seed—
Where is the Bud—
Where is the May—
Answer Thee—Me—

Nay—said the May—
Show me the Snow—
Show me the Bells—
Show me the Jay!

Quibbled the Jay—
Where be the Maize—
Where be the Haze—
Where be the Bur?
Here—said the Year—
— Fr667 (1863) J386

— Emily Dickinson

“Answer July”, By Emily Dickinson is About Praising July and July’s reply in Nay in a sense paralleled and Finally exemplified by the year in another instances “Here” as occured throughout. Who else knows better than any of its months !? Cold and Spring have to give way to the Summer Heat. : : : : : The rhythms of the year include are: Long-‘a’ rhymes that are gently pattering throughout the poem: Hay, May, Nay, May, Jay, Jay ; alongside Maize and Haze. Long-‘e’ rhymes scattered as : Bee, Seed, Thee, Me, me (3), and be (3). There’s also Snow and Show (3) and the beautiful end rhyme of Here and Year : : : :

Emily was a skilled gardener girl, too by the age of eleven ; she studied botany at college, had her own glass conservatory, and tended the flower gardens and shrubs.

“Answer July— 1
Where is the Bee— 2
Where is the Blush— 3
Where is the Hay?”4 : : Stanza 1 : : lines 1 To 4

Here , July is being asked regarding whereabouts of Bee 🐝 , Blush , & Hay : July is made accountable for the narrative description of the Springtime Chroniclers like Bee , Blush & Hay. Meaning “bee- like” activities of social gatherings and communal tasks and competition they carried out of the Honey 🍯 Formations . The blushful rosiness in pink and red colours whether on ripening of fruits, as well as modesty , blooming beauty , shying off or embarrassment in appearance. And “hay” making required to be ready from the growing grasses while the sun shines , to be mowed and cured afterwards for use as fodder. These are some examples of the story telling ,Etc. ; expected in the answers to the queries asked for. However, the question remains is who is this persona demanding answers from July ? : : We can on reading all the 18 lines of the Poem , conclusively identify this persona , with naming him as ” Autumn”. : : : :

“Ah, said July— 5
Where is the Seed— 6
Where is the Bud— 7
Where is the May— 8
Answer Thee—Me— ” 9 : : Stanza 2 : : lines 5 To 9 : : : : :

In reply to his interrogation , July answers : : in the form of returning questions regarding whereabouts of Seeds , Bud , May : So, Month of May is being summoned to throw a light on seeds & Bud ; Meaning , if May was here , exact answers would have been right here ; But , he is not May ; he is July. So a wrong person is chosen and and chosen at the wrong time. July representing Summer Season playfully becomes a punter ( a football sportsman who kicks the football with his foot ) of the questions getting air borne to go back to Spring time May to report for the grass / hay producing seed and Flowers producing Buds which attract Honey Bees. : : : seed and the Bud. The poet Dickinson is telling the character of the questioner in her poem that it’s not the seasons that provide, it is the soul that seeks that finds. She is her own spring, summer, harvest and survival.

“Nay—said the May— 10
Show me the Snow— 11
Show me the Bells— 12
Show me the Jay!” 13 : : Stanza 3 : : lines 10 To 13 : : : :

Here May respects the summon received from July , and reacts with his answer in the word , “Nay”and uses the method learnt from July by turning in to thoughtless tiff. May demands answer from the ” Jay” , the blue 🐦 Over-Wintering Bird. May involves the Jay by asserting to Show him “the Snow and the Bells.”representing Winter time : the coldest Season From Winter Solstice , that is December 22 , to the Vernal Equinox, that is March 21 ( also called Spring Equinox ) : : The extended Winter is necessary for the Full growth of some Crops and Fruit trees in turn for a good harvest and fruition. Jay is made accountable to show whether all these have occurred properly. : : : :

“Quibbled the Jay— 14
Where be the Maize— 15
Where be the Haze— 16
Where be the Bur? 17
Here—said the Year—” 18 : : Stanza 4 : : lines 14 To 18 : : : :

Here , Jay is a Quibbler : a disputant who raises objections to Autumn about the Maize , the Haze and the Bur which are made available by Snowy Winter with the Providence( of seeds , plant growth , Buds , flowering and fruition ) from Spring that are passed on through/ by misty Autumn having Haze ( atmospheric moisture ) . : : Bur is a rough or prickly envelope of a fruit. : a plant that bears burs. which becomes available in Snowy Winter. Jay loves to eat his favourite foods of Bur fruits and Corn 🌽 Maize which is a crop borne in on cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears. : : When the BlueJay peevishly objects in his answering to Autumn regarding the corn Maize , the Haze and the Bur on what happen , occur or taken place with them and where they are extant , he shows his anger to the questioner Autumn who in a way has attempted to involve July representing Summer ; May representing Spring and Snowy Winter. And they all have appeared unresponsive as they are not supposed to be accountable for what and where the story of the Seasons is played on by the constituents taking part in respective seasons. : : And in the End , the YEAR is deputised by NATURE to appear as the whole and sole , One and ONLY ONE to include all Seasons with their each and every representative Months as part of the broader as one’s Sphere of yearly cycle. The YEAR consoles the irritated constituents hindering their actions and alters through ONE Force : In his One Final Word , ” here”: With this , the Poem becomes playful riddle of witty , gaiety and spirited. Entire poem is written with one syllable words. : : it’s not the seasons that provide, it is the soul that seeks . Emily is her own Spring, Summer, and Winter with plants harvests and Life Cycles on the Earth. : : : :

Geum bur : A bur (also spelled burr)[1] is a seed or dry fruit or infructescence that has hooks or teeth. The main function of the bur is to spread the seeds of the bur plant, often through epizoochory. The hooks of the bur are used to catch on to for example fur or fabric, so that the bur, which contain seeds, then can be transported along with the thing it attached itself to . The number of burs per fruit along with the size and shape can vary largely between different bur plants

**BlueJay bird eating his favourite nuts in shell : the peanuts. Other food includes mostly vegetarian varieties : corn , seeds, fruits / even Bur**s, **small invertebrates**,

**When a blue jay is agitated or angry, the blue crest atop its head will rise. It will lower when the bird is relaxed or calm.**

“Answer July” A July Poem By Emily Dickinson Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India March 17 , 2023 : : : : : : : :