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.
“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 lostin 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 : : : : : : : :
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. 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 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 : : : : : : : :
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 Cycling flying To The Moon.
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 adance party that night,that is, drawingalarge 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 contactwhilepassing 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 “secreciesof 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 Poetamong 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 thesethingsFor 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 / RobinsonCrusoewas. 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 bloomingthing.”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 indelightfulmoods 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 cheerfulpartying fellows , in one single spirit , may remain decided or undecided. Afterall , the beautiful Nature in all the Treasures of the Nation belongs to oneand all , aseveryone 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 : : : ::
Amy Levy “Talkative, good-looking in a way, and full of the restlessness of the unhappy.”( W B Yeats writing in Summer of 1889 ) Linda Hunt Beckman said of Amy Levy (1861-89) that she ‘was one of the poets who pioneered symbolist methods in England, and she seems to have turned to symbolism’s poetics with increasing frequency toward the end of her life’. She committed suicide, aged just 27, having suffered from depression throughout her life; Oscar Wilde was among those who eulogised her in print following her death. A London Plane-Tree and Other Verse, published posthumously in 1889, shows how Levy took her inspiration from late Victorian London, using symbolist techniques she had learnt from French writers. Amy was an English essayist, poet, and novelist best remembered for her literary gifts; her experience as the second Jewish woman at Cambridge University, and as the first Jewish student at Newnham College, Cambridge; her feminist positions; her friendships with others living what came later to be called a “New Woman” life, some of whom were lesbians; and her relationships with both women and men in literary and politically activist circles in London during the 1880s. Amy Levy was something of a prodigy, publishing work in her teenage years, achieving admission to Cambridge (only the second person of Jewish heritage to do so), and then while in her 20s carving out a career in journalism, fiction, and poetry. A feminist*, she had made connections with the cadre of those that would soon be called “New Women,” and Oscar Wilde was impressed by her keen powers of social observation and sharp concise prose. she had obstacles, not just the universal ones of art, but the additional burdens of anti-Semitism, misogyny, and what appears to be a lesbian orientation, which only makes her achievement as she reached the age of 27 seem just that much more impressive : : In quick succession she wrote and published two novels and two books of poetry that seemed well enough received. in the summer of 1889 she was working on reviewing the proofs of her third book of poetry “A London Plane Tree.” “London In July,” is from this collection The poems, if not exactly avant-garde, were spare and modern enough that they wouldn’t sound outdated in the coming century. ; : A woman in London Summer of JulyBeloved Duo : Bridge Bicycle Date InSummerof 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’sface?” 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 countryside, 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 theplace where shehas 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 wearingthe samewoman’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 dustof 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 : : : : : : : :
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 : : : : : : : :
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) andthe beautifulend 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 ChroniclerslikeBee , 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 mowedand cured afterwardsfor 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 forthegrass / hay producing seed and Flowersproducing 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 andsurvival.
“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 inSnowy 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 everyrepresentative Monthsas 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 , gaietyand 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 plantsMaize inflorescence BlueJay bird eating his favourite nuts in shell : the peanuts. Other food includes mostly vegetarian varieties : corn , seeds, fruits / even Burs, small invertebrates, Blue Jay bird in Snowy Winter 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 : : : : : : : :
William Wordsworth : Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library / Alamy Stock Photo : :
Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798 BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Five years have past; five summers, with the length 11 Of five long winters! and again I hear These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs With a soft inland murmur.—Once again4 Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, That on a wild secluded scene impress Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect The landscape with the quiet of the sky. 8 The day is come when I again repose Here, under this dark sycamore, and view These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts, Which at this season, with their unripe fruits, 12 Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves ‘Mid groves and copses. Once again I see These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms, 16 Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke Sent up, in silence, from among the trees! With some uncertain notice, as might seem Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods, Or of some Hermit’s cave, where by his fire The Hermit sits alone.22
These beauteous forms, Through a long absence, have not been to me 24 As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye: But oft, in lonely rooms, and ‘mid the din Of towns and cities, I have owed to them, In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, 28 Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart; And passing even into my purer mind With tranquil restoration:—feelings too Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps, As have no slight or trivial influence32 On that best portion of a good man’s life, His little, nameless, unremembered, acts Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust, To them I may have owed another gift, 36 Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood, In which the burthen of the mystery, In which the heavy and the weary weight Of all this unintelligible world, 40 Is lightened:—that serene and blessed mood, In which the affections gently lead us on,— Until, the breath of this corporeal frame And even the motion of our human blood 44 Almost suspended, we are laid asleep In body, and become a living soul: While with an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, 48 We see into the life of things. 49
If this Be but a vain belief, yet, oh! how oft— 50 In darkness and amid the many shapes Of joyless daylight; when the fretful stair 52 Unprofitable, and the fever of the world, 53 Have hung upon the beatings of my heart— How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee, O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro’ the woods, 56 How often has my spirit turned to thee!
And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought, 58 With many recognitions dim and faint, And somewhat of a sad perplexity, 60 The picture of the mind revives again: While here I stand, not only with the sense Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts That in this moment there is life and food 64 For future years. And so I dare to hope, Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first I came among these hills; when like a roe I bounded o’er the mountains, by the sides68 Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams, Wherever nature led: more like a man 70 Flying from something that he dreads, than one Who sought the thing he loved. For nature then (The coarser pleasures of my boyish days And their glad animal movements all gone by) 74 To me was all in all.—I cannot paint What then I was. The sounding cataract 76 Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock, The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood, Their colours and their forms, were then to me An appetite; a feeling and a love, 80 That had no need of a remoter charm, By thought supplied, nor any interest Unborrowed from the eye.—That time is past, And all its aching joys are now no more, 84 And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts Have followed; for such loss, I would believe, Abundant recompense. For I have learned88 To look on nature, not as in the hour Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes 90 The still sad music of humanity, Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power 92 To chasten and subdue.—And I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy94 Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, 96 Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean and the living air, 98 And the blue sky, and in the mind of man: A motion and a spirit, that impels 100 All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still A lover of the meadows and the woods 104 And mountains; and of all that we behold From this green earth; of all the mighty world106 Of eye, and ear,—both what they half create, And what perceive; well pleased to recognise In nature and the language of the sense The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,110 The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul 111 Of all my moral being.
Nor perchance, If I were not thus taught, should I the more Suffer my genial spirits to decay: For thou art with me here upon the banks Of this fair river; thou my dearest Friend, My dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch 117 The language of my former heart, and read My former pleasures in the shooting lights Of thy wild eyes. Oh! yet a little while 120 May I behold in thee what I was once, My dear, dear Sister! and this prayer I make, Knowing that Nature never did betray The heart that loved her; ’tis her privilege, Through all the years of this our life, to lead From joy to joy: for she can so inform 126 The mind that is within us, so impress With quietness and beauty, and so feed 128 With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues, Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, 130 Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all The dreary intercourse of daily life, 132 Shall e’er prevail against us, or disturb Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon Shine on thee in thy solitary walk; 136 And let the misty mountain-winds be free To blow against thee: and, in after years, 138 When these wild ecstasies shall be matured Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind 140 Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms, Thy memory be as a dwelling-place 142 For all sweet sounds and harmonies; oh! then, If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief, 144 Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts Of tender joy wilt thou remember me, 146 And these my exhortations! Nor, perchance— 147 If I should be where I no more can hear 148 Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams Of past existence—wilt thou then forget 150 That on the banks of this delightful stream We stood together; and that I, so long 152 A worshipper of Nature, hither came Unwearied in that service: rather say 154 With warmer love—oh! with far deeper zeal Of holier love. Nor wilt thou then forget, That after many wanderings, many years Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs, 158 And this green pastoral landscape, were to me 159 More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake! 160 — William Wordsworth.
The “Lines Written (or Composed) a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798, ” is well-known simply as ” Tintern Abbey”, although that building does not appear within the poem. It was written by Wordsworth after a walking tour with his sister in this section of the Welsh Borders. The description of his encounters with the countryside on the banks of the River Wye grows into an outline of his general philosophy. There has been considerable debate about why evidence of the human presence in the landscape has been downplayed and in what way the poem fits within the 18th-century loco-descriptivegenre.
The Abbey and the upper reaches of the Wye, a painting by William Havell, 1804.
He had previously visited the area as a troubled twenty-three-year-old in August 1793. Since then he had matured and his seminal poetical relationship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge had begun. Wordsworth claimed to have composed the poem entirely in his head, beginning it upon leaving Tintern and not jotting down so much as a line until he reached Bristol, by which time it had just reached mental completion. He had it inserted at the eleventh hour as the concluding poem of “Lyrical Ballads” being jointly publishedby Wordsworth and his friend Samuel T Coleridge . The poem represents the climax of Wordsworth’s first great period of creative output and prefigures much of the distinctively Wordsworthian verse that was to follow. ( Arthur Beatty, William Wordsworth, his doctrine and art in their historical relations, University of Wisconsin Studies #17, 1922, p.64 ) : :
The Poem comprises verse paragraphs ratherthan stanzas. It contains some elements of the ode and of the dramatic monologue. . In the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth noted: “I have not ventured to call this Poem an Ode but it was written with a hope that in the transitions, and the impassioned music of the versification, would be found the principle requisites of that species of composition.” : : The apostrophe at its beginning is reminiscent of the 18th century landscape-poem, but it is now agreed that the best designation of the work would be the conversation poem, The silent listener in this case is Wordsworth’s sister Dorothy, who is addressed in the poem’s final section. Transcending the nature poetry written before that date, it employs a much more intellectual and philosophical engagement with the subject that verges on pantheism. ( God is the Universe which is manifestation of God; that’s Pantheism; it admits and tolerates all Gods. ) : : The poem’s tripartite division develop the significance of his experience of the landscape, and a final confirmatory address to the implied listener. : : : :
Lines 1–49 Revisiting the natural beauty of the Wye after five years fills the poet with a sense of “tranquil restoration”. He recognises in the landscape something which had been so internalised as to become the basis for out of the body experience.
Lines 49–111 In “thoughtless youth” the poet had rushed enthusiastically about the landscape and it is only now that he realises the power such scenery has continued to have upon him, even when not physically present there. He identifies in it “a sense sublime/ Of something far more deeply interfused,/ Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns” (lines 95–97) and the immanence of “A motion and a spirit, that impels/ All thinking things, all objects of all thought,/ And rolls through all things” (lines 100–103). With this insight he finds in nature “The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,/ The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul/ Of all my moral being” (lines 108–111).
Lines 111–159 The third movement of the poem is addressed to his sister Dorothy, “my dearest Friend,/ My dear, dear Friend,” as a sharer in this vision and in the conviction that “all which we behold is full of blessings”. It is this that will continue to create a lasting bond between them.
Having internalised the landscape, Wordsworth claimed now “to see into the life of things” (line 50) and, so enabled, to hear “oftentimes/ The still sad music of humanity” (92-3) : : The heavy industrial activity in the area ; “wreaths of smoke”; presence of the local ironworks, or of charcoal burning, or of a paper works ; were suppressed by Wordsworth. However , the lines “the still sad music of humanity” presented industrial manifestation, It seems to mean that he can sense some universal, timeless connection between nature and all of humanity. : : : :
( The Above informations are as provided in Wikipedia’s Article. ) : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :: Now , let me attempt HERE In BELOW present the conversation of the Poet / The Speaker , line by line. : : : :
The speaker says it has been five years since he last visited Tintern Abbey. That’s five summers and five winters, which felt doubly long : ( connected together of 10 months ) : Now that he’s revisiting his place , he once again is happily hearing the “murmur” : soft sound of rivers and streams rolling from the mountains. He again lays eyes on high face of rocks : “steep” ( vertical ) and “lofty” ( prominant ) “cliffs” from where upon he can overlook the places ( of the town ) : ” On a wild secluded scene ” , that is , On getting a privy spot of scene which is untamed ( wild ) and hidden from others , his privacy puts him more interiorized to the “deep thoughts” and ideas that “impress” firmly “and connect The landscape with the quiet of the sky.”: : Thus the sight of these cliffs imprint thoughtful , contemplative and reflective persona of The Poet / The Speaker who starts linking of this landscape with the calm silence of the sky. : : The day is come when he again takes rest under the dark shadow of “sycamore” tree , and “view the plots of cottage-ground, the orchard-tufts” : that is growing grass in the fruity gardens. The Orchard trees “at this season, with their unripe fruits , Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves’Mid groves and copses.” : Meaning , the fruits are clothed in the covering / or encased with one green coloured outer cover. “Mid grows” & “corpses” suggest the Orchard of small trees & dense growth of bushes. : : He notes “hedge rows”( row of fence of bushes and shrubs ) , ” little lines Of sportive wood run wild” and “Green to the door” : “pastoral farms”relating to Shepherd’s/ herdsmen for raising sheeps & cattles ; and wreaths of smoke Sent up, in silence, from among the trees that deliver some unknown message. He imagines that this smoke could be coming from “vagrant dwellers” wandering people living in the woods, or “from the fire of a Hermit’s cave” devoutly religious personliving alone in a cave. : : ( Lines 1 To 22 ) : :
Even while the speaker was away from this beautiful landscape, he didn’t forget it and could still picture it vividly. While surrounded by the noisiness and loneliness of urban settings, remembering the beauty of this place helped the speaker through difficult and tiring times, bringing him pleasant feelings within his body and mind. These memories helped him feel calm and restored, and even affected his actions, pushing him toward small, daily acts of goodness and care for other people. The speaker further thanks these memories for granting him an even more immense and awe-inspiring the gift: that wonderful, precious mood in which he felt free from the burdens of the unknown, and in which the heaviness of dealing with this often confusing, senseless world was lessened. In that calm, precious state of mind, the speaker could in a sense transcend the restrictions of his physical body, which would become totally still as the speaker became only his soul. In this state, he says, his vision became silent, calm, powerful, and with a feeling of equanimity and happiness he had insight into life itself.
The speaker goes on to offer the possibility that he simply imagined this experience, because it is something that he just wants to believe. He then rejects this possibility, however, commenting on how so many times, when unhappiness and the rush and stress of daily life have weighed heavily upon his heart, he has remembered this beautiful, landscape. Addressing the landscape directly, he says that within his mind or soul he has gone back to the woodlands of the Wye Valley for solace and comfort.
The speaker’s memories are like shining lights that have been half snuffed out, becoming darker or hard to see. There is a kind of sadness or confusion in the speaker’s thoughts as the landscape, so often remembered as a picture in his mind, is now seen again in real life. At the same time, being in this landscape gives him the sense that in addition to the happiness he’s experiencing right now, he will also have happiness in the future from remembering this current visit. He hopes that this is true, even though he is different from how he was when he was younger and first came here. His younger self was like a deer, jumping through the hills and alongside deep rivers and isolated streams alike, following nature. His younger self was someone running away from something that he feared, rather than running toward something he cared for. Even so, back then nature was everything to him, since he had already lost some of the less sophisticated happiness of his childhood. He can’t express or showing the reader exactly how he used to be, though. As a younger man, the sound of a waterfall stuck with him, like a passion sticks with someone (perhaps painfully or frighteningly). Similarly, his younger self experienced the shapes and colors of the rock cliffs, the mountain, and the shade and darkness of the forest with a kind of hunger. The landscape filled the younger speaker with intense emotion and love, yet this experience was missing a deeper spiritual or intellectual aspect beyond what could physically be seen. The past is over, though, as are the emotional highs and lows of youth that were intense to the point of being painful or disorienting. The speaker isn’t weakened by this loss and doesn’t grieve it, however, because he has gained so much in exchange. Specifically, over time he has gained the ability to really see nature, not thoughtlessly as he did when he was younger, but with a full awareness of all the sadness and harmony that comes with being a human being. This awareness—this human music—is not jarring or unpleasant. Instead, it has a calming, maturing effect, helping the speaker grow out of his youthful intensity and naivety. Over time, the speaker has also come to experience a kind of force that is at once joyful and disturbing in the way that it broadens the scope of his thoughts. This force creates a profound, nearly overwhelming awareness of the way that everything is connected and part of a whole. This force, this sense of connection and unity, is present throughout the natural world and universe. It exists in the light of suns as they set, in the round ocean, the air, the blue sky, and in the human mind. This presence or force is a kind of power or living soul that makes all things possible, including the capacity for thought and everything that is thought about. This force is described as moving through everything in the universe with a motion similar to rolling waves. Because of all of this insight that he has gained, the speaker says, he loves the natural world, including the fields, forests, and mountains, and the equally powerful world of the human mind and human senses of sight and hearing, which, he says, work by half inventing and half observing the world. The speaker sees in nature and in the human senses what is most fundamental to his thinking and his best thoughts. He compares nature to a person or spiritual presence who nurtures, leads, and protects every part of him, including his heart, soul, and morality.
The speaker says that even if, by some chance, he hadn’t learned all of this, he still would not allow himself to lose his positive outlook. Addressing his sister, the speaker says that this is because she is there with him in this landscape. Calling her his closest friend, the speaker says that he sees and hears in her his former self, including the way he used to feel and understand things, and the pleasure and joy he used to experience. Celebrating this, the speaker expresses the hope that he will see his younger self in her longer so that she can experience this youthful happiness longer. He then offers a prayer for his sister’s future. He compares nature to a woman who is faithful, and who cares most for leading people through life joyfully. The speaker says that nature can shape human minds so well, make such a strong impression of beauty and calm, and nurture such a higher level of thinking, that through these gifts people can withstand all the difficulties and immorality of daily life, including cruel words, unfair or quick judgments, condescension, selfishness, and empty or fake interactions. In fact, he says, with the gifts of nature people can withstand everything that is wearing or difficult in day-to-day existence. In doing so, they can uphold a positive outlook and belief in the goodness and blessedness of life. The speaker prays that nature will always stay with and help his sister; he hopes that when she is alone, she will experience moonlight, and that she will feel the presence of the soft or slightly rainy wind from the mountains. He goes on to imagine her when she is older, and her current youthful happiness has been moderated into a more muted or quiet outlook. Then, her mind will be like a spacious, lofty house for everything that is beautiful, and everything that is melodious and harmonious will live in only in her memories. He hopes that if, at that point, she experiences pain, or loneliness, or fear, she will joyfully remember him addressing her now, and that this memory will be healing. The speaker then goes on to imagine that at this future point he might have died and can no longer see or hear his sister. He says that even if this is the case, his sister will remember that they were together in this landscape. She won’t forget, he says, that like a religious person he worshipped nature, and that he came to this setting out of this devotion. He describes his feeling for this place as not just ordinary love but as the stronger kind of devotional and sacred love. He says, finally, that his sister will remember, even after the passage of many years and traveling elsewhere, that this forest, these cliffs, and this whole living natural place were beloved to him, on their own terms but also because of what they will mean to her.
“Tintern Abbey, Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798”— A July Poem By William Wordsworth Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India March 16 , 2023 : : : :
George Meredith in 1893 by George Frederic Watts. : : George Meredith, ( 1828 Portsmouth, Hampshire, England – 1909 , aged 81, Box Hill, Surrey, England ) A noted novelist as well as Poet influenced by John Keats, during the Victorian era of literature , His Notable works : “Modern Love. “The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) briefly scandalised Victorian literary circles. Of his later novels, the most enduring is The Egoist (1879), though in his lifetime his greatest success was Diana of the Crossways (1885). His novels were innovative in their attention to characters’ psychology, and also took a close interest in social change. His style, in both poetry and prose, was noted for its syntactic complexity; Oscar Wilde likened it to “chaos illumined by brilliant flashes of lightning”. He was an encourager of other novelists, as well as an influence on them; among those to benefit were Robert Louis Stevenson and George Gissing. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literatureseven times .: : Meredith ‘s innovations with the sonnet form were brilliantly displayed in his 1862 sequence Modern Love, about the breakdown of his own marriage.The primary theme of George Meredith’s sonnet cycle is the importance of love in human life. Meredith explores numerous aspects of this theme, mainly in terms of romantic love between a man and a woman but also in regard to the centrality of the emotion within the human psyche. The Death of Chatterton by Henry Wallis, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery version, for which Meredith posed in 1856.
July : : By George Meredith (1828-1909) : : : : I Blue July, bright July, Month of storms and gorgeous blue; Violet lightnings o’er thy sky, Heavy falls of drenching dew; Summer crown! o’er glen and glade Shrinking hyacinths in their shade; I welcome thee with all thy pride, I love thee like an Eastern bride. Though all the singing days are done As in those climes that clasp the sun; Though the cuckoo in his throat Leaves to the dove his last twin note; Come to me with thy lustrous eye, Golden-dawning oriently, Come with all thy shining blooms, Thy rich red rose and rolling glooms. Though the cuckoo doth but sing ‘cuk, cuk,’ And the dove alone doth coo; Though the cushat spins her coo-r-roo, r-r-roo – To the cuckoo’s halting ‘cuk.’
II Sweet July, warm July! Month when mosses near the stream, Soft green mosses thick and shy, Are a rapture and a dream. Summer Queen! whose foot the fern Fades beneath while chestnuts burn; I welcome thee with thy fierce love, Gloom below and gleam above. Though all the forest trees hang dumb, With dense leafiness o’ercome; Though the nightingale and thrush, Pipe not from the bough or bush; Come to me with thy lustrous eye, Azure-melting westerly, The raptures of thy face unfold, And welcome in thy robes of gold! Tho’ the nightingale broods—’sweet-chuck-sweet’ – And the ouzel flutes so chill, Tho’ the throstle gives but one shrilly trill To the nightingale’s ‘swe–sweet.’
“July”By A noted novelist as well as a poet is About the praises of this warm summer month. : : the praises of this warm summer month : : “Blue July, bright July, / Month of storms and gorgeous blue; / Violet lightnings o’er thy sky, / Heavy falls of drenching dew; / Summer crown!” : : “When Soft green, thick and shy mosses, near the stream ; Are a rapture and dream ,the Summer of July appears Sweet July , warm July.”
