The Rainbow Poem by James Thomson : : : : Moist, bright, and green, the landscape laughs around. Full swell the woods; their every music wakes, Mix’d in wild concert, with the warbling brooks Increased, the distant bleatings of the hills, And hollow lows responsive from the vales, Whence, blending all, the sweeten’d zephyr springs. ( 6 ) : Stanza 1 : Meantime, refracted from yon eastern cloud, Bestriding earth, the grand ethereal bow Shoots up immense; and every hue unfolds, In fair proportion running from the red To where the violet fades into the sky.(11):2 Here, awful Newton, the dissolving clouds Form, fronting on the sun, thy showery prism; And to the sage-instructed eye unfold The various twine of light, by thee disclosed From the white mingling maze. Not so the boy; ( 16 ) : Stanza 3 : He wondering views the bright enchantment bend, Delightful, o’er the radiant fields, and runs To catch the falling glory; but amazed Beholds th’ amusive arch before him fly, Then vanish quite away. ( 21 ) : Stanza 4 :
James Thomson’s ‘The Rainbow’ explores the importance, or lack thereof, of science as well as nature, beauty, and joy ; and celebrates Newton’s discoveries on unfolding of white sunlight passing through the prism , giving away in to the seven colours from Red Through Violet; by saying “Here , awful Newton” : : Here awful means : ‘ inspiring awe’ : :
Lines 1-6 “Moist, bright, and green, the landscape laughs around.
Full swell the woods; their every music wakes,
Mix’d in wild concert, with the warbling brooks
Increased, the distant bleatings of the hills,
And hollow lows responsive from the vales,
Whence, blending all, the sweeten’d zephyr springs.”
1. Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem : : V Jayaraj Pune India August 28 , 2022 : : : : : : ::
May 19, 2008 I love all films that start with rain: rain, braiding a windowpane or darkening a hung-out dress or streaming down her upturned face;
one long thundering downpour right through the empty script and score before the act, before the blame, before the lens pulls through the frame
to where the woman sits alone beside a silent telephone or the dress lies ruined on the grass or the girl walks off the overpass,
and all things flow out from that source along their fatal watercourse. However bad or overlong such a film can do no wrong,
so when his native twang shows through or when the boom dips into view or when her speech starts to betray its adaptation from the play,
I think to when we opened cold on a rain-dark gutter, running gold with the neon of a drugstore sign, and I’d read into its blazing line:
forget the ink, the milk, the blood— all was washed clean with the flood we rose up from the falling waters the fallen rain’s own sons and daughters
and none of this, none of this matters.
Published in the print edition of the May 26, 2008, issue of THE NEWYORKER : : : : : : :
‘Rain’ by Don Paterson describes the way that rain acts as an equalizing force capable of washing away one’s concern for the past. The poem can be uplifting in mood, suggesting that we can be “washed clean” and renewed, but it is also dismissive of our plight: “none of this, none of this matters.”A film that opens with atmospheric views of rainfall will always be a winner for the poet. Why? It does not matter how the rain comes as long as it is a deluge. It needs to be the only thing in the opening shot. This way there is no dialogue or score to interrupt its steady falling. He continues on to say that it doesn’t matter how bad the film gets from there on out, as long as there was rain at the beginning. What is it about this cinematic image that holds such appeal for him? The references to film and rain also relate to life in general. The speaker is using rain as a way to remove the damage of previous experiences and return to a purer state of being. The “ink, the milk, — the blood,” it is all forgotten. In the larger scheme of the film, or more importantly of life itself and they do not matter.
These vague images have all been “washed clean with the flood.” The rain is a purifying force that takes away the drama, tragedy, and complications of life. It is a clean slate to begin again on. Written by one of Britain’s leading contemporary poets, this poem is a meditation on the various uses of rain in films, written in rhyming (and half-rhyming) tetrameters. : :
“Rains ” By Don Paterson : : Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India August 27 , 2022 : :::
Elizabeth Bishop ( February 8, 1911 in Worcester MA – 1979 ) is the most meticulous and observant poet of the 20 th Century. : : Her father died when she was 1 , and her mother was taken to an asylum. She became wealthy over time and as she travelled around the world her many writings were about travels. Bishop’s great influences for writing poetry were Marianne Moore and Robet Lowell. : : Elizabeth Bishop published only 101 poems in her lifetime and yet is still considered one of the most important and distinguished American poets of the 20th century. She served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1956. and a National Book Award in 1970. Her poems are characterized by careful, detailed observation and the refusal to give in to the confessional impulse of her contemporaries, Plath, Sexton and Lowell. Small waterfall surrounded by red/orange & yellow flowers of Bromelia : N./S.American continent’s 18″ inch tropical plants.: : Reqire s lots of water / humid air/soil ; blooms only once; developing pups: A star Air-cleaning plants releasing Oxygen even late evenings /removing toxicity from the air: : Growing Bromelia plant with its red blooming flower on the brown trunk of the tree.: : Bromelia species are widespread across much of Latin America and the West Indies, and are characterized by flowers with a deeply cleft calyx. The genus is named after the Swedish medical doctor and botanist Olof Bromelius (1639-1705) they will add some joy to your life with their lovely flowers. : : Existed since last 65 millions years; the dinosaurs perished but Bromeliads survived.Ferns are seedless andflowerless Vascular ornamental plants developed through the spores : : New leaves typically expand by the unrolling of a tight spiral called a crozier or fiddlehead into fronds. When the fronds are branched more than once, it can also be a combination of the pinnatifid are pinnate shapes. If the leaf blades are divided twice or thrice or in some ferns 4 or 5 times . Leaf connection to stems called stripes have multiple leaflets . Growth from stripe is called pinnae and pinnules .
Song For The Rainy Season by Elizabeth Bishop ( 1911 – 1979 ) Hidden, oh hidden in the high fog the house we live in, beneath the magnetic rock, rain-, rainbow-ridden, where blood-black bromelias, lichens, owls, and the lint of the waterfalls cling, familiar, unbidden.
In a dim age of water the brook sings loud from a rib cage of giant fern; vapor climbs up the thick growth effortlessly, turns back, holding them both, house and rock, in a private cloud.
At night, on the roof, blind drops crawl and the ordinary brown owl gives us proof he can count: five times–always five– he stamps and takes off after the fat frogs that, shrilling for love, clamber and mount.
House, open house to the white dew and the milk-white sunrise kind to the eyes, to membership of silver fish, mouse, bookworms, big moths; with a wall for the mildew’s ignorant map;
darkened and tarnished by the warm touch of the warm breath, maculate, cherished; rejoice! For a later era will differ. (O difference that kills or intimidates, much of all our small shadowy life!) Without water
the great rock will stare unmagnetized, bare, no longer wearing rainbows or rain, the forgiving air and the high fog gone; the owls will move on and the several waterfalls shrivel in the steady sun.
Elizabeth Bishop ( 1911 – 1979 ) is the most meticulous and observant poet of the 20 th Century. Her Poems extend her range of subjects to include poems that contend with such central issues in her life as her sexuality, her age, her drinking, her politics, her mother’s mental breakdown, her decision to live in Brazil, the suicide of Lota de Macedo Soares—subjects she barely or rarely touched on directly in the poems she published. Elizabeth Bishop published only 101 poems in her lifetime and yet is still considered one of the most important and distinguished American poets of the 20th century. She served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1956. and a National Book Award in 1970. At first, the poems can feel detached from experience, so cool and remote is the speaker’s voice, but this impersonality reveals strong emotion below the polished surface. ” Song For The Rainy Season” is a Poem of nature, interconnectivity, as well as solitude. . “Bishop’s poem Song for the Rainy Season, is a grand and subtle rendering of the sovereignty and ubiquity of nature, and the eventual collapse of Bishops’ relationship with Soares , her longtime Brazilian lover Lota de Maceda Soares . At first muddled in the cocoon of the jungle rainforest, the singer is gradually more exposed to the elements and their eventual assault on serenity.” : As written by John Harbison ( Pulitzer prize winner for Music and McArthurFoundation Award Winner ) who composed this poem for musical opera. : ::
In ” Song For The Rainy Season” , She creates an image of a home that is thriving with life but is at the same time completely calm and isolated. This period of time can’t last forever as thefinal stanza asserts. Bishop tries to present the happiness but with a twist. The joyous feel comes with annoyance too. The imageries in the poem involve the reader with the uplifting mood. The scenes and happenings are interesting.
With the first 4 Lines in the last Stanza : : the mood of happiness changes to the different and contrasting feelings which with the close of the Stanza whatever joyfullness the reader has received from the Nature and its animal world , becomes thin , weak and weathered. The theme of a poem describes a moral behind writing the poem or lesson learned from the poem. The theme of this poem is no matter how dark your days may get, the sun will eventually shine through. “In a dim age of water the brook sings loud from a rib cage” Bishop put this moral throughout the story which lets all of us know that positivity is needed no matter where you are. We will study all the Six Stanzas herein below : : : :
” Hidden, oh hidden
in the high fog
the house we live in,
beneath the magnetic rock,
rain-, rainbow-ridden,
where blood-black
bromelias, lichens,
owls, and the lint
of the waterfalls cling,
familiar, unbidden.
In a dim age
of water
the brook sings loud
from a rib cage
of giant fern; the vapor
climbs up the thick growth
effortlessly, turns back,
holding them both,
house and rock,
in a private cloud.”: : ( 1 St & 2 Nd Stanza ) :
The speaker is addressing her companion . The house they “live in is hidden in the high fog”. One can understand by that a ” ‘high-stepped’ or ‘house-high‘ fog : : And this house is ” beneath the magnetic rock rain- rainbow 🌈 ridden” : the word “magnetic” defines it as ‘attractable’ to downpour of the rain- ; which falls in to the place alongwith pervasive wetness. Moreover, it is Ridable for the rainbow whenever appearing as if sitting on its back ; which brings magnificent grandeur of heavenly topping over the rain as well as over the rock and the house. In Brazil, where this plant grows in the wild, the Bromeliad is known as the “living fiesta”. An instant burst of joy to the life with a Bromeliad. Indoors as well as outdoors , on your balcony or terrace! The Bromeliad is a real survivor, thriving in the forests of Latin America and Brazil : the rugged Andesrange. Flamboyant , cheerful and robust. Bright colours and enchanting shapes. Growing like trees in the wilds. Survived since last 65 millions years. “Lichens” are thallophytic plants appearing as bushy growth on the tree trunks or bare grounds and together on rocks. “Lints” are short fibres that cling to cotton seeds. : : The speaker sees her house beneath the magnetic rock in the rainy season (of Brazil) surrounded by the abundantly widespread , vibrant and colourful plants : the life forms of cheerful Bromelia, lichens , and lint of the waterfalls she is familiar with. Nocturnal “Owls” are the (nightbird of Minerva), animal life she mentions. Everywhere, the “lint of the waterfalls,” or the drops of water, “cling / familiar”. : : : :
In the 2 Nd Stanza , the speaker confirms the wetness once again. In the “dim age of water” : that is in the time of subdued quietness and lusterless soft light, anyone present in such Natural beauty , he or she can hear the “loud singingof the brook” which have appeared from the sword“ferns”: ” from the rib-cage of giant ferns” that is ‘pinnated shapes’ meaning the ‘featherlike’ leaves having leaflets on each side of the common axis .( explained with a picture on top ) : : hence the imagery of rib cage of giant ferns abounded everywhere in the rainy season. “The high”- stepped “fog” creates a Vapour in which the Speaker’s house is fully immersed. The speaker and his companion are in their private ☁️ clouds alongside the thick growth of ferns plants as well as the rock and the house beneath it where the vapour is climbing up and turning backandsideways. : : : :
Brazilian Tree Frog : ” After the fat frogs that, shrilling for love, clamber and mount.”Dendropsophus elegans is a species of frog in the family Hylidae. It is endemic to Brazil. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, pastureland, plantations, heavily degraded former forest, and ponds. ” fat frogs” close up.“tile roof with water drops crawling : current of water running down : : “દદૂડી પડી” : Barn Owl : Tylo alba tuidare : Brazilian Owls :The most common owl is the barn owl, which is brown in color. But seeing one in person or in a dream is directly related to your intuition and the way you view yourself. Brown owls are also associated with nurturing energy, forgiveness, patience, and mindfulness. Some call the visit of your house by Owl as good luck as it could mean bringing wisdom into your life and giving you insights into a situation you are facing or revealing a deceptive person’s intention. It is a common superstition belief in many countries to associate owls with wisdom, wealth, death, or healing.Barn Owl in the background of waterfall.Brown Owl on the roof
” At night, on the roof,
blind drops crawl
and the ordinary brown
owl gives us proof
he can count:
five times–always five–
he stamps and takes off
after the fat frogs that,
shrilling for love,
clamber and mount.” ( 3 Rd Stanza ) : : : :
In the 3 Rd Stanza , the speaker undergoes a transition from daytime in to night 🌃 : : The speaker reveals the image of the Brazilian fat frogs through the 3 Verbs : shrill : emitting sharp , high- pitched utterances (calling “for love” ) , clamber for climbing awkwardly with its clasping hands-like forelegs and hindlegs over ( say, the bark of the tree : see the picture posted herein above ) and the 3 rd one : mount : attaching / fixing / setting a support. First , she hears this shrilling and makes climbing images of fat frogs. After that , she hears the stamping (heavy) sounds made by the “ordinary brown Owl” 🦉 “five times – always five he stamps and takes off from “the roof” of (her) “house”( thrust up in the air) which is countable alongside the ” blind drops crawl” she creates the image of the roof : While she prefers to enjoy staying inside and would not go out to see what is happening in the close vicinity of her house. Stamp(ing) refers to the walk ( noisily or angrily, /or ) heavily as herein the poem : the owl stumps through the wet roof in its estimated move of its foots affixing five times heavily and then takes off ( a rainy flight in the Brazilian night 🌃 : An owl hitting the rainy roof amidst the shrilling fat frogs and listening to these sounds from her house and feeling the blind drops crawling down from the roof are the most fascinating crafting of the imageries which takes us on as a Poems’ reader / listener with its freshness of pure and an immediate experience of the rainy night. To quote one blogger , Emily Holtzman : ” This also reminds me of a quote from my favorite book, ‘As I Lay Dying’ : The quote, “How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home,” absolutely floored me the first time I read it, and this specific part of the poem connected so much to this for me, which is why I really loved it.” : : : :
Milky white sunrise : the picture herewith is Hillside Wynad , Kerala, India.
” House, open house
to the white dew
and the milk-white sunrise
kind to the eyes,
to membership
of silver fish, mouse,
bookworms,
big moths; with a wall
for the mildew’s
ignorant map;” ( 4 Th Stanza ) : : : :
In the 4 Th Stanza , the speakerundergoes a transition from nighttime in to the “milkwhite sunrise” : : Normal regular day comprises of a colourful eastview with gradual raising up of the Sun to its high noon which is a bright day with harsh light and glare. In the presence of “high fog” , “climbing vapour” and resultant ‘mist’ after a rainy night, Sun and Sun-shine is not viewable. Hence a ” milk white Sunrise “which is “kind to the eyes” : that is not harsh and is ‘relaxing ‘: : “house, open house,” emphasizes that even though the speaker is in her house, this does not keep them from having a strong connection with nature, because they are able to have an open house – suggestive of her hospitality for all (new) comers for partying. Then she mentions “membership” ,the ‘guest list’ of the visiting ‘creatures’ : “silverfish”, “mouse”, “bookworms”, “big moths” and “mildew” : see the pictures : Here , the rhythm created by “sunrise”and “eyes” is interestingly significant. She finds no relevance of the spreading of mildew on wall of her house. But she is not snippy and doesn’t have to offer any critical view. Yes, she feels for the growth of this tiny life form in rainy humid weather atleast trying to become of something which is expressed in “mildew’s ignorant map” of spreading marks on the wall. See the illustrative picture. : : : :
Silverfish:: Lepisma species : : cause damage by eating foods or other materials that are high in protein, sugar, or starch. They eat cereals, such as oats and wheat flour ,sugar, coffee,pasta,even toothpaste and notes of money and can damage paper, especially on which there is glue or paste such as wallpaper and book bindings. Silverfish can damage clothing, carpet, artwork and curtain materials containing natural fibres such as wool, cotton, paper, silk and also rayon fabrics.seek moisture, they are frequently found trapped in sinks and bathroom /bathtubs/toilet. They may also be found in bookcases, around closet shelves/furniture, behind skirting boards and window and door frames. Silverfish are often brought into new homes in cardboard cartons, books and papers from infested sites.: : Can’t fly but can jump with its abdominal springing.The adult silverfish is carrot-shaped and about 1cm in length, with long tail filaments. The most common house species is covered with smooth and shiny silvery scales. They develop slowly under house conditions and can survive several months without food. Camphor, mothballs or pest strips , vaccum cleaner can deter these pests in storage areas such as linen cupboardsand wardrobes. Use of insecticides/peste control at regular intervals will eliminate these annoying silverfish.Webbing ClothsMoth : Tineola bisselliella : : T.pellionella is case making cloth moth(larvae spin a silken tube or case for protection noticed when attached to walls or draging themselves across smooth floor surfaces.):: Damage to fabrics and materials is caused only by the moth larvae (grubs), the adult moths do not feed. The tiny white larvae eat holes through susceptible materials and damaged fabrics sometimes have silken cases or threads on their surface.: : Clothes moth larvae preferentially feed on natural products such as cotton, silk, wool, feathers, fur, hair, leather and upholstered furniture. Larvae will also feed on lint, dust and paper products. They can feed on mixtures of natural and synthetic fibres, but cannot feed on materials made only from synthetic fibres. In nature, clothes moths infest pollen, hair, dead insects and dried animal remains. : : Adults are small (1cm), buff or straw-coloured moths with fringed wings. They are reluctant flyers and may be seen running over the surface of infested materials. Unlike many other moths, clothes moths are not attracted to light and avoid lighted areas.A bookworm / beetle grub found inside a paperback book, showing some of the damage it has wrought : : Bookworm is a general name for any insect that is said to bore through books. : : the larvae of various types of insects including beetles, moths , silverfish and cockroaches, which may bore or chew through books seeking food, are responsible. Some such larvae exhibit a superficial resemblanceto worms.Though they are not true worms. In other cases, termites, carpenter ants, and woodboring beetles will first infest wooden bookshelves and later feed on books placed upon the shelves, attracted by the wood-pulp paper used in most commercial book production.Many “bookworms” are the leather or cloth bindings of a book, the glue used in the binding process, or molds and fungi that grow on or inside books. A gradual encroachment across the surface of one page or a small number of pages is typical, rather than the boring of holes through the entire book. Bookdamaging cockroach species chew away at the starch in cloth bindings and paper. Their droppings can also harm books. Beetles larvae/eggs are laid on the book’s edges and spine. Upon hatching, they bore into, and sometimes even through, the book. Archives, libraries, and museums that are cool, damp, dark, and undisturbed the sites for growth of Booklice/louse/Paper louse , generating a food source which attracts booklices tobindings, glue, and paper. They do not feed on a living host. : : Termites eat papers, clothes, cardboard,shelves and can make entire collections unusable before the infestation is even noticed. Pesticides/insecticides will eliminate these pests.Hercules Ant (Camponotus herculeanus) can damage books in a way that is similar to termites.Drugstore Beetle : Skinbeetles have been known to feed on leather bindings. Wood boring Beetles , Museum Beetles , Cigarette Beetles, Bark Beetles, Longhorn House Beetles ,confused flour Beetles,Black Carpet Beetles,are other such creatures that can eat clothes/papers, etc. : : Rice weevils & wheat weevils damage grains and grams.House Mouse : Mus musculus : a small mammal of the order Rodentia, characteristically having a pointed snout, large rounded ears, and a long and almost hairless tail used for balance : Nocturnal/averse to light : the most abundant species.: : domesticated as the pet or fancy mouse, and as the laboratory mouse. House mice usually run, walk, or stand on all fours, but when eating, fighting, or orienting themselves, they rear up on their hind legs with additional support from the tail – a behavior known as “tripoding”. Mice are good jumpers, climbers, and swimmers, and are generally considered to be thigmotactic, i.e. usually attempt to maintain contact with vrticalsurfaces.Dominant males respect each other’s territories/act to exclude all intrudersThey eat their own faeces to acquire nutrients produced by bacteria in their intestines.Mice are generally afraid of rats which often kill and eat them, a behavior known as muricide. Two days old mouse. They give birth to a litter of 3–14 young (average six to eight). One female can have 5 to 10 litters per year, so the mouse population can increase very quickly. Breeding occurs throughout the year.The pups are born blind and without fur or ears. The ears are fully developed by the fourth day, fur begins to appear at about six days and the eyes open around 13 days after birth; the pups are weaned at around 21 days. Females reach sexual maturity at about six weeks of age and males at about eight weeks, but both can copulate as early as five weeks : Mice usually live less than one year in the wild, due to predation and harshness. In protected environments, however, they often live two to three years. : The record for Engineered mouse is 5 yrs less 7 days; & without assistance , 4 years 90 days. Native Indian house mice live in proximity of humans.house mouse first arrived in the Americas in the early sixteenth century carried aboard on the ships of Spanish explorer. About one hundred years later, it arrived in North America with French fur traders and English colonists & spread to all parts ofglobe.Unidentified species of mildew growing on a plastic shower curtain (scale gradations = 11 µm) : : Mildew is a form of fungus distinguished from Mould ( black,blue, red, green) as being white. It appears as a thin, superficial growth consisting of minute hyphae (fungal filaments) produced especially on living plants or organic matter such as wood, paper or leather. Both mould and mildew produce distinct offensive odours, and both have been identified as the cause of certain human ailments. Mildew grows on damp cloth, leather, or on plants, and growing on leaves can damage the plant. Mildew can be cleaned using specialized mildew remover, or substances such as bleach (though they may discolour the surface). The pink “mildew” often found on plastic shower curtains and bathroom tile is actually a red yeast, Rhodotorula. 62 to 92 % moisture and temp. Of 25 C.to 31 C. & Organic food are required for the growth of mildews. Balancing temp. & Minimising moisture can control / eliminate mildews. Air conditioner cause moisture in the air to condense on them, eventually losing this excess moisture through a drain and placing it back into the environment and can inhibit mildew growth by lowering indoor temperatures.To be effective, air conditioners must recirculate the existing indoor air and not be exposed to warm, humid outside air. A recently infected plant.
“darkened and tarnished
by the warm touch
of the warm breath,
maculate, cherished,
rejoice! For a later
era will differ.
(O difference that kills,
or intimidates, much
of all our small shadowy
life!) Without water” : : Stanza 5 : : Lines
5. The speaker continues with her descriptions of the house , its lineament ( characteristics ) distinctively heard , seen and imagined by her creative senses as aforesaid. Mentioned herein are the words : ” darkened and tarnished ” meaning ‘spotty’, ‘defiled’ : : “by the warm touch of the warm breath” , and “maculate” : meaning ‘impure lookingsoiled’ : In fact , the house after the rainy night is engulfed with the dim cloudy air lacking light. She knows that the impressions which have come along will start disappearing soon. Therefore , the brief distinctive moments should be “cherished as rejoice ! Fora later erawill differ” and will have different traits. : : ” O difference that kills , or intimidates , much of all our small shadowy life “: she exclaims. As it is not advisable to go out in the surroundings of rainy season , she preferred to spending a night with a companion by her side inside her house. With her fascinating crafted images , she experienced happiness. Small life is filled with many such shades of unclarity immersed with dimness like the one in therainingexperiences. Instead of becoming timid and fearful by an intimidating show of forces of the rainy season , she preferred rejoicing with its images. how this “era will differ Without water” is depicted in the final 6 Th Stanza : : : :
“… Without water”
.
“the great rock will stare
unmagnetized, bare,
no longer wearing
rainbows or rain,
the forgiving air
and the high fog gone;
the owls will move on
and the several
waterfalls shrivel
in the steady sun.” : : Stanza 6 : : : :
In the final Stanza , The speaker creates an utter contrast from the very wet rainy season with emergence of the life forms described in the aforesaid 5 Stanza’s lineament underneath the rain to the new era of dryness owing to no raining. What happens without water is explained : The great rock will stare for its bareness and has no longer wearing rainbows and rain. Earlier world of bright and lively world is now dark. The “high fog” and the “forgiving ( kind and tolerant) air” are gone. The “several waterfalls” shrivel in the “steady ( regular going ) sun.” And “theowls will move on”( forward toward the future ) : The patterns in Nature are breakable. Our happy casual connections with bright images are lived out with rejoice and in the same way can lead us to tie in with the contrasting era of unhappy gloomness : The Brightness and A state of partial or completedarkness; Steady and Unsteady ; Appearing and Disappearing and such other differences are much of all our small shadowy life ! : : In the meanwhile let us all understand the importance of protecting and preserving of Our NATURE : : : :
Elizabeth Bishop ‘s “Song For The Rainy Season” : : Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India August 26 , 2022 : : : : : : : :
Looking for new horizons: family pictures of 2 elders and 2 younger brother – sisters walking and talking with holding their hands.Family of 5 , with an eldest brother and his two juniors: sister and little brother smiling and laughing with parents at the Beach of theTwo Brothers : A bicycle ride in the evening.Wright Brothers Flying Glider as Kite Glider being flown as a kite, Wilbur at left side, Orville at right; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1901. (Photo courtesy Library of Congress/Getty Images)Two Brothers cycling in Amsterdam.Noah Tingle, a 17-year-old high school senior, has been waiting in a goofy costume for his little brother, 12-year-old Max, to get off the bus since school started in mid-August.
Yes, it was embarrassing, at first, to his brother. That was the original idea. But also, it was to make memories, the Louisiana teen told USA TODAY.
“Knowing I’m going to college next year and won’t see him on a daily basis, I thought this would make things memorable and strengthen our bond as brothers,” he said. bus stop greetings were posted on a now-viral Facebook page called “The Bus Brother.” The Facebook page has more than 15,000 followers.Little brother Max’s embarrassment has faded. Now he thinks that his brother’s antics are “cool.”The brothers seem to be enjoying their new-found fame, but especially the 30-second chance to roughhouse on the way into the house from the bus stop. Two Bus Brothers: A New costume and a new Get up : Everyday photo by their Mom : August 2019.
‘Brothers’ by Andrew Forster Saddled with you for the afternoon, me and Paul ambled across the threadbare field to the bus stop, talking over Sheffield Wednesday’s chances in the Cup while you skipped beside us in your ridiculous tank-top, spouting six-year-old views on Rotherham United.
Suddenly you froze, said you hadn’t any bus fare. I sighed, said you should go and ask Mum and while you windmilled home I looked at Paul. His smile, like mine, said I was nine and he was ten and we must stroll the town, doing what grown-ups do.
As a bus crested the hill we chased Olympic Gold. Looking back I saw you spring towards the gate, your hand holding out what must have been a coin. I ran on, unable to close the distance I’d set in motion.
Andrew Forster ‘s “Brothers” is from his debut collection of poetry , ” Fear Of Thunder” in 2007 : : In this unrhymed Sonnet with an occasional pararhyme , Forster examines the childhood relationship between the two brothers , the senior one and his junior. The elder brother regrets that he tended to regard his three years junior as causing irritations. As a child it happens with many persons , but from the adult and mature point of view, it is disagreeable. As a younger brother , it is usual that he will look up to his senior. The opening of the poem is stated by the senior one addressing to his junior in second person : “you” : ” Saddled with you for the afternoon, me and Paul ambled across the threadbare field to the bus stop, talking over Sheffield Wednesday’s Chances in the Cup” : : the speaker was walking over leisurely ( “ambled”) going to the bus stop alongwith his companion friend Paul. So , he felt about the looking after of his junior for an afternoon as causingan imposed burden ( “Saddled with you”.. . ) It could have been a befitting orderly manner for him to enjoy the brotherly closeness with his junior who skipped beside them in his ridiculous tank top” : “tank top” is often worn over the shirt and is a tight fitting and sleevless wide shoulder band supporting anouterwearwithout front opening. The speaker believed his little brother was looking laughable and his talking as with noisy manner (“spouting”)::
When the junior said that he had no bus fare the speaker sighed pityful way and sent him to ask their mom. The junior ran down to home with a rotating arms soaringlydescribed by the speaker with the words “windmilled home” which is a child’s usual playful manner. Upon this , both the grown up friends, the speaker and Paul smiled and aimed for a stroll through the town. The speaker reveals here that he “was nine and [his friend] was ten”. And we realise how young the speaker was and his rejection of the younger brother seems like a bad and an unfortunate part of the process of growing up. : : : :
In the 3rd and the last Stanza , the younger brother tries desperately to reach the speaker, “spring[ing] towards the gate”and “holding out” his hand with the coin showing his keenness to join them on the bus. Yet, instead of waiting or going back, the speaker “[runs] on, unable to close the distance [he has] set in motion”, a distance both physical and emotional. The grown up would see troublesomeness in the running for a bus which here reached at the high of the hill ( “As a bus crested the hill” ) But for a six years old child that trip could be cheerful and an exciting fantasy as they “[chase] Olympic Gold”. At times , the age difference between the brothers will lead them to a state of repugnancy. But an intensely aversive behaviour is mutually not beneficial to the brotherhood. Walking leisurely and talking maturely are good ideas for grown up friends . Similarly , skipping and spouting are also fair and valid parts of a child. Afterall a child will eventually be an equal-some to his or her seniors in the occasional sharing of the company with them ; by watching their walks and talks ; manners and moves. That’s how socialisation and an enculturation of our children arerichlyadopted. : : : :
The speaker addresses himself to ‘you’ – his younger brother. This direct address is a significant shift in their relationship since in this childhood memory the speaker casts him out . The speaker does finally take responsibility for “setting in motion” the separation between them. The use of ‘you’ goes some way towards reopening dialogues and an intimate relationships. And the disaffection shown by the senior will be faded soon and an embarrassment felt will be forgotten by the junior as it always happens. : : : :
Andrew Forster ‘s ” Brother poem : “Brothers ” : : Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India August 25 , 2022 : : શ્રાવણ વદ તેરસ::
The Malamute saloon : where shooting of Dan McGrew happened ” The Shooting of Dan McGrew” : : A scene from 1915 Silent movie.
The Shooting of Dan McGrew BY ROBERT W. SERVICE A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon; The kid that handles the music-box was hitting a jag-time tune; Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dangerous Dan McGrew, And watching his luck was his light-o’-love, the lady that’s known as Lou. (1)
When out of the night, which was fifty below, and into the din and the glare, There stumbled a miner fresh from the creeks, dog-dirty, and loaded for bear. He looked like a man with a foot in the grave and scarcely the strength of a louse, Yet he tilted a poke of dust on the bar, and he called for drinks for the house. There was none could place the stranger’s face, though we searched ourselves for a clue; But we drank his health, and the last to drink was Dangerous Dan McGrew. (2)
There’s men that somehow just grip your eyes, and hold them hard like a spell; And such was he, and he looked to me like a man who had lived in hell; With a face most hair, and the dreary stare of a dog whose day is done, As he watered the green stuff in his glass, and the drops fell one by one. Then I got to figgering who he was, and wondering what he’d do, And I turned my head — and there watching him was the lady that’s known as Lou. (3)
His eyes went rubbering round the room, and he seemed in a kind of daze, Till at last that old piano fell in the way of his wandering gaze. The rag-time kid was having a drink; there was no one else on the stool, So the stranger stumbles across the room, and flops down there like a fool. In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway; Then he clutched the keys with his talon hands — my God! but that man could play.4
Were you ever out in the Great Alone, when the moon was awful clear, And the icy mountains hemmed you in with a silence you most could hear; With only the howl of a timber wolf, and you camped there in the cold, A half-dead thing in a stark, dead world, clean mad for the muck called gold; While high overhead, green, yellow and red, the North Lights swept in bars? — Then you’ve a hunch what the music meant. . . hunger and night and the stars. 5
And hunger not of the belly kind, that’s banished with bacon and beans, But the gnawing hunger of lonely men for a home and all that it means; For a fireside far from the cares that are, four walls and a roof above; But oh! so cramful of cosy joy, and crowned with a woman’s love — A woman dearer than all the world, and true as Heaven is true — (God! how ghastly she looks through her rouge, — the lady that’s known as Lou.) (6)
Then on a sudden the music changed, so soft that you scarce could hear; But you felt that your life had been looted clean of all that it once held dear; That someone had stolen the woman you loved; that her love was a devil’s lie; That your guts were gone, and the best for you was to crawl away and die. ‘Twas the crowning cry of a heart’s despair, and it thrilled you through and through — “I guess I’ll make it a spread misere”, said Dangerous Dan McGrew. (7)
The music almost died away … then it burst like a pent-up flood; And it seemed to say, “Repay, repay,” and my eyes were blind with blood. The thought came back of an ancient wrong, and it stung like a frozen lash, And the lust awoke to kill, to kill … then the music stopped with a crash, And the stranger turned, and his eyes they burned in a most peculiar way; In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway; Then his lips went in in a kind of grin, and he spoke, and his voice was calm, And “Boys,” says he, “you don’t know me, and none of you care a damn; But I want to state, and my words are straight, and I’ll bet my poke they’re true, That one of you is a hound of hell. . .and that one is Dan McGrew.” (8)
Then I ducked my head, and the lights went out, and two guns blazed in the dark, And a woman screamed, and the lights went up, and two men lay stiff and stark. Pitched on his head, and pumped full of lead, was Dangerous Dan McGrew, While the man from the creeks lay clutched to the breast of the lady that’s known as Lou. (9)
These are the simple facts of the case, and I guess I ought to know. They say that the stranger was crazed with “hooch,” and I’m not denying it’s so. I’m not so wise as the lawyer guys, but strictly between us two — The woman that kissed him and — pinched his poke — was the lady that’s known as Lou. (10)
“The Shooting of Dan McGrew” is a narrative poem by British-Canadian writer Robert W. Service, first published in The Songs of a Sourdough in 1907 in Canada. Along with “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, this poem was arguably his best known. It was the basis of a 1998 novel, The Man from the Creeks, by Robert Kroetsch, a longtime admirer of Service’s works. It was also the inspiration for the 1949 song “Dangerous Dan McGrew” by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians. The character of Dan McGrew was based on William Nelson McGrew (1883-1960), who was born and raised in Guinda, California to Isaac and Nellie Ophelia (Thomas) McGrew and whose nickname was “Dangerous Dan”. William McGrew had gone to the Yukon seeking his fortune during the Yukon Gold Rush. William McGrew and Robert Service were mutually antagonistic toward each other, and after one argument Robert Service is reputed to have said: “McGrew, some day I’ll kill you.” Service achieved his goal by killing Dan McGrew in this poem. The poem’s unique history as a spoken word piece was highlighted when US President Ronald Reagan and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney did their own alternating recital of the poem both in private meetings and in public.Once, Pierre Trudeau challenged Reagan to recite “The Shooting of Dan McGrew.” They were at a state dinner — Buckingham Palace — where Reagan sat between the Queen Mother and Trudeau. Reagan accepted the challenge and recited the poem, all 112 lines. Andy Ferguson writes of this — entertainingly — in his piece.
The tale takes place in a Yukon saloon during the Yukon Gold Rush of the late 1890s. It tells of three characters: Dan McGrew, a rough-neck prospector ( Someone who explores the area for mineral deposits; McGrew’s sweetheart “Lou”, a formidable pioneer woman; and a mysterious, weather-worn stranger who wanders into the saloon where the former are among a crowd of drinkers. The stranger buys drinks for the crowd, and then proceeds to the piano, where he plays a song that is alternately robust and then plaintively ( Sorrowful last note of a song ) sad. He appears to have had a past with both McGrew and Lou, and has come to settle a grudge. Gunshots break out, with both McGrew and the stranger killing each other, while “the Lady that’s known as Lou” ends up with the stranger’s “poke of gold.” ( Carrier bag of gold) : : : :
(1). In the malamute saloon ( su’loon ) , that isa ‘Bar’ with the name : “malamute” : in the name of a team of Alaskan 🐶 dog doing sledge pulling , the scene describes the presence of a gang of boys shouting in joy with enthusiasm ; in the milieu of an English rock music tune run in to by a kid handling music box and a man known as a dangerous “Dan McGrew”from the back of the bar is watching his card game of luck in the company of Lady Lou who is his ‘light of love’ ( spelled as “light-o-love”( lt-tu’-luv by the poet) : meaning she is a woman inconstant in love.( Lines 1 To 4 ) : : : :
(2). The narrator tells the story what happened in the malamute saloon that night. Amidst the “din” ( harsh noise ) in the spotlight , A dog dirty , drunk miner – fresh from the creek ( with moist body ) looking like a strengthless and almost dead appeared in the saloon walking unsteadily. He stired the dust on bar poking ( by hitting on bar ) tiltedly. ( in slantedposture ) Although looking nasty , half- crazy and offensive , he called for drinks free to house on his cost. Everybody drank to his health and tried to locate his face , but they didn’t have any clue to identify him. Dangerous Dan McGrew was the last person to finish the drink. ( Lines 5 To 10 ):
(3). Now, the narrator started to describe this stranger’s eyes , face , and looks wandering what he would do in his moves. His face was full of hairs , and with dreary ( dull dismal and uncheerful ) stare of a dog , whose day is done ( finished/ depleted/ as if nothing left ) The narrator was spellbound with eyes gripped by the stranger and trying to work out understanding who he was , while he was pouring his green stuff in his glass and the drops fell one by one. And there , he found that Lady Lou was keenly watching the stranger. ( Lines 11 To 16 ) : :
(4). The stranger’s eyes were rubberinground the room , meaning he grasped every details in the room ; and he seemed in a kind of daze , that is some confusion under some stress till he faced an old piano in the way of his wondering gaze. ( stare ) “ragtime kid” refers to the melodious music of the piano’s rhythm with which the kid was floating the music in the air. Since the kid taking a drink was not replaced by anybody else , his stool was unoccupied.So the stranger walked unsteadily ( “stumbled” ) acrossthe room and throws himself down there like a fool. His yellowish dun / brownish coloured : buckskin ( deerskin ) shirt glazed / coated with dirt, he sat on a piano stool and the narrator “saw him sway” , that is moving back and forth and sideways; “then he clutched the keys with his talon hands” and to the narrator’s surprise ,” he could play.” 🎹 : The “talon hands” is a simile for hands looking like crooked , hooked/ downward curve of an 🦅 eagle’s beak. ( Lines 17 To 22 ) : : : :
(5) .. (10) : : pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem. .. . August 24 , 2022 : : V Jayaraj Pune India: : : :
Robert W Service ( 1865 – 1958 ) Bard of the Yucon: Canadian Writer and poet On 17 August 1976, Canada Post issued “Robert W. Service, Sam McGee” as an 8¢ stamp designed by David Charles BierkLake Laberge in August 2010; picture taken from campground.Narrator : Alice May , shipwreck On The Shore of Lake Laberge: : Its Boiler became a crematorium For Sam McGee
The Cremation of Sam McGee BY ROBERT W. SERVICE There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee. (1)
Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows. Why he left his home in the South to roam ’round the Pole, God only knows. He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell; Though he’d often say in his homely way that “he’d sooner live in hell.” (2)
On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail. Talk of your cold! through the parka’s fold it stabbed like a driven nail. If our eyes we’d close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn’t see; It wasn’t much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee. (3)
And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow, And the dogs were fed, and the stars o’erhead were dancing heel and toe, He turned to me, and “Cap,” says he, “I’ll cash in this trip, I guess; And if I do, I’m asking that you won’t refuse my last request.” (4)
Well, he seemed so low that I couldn’t say no; then he says with a sort of moan: “It’s the cursèd cold, and it’s got right hold till I’m chilled clean through to the bone. Yet ’tain’t being dead—it’s my awful dread of the icy grave that pains; So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you’ll cremate my last remains.” (5)
A pal’s last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail; And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale. He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee; And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee. (6)
There wasn’t a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven, With a corpse half hid that I couldn’t get rid, because of a promise given; It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: “You may tax your brawn and brains, But you promised true, and it’s up to you to cremate those last remains.” (7)
Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code. In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load. In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring, Howled out their woes to the homeless snows— O God! how I loathed the thing. (8)
And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow; And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low; The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in; And I’d often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.(9)
Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the “Alice May.” And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum; Then “Here,” said I, with a sudden cry, “is my cre-ma-tor-eum.” (10)
Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire; Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher; The flames just soared, and the furnace roared—such a blaze you seldom see; And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee. (11)
Then I made a hike, for I didn’t like to hear him sizzle so; And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow. It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don’t know why; And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky. (12)
I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear; But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near; I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: “I’ll just take a peep inside. I guess he’s cooked, and it’s time I looked”; … then the door I opened wide.(13
And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar; And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: “Please close that door. It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear you’ll let in the cold and storm— Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve been warm.”(14)
There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee. (15)
“The Cremation of Sam McGee” is among the most famous of Robert W. Service’s (1874–1958) poems. It was published in 1907 in Songs of a Sourdough. (A “sourdough”, in this sense, is a resident of the Yukon.) William Samuel McGee was a client of Service’s when he worked at the Bank of Commerce in Whitehorse. Service asked and received permission to use McGee’s name. It concerns the cremation of a prospector who freezes to death near Lake Laberge (spelled “Lebarge” by Service), Yukon, Canada, as told by the man Service’s close friends, Dr. Leonard Sugden who cremates him.
Major Themes in “The Cremation of Sam McGee”: Perseverance, loyalty, and death are the major themes of this poem. The poet discusses the difficulties and the problem of the people who survive in the Arctic wildness. The two friends, Sam and Cap travel with the same purpose, but Sam dies. Although the poem was fiction, it was based on people and things that Robert Service actually saw in the Yukon. Lake Laberge is formed by a widening of the Yukon River just north of Whitehorse and is still in use by kayakers. Robert Service based “The Cremation of Sam McGee” on the places he saw, the people he met, and the stories he heard while he lived there. This narrative poem, set during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–1899. Since it’s publication, the poem has been popular with generations of readers, who love its combination of black humor, adventure, and captivating descriptions of the lives of Yukon prospectors. The poem, which was originally published in 1907, was later transformed into a children’s book with colorful illustrations by Ted Harrison, in 1986.
“The Cremation of Sam McGee” is a popular ballad, meant to entertain and amuse readers, but a theme about the meaning of friendship and respecting and honouring the wishes—however gruesome—of a friend does emerge in the settings of the poem. Until the last verse, it tells a grisly, almost Gothic story of two friends mushing their way along the Dawson Trail, moiling for gold. Sam is most afraid of the cold. Sam’s fears of the cold reveal that he loves and misses his hometown, is pessimistic, and is weak-willed and is feeling very sick . His want for gold what prevents Sam from going home. Sam was traveling in the Arctic because of the gold rush. The 1 St Stanza : A prologue to the poem is repeated in the same way as in the Closing , the 15 Th Stanza. The prologue to the poem contains personification in the lines, “The Arctic trails have their secret tales” and “The Northern Lights have seen queer sights.” The line, “But the queerest they ever did see,” contains hyperbole. The setting creates the conflict which causes Sam’s death. The opening of the narrative (ballad) poem states that “The Arctic trails have their secret tales”. A native of Tennessee, Sam simply cannot survive in such a harsh and forbidding climate.
He dies, and his friend is determined to honour his last request. An old boat, the Alice May, is shipwrecked on the shore of Lake Lebarge, and here the narrator would build a fire and cremate his friend. He leaves, unable to watch his friend incinerate; he returns an hour or so later. And here the plot of the poem twists: Gothic is replaced by comedy. The fire has thawed Sam out, and he is alive and happy, warm for the first time since he has been in the Yukon. Ballads also often contain an element of the supernatural. The fire reanimates Sam, dead by the time he is cremated for several days. The refrain hints at supernatural events to come in the poem. The speaker / Narrator is determined to keep his promise. He is a man of his word, especially because Sam McGee was a friend of his and to cremate Sam’s body was a last request that the speaker agreed to. In the 7 Th stanza of ‘The Cremation of Sam McGee’, the speaker says a promise made is a debt unpaid. Here, the poet uses a metaphor. He compares a promise to unpaid debt. However, the trail to fulfill that promise was a stern code.In the 1 St stanza, the simile “the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell” illustrates the allure of wealth that brought a hundred thousand prospectors to the Yukon in the late 1890s. The simile in the second stanza, which has the cold stabbing into Sam “like a driven nail,” creates an effective image of the bitterest cold and foreshadows Sam’s “death.” In the 3 rd stanza, stars are personified, “dancing heel and toe,” illustrating the natural beauty of the Yukon, despite its bitter cold. The personification and imagery of the 11 Th stanza—“And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow”—further enhances the poem’s ominous tone. The last line of the same stanza—“And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky”—is a similarly effective metaphor and image. The hyperbole of the last 14 Th Stanza, wherein the resurrected Sam wears “a smile you could see a mile,” perfectly alters the tone of the poem from ominous to hilarious.
The poem was anthologized in the Oxford Book of Narrative Verse (1983). The NFB (National Film Board of Canada) released an animated film in 1990 of the poem, read by Max Ferguson and using Ted Harrison’s illustrations. Johnny Cash’s reading of the poem was National Public Radio’s song of the day on May 9, 2006. Cash’s “The Cremation of Sam McGee” was released along with a vast collection of personal archive recordings of Johnny Cash on the two-disc album Personal File.
Bravofact.com ( foundation to assist Canadian Talent made an Adaptation of the ” The Cremation of Sam McGee” a short film directed by Johnny Askwith : : narrated by : Earl Pastko : : Actors : Peter Jarvis and Earl Pastko : : DOP : Andrew McDonald : : Composers : Peter Jarvis , Paul Tedschini and Spinfinity : : Released on You Tube : January 18 , 2012 : : : : : : CLICK HERE In BELOW to enjoy the Film Video : :
Robert W Service ‘s ” The Cremation of Sam McGee” : : Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India August 23 , 2022 : : શ્રાવણ વદ અગિયારસ : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :
A bust of Service in Whitehorse : : Robert W Service ( 1854 – 1958 ) The Bard of Yukon : : Since 2000, the towns of Lancieux and Whitehorse are sister cities, due to Robert W. Service’s life and work in both places.: : Country Joe McDonald
Country Joe McDonald (born Joseph Allen McDonald; January 1, 1942) is an American musician who was the lead singer of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish.: The Album : ” War War War ” was released in 1971 which has 9 Titles including ” The call , Young fellow My Lad, The Munition Maker, The Twins, Jean Desperez, War Widow, The March Of The Dead.: All from the poems of Robert W Service.
Robert William Service ( 1854 – 1958 ) : : : : :: The March Of The Dead
The cruel war was over — oh, the triumph was so sweet! We watched the troops returning, through our tears; There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet glittering street, And you scarce could hear the music for the cheers. And you scarce could see the house-tops for the flags that flew between; The bells were pealing madly to the sky; And everyone was shouting for the Soldiers of the Queen, And the glory of an age was passing by. ( 1 )
And then there came a shadow, swift and sudden, dark and drear; The bells were silent, not an echo stirred. The flags were drooping sullenly, the men forgot to cheer; We waited, and we never spoke a word. The sky grew darker, darker, till from out the gloomy rack There came a voice that checked the heart with dread: “Tear down, tear down your bunting now, and hang up sable black; They are coming — it’s the Army of the Dead.”. ( 2 )
They were coming, they were coming, gaunt and ghastly, sad and slow; They were coming, all the crimson wrecks of pride; With faces seared, and cheeks red smeared, and haunting eyes of woe, And clotted holes the khaki couldn’t hide. Oh, the clammy brow of anguish! the livid, foam-flecked lips! The reeling ranks of ruin swept along! The limb that trailed, the hand that failed, the bloody finger tips! And oh, the dreary rhythm of their song!(3
“They left us on the veldt-side, but we felt we couldn’t stop On this, our England’s crowning festal day; We’re the men of Magersfontein, we’re the men of Spion Kop, Colenso — we’re the men who had to pay. We’re the men who paid the blood-price. Shall the grave be all our gain? You owe us. Long and heavy is the score. Then cheer us for our glory now, and cheer us for our pain, And cheer us as ye never cheered before.”4
The folks were white and stricken, and each tongue seemed weighted with lead; Each heart was clutched in hollow hand of ice; And every eye was staring at the horror of the dead, The pity of the men who paid the price. They were come, were come to mock us, in the first flush of our peace; Through writhing lips their teeth were all agleam; They were coming in their thousands — oh, would they never cease! I closed my eyes, and then — it was a dream. ( 5 )
There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet gleaming street; The town was mad; a man was like a boy. A thousand flags were flaming where the sky and city meet; A thousand bells were thundering the joy. There was music, mirth and sunshine; but some eyes shone with regret; And while we stun with cheers our homing braves, O God, in Thy great mercy, let us nevermore forget The graves they left behind, the bitter graves. ( 6 )
Robert William Service
Robert William Service ( January 16 , 1854 – September 11 , 1958 ) : : Often known as the Bard of the Yucon : : His most known Poems’ were : “The shooting of Dan McGrew” and ” The cremation Of Sam McGee ” : : ” March Of The Dead ” is Service’s poem about how war is not worth and the mass death it causes , and also reveals that not everyone gives the respect to those who have fallen in the war although they deserve it. Margaret Rutherford recited most of “The Shooting of Dan McGrew” in the 1964 film Murder Most Foul. The Spell of the Yukon features significantly in the film Eureka (1983 film) directed by Nicholas Roeg. Radio humorist and raconteur Jean Shepherd recorded a collection of Robert Service’s poems, Jean Shepherd Reads the Poems of Robert Service.
Folksinger Country Joe McDonald set some of Service’s World War I poetry (plus “The March of the Dead” from his first book), to music for his 1971 studio album, War War War. : : : : CLICK HERE In BELOW to enjoy the Music Video of the song ” The March Of The Dead” : : : :
The crowd has gathered to welcome the returning troops of soldiers. Everybody is cheering as they March with pride. This is the opening of the poem in its 1 st Stanza. Cheers of welcome and respect by showing flags is the scenario ( Lines 2 to 8 ) : : : : It is a surviving troop and hence love and respect for them. ( Lines 4 & 5 ) : : : :
When the bodies with dead souls arrive , the crowd instills the terror and fears. Their cheers get perished. : : : : : Stanza (5) :“The folks were white and stricken, and each tongue seemed weighted with lead; Each heart was clutched in hollow hand of ice; And every eye was staring at the horror of the dead,” : : ( Lines 33 To 35 ) And then : : The deceased troops arrive, which is taken as a ‘ Symbol of Price ‘ they had to pay for the end result of the war : PEACE ☮️ : : : : :: ” The pity of the men who paid the price. They were come, were come to mock us, in the first flush of our peace;”( Lines 36 & 37)The cheers have already been stopped . An Order of ” tear down ” is already voiced in the air : : “Tear down, tear down your bunting now, and hang up sable black; They are coming — it’s the Army of the Dead.”. ( Stanza 1 : Lines 15 & 16 ) : : : : Thus , the returning troops get the cheers and respect , but the dead Army does not get the warm welcome.The people arehorror – struck. They have blocked their minds dismissing the memory of dead soldiers : who they are and why they die for as if unpleasant.
” We’re the men who paid the blood-price. Shall the grave be all our gain? You owe us. Long and heavy is the score. Then cheer us for our glory now, and cheer us for our pain, And cheer us as ye never cheered before.” ( Stanza 4 : : Lines 29 To 32 ) : : : : Even the dead men speak : : Its a blood price for the PEACE ☮️ people desired. The score is long and heavy because the number of soldiers died and become deceased is massive meaning the blood price is expensive. The March Of The Dead Army asks from the crowd to cheers for their efforts in winning the war. In the absence of such cheers , the crowd have developed a fear of the dead Army. The crowd does not want to understand the glory in dying for the country and peace ☮️.
” O God, in Thy great mercy, let us nevermore forget The graves they left behind, the bitter graves. ” : ( Stanza 6 : Lines 47 & 48 ) : : : : Under the circumstances , only a poet / narrator realises the parade of the returning troops of victorious army of the soldiers who they left behind . The soldiers have returned from not only a battlefield but a ‘Nameless Graveyard’: ” The graves they left behind, the bitter graves.” For whom the crowd have no cheers : : : : : : : : : ” there came a shadow, swift and sudden, dark and drear; The bells were silent, not an echo stirred. The flags were drooping sullenly, the men forgot to cheer; We waited, and we never spoke a word. The sky grew darker, darker, till from out the gloomy rack There came a voice that checked the heart with dread: “Tear down, tear down your bunting now, and hang up sable black; They are coming — it’s the Army of the Dead.”. : : ( Stanza 2 : Lines 9 To 16 ) : : : : : : “The March Of The Dead”By Robert W Service : : : : Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India August 22 , 2022 : : : : અજા એકાદશી : : શ્રાવણ વદ અગિયારસ : : : : : : : : : :
Born : January 16, 1874 Preston, Lancashire, England Died September 11, 1958 (aged 84) Lancieux, Côtes-d’Armor, France: : Lancieux, Côtes-d’Armor : : Writer, poet, Canadian Great North adventurer : :Alma Mater: University of Glasgow, and McGill University. He wrote poetry and Novel. Notable works:: Songs of a Sourdough, Rhymes of a Red Cross Man, The Trail of ’98 .”Service eventually earned in excess of $100,000 for Songs of a Sourdough alone”(equal to about $2.9 million today after inflation). Initially, he worked on a ranch and as a bank teller in Vancouver Island six years after the Gold Rush, gleaning material that would inform his poetry for years to come and earn him his reputation as “Bard of the Yukon.” Service traveled widely throughout his life—to Hollywood, Cuba, Alberta, Paris, Louisiana, and elsewhere. Cabin of Robert Service in Dawson City, Yukon. Service began his career as a full time author. In 1909 , He immediately “went to work on his novel…. He went for walks that lasted all night, slept till mid-afternoon, and sometimes didn’t come out of the cabin for days. In five months the novel, entitled “The Trail of ’98”, was complete and he took it to a publisher in New York.” Service’s first novel also “immediately became a best-seller.”Newly wealthy, Service was able to travel to Paris, the French Riviera, Hollywood, and beyond. He returned to Dawson City in 1912 to write his third book of poetry, “Rhymes of a Rolling Stone (1912).”Service left Dawson City for good in 1912.From 1912 to 1913 he was a correspondent for the Toronto Star during the Balkan Wars. In 1913, Service moved to Paris, remaining there for the next 15 years. He settled in the Latin Quarter, posing as a painter. In June 1913, he married Parisienne Germaine Bourgoin, daughter of a distillery owner, and they purchased a summer home at Lancieux, Côtes-d’Armor, in the Brittany region of France. 13 years younger than her husband, Germaine Service survived him by 31 years, dying aged 102 on December 26, 1989 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. He briefly covered the war for the Toronto Star (from December 11, 1915, through January 29, 1916), but “was arrested and nearly executed in an outbreak of spy hysteria in Dunkirk.” He then “worked as a stretcher bearer and ambulance driver with the Ambulance Corps of the American Red Cross, until his health broke.” Convalescing in Paris, he wrote a new book of mainly war poetry, Rhymes of a Red Cross Man, in 1916. The book was dedicated to the memory of Service’s “brother, Lieutenant Albert Service, Canadian Infantry, Killed in Action, France, August 1916.” Robert Service received three medals for his war service: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal. After war , Service settled down in Paris : He was reputedly the wealthiest author living in the city, yet was known to dress as a working man and walk the streets, blending in and observing everything around him. Those experiences would be used in his next book of poetry, Ballads of a Bohemian (1921): “The poems are given in the persona of an American poet in Paris who serves as an ambulance driver and an infantryman in the war. The verses are separated by diary entries over a period of four years.”In the 1920s, Service began writing thriller novels. The Poisoned Paradise, A Romance of Monte Carlo (New York, 1922) and The Roughneck. A Tale of Tahiti (New York, 1923) were both later made into silent movies.During the winter season, Service used to live in Nice with his family, where he met British writers, including H. G. Wells, A. K. Bruce, Somerset Maugham, Rex Ingram, Frank Scully, James Joyce, Frank Harris, and Frieda Lawrence, who all spent their winters in the French Riviera, and he wrote that he had been lucky to have had lunch with Colette. : : He also visited the USSR in the 1930s and later wrote a satirical “Ballad of Lenin’s Tomb”.For this reason his poetry was never translated into Russian in the USSR, and he was never mentioned in Soviet encyclopedias. During World War II, Service lived in California, “and Hollywood had him join with other celebrities in helping the morale of troops – visiting U.S. Army camps to recite his poems::Service lived in Monaco from 1947 to 1958. He wrote prolifically during his last years, writing two volumes of autobiography, Ploughman of the Moon (1945) and Harper of Heaven (1948), as well as six books of verse, which were published from 1949 to 1955. He died in Lancieux and is buried in the local cemetery. A book he had written in 1956 was published posthumously. Robert Service Memorial in the town cemetery, he erected in 1930 , Kilwinning Ayrshire.
Robert William Service ( January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958 ) : A British-Canadian poet and writer : “the Bard of the Yukon” :: Little Brother Wars have been and wars will be Till the human race is run; Battles red by land and sea, Never peace beneath the sun. I am old and little care; I’ll be cold, my lips be dumb: Brother mine, beware, beware . . . Evil looms the wrath to come.
Eastern skies are dark with strife, Western lands are stark with fear; Rumours of world-war are rife, Armageddon draweth near. If your carcase you would save, Hear, oh hear, the dreadful drum! Fly to forest, cower in cave . . . Brother, heed the wrath to come!
Brother, you were born too late; Human life is but a breath. Men delve deep, where darkly wait Sinister the seeds of death, There’s no moment to delay; Sorrowing the stars are blind. Little Brother, how I pray You may sanctuary find. Peoples of the world succumb . . . Fly, poor fools, the WRATH TO COME!
Robert William Service , A British Canadian Writer and a Poet renowned and known as “The Bard of the Yukon” briefly covered the war for the Toronto Star (from December 11, 1915, through January 29, 1916) [ he was rejected for the entry in the war recruit because of vericose veins ] but “was arrested and nearly executed in an outbreak of spy hysteria in Dunkirk.” He then “worked as a stretcher bearer and ambulance driver with the Ambulance Corps of the American Red Cross, until his health broke.” Convalescing in Paris, he wrote a new book of mainly war poetry, Rhymes of a Red Cross Man, in 1916. The book was dedicated to the memory of Service’s “brother, Lieutenant Albert Service, Canadian Infantry, Killed in Action, France, August 1916.” Robert Service received three medals for his war service: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
In this ‘Brother Poem’ : ” Little Brother” The poet brother warns his little brother about the dangers that burst plentiful in the world, because of mankind’s habit of waging wars: “Brother, you were born too late; / Human life is but a breath…” Vicious and wicked forces threaten with angers/ragethatcould lead to the bloody battles in theseaand on the land. Due to the lack of agreement and harmony, eastern skies ( of many countries ) are undergoing bitter conflicts that could lead them to violent dissentions ; these skies are “dark with strife”: “dark”is suggestive of undercurrent of the hostilities. In the line “Western lands are stark with fears” is suggestive of extremely intensified fright in anticipation of the plain danger of the wars which is spreading from the east end to the west end, and hence there might be the World War of which his dear brother should be well aware of. This is expressed in the next line: “Armageddon draweth near”: In mankind’s history , the First World War is called an Armageddon: catastrophically destructive battle. This will leave the people of the world, as “cold” and “dumb,” ( emotionless and speechless ) : : His brother should listen to the anger ( “wrath to come “) ; If he is hearing the dreadful drum of the wars of the nations , and dead body (“carcase”) is to be saved, he should fly to the forest and/or crawl into the cave .
Men slided in to the deep; there is no light of the way out. The tragic development of the seeds of death as in the line ” sinister the seeds of death” is a “darkly wait” : “Sorrowing the stars are blind.” is a line suggestive of ‘unperceptiveness’ to our sorrowfulthoughts : Any heavenly bodies seemingly capable of showing light to the mankind are seen as insensitive to the grief-stricken thoughts amidst the catastrophic World War – like situations and the resulting slaughter of millions of people of so many nations – so it’s a “moment of no delay.” In the last Four Lines, the poet addresses the people of the world,” the poor fools” about to” be succumbed.. .” that is overwhelmingly overpowered by the “wrath to come”: the belligerent warring attitudes ( of the nations of the world ) which his brother will come to know/”find from his sanctuary” (the shelter from the danger / hardships) : in the meanwhile , the poet will pray for his little brother and for the people of the world : Only hope in the last but a moment : Otherwise , ” Human life isbut a breath” : : : :
Robert W Service’s Brother Poem , ” Little Brother” : : Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India August 21 , 2022 : : શ્રાવણ વદ દશમી : : : : ::
Rabindranath Tagore was an Indian poet, novelist, dramatist, and short-story writer. He is one of the most important Bengali writers in Indian history. His poetry often alluded to contemporary political and social issues while also appealing to individuals’ emotions.: : : : Of the thirteen surviving children born to his parents, Tagore was the youngest. His parents Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi gave the care of their child over to their household servants. Tagore’s mother died when he was very young. : : : ; In 1883 he married a ten-year-old girl, Mrinalini Devi. One of Tagore’s best-known works, Manasi, was soon published. This period also saw him move to manage his ancestral estates in what is today part of Bangladesh. His family had a great deal of property, making this a full-time job. His wife and children remained at his side. It was these years, ranging from 1891 to 1895 which were his most productive. His large collection of 85 stories, Galpaguchchha, was mostly completed during these years. He became known for his writings regarding the lives of India’s poorest people.In 1901, he moved to Santiniketan to found an ashram. His wife and two of his children died. His book, Naivedya as published this same year.. He also sold off properties and possessions. In 1906 he published Kheya. In 1913, Tagore won the Novel Prize in Literature for ,’Gitanjali.’ He was later awarded a knighthood by King George V; which he renounced after the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Two years later he worked alongside an agricultural economist to set up what would come to be called, “Abode of Welfare.”His work ranges from 1932 to 1942, ending with his death. He lost consciousness in the later part of 1937 and remained comatose for a long period of time. A second similar spell occurred in 1940— this time though he did not recover and died on August 7, of 1941 at the age of 80.
The Gardener Lxviii: None Lives For Ever, Brother Poem by Rabindranath Tagore : : : :Rabindranath Tagore Calcutta (Kolkata), Bengal Presidency / British India
None lives for ever, brother, and nothing lasts for long. Keep that in mind and rejoice. Our life is not the one old burden, our path is not the one long journey. One sole poet has not to sing one aged song. The flower fades and dies; but he who wears the flower has not to mourn for it for ever. Brother, keep that in mind and rejoice. There must come a full pause to weave perfection into music. Life droops toward its sunset to be drowned in the golden shadows. Love must be called from its play to drink sorrow and be borne to the heaven of tears. Brother, keep that in min and rejoice. We hasten to gather our flowers lest they are plundered by the passing winds. It quickens our blood and brightens our eyes to snatch kisses that would vanish if we delayed. Our life is eager, our desires are keen, for time tolls the bell of parting. Brother, keep that in mind and rejoice. There is not time for us to clasp a thing and crush it and fling it away to the dust. The hours trip rapidly away, hiding their dreams in their skirts. Our life is short; it yields but a few days for love. Were it for work and drudgery it would be endlessly long. Brother, keep that in mind and rejoice. Beauty is sweet to us, because she dances to the same fleeting tune with our lives. Knowledge is precious to us, because we shall never have time to complete it. All is done and finished in the eternal Heaven. But earth’s flowers of illusion are kept eternally fresh by death. Brother, keep that in mind and rejoice.
Rabindranath Tagore ( Born in Calcutta May 7 , 1861 – August 7 , 1941 @ his home town , Calcutta )
The Gardener LXVIII’. The Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore dedicated his 1915 sequence The Gardener to W. B. Yeats, and the poems it contains were described as ‘lyrics of love and life’. Tagore begins this poem with the reminder : “None lives for ever, brother, and nothing lasts for long. Keep that in mind and rejoice.” : : : : : : : : : ::
The Gardener” is a song filled with the idea of love and unity of humanity with Universe. His undeniable talent and remarkable beauty of his lyrics poured over to the rest of his opus, as the poem written in prose, “The Gardener”. It was one of the best Tagore’s poetry books, also known as the book of love. In this verses, he’s not just talking about a love for a woman, he transfers his focus on the love in general, towards men, Earth, world, life. The love he feels for a woman is only a cause for him writing magical verses in which he glorifies life, while physical and emotional love is only one of its wonderful elements.
The Gardener Lxviii: None Lives For Ever, Brother : Poem By Rabindranath Tagore : : Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India August 20 , 2022 : : : : : : : ; : :
John Keats : (born October 31, 1795, London, England—died February 23, 1821, Rome, Papal States [Italy]), English Romantic lyric poet who devoted his short life to the perfection of a poetry marked by vivid imagery, great sensuous appeal, and an attempt to express a philosophy through classical legend. : : : : John Keats was notably influenced by writers such as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, John Milton, and Virgil. : : : : Notable Works : : : : “Endymion” • “Hyperion” • “Isabella” • “La Belle Dame sans merci” • “Lamia” • “Ode on a Grecian Urn” • “Ode to Psyche” • “Ode to a Nightingale” • “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” • “On Indolence” • “On Melancholy” • “Poems” • “Sleep and Poetry” • “The Eve of St. Agnes” • “The Fall of Hyperion” • “To Autumn”: Movement / Style: RomanticismJohn Keats Keats, detail of an oil painting by Joseph Severn, 1821; in the National Portrait Gallery, London. : : : : : : : : : His first published work “O Solitude!” appeared in 1816. He was a contemporary of Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Wordsworth. Keats was just over five feet tall. His love affair with Fanny Brawne was a defining feature in his life. At one point he decided to become a surgeon, something he had no real interest in. While a young student he often got into fights at school. Keats disliked his early poetry so much that he burned his papers.He resisted as a student at Guy’s Hospital where he began studying in 1815. He became a licensed apothecary in 1816. He committed to a career as a surgeon, the increasingly long hours required by the hospital cut sharply into his writing time. He was never quite as interested in medicine as he was in writing. This contrast sent Keats into a depression. He feared for his future career and happiness. By the end of 1816, he had made his final decision to become a poet, although he continued his medical studies. : : : : : : : In 1818, during the summer, Keats embarked on a walking tour of Northern England, the Lake District, and Scotland along with a friend, Charles Brown. The intense exposure to the elements first pushed Keats towards tuberculosis in 1819. and left for Italy where he suffered in agony, partially due to absurd medical treatments, until his death in February of 1821 at only twenty-five years old. The Keats children lived with their widowed grandmother at Edmonton, Middlesex. : : : : Throughout his short life, Keats only published three volumes of poetry and was read by only a very small number of people. Keats’ lyrical verse is known for its vivid imagery and great sensuous appeal. His reputation grew after his early death, and he was greatly admired in the Victorian Age. His influence can be seen in the poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and the Pre-Raphaelites.
John Keats (1795–1821). The Poetical Works of John Keats. 1884. To My Brother George MANY the wonders I this day have seen: The sun, when first he kist away the tears That fill’d the eyes of morn;—the laurel’d peers Who from the feathery gold of evening lean;— The ocean with its vastness, its blue green, 5 Its ships, its rocks, its caves, its hopes, its fears,— Its voice mysterious, which whoso hears Must think on what will be, and what has been. E’en now, dear George, while this for you I write, Cynthia is from her silken curtains peeping 10 So scantly, that it seems her bridal night, And she her half-discover’d revels keeping. But what, without the social thought of thee, Would be the wonders of the sky and sea?
John Keats’ : ” To My Brother George” written at Margate, and sees the poet describing the seaside atmosphere and the morning sun in a poem written specially for his brother George. George Keats left England in 1818 to make a new life for himself in America with his young bride, Georgiana Wylie. His intention was to earn enough money to return to England and support his family—which included his more famous brother—in the lifestyle to which they aspired to live. George lost his inheritance in a steamboat speculation and returned to London, desperate with a pregnant wife back in Louisville, Kentucky, to scour up more funds. When he left England for America for the second time, in 1820, he had borrowed money from his brother John; he did not realize John was terminally ill. AfterGeorge left for America, their younger brother Tom had died. John had always found his closest bonds to be with his brothers. John faced a snobbish conservative press determined to mock his poetic pretensions: he was a “Cockney Poet.” John’s enormous capacity for love shifted to Fanny Brawne whom he married later on. After George’s departure when John wrote his most lasting verse in the void opened up by his brothers’ absence.
what without the social thought of thee, / Would be the wonders of the sky and sea,” John wrote to George in the concluding couplet of a sonnet titled “To My Brother George.”
His poetry, following the loss of his brothers, became darker, more introspective, deeper, and more philosophical. The poems known as the Great Odes—“Ode to a Nightingale,” “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “Ode to Melancholy,” “To Autumn,” and so on, written in the spring of 1819 ; describe the misery into which the poet had plunged after the loss of his brothers: “George is in America and I have no brother left,” John wrote to an acquaintance that May. “My brother George always stood between me and any dealings with the world—Now I find I must buffet it—I must take my stand upon some vantage ground and begin to fight—I must choose between despair & Energy—I choose the latter.” John Keats’ writing the majority of poems that appeared in his famous volume of 1820, the book that made his lasting reputation and his letters also reveal the profundity of his connection with George, to whom he spoke of life not as a vale of tears, but as a “Vale of Soul-making.” We come into the world, he speculated, as atoms of perception—“intelligences,” the poet called them—that have no distinct personality or identity but that, in the school of hard knocks called experience, a school whose lessons are felt on the pulses, those intelligences become souls : A spiritual redemption. ( As based on/from“Denise Gigante’s The Keats Brothers”, published by Harvard University Press.
John Keats’ “To My Brother George” : : : : : : “MANY the wonders I this day have seen: The sun, when first he kist away the tears That fill’d the eyes of morn;—the laurel’d peers Who from the feathery gold of evening lean;— The ocean with its vastness, its blue green, 5 Its ships, its rocks, its caves, its hopes, its fears,— Its voice mysterious, which whoso hears Must think on what will be, and what has been.” : : Lines ( 1-8 ) : :
The Poet describes the “wonders”of the day he has seen. The first one is “The sun which kissed away the tears that filled the eyes of morning.” The same sun provided a day before, with a crown 👑 like golden colour of its evening rays ( hence “laurelledpeers “) which with the sun rising in its glittering has become once again “feathery” gaining soft fluffy colourless appearance ( featheriness ) which is a “wonder”. Similarly , “The ocean with its vastness , its blue green” , that is its extensive wideness , hugeness and grandness ; and for that Ocean is a “great wonder.” The Poet mentions further, ocean’s “Ships, its rocks,its caves,its hope and its fears,– in the 6 th Line.The fearfulness is because of an “mysterious voice”: that is an incessant and incomprehensible and so , whoso hears will have to get to know if in the past , something bewildering has happened with an understandable warning underlying such voice and whether it could happen the same way in the future. ( Lines 7 & 8 ) :
“E’en now, dear George, while this for you I write, Cynthia is from her silken curtains peeping 10 So scantly, that it seems her bridal night, And she her half-discover’d revels keeping. But what, without the social thought of thee, Would be the wonders of the sky and sea?” : : ( Lines 9 to 14 ): :
Now ( in Line 9 onwards )The poet starts addressing his dear brother George stating that while he writes this for him , ” Cynthia is peeping from her silken curtains.” John Keats has notably a great liking for Greek mythology wherefrom he often brings such stories and poetic elements. We find atleast two such references : One ( as in Line 10 ) “Cynthia peeping ( appearing as though from hiding ) from her silken curtains” : This gives an impressive image of the moon emerging from the smooth , gleaming cover of the thinly spread ( silken ) clouds. “Cynthia” is a virgin Goddess of the hunt and the moon ; daughter of Leto and twin sister of Appoloidentified , with Roman ‘Diana’ (= Artemis) : ” So scantly, that it seems her bridal night, ( as in Line 11 ) scanty suggests a “Crescent moon” which is either waxing moon ( passing from new to full ) Or waning moon ( becoming from full to smaller moon) meaning either increased or decreased magnitude and extent of visibility and brightness. And “this seems her bridal or wedding night and this merry––making is not keeping with the wedding occasion. Some losses go on. That’s why the poet has called this half – discovered. These feelings of the moonshow are beautiful explained in the Lines 10 through 12 : :
“But what, without the social thought of thee, Would be the wonders of the sky and sea?” : : ( Lines 13 & 14 ) : :
The poet’s desire to share his day filled with admirable scenes of “wonder”on the Ocean/ “sea” and night scenes in the “sky” with his brother “George” can not be fulfilled as George is faraway from him . ” without the social thought of thee ( I. e. you : his brother George : To whom John is talking in the poem( as revealed in Line 9 ) . The blithesomeness of the octet of the poem turns into a thoughtful seriousness and uncheerful sadness in the last two Lines of the Sonnet because of missing togetherness and a prevailing sombre feeling that what is found wonderment by one brother John is not seen by his brother George. SADNESS conveyed ! !
John Keats’ Sonnet ” To My Brother George” : : Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India August 19 , 2022 : : શ્રાવણ વદ આઠમ : જન્માષ્ટમી : : : : : : : : : : : : :
This 1893 painting by John William Waterhouse was inspired by “La Belle dame sans Merci” By John Keats, and is an example of how interdisciplinary creativity can be fostered by great works of poetry.Chatterton, by Henry Wallace (1856) Although this painting is of poet Thomas Chatterton rather than Keats, it’s pre-Raphaelite image of suffering has become synonymous with the image of the young, Romantic poet.This tracing of the Sosibos vase was made by Keats himself. ; : : : : : : : : : : : : : “This morning I am in a sort of temper indolent and supremely careless … Neither Poetry, not Ambition, nor Love have any alertness of countenance as they pass by me: they seem rather like three figures on a Greek vase – a Man and two women – whom no one but myself could distinguish in their disguisement. This is the only happiness; and is a rare instance of advantage in the body overpowering the Mind.”
(Written in a letter from Keats to his brother and sister, March 1819.)
MADHU MALTI 