“Spring and Fall” by Gerard Manley Hopkins

      Gerard Manley Hopkins was born in 1844 in Essex, England.   His parents were supportive of the creative nature of Gerard and his siblings.   Not only was he a writer/poet, Hopkins also studied drawing and music and at one time hoped to become a painter.  He attended Oxford where he studied Latin and Greek.  Hopkins was very religious and did much soul searching.  He actually trained for the priesthood.   Many of his most famous sonnets are religious.  Hopkins died in 1889 in Dublin of typhoid fever. 

 

 

Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow’s springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

 

            This rather melancholy poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins is addressing a young child (Margaret) and discusses her youthful innocence.    The title of the poem, Spring and Fall, seems to compare young and naive Margaret to the fresh and blooming spring season and the older, more experienced speaker to the fall season with its decaying leaves and winding down to the end of the year.  

 

In the beginning, the poem asks, “Margaret, are you grieving over Goldengrove unleaving?”   The little girl seems to be sad about the trees losing their leaves as winter approaches.    The falling leaves seem to represent decay/death.   However, Margaret does not seem to have the ability at her age to understand the reason why the aspect of falling leaves upsets her.  With the untainted views of a child, the young girl sees things from a different perspective than the more seasoned speaker.   The speaker comments on their differing outlooks and that age will change her response to things, “Ah! As the heart grows older/It will come to such sights colder…”   The speaker implies that Margaret will become hardened and become unsympathetic to some things with age – “by and by, nor spare a sigh/Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie..”   While the mature Margaret may not react the same to such things as “Goldengrove unleaving”, the older Margaret will be able to recognize her feelings better and will respond with sorrow to other things outside the world of Goldengrove.   In the last line of the poem, “It is Margaret you mourn for”, the speaker seems to imply that Margaret is actually grieving over her own mortality, although she would not be aware of this at such a young age.

 

There is a lyrical rhythm present.   The words have a sing-song effect that is quite mesmerizing.  Not all of the lines in the poem have the same number of syllables.   Hopkins uses a “sprung rhythm meter” and stresses words in rather unusual ways.  Alliteration is used in this poem, such as “sorrow’s springs”, “ghost guessed”, and “will weep.”  The  narrator’s tone, while tender towards the child, is not particularly comforting.   The speaker is quite philosophical.   The seasons of spring and fall seem to be a metaphor for the life cycle.  The rhyming sequence in this poem is AABBCCDDDEEFFGG with line 1 rhyming with line 2, line 3 with line 4, and so on.  There are two rhyming lines together throughout the poem except for lines 7 through 9 where three lines in a row rhyme.  Also, in line 7, the beginning of the line (“By and by”) rhymes with the end of the line (“lie”). 

“Wedding-Ring” by Denise Levertov

Author Denise Levertov was born in London in 1923 and was educated at home by her mother.  Her formal education ended at the age of 12.   She married Mitchell Goodman, who had been studying in Europe on the G.I. Bill, and they had one son.  She came to the United States in 1948.  Both Denise Levertov and her husband were political and anti-war activists.  She divorced in 1974.   Ms. Levertov died of lymphoma in 1997.

 

My wedding-ring lies in a basket

as if at the bottom of a well.

Nothing will come to fish it back up

and onto my finger again.

                    It lies

among keys to abandoned houses,

nails waiting to be needed and hammered

into some wall,

telephone numbers with no names attached,

idle paperclips.

          It can't be given away

for fear of bringing ill-luck.

          It can't be sold

for the marriage was good in its own

time, though that time is gone.

          Could some artificer

beat into it bright stones, transform it

into a dazzling circlet no one could take

for solemn betrothal or to make promises

living will not let them keep? Change it

into a simple gift I could give in friendship?

        The wedding ring in this reflective poem by Denise Levertov symbolizes lost dreams and what used to be (rather than the traditional symbolization associated with a wedding ring of love, commitment, and a promising future/wonderful dreams).  The narrator is a woman whose marriage has disintegrated.   Her ring is at the bottom of a basket, along with other obsolete items, such as keys to abandoned houses, telephone numbers without names, random paperclips and unused nails.    It no longer symbolizes love and togetherness to her as that part of her life is no longer existent, and she sees no hope of her marriage being repaired in the future.   The tone of this poem is sad and suggests disillusionment concerning the end of a relationship.  The words leave the reader feeling that the author did not want the marriage to end.  Metaphor is used in this poem:  “My wedding- ring lies in a basket as if at the bottom of a well…”   This indicates that the wedding ring is no longer held in the same regard as it used to be; that the wedding ring no longer holds the same symbolism for the speaker.   Sadly, it no longer holds the promise of love and commitment.   The “bottom” of a well suggests the depth, darkness and loneliness one feels when they reach the “bottom” or a particularly low point in their life. 

            As mentioned above, the author of the poem (Denise Levertov) divorced in 1974.  This poem was written in 1978 after the failure of her marriage and, therefore, depicts the feelings she was experiencing with the demise of her marriage.   The words of the poem  give the reader the sense that there are still ill feelings remaining, such as when she writes of her wedding ring, “It can’t be given away for fear of bringing ill-luck.  It can’t be sold for the marriage was good in its own time, though that time is gone.”  The token wedding ring no longer symbolizes faith and hope and commitment like in the past.  It almost seems to represent something superstitious.   The narrator wonders if perhaps her wedding ring could be transformed into a piece of jewelry not representative of solemn betrothal or of broken promises and dreams.   

            The use of cacophony and euphony forces the reader to stop at certain points in the poem for emphasis.  It doesn’t have a rhyming pattern and appears to be more in a paragraph form.  People can relate to this poem and empathize with the author over the end of her relationship and the resultant changes in her life. 

“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke

Author Theodore Roethke was born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1908, and attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  He had a rather difficult, lonely childhood. When he was 14, his father died of cancer.  Mr. Roethke developed a fascination with gangsters.  He was considered to be eccentric and nonconformist.    During his adult life, he suffered many mental breakdowns. 

 

The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy dizzy;

But I hung on like death:

Such waltzing was not easy.

 

We romped until the pans

Slid from the kitchen shelf;

My mother’s countenance

Could not unfrown itself.

 

The hand that held my wrist

Was battered on one knuckle;

At every step you missed

My right ear scraped a buckle.

 

You beat time on my head

With a palm caked hard by dirt,

Then waltzed me off to bed

Still clinging to your shirt.

 

This intriguing poem entitled My Papa’s Waltz is quite emotionally charged with its implications.  The speaker is a young boy who tells us rather meekly about an encounter with his father who had been drinking.   The speaker does not place direct blame on his father.  However, through word choice and placement, the reader can sense the boy’s uneasiness and fear of the situation.   The setting of this poem is in the family home where intoxicated “Papa” waltzes around awkwardly and rather dangerously with the young boy.  The speaker states that “such waltzing was not easy.”  In the second stanza, the boy tells how they “romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf.”   This seems like quite an understatement.  The boy’s mother is watching the shenanigans; although she is frowning, she appears passive and does not take action to stop this sad interaction between her husband and her son. 

 

            The word choices in the poem hint at possible abuse with the boy being whisked to and fro by a drunken person.   The speaker tells about his right ear scraping a buckle with every step his father missed in this waltz.  The boy was obviously being hurt but did not directly state that this was his father’s fault.   He communicates to us how his father “beat time” on his head; he doesn’t come out and say that his father beat/hit him. 

            The tone/attitude of this poem is submissive on the boy’s part.  He timidly waltzes with his father and doesn’t protest.    The little boy seems almost like a doll flopping around awkwardly during the dance.   Every other line in the four-line stanzas rhyme.  The word choices in this poem emit powerful, rather disturbing images.

“The Night-Wind” by Emily Bronte

        Emily Jane Bronte was born on July 30, 1818, in England.  She died at the young age of 30. Emily felt that her health was compromised by the harsh local climate and unsanitary conditions at home.  She caught a severe cold at the funeral of her brother, which was said to have led to tuberculosis.  She initially refused to be treated.  By the time she agreed to see a physician, it was too late for her. Ms. Bronte was a poet, novelist, and a governess.  She is best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights.  She wrote under the pen name of Ellis Bell. 

In summer's mellow midnight,

A cloudless moon shone through

 Our open parlour window

 And rosetrees wet with dew.

 

 I sat in silent musing,

 The soft wind waved my hair;

 It told me Heaven was glorious

 And sleeping Earth was fair.

 

 I needed not its breathing

 To bring such thoughts to me,

 But still it whispered lowly,

 "How dark the woods will be!

 

 "The thick leaves in my murmur

 Are rustling like a dream,

 And all their myriad voices

 Instinct with spirit seem."

 

 I said "Go, gentle singer

 Thy wooing voice is kind

 But do not think its music

 Has power to reach my mind.

 

 "Play with the scented flower,

 The young tree's supple bough,

 And leave my human feelings

 In their own course to flow."

 

 The Wanderer would not leave me;

 Its kiss grew warmer still -

 "O come", it sighed so sweetly,

 "I'll win thee 'gainst thy will."

 

 "Have we not been from childhood friends?

 Have I not loved thee long?

 As long as though hast loved the night

 Whose silence wakes my song.

 

 "And when thy heart is laid at rest

 Beneath the church-yard stone

 I shall have time enough to mourn

 And thou to be alone."

         The setting for this captivating poem by Emily Bronte is on a cloudless summer night as the speaker sits mesmerized by the enchanting view that is visible through her open parlour window. There is a slight wind lightly blowing as the poem describes, “The thick leaves in my murmur are rustling like a dream…” suggestive of wind gently stirring the leaves on the trees.  The speaker appears to be a female by the tone of the poem and such wording as “The soft wind waved my hair…”  The first line of the poem reveals the temporal setting (time) -- “In summer’s mellow midnight…” The exact location as far as city or state or country is not disclosed.  This seems to more easily allow the readers to put themselves in the speaker’s shoes, to sense what she is experiencing on this summer evening.

This poem initially was comforting and seemed to almost lure the readers into a dreamlike, mystical state with its gentle words and the beautiful, soft pictures that it painted in one’s mind.  However, the poem subsequently took on a rather dark, sinister feeling as the night and its inhabitants (including the wind and the dark woods) seemed to be trying to seduce the speaker and to lure her into the blackness and what may lie beyond.   The speaker’s imagination gets carried away with the bewitching night.  Perhaps she is lonely and a bit depressed, and her inner fears surface on this dark night.  It’s such a situation where one hears and sees things that aren’t truly there, and reality and fantasy become confused.  The speaker fights back against these images in her mind and to pull herself out of this dark place.

            Personification plays a part in this poem as the wind speaks and seduces.   There are four-line stanzas with the second and fourth line rhyming.  The words are very descriptive.  The poem has a nice flow and is very effective at inviting the readers to experience the situation with the speaker.

“The Changeling” by Judith Ortiz Cofer

    Judith Ortiz Cofer was born in Puerto Rico in 1952.  As a child, she only spoke Spanish.  She moved to the United States as a child and has spent much time in Georgia.  She is a poet, novelist and essayist.  Her primary focus is Hispanic American culture. She is best known for her creative non-fiction. 

The Changeling

As a young girl
vying for my father's attention,
I invented a game that made him look up
from his reading and shake his head
as if both baffled and amused.

In my brother's closet, I'd change
into his dungarees -- the rough material
molding me into boy shape; hide
my long hair under an army helmet
he'd been given by Father, and emerge
transformed into the legendary Ché
of grown-up talk.

Strutting around the room,
I'd tell of life in the mountains,
of carnage and rivers of blood,
and of manly feasts with rum and music
to celebrate victories para la libertad.
He would listen with a smile
to my tales of battles and brotherhood
until Mother called us to dinner.

She was not amused
by my transformations, sternly forbidding me
from sitting down with them as a man.
She'd order me back to the dark cubicle
that smelled of adventure, to shed
my costume, to braid my hair furiously
with blind hands, and to return invisible,
as myself,
to the real world of her kitchen.

The narrative poem entitled The Changeling by Judith Ortiz Cofer allows the reader to have a glimpse into interactions between a father and a daughter.   The speaker in this poem is a young girl as she tells us about a game she made up to gain her father’s attention.   By transforming herself into a male by putting on her brother’s dungarees and a helmet, she was able to have her father put down his reading and capture his attention momentarily.   With taking on the persona of Ernesto “Che” Guevera (a Cuban revolutionary leader) and telling stories of make-believe battles and adventures, the speaker challenges the typical role women have in society.  While her father was rather amused by her antics, her mother was not.  Her mother seemed to have strong feelings concerning the role of women.  To her, a woman’s place was in the kitchen.

The title of this poem (The Changeling) reflects the make-believe world of children and their tendency to role play.  The poem is written in free verse.  It does not contain rhyme or any particular rhythm.   It is written in first person.  Certain phrases stand alone, which makes them stand out;  i.e., “as myself” (line 28).  The mood of this poem is rather sad in that the girl has to pretend to be someone else in order to get her father’s attention.  There is a sense that the girl feels lonely and almost abandoned by her father.  On the other hand, the speaker shows us an impish side to her that is imaginative and playful.    There is an undertone in the poem that suggests the speaker wants to branch off and discover/ be a part of things outside of the traditional view of “little girls.”  

 

“Alzheimer’s” by Kelly Cherry

Kelly Cherry was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on December 21, 1940.   She was the daughter of a violinist, and her early exposure to music has had a profound effect on her work.  Her work includes poetry, novels, short fiction stories, and memoirs.  

He stands at the door, a crazy old man Back from the hospital, his mind rattling
like the suitcase, swinging from his hand,
That contains shaving cream, a piggy bank,
A book he sometimes pretends to read,
His clothes. On the brick wall beside him
Roses and columbine slug it out for space, claw the mortar.
The sun is shining, as it does late in the afternoon
in England, after rain.
Sun hardens the house, reifies it,
Strikes the iron grillwork like a smithy
and sparks fly off, burning in the bushes--
the rosebushes--
While the white wood trim defines solidity in space.
This is his house. He remembers it as his,
Remembers the walkway he built between the front room
and the garage, the rhododendron he planted in back,
the car he used to drive. He remembers himself,
A younger man, in a tweed hat, a man who loved
Music. There is no time for that now. No time for music,
The peculiar screeching of strings, the luxurious
Fiddling with emotion.
Other things have become more urgent.
Other matters are now of greater import, have more
Consequence, must be attended to. The first
Thing he must do, now that he is home, is decide who
This woman is, this old, white-haired woman
Standing here in the doorway,
Welcoming him in.

         This moving poem by Kelly Cherry entitled Alzheimer’s paints a vivid picture of an all too common ailment.   The simple, one-word title informs the reader immediately of the focus of the poem, allowing us to associate the text of the poem with a victim of Alzheimer’s disease from the very beginning.  The speaker’s tone initially seems rather harsh and insensitive as the man suffering from Alzheimer’s is described as “a crazy old man back from the hospital, his mind rattling like the suitcase, swinging from his hand that contains shaving cream, a piggy bank, a book he sometimes pretends to read…”   One can almost sense impatience and frustration from the speaker.  The picture the speaker paints is initially not flattering and doesn’t seem to portray the “real” man – the man who raised a family, who built the walkway between the front room and the garage at the very house described in the poem, who planted rhododendron in the backyard, and who loved music.   As the poem progresses, the tone seems to convey a sadness, pity, a sense of despair.   One thinks of this stricken man as he returns home from the hospital.  Life around him continues as always with the sun shining, rain falling, flowers blooming.  This gentleman’s world, however, is in turmoil as his memory fails him.  While he can remember certain things such as his house, the car he used to drive, and how he loved music, he cannot remember his own wife.   The man’s confusion is almost palpable.

         The style of this poem by Kelly Cherry seems to be free form.  Within this 29-line poem, there are no stanzas, no rhyming, or alliteration, and sentences end in the middle of lines. 

 

"The Aim Was Song" by Robert Frost

Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, California. He died on January 29, 1963, at age 88 in Boston, Massachusetts. Frost is highly regarded fro his realistic depictions of rural life. He is considered to be one of the most popular and critically respected American poets of the twentieth century.


The Aim Was Song


Before man to blow to right
The wind once blew itself untaught,
And did its loudest day and night
In any rough place where it caught.

Man came to tell it what was wrong:
It hadn't found the place to blow;
It blew too hard - the aim was song.
And listen - how it ought to go!

He took a little in his mouth,
And held it long enough for north
To be converted into south,
And then by measure blew it forth.

By measure. It was word and note,
The wind the wind had meant to be -
A little through the lips and throat.
The aim was song - the wind could see.               




          The above poem, The Aim Was Song, by Robert Frost signifies the art of poetry and its resemblance to song.  There are parallels between poetry and song as suggested in this poem.  Both poetry and song use words/lyrics to convey a message.  Both are melodious, although in different ways.  Song uses music/notes for its tune, while poetry uses rhyme, rhythm, and meter.   Listen to the beauty of the song/poem and feel its rhythm.   We need to be open to the different qualities of these art forms and what they are trying to tell us.  Frost uses the wind as a metaphor in this poem – how it can change from being strong and blowing to soft and whispering.   Words can have the same characteristics.  While poems may differ in their form or structure, it is poetry nevertheless.  Like the wind of nature that varies greatly in its strength and the way man perceives it, so poetry varies in the way it was written and the way it is interpreted by man.   As a gusting, howling wind comes across as forbidding and irate, so can the words and melody of a poem or song.   As a gentle whisper of a wind suggests a light, carefree mood, so can a poem/song have this effect.   Poetry/song can be calming or enraging, happy or sad, enjoyable or not.  The Aim Was Song is an effective poem at conveying Frost’s message of poetry as song.