Literature week 3

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

Do assignment 1 (pp 23, 24)

Metaphysical poetry

Why this kind of poetry?

It was a reaction to the overly elevated language used by 'poets' in the Renaissance.

Meta-physical

Beyond - science / concrete things

1. A careful balance between reason and emotion
2. A surprising image or idea is presented in the opening lines to immediately grab the reader's attention.
3. The poems interweave lofty, educated language with rather coarse English
4. The poems reproduce the rhythm of spoken English, with unexpected breaks and changes of tempo (changes in metre)
5. Extensive use is made of conceits --> 
   

Conceit

A conceit is a metaphor. 

-Very often two unlikely things are compared.

-The metaphor is extended (= longer and more complex than usual)

-Quite often it contains a scientific element

Example: two lovers are compared to two hemispheres forming one perfect and complete world.

The Good Morrow - stanza 1

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I

Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?

But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?

Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?

’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.

If ever any beauty I did see,

Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.

a child is weaned when it no longer breastfeeds

The Seven Sleepers slept in a cave for 300 years 

What did they do till they
loved one another?

The Good Morrow - stanza 2

And now good-morrow to our waking souls,

Which watch not one another out of fear;

For love, all love of other sights controls,

And makes one little room an everywhere.

Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,

Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,

Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

They don't fear. But what is it they don't fear?

(Hint: what do lovers sometimes fear?)

The 17th century was the time of the great explorations and discoveries

"And makes one little room an everywhere"

What is the little room? (no, not the toilet!)

Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,

Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,

Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

What are the lovers compared to? (What is the conceit?)

The Good Morrow - stanza 3

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,

And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;

Where can we find two better hemispheres,

Without sharp north, without declining west?

Whatever dies, was not mixed equally;

If our two loves be one, or, thou and I

Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

Hemisphere = 1/2 of the globe

Plato believed that things and people could go on for ever if their components were mixed perfectly

"Without sharp north, without declining west?"

Why is the north a bad place?

"Without sharp north, without declining west?"

Why is the west a bad place?

"My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears"

That's how close they are. What are the eyes compared to?

"If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die."
How exactly does the poet reason death away?

Metaphysical

Meta: Beyond -  Physical: concrete things

1. A careful balance between reason and emotion
   Emotion:The poem discusses both their deep love and how they deal with their fear to lose each other 
   Reason: The perfect unity of the lovers is represented by two hemispheres, the immortality  by Plato's philosophy about perfectly balanced components.
2. A surprising image or idea is presented in the opening lines to immediately grab the reader's attention.
   Here it's a non-poetic exclamation (about a boring time before they met) to introduce their perfect happiness now. 'By my troth' is quite vulgar.

3 The poems interweave lofty, educated language with rather coarse English

Lines 1-4 are non-poetic, the rest is more educated.

4 The poems reproduce the rhythm of spoken English, with unexpected

 breaks and changes of tempo (changes in metre)

The many commas make it quite irregular in rhythm. Clauses like 'each hath one, and is one' break the iambic metre.

5 Extensive use is made of conceits --> The image of the two worlds, getting concentrated into one world consisting of two hemispheres, which stand for Plato's perfectly mixed components that are able to defeat death.

The following video explains metaphysical poetry once again.

watch later if you like

Do assignments 1c, 2

1c: do NOT use the poem "The Good Morrow" for your examples.

Analysing Love III

Homework

Finish and learn chapter 3