This blog was created solely for the wonder of expression. I love to write and these ludicrously grandiose interpretations are my greatest guilty pleasure. I hope that you find the delight in reading them that I found in writing them. These are my personal opinions, and independent thoughts, so I'm well aware they may not apply to everyone. I love both writing, and the compositions of others. I find poetry particularly absorbing in it's diversity and freedom of verbalization. So through the acknowledgement of these truths I came to create this blog it will be a compilation of various different personal translations and dissections of famous poems, hopefully one for everyday of the week(save the weekends). If you find any errors whether factual or grammatical please inform me, any criticism is welcome. Thank you for stopping by, and I wish you pleasure filled reading.
Adelaide Crapsey lived an effulgent life, bursting with creativity and somber beauty, writing in what seems like a permanent winter. She frequented words such as death, grave, monument, memorial, pain, bleak, ghosts, wan, cold, silent, immortal, shroud, grey, bitter, ice, alone, shutter, spirit, quiet, still, bones, and graveyard, as well as references to the afterlife and the mythological river, Styx. Crapsey seems stranded upon an island of morbid artistry, weaving between austere natural scenes and opulent cemeteries. Perhaps Crapsey’s aphotic ruminations were due to her concealment of a fatal disease, from her family and friends until the very end. Possibly unable to speak of her emminent demise aloud the poet sought solace in the literary expression of her grim fate. “November Nights” is one of her lighter works where she concentrates instead upon the bleak attraction of late autumn.
it was not just metrical structure that Crapsey toke from the Japanese, she also borrowed their overarching concept of the “break” or a sudden revelation concerning universal truths. Much like her iconic poems Adelaide Crapsey’s life was concise, brilliant yet with an underlying note of calamity, the author passed away from a tuberculosis which was rooted in her brain at the age of only thirty-six. “November Nights,” was one of her earlier more experimental poems, written before her development of the cinquain, it lacks the established syllabic structure of her later works. Nonetheless, Crapsey secures a natural rhythm and flawless metrical balance. Her composition is a wonderfully articulate piece that addresses the ambience of the season immaculately, every word feels felicitous and every literary device meticulously situated and purposeful. Even though the poem is clearly free verse and has no prearranged format, it is both visually and audibly appealing in it’s elegant movement and rhythm. The lack of identifiable rhyme scheme only enhances the organic feel of the poem enabling its evolution to feel as natural as breathing.
Raw and refreshing, Crapsey’s verse is pure and unadulterated by hidden political slanders, religious beliefs, allegories or other psychological fluff. Imbued with a distinctly Shinto innateness, and respect for the modesty of the natural world, “November Nights,” is no frivolous literary easter egg hunt, it is instead akin to a brisk late autumn evening or the striking change in the colors that comes with the season: visually delightful in its lucidity. Her free verse is faultless: like all free verse has no established syllabillic or rhythmic structure. Crapsey, like the classic Japanese poets doesn’t bother with her own original rhyme scheme, she is well aware her poetry is in no need of something as mundane and stereotypical as similar sounding ends to words. She is in no hurry to taint her poem with childish or tawdry verse, her composition is already alluring and bursting with eloquence and poise, that no ordinary poem would contain. Her poetry is not playful or audacious, it is wise and mature beyond its brevity, it is dignified and gentlie. Contained within 22 syllables, Crapsey’s poem builds itself up line by line: first two syllables, then four, with a climax of 6 then back to four, and four again, before the final descent to two. Similar to her later cinquain but not directly proportional. Poetry regarding the natural world requires no deeper meaning, it is already as abstractly spiritual and existential as it is possible to be, there is nothing more wondrous or profound than the unsullied cycles of the universe: and “November Nights” is a perfect expression of this. The language and theme are crystalline, not shallow but pristinely clear down to their very acutest translation, undefiled by literary enigmas, extensive metaphors or trivial analogies. Purely pleasurable in the simplicity of it’s address of such universal themes, relaxingly cadenced and refreshingly non-traditional, soft rhythmic and yet with contrastingly crisp language. Everything about “November Nights” feels prudent and adds subtlety to the ambience of the poem as a whole. “Listen . . .” to every word following, feel the deliberation and poise, let the unbroken tone consume you “with faint, dry sound,” soft words easy on the ears: “Like the steps of a passing ghost,” a simultaneously eery and stoically beautiful simile that conveys the bittersweet and imminent allure of nature. “The leaves, frost crisp’d,” grant Crapsey’s reader a perfect picture of the vivid hues and rigid shape of the autumn’s rain as it “break[s] from the trees and fall[s].” The imagery is so elemental, here stripped to it’s bone it is at its most refined beauty, the reader practically shivers from the chill of the brisk autumn air, all the while relishing in it’s freshness. The only analogy in Crapsey’s work seems to be one to her own verse, composed, light, almost coldly exquisite, her poem is, in and of itself an autumn night in miniature. Deeply satisfying and wholly tranquil, Adelaide Crapsey’s poem is beautiful and composed. Refreshingly untraditional in its free verse arrangement, despite its reminiscence of a form of poetry that precursors even the Greeks. Timelessly traditional in it’s classic address of natural’s imperishable grace( particularly the seasonal variety that softly bites). Crapsey’s writing is radiant, eloquent and simply scintillating with superlative language decisions: from her germane adjectives, to her simile that could not better embody the mood. “November Nights” is an undyingly glorious tribute to the storm of kaleidoscopic foliage that is carried once a year on a crisp breeze, light as the “ . . . steps of a passing ghost.” make even Lewis Carroll proud. In a tone and language reminiscent of the legendary “Jabberwocky,” Rudyard Kipling writes something very similar to Lewis Carroll’s work, not just because they were two of the most acclaimed English writers of the 1800’s but the fact that their chimerical pieces have become some of the most poignant and delightful pieces of children’s literature ever written. “Road-Song of the Bandar-Log” was an rhythmic accompaniment to Kipling’s most eminent novel, “The Jungle Book,” inspired by Kipling’s time in India: Bandar is the Hindi word for “monkey” and log means “people” so Bandar-Log is a term essentially meaning “Monkey-people,” even though to has come to mean "any body of irresponsible chatterers." according to the Oxford English Dictionary Online, 1933-2013.
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India in 1865. Growing up in India was glorious for young Kipling who visited markets with his nanny, and swiftly learned the language growing to love both the country and it’s complex culture, but his stay was brief, at the age of six, he was sent by his mother to Southsea, England for a proper classical education. Southsea, England was a living hell for the boy, here he was abused both physically and psychologically by his “foster mother” Mrs. Halloway, a callous woman who grew to loathe Kipling. After years of suffering, and self-imposed isolation, spent mainly in the company of stolen books, a nervous breakdown at the age of eleven lead to Kipling’s rescue by his mother. She swiftly whisked Rudyard away on a long holiday after which she and switched him to a new school in Devon, here he lived with family. Here Kipling flourished, and his writing began. After he finished school, a lack of money bade Rudyard Kipling forgo college and return to India. Here he was once again immersed in the culture, and working for a local newspaper, he formed an unusually close bond with the native people granting him access to aspects and areas of the society that most Englishmen never saw. Reportedly a severe case of insomnia lead to a myriad of midnight wondering through the streets, and these experiences formed the backbone for a the beginning of Kipling career as an author. Inspiring with an anthology of 40 short stories titled “Plain Tales from the Hills” based on his various early adventures in India. This work was his first success and gained him wide popularity back in England. Upon his later return to England, he formed a friendship with the american publisher named Wolcott Balestier, this acquaintance proved a great asset to Kipling’s career and his aid led to Kipling’s release of two more collections: Wee Willie Winkie (1888), and American Notes (1891), the product of chronicling his early impressions of America, after Balestier introduced Kipling to his own childhood home in Brattleboro, Vermont. While in Vermont, Kipling was first acquainted with Balestier’s sister Carrie, and the two were quick friends. Following Wolcott Balestier's sudden death to Typhoid fever, the young woman summoned Kipling back from England to where he had recently returned to help her deal with the loss. Wolcott Balestier, had proved to be a man who was confirmed as incredibly influential in the course of Rudyard's early life. In the years after the death of Balestier, Rudyard Kipling and Carrie were married. From here Kipling moved between his Vermont dwelling in America and England with Carrie and their subsequent children, he continued to write now inspired by both his own children and all those in both the United Kingdom and America who adored his work. Kipling became enormously popular and by the young age of only 32, he was the most highest paid writer in the world. During his lifetime Kipling suffered the loss of not one, but two of his own beloved children, both of which deeply impacted him: first his daughter Joshephine to Pneumonia, and then his son John who disappeared in the first World War. During his early time in Vermont following his marriage to Carrie, Kipling wrote his crowning glory: “The Jungle Book”(1894), “The Naulahka: A Story of the West and East” (1892) and "The Second Jungle Book" (1895), as well as several short stories which would later feature in “All the Mowgli Stories”(1933) a compilation of such stories telling of various escapades of his classic characters. One of the stories included in “All the Mowgli Stories” was "Kaa's Hunting", to which “Road-Song of the Bandar-Log” was a companion poem. The Bandar-Logs played a significant role in “Kaa’s Hunting,” here the loyal Baloo, reasonable Bagheera, and the infamous Kaa band together to form a rescue mission for Mowgli who has been kidnapped by the clan of “monkey people”. Upon whom Kaa releases his terrible wrath in an act of retribution. The “Monkey People,” are depicted as living in frivolous and irresponsible anarchy: this causes them to be treated as social outcasts by the other inhabitants of the jungle. Ironically, Kipling depicted his apes as being the most foolish and inarticulate of the Jungle dwellers, communicating almost solely through the repetition of another animal’s speech. Their foolish and chattering ways are illustrated by their slogan: “We are great. We are free. We are wonderful. We are the most wonderful people in all the jungle! We all say so, and so it must be true”. An adaption of “Road-Song of the Bandar-Log” called "I Wan'na Be Like You" is featured in the Disney’s “The Jungle Book”. “Road-Song of the Bandar-Log” is a playful piece that demonstrates Kipling's strong adherence to poetic form. This is a song of all the glorious things the Bandar-Logs would do if their words could ever be matched by their actions, and though seldom are. Kipling’s composition is written in flawless iambic pentameter, and his flamboyant rhythmic pattern follows the care-free and mocking exploits of the brash and audacious “monkey people” as they progress through the jungle in a slightly hysteric manor, from their jumping between the trees and their foolish swipes at the moon, to their descents to the earth to taunt all the inhabitants of jungle with the repeated phrase: "Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!" so perfectly arranged is Kipling’s composition that even the upward curl and strength of monkey’s tail of which they are so proud is mimicked in the rhythmic organization of the lines. Additionally, as the monkey’s boorish and puerile movement through the jungle continues into the final stanza the structure of the poem becomes awkward and ungainly to reflect the baseless arrogance of monkeys claims: “Then join our leaping lines that scumfish through the pines, That rocket by where, light and high, the wild-grape swings. By the rubbish in our wake, and the noble noise we make, Be sure - be sure, we're going to do some splendid things!” However graceful or lithe, the monkey’s agile and nimble operation by way of the trees may seem to be as they “scumfish” along, in actuality they are just the “scum” of their society, fustian, capricious, incapable of independent thought or action, full of only empty boasts: too facetious to be criminals, and too idiotic to be true members of society, they are doomed to be forever below all recognition but reproach. Rudyard Kipling’s poem has attracted many fascinating and relevant deconstructions from various exploratory writers and literary critics Martin Fido to Roger Lancelyn Green. Fido defends Kipling’s dismissal, not of scholars or academics but of the condescending tone taken and ceaseless diminution of ordinary people, Fido claims Kipling presents a flipped society where the true value of such excessive and exultant thought is elucidated, he blatantly states, “Intellectuals are consciously attacked as the Bandar-Log: chattering monkey-people who play with ideas – particularly ideas which offend other people – but achieve nothing themselves. The unflattering picture has, naturally, offended many serious adult readers and attracted for Kipling the unfortunate vocal admiration of anti-intellectual philistines. Yet as a comment on the parlour-pink aesthetes who valued their skill in the expression of supercilious malice without making any very obvious contribution to the quality of life around them, it should have been usefully provocative in 1894.” Green takes another view altogether criticizes the over-complication and analyzation of Kipling’s work, “As with all stories of this kind, there are readers on whom the magic does not work. These presumably include the critics who have tried desperately to find political meanings in the Jungle Books and disagree among themselves as to whether the Bandar-Log represent the Americans or the Liberals or such ‘lesser breeds without the law’ (“Recessional”) as they believe Kipling was most anxious to insult at the moment of writing.” According to Green Kipling’s work is best left to its simplest translation for it was written for the pleasure of children not the slander of adults. Other scholars who explored this particular composition of Kipling’s include Peter Keating(who offered a literary deconstruction of “Road-Song of the Bandar-Log” and Marghanita Laski( who while discussing “The Jungle Book,” used the Bandar-Logs to accentuate the magnitude law carries, additionally . . . “ . . . the need to avoid contamination by jabber, (See Verse 3.) rabble-rousers or dreamy intellectuals, here personified by the Monkey-Folk, the Bandar-Log . . .”. Kipling has influenced a flood of thought among his readers, whether it was analytical, creative or critical and he continues to do so today. Rudyard’s Kipling’s “Road-Song of the Bandar-Log” is a spirited and energetic piece that perfectly embodies the temperament of his “monkey people”. Equally poignant, in its allegories, and jocund in it’s rhymes and deliberate decline of poetic structure leading up, perhaps more appropriately down to the his final stanza. Whatever, you may take away from Kipling’s work, he leaves his reader with something unique and often some extraordinary imagery. “The Jungle Book,” was an exotic and compelling fairy tale open to any audience regard’s of ethnicity, gender or age, and even this small taste of it is exquisitely engaging. Rudyard Kipling’s was and remains a brilliant and well spoken author, whose creative expression of his experiences in India have charmed countless generation of audiences and persist in doing so today. “To a Young Lady . . .” -Who had been reproached for taking long walks in the country. William Wordsworth DEAR Child of Nature, let them rail! --There is a nest in a green dale, A harbour and a hold; Where thou, a Wife and Friend, shalt see Thy own heart-stirring days, and be A light to young and old. There, healthy as a shepherd boy, And treading among flowers of joy Which at no season fade, Thou, while thy babes around thee cling, Shalt show us how divine a thing A Woman may be made. Thy thoughts and feelings shall not die, Nor leave thee, when grey hairs are nigh, A melancholy slave; But an old age serene and bright, And lovely as a Lapland night, Shall lead thee to thy grave.
“To a Young Lady . . .” is written in deliberate Pindaric structure( Pindar, was a Greek professional lyrist of the 5th century bc). Pindaric odes are traditionally written in triadic structure first employed by Stesichorus(6th-7th centuries BCE); this consists of a strophe (two or more lines repeated as a unit) followed by a metrically harmonious antistrophe(or the strophe in reverse), concluding with a summary line (called an epode) in a different meter. Originally, this system was used in correspondence with the movement of the choir performing the piece across to one side of a stage then the other and their pause mid stage to deliver the epode. Developed as a form of the Epinician odes(which were played to honor the homecoming of victors from Hellenic Games: such as the original olympics) Pindaric odes had the same elaborate complexity, rich in metaphors and intensely emotive language. These could be seen in the dedicated and consistent tone of Pindar’s works: as a poet dedicated to maintaining not necessarily historically accurate records of great accomplishments but their values and morals as interpreted through society and religion. Consequently his odes were often very culturally specific; as they were written in a jargon unique to the public audience they were intended to address. So the cryptic sayings, folk-legends, and metaphors that embellished his poems became especially hard to perceive, owing to the expeditious shifts of thought and structural sacrifices to achieve a homogeneous poetic inflection. Wordsworth(along with Thomas Gray) is one of two exemplar poets that introduced Pindaric odes to the english language during the Romantic era of Poetry.
Wordsworth’s piece is a infusion of traditional elements and contemporary ones, unusual in a couple of aspects including meter and rhyme scheme. “To a Young Lady . . .” is written in trochaic feet as opposed to iambic meaning that every second syllable is unstressed. The rhyme scheme however is perhaps the most intriguing element of the poem; AABCCB is a fairly rare rhyme scheme which is only known to be used in the sestet, which is the second division of the Italian sonnet. The use of particular rhyme scheme however was mainly attributed to the French sonneteers of the 16th century, exemplified by Ronsard, who cherished its softer sound. This rhyme scheme was made effective by its incorporation of syllabic balance in addition to the defined correspondence of the sounds at the end of lines. The A lines both have eight syllables respectively as do the C lines, whereas the B lines have only six. The B lines function as both the coupling and conclusion of an octave(or eight line stanza), they add subtle interest and the change in cadence they facilitate is pleasantly audible. The french sestet rhyming structure Wordsworth uses provides poise and soft inflection. The second octave has an identical format and similarly impeccable fluency. “To a Young Lady . . .” Begins with a trochaic(a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable) seven syllable line, ending and beginning with a stressed syllable. “Dear Child of Nature, let them rail!” Here he begins his address, and expresses his disregard of all castigations for the one in question, he follows this with the assertion that there will always be a haven for this woman, and that this “nest in a green dale,” will be a home, and provide protection from whatever storms may come to pass: “A harbour and a hold;”. Wordsworth uses this apostrophe to direct his speech to his audience: which is this text is the woman in question. Presumably, this character is a younger lady who has yet to find her permanent abode where she might become both a wife and a friend in turn: “where thou, a Wife and Friend . . .”. Yet this domestic existence will not be entirely dull, here, Wordsworth promises she will experience: “[her] own heart stirring days, experiencing such miracles as birth, first words, first steps, the development of her own children, family holidays and the like. All the while Wordsworth assures her that she shall be a pleasure for all to be around, a protector, teacher, mother and joy: “A light to young and old.” bringing blithesome living to not just Wordsworth but all those she may encounter friend, family or future child. Wordsworth continues in this persuasive monologue with the assurance of health akin to that of a young working boy; “There, healthy as a shepherd boy,” fueled by the freedom of the countryside, fresh air and homemade food, she will be “ . . . treading among the flowers of joy” practically wallowing in happiness and contentment, followed by the pledge, “Which at no season fade,” it is this hyperbole more than any that makes clear to the reader the desperation of the speaker, and in his haste he uses hyperboles shamelessly. He is a mere man, he could not hope to grant her eternal, ceaseless, happiness: life is not fair it will forever be a equal balance of serenities and traumas. This is an inescapable truth. It is unclear whether Wordsworth is attempting to fool just the girl, or himself as well, but following this statement with no true verisimilitude left to his name, save the certainty of his love for this girl, Wordsworth persists in the ambiguity he has begun. “Thou, while thy babes around thee cling,” unless Wordsworth has suddenly become augural he cannot know the fate of this woman or her children, or more particularly the effect of the woman he knows and loves on any barring himself. How could he possibly know that this life he prognosticates, full of domiciliary delights, will “ . . . show us how divine a thing a woman can be made.”? In the final three lines of his poem, William reveals the biases of the still highly chauvinist period in which he was writing. Wordsworth will hopefully forgive our lack of nostalgia for a period when the majority of women we thought to have reached the pinnacle of their potential as a docile housewife. In this period rebellious works written by women were only just beginning to emerge, these works included “Reflections on the Present Condition of the Female Sex, with Suggestions for its Improvement”(1798), “An Appeal to the Men of Great Britain on Behalf of the Women”(1797) and “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”(1791) and they appeared along sides works such as the misogynistic text: “An Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex”. Though many women no doubt enjoyed their lives(probably including Wordsworth own wife, Mary Hutchinson, with whom he had 5 children) as they were, the freedom and equal rights were plainly absent, and the propagation of the thought that a woman reaches her highest incarnation tucked away and laden with children, a healthy and obedient housewife was rather sexist even if this was not the intention. Wordsworth(1770-1812) was born in the year when Victorian England had just passed the law against women entrapping husbands by 'scents, paints, cosmetics, washes, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, high-heeled shoes or bolstered hips'( alternatively stated makeup and false hair were viewed as unacceptable and whorish), and though he makes it clear he loves this woman, his love is tainted by the underlying chauvinist ambience. Wordsworth doesn’t make it clear who the woman he addresses poem to is: she could be his sister or one of his daughters, yet it seems most likely is regard to the composition's presentation that she is his future wife, who had been his childhood friend. Though Wordsworth is polite and charming “To a Young Lady . . .” is doomed by the patriarchal opinions of the time and serves as bitter reminder of a time a women’s potential was squashed by society. Whatever its flaws, “To a Young Lady . . .”, was written for love of a woman and retains the strength and intimacy of emotional with which it was written. William Wordsworth’s passion may have been clouded by the misogynist biases of the period, but he is still a romantic poet and it is evident in his composition. Wordsworth's poem may have lost a component of sensuality and sentiment, nevertheless its intriguing arrangement and archaically traditional structures have been preserved and though it will never be a contemporary love poem nor a timeless classic, it is endearing historic and dulcet. A beautiful revival of the basic structure of the Pindaric ode in combination with rhyme format of the French sestet, that for all its amorous tone is condemned to feel shallow in its chauvinist delivery. “To a Young Lady . . .” ameliorates its obsolete articulations concerning women with a compelling rhyme scheme and ravishingly traditional verse.
“The First Fig” Edna St.Vincent Millay My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends-- It gives a lovely light! Edna St.Vincent Millay’s poetry is hopelessly alluring and “First Fig,” is no exception, born in 1892 into a family of women, and writing from the transcendentalist era to the beat movement of poetry. In the peak of the modernist period where poetry was being unabashedly stripped of it’s individual voice and the unique identity of its author, Edna St.Vincent Millay wrote in a style that was candidly her own: she continued to be humorous and intimate in a manner that has both risque and rollicking. She was experienced, capable, charismatic and undaunted by the other’s opinions of her, she didn’t need to follow in the footsteps of past masters, she already had poets following in her own from age ten when encouraged by her mother she submitted her poem “Renascence” into a contest, and she received fourth place, a publication in The Lyric Year, prompt acclaim, and a scholarship to Vassar College. “First Fig,” is an iconic example of Edna St.Vincent Millay’s work, where is just three lines she achieves flawless tone and creates a poignant analogy.
“First Fig,” begins with a open metaphor: “My candle burns at both ends;” this is clearly an analogy to what however is not as limpid. Edna St.Vincent Millay wasn’t some musty old poet of antiquity she was born in an era was electricity was already prevalent throughout society. Yet, just because her comparison is given in the terms of obsolete technology does make her analogy likewise. Undoubtedly, there is an entire history to the use of the candle as a symbol, even if it is only used on special occasions today candles were once of dire importance: often being the only light source made available to medieval households. With origins in the natural world(beeswax) and a unusual life-like mortality and movement it’s no small wonder, they have become a representation of human experience. The candle is central to Edna St.Vincent Millay’s poem from being the subject of her very first line to continuing to be the “it” in question for the rest of her composition. Yet, this is far from the candle’s first literary reference to life. From Shakespeare, who made two several parallels to the candle from Hamlet’s correlation of life to a “brief candle”, to his usage of it to foreshadow the death of Othello’s wife( he snuffs out a candle before her demise). To the Bible where Matthew tells people not to hide their light under a “bushel basket”. The life of a candle is measurable, and their progression towards the end is visually evident, and the same can be said of humans. Who, so often describe death as darkness, just like the one following a candle’s fate. This naturally facilitates the candle’s usage in many a poet’s discussion of life. A candle burned from both ends, however is an entirely unique idea, it may represent a life lived recklessly(put at risk willingly by it’s owner and yet also by the rest of the world). Or possibly a shared life, burned from both ends by both participants in it. It is essential Edna St.Vincent Millay to take an settled image and turn it on it’s head, resulting in a fresh and original perspective, that is all the more audacious and beguiling. Life is not the only thing a candle can represent, and Edna St.Vincent Millay may not be referring to her own mortality. But instead the mortality of her creative spark, the flames of the mind can be burned out just as easily as those of the heart. It can be noted often throughout history, that ironic as it may be, many of the greatest artists, scientists, inventors, and philosophers produced all their most celebrated works in a short period of their lives. Here, at the height of their potential they fall whether to a physical or inventive demise it matters not. This is tantamount to St.Vincent Millay’s own career, which was a feverish burst of literary production, blazing love-affairs and a premature end. Despite, the poem’s similarities to Millay’s own life, she allows it to remain strangely devoid of condemning details grating her reader the opportunity to identify with the speakers even if they may not have done so with the poet. Of course, the reader might just as well apply their own explanation to the candle, perhaps even one as cliche as love. Romance has been associated with fire for eons, especially if it is a swift sensuous affair in question. Whirlwind romances may seem to burn up from not just one end but two, owing to the lust and impatience that drives the consumption. A bodily greed and lascivious motivation can make the flames of love, both brief and bright, just as Edna St.Vincent Millay’s poem describes, “It gives a lovely light!”. However, many emotions can feed a fire and it is equally possible that determination, revenge, artistic passion or other related mental states could have been St.Vincent Millay’s intended poetic application, or maybe it was her intention that the interpretation remain open allowing her a wider, more varied audience. All the appeal of Edna St.Vincent Millay’s work doesn’t lie solely in her theme or analogies; her tone and rhyme are both equally important literary elements not to be overlooked. One of the wonders of “First Fig,” is it’s ability to take on several different ambiences at once: changing from morbidity and morality in an allegory for death, to irony and mockery in an expression of rage, to sensual and visceral in, feasibly, her interpretation of love, her composition even carries a meaning that may repersent her career as a poet and the imagination, verisimilitude and acceptance it required. Her poem is so versatile it manages to be pessimistic, humorous and light-hearted synchronously. Her straight-forward ABAB rhyme scheme, and eight/seven syllable verse followed by a six syllable line done in iambic feet(meaning that every other syllable is accented) confirms her poem as a ballad. The ABAB rhyme scheme is a well established and idiosyncratic element of the ballad, and Edna St.Vincent Millay follows it flawlessly: meaning the first line rhymes with the third, the second with the fourth and so on with the letters representing the end sounds of the lines so that they corresponds with the end sounds of second following line. This simple rhythmic agreement never fails to provide provide a cadenced and deliberate feel, pleasantly recognizable ABAB rhyme scheme welcomes the reader in and aids in comprehension by drawing the attention of our senses, and leaving the brain free to be swept away by the allegorical aspects of St.Vincent Millay’s poem. However, not every aspect of Edna St.Vincent Millay’s piece follows the guidelines, in her very first line she breaks a rule by using seven syllables as opposed to the classic eight, yet her poem is still a ballad because though she has altered the form slightly it was done deliberately for dramatic effect, making her first line even more striking and succinct. This effectively throws her reader off kilter, she doesn’t even allow them the chance to get used the format before she defies it, leaving her reader too dazed to be fully aware of the solid rhythm of 8-6-8-6 being flagrantly cast aside for phonetic effect. Before her audience even has time to recognize the insurgence she has slipped seamlessly back into the traditional ballad meter, which ironically may be one of the most conventional and archaic metrical pattern used throughout poetic history. But why use such a classic metrical organization just to deviate from it? Edna St.Vincent Millay defies another standard of ballads in making her’s so brief, and it is remarkably so: with only four lines as opposed to an average of forty to fifty and a general minimum of twelve. St.Vincent Millay has taken a time-honored format and reduced it to a shockingly modern length. Why? Well, this established format is tried and true and it provides a iron backbone for St.Vincent Millay’s poem. Also, the contrast of something familiar displayed in a such an atypical arrangement makes the differences and additions all the more conspicuous and compelling. St.Vincent Millay may very well be using aberrance to introduce an aspect of abnormality into her work paring the near unheard of spectacle of a candle burning from both ends, not to mention an omnipresent light, with an irregular metrical movement, enhances the feeling of apprehensive unease that Edna St.Vincent Millay must have been aiming for. Whichever literary translation you choose to entertain, Edna St.Vincent Millay is equally charismatic, her verse is public while being fully capable of containing personal meaning and feeling expressive to a general audience. “First Fig,” is intimately articulate without feeling invasive. Relatable to several different opinions concurrently, possessed of an analogy that can apply to a much greater general audience. Despite her impeccable eloquence and multifaceted ambience, there is nothing haughty or unachievable about St.Vincent Millay’s voice. She is confident and self assured in a way that is refreshing and commands the reader's attention immediately, her poem feels like an open address to a mixed audience of several people( who are left unspecified: allowing them to be family, neighbors, old or new friends, party guests, or perfect strangers in equal possibility) whoever the audience may be they are just as captivated in any setting. “First Fig,” can easily be imagined as a speech given brazenly at a party, yet seem just as possible if it were the speaker's silent promise to herself, making the poem’s expression just as poignant as an internal monologue as if it were a spoken one. With no definitive setting St.Vincent Millay’s poem remains accessible and applicable to a wide and diverse audience, perched in a region of thought suspended between fantasy and reality. The poems lacks tangible evidence towards any particular physical atmosphere facilitating an enigma that is both maddeningly, engaging and enjoyable: leaving the backdrop open to your personal interpretation. Edna St.Vincent Millay uses apostrophes to achieve a direct communication with her audience, the same method had been used for generations by variously acclaimed poets such as Shakespeare and Milton who spoke to their muses; and Coleridge conducted his poetry to the sun. Yet, as is her signature Millay, takes an established concept and applies it in a new and innovative fashion to achieve result that are both entirely new and definitively original. Instead of the classic address to a higher-being, principle, or inspirational figure, St.Vincent Millay uses her speaker’s apostrophes to aim her speech at two audiences simultaneously: both her friends and her foes. St.Vincent Millay’s two audiences are about as divided as they come and there is no middle ground, you are either with her(in friendship) or against her( as her foe). “But ah! my foes and oh, my friends,” however the position of you as the reader is unspecified, are you her friend or foe, perhaps a reader maybe determine this by deciding their opinion in regard to St.Vincent Millay’s previous works, but whether or not you agree with St.Vincent Millay’s views, they are clearly expressed and she leaves her audience with captivating and scintillating verse either way. |
AuthorJust another poetry obsessed, aspiring author who has far too much spare time on her hands. Feel free to contact me if you have any critiques or questions. Archive
January 2016
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