6. WINE BOWL'S LINES

H.D., Hilda Doolittle, used her own non-traditional form of writing to write "Wine Bowl." She uses a lot of quick simple lines, about a thought per line. H.D. breaks the lines often in a short 93 lines poem. She uses a lot of different techniques throughout the poem to create her own image. When she lists multiple things, she divides them up into a line per item as in "a Centaur, a Nymph, and a Faun;" (lines 11-13).
H.D. uses different forms of repetition. She begins and ends the poem the same; the first 9 lines are also the last 9 lines of the poem. Also, she repeats “in my skull, where the vision had birth, will come wine, would pour song” (lines 27-30) and lines 37 through 40 but changing “had birth (line 28) to “took flight“ (line 38). Though she follows the repeated lines with foil thoughts, first stating “of the HOT earth” (line 31) and in the latter “of the COOL night.” H.D. used a contradiction in her own writing, first repeating the same thought trailed by two opposite lines.
This poet breaks the lines by every different thought, action, or object. This helps the meaning of the poem by giving a lot of little information, almost as if she was forming a list. This creates a montage of a poem centered on wine. The meaning of the poem is about her drinking the wine. That is why she uses the repetition, opening and closing with the same thought. Then everything in between makes up center of that one particular experience for her. Though it is a single event, many thoughts and feelings she is reminded of.
Poets break up lines in their own fashion to create their own individual style. The style might be a list, a song, or a single thought or image. When poets use this form of free style is opens all the barriers of traditional poems and creates a new form that is identifiable with them or that particular poem.

5. CHANGES & TRADITIONS

As we continue to read poems there are some traditions that poets still to follow. As times change they introduce new ideas, thoughts, and objects into the poems. Throughout this week’s poems there were a lot of religious and biblical poems references. Many mentioned God an identified character being the only god, verses believing in multiple gods. The act of praising, blessing: “blessed Hope” (The Darkling Thrush, line 31), and praying is commonly mentioned, being derived from religious acts. William Butler Yeats uses Adam from the Book of Genesis in the title of his poem, foreshadowing the theme of the poem. As times passes, people become more knowledgeable, worldly, and aware. They are also creating new ideas, new inventions and developing things on their own.

Traditional themes being continually used are people’s feelings and nature. Using common traditional themes that surround human beings constantly create a connection between the poem and the reader. A person can always relate to personal feelings, poets use feelings to help the reader form empathy to the poem, being able to relate to it on a personal level. In Thomas Hardy’s “Hap” he quickly mentions “love’s loss is my hate” (line 8) two strong foil feelings to capture the reader’s feelings for both love and hate. As many poets do Hardy also uses nature; “sun and rain” (Hap, line 11) “leaves lay” (Neutral Tones, line 3) and “God-curst sun” (Neutral Tones, line 15).

As years, decades, and centuries pass the written language of poems change. The way it is written, the connotation of words, the lingo used, and the ideas continue to develop and evolve. Poets in the beginning don’t have the same beliefs, ideas, or knowledge the latter poets have. The language they use is out of date and loses some of the meaning in the translation. The poets that were influenced them have continued to use to main, popular, common themes while developing their own form of writing. Influences from poets to new generation poets will continue, fore the newer poets embrace the poetry they read and still use the themes, subjects, and styles that never get old.

4. EMILY DICKINSON

British Romantics have influenced many poets that have followed them. Emily Dickinson is one of these poets, but not strictly following the same standards she has her own poetic styles. Emily Dickinson seems to be a poet that uses the voice of an unknown speaker directed at an unknown or open audience. The use of nature to set themes and surroundings is a common influence used by her and other poets. In #359 she uses a bird, which is a part of nature and the bird’s natural undisrupted by man, until the end, characteristics and habits. The use of identifying with human feelings such as in #588 is another influence from British Romantics. By embracing the reader with common feelings and emotions creates empathy for the reader. The language is casual but she uses more of a modern lingo; the British Romantic poems often used words unfamiliar to today’s time and uncommon phrases. Dickinson writes shorter poems, revolving around usually just one main theme and discussing it in different ways. Since they are short they are written without a lot of structure, patterns, or form. They are often short stanzas and might only consist of a few verses sometimes just a single verse. In #39, though it is short, has a simple rhyming scheme that is repeated in both verses by rhyming the last word of the second and fourth lines. Since there are many of her short poems she doesn’t always necessarily follow the same form, outline or structure, and uses a variety of writing and poetic techniques. Dickinson rights a lot about death, the idea and feelings of death and the acts of dying or being dead. She writes more as an “immortal” than simply discussing what it would be like to die. In #591 she speaks of the fly she heard when she died, then reminisces the last moments of her death until she mentions the fly again before dying. This is an abstract way or writing and thinking. As the speaker she continues to have a voice after death. Emily Dickinson embraced the influence of British Romantics and created a style of her very own.

3. ODE ON MELANCHOLY

John Keats’ Ode on Melancholy has an abstract speaker. As a reader you do not know the age or sex of the speaker. The speaker gives advice to an unknown person in the same manor as a general audience. At the end you feel that the speaker had already told this to the unknown person and continues to explain that person’s fate. Telling them not to choose death as an answer to mourning. The speaker appears to have values, be reliable and cares for the audience they are talking to. The situation appears to be that a person is mourning for someone they once loved, “A partner in your sorrow’s mysteries” (line 8). The mourning person has been lured by the idea of death, “Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be” (line 6) to end their own personal misery or loss. A theme throughout the poem is death and another is taking one’s own life because of a loved ones death.
A poetic element Keats uses is sound and rhyme. Ode on Melancholy does not use assonance, consonance, or alliteration: the repetitions of sounds and letters within a line. Keats rhymes the last word of every line with another line, a rhyme scheme. There was not as much of a sound repetition as there is rhyme. The rhymes were mostly written naturally since it was not a constant repeating of two lines in a row. Keats did not force the sound or tone because of the chosen rhyme scheme he uses. There is a rhyme scheme repeated throughout ten lines. The first and third lines and the second and forth lines rhyme. Then the fifth and eighth, sixth and ninth, and seventh and tenth lines rhyme. The rhyme scheme repeats a total of three times. I feel that the rhyme is an appropriate tone for poem. The poem is mellow along with the rhyme that was used.
I did enjoy the poem. I felt that the diction used made it difficult at times to understand Keats point of view. The abstract use of speaker to audience made it an interesting way for the reader to interpret the poem. I enjoyed the foreshadowing that began to explain the reason for the people in the end of the poem. I thought it was a thought out poem that made you think about not only the person that you were reading about but also relating it to real life. Losing a loved one is never easy and for someone to want to end their own life for that other person show’s a “Romeo and Juliet” love for one another. A passionate death.

2. NATURE

Nature is not artificial, it is pure and can be beautiful. Writers and poets often describe the beauty of nature and the constant changes being made, including seasons and the sky. Since nature is not manmade this can be very important to Romantic poets. The natural world can express a pure beauty that can set a scene or make the mood.
In the beginning of both William Wordsworth's Lines and Odes the description of nature starts the poem and is a continued theme in both poems. In Lines, Wordsworth states, “Knowing that Nature never did betray” (line 122) speaking of the faith one has in nature, including both Mother Nature and human nature. Believing in nature he later states being “A worshiper of Nature” (line 152). In Ode, Wordsworth describes the earth and onto the night sky in the beginning. He continues to use nature in describing Earth’s life and all its creatures and children. He ends it repeating the use of nature, but mentioning ‘all’ the meadows, hills and groves he started the poem with.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge also uses the theme of nature in his Dejection: An Ode. In the fourth verse Coleridge states, “And in our life alone does Nature live” (line 48) noting that nature is always around us. Restating at the end, “Enveloping the Earth— And from the soul itself must there be send A sweet and potent voice, of its own birth, Of all sweet sounds the life and element!” (lines 55-58). Coleridge continues to use the natural world and natural being throughout the rest of the poem. In the sixth verse he brings the two together, “From my own nature all the natural man— This was my sole resource; my only plan: Till that which suits a part infects the whole, And now is almost grown the habit of the soul.” (lines 90-93). I feel here he is describing that through human embracement of nature, a person allows the state of the natural world to become their human nature.
Romantics can use the theme of nature in their poetry for many benefits. Since there is no concrete definition for nature it is a broad theme that can be specified by the writer. They can talk about the natural world being the stars and grass to the natural state of a parent’s love for their child. We are all nature and are included in the natural world; these are important concepts for poets and writers alike to apply.