"April Rise" by Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE

 

Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE born on June 26, 1914 was an English poet, novelist and screenwriter, who was brought up in the small village of Slad in Gloucestershire, England. His most notable work is the autobiographical trilogy Cider with Rosie, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, and A Moment of War. He died on May 13, 1997, Slad, United Kingdom

April Rise – Laurie Lee 

“April Rise” contains 5 quatrains rhyming abcd eeee (slant rhyme) agea cchc iccc. The title “April Rise” refers to the beginning of the warm season of the year - the beginning of the cycle of life.

Looking at the first stanza rhyming abcd:

If ever I saw blessing in the air
I see it now in this still early day
Where lemon-green the vaporous [M1] morning drips
Wet sunlight [M2] on the powder of my eye.

The poetic persona presents himself as “I” in the poem and presents several personal opinions about a summer day. Of course, the description of the different parts of the day could be read as a metaphor for the different stages of human life itself.  Looking at the early morning world, the poetic persona pronounces that the very air carries blessings. In those early morning hours, the lemon-green  misty morning is dripping wet sunlight that washes away the grittiness/powderiness of the poetic persona’s eyes- so, he can see better. There are both visual and tactile images in the stanza.

 
Blown bubble-film of blue, the sky wraps round
Weeds of warm light whose every root and rod
Splutters with soapy green, and all the world
Sweats with the bead of summer in its bud.

With his newly restored clear vision the poetic persona sees the blue summer sky over his head in the 2^nd stanza. The sky is a blue bubble-film (metaphor/alliteration) that covers/protects the rays of sunlight that comes down from the sun on that summer day. The bubble film sky is there to keep the world warm. The season being summer, sunlight is more plentiful unlike in the winter, hence the warm light is compared to weeds. Every part of the light plant (extended metaphor) is charged with so much energy that they are spluttering soapy green. In that early morning, the entire world was a in its bud – an unopened flower – which is covered with the dew of the summer. Stanza 2 was primarily, visual. The idea of energy is suggested by the onomatopoeic term “Splutters”.

If ever I heard blessing it is there
Where birds in trees that shoals and shadows are
Splash with their hidden wings and drops of sound
Break on my ears their crests of throbbing air.

The 3^rd stanza is primarily auditory. The poet begins with parallel structure. He hears birds sheltering in the unseen parts of a tree. He uses a metaphor of a watery place to describe the tree. The birds in that imagined space become fish among the shoals and shadows. The birds are making all kinds of noises. The sound waves generated by the birds break against the poet’s ear. The poetic person considers his ears to be blessed to hear such marvelous sounds.

Pure in the haze the emerald sun dilates,
The lips of sparrows milk the mossy stones,
While white as water by the lake a girl
Swims her green hand among the gathered swans.

Little by little the sun is becoming hotter – the sun is dilating. The sun can be read as a woman about to give birth or an eye focusing on something. Still the primary colour is green. Sparrows are birds associated with the Goddess of Love – Venus/ Aphrodite. Sparrows feeding on moss growing on stones are compared to calves sucking milk from cows – metaphor. There is a very fair girl sitting by the lake and she is moving one of her hands through the green water of the lake which is currently occupied by the swans. Swans are a symbol of constancy and devotion – symbols of togetherness. The stanza ends with the entire world busy with gathering food, enjoying the warmth and procreating.

 

Now, as the almond burns its smoking wick,
Dropping small flames to light the candled grass;
Now, as my low blood scales its second chance,
If ever world were blessed, now it is.

 

With that the poem moves towards the end of the day – the poet compares the day to lighted candle and now the entire candle is burnt out, even the wick is smoking. Burning almond creates pleasant gustatory and olfactory images. At the same time there is something sinister about the smell of almond as it is associated with cyanide – the day is dying. The golden light of the setting sun falls on the grass. The poet sees this as the sun rays trying to light “the candled grass”. The sight is so beautiful, the poet’s “low blood” -  - is sired up. The beautiful scenery he saw early in the morning was the first “chance”, this is the “second chance”. As a result his low blood scales – climbs. He may be feeling more energetic. “[S]cales” can also refer to musical scales – the sight makes his low blood sing with joy. Considering all that he had experienced, the conclusion he had arrived at was that it was the most perfect day he had ever experienced.]

 

Exercise

If ever I saw blessing in the air
I see it now in this still early day
Where lemon-green the vaporous morning drips [pathetic fallacy]
Wet sunlight on the powder of my eye.

1.     What does the air contain?

2.     What time of the day is it?

3.     What are the modifiers used to describe the morning?

4.     What makes the morning vaporous?

5.     What does the morning drips on the narrative persona’s eye?

6.     Why do you think the poetic persona’s eye is powdery?    

Blown bubble-film of blue, the sky wraps round
Weeds of warm light whose every root and rod
Splutters with soapy green, and all the world
Sweats with the bead of summer in its bud.

1.     What does the poetic persona compare the sky to?

2.     Do you think it is appropriate to compare the sky to that?

3.     What is the technique used in the first line?

4.     Why do you think the writer calls the warm light to weeds?

5.     What do you think the writer means by the phrase “soapy green”?

6.     What does the poet compare the world to?

7.     What makes the world sweat?

 

If ever I heard blessing it is there
Where birds in trees that shoals and shadows are
Splash with their hidden wings and drops of sound
Break on my ears their crests of throbbing air.

1.     Where are the birds?

2.     Where are the birds according to the poet? Is the metaphor appropriate?

3.     What does poet compare the sounds made by the birds to?  

 

Pure in the haze the emerald sun dilates,
The lips of sparrows milk the mossy stones,
While white as water by the lake a girl
Swims her green hand among the gathered swans.

 

1.     What is happening to the sun? Use your own words.

2.     What does the poet compare the feeding sparrows to?

3.     Who is by the lake? What is that person doing?

4.     What do you think the poet is trying to convey through the reference to the swans?

 

Now, as the almond burns its smoking wick,
Dropping small flames to light the candled grass;
Now, as my low blood scales its second chance,
If ever world were blessed, now it is.

 

1.     What is the time of the day being described in the last stanza?

2.     What does the poet compare the day to? What had happen to the thing the day was compared to?

3.     Why do you think the poet calls the grass “candled grass”?

4.     What can be the two meanings of the term “scales”?

5.     Why is the poetic persona’s low blood scaling?

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 [M1]misty

 [M2]paradox 

Jerusalem ["And did those feet in ancient time"] BY WILLIAM BLAKE

 

 

“Jerusalem” composed in 1804 by William Blake as a part of Milton consists of 4 quatrains rhyming abcb defe ghgh ijkj. Originally the poem did not have a title. The current title was actually something that had been given to the poem later by a composer who had set the poem down to music. Looking at the present title of the poem, churches have long used Jerusalem as a metaphor for Heaven, a place of universal love and peace. In that sense, it is that place of peace and love that the poet is referring to by the term Jerusalem, not the geographical location.

It is said that “Jerusalem” was composed by Blake while he was living in a cottage, which is now called Blake’s Cottage, in the village of Felpham in Sussex. Like his other poems, this shorter poem too presents a slice of Blake’s philosophy and his desire for a better world. The theme of the poem is misuse of power which brings misery to humanity and need for love and peace. It must be noted that the poem's theme has a direct link to the Book of Revelation (3:12 and 21:2) which describes a Second Coming, wherein Jesus would a New Jerusalem.

And did those feet in ancient time

Walk upon Englands mountains green:

And was the holy Lamb of God,

On Englands pleasant pastures seen! 

 

And did the Countenance Divine,

Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

And was Jerusalem builded here,

Among these dark Satanic Mills?

 

In the first two quatrains of the poem poetic persona asks four questions. All four questions are based on the legend that Jesus during the missing 12 years of his life had visited England accompanied by a merchant called Joseph of Arimathea. According to British folklore scholar A. W. Smith, "there was little reason to believe that an oral tradition concerning a visit made by Jesus to Britain existed before the early part of the twentieth century". Blake in his poem uses the pseudo-Biblical allusion to raise a point rather than to assert the historical truth of Christ's visit. The four rhetorical questions are: 

a.       Did Jesus visit England?

b.      Did people of England actually see Jesus?

c.       Did he bless England with his presence?

d.      Did Jesus build a community of peace and love where the “Satanic Mills” are today? 

All four questions are examples of the use of parallelism and they invite visual images. In addition, the use of “feet” is an example of the use of synecdoche which draws the reader’s attention to that particular part of the divine anatomy. The four questions express the poetic persona’s awe at the thought that Jesus had actually sanctified the very earth and air that he is occupying with His holy presence. This feeling of amazement is further accentuated by the use of the exclamation mark at the end of the first stanza. In referring to Jesus as Lamb (He refers to Jesus as Lamb in his well-known “The Lamb” too) he tries to draw the reader’s attention to their shared qualities such as innocence and purity. In addition, in the Old Testament lambs are often offered as sacrifices; Jesus had sacrificed himself for the sins of mankind according to the Bible.

In the second stanza, through the metaphor “Countenance Divine” Jesus’ face is compared to the sun. – Did he bless our land with the warmth of his being? The poet asks. The metaphor generates a lot of warm feelings in the reader, especially when juxtaposed with the phrase “clouded hills”. In addition, the metaphor also invites a visual image. With reference to Jerusalem, it is not the Biblical town where Jesus was born but the New Jerusalem Jesus said to have created in England the poet is referring to. The phrase "Satanic Mills" has become a part of English usage, albeit in relation to factories/industrialization and their impact on environment and human relationships. Many think of the phrase as a reference to “the early industrial revolution and its destruction of nature and human relationships”. Others believe that the phrase refers to the established Church of England which promoted the established social order or the status quo. The poet brings the past and the present together in the last two lines of the second stanza and blurs time. He seems to have lost track of time for a moment – it is done intentionally.

Bring me my Bow of burning gold:

Bring me my arrows of desire:

Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!

Bring me my Chariot of fire!

 

 The third stanza offers a series of imperatives, 4 parallel structures and two of them end in exclamations signalling further heightening of emotions. The poetic persona is about to go to battle against the Satanic Mills. He is addressing someone and demanding for his armour: a Bow of burning gold, arrows of desire, and a spear. The weapons are somewhat unconventional due to the ferocity of the enemy. Thus armed, he invokes the clouds to unfold so that Heaven would be able to see him better and probably safeguard him in this battle. Ultimately, he calls for his chosen mode of transport, a “Chariot of fire”. There are several Biblical allusions to the phrase “Chariot of fire”: in the Old Testament Prophet Elijah was taken up to heaven while he was still alive on such a chariot. In order to defeat the “Satanic Mills” or the corrupt Church one would need a sign of Divine favour in the league of what Elijah had received. This is high time to recall that Blake in fact was accused of committing heresy and was only later cleared of the charges. Being branded a heretic in a conservative society was tantamount to socioeconomic death for the accused whether proven or not. The phrase “Chariot of fire” also can be understood as an allusion to divine energy, especially as the line ends with an exclamation mark.    

 

I will not cease from Mental Fight,

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:

Till we have built Jerusalem,

In Englands green & pleasant Land.

 

In the last stanza, the poetic person declares two resolutions he has made:

1.      He will not “cease from Mental Fight”

2.      He will not allow his sword to sleep in his hand till together with likeminded people he has built a Jerusalem in England’s “green & pleasant land”.

The struggle is both mental and physical. The sword he is not going to rest could very well be his pen. Blake seems to assure his readers that he would not let his pen rest until they had managed to create a place of love and peace in England. Many assume that the reference to “green & pleasant Land”[1] had been inspired by the aforementioned visit to Sussex where he seemed to have composed the major part of his work Milton. The poem ends with positive note of hope and common struggle for better conditions.

Questions:

1.      What is the rhyming scheme of the poem?

2.      What are 4 rhetorical questions the poetic person asks in the first two stanzas?

3.      What does Jerusalem stand for in the poem? It stands for a peaceful place full of love.

4.      What are two interpretations of the term “Satanic Mills”?

5.      Why does the poetic persona feel that it has to be destroyed?

6.      What are 3 weapons the poetic person is going to use in his battle against the Satanic Mills?

7.      Why does he feel that he had to us a chariot of fire in his battle?

8.      Identify three techniques used in the third stanza and their purpose.

9.      What does the poetic person promise the reader that he would do in the last stanza? 

10.  What is the aim of his struggle?

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[1] Blake’s fascination in green and pleasant pastures is seen several of his poems such as “The Garden of Love”.

Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare

 

That time of year thou mayst[M1]  in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang[M2] 

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang[M3] .

In me thou seest the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou seest the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the deathbed whereon it must expire

Consumed with that which it was nourished by.

This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,  

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

In this sonnet Shakespeare continues his meditation on aging and approaching death. However, one may not be misled and think of Shakespeare as a doddering old man. It is my belief that there is more than a touch of the hyperbole in his agonizing preoccupation with his age.

In the first 12 lines of the sonnet Shakespeare presents his young friend with three images of himself as an aging man: a bleak late autumn scene, twilight, and an image of a dying fire.

The poet in the first four lines presenting the image of the bleak late autumn says, when his young friend looked at him, he would see an image of those times of the year when the leaves were yellow or have fallen, or when the trees had no leaves at all and the bare branches where the sweet birds recently sang shiver in anticipation of the cold winter to come. The term “leaves” stand for the number of years left for the poetic persona to live. The leaves are yellow: old age and sickness. The unusual reversal of “none, or few” highlights quite poignantly the fear the poetic persona feels about the very little time he feels that he has left to live. The reference to the choirs evokes an image of a ruined church. Art that is believed to be divinely inspired by many found its highest forms of expression in churches in Britain during the Renaissance. However, during the reign of Henry VIII many of the great churches that sponsored arts in Britain were ransacked and destroyed. Therefore, it is quite natural for Shakespeare who would have seen many of those ruined great churches where great music had been composed and offered to God in choric performances to see the almost leafless branches vacated by song birds as ruined church choirs. Reading between the lines, this might be an indication of his fear of losing his own ability to produce and perform art with the onset of old age. An artist who cannot produce and perform art would surely look like a leafless branch or a ruined choir vacated by its occupants. The branches vacated by song birds could also be read as a reference to those artists who used to seek the poetic persona out when his sap was green. They have left him in his old age. At the same time, this metaphor pays a complement to the receiver of the poem with the allusion that he unlike the birds that have left the tree has not left the aging poet.          

In lines 5-8, Shakespeare presents himself as twilight. He says that his friend would see in him the twilight that remains after the sunset fades in the west, which by and by is replaced by black night, the twin of death. The poet quite casually slips in a euphemism and signals to his friend that his death might not be too far off when he says that the night that comes after twilight is really “Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.”  

In lines 9-12, Shakespeare compares himself to a dying fire. He invites his friend to see in him the remains of a fire glowing feebly atop the ashes as if it lay on its own deathbed; the ashes produced by the logs would ultimately smother the fire. The term “ashes” recalls to the mind the Christian burial prayer “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust …” further cementing the idea that things born must eventually die.

The Renaissance was an age that wholeheartedly encouraged the practice of the late Classical philosophy carpe diam. It is believed that Shakespeare himself died of a fever contracted after a bout of heavy drinking with his friend Ben Jonson. So, being reduced to an old wreckage robbed of his music would be the last thing the poet would have wanted for himself. The heart-breaking reality is that the poet knows that despite his aversion to aging, there is no stopping of it: seasons come and go, day time gives in to night, and once roaring fires die when the fuel runs out.  

In the final couplet, the poet says that the young man would see all these things, and they would make his love stronger, because he loved even more what he knew he’d lose before long. The sonnet is either a declaration of faith in the strength of the relationship between Shakespeare and his young male friend or as a more cynical person would put it a wistful yearning for something to remain unchanged despite change.     

It must be said that the images Shakespeare has selected to illustrate the point that he is aging and his death might not be too far off are all full of colours that are rapidly being overtaken by darkness. Still, the colours are still there. One might say that it is the dying fire that burns brightest.

Thinking critically

1. What three metaphors does the speaker use to describe himself?  What contrast between the speaker and his beloved is implied?
2. What seasonal images do you see in this poem? How do these images contribute to the poem’s tone of loss and sadness?
3. Find the turn in this poem.
4. What does the speaker tell his beloved in the final couplet?

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 [M1]Main metaphor – late autumn

 [M2]This vagueness about the number leaves indicates his own confusion and fear about how much he had left to live

 [M3]This could be a reference to his ability to produce music/ art or those artist friends who sought his company when he was younger.

An extract from "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" by William Wordsworth

 

                            The sounding cataract[M1] 

Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,

The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,

Their colours and their forms, were then to me

An appetite[M2] ; a feeling and a love,

That had no need of a remoter charm[M3] ,

By thought supplied[M4] , nor any interest

Unborrowed from the eye[M5] .—That[M6]  time is past,

And all its aching joys are now no more,

And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this

Faint I[M7] , nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts[M8] 

Have followed; for such loss, I would believe,

Abundant recompense[M9] . For I have learned

To look on nature, not as in the hour

Of thoughtless youth[M10] ; but hearing oftentimes

The still sad music [M11] of humanity,

Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power

To chasten and subdue[M12] .—And I have felt

A presence [M13] that disturbs me with the joy

Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime

Of something far more deeply interfused,

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,

And the round ocean and the living air,

And the blue sky, and in the mind of man[M14] :

A motion and a spirit, that impels

All thinking things, all objects of all thought,

And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still

A lover of the meadows and the woods

And mountains; and of all that we behold

From this green earth; of all the mighty world

Of eye, and ear,—both what they half create,

And what perceive; well pleased to recognise

In nature and the language of the sense[M15] 

The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,

The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul

Of all my moral being.

 

Written by William Wordsworth in July 1789 after a walking tour with his sister near the Welsh Borders, “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” describes his encounters with the countryside on the banks of the River Wye and grows into an outline of his general philosophy. The section we are looking at is an extract from the poem. This section deals with three main themes: enjoying the moment, presence of a universal spirit in nature, interconnectedness of all things in nature,    

 

                         The sounding cataract[M16] 

Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,

The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,

Their colours and their forms, were then to me

An appetite[M17] ; a feeling and a love,

That had no need of a remoter charm[M18] ,

By thought supplied[M19] , nor any interest

Unborrowed from the eye[M20] .—

 

In the first run-on line of the extract, the poetic persona says that the memory of the boisterous river “[h]aunted” him “like a passion”. By using the two terms haunted and passion, the poetic persona tells the reader how strong the memory of the river was. He felt equally passionate about “the tall rock,/ [t] mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood.” Those sights have created in his mind “a feeling and a love”. He is satisfied with the beauty of things nearby. As a result he feels no need seek faraway sites, or imagined sites, or “any interest/ [u]nborrowed from the eye.” The run-on line ends with an apostrophe signaling that he was overcome by emotions and was silent for a while. This section of the extract highlights the theme of enjoying the moment and appreciating it without being regretful of its passing.     

 

                                   That[M21]  time is past,

And all its aching joys are now no more,

And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this

Faint I[M22] , nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts[M23] 

Have followed; for such loss, I would believe,

Abundant recompense[M24] . For I have learned

To look on nature, not as in the hour

Of thoughtless youth[M25] ; but hearing oftentimes

The still sad music [M26] of humanity,

Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power

To chasten and subdue[M27] .—

 

All those happy memories are now in the past. The poetic persona says that he was too “[f]aint” or weak to experience such pleasure more than once, so he was not going to “mourn” or “murmur” about not being able to experience the adventure again.  The poet uses inversion in “Not for this,/ Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur” in order to highlight the section “Not for this” and to maintain the rhythm and the rhyme. In addition, the poet uses parallelism in “nor mourn nor murmur”. The phrase also creates an auditory image through alliteration and assonance. That kind of  extreme form of joy cannot be felt for a long time by a weak human being like him for a long time or repeatedly – it is a once in a life time thing/ joy. After his visit to Tintern Abby and the surrounding, he had other experiences which were also wonderful so that he thinks they were “[a]bundant recompense” for not being able to go back to Tintern Abby. Now that he was an older man, the way he looked on nature had changed from the way he used to look at nature when he was “thoughtless” or immature youth. Now when he looked at nature he hears the “still sad music of humanity” – the sad story of human beings. The music may be sad but not “harsh” or “grating” – cruel or unpleasant; however, the music has ample power so that it could “chasten and subdue” – teach a lesson and pacify - those who listen to it. Here, nature is looked on as a teacher who can point out our mistakes and calm us down when we go wrong.

  

                                      And I have felt

A presence [M28] that disturbs me with the joy

Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime

Of something far more deeply interfused,

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,

And the round ocean and the living air,

And the blue sky, and in the mind of man[M29] :

A motion and a spirit, that impels

All thinking things, all objects of all thought,

And rolls through all things.

 

In his observations of nature, the poetic persona had felt the presence of some kind of energy or a universal spirit that was found in everything animate and inanimate that had filled his mind with “elevated thoughts”. That had made him joyful. In this section of the poem the poet deals with the theme of interconnectedness of all living and nonliving things.

 

                               Therefore am I still

A lover of the meadows and the woods

And mountains; and of all that we behold

From this green earth; of all the mighty world

Of eye, and ear,—both what they half create,

And what perceive; well pleased to recognise

In nature and the language of the sense[M30] 

The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,

The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul

Of all my moral being.  

 

Therefore, he says, that he loved nature, both what he saw and what he imagined or understood. For the poetic persona, he happily recognized nature as anchor of his “purest thoughts” and the nurse, the guide and the guardian of his heart, and the soul of his moral being. In the last section, the poet once again highlights nature’s role as a teacher.     

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 [M1]The river flowing making a lot of noise

 [M2]He couldn’t see enough of them. He wanted to see more and more of them

 [M3]Beautiful things in far away places

 [M4]Things created by our imagination

 [M5]Things that he had not seen

 [M6]Use of aposiopesis

 [M7]That kind of  extreme form of joy cannot be felt for a long time by weak human being like him for a long time or repeatedly – it is a once in a life time thing joy

 [M8]Wonderful experiences

 [M9]The later experiences were enough repayment for not being able to experience Tintern Abby again

 [M10]Not as an immature young man who enjoys it for the moment

 [M11]Oxymoron

 [M12]Teaches one a lesson and pacifies one

 [M13]A force a nature

 [M14]All living and none living things are deeply connected

 [M15]What I understand from senses

 [M16]The river flowing making a lot of noise

 [M17]He couldn’t see enough of them. He wanted to see more and more of them

 [M18]Beautiful things in far away places

 [M19]Things created by our imagination

 [M20]Things that he had not seen

 [M21]Use of aposiopesis

 [M22]That kind of  extreme form of joy cannot be felt for a long time by weak human being like him for a long time or repeatedly – it is a once in a life time thing joy

 [M23]Wonderful experiences

 [M24]The later experiences were enough repayment for not being able to experience Tintern Abby again

 [M25]Not as an immature young man who enjoys it for the moment

 [M26]Oxymoron

 [M27]Teaches one a lesson and pacifies one

 [M28]A force a nature

 [M29]All living and none living things are deeply connected

 [M30]What I understand from senses