Compare and contrast “Charles” by Shirley Jackson and “Miss Awful” by Arthur Cavanaugh

 

	“Charles”	“Miss Awful”
Setting	·        Spatial setting: At a preschool; Laurie’s home ·        Temporal setting: modern time	·        St. Geoffrey’s – 3rd Grade; Clark's home  ·        Modern time
“Charles” by Shirley Jackson and “Miss Awful” by Arthur Cavanaugh are two American short stories which share certain similarities as well as differences in the characterization, settings, thematic concerns and the use of techniques. In the short story mentioned first, the title is a name of male person, possibly western in origin. Other than that, the title itself does not reveal anything else about the story. In contrast, the title of the second story reveals or foreshadows a wealth of information about the story at the very outset. The reader knows that they will be reading about an unpleasant spinsterish female character who would have a profound impact on the story. However, by the time they reach the end of the story, the reader begins to realize that the writer might be referring to the other more archaic meaning of the term “awful” – awe inspiring – in his title. Looking at the setting, chronologically, both “Charles” and “Miss Awful” are set in the modern times, and spatially, both are set in the school and the home of the protagonist. However, Laurie in “Charles” is a pre-grader while Roger is in the third grade. Also, while Jackson spends a lot of time on Laurie’s home, Cavanaugh allocates the major share of his story to school.
Characters	·        Laurie – protagonist ·        “Charles” ·        His parents ·        His teacher Miss	·        Roger Clark ·        His parents ·        His sister ·        Miss Wilson ·        Miss Orville ·        Classmates ·        Other mothers
Looking at the way the two writers create their characters, in “Charles”, the protagonist is Laurie. One might call Charles his alter ego. His parents, sister and the teacher are secondary characters. Laurie we see at the outset of the story undergoes a change in the course of the story. He is a misfit at the beginning – he challenges his pre-school teacher, the new-authority figure in his life. He enjoys his run-ins with authority but at the same time he knows challenging authority is wrong and he that he might get into trouble at home for doing that. Still, he wants to share what he is doing at school with his mother; this is the reason why he creates his alter ego Charles. Towards the end of the story Laurie more or less conforms to do what he is expected to do. This is confirmed by his teacher when she tells Laurie’s mother, “We had a little trouble adjusting, the first week or so …but now he’s a fine little helper. With lapses, of course.” Compared to “Charles”, characterization in the much longer “Miss Awful” is more complex. The protagonist of the story is Roger Clark. However, his substitute teacher, Miss Orville plays an almost equally important role in the story. Other characters in the story are Roger’s parents, his sister, Miss Wilson, his classmates and the other mothers. Unlike Laurie, Roger does not have any issues with his school at the beginning of story. He enjoys going to school. However, his mother occasionally worried about the lack of drive or scholastic achievements in Roger. It is with the arrival of his substitute teacher who was very different from his regular laid-back teacher Miss Wilson, Roger begins to rebel against authority. With Miss Wilson who was so permissive –which was noted at the beginning by Mr Clerk, too – Roger did not have a reason to rebel. Miss Orville, on the other hand, insisted on discipline, against which not only many of the students but also parents rebelled. The clash of wills comes to a head on Friday when the students learn that it is going to be their last day with Miss Orville. They rebel against her in various ways, the ultimate act of rebellion being the vandalization of her beloved plant. However by this time Roger has undergone a change and begins to see Miss Orville whom he has initially nicknamed Miss Awful for what she really is – someone who wants to help her students to realize their potentials. In the last part of the short story he spells the words correctly to her standing the way he has been taught to without being told as a way of showing his appreciation to her.
Themes	·        In student-teacher relations how students relate to teacher’s authority ·        Appearance and reality - Laurie ·        Imagination	·        In student-teacher relations how students relate to teacher’s authority ·        Appearance and reality: Miss W vs. Miss O
The main theme of both stories is child-adult relations. Appearance and reality is also one of the main themes in both stories. In addition, imagination is also a theme in “Charles”.  In both stories there are two sets of child-adult relationships: between the child and his parents and between the student and the teachers. In both stories, parents appear permissive. They are very relaxed in the way they deal with both Laurie and Roger. Laurie is allowed to speak rudely at home without any fear of repercussion. Similarly, Mr. Clerk takes Roger for a walk on a school day knowing he has not completed his homework. Coming from a family background like that, both Laurie and Roger resent being controlled by the new authority figures they meet at school. It is this clash between the student and the teacher that drives the plot in both stories. In the end, both Laurie and Roger learn to accept authority as constructive. Both stories deal with appearance and reality as a secondary theme. In “Charles” Laurie who misbehaves at school allocates all he does or imagines that he has done to the fictional character Charles. He takes pleasure in narrating what Charles did to his mother. In “Miss Awful”, the substitute teacher appears a witch from Hansel and Gretel to Roger and his classmates.  But the reality of Miss Orville is that she was a lonely old woman who loved children and wanted to do her best for them. The writer allows the reader a glimpse into her heart by making her compare children to plants – the plant she carried around was obviously her most prized possession. The children realize that and they decide to hurt the plant in order to get back at her. Here, the writer seems to suggest that in contrast to the popular view of children being flower-like, they can be ruthless. In conclusion, “Charles” and “Miss awful” share a lot in common when it comes to the setting, characterization, techniques and themes.

In “To the Evening Star”, William Blake expresses his worries over the oppressive nature of the major social institutions of his time such as the state and the church as well as his belief in the benevolence of nature towards the oppressed. Do you agree?

 

Yes, I agree with the statement that the Early Romantic poet William Blake expresses his concern over the oppressive nature of the major social institutions of his period as well as his belief in the benevolence of nature towards the oppressed. With regard to his attitude to the benevolent powers of nature, I believe that Blake shows that he is one of the earliest Romantics.

Let us first look at how Blake expresses his concern over the oppressive nature of at least some of the important social institutions of his period. The poet uses the metaphors a lion and a wolf to represent the powerful social institutions of his period. They could of course be the state, the church or any other powerful group. The royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom depicts two rampant lions. In the 11^th and 12^th lines of the sonnet, in referring to these institutions, Blake says, “the wolf rages wide,/And then the lion glares through the dun forest”. Juxtaposed with the maternal and benevolent Evening Star, the raging wolf and the glaring lion stand out as symbols of oppression. The prey of the lion and the wolf is obviously the flock and even the shepherd himself.

However, if we are to understand family as a major social institution, then Blake projects a warm caring picture of this institution. The shepherd in the poem worries about his loved ones:

Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light

Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown

Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!

It is mainly his concern over his loved ones that makes the poetic persona invoke the Evening Star and ask her to illuminate the rapidly darkening world so that his loved one would be protected in the ensuing darkness. Sleep is a state in which a living thing is at its most vulnerable and the poetic persona pleads with the Evening Star to protect the “flower[s]” that shut their “sweet eyes/in timely sleep” by smiling on them, drawing the “blue curtain of sky” and by scattering her “silver dew” which once again shows his concern for the wellbeing of his loved ones. Next, he asks the Evening Star to prevent social turmoil which the “west wind” could unleash on his loved ones: “Let thy west wind sleep on/ The lake”. In P B Shelley’s “Ode to West Wind”, the term west wind refers to revolution. Ultimately, Blake asks the benevolent goddess to “speak silence with …[her] glimmering eyes” which can be understood as a call for peace and social stability so that his loved ones could lead a trouble free life. The reference to dusk can be interpreted as existence of evil and/or social unrest unleashed on people by something like a revolution. The poetic persona wants the goddess to use her silver light as an antidote against the dusk.  The family Blake projects is an institution presided over a benevolent patriarch who like a concerned shepherd does everything within his power to ensure the wellbeing of his flock.

 

The poem also projects Blake’s belief that nature is benevolent towards those who are oppressed. Here, nature is symbolized by the Evening Star while the oppressed are symbolized by both the shepherd and his flock as well as the flowers that shut their eyes in timely sleep. At the moment the Evening Star is not doing anything. However, it is approachable. Therefore, the shepherd does not hesitate to make a series of request with the utmost conviction that his requests would be facilitated by the goddess. The positive qualities of the Evening Star are illustrated by the poet by associating her with words such as “glimmering”, “smile”, “shine”, “bright”, “radiant” and “love”. He brings out the benevolent qualities of the maternal goddess by contrasting them with those of the wolf and the lion. The latter are associated with “dusk” and they “rage” and “glare” – obviously at the helpless flock. In the last two lines, the poet states his unshakable faith in the ability and the willingness of his patron goddess to protect him and his loved ones from the marauding lions and wolves of his contemporary society: “The fleeces of our flocks are cover'd with/ Thy sacred dew”. The poem ends with an imperative invoking the goddess one last time to protect his loved ones.      

In conclusion, looking at the discussion so far, it is clear that William Blake in his poem “To the Evening Star” deals with the oppressive social institutions which could be the state and the organized mainstream church. However, as we have discussed, his take on the family as a social institution is quite positive. His family is a warm caring space. In addition, the reference to the shepherd and his flock can also be read as a reference to the non-mainstream religious orders who are more concerned with the wellbeing of their followers, too.

Looking at the second part of the question, undoubtedly, Blake projects nature which is represented by the Evening Star as a benevolent maternal figure that her devotees can have a close relationship with and to whom one can appeal with perfect faith in her approachability.        

• “The Eagle” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is a poem regarding how the powerful people in our society deal with the world around them. Do you agree?

Yes, I agree that “The Eagle” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson deals with how people with power negotiate with the world around them. However, the poem also deals with how those without power behave towards those with power as well.

In the poem, the eagle is a metaphor for the powerful in the world. Like any powerful person the eagle does not operate in isolation. Like John Donne said, no man is an island. Hence, the eagle has those with greater power above him and those with less power below him. Interestingly, the poet does not deal with those of equal status. By doing so, Lord Tennyson accentuates the profound isolation of the king of birds.

Before, moving on to the analysis of power relations of the eagle I would like to posit my views on what the eagle may stand for. I feel that the eagle is a metaphor for the monarchs of the Victorian Age in which Lord Tennyson lived. I believe that the eagle is an apt symbol of all the power and ceremony associated with royalty; in addition, the qualities associated with the eagle are often associated with royalty, too.   

When it comes to those entities with power over the eagle, the sky seems to be the immediate contender – the eagle stands framed by the blue sky. What does the sky represent? In literature as well as in popular belief, the sky is often associated with the heaven. According to the classical teachings of western philosophers like Plato, all living beings occupy a certain position in what is called the Great Chain of Beings. In the Christian worldview, Lord Tennyson believed in, God occupies the very top of the Great Chain of Beings, and next to him would be clergy who act as the agents of God here on earth. The monarchs come next. They are powerful but their power is derived from and is limited by the heaven and its agents. In fact in many early western monarchies, kings and queens promoted the idea of the god-give kingship in order to validate their decisions and actions. In the poem, the poet states “ring’d with the azure world he stands” – “he” being the eagle, the word “ring’d” refers to a periphery and of being limited and enclosed. Therefore, the eagle in this poem is not a free agent. There is some greater force that limits him.

The eagle in the poem stands behind a “mountain wall” and holds on to the crag with “crooked hands”. The reason for the need for defensive mountain walls and the crooked hands is those who threaten his position. As the eagle is looking down, the threat to his power seems to be coming from those below him. In the poem, the wrinkled sea seems to be the focus of the eagle’s attention. Interestingly, the eagle derives substance from the sea in the same way a monarch obtains sustenance from his citizens who provide their monarch with tax and labour. At the same time, the wrinkled sea that sustains the eagle can rise up in stormy weather and undermine the crag the eagle calls home. Therefore, the eagle has to be vigilant to remove of any threat at the very outset. Hence, in the poem, the moment the eagle notices something amiss, “like a thunderbolt he falls”. The metaphor illustrates the devastating power a threatened monarch can deploy to remove any contentions to his claim to power. 

In addition to the power relations of the powerful, the poem also offers the reader some idea about the way those without power behave towards those with power. However, the poet deliberately refrains from exploring how the powerless deal with those of their own status and with those below them. The reason for that is that the poet’s focus is the exploration of the power relations of the powerful and the powerless.          

In the poem, “the wrinkled sea” stands for the powerless. The term “wrinkled” indicates age, weakness, and infirmity – all these have negative connotation, especially when they are juxtaposed with the watchfulness and vitality of the eagle. There is only one eagle implying that there only very few powerful people where as the powerless are a vast “sea”. The powerful has to use either ideology or exert naked force to make the “sea” behave in the way they want to. Hence, in the poem the eagle is a terrifying awe-inspiring force that is ever-vigilant because of his awareness of the latent power in the masses. The eagle wants the “wrinkled sea beneath him” to continue to “crawl”. So he unleashes his terrifying energy in order to root out any disturbing presence in the sea before it could generate waves that may unseat him.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that Alfred, Lord Tennyson in the fragment “The Eagle” is exploring the power relations at several levels quite successfully.

"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?

---

 [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.