William Butler Yeats “No Second Troy”

In this poem the author Yeats was conveying his personal feeling about his love. He asks himself a series of questions and then in turn answers then as to bring into perspective his true feelings.

“Why should I blame her that she filled my days
With misery, or that she would of late
Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways.” (p1118 lives 1-3)

In these lines he speaks of how he should not blame his love for filling his life with misery because she is not capable of finding a proper outlet for her beauty. It is as if he is trying to say that her beauty is a curse. In the last line of this poem,

“Was there another troy for her to burn?” (p1118. line 12).

He makes the comparison of his love with “Helen of Troy” by saying that her beauty was so provoking that it could cause thousands of warships to set sail to Troy in addition to causing a war which lasted ten years. Was she that intoxicating, how could one woman posses so much power over men?

Gerard Manley Hopkins ” God’s Grandier”

Hopkins was a priest and due to his faith, most of his poems celebrated the presence of God in nature. Though his faith was tested later on in his life, he kept teaching the word of God.

“The world is changed with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like to ooze of oil
Crushed” (p. 774 lines 1-4).

Here he states that nothing is greater than God’s power and when he comes on judgement day, the light of the earth will cease “like shining from a shook foil” and all things will be gathered. I had to see this for my self and it is so true, foil does get duller as it is wrinkled at least the cheap kind does, hey I am a college student on a budget. He writes these types of poem to educate man, and to make man understand that there is a greater power and it doesn’t matter how wealthy you are, the day will come when we will all face God.

“And though the last light off the black west went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs
Because the holy Ghost over the bent
World brood with warm breast and with ah! Bright wings.” (p755. lines 11-14)

Here he states that the rising and falling of the sun is God’s will and that we should be thankful for every moment that we have, because it is a blessing from God.

Rupert Brooke ” The soldier”

This piece was the last poem that Brooke wrote, after he had a nervous breakdown, recovered, and enlisted in the army. that last part is what shocked me the most, how does someone whom has had a nervous breakdown get admitted into the armed forces. I guess this wouldn’t happen now, but back then they were just taking any healthy able body to fight. In ways it is kind of sad how Brooke died though; can you imagine dying on a ship from blood poisoning. He never even got to see the battle field. How does one contract blood poisoning on a ship? There was one thing for certain, Brooke’s work spoke for itself and he is well known because of that mere fact. In “The Soldier” he write on how people should think of him upon his demise.

“That there’s some corner of a foreign field
This is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed,
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave once, her flowers of love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by the sun of home.” (p1098-1099. lines 2-8)

Here he is stating that he will forever be a part of england, and when he is buried in the ground, the the ground will be richer with his body concealed within it. He speaks of how England gave him life and all it beauties. Oh how much he loved England and the loved the man he became there. He was a better person and he wanted everyone to know that, and for them to open their eyes to its beauty and what it is capable of.

Wilfred Owen “Dolce Et Decorum Et”

In this poem Owen spoke of the agony soldiers felt as they marched in horrible weather conditions. One could only imagine walking for miles in sludge while carrying supplies on their backs along with heavy weapons. Imagine going through all of this and not being able to make plans for tomorrow because you never know what the night might bring.

“Being double like old beggers under sack,
Knocked-kneed coughing like hags, we curse through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And toward the distant rest began to trudge.” (p. 1102 lines1-4).

These men probably marched for miles on end, it must have felt like a lifetime, them looking into the distance and seeing no end in sight, and knowing that they must keep moving without rest and attire that was falling apart.

“Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.”(p 1102 lines 5-8)

It was as if these men were running on fumes, especially the fact that they were so used to marching in those conditions its as if they were on auto pilot, and did it with their eyes closed.

“In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunged at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” (p1102 lines 15-16)

Can you imagine watching someone choke on their own blood? That is an absolute horrible death, not being able to breath, gasping for air in hopes that your life might be spared, but instead you are knocking on deaths doors. How much of that can one see before they themselves start loosing their minds from seeing people die around them left and right?

Siegfried Sasoon “Glory of Women”

One could only imagine the traumatic shock that Sasoon felt during his life and the regrets he probably had. To be born in wealth and then to be shoved into war, that is a huge change, a change that will either humble or break you. In parts the battle field shook him because he was afraid yet he was brave when he had to be, and in turn received a Military cross for his actions. It isn’t everyday that we see people get drafted into battle, but it was a common thing of the past, but it still occurs and I am quite sure that some of the people whom get drafted feel the same way as Sasoon. In this poem he speaks of a woman’s unconditional love for their soldiers and how they remember them and hold them dear.

“You love us when we’re heroes, home on leave,
Or wounded in a mentionable place.” (p. 1099. lines 1-2)

Knowing that our soldiers go through so much back then and even now we have to keep them in our hearts and pray for their well being. They go through horrid conditions and risk their lives everyday so that we can live in free countries and not have to worry about our safety. It still amazes me how the family members of soldiers carry on after they have been killed or wounded in battle, and we are extremely lucky if only the latter occurs.

“O German mother dreaming by the fire,
While you are knitting socks to send your son
His face is trodded deeper in the mud.” (p1099. lines 12-14).

This type of thing happens everyday, as mothers, wives, girlfriends, and sisters carry on with their lives and try to help their son’s get through the rough patches with care packages, their child is being killed or is laying wounded on the battle field and now a days they don’t even have to set foot on the battle field to end up in these conditions. A high school friend of mine Oscar was deployed to Irag right after we graduated and he never lived to see his 19th birthday because the base was attacked. He left behind his little sister Morena, whom he was supporting because their parents had died a few years prior. All I can say is my heart goes out to all the troops and their families

Robert Browning “Prophyria’s Lover”

The angle of this poem is quite weird, first he speaks of her touch and smooth shoulders, and how she put his arms around her waist as she speaks of her love for him. It was as if she was the best thing that he had ever seen and then he choked her with her own hair, that is kind of sick. Maybe it was some type of seductive pleasure for him or something towards that nature.

“Be sure I looked up at her eyes
Happy and proud; at last I knew
Prophyria worshipped me; surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew
While I debated what to do.
That moment she was mine, mine, fair,
Perfectly pure and good: I found
A thing to do, and all her hair
In one long yellow string I wound
Three times her little throat around
And strangled her. No pain felt she;
I am quite sure she felt no pain” (p663 lines 31-42)

But not only does he strangle her, he sits there with her lifeless head on his shoulders as if she were taking a nap, and speaks of her “smiling rosy little head” (p 663. line 52). Wow this is the mentality of a serial killer he acts as if he didn’t do anything wrong and is waiting for a reward of some sort.

“And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word” (p. 663 lines 58-60)

Was he waiting for her to wake up? Dude you just choked her to death of course she isn’t going to stir. hat type of sign did he want from God, was he waiting for a thumbs up?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning “43”

Browning being the eldest of eleven children, had to learn the ways of here surroundings quite fast. I personally think that society made her the woman she was, her seeing how her father treated her mother made her poetic views more of a feminist nature. I would be quite annoyed myself. Especially seeing how submissive her mother was to her father. Women of that time were absolutely ruled by their husbands and god forbid if it were otherwise. How could a father forbid his children from marrying, aren’t they they allowed to live their lives as he did, and learn from their own mistakes? I could totally see why Browning felt like she had to elope, I would have done the same.
In poem “43” she speaks of her love for thee, assuming that thee is her husband, she is quite open in expressing the love that she had for him. Her words are so strong and profound in how she articulates her feeling for him.
“I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feelings out of sight
For the end of being and Ideal Grace..
I love thee to the level of everyday is
Most quiet need, by sun and candle light” (p532. Lines 2-5)
Here she is stating that her love for him is so great as to compare it with with things that sustain life as the sunlight of the days and the candle light of the nights. It is as if she is saying that if her love for him no longer existed her life would also cease.
“I love with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! And, if God choose
I shall but love thee better after death” (p 532. lives 11-14)
It is as if he is the air that she breathes, and even though her breath my cease one day, her love for him will go on. That type of love and dedication barely exist in today’s society, especially with the increase and the continual rise in divorce rates.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson “Break, Break Break”

I personally find this writer to be quite morbid, I feel as if he is trying to say that everyone is going to die so “O well”
How does one look at people and say
“O well for the fisherman’s boy,
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay” (p595 lines 5-8)
It is as if he is saying everyone dies, so why be broken up about it. I some sense I guess I could relate because I try not to get attached to people or things, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say “O well” at the thought of people perishing. Maybe he just doesn’t want to be bother with dealing with the emotions that are entailed with death and he just sees it as a part of life.

“Break, break, break
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me” (p595. lines 13-16)
Here it is as if he is resentful of the fact when something/someone is dead that they will no longer be and there is an eternal void. But then again I might just be wrong, is he talking about life on a whole or just about a dead day at sea?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge “The Eolian Harp”

Coleridge was a man unlike any other, he was a man of his own will, who paved his owns roads by trial and error. Coleridge was married to a woman named sara Fricker but that marriage was unhappy, and so in the 1800’s he followed Wordsworth to the Lake District where he fell in love with another woman names Sara, in which was Wordsworth’s future wife’s sister. Needless to say this led to Coleridge being estranged from his wife. During this time Coleridge suffered from rheumatic pain and became addicted to laudanum (opium dissolved in alcohol).

In my further interpretation of this poem I was slightly confused as to which Sarah he was referring to, but I will assume that it is the first Sara considering that this poem was published in 1796 right before he met the second Sara. Obviously he used to be madly in love with his then wife in order to write such a beautiful piece, and to describe his feelings for her in such intricate details.

“My pensive Sara! they soft cheek reclined
Thus on mine arm, most soothing sweet it is
to sit beside our cot, or cot o’ergrown
with white-flowered jasmin, and the broad-leaved myrtle
(Meet emblems they of innocence and love!)”
(pg.325, lines 1-5).

At the moment when he wrote this poem he must have been overwhelmed by his feelings for his wife Sara, and my how quickly do things change. I swear to me some men emotions are like on and off switches, if you can describe your feelings for someone so deeply how can you just grow apart. That seem to me as if it were more lust than love. I wonder how the Sara he ended up with felt when or if she read this piece, I know I would have felt a bit jealous. Knowing that passionately he described how he felt when he was holding her. I know Sara was probably a common name back then but I don’t know how much I would like the fact that he left another woman named Sara to be with me.

Felicia Hemans “The Homes of England”

“The stately Homes of England,
How beautiful they stand!
Amidst their tall ancestral trees,
O’er all the pleasant land” (pg. 412 lines 1-4)

I can relate to this writer especially how passionately she speaks of her home land and the homes it holds. Knowing and appreciating the true beauty of ones surroundings is not seen everyday but when it is it’s amazing. I myself being a Jamaican am proud of my home land and the beauty it holds, especially when driving through the mountains or just simply walking the beach and seeing the beautiful churches, houses and cottages all tucked away. This just brings me back to the memory of being a little girl and hearing the church bells chime on sunday mornings before service. The people there are just so full of joy and life, some truly live by our known slogan “Irie, Jamaica no problems.”

“Where’s the coward that would not dare
To fight for such a land” (Pg. 412. top of page).

I can relate to this passage because nothing hurts more than to go home to Jamaica and to see how people there have destroyed the place, it just makes my heart heavy. When one appreciates the beauty of the land it is hard to sit back and watch as others destroy it, or to see that people aren’t willing to fight for it and what it stands for.