SHORT QUESTIONS PG 1

SHORT QUESTIONS

PG I

From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease
His tender heir might bear his memory."

This is the first quatrain of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 1, titled, “From Fairest Creatures We Desire Increase”.

Shakespeare uses the first four lines to set out his main ideas for the poem. Each of the lines takes up one particular idea. The first discusses the importance of procreation to humans, the second suggests that this is how we can remain immortal, the third line introduces the threat of time passing, and the fourth sums all of these up by revealing the “tender heir” who is the representation of immortality for his parents, but will in turn grow old and pass away. The idea behind the poem is that, if we want to live forever, then the only way is to have children. These children will continue our names long after we pass, while a lack of procreation will lead to a quick demise.

"By our own spirits are we deified;
We poets in our youth begin in gladness;
But thereof comes in the end despondency
and madness".

The above excerpt is taken from Wordsworth’s Resolution and Independence
Here Wordsworth’s narrator seems in constant fear of losing his creative powers, just as the Leech Gatherer has lost his youth and strength. By above lines the poet is commenting upon the loss of creative power as a poet ages. What we find troubling about this is the likening of the poetic imagination to a divine spirit: the notion that there exists a power to create that exalts poets’ spirits above that of ordinary men. We feel that by referring to ‘despondency’ and ‘madness’ Wordsworth is referring to the loss not of a skill, but of a divine spirit. This to us seem a little contrived and in turn highlight our reading that Wordsworth’s narrator is not engaging with the Leech Gatherer on a level of mutual respect, yet is using the ‘other’ to serve as an instrument with which to satisfy his own needs.

"Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air,
pride, plume here
Buckle ! And the fire that breaks from thee
then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, o my
chevalier !"

The above excerpt is taken from G.M. Hopkins’s best known sonnet The Windhover.

These opening lines of the sestet serve as both an elaboration on the bird windhover’s movement and an injunction to the poet’s own heart. The “beauty,” “valour,” and “act” (like “air,” “pride,” and “plume”) “here buckle.” “Buckle” is the verb here; it denotes either a fastening (like the buckling of a belt), a coming together of these different parts of a creature’s being, or an acquiescent collapse (like the “buckling” of the knees), in which all parts subordinate themselves into some larger purpose or cause. In either case, a unification takes place. At the moment of this integration, a glorious fire issues forth, of the same order as the glory of Christ’s life and crucifixion, though not as grand.

"Here in no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the
mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water."

The above excerpt is taken from Eliot’s The Waste Land: What the Thunder Said

Here Eliot juxtaposes the rock and the arid desert against water, the symbol of baptism, redemption and Christ, and another allusion is made to the crucifixion in the line “dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit”. The mountain mentioned is Golgotha, where Jesus is hung on the cross. The name means the “place of the skull” because of the rock face’s appearance. It cannot spit because it is devoid of water, the healing element of Christ’s love. While the image of the desert is desolation: “here is no water but only rock/Rock and no water and the sandy road,” there is longing for the healing power of the water introduced in Stanza Four, “Death by Water”: “if there were water we should stop and drink/Amongst the rock one cannot stop and think”. While the desert is a visual representation of mankind’s estrangement from the Divine, Eliot seems to be offering a glimmer of hope that the lifesaving water is forthcoming and will ease the spiritual longing of man....................

 TO GET COMPLETE STUDY MATERIAL JOIN NSOU ENGLISH COACHING

SHARE

Milan Tomic

Hi. I’m Designer of Blog Magic. I’m CEO/Founder of ThemeXpose. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.

• 
• 
• 
• 
•