Creative Engagement: John Keats ♥ Shakespeare

As I was reading Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare, I found a striking thematic similarity between the sonnet and the poem "Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats. In Sonnet 18, the woman described is seen as so beautiful that death could never claim her - she lives on through the narrators description. Similarly, in Keat's work the Nightingdale too is made immortal - it lives on through its song. Both author's references  could also be intended to suggest that, like the lady and her beauty & the bird and his song, a poet is made immortal by his poetry. Take a look for yourself!

John Keats. 1795–1821

624. Ode to a Nightingale

MY heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,	5
But being too happy in thine happiness,
That thou, light-wingèd Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.	10
O for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool'd a long age in the deep-delvèd earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country-green,
Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South!	15
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stainèd mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:	20
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last grey hairs,	25
Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
And leaden-eyed despairs;
Where beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.	30
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,	35
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.	40
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmèd darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;	45
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast-fading violets cover'd up in leaves;
And mid-May's eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.	50
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a musèd rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,	55
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.	60
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path	65
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that ofttimes hath
Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.	70
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is famed to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades	75
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:—do I wake or sleep?

Creative Engagement - Sidney

Alright well I absolutely, 100% DID NOT write this myself. But I couldn't help reading it and muttering a silent "amen" to myself.

"What can I say? He loves her, or thinks he does. She tries to be kind, or at least he thinks she does. He pushes his luck--that he admits (in the Fourth Song). And she dumps him (in the Eleventh Song). If you see no ironic, self-mocking humor in his descriptions of his struggles with desire and reason, in his description of love's effect on his performance in combat (#41 and #53), in his claims about his poetic inspiration (#1 and #74), you aren't reading carefully enough. If these poems are read with no ear for that irony, "Astrophil" comes off as a pompous fool. If read with sensitivity, the cycle shows how the whole medieval doctrine of "courtly love" and the courtier's ability to rise to the stars by love (Bembo) may be appreciated even while it is subjected to an enormously entertaining and subtle critique. Perhaps love's "ladder" has agendas of its own, independent of its "climbers"? And what of the Beloved, in Bembo, that useful mortal starting point whose beauty soon is left behind by the Lover as he (always "he") rockets into union with the Divine? What does she get out of all of this? More importantly, what does it cost her?"



Anyway, I took this excerpt off of the following site from Goucher College:
http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng211/sir_philip_sidney_.htm

Take a look at it if you're interested!


I would have to agree with it entirely in the way that I percieved the entire text as somewhat ironic and almost . . . well, pathetic. :)

Lyrical Assignment: Usher - Confessions Album

One of the albums that I found to be an ideal lyrical album is "Confessions" by Usher where most of his songs deal with the experience of losing the love of his life. Like the album title says, most of the songs are confessions of an affair with other women and overall the album as a whole gives off the message of "please take me back". This idea of destroyed relationships and begging for forgiveness is also reflected in several of the music videos that accompany these songs where he often winces and drops to his knees as he lyrically recounts the incidents. At the start of the song "Confessions II" (one of the videos listed below) he almost comes to tears after finding out that his "girl on the side" is pregnant and his "girl at home" is inevitably going to realize his infidelity. The rest of the song is full of doubt, panic, and confusion over how to tell his girlfriend about the situation.




At the end of this video & song you see/hear glass shattering. This leads into the next couple songs, including "Burn" which follows the storyline. In this song, he talks about how their relationship can not come back from such a tragedy and that it must end. A later song, "Truth Hurts" continues this same theme of remorse.





These songs, as well as the rest of the album, parallel his life at the time. Months before this album was released, Usher underwent a very emotional breakup with a girlfriend that he had known since childhood. While some of the songs stray a bit from the truth (there were indeed other women in his life, but no pregnancy scares ;-) ) they still succeed in conveying his feelings about the breakup.

1	Intro	(0:46)
2	Yeah!	(4:10) Performed...
3	Throwback	(4:01) Lyrics - ...
4	Confessions [Interlude]	(1:15)
5	Confessions [Pt. 2]	(3:49) Lyrics - ...
6	Burn	(4:15) Lyrics - ...
7	Caught Up	(3:44) Lyrics - ...
8	Superstar [Interlude]	(1:04)
9	Superstar	(3:28) Lyrics - ...
10	Truth Hurts	(3:51) Lyrics - ...
11	Simple Things	(4:57) Lyrics - ...
12	Bad Girl	(4:21) Lyrics - ...
13	That's What It's Made For	(4:37) Lyrics - ...
14	Can U Handle It?	(5:45) Lyrics - ...
15	Do It to Me	(5:45) Lyrics - ...
16	Take Your Hand	(3:03) Lyrics - ...
17	Follow Me

Rumination #2 – Dual Manipulation of the Sexes

Sir Thomas Wyatt’s “They Flee from Me” poetically describes the chase and loss of a mistress. The poem itself serves as a male sexual fantasy but strays from the literature of its time by incorporating rejection at the poem’s conclusion. This rejection serves as a literary power shift from man to woman and suggests that women, as well as men, are capable of using and manipulating their partners.

The language of the poem, while clearly sexual, is also centralized around the concept of “hunting.” Speaking of his many mistresses, the speaker states that “they flee from me that sometime did me seek, with naked foot, stalking in my chamber. I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek, that now are wild and do not remember that sometime they put themselves in danger” (lines 1-5). In these lines, the women he is referring to are paired with verbs and adjectives that are commonly applied to the actual act of “hunting.”  They are “stalked” in his chamber while barefoot (“naked foot”) which is representative of their inherent vulnerability. Additionally, they are described as “gentle, tame, and meek” and are later considered “wild.” These adjectives, while used to describe the women in the poem, are more commonly attributed animals being hunted. This relationship between mistresses and prey exposes the power that the male speaker holds over the women that he pursues. His elevation in status, however, is not permanent.

Later in the poem, after detailing their sexual encounter, the writer gives the mistress a voice when she asks “dear heart, how like you this?” (line 14). This is the first instance of power being attributed to the woman – the man in the poem is made to answer to her, therefore showing a small shift in their roles. The speaker, softened by the intimacy of their encounter, goes on to say that “it was no dream: I lay broad waking. But all is turned through my gentleness, into a strange fashion of forsaking; and I have leave to go of her goodness, and she also, to use newfangleness” (lines 15-19). This instance ties into the title of the poem, “They Flee from Me” in the sense that after their sexual encounter, the mistress is the one to walk out on him. While not too heartbroken, the speaker is certainly surprised at the role reversal that has taken place after getting intimate with the woman in the poem. She uses him as a gateway into a world of “newfangleness” which is described literally as a fondness for novelty, fashion, and overall fickleness. The woman is able to enter into a realm of elevated status by using her sex appeal to get what she wants from the speaker in the same way that he used his status to get what he wanted out of her. When she is done with him, she casts him off in pursuit of bigger and better things.

In essence, Sir Thomas Wyatt’s poem serves as a commentary on the dual manipulation of the sexes and exposes the underlying incentives behind such encounters between man and mistress.

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)

They flee from me that Sometime did me Seek

              1They flee from me that sometime did me seek

              2With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.

              3I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek,

              4That now are wild and do not remember

              5That sometime they put themself in danger

              6To take bread at my hand; and now they range,

              7Busily seeking with a continual change.

              8Thanked be fortune it hath been otherwise

              9Twenty times better; but once in special,

            10In thin array after a pleasant guise,

            11When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,

            12And she me caught in her arms long and small;

            13Therewithall sweetly did me kiss

            14And softly said, "dear heart, how like you this?"

            15It was no dream: I lay broad waking.

            16But all is turned thorough my gentleness

            17Into a strange fashion of forsaking;

            18And I have leave to go of her goodness,

            19And she also, to use newfangleness.

            20But since that I so kindly am served

            21I would fain know what she hath deserved.

Rumination #1 Femininity in Beowulf - A Darker Side

The tale of Beowulf is one of action. Much of the story’s emphasis is on men, battles, and quests for fame instead of  on females or personal relationships. Women are rarely mentioned in the story, with the exception of Wealhteow and Grendel’s mother. The incorporation of these women into the text appears intentional; the author of Beowulf calls into question the delicacy, innocence, and beauty commonly associated with femininity by contrasting Wealhteow and Grendel’s mother in terms of their physical description.

The first mention of Wealhteow in the tale occurs when she is serving the men in the hall. Wealhteow embodies femininity in her physical appearance as well as her actions. She is described as “queen of Hrothgar, heedful of courtesy, gold-decked, greeting the guests in hall; and the high born lady handed the cup […] till come the moment when the ring-graced queen, the royal-hearted, to Beowulf bore the beaker of mead” (lines 614-625).  By engaging in servitude to the men, Wealhteow embraces a traditional female gender role of submissiveness and politeness. Her name is made synonymous with “queen” and “high-born lady” in an attempt not only to compliment her status, but also to praise her for her femininity. In general, she is viewed as innocent, courteous, and essentially untouchable. However, her beauty holds an unmatched power over the men that surround her. Her introduction to the story serves as a manifestation of femininity that the author of Beowulf later goes on to challenge with the addition of Grendel’s mother to the poem.

Instead of focusing on her motherly qualities – such as her desire to selflessly protect and defend her child – the author chooses to focus on the gruesome physical appearance of Grendel’s mother. This is done partly to portray her as inhuman, but also to shed light on an alternative view of femininity. The author of Beowulf writes that “the livelong time after that grim fight, Grendel’s mother, monster of women, mourned her woe” (lines 1261-1263). He utilizes this text not to create sympathy for the mourning mother, but to demonize her by referring to her as a “monster”. Such a description offends traditional views of women as being delicate or docile. Speaking of her later stages of grief, the author writes that “his mother now, gloomy and grim, would go that quest of sorrow, the death of her son to avenge” (lines 1280-1282). In this instance, we are presented with femininity not as a symbol of innocence and purity, but of rage, manipulation, and revenge.

The passages on Grendel’s mother are not the only ones that allow us to examine this tainted, darker side of femininity. The yonic symbols present in the text also compliment this idea. One of the first yonic symbols to appear is the cup that Wealhteow carries to the men in the hall. The cup itself is a symbol of femininity, yet it contains alcohol – a drink that, in excess, can cause people to wreak havoc, harm themselves, or be taken advantage of. In this way, the cup shows a side of Wealhteow that is not explicitly described – her ability to manipulate. Another yonic symbol, the lake where Grendel’s mother resides, is frequently referred to as a “murky moor” (line 1409). The fact that the water is unclear again suggests that something evil lurks beneath its surface. This foggy image also suggests that things are not always what they appear to be, which translates into the idea that femininity too is not always what it appears to be.

This is my test post

TaDa!!