Palgrave's Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics. The elements of lyric poetry have been said to be "emotion and imagery" the mood, or emotion, of the writer, which in itself may be vague or formless, is expressed in terms of effective imagery. Thus, the emotion of patriotism underlies the imagery of Old Ironsides; melancholy is the theme of The Day Is Done; sorrow, of The Band in the Pines, and so forth. It is this quality of voicing strong emotion through beautiful imagery in musical form which has made the lyric invariably popular, and in some respects the most important type of poetical expression. Methods of "Approach" It will be clear, from our discussion of the subject, that the reading and understanding of poetry calls for an alert mind. There must be a sympathetic attitude, and a readiness to receive impressions that come from many different sources. For poetry, more than any other form of literature, is the expression of life; the poet touches the human heart, and looks more deeply than other men into the springs of human action. The best way to read poetry is to read it aloud, as it is meant to be read; this method not only emphasizes the rare melodies inherent in all good verse, but also develops the significance of the poem - what is sometimes called the "message" of the poet. The ear will help the eye; the mind will more justly apprehend, the taste more surely appreciate. A practical "approach" to the real knowledge and enjoyment of poetry can be illustrated by some definite examples. Let us take, for one of these, Poe's The Haunted Palace. A first reading of the poem will raise various questions: Is the poem easy to understand? The What is the general meaning? To what class of poetry does it belong? What is the metre, stanza form, etc.? Are there any striking pictures? A little consideration will lead to some such answers as these: The poem is fairly difficult; the general spirit seems to be allegorical the allegory of a lost mind. It is a lyric, evidently, and the metrical form (handled with very musical effect) is trochaic tetrameter, with variations, arranged in eight-line stanzas. As you become familiar with the poem, you will observe the remarkable series of pictures - first beautiful, then repulsive; you will note how skilfully the language changes from the melodious expression of the first four stanzas to the harsh phraseology of the last two; how the last part is carefully balanced against the first; and, finally, how all these things tend to intensify the idea which the poet wishes to convey the thought of a noble intellect ruined by madness. If you care to read The Fall of the House of Usher, the story in which the poem occurs, you will see how finely it illustrates the mentality of the hero. Taking for another example Whittier's Snow-Bound, you will find that from the first it is perfectly clear, Snow-Bound giving a clean-cut picture of New Engand Other land farm life in winter. The type is obviously narrative, the metre iambic tetrameter, arranged in couplets. With a straightforward simplicity of language, the pictures are almost Poems photographic, drawn from memory rather than from imagination. Other poems may be cited. Emerson's The Problem is an example of didactic poetry, somewhat difficult of comprehension, with a message couched in vigorous but irregular tetrameters. Longfellow's Wreck of the Hesperus, simple in plan and execution, has a special interest as a careful reproduction of the old ballad type. From other points of view we may study the patriotic lyric, as Old Ironsides or Concord Bridge; the personal lyric, as the Hymn io the Night and Ulalume; poems of places, as The Song of the Chattahoochee and San Francisco. There is no doubt that it is harder to read a good poem intelligently than to glance through the latest Study a novel or to follow the most recent play. Means to The thought, the feeling, and the imagiEnjoyment nation must all be trained to appreciate what the poet has to give. But such training is pleasant in itself, because it keeps us continually in contact with fine and beautiful things, while the result opens for us a way to the keenest intellectual enjoy ment. As a guide towards the appreciation of poetry it is helpful to use suggestive questions. Poems differ Helpful much, of course, in the demands which Questions they make upon our understanding, just as they do in their metrical form or their emotional appeal. We should not need, for example, to take the same mental attitude towards Longfellow's Village Blacksmith as towards Emerson's Each and All. In general, however, questions of some sort have a real purpose to serve, and we may include here a few, adapted from various sources, which have been found to be of practical benefit. What kind of poetry is it what metre, etc. Is the purpose of the poem to convey emotion? to amuse? to instruct? Does it seem to require careful study? Is the language simple, or involved? Is the expression figurative? literal? Are the figures effective? Are the words unusual? employed in an unusual sense? Does it appeal to the imagination, or to the intellect? Is the thought difficult to understand? Is the meaning clear or veiled? Is the obscurity (if there is any) intentional, or due to some deficiency of presentation? Does the poem leave a unified impression? Is the poem easy to read aloud? melodious? Does the metre satisfy your ear? What lines or stanzas seem to you especially musical? or the reverse? Do you find instances of onomatopeia? Does the art of the poet impress you more than his thought? Does the poem reveal anything about the author? Should you be able to say whether he was sentimental? emotional? religious? optimistic? humorous? intellectual? Should you think that he was more interested in books, or in human nature or in his own personality? After reading one of his poems, do you want to know more about him? As we become more familiar with the general field of poetry, other points will naturally be taken up. Our investigation may take the form indicated below. Implication. Many poems are highly suggestive, and produce their effect by what is implied quite as much as by what is actually said. Browning and Emerson are noteworthy in this respect. Search, then, for what lies behind the printed word. Nothing will help so much towards a right judgment of values; nothing, moreover, will so effectually check the bad habit of absorbing merely surface impressions a habit which is fatal to literary appreciation. Structure. Stanza division and metre may seem in themselves subjects that are mechanical and uninteresting. We must remember, however, that the verse which moves so easily, the line which seizes so exactly the fleeting thought, embodies the result of most careful observation and experiment "for a good poet's made as well as born." Why is this type of stanza used, instead of some other? Why should this particular metre be selected? These questions and others like them take us directly into the worskhop. Criticism. We may further direct our attention to the telling words or phrases; noting how the poet selects the "ultimate word," the one best phrase, for the expression of his thought. We may ask why this phrase, or that word, so emphatically serves the purpose. We may then formulate our own opinions about the poem. In any such statement, however, two things are important: we must be honest with ourselves and just with the poet. It is useless to offer any opinion unless we really understand what we talk about; too much criticism nowadays is conditioned either by indolence or by ignorance. Criticism · to apply Matthew Arnold's famous definition is a disinterested endeavor to learn and propagate the best. Our ultimate aim should be nothing less than this. Correlation. It is interesting and profitable to see how some thought, or some picture, or the poem as a whole, resembles some experience of our own. What, for instance, is our personal reaction to The Dandelion, or My Lost Youth, or Flammonde? Can we interpret the poet in terms of our own inner lives? Does the poem mean more to us because of what we have seen or done? Or, again, can we correlate what we read with other pieces of literature already known to us? For a definite summary and the clarifying of ideas, a simple formula is sometimes useful. What is the poet trying to tell us? |