Poetry for the Inner Ear

Poetry for the Inner Ear: William Blake's use of Symbols : "Symbolism in poetry developed out of the Dada activities of World War I , and the most important center of the symbolist poets was Paris..."

Symbolism in poetry developed out of the  Dada  activities of  World War I , and the most important center of the symbolist poets was  Paris . Even before the modern age, the visionary poet Blake used symbols in his poetry. For example, in his lyric "The Lamb", we find that the lamb is a symbol of Christ:  Little Lamb I'll tell thee,   Little Lamb I'll tell thee: He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb: He is meek & he is mild, He became a little child: I a child & thou a lamb, We are called by his name.   Little Lamb God bless thee.   Little Lamb God bless thee. The lamb is an apt symbol for the Prince of Peace Jesus. The poet uses another symbol in the above lines. Jesus is like "a little child".  Jesus is simple, humble, innocent and sinless like a child. William Blake himself remarked: " A symbol is the only possible expression of some invisible essence."   From the 1920s on, the use of symbols spread around th

Poetry for the Inner Ear: New Inventive Language : "All greatest poets, through poetic symbols (The French poets are leaders in such type of poetry), visionary trances and metaphors are succ..."

All greatest  poets,  through poetic symbols (The French poets are leaders in such type of poetry), visionary trances and metaphors are successful in confronting the inner and external realities. These poets reveal that poetry is more than common metaphor and analogies, and their poems reach deeper. We will not find in  poems, which are full of monotonous dreams and vague fancies. Through a wise use of metaphor, the immortal poets  are s capable to create ome extraordinary compositions revealing the bitter truth and realities of the new millennium.             Dryden (1631-1700) pointed out: “There may be too great a likeness, as the most skilful painters affirm, that there may be too near a resemblance in a picture; to take every lineament and feature, is not to make an excellent piece; but to heighten the beauties of some part, and hide the deformities of the rest…the employment of a poet is like that of a curious gunsmith, or watchmaker; the iron or silver is not his own, but the

Poetry for the Inner Ear: "The Wisest, the Brightest and the Meanest of Mank... : "Francis Bacon was not only one of the greatest writers, but also a great English statesman, philosopher and politician. The great classical..."

Poetry for the Inner Ear: Out-topping Knowledge : "Shakespeare is the greatest poet of the world. His most famous plays are Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Othello, Romeo and Julie..."

Shakespeare is the greatest poet of the world. His most famous plays are Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard II, The Winter’s Tale, Cymbeline . Ben Jonson admired him in the following lines: Soul of the age! The applause! delight! the wonder of our stage! My Shakespeare, rise; I will not lodge thee by Chaucer or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie A little further to make thee a room.   There is no doubt that Shakespeare is the greatest genius that human nature has yet produced. He was rightly called “our myriad-minded Shakespeare” by the famous critic S.T. Coleridge. Shakespeare was not of an age, but of all ages. For example, we may take the following immortal quotes by Shakespeare: How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than a

Francis Bacon was not only one of the greatest writers, but also a great English statesman, philosopher  and politician. The great classical poet Alexander Pope regarded him as “the wisest, the brightest and the meanest of mankind”.  Bacon is the Father of  English essay.  His essays are famous for their wit and aphoristic style. Most of the lines from his essays have always been acclaimed as immortal quotes. For example, we may take the following lines that have become proverbs: Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men's nurses. In charity there is no excess. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested : that is, some books are to be read only in parts,

Poetry for the Inner Ear: W. B. Yeats' Most Powerful Poem : "Michael Robartes and the Dancer is a remarkable book of poems by the Irish poet and Nobel Laureate William Butler Yeats . It includes ..."

Michael Robartes and the Dancer is a remarkable  book of  poems by the Irish poet and Nobel Laureate   William Butler Yeats . It includes the poems: Michael Robartes and the Dancer, Solomon and the Witch, An Image From A Past Life, Under Saturn, Easter, 1916 , The Second Coming, A Prayer for My Daughter, and several other poems. The Second Coming is one of the best poems by Yeats. The first stanza is one of the triumphs of poetry.  He will not tolerate violence. The thought is sharp and clear in the following lines: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;     Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,     The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere     The ceremony of innocence is drowned;     The best lack all conviction, while the worst     Are full of passionate intensity. This poem has become the classic. The above lines fully reveal the brutality and barbarism nowadays confirmed by  September 11 catastrophe and senseless terrorist attacks. Never again did a poet of t

Poetry for the Inner Ear: Leaves of Grass : "Many critics criticize Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. The Boston Intelligencer condemned his poetry as full of “bombast, egotism, vulgarity..."

Poetry for the Inner Ear: Leaves of Grass : "Many critics criticize Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. The Boston Intelligencer condemned his poetry as full of “bombast, egotism, vulgarity..."

Many critics criticize Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. The Boston Intelligencer condemned his poetry as full of “bombast, egotism, vulgarity and nonsense". A few critics wanted Whitman to be punished. He deserves “the lash for such a violation of decency”. It is beyond comprehension why some of the critics called Leaves of Grass a dirty book. We should remember that both R.W. Emerson and Thoreau admired his poetry. Thoreau aptly remarked: “He has spoken more truth than any American or modern that I know. I have found his poem exhilarating, encouraging.” Take for example the following lines: I know that the hand of God is the promise of my own, And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own, And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women my sisters and lovers, And that a kelson of the creation is love. What a magnificent, sharp, noble and clear thought! The lines show a force of Whitman’s originality and spiritual observance. The beauties

Poetry for the Inner Ear: P.B. Shelley's Greatest Poetic Drama : "Prometheus Unbound is a four-act play by the greatest Romantic poet P. B. Shelley. The play opens a Ravine of Icy Rocks in the Indian Caucas..."

Prometheus Unbound is a four-act play by the greatest Romantic poet P. B. Shelley. The play opens a Ravine of Icy Rocks in the Indian Caucasus. PROMETHEUS is discovered in chains bound to the Precipice. Prometheus is tormented by Zeus. Ultimately, Prometheus is liberated. He is a symbol of the liberation of mankind. He may be described as the correct manifestation of the highest moral and intellectual nature. He is often compared with Satan in Milton’s Paradise. But we should remember that he is devoid of any feeling of revenge or envy that we find in Satan. Shelley himself says: “Prometheus is, in my judgment, a more poetical character than Satan, because, in addition to courage, and majesty, and firm and patient opposition to omnipotent force, he is susceptible of being described as exempt from the taints of ambition, envy, revenge, and a desire for personal aggrandizement, which, in the hero of Paradise Lost, interfere with the interest.” This book reveals Shelley’s revolutiona

Prometheus Unbound is a four-act play by the greatest Romantic poet P. B. Shelley. The play opens a Ravine of Icy Rocks in the Indian Caucasus. PROMETHEUS is discovered in chains bound to the Precipice. Prometheus is tormented by Zeus. Ultimately, Prometheus is liberated. He is a symbol of the liberation of mankind. He may be described as the correct manifestation of the highest moral and intellectual nature. He is often compared with Satan in Milton’s Paradise. But we should remember that he is devoid of any feeling of revenge or envy that we find in Satan. Shelley himself says: “Prometheus is, in my judgment, a more poetical character than Satan, because, in addition to courage, and majesty, and firm and patient opposition to omnipotent force, he is susceptible of being described as exempt from the taints of ambition, envy, revenge, and a desire for personal aggrandizement, which, in the hero of Paradise Lost, interfere with the interest.” This book reveals Shelley’s revolutiona

Poetry for the Inner Ear: Good Health is the Greatest Blessing : "US President Thomas Jefferson once remarked: “Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I wi..."

US President Thomas Jefferson once remarked: “Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.” There is no greater blessing on earth than having good health free from all diseases like high blood pressure, obesity, heart attack, cancer, diabetes, and several other diseases that are nowadays afflicting a large number of people across the world. Good health is shelters and rescues us from the increasing pressures and storms in life. Our life will be a little bit of paradise if we take care to keep good health. Anthony Robbins aptly remarks: "The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results." Regular exercise and balanced diet are very useful for our good health. Moreover, the following wise lines aptly reveal the indispensabl

Poetry for the Inner Ear: The Mayor of Casterbridge : "The Nobel Laureate Thomas Hardy’s immortal novel The Mayor of Casterbridge is subtitled 'The Life and Death of a Man of Character'. It is se..."

The Nobel Laureate Thomas Hardy’s immortal novel The Mayor of Casterbridge is subtitled "The Life and Death of a Man of Character". It is set in the fictional town of Casterbridge. The novel seems to emphasize that “Character is destiny”. Henchard’s grave error of selling his wife and daughter to Newson works like hubris for him. He repents but the Furies and nemesis are preying upon him. He repents why he sold his wife and daughter: "If I had only got her with me—if I only had!," he said. "Hard work would be nothing to me then! But that was not to be. I—Cain—go alone as I deserve—an outcast and a vagabond." Henchard would never be happy again. The plot of Hardy’s novel is quite interesting. Henchard under the influence of wine sells his wife Susan and baby daughter Elizabeth-Jane to a sailor named Newson for five guineas. As he wakes up the next morning, he realizes his blunder, and pledges in a church that he won’t drink wine for the next twenty o