Milton's use of color

Milton’s poem incorporates religious imagery throughout the poem. The colors in the poem supplement this religious imagery; especially through the color violet. Milton first says, “purple all the ground with vernal flowers” but later the color purple becomes more clear as the “purple” image is replaced with “glowing violet.” Milton’s poem is crafted so that every word is not accidental but rather chosen; therefore, violet is his choice color to describe the scene. Violet, a liturgical color fits in with the religious tone of the poem. Milton also includes the color green throughout the work, which contributes to the pastoral mood of the poem. Milton uses nature to symbolize the death of Lycidius as “The willows and the hazel copses green shall no longer be seen.” Through Lycidas’s death, nature suffers as well and the trees fade from the youthful green color to nothing.

Lycidas

Lycidas' theme of singing in a pastoral setting seemed at first be focused on a Pagan Roman world where the muses, satyrs and Gods all played into Milton's plot. Yet, Christianity steps strikingly into the poem in the lines "The Pilot of the Galilean lake,/Two massy Keyes he bore of metals twain, /(The Golden opes, the Iron shuts amain)/He shook his Miter'd locks,"(109-112) "The Pilot" with the "Keys" appears to be St.Peter with the keys Christ gave him. This introduces papal power/ Roman Catholicism, the papacy and not just Christianity is seen in the miter, headdress of bishops, that appear on the locks.

Easter 1916

Easter 1916 is a poem Yeats wrote about the Irish rebellion against the British on April 24, 1916 known as the Easter Rebellion. The first verse of the poem, Yeats discusses the vivid faces, or the Irish people he see's everyday. The Irish are all united in the fact that they are willing to stand up and fight for independence. The last line of the first verse, "a terrible beauty is born," is a beautifully written line and is repeated throughout the poem. The line refers to both the terrible fight where Irish and British will die; however it also recognizes the beauty of these Irish people standing up and fighting for their homeland.

In the second verse Yeats mentions Patrick Pearse and Thomas MacDonagh, two poets involved in the fight for Irelands independence. He does not mention their political influence, rather their personal attributes, "sensitive his nature" , "daring and sweet his thought". By looking at these characters as regular people and not political leaders, it strengthens his conviction that these Irish commoners can make a difference in their fight for independence.

Another strength in this poem is when Yeats makes reference to Maj. Thomas MacBride because he did not like this man because he "had done most bitter wrong"; however, Yeats does admit that "he, too, has been changed in his turn." Here he is giving respect to the Irish participants that gave their life to change Ireland and take a stand for independence.
Earlier in the second verse Yeats confirms that the Irish, even before the Rebellion, were far from perfect. However, by saying "transformed utterly, a terrible beauty is born" means that although the Irish were your average commoners, they died as heroes for their honorable and courageous contributing to a movement for change in their homeland.

The third stanza mentions a stone that "trouble the living stream." I believe the stone is a reference to the Easter Rebellion martyrs whose story will live on forever like a stone and that their legacy is the constant struggle it gives to the "living stream" which is a reference to the English rule in Ireland. This is a simple translation of going against the grain, I think.

The last stanza in the poem honors MacDonaugh, McBride, Connolly and Pearse for thier contribution to the Easter Rebellion and that the terrible beauty is born, now translates to their sacrafice is terrible because it is tragic, but their beauty is their legacy that the Irish commoner, who gives all of himself to his beloved cause can be a hero even if they do not have heroic characteristics. What is being born here I think is change.

Lycidas

I found this poem to be absolutely mezmerizing in it's language and presentation. It was so interesting to me how the poet mingled christian beliefs with Ancient Roman mythology. It seems that he found Roman mythology to be the most poignant and beautiful of stories with which to compare the death of his beloved friend Lycidas. The format of the poem was particuraly interesting to me: How in the beginning Milton is lamenting the death of Lycidas and comparing it the ravaging of nature and it's wonders ( I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude with forced fingers rude). The end of Lycidas life at an age where he was full of vigor and hope is perfect in comparison to the bounty of nature being plucked. From that point the poet has the muses ( considered the most blessed of creatures ) sing to Lycidas, an honor that was not bestowed on normal men in Roman mythology but rather gods and heros. My favorite part of this poem however was the end where Milton has accepted the death of his dear friend and speaks of how no one is singing for his funeral anymore but rather honoring his memory by morphing Lycidas as a god of the water, it was the most perfect ending to a poetic death.

Favorite Lines of Yeats

I love this poem.  The images that Yeats creates (at least for me) are amazing.  Yeats weaves time, age, and death into ever stanza beautifully.  The first stanza he starts with "That is no country for old men."  The second stanza starts "An aged man is but a paltry thing,/ A tattered coat upon a stick,"  He goes from what is not part of the landscape (old men) to what an old man is, "a tattered coat upon a stick."  For some reason this connection really stuck out for me.  In the first stanza there is also the line "Whatever is begotten, born, and dies,"  in the last stanza, Yeats writes, "Of what is past, or passing, or to come."  The parallel here is unmistakable.  For me, the third stanza was the hardest to understand, but I did love the line "and gather me/ Into the artifice of eternity."  Overall, I just love the flow of this poem and my favorite stanza would have to be the last, I really like the images that Yeats conjures.

Yeats

Sailing to Byzantium is, from the poems we have read, unique in in its ability to separate the body from the heart. This concept is put forth in "Consume my heart away; sick with desire/And fastened to a dying animal." the dying animal that Yeats is referring to in the poem is the speaker. By placing the speaker at the level of animal Yeats is able to heighten the contrast between the ethereal Byzantium and his own mortality.

An Argument: On 1942

I thought this was a very interesting poem. As Vendler says in her introduction, it shows that "not all members of the social group share the same attitudes." I can picture the poet sitting down to interview his mother about the Japanese internment camps, and her waving it away and trying to explain why it's not important. She (perhaps like the rest of the country, mostly then but also now) wants to forget and pretend it never happened: "Why bring it back?" But is this because it really was no big deal ("mostly we were bored") or because the memories are painful to recall ("And when the last was peeled, / clamped tight her lips, growing thinner and thinner")? It is clear that the poet and his mother disagree over the importance of discussing this piece of history.

I also was interested by how the poem is set up in a sort of one-way conversation, showing only the mother talking except for the italicized bit at the beginning that she interrupts (perhaps the poet's proposed poem that his mother rejects). Then, the breaks between stanzas are where the poet makes a comment or asks a question, unheard by the audience. This omission emphasizes the mother's attitude over the son's. It also suggests that the mother is in fact arguing with herself, trying to convince herself that it was all in the past.