Lyrics & Elegies

Today's class was brought to you by cheesecake, uh, Robert Burns and Percy Bysshe Shelley.

For lyrical poetry, "A Red, Red Rose" was the subject for reviewing rhyme scheme, meter (if you are struggling with identifying meter from the first word, try going backwards), and stanza. As noted, this puppy is iambic trimeter, with emphasis on the rose, the lass, the dear, and, of course, the luve. There were other words stressed, of course, but those stick out more for the theme and the overall poem analysis.

Since one lyric is not enough, we also read "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold for the same lyrical properties. Starting from a mini sonnet, Arnold creates a euphonious visual image in contrast with the cacophonous auditory image. This juxtaposition furthers the metaphor of the husband-wife relationship and the necessary comprehension of the sublime and the abhorrent existing in every communicable alliance. I think that sums up your thoughts during class today.

Although Percy Bysshe Shelley has a questionable past (euphemism), he does earn points with me for comparing my Keatsy to "Adonias," of four syllables, to mourn the loss of a poet with such eidetic, lugubrious diction. Of note in this elegy, a poem of morning, there are the mythological allusions to Adonis (which, yes, is a surprising choice if you consider my Keatsy and his wee stature), the caesura (new term alert -- new term alert), the alliteration, the apostrophe, the assonance, and the enjambment. As we already know, Keatsy was a brilliant writer and his loss is something to mourn, especially since no one can tarnish his talent or the memory of his strong works.

Hachacha sent me this over the summer from her trip to Italy.

For tomorrow's class, we will return to vocabulary to mix up our hardcore poetry packet. Then, we will look at another example of an elegy - this one to Lincoln. On your end of the homework spectrum, you will read "The Ode" section and complete the related questions.

More poetry to come...followed by multiple choice...followed by Shakespeare sonnets...followed by Macbeth...followed by The Metamorphosis. There is a lot more in between all those ellipses, so I hope you are ready to AP Lit these texts!