University Study Notes: Classical and Modern Poetry, Literary Theory, and the Novel

Ancient Greek Lyric: The Voice of Sappho

Sappho of Lesbos provides some of the earliest and most intimate examples of lyric poetry. Fragment $34$, often referred to as a lament for a maidenhead, utilizes two distinct voices. The first voice employs the metaphor of a quince-apple ripening on the highest branch of a tree, unnoticed by harvesters or, if noticed, simply out of reach. The second voice contrasts this with a hyacinth in the mountains, which is trampled by shepherds until only a purple stain remains on the ground. This dichotomy explores themes of preservation versus destruction in the context of innocence or virginity.

Fragment $39$ (traditionally known as Fragment $31$) depicts the overwhelming physical effects of desire. The speaker describes a man sitting beside a beloved woman, listening to her sweet murmur and enticing laughter, as being more than a hero—he is a god in her eyes. The speaker's own reaction is visceral: upon meeting the beloved, the tongue is broken, a thin flame runs under the skin, sight is lost, ears drum, sweat drips, and the body trembles. The speaker becomes paler than dry grass, noting that at such times, death feels near.

In poem $41$, addressed to an army wife in Sardis, Sappho argues for the subjectivity of beauty. While some might value a cavalry corps, infantry, or a fleet of oars as the finest sight on earth, Sappho maintains that "whatever one loves, is." She cites Helen of Troy as proof; Helen, who had seen the world's most impressive men, chose Paris—the man who ruined Troy’s honor—over her own blood and child. The speaker concludes by noting that the sound of Anactoria's footstep and the light in her eyes move her more than the Lydian horse or mainland infantry.

Fragment $42$ and $43$ deal with parting and memory. In $42$, the speaker expresses a wish for death upon the departure of a companion who wept and insisted the parting was endured unwillingly. Sappho reminds her to remember the violet tiaras, braided rosebuds, and myrrh shared in their youth. Fragment $43$ captures the lively interactions between Sappho and her circle, including Atthis and Cleis. It mentions the city of Mitylene and the domestic preparation of roasting nuts by Praxinoa, emphasizing the communal and female-centric world of the speaker.

Metaphysical Poetry: Marvell and Donne

Andrew Marvell’s "To His Coy Mistress" ($1621-1678$) is a classic carpe diem (seize the day) poem structured through irony and paradox. The speaker argues that if time were infinite, he would spend hundreds of years praising his mistress's eyes and forehead, and $30,000$ years on the rest of her parts. However, he is haunted by "Time's winged chariot," which reveals a future of "deserts of vast eternity" where her beauty and his lust will turn to dust. He proposes that they "devour" time rather than languishing in its "slow-chapped power," using the metaphor of rolling their strength into one ball to tear through the iron gates of life.

John Donne’s "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" ($1611$) represents the metaphysical style through its use of elaborate conceits. Donne compares the parting of two lovers to the mild passing of virtuous men who whisper to their souls to go. He distinguishes their love from "dull sublunary lovers" whose affection depends on physical presence. Because their souls are "inter-assured of the mind," physical absence is not a breach but an expansion, "like gold to airy thinness beat." The poem concludes with the famous compass metaphor: the mistress is the fixed foot, while the speaker is the outer foot that roams. Her firmness makes his circle "just" and ensures he ends where he began.

The Shakespearean Sonnet: Beauty and Subversion

William Shakespeare ($1564-1616$) utilized the sonnet form to explore and often subvert traditional tropes of beauty. Sonnet $18$ ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?") addresses the transience of nature, noting that summer's lease is too short and the sun can be dimmed. However, the beloved’s "eternal summer" is preserved through the medium of the poem itself; as long as men can breathe, the "eternal lines" give life to the subject.

In contrast, Sonnet $130$ ("My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun") serves as a parody of the exaggerated Petrarchan blazon. Shakespeare describes his mistress with gritty realism: her eyes are not like the sun, her breath "reeks" compared to perfume, and she treads on the ground rather than floating like a goddess. Despite these plain descriptions, the speaker concludes that his love is as "rare" as any woman misrepresented by "false compare," asserting that true love does not require idealization.

Romanticism and the Sublime: Gray, Blake, and Shelley

Thomas Gray’s "Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard" ($1716-1771$) is a meditation on death as the great equalizer. Set at twilight, the poem reflects on the "rude Forefathers of the hamlet" buried in the churchyard. Gray argues that "The paths of glory lead but to the grave," and that those buried in obscurity might have had the potential to be world leaders or great poets if not for "Chill Penury." The poem ends with an epitaph for a youth "to Fortune and to Fame unknown" who found a friend in Heaven.

William Blake’s "The Tyger" ($1794$) explores the dual nature of creation. Through a series of rhetorical questions, Blake asks what "immortal hand or eye" could frame the "fearful symmetry" of the tiger. He contrasts the fierce, industrial imagery of the tiger’s creation—hammers, chains, furnaces, and anvils—with the gentleness of the Lamb, questioning if the same creator responsible for innocence also created such terrifying power.

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s "Ozymandias" ($1818$) is a powerful commentary on the hubris of leaders and the inevitable decline of empires. A traveler describes a ruined statue in the desert: two "trunkless legs of stone" and a "shattered visage" with a sneer of cold command. The pedestal boasts, "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" However, nothing remains but "lone and level sands," highlighting that even the most colossal human achievements are surrendered to time.

Modernist Visions: W.B. Yeats and the Gyre

William Butler Yeats ($1865-1939$) utilized complex personal and public symbols to navigate the chaos of the early $20\text{th}$ century. "The Second Coming" ($1921$) describes a world where "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold." Using the image of the "widening gyre," Yeats depicts an era of anarchy where the best lack conviction and the worst are full of intensity. He envisions a "rough beast"—a sphinx-like shape from the Spiritus Mundi—slouching toward Bethlehem to be born.

In "Sailing to Byzantium" ($1927$), Yeats explores the struggle of the aging artist. He describes the physical world as "no country for old men," dominated by "sensual music" and "dying generations." To escape the degradation of the body, which he calls a "tattered coat upon a stick," the speaker seeks the "holy city of Byzantium." He prays to be gathered into the "artifice of eternity," transformed into an immortal object of gold that can sing of the past, present, and future.

Immigrant Voices and Social Realism: Lazarus and McKay

Emma Lazarus provides the defining vision of American welcome in "The New Colossus" ($1883$). Contrasting the statue with the "brazen giant of Greek fame," she characterizes the Statue of Liberty as the "Mother of Exiles." The statue's silent lips demand the "tired," "poor," and "huddled masses yearning to breathe free." This poem established the "golden door" as a symbol of American refuge for the "homeless, tempest-tost."

Claude McKay’s "The Tired Worker" ($1922$) offers a more somber view of labor and the urban experience. The speaker pleads for sleep to wrap their "weary body," but the relief of the night is interrupted by the "dreaded dawn." The poem ends with a lament against the "harsh, the ugly city," reflecting the exhaustion of the working class and the relentless cycle of urban toil.

The American Epic: Walt Whitman’s Celebration of the Body

Walt Whitman’s poetry, particularly from "Children of Adam," is defined by its celebration of the physical form and democratic spirit. In "To the Garden the World," he presents himself as a resurrected Adam, amorous and mature. In "From Pent-up Aching Rivers," he sings of the "song of procreation" and the "muscular urge," celebrating the "perfect body" and the lawless freedom of hawks and fishes.

"I Sing the Body Electric" serves as an encyclopedic treatise on the sanctity of the human form. Whitman argues that "if the body were not the Soul, what is the Soul?" He provides a narrative of an $80$-year-old farmer, a man of "wonderful vigor" who was loved by all. Whitman then moves to a slave auction, where he assists the auctioneer by pointing out the "all-baffling brain" and the potential for "populous states" within the body. He provides an exhaustive anatomical list, from "eye-fringes" to "lung-sponges," asserting that every part is sacred and constitutes the Soul. In "A Woman Waits for Me," he emphasizes that sex contains all—bodies, souls, meanings, and the "maternal mystery"—rejecting "impassive women" in favor of those who are "warm-blooded and sufficient."

Confessional Poetry: The Personal as Political in Anne Sexton

Anne Sexton’s work is characterized by its raw exploration of female experience. "The Abortion" recounts a journey to Pennsylvania where the speaker "changed my shoes, and then drove south" to an appointment with a "little man" who "took the fullness that love began." The refrain "Somebody who should have been born is gone" emphasizes the lingering sense of loss and the "logic" that leads to such a result.

In "Menstruation at Forty," Sexton explores the biological clock and the longing for a son she will never have, naming him David or Susan. She frames her body within the context of her family history, noting she is a "third daughter" and describing her impending death on her name day. "45 Mercy Street" is a dream-like search for a past represented by a specific address. The speaker wanders through Beacon Hill and Back Bay, looking for a house with Spode cupboards and a silver ice boat. The search is a metaphor for an "unfindable" sense of mercy or belonging in an "oily life."

Structural Elements of Poetry and the Evolution of the Novel

Poetry incorporates various technical elements including rhyme (consonant or assonant), scansion (the study of feet like iambs, trochees, anapests, dactyls, and spondees), and meter (monometer through hexameter). Common forms include the sonnet (Shakespearean or Petrarchan), the ode, and free verse. Key devices include enjambment, the volta (the turn in a sonnet), and extended metaphors.

In the realm of the novel, various sub-genres have evolved to address different facets of the human condition. These include the epistolary novel (written in letters), the picaresque (adventures of a rogue), the Bildungsroman (growth of a character), and the Kunstlerroman (growth of an artist). Modern techniques include stream of consciousness and the "nouveau roman." Furthermore, the material references terms related to mid-$1980$s politics and feminism, including the world of "Gilead" from "The Handmaid's Tale," featuring specialized terminology such as "Unwoman," "Particicution," "Prayvaganza," and "Econowives."