Good morning everybody. How are you today? I know
it's the middle of the week and everybody's busy,
yeah? But still, I think you're busy writing
responses and reports. I think last class was
interesting or boring or both. So let's see
somebody who did not attend the class. Is it
difficult to report? You watched the class. Good.
So yes, please come here.
Every some days of pursuit of some change drew me
parallels with Howard's cryptic texts, so I
drafted these lines. An-an-chi-chi-an-chi-an,
there goes my Palestine, proposed at the UN. The
sweet season of spring swept the region, Obama
said, from Tunisia to Egypt to Libya, and Bashar
is about to end. The swift swallow pursues the
dictators. Winter is worn to a spectrum of
rebirth. Palestine is being reborn, Abbas's words
rung. But for my unfortunate land, only sorrow
sprung. Not that I mind a V2 from a snake, for
their hypocrisy is revealed, and my struggle is
never to shake. Wow, thank you. I think we should
clap for her. I like this report. Yes, she did not
attend the class, but she had a chance to watch
the video of that class, and this is like an
advantage of having this class running like this.
Good. I need another report. And this time, I
should choose one, yes.
At the lecture, I sat on my chair, but I didn't
prepare. My teacher pointed at me to read my
report. I hadn't prepared yet, but I forced her to
read it. My face was sore, but I tried to hide it.
My reading was so fast because of my fright. After
my reading in the class, I sat with a relax. Okay,
good. Thank you. So I think everybody is turning
into a poet in this class. But let us remind
ourselves of the things we did in the class last
time. I think we talked about our initial
response. And we just talked about certain
aesthetic elements of the poem in general. Today,
we're going to paraphrase, to come close to the
poem, and to see how the poem is beautiful. Last
time we agreed that, if you remember,
we
agreed that the poem had a wonderful description
of spring, and most of you thought that The
description was wonderful because of the images,
because of the figures of speech, because of the
music, because of the sound. So let us be like
today, more like closer to the poem itself. You
see here the suit season that bud and the bloom
forth brings, with the green that clad the hill
and eke the vale. The nightingale with feathers
now she sings. The turtle to her make hath told
her tale. Summer is coming, for every spray now
springs. The heart hath hung his old head on the
pane. The buck in prey his winter coat he flings.
The fishes float with the new repaired scale. The
other, all her slough away she slings. The swift
swallow pursues the fly's smell. The busy bee, her
honey now she minks. Winter is won. That was the
flowers made. And thus, and thus I see among these
pleasant things. Each care decays, and yet my
sorrow springs. Thing is, you could have, or you
could read it differently. I just read it for
demonstration.
To paraphrase this poem is not to analyze it, you
know, to paraphrase. I want you to understand
that the paraphrasing of the poem is only one part
of the meaning. So it is not like we can
paraphrase in order to comment. As you see here,
like right from the very beginning, the poet shows
how strong, the drive of life is in spring. You
know, spring, as we said, is always associated
with rebirth. And here, like, okay, this season is
budding. You know, the season is budding. And
here, of course, you have a metonymy. When we say
the season, it means like budding. It is like the
whole spring is like a tree, which is budding. But
we see that the season is like a person that is
covering the whole vista with green color. Do you
know what I mean? So the season, the bud and the
bloom forth brings. When the green hath clad the
hill and eke, they fade. So right from the very
beginning, you know, the writer wants to show us
that this beauty or, you know, this revival is
dominating the whole scene. And you see this
personification of the spring itself. The spring is
like what? Like a man who is trying to cover, you
know, with a green color. The Nightingale. with
feathers now she sings." Accordingly, you know,
like, because it is a season of rebirth, so we
expect that everything is going to be jovial,
happy, you know? So it is not like, the
nightingale with feathers now she sings. I'm
paraphrasing. The nightingale is happy and, you
know, singing the most melodious songs. The turtle
to her make hath told her tale. Again, the turtle
dove, like, we have a male and a female, and, you
know, because, you know, they are exchanging, you
know, love relationship, uniting here with
feathers now, she sings, the turtle to her mate
and told her tale. Summer has come, so it's a
declaration, like all the creatures are declaring
that summer is coming. And summer in England is
interchangeable with spring.
So sometimes it is difficult to know which is
summer and spring. So summer is equivalent to
spring in England. Summer has come for every
spring that now springs. Every tree, every branch
of a tree is springing, is sprouting. The heart
has hung his whole, his whole head on the pale.
The heart. You know, a male deer is, you know, I
mean, in winter, usually, a lot of animals
hibernate. You know what means hibernate? Just
they become dormant. They are not active. But when
spring comes, They go and, like, you know, they
are given a new life. And they become very active.
The buck, which is, you know, again, a male deer
or, you know, a rabbit, in break his winter coat,
he flings. It's like rebirth. It's regeneration.
Even the skin. Everything is acquiring a new
garment. The fishes float with a new rebirth. Like
here, you see, it's not only the land, but it is
also the sea. The other, the other, you know, the
snake, all her slough away she slings. You know,
the other gets rid of the old garment. It's called
slough. And the swift swallow pursues, is flying
from one branch of a tree to another in order to
kill a fly. The busy bee, the busy bee, I mean,
the bees, of course, in summer, because, you know,
like there are a lot of flowers, so bees are busy
going to every flower to suck what? The nectar,
not honey, you know? Like before, the nectar is
being processed, it becomes apple, you know? But
again, I think you smell now. Did you start to
smell? Like when you read this poem and I think
you imagine and our senses are invoked. And this
is the beauty of the poem because this poem is
full of sensual imagery, imagery that appeals to
our senses. The busy bee, her honey now she makes,
it's The busy bee is trying to collect nectar.
Very busy. Winter is won again. It is another
declaration to show that everything has changed.
Winter is parallel to summer. Has come and winter
is behind. No more hibernation. No more death.
Everything now is given a new life. So it's a
reminder that this is spring. This is a month of
rebirth.
Winter is warm, that was the flowers pale. And
then, you know, and thus, I see among these
pleasant things. Our poet, you know, is leaving
this behind, and he's talking about himself. And
thus, I see among these pleasant things, each care
decays, each cares come to an end. My sorrow
springs. I think we feel sorry for him. He's very
gentle. He's very polite. Now, let us approach
this poem from
an aesthetic point of view. Let's look at the
rhyme, the rhythm, the figures of speech, the
alliteration. So why is it beautiful? A lot of you
say it's beautiful. I like this description. Why?
You know? How, like, if you look at, you know,
spring here, it is like when you read and, like,
employ, you know, or imagine, so your senses are
invoked, and then you imagine the whole scene, the
whole scene is enacted. You know what I mean,
enacted? Is brought to life by the virtue of our
senses, because, you know, this is full of
imagery. Look at the season. You know, itself, the
color, it's a visual image, which makes us imagine
the whole vista being green. The nightingale with
its melodious songs, the sound image is
introduced. So we are, you know, given an image of
a very lively scene of rebirth. Okay? But what I
noticed, like, in the first slide, this suit
season. Okay, suit season, like, there is sound.
It's similar. We have this, you know? So it's very
musical, the sound image. And this is parallel
with the bird, like the birds that are twittering
and say, you know? Like, when I read it, I just
imagine like this, you know? They are doing this.
But what attracted my attention to the, you know,
is the alliteration of bud and the bloom and
brings. Bub, bub, bub, you know? Now these, this
alliteration is associated with, you know, power.
Power, you know? And what does this mean? You
know, what does this imply? Yes?
It implies his suffering. Yes.
Yes, that's better. Yeah, the change, the drive of
image. What kind of image is this? Yeah, when
you're like a nightingale. It's sound. Visual. It's
a visual. And even what we call a kinetic image.
Kinetic because there is movement. We imagine,
we see, we listen, like to the nightingale. So the
nightingale is jovial. Why? Because it is, you
know, this is the atmosphere of happiness. This is
the atmosphere of celebration. The nightingale
with feathers. Now, you know, new she sings. New
feathers. You know? Like here, we have this, what
we call, you know, it is molting. So everything is
given a new shape, a new appearance, a new skin, a
new garment. It's regeneration. The turtle to her
make hath told her tale. Here, you know, again, we
said last time if you remember that our friend, I
mean, the poet was you know, noble, and he was
very polite. He was of noble birth, and this is
like a kind of euphemism. Like, he didn't want,
like, to speak about things explicitly, you know,
and we said this is like the, you know, atmosphere
of regeneration. It's, you know, so multiplication
is there because everything is multiplying.
Everything is reproducing. Summer has come for
every now, for every spray now springs. Summer has
come. Again, we are reminded of the advent of
summer. Advent, the arrival of summer. Summer has
come. For every spray now springs. Again, the
alliteration shows how You know, everything was,
it shows how lovely the scene was by itself. The
heart has hung his whole, his whole head on the
pain. Look hard. You know, it's like, you know,
pounding out because everybody is, oh my God, is
taken by surprise. You know, it is everybody is
taken by surprise by this advent and jovial scene.
The heart has hung his old head on the pale buck.
In brain, his winter coat he flings. I think, you
know, all these are personifications. And we said,
what is a personification? It is like assigning
Yes.
You're right. So this description is vivid by the
virtue of imagery and by the virtue of
personification. Because the whole picture is
animated for us. Why? Because we have a lot of
personifications.
The fishes float with a new repaired scale. Again,
you know, here we are, you know, the writer is
like zooming somewhere else. He's zooming the
river, the sea. So he's reminding us that this
change is entire, is comprehensive. It is not
excluded to one area. The fishes float with a new
repaired scale.
The other. It's a reptile. So reptile, animals,
birds, you know, everything. The other, all her
slough, away she slings. Imagine how lovely, you
know, I know it's a frightening image, but still
like there is something beautiful about, you know,
the skin or the slough of a snake. The swift
swallow. The swift swallow. It's a visual,
kinetic, sound image. The swift swallow. Away she
slings. The swift swallow pursues the fly's snail.
It's, you know, this is how regeneration happens.
We have the image of life and death. So as you see
here, you know, okay, Regeneration means like some
creatures feed on the other creatures. So it is
life. The swift swallow pursues the fly, you know?
And perhaps the swallow can be swallowed by what?
By the, you know, the other. So it is, this is
nature. It's the cycle. The busy bee, her honey,
now she sings. It's an image of a busy bee. And we
said this busy bee, it is an example of
onomatopoeia.
Onomatopoeia. You know? It shows how vital and
active, you know, the creatures are. The busy bee,
her honey, now she sings. It's busy. Winter is
war. Were the flowers pale? Winter is behind. It's
another declaration reminding us this is
everything has changed. And then suddenly, you
know, we have the poet drawing attention to his
own situation. And thus, and thus, I see among
these pleasant things, these pleasant things.
Still like they are in front of him, not those.
Each curve decays, and yet my sorrow springs. I
think this line, each curve decays, each curve
comes to an end, yet my sorrow springs. Look here,
the last line is broken. It's broken by the pause.
And the pause is represented by, you know, the
grammatical. There is like a new sentence. So
there's a pause and a new sentence. And this is
what we call in poetry, Suzura. Suzura, it is a
pause. It is something, you know, in the middle of
the line. It's a break. So it could be structural.
It could be, you know, pause. And each care. So
when we read it, we say, and each care decays. And
like there is a pause. My soul springs. It's a
paradox, isn't it? What is the paradox? Paradox
and irony. The paradox is like how, you know,
because
You know, like sorrow is springing. Sorrow is
springing. We like spring. When something springs,
you know, it is changing from, you know, to a
better case. However, like this is, you know,
aggravating. The sorrow is aggravating, springing.
But as we said, here we have a wonderful
technique. You know, in stylistics, we call it the
technique of, you know, juxtaposition. As you see,
like juxtaposed to put things, you know, side by
side. So what is being juxtaposed here? What is
being juxtaposed? The spring? And? And the sorrow
of the poet. Yes, they are juxtaposed. Like, or
spring? You know? And the situation of the poet.
So this spring is changing. Spring is beautiful.
And the situation of the poet remains as it is.
And even it's getting worse because sorrow is
springing, is increasing. So this kind of
juxtaposition spawns or generates the irony. You
know what I mean? The irony? Now, the situation
has become very ironical. How come? How come
everything is changing and your situation remains
the same? So here, we have a sense of irony.
Everything around the poet is changing, but his
situation is not. Of course, all these, as I told
you, we cannot discuss every single aesthetic
element in every poem we are studying. But we can
have some of these, and you can add something if
you need to add. Now, this is, as we said, it is
not Henry Howard who introduced this subject.
But it was Sir Thomas Wyatt. However, he developed
this on him. And if you look here, you see that
what kind of development he did. What kind of
development? Yes? The division of three quatrains.
So what do you mean by that? Okay. What do you
mean by three quatrains? Yes, like we have three
stanzas. Each stanza is made of four lines and we
have a couplet. So this is a kind of departure, a
departure from the Petrarchan sunnah form. The
Petrarchan was rigid a little bit because you
have the octave and the system here as you see. A,
you know, and here it is made clear.
A, you know, A, B, A, B, and then C,
E, C, R3. A B. A B. Okay, sorry.
Yes.
It's escaping, yeah?
Yes. A B. A, B, you know, A, B, A, B, A, B. So you
have like three quadrants, you know, and, you
know, a couplet, you know, you can say A, A, or if
you want to give it a neuron, you can say E, E. So
like we are having a more flexible form, a more
flexible form.
Henry Howard also, you know, this poem is written
in iambic pentameter. And we said the iambic
pentameter is very musical. So if you look at the,
su, si, za, da, ba, and lu, fourth brains, it is
ti, tam, ti, tam. It should be like this, su, si,
za, da, ba, and lu, fourth brains. It's very
musical. And I think this is apt for the scene
itself. We mentioned, like, when we were doing the
introduction, how iambic pentameter is very, so
this is very systematic. He was fond of using the
iambic pentameter, and even, like, he invented
blank verse, and the blank verse was unrhymed, you
know, unrhymed.
I don't want you to be disturbed, but look here,
you just like look with the green, it is
unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed,
unstressed, stressed. Like the choice of this was
like to show some musicality. Some writers might
play with these, you know, with the meter for some
purposes. Here, he's not playing. It is like he's
presenting, you know, the whole Ayurvedic
pentameter. Okay? Now, let us go to the critical
plan. And, you know, I ask you to prepare the
critical plan. And in the critical plan, if you
remember this part, we are warned, we are
admonished not to be hasty. So, because, you know,
I thought some of you, when you read Description
of Spring, you jump to this conclusion that, you
know, this poem is about spring, and you fail to
read the last couplet. Did it happen to you? Did
it happen to you? Yeah, at the beginning, the poem
is intriguing. You just look and you say, wow,
this is a wonderful description of spring. And
suddenly you ignore. Like, you know, certain lines.
In the critical plan, you are admonished, like the
part I gave you. We should read the poem from the
very beginning, you know, before we give a
judgment or before we talk about, you know, the
theme of the poem. We have to read the poem as a
And those students who came to that conclusion
have not read the poem, have not looked at the
final, you know, two stanzas or the penultimate
and the final stanza. Yes, they are two soldiers.
They were tumbled by the same ship. You know,
these students failed to see the irony. They
failed to, you know, feel the sarcastic tone of
the writer. Like, yes, they died. One was a hero.
He died as a hero, and one died as a hero, and the
other died as a coward. But what did Sgt. Smith
say about him? What did he do? Old Sgt. Smith,
kindest of men, wrote out two copies of his
accustomed speech. Like he was writing, You know,
this is his way of writing speech. You know, when
a soldier dies, speeches and funerals are given,
you know, memorials, you know, just to speak
about, like, the person who died. To cheer, like,
what was the purpose? To cheer the womenfolk of
each. So the purpose was sentimental. It was not
genuine at all. And what did he say? Each one, he
died a hero's death. Do you think each one died as
a hero? Because one said, mother, mother, he was
like a child. And others say, oh God, and you
know, he was cursed. This is what happened. So
look here, is he true? Is he honest? Or is he a
liar? He's a liar. He died a hero's death. And we
all his comrades of our company, look how he is a
liar. Look how he is sentimental. You know what it
means? He wants us to cry. He wants to force us to
cry. We deeply regret his death. We shall all
deeply miss Surah Al-Bukhari.
Very rare. Very, a liar. Hypocrisy. So I think,
you know, reading the two lines will make us
change our mind about the whole poem. So we cannot
say that this poem is about the reversal of, you
know, the fortune of the two soldiers. We cannot
say. Who can tell me what is it about then? After
reading. Like here, the story is clear, as you
see. Here, he's like assigning the place. It is a
place, you know, Martin Puce's Night of Hell. Two
men were struck by the same shell. It was a shell,
artillery shell, together tumbling in one heap.
Senseless and limbless, without limbs, like
slaughtered sheep. One was pale, 18. He's telling
about each one. One was pale, 18 years, and he was
blue-eyed, very handsome. And he was pressed when
he was young to the war. And the other came and
was like veteran, experienced. He was fighting
everywhere, like the soldiers of Gaddafi. They
were brought from Africa, you know? So he was
fighting everywhere. But when they died, this You
know, this one said, he was like a child. You see?
But you know what the surgeon said, that he was a
hero. So now you come to understand that this poem
is about.
It is? It's about political hypocrisy. It's about
the false idea of heroism. Because sometimes we
exaggerate the achievement of some people. They're
not heroes. They're not heroes. But we think that
they are heroes. You see what I mean? So whenever
you come to
To give a general statement, you have to make sure
to read the poem. This applies to our poem, you
know, like a description of spring. We don't have
to be very hasty. We have to think deeply, you
know. Okay. As you see, we don't have to jump to
this conclusion. This poem is lovely. I like it
very much because it's about regeneration,
rebirth. What about this? And thus I see among
these special things, each care decays and yet my
sorrow spreads. So now, of course, like the title,
Reading this and reading the title would make you
come to this conclusion that this poem seems to be
about court love. But we see here like he's a
little bit different from our previous poet
because he's less offensive. He's very polite.
He's very gentle. He's not a degrading woman. He
is implying. And thus I see among these pleasant
things each care decays, and yet my soul springs."
You know? He just like won our hearts, won our
compassion by this novel. He's very novel, huh?
Okay. Now, you know, some of you might, I say it
seems to be about courtly love. Because in the
morning, you know, when I was reading this poem, I
said, wait a minute. It might not be about court
life. It might be about the king's relationship
with other courtiers. It could be about the court
life. And because he was in prison, he was like
the king was angry with him all the time. So he
was referring to the life Of the court, everybody
in the court was having his place except him. So
this is another reading of the poem. He might be
referring to his political or unsuccessful
political career in the court of Henry VIII,
because Henry VIII, as I told you, was you know,
very changeable, was very whimsical, eccentric,
his behavior, he was not like, he didn't like
anybody to rival him, and this man, like, was a
rival, that's why he was beheaded. And in fact, I
wanted to show you today like the scene of his
trial, but hopefully next time before we start
like our next poem, I can show you this. Okay,
this is enough about the poem, but if you have any
question, you know, you can ask before that. Of
course, now it is your responsibility to write,
you know, to write. I mean, a critical account of
this. You can piece up together things we said in
the lecture and bring them together. Like you can
write about the theme, you can write about the
rhyme, about the music, about this and that, about
figurative language in this poem. Any question?
Let me thank you. And next time, hopefully, we're
going to see another poem, which is, I think, no,
Litany? Yeah, Litany. We're talking about Sir
Philip Sidney. Sir Philip Sidney. And we will be
living also in the critical plan, the same part.
Thank you very much and see you next time.