Poetry and Song
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Essay3PoetryandSongPlan2021.pptxEssay 3: Poetry and Song
ENC 1102
The Poems: choose two from one category or choose one poem and one song in the same category.
Love
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds” and “My mistress’ eyes” by William Shakespeare (pp.501 and 614)
“To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell (p.601)
“When You Are Old” by W.B. Yeats (p.615)
Growing Up
“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden (p.414)
“in Just-“ by E.E. Cummings (p.457)
“White Lies” by Natasha Trethewey (p.439)
“Rite of Passage” by Sharon Olds (p.395)
Social/Political Issues
“Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen (p.442)
“London” by William Blake (p.467)
“Musée des Beaux Arts” by W.H. Auden, (p.611)
Making Life Choices
“The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden (p.437)
“The Ruined Maid” by Thomas Hardy (p.456)
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, (p. 579)
Assignment
ENC1102 – Essay #3
For this assignment, there is one question which you should apply to one of the themes on the syllabus: ‘Love,’ ‘Social Issues,’ ‘Growing Up,’ or ‘Making Life Choices.’
Select two poems (with an option to substitute one song for one of the poems) from the group. What does each poem say about the subject and what is one poetical feature you find interesting in them? Which poem has the most relevance to modern life, in your view?
Introduction + Thesis (Introducing the 2 poems and the controlling idea)
Each poet’s attitude to the theme (love, social issues, growing up) – 1 paragraph for each poem
Analysis of the poems – 1-2 paragraphs: compare and contrast one poetic feature of the two poems or the poem and song. The features you may choose from are:
Imagery
Symbolism
figurative language (metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, etc.)
speaker and audience
tone
one or more aspects of structure and sound: rhyme, stanzas, alliteration, onomatopoeia, enjambment
Analysis of the theme 1 paragraph: Brief discussion as to which of the two poems selected is more relevant today. If the poems relate to social issues, for example, which poem’s issues seem more prevalent today in America in 2021? In what way(s)? Give some examples.
Coherence Be sure to use transitional devices to make connections between the various parts of the essay
Length: Around 3-4 pages
Reference/ Secondary Sources: not required
Format: MLA
Deadline: Saturday, April 24, by 11:59 p.m. on Blackboard.
“Warning” by Jenny Joseph (1961)
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells And run my stick along the public railings And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain And pick flowers in other people's gardens And learn to spit. You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat And eat three pounds of sausages at a go Or only bread and pickle for a week And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes. But now we must have clothes that keep us dry And pay our rent and not swear in the street And set a good example for the children. We must have friends to dinner and read the papers. But maybe I ought to practice a little now? So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
At Lunchtime by Roger McGough (1967)
When the busstopped suddenly to avoid damaging a mother and child in the road, the younglady in the greenhat sitting opposite was thrown across me, and not being one to miss an opportunity I started to makelove with all my body.
At first, she resisted saying that it was tooearly in the morning and too soon after breakfast and that anyway she found me repulsive. But when I explained that this being a nuclearage,the world was going to end at lunchtime, she tookoff her greenhat, put her bus ticket into her pocket and joined in the exercise.
The buspeople, and therewere many of them, were shockedandsurprised, and amused- andannoyed, but when word got around that the world was coming to an end at lunchtime, they put their pride in their pockets with their bustickets and madelove one with the other. And even the busconductor, feeling left out climbed into the cab and struck up some sort of relationship with the driver.
Thatnight, on the bus coming home, wewere all alittle embarrassed, especially me and the younglady in the green hat, and we all started to say in different ways howhasty and foolish we had been. Butthen, always having been a bitofalad, i stood up and said it was a pity that the world didn’t nearly end every lunchtime, and that we could always pretend. And then it happened . . .
Quick asa flash we all changed partners, and soon the bus was aquiver with white mothball bodies doing naughty things.
And the next day and everyday In everybus In everystreet In everytown In everycountry
People pretended that the world was coming to an end at lunchtime. It still hasn’t. Although in a way it has.
The Introduction
Introduce the topic (quotation, question(s), ‘funnel’, etc.)
Give the full titles of the poems with the full names of the two poets
Include a thesis statement as the last sentence (thesis will probably say something about the difference or similarity of the poems despite/ in tune with their common theme)
Writing Introductions
Funnel Method + thesis statement
Narrow-to-broad (Example) + thesis
Historical/General Background + thesis statement
Opposite Idea + thesis statement
One or More Questions + thesis statement
Quotation + thesis statement
Narrative + thesis statement
A Surprising or shocking opening
7
Sample Intro – biographical information/ funnel method
The poets Roger McGough and Jenny Joseph share various biographical details in common. Both were born in the 1930s in the northern provinces of England; McGough is from Liverpool and Joseph from Birmingham. Both also attended university in the 1950s and were young during the ‘swinging’ permissive 1960s. As such, they often incorporated critical new perspectives on English life and manners in their poems. Two such examples include Joseph’s “Warning,” written in 1961, and McGough’s “At Lunchtime,” first published in 1967. In the first poem, the speaker fantasizes about a more exuberant life free of the traditional restrictions of English manners and etiquette, while in the second the poet uses a bus journey to work to imagine a world in which people were freer to express feelings of love and passion. Both poems explore the theme of how many English people in the first part of twentieth century were inhibited by strict rules of behavior that suppressed freedom and joy.
Some quotations from a Google search
“The trouble with good manners is that people are persuaded that you are all right, require no protection, are perfectly capable of looking after yourself.” (Anita Brookner)
“Nine times out of 10, the most charming thing to say in any given situation will be the exact opposite of what one really feels.” ― Geoff Dyer, Another Great Day at Sea: Life Aboard the USS George H.W. Bush
“Acceptable hypocrisy is often called politeness.” ― Shannon L. Alder
Sample Intro - Quotation
“The trouble with good manners is that people are persuaded that you are all right, require no protection, are perfectly capable of looking after yourself.” In this quotation, writer Anita Brookner uncovers a dark side to the veneer of politeness and respectability we may present to the world, suggesting that often it is misunderstood as an indicator of contentment and strength when, in fact, the person may feel unhappy and vulnerable. The face behind good manners and respectability has often been a subject of art, particularly in the last century. In poetry, two prime examples are “Warning” by Jenny Joseph, written in 1961, and “At Lunchtime,” written by Roger McGough in 1967. In the first poem, the speaker fantasizes about a more exuberant life free of the traditional restrictions of English manners and etiquette, while in the second the poet uses a bus journey to work to imagine a world in which people are freer to express feelings of love and passion. Both poems explore the theme of how many English people in the first part of twentieth century were inhibited by strict rules of behavior that suppressed freedom and joy.
Sample Intro – Opposite Idea
A common complaint in the 2000s is that too many people now lack courtesy. Online, on the roads, in the workplace, in the marketplace, stories abound of rude, brutish behavior stripped of grace and good manners, and older people often remind us of a golden age in the last century when courtesy reigned supreme. But was that age quite so golden as they claim? In England, at least in the first half of the twentieth century, people were ruled by strict codes politeness that often meant they felt trapped and unable to express themselves honestly. This feeling of entrapment was captured by two poets: Jenny Joseph in “Warning,” written in 1961, and Roger McGough in “At Lunchtime,” first published in 1967. In the first poem, the speaker fantasizes about a more exuberant life free of the traditional restrictions of English manners and etiquette, while in the second the poet uses a bus journey to work to imagine a world in which people were freer to express feelings of love and passion. Both poems explore the theme of how many English people in the first part of twentieth century were inhibited by strict rules of behavior that suppressed freedom and joy.
The body, plan 1
One paragraph explaining the attitude toward the theme in poem 1. Use specific references to words and lines in the poem.
One paragraph analyzing a feature of the poem that you find interesting, again with specific references words and lines in the poem. You might choose any one of the following:
- Imagery
- Symbolism
- Figurative language (metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, etc.)
- Speaker and audience
- Tone
- one or more aspects of structure and sound: rhyme, stanzas, alliteration, onomatopoeia, enjambment
One paragraph explaining the attitude toward the theme in poem 2. Use specific references to words and lines in the poem.
One paragraph analyzing a feature of the poem that you find interesting, again with specific references words and lines in the poem.
One paragraph discussing which poem you find more relevant to the world we live in today.
The body, plan 2
One paragraph explaining the attitude toward the theme in poem 1. Use specific references to words and lines in the poem.
One paragraph explaining the attitude toward the theme in poem 2. Use specific references to words and lines in the poem.
One paragraph analyzing a feature of poem 1 that you find interesting, again with specific references words and lines in the poem. You might choose any one of the following:
- Imagery
- Symbolism
- Figurative language (metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, etc.)
- Speaker and audience
- Tone
- one or more aspects of structure and sound: rhyme, stanzas, alliteration, onomatopoeia, enjambment
One paragraph analyzing a feature of poem 2 that you find interesting, again with specific references words and lines in the poem.
One paragraph discussing which poem you find more relevant to the world we live in today.
Second paragraph about the poet’s exploration of the theme
In “Warning,” Jenny Joseph describes how strict codes of manners and behavior can lead to wild and futile fantasies. In the first verse, this fantasy is articulated when she tells the audience that one day, when she is old, she will behave in ways that will shock and disturb other people. She will wear loud, ill-matched clothes, grab samples in shops, make an unholy noise by running her stick against street railings and start spitting. In the second verse, she invites her husband, whom she has always kept in check, to join in by dressing badly, eating unhealthily, and storing useless junk. Verse three then gives us some background to these dreams of social rebellion; she belongs to the English middle-class which, from childhood, is raised in an atmosphere of strict respectability and “sobriety.” It is a world of always playing safe and where every act, from reading the newspapers on Sunday to polite dinner parties with friends, feeds into an existence of self-denial and dullness. A note of self-doubt is, however, struck in the last verse when she considers, “Maybe I ought to practice a little now.” Perhaps subliminally, she realizes that we do not “suddenly” become old, and that if we wish to change our lives, we must do so now and incorporate change that does not hurt or alienate others. However, the use of the word “maybe” communicates the speaker’s lack of conviction, and the reader is left with the feeling that the speaker is too well trained in self-control ever to attempt any significant change.
Third Paragraph: language/style + Quoting from a poem
Imagery of everyday behavior and objects is used in “Warning” to suggest both entrapment and liberation, and one set of these images has to do with clothing. The first reference to clothing occurs immediately: “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple / With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me” (line 1). We can interpret the speaker’s disregard for traditional good taste in dress as a contempt for the kind of middle-class respectable behavior that inhibits her from speaking and acting as she pleases. This behavior may include going to middle-class get-togethers and parties, sustaining superficial relationships with people, only talking about safe subjects, and avoiding anything unusual or extreme. Her choice of ill-matching clothes in garish colors suggests an urge to be aggressive and disrespectful, while the subdued and tasteful clothes we assume she wishes to discard suggest the kinds of modest, quiet, and calm ways of speaking and acting that normally characterize her life. In the verse 2, she turns her attention to her husband’s clothes when she tells him: “You can wear terrible shirts” (line 12). On one level, she is saying that she will let him dress how he likes without her usual controls. On another, however, we might infer she is suggesting that she will not seek to control his behavior in more serious ways. The “terrible shirts” might be construed as the kind of behavior that might horrify respectable neighbors, such as singing loudly, eating in public or getting a tattoo. A final reference to clothing involves both herself and her husband: “But now we must have clothes that keep us dry” (line16). The reader may assume here that the clothes she mentions do not only protect the family from actual rain but can be interpreted in a larger, symbolic sense. They represent the kinds of behavioral, social, and financial protections that keep the speaker’s family safe from the intrusion of unconventional or risky experiences into their lives. Such intrusions might involve taking up a new hobby, reading and learning about challenging ideas, reevaluating their marriage, changing jobs to something more fulfilling, or going to live an a more beautiful and stimulating place. These are exciting but threatening experiences that might shatter their comfortable but dull middle-class existence. In this way, imagery of clothing is used to denote lifestyle choices of freedom and confinement.
Sample Final Paragraph
While both poems continue to have relevance, “Warning” resonates more with me than “At Lunchtime.” Perhaps the recent scandals surrounding the MeToo movement make the kind of scene depicted in McGough’s poem seem threatening in a way it would not have done to an adult audience in the swinging sixties. “Warning,” on the other hand, translates better to 2021. Both in social situations and the workplace, many people find themselves, like the speaker in the poem, playing safe by saying and doing things to avoid causing offense rather than to express who they really are. Most of us grow up pretending to like things we do not like and not like things we do. At 15, I learned that I was supposed to like the avant-garde comedy show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” when I actually thought it unfunny. At college, I learned that eating burning hot curries and drinking beer elevated a young man’s status in the group, and later at work that one is wise to applaud and adopt the ideas and policies of one’s superiors rather than one’s own. Today in the US, we know that there are ways of being and speaking that keep us in favor and ways that do not. Generally, we learn that clothes which keep us dry are more comfortable than those which let in the rain and that to wear purple at the ceremonial dinner, figuratively speaking, is fraught with danger. That said, life certainly becomes more interesting and often more fulfilling when we do have the nerve to be ourselves.
