Analysis of Keats' "Bright Star"

The Composition of "Bright Star

Keats wrote "Bright Star" in 1819 and revised it in 1820, perhaps on the (final) voyage to Italy. Friends and his doctor had urged him to try a common treatment for tuberculosis, a trip to Italy; however, Keats was aware that he was dying. Some critics have theorized that this poem was addressed to his fiance, Fanny Brawne, and connect the poem to his May 3, 1818 letter to her.

Definitions and Allusions

The word colored pink in the middle column is defined by the pink text in the third column.

line 1	Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--	Unchanging, constant
line 2	Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night!	Above, high over the earth. Keats is pointing out the star's isolation, as well as a positive quality, its splendour. Its separateness contasts with the poet's relationship with his beloved later.
line 3	And watching, with eternal lids apart,	Eyelids. The star's isolation is implicit in its watching and in its not participating. It never sleeps. There is also a lack of motion in these lines.
line 4	Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,	Hermit,usually with a religious connotation. Emphasizing the star's sleeplessness is part of the characterization of the star's non-humanness, which makes it an impossible goal for a human being to aspire to.
line 5	The moving waters at their priestlike task	The rise and the fall of the tides twice a day are seen as a religiously performed ritual. With the poem's shift to earth, there is movement and aliveness, as well as spirituality ("priestlike").
line 6	Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,	A religious cleaning; ritual washing. This reference continues the religious imagery of "Eremite" and "priestlike." "Human" is what the poet is and the star is not.
line 7	Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask	The "mask" is the covering of snow on the ground. This snow has pleasing connotations, being "new" and "soft." All the moon can do is "gaze."
line 8	Of snow upon the mountains and the moors-	Beauty (the snow) is found in diverse places on earth. The alliteration (repetition of M sounds) stresses the connection of these words.
line 9	No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,	The poet turns again to himself; "Still" has two meanings here: (1) always or ever and (2) motionless.
line 10	Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,	Movement and change in human life are introduced with "ripening," a contrast to the star.
line 11	To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,	"Fall and swell" are also change and movement . "Soft" intensifies the sensuality introduced with "pillow'd."
line 12	Awake for ever in a sweet unrest	In contrast to the eternal sleeplessness and motionlessness of the star, the poet's not sleeping is active ("awake"). Now change or flux becomes desireable, "sweet unrest," an oxymoron.
line 13	Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,	Repetition ("still" is used 4 times in 5 lines) emphasizes time/timelessness for human beings. "Breath" is flux, and "tender" makes it positive.
line 14	And so live ever--or else swoon to death.	Three of the last four lines use "for ever" or "ever," emphasizing steadfastness in time or eternity, but it is an eternity of love, passion and sensuality. In a swift reversal, the poet accepts the possibilty of dying from pleasure. "Swoon" has sexual overtones; orgasm is often compared to a dying (the French term for orgasm is le petit morte, or the small death). Because of its position as the last word in the poem and because of being an accented syllable, "death" carries a great deal of weight in the final effect and meaning of the poem.

 

Analysis of "Bright Star"

In the first line, the poet expresses his desire for an ideal--to be as steadfast as a star--an ideal which cannot be achieved by a human being in this world of change or flux, as he comes to realize by the end of the poem. In fact, he is unable to identify even briefly with the star; immediately, in line 2, he asserts a negative, "not." And lines 2-8 reject qualities of the star's steadfastness . Even the religious imagery is associated with coldness and aloneness; moreover, the star is cut off from the beauties of nature on earth.      Once the poet eliminates the non-human qualities of the star, he is left with just the quality of steadfastness. He can now define steadfastness in terms of human life on earth, in the world of love and movement. As in so many poems, Keats is grappling with the paradox of the desire for permanence and a world of timelessness and eternity (the star) while living in a world of time and flux. The paradox is resolved by the end of the poem: joy and fulfillment are to be found here, now; he needs no more. There is a possible ambiguity in the last line; is Keats saying that even if love doesn't enable him to live forever, he will die content in ecstasy and love?

Analysis of Ted Hughes' "Crow Tyrannosaurus" & "Pike"

                                                     Ted  Hughes

Crow Tyrannosaurus

1. The title "Crow Tyrannosaurus" reflects several of the motifs of his poem. The theme of the constant transformation is captured in the juxtaposition of "crow," a bird, and "tyrannosaurus," a dinosaur, to which we know the bird, is the closest modern relative. Continuation of life through death--the bird killing insects for sustenance, then the cat eating the bird, the dog consuming the cat, the man's very body likened to a slaughterhouse, and finally his decay and being eaten by the very worms stabbed by the crow--is also conveyed by the title's suggestion of the lineage of survivors. Interestingly, the two creatures appear in reverse chronological order in the title. I interpret this as zeroing in on the poem's preoccupation with the life cycle coming "full circle"--that the highest on the food chain eventually, through its death, supports the lowliest of life forms--and in this way alludes to a very "samsaric" conception of earthly life.

2. The first stanza sets the tone for the rest of the poem. It highlights a conflicting image in which we see the creation inherent in life and the suffering inherent in death that characterizes an absurd world. We see "creation" in the first line, but then Hughes goes on to describe it as "a cortege / Of mourning and lament." Pairing creation with mourning and lament seems unusual and contradictory. Furthermore, cortege literally denotes a funeral procession. So right off the bat, the reader is confronted with a paradoxical view of life and death, of creation and suffering, in the same image. As the poem unfolds, Hughes uses specific words with negative connotations to describe the actions of consuming food to preserve life. We see "the cat's body writhed / Gagging," the dog, a "bulging filterbag," and man being a "walking / Abattoir / Of innocents." Hughes uses all these negative words to describe an action that is necessary to preserve life and perpetuate creation. Together, these elements help illustrate a darkly ironic image of life and death, creation and suffering, that reflect the aspects of an absurd world.

(The way in which Hughes writes the third stanza helps the reader visualize its content. The first verse of the third stanza establishes that "The cat’s body writhed" (line 9). Next, the cat begins to "gag," which causes the cat to choke and pause (line 10). Hughes only places one word in this verse contrasting with the longer length of the previous verse. The narrowing of the tenth verse represents the narrowing of the cat's throat due to "gagging." Hughes then describes "A tunnel," which is also narrow and appears as a short verse on the page (line 11). Finally, the last verse of the stanza lengthens as Hughes depicts the "incoming-death struggles" (line 12). This lengthening reflects the numerous sorrows and death that the cat has caused.)

3. The poem is very interesting in the way that is talks about death. The poet uses words that are very graphic but also words that are somewhat sympathetic to the material being covered. This varied use of language is indicative of the crow’s mentality as the poem progresses. In the beginning, the crow devours everything in sight and is frightened by the terrible cries and shrills he hears. As he continues to eat the bodies of various animals he wants the terror to end, but his appetite is not easily satisfied. He realizes that he "ought to stop eating" but he sees more food and cannot control himself. Thus the sorrow of both the crow and the animals he hungers for remain filled with sorrow. ▲

4. The term “;innocents”; alludes to the cycle of life and death and the food chain to which we are constrained. The past 3 stanzas talk about basically how insects are eaten by birds, which are eaten by cats and dogs. Finally, since humans are at the top of the food chain, we inevitably have to consume and kill these “;innocents”; in order to quench our hunger. He questions this by saying “;ought I to stop eating,”; but ultimately there can be no other way. Perhaps the title is appropriate for this moral dilemma because a crow is known to be one of the most intelligent birds while a Tyrannosaurus Rex is often ascribed to being a ferocious killer/carnivore.

5. Hughes provides many words that are appealing to the readers' eye and ears throughout the poem in which helps the readers to effectively visualize the scene. The word “;quaked”;(1) helps the readers to hear and look the scene just like the crow in the scene. In stanza 7, the crow sees a grub and shows the readers how he kills it by stabbing, but Hughes also provides word “;weeping”; of the grub (the crow might have also wept), the poem ends with a sentence ending with “;the ear's deafness”; (33) which indirectly reveals the mercilessness of the crow.

6. The words used in this poem created very dramatic and violent images. Hughes creates a monster that won't stop killing. However, it is apparent from this stanza that the monster does not want to kill. This idea is apparent in the line, "Alas/ Alas, ought I/ to stop eating and try to become the light?" The monster believes once he stops killing, he will become 'light," this term gives a positive connotation. The word light reminded me of the association to the color white, which commonly stands for peace. In comparison to this, the monster feels dark and regrets his killings. Even though the monster wants to stop killing, he cannot help but to kill. The repetition of the word "weeping" shows the monster does not want to kill, because he is crying while he is killing.

7. The Crow has to stab the grub, simply because he is Crow. At first, he is aware of the suffering involved: 'he heard weeping', and sympathetically weeps himself. But, paradoxically, this very weeping improves his eyesight for the grubs that enables him to kill and makes him deaf to the suffering involved. Suffering and death is a trap, which Crow cannot seem to escape but he can ignore it. The reader also gets a stabbing feeling because there is no punctuation and they are fragmented giving the feeling of pecking at the ground. He is not concerned with the situation of the grubs because it is natural to eat when hungry, almost a reflex action.

8. I don't know if this is just Ted Hughes style as I haven't read a lot of his work, but the enjambment of lines really slows the poem down, forcing the reader to focus on very specific, distinct ideas and images. In addition to slowing the poem down, I think the almost illogical structure of sentences makes it difficult to comprehend on a larger scale; we pay too much attention to detail. To solve this, Hughes uses a lot of repetition, which helps the reader go back to past ideas and relate different parts of the poem with one another, or when repetition is more concentrated into one area, clarity is gained because the repeated words stand out, giving the reader a general sense of what the most important concepts are. ▲

The “;eye's roundness”; that comes at the expense of the “;ear's deafness”; is a result of the primal nature of animals to hunt and kill. Just as the crow kills and eats the worm, and so on and so forth, humans are described as a walking slaughterhouse. While the crow does questions whether or not he should resist and “;become the light”;, the following line, “;But his eyes saw a grub. And his head, trapsprung, stabbed”;, shows that this mental hesitation is taken over by the physical instinct to kill and survive. By comparing this very human need to the “;light”;, it is implied that the “;light”; is something divine: not human and not vulnerable to physical instincts/needs. Over time, the crow's ear grows deaf to these sounds (the line “;weeping he walked and stabbed”; implies the passing of time in which the crow continually kills worms), and hunts with more skill and no remorse.

Pike

It is about a pike that is described as a monster; lots of personification. You will see by looking at the place in my memory very hard and very carefully, and by using the words that grew naturally out of the pictures and feelings. I captured not just a pike, I captured the whole pond, including the monsters I never hooked."

The poet emphasizes the perfection of the Pike in the first stanza. The pike appears to be just perfect in dimension: “three inches long, perfect. “The whole body of the pike has green and yellow stripes across it. The killer-instinct exists right from the hatching of the egg. This violent streak is hereditary: it goes generations back: "the malevolent aged grin. “They stage a dance on the surface attracting the flies, asserting their presence. Hughes has always utilized animals as an exaggerated metaphor for the instinctual inclination of Man.

They move stunned and overcome by their own grandeur; exhibiting narcissistic tendencies in the process. The algae appears as a bed of emerald. As one looks from above the waters, their silhouette appears magnified and the length is pronounced :"a hundred feet long in their world. “The line may also signify the flamboyance of the Pike. It is fragile; and holds the enigma and secrecy of submarines.

In the ponds, they are found also below the heat of the lily pads. They can be discovered in the shadow of the flower's stillness. Either they are attached as logs to last year's leaves or appear to hang in a cavern of weeds.

The jaws are perfectly formed 'clamped' to easily prey upon their victims, and the fangs haunt since generations. There appears to be no change in the practical utility of these preying instruments. Theirs is a life subdued to its instrument-the fan and jaw-the purpose is relegated to the practicality of the situation. The kneading of the gills and the pectorals involuntarily performs their respective functions.

Fry (the young ones of fish) are kept in a glass jar, for the pike to prey on. There were three of these small fish. As these kept disappearing, the Pike seemed to get bigger and bigger.

With the pike having devoured the other fishes, it now had a sagging belly. It held the grin that it was born with. This particular grin is more pronounced now as the fish is satisfied. The truth is that they spare nobody, even their own kind as the poet talks of two pikes "six pounds each, over two feet long". They are dead in the willows as one gets choked while swallowing up the other. One jammed past its gills down the other's gullet. The part of the pike, being eaten, projected its eye with the same firmness (iron) that was characteristic of the species, as the film of the fish shrank in death.

The pond that the poet fished in had lilies and tench that foregrounded the scene .The tench is a fresh water fish of the carp family that had a tenacious grip over life. Therefore, its exuberance seemed to exist and "outlast" the preexisting stones in the pond. The term 'monastery' refers to how the stones were ordained to live a secluded life: but the blossoming of the lilies and the liveliness of the tench had relegated their concerns.

As Hughes refers to the "depth" note the reference to the depth in the introduction to the poem above. This 'depth' is by itself 'legendary' as it is emblematic of the deep-rooted heritage that England is synonymous with. This depth was 'stilled' or static not meant to change with ravages of time. The Pike was not only an aspect of this heritage; it was an inherent part of man's basic nature as this violent streak is universal .The human -being also has this killer/survival instinct right when he cracks from the egg. This instinct is inborn, but the sophistication that he develops is acquired. Nevertheless, this aggression behavior remains in this subconscious. This killer instinct is a metaphor for the revolutionary instinct of England that makes its heritage what it is today.

The poet silently engaged himself in fishing. In the poem, fishing stands as a metaphor of 'self-discovery'. The hair that had grown after his birth, was a symbol of his sophistication; as he probed his roots, it had frozen. In the darkness of the night, the poet 'fished 'for the slightest sign of instinct-"for what might move, what eye might move." In contrast, to the deeper concentration of the poet, the splashes seemed conspicuous in the still of the night. The nocturnal owls seemed to be hushing up the floating woods that appeared to be floating to the poet in his partial dream. Beneath the night's darkness another darkness was revealed (freed)-that of the poet's. "That rose slowly towards me, watching. "This was the poet's other self that he encountered-his darker side.

When one grasps the real meaning of the poem, one comprehends that what the poet referred to in the Introduction to the poem as "quite small lake" is really his refined self. As he reaches the phase of self discovery, he asserts that he caught all the inherent irrational impulses in him:" I captured not just a pike, I captured the whole pond, including the monsters I never hooked. "This is his "prize catch."

The role of fate in Hardy's The Mayor Of Casterbridge

                The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy

   ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’, is a novel written by the famous English novelist Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), and is set in somewhere around 1830, when England was on the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Hardy describes this novel as ‘A Story of Character,’ however an important characteristic in all Hardy novels is the significant, and often changeable and unfriendly role of Fate, Nature and significant roles of characters. Even the hastiest reading of ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ reveals a structural pattern that relies heavily on coincidence and fate.

     One example of Hardy’s art is his intermingling of Fate and another character, we see from chapter 20-28 how Hardy uses Lucetta Templeman, the woman from Jersey who had nursed Henchard when he was sick and who had eventually fallen in love with him.

     We first get to hear of Lucetta when Henchard tells Fafrae about the woman whom he met at Jersey one autumn when he was ill. He tells him how she nursed him back to health, and how because of their loneliness both of them eventually got intimate. We see one of Lucetta’s earlier character traits of being a caring and nurturing individual. This all changes once she amasses wealth, and we can see this change in her treatment regarding Elizabeth-Jane. A scandal arose out of this intimacy that in turn considerably damaged her reputation. In order to keep her reputation intact, Henchard had promised he would marry her, as he believed that Susan was now dead. However with the reappearance of Susan in his life, at the particular time he is presented with a dilemma and writes to Lucetta urging her that they cannot pursue their previous arraignment, but if anything changes in his relationship with Susan, he will again begin to woo her.

     After Susan dies and learns that Elizabeth-Jane is not really his daughter, Henchard is filled with loneliness and seeks out Lucetta’s company to fill this newfound void in him. Meanwhile, Henchard has not been reinvited to reapply as alderman but Farfrae has, and this increases the tension between the two men and Henchard now sees Farfrae as ‘a treacherous upstart’.

    At this time Elizabeth-Jane visits her mother’s grave and sees a mysterious lady. This same lady over hears Elizabeth-Jane complaining about the treatment given to her by her father. The lady, who we get to know later on as Lucetta, comforts Elizabeth-Jane and after conversing with her invites her to live with her as her companion in a house in town which she has just bought.

  Lucetta’s motives in asking Elizabeth-Jane to live with her are revealed in her agitation with Elizabeth-Jane when she discovers Elizabeth-Jane has not told her father neither about the move nor the address. The reader becomes aware that Lucetta’s motives are to attract Henchard to the house. Hardy uses a flashback technique to reveal what had happened the night before. Lucetta had written to Henchard telling of an abrupt change in her position as she is now to be called Templeman and not Le Sueur also Lucetta suggest marriage to Henchard to visit her the next day, but the egotistical and self-centered man that he is, gets put off, and feels annoyed at being treated this way. In fact he does not pay Lucetta the pleasure of visiting her the next day. Lucetta has learnt about the difficulties between Elizabeth-Jane and her father, and has presumed that this is the reason for Henchard’s unconcern towards her and as a result decides that she must get rid of Elizabeth-Jane. From this sudden change in mind we see the true colours of Lucetta, the malicious, cunning and shrewd side has come to surface. It seems that she will do anything irrespective of its consequences (Elizabeth-Jane’s feelings) to achieve her goal.

     We can see Hardy’s use coincidence and fate when he twists and intermingles characters to support his theme of the perverse nature of fate. Farfrae is introduced to Lucetta by chance as Farfrae comes to High Place Hall to call upon Elizabeth-Jane. Lucetta on seeing Farfrae finds him attractive. Although Farfrae has come to High-Place Hall to see Elizabeth-Jane it is ironic that he is attracted to Lucetta, as she is to him. She and Farfrae have a long chat, even touching on some personal subjects, even though they have just met each other. Lucetta fears that her past will be revealed. She requests Farfrae not to believe the gossip about her, ‘If they tell you I’m a coquette, which some may, because of the incidents of my life, don’t believe it, for I am not’. Lucetta trying to keep a good impression with Farfrae hints to the readers that she may be interested in having a relationship with the young man from Scotland. From the above illustration we can see how much of an importance Lucetta gives to appearances; she does not want Farfrae and people in general to think badly of her and to not fall for the latest gossip.  A few minutes later, Henchard arrives to meet Lucetta, Lucetta tells the servant to send him away and to tell him she has a headache. She came to Casterbridge to try to get Henchard to marry her, but now that he is ready and willing, she is no longer so sure if she wants to marry him anymore.

     One day the women go visit the market as there is some talk of a new seed-drill being introduced into Casrebridge by Farfrae. Henchard makes some small talk with them and points out that the new machine for sowing seeds that Farfrae has brought to town will never work and makes a few insulting remarks on Farfrae's business sense. Clearly, Henchard is still jealous. After this they see Farfrae and stop to chat. Lucetta is very flirty with him. Elizabeth-Jane notices, and wonders about this. Lucetta explains that they'd met the other day, then changes the subject by remarking on how cold and distant Henchard was to his own daughter. Here we can see Lucetta’s deceitfulness as she quickly changes the topic to avoid suspicion on Elizabeth-Jane’s part. The illustration that truly shows us what is in Lucetta’s mind regarding love is when she confides in Elizabeth-Jane a “hypothetical” story of a ‘friend’ who has promised her love to one man, but is now attracted to another. This very revealing as it now instills in the reader and maybe also in Elizabeth-Jane, Lucetta’s true feelings. From the “market” episode we also see Lucetta’s dandy dress style, which according to the villagers, looked similar to the new colorful seed-drill that Farfrae had introduced. 

  

     The next day, Farfrae comes to visit. He hardly notices Elizabeth-Jane at all and he only has eyes for Lucetta. This hurts Elizabeth-Jane's feelings, but sadly she knows that she has no control of the situation. She figures Farfrae must be the second man in the story Lucetta told her about "her friend." The following day, Henchard comes to see Lucetta. He says he's ready and willing to marry her, but Lucetta says it's too soon after Susan's death. He adds that it's a little awkward for him to marry her now that she's so wealthy – everyone will think he's after her bank account. Just then, Farfrae rides by the window on horseback. Lucetta's face lights up as a result, and Henchard notices, but he doesn't see Farfrae. He just thinks Lucetta is playing hard to get, and he doesn't know why.  Once he leaves, Lucetta tells herself that she is in no way obliged to marry Henchard. This is the biggest indication that Lucetta will not marry Henchard. Elizabeth-Jane sees that both Henchard and Farfrae are falling more in love with Lucetta every day. She feels like a total third wheel whenever one of the men is there visiting.

    Henchard and Farfrae meet by chance in the street one morning, and Henchard stops Farfrae to chat. Henchard reminds him of the secret he'd told him a long time ago – about the young lady whose reputation was ruined and whom he'd been planning to marry before Susan reappeared Henchard still doesn't mention the lady by name. He says he has offered to marry the young lady but that she has refused. Farfrae says hey, Henchard has done his duty and doesn't owe the young lady anything anymore. Henchard agrees, but he doesn't want to let it go. He figures there's someone else, ‘a rival’, and he's not the kind of guy to back down.  The next day, both Henchard and Farfrae visit High-Place Hall at the same time. Henchard realizes Farfrae must be his rival, which drives him crazy. Henchard decides to take out his anger against Farfrae by trying to out-compete him in business, so he hires a new manager. He looks up Joshua Jopp, the man who had wanted the job originally. Jopp is still out of work, and Henchard hires him on the spot. He tells Jopp that his big plan is to out-compete Farfrae and drive him out of business. I think Hardy uses the symbol of Henchard and Farfrae vying for the bread and butter in Lucetta’s drawing room- almost a religious scenario. This contrasts with the superstitious visit of Henchard to Fall.

The turning point in the whole Henchard, Lucetta and Farfrae, distorted love triangle comes when Henchard follows Lucetta to her meeting with Farfrae and overhears some of their conversation. He returns quickly to Lucetta’s house, arriving before her, and makes her promise to marry him using Elizabeth-Jane as witness. Henchard wins our sympathy over his loss over the corn and Lucetta’s duplicity, but it does not justify his cave man approach to marriage. The way in which the rival waggoners fight over Henchard’s upset load of hay is parodied later with the fight between Farfrae and Henchard and ironically Henchard looses everything both in the corn business as well in earning Lucetta’s love, to Farfrae. This is how rivalry in business has now turned to rivalry in love.