The Out-cry of Women in The Yellow Wallpaper and Rip Van Winkle

Mahmut Deniz

21 June 2013

The Out-cry of Women in The Yellow Wallpaper and Rip Van Winkle

            In the stories, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving, the women inferiority is given as inner psychological problem in The Yellow Wallpaper and in Rip Van Winkle by ignoring to focus on woman character, the actual oppressed and victimized character was left background. So, on one hand, the stories show the reader, Rip's notorious wife and on the other hand insane wife of a husband. The sign of oppression by the men in The Yellow Wallpaper is clear but the facts are hidden in the story Rip Van Winkle as the story is focused on the man and does not show the female issues in detail, thus she is left in the background. I will try to explain the victimization and oppression that women character face in these two stories by giving examples from the stories themselves and other outer sources.  

            At the beginning of the story, one could easily understand that in Rip Van Winkle, Rip is a "simple good natured fellow"(Irving 3) who is constantly being mistreated by his "witch" wife who thinks he is useless and idle. However, the focus is never on wife's herself, because of Rip's good nature. The story is focused on Rip and we only know by narrator that his wife is a devil-incarnate who drives her poor husband mad and she is all responsible for her husband's escape and grief. But what is a husband without his paternity duties? Rip is the man who is actually responsible for the couple's poor marriage because of his own mistakes and behaviors. In truth, Rip's domestic situation is "configured in terms of simple stereotypes"(Smith and Sage 92) which is to say, Dame Van Winkle is victimized by stereotypes as the story was written from a traditional point of view, actually it is Rip himself that is responsible for his wife's troubles, because, throughout the story, we know Rip the way we are supposed to by the author.

            Throughout the story, the wife might be "nagging" too much but not without reason as Irving himself claims in the story that "his patrimonial estate had dwindled away under his management"(Irving 5) and "his children too, were as ragged..."(Irving 5). As for Dame Van Winkle, it seems that she "has kept her part of the matrimonial bargain, for she has born Rip children and has, by his own admission, 'always kept the house in neat order' "(Smith and Sage 92). After all, the wife is generally on the right path throughout the story however, it is Rip who could not maintain stability in his family. Besides, Irving " could easily have inserted a sentence to establish that even when the marriage was new and the economic decline was slight, she had demanded what Rip could not provide"(Smith and Sage 92).

            In The Yellow Wallpaper the out-cry of woman is out-loud throughout the story, and this time it is actually maddening. It is woman's freedom that is being restricted by her lovely husband who thinks what he is doing is the best for his wife and of course expects no explanation for this from somebody else. Everything happens gradually in the story and the narrator (woman) confronts the oppression by her husband which makes her feel as a prisoner in her house by her husband. She is unable to speak out and express her own ideas thus the more she gets mad the braver she gets because she is losing her obedient and traditional-self. So, it is clearly expressed that the story is about "woman's loss of freedom and humanity within the institution of marriage"(Chi 80).

            For some authors, the situation is interpreted as "the struggle of women writers to free themselves in the male-dominant literary realm"(Chi 80). As both her husband and doctor, John always knows what's best for his wife and makes her do whatever he wants and prohibits things such as, writing and going out. Although the story does not focus on hatred between husband and wife, it surely shows the inner conflict of the woman against emotionless husband who thinks he is always right. The out-cry of the woman here raises from inside where John is unable to see, because according to him she "looks" happy because he only knows his wife superficially. The woman oppression is at such a high level in the story that the narrator could speak only when she totally loses her mind which makes her actually not herself, so at the end she speaks what her heart desires but as another person where she asks upon her husband's collapse : "Now why should that man have fainted?"(Gilman 33).

            To conclude, both stories include the effect of oppression and false victimization within their meanings but not in a clear way. The details are hidden in the stories to be discovered, especially in the Rip Van Winkle where the man looks the oppressed one rather than woman. The male character John in The Yellow Wallpaper as well looks innocent to many readers due to his love for his wife, but in a conventional way, which looks right from outside but wrong from inside. Nevertheless, the situation could easily be understood other way around as we know that the women oppression in nineteenth century was also very common as "Female oppression was determined by birth, 'like the skin of black'. The unequal social relationship between men and women meant that man could 'brand' women with 'mental incapacity' and call it 'nature' "(Rowbotham 41).    

              

                                                                        Works Cited

Chi, Hsin Ying. Artist and Attic: A Study of Poetic Space in Nineteenth-century Women's Writing. Lanham, MD: University of America, 1999. Print.

Cole, Alan R. Mothers and Sons in Chinese Budhism. California: Stanford UP, 1998. Print.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories. [Minneapolis, Minn.]: Filiquarian Pub., LLC, 2007. Print.

Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." Rip Van Winkle and Other Selected Stories. New York: TOR, 1993. 1-21. Print.

Rowbotham, Sheila. Hidden From History: 300 Years of Women's Oppression and the Fight Agai. 3rd ed. N.p.: Pluto, 1977. Print.

Smith, Allan Lloyd., and Victor Sage. Gothick Origins and Innovations. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994. Print. 

Collapse of Animal Farm and the Dream of Revolution

Mahmut Deniz

17 June 2004

Collapse of Animal Farm and the Dream of Revolution

The novel Animal Farm by George Orwell is about the struggle for a utopian idea based upon equality and peace among the animals living in a farm. Beginning with the encouragement of the prize winning boar Old Major, the idea of “Animalism” spread out all around the farm, but the idea, due to the conflicts between animals turned out to be a disaster and prepared the collapse of Animal Farm which was supposed to be an ideal place for all animals. The reason of conflict that prevented Animal Farm to achieve its positive goal was, mostly, the disagreement between Napoleon and other animals, these conflicts, in detail, are mainly: Discrimination/inequality between pigs and other animals, Napoleon’s dictatorship and violence, the intelligence factor, and finally, the corruption of the ideology, Animalism, with its seven commandments by these conflicts. However, would it be possible to turn Animal Farm into a paradise just as animals thought it to be? This is also another complicated question in the novel. In my essay, I discuss why animal farm collapsed, and was it really possible for the farm to be as animals thought to be or was it only a dream that ended before it began?

Discrimination or inequality between animals starts when Napoleon claims his dictatorship in the Animal Farm. Since Napoleon and Snowball were the only animals to find solutions, other animals’ mission was to work hard to bring equality and prosperity into Animal Farm. Actually, after Napoleon’s domination, inequality is shown many times in the novel. However, the best example would be the change of seven commandments. The inequality is stressed clearly in the novel with the replacement of seven commandments into one, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” (Orwell, 108) Written down by clever pig, Squealer, this quotation explains the inconvenience and inequality between animals clearly. By this quotation, it is possible to deduce Old Major’s idea actually, as he says: “All animals are equal”, but the idea behind this one comes as tricky, since the statement normally supports the equality of animals. However, the latter statement, clarify the situation by stressing a specific point “but some animals are more equal than others.” in which the reference “some” goes to pigs.

At the beginning of the novel, from the statement of Old Major: “All men are enemies. All animals are comrades”. (Orwell, 31) We understand clearly that, first of all; the Animal Farm’s first aim is to be against all men with the support of the brotherhood of animals. At the beginning, all animals adopted the idea with its seven commandments until Napoleon’s reaction. The reaction stemmed from Napoleon’s own ideology which was to control all animals. However, there was only one clever rival of Napoleon, Snowball. As a dictator in the novel, Napoleon used his dogs to chase Snowball to end Snowball’s acts against himself. Instead of using his brain, he uses his nine dogs, which makes him remain the only head of the farm so as to change anything he wants according to his favors. So, we now know, by sending his dogs on Snowball, Napoleon shows his aspect of dictatorship with obvious violence. In this statement the novel clarifies the violence Napoleon applied on Snowball: “At this there was a terrible baying sound outside, and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to escape their snapping jaws.” (Orwell, 67) As a dictator, Napoleon’s ideas were simple: Obey the rules that are given by him and do not think or speak. Managing to be the only power in the farm, Napoleon’s imposing these rules upon other animals was not difficult for him.  From this moment on, Animal Farm and naturally, Animalism started to collapse as the principles were changing with the violence and cruelty of Napoleon.

Intelligence is also very important factor that appears even almost at the beginning of the novel, when three pigs; Napoleon, Snowball and squealer transform the principles of Old Major into an idea, Animalism. First of all, we see here pigs’ superiority in intelligence, as they struggle for the idea and find solutions for Animal Farm. In fact, even Old Major’s image as a first ruler, as a pig, signifies the superiority of pigs from the beginning. However, more precisely, as a quite intelligent character, Squealer is the most decisive one that imposes Napoleon’s ideas on other animals. After Napoleon takes the control in Animal Farm, Squealer helps imposing Napoleon’s ideas to other animals successfully with the absence of Snowball. For example, when some of the animals questioned the situation that happened in Animal Farm, such as; where all food, milk or water is, Squealer is decisively gives the answer to others:

“Milk and apples contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brain-workers. The whole management and organization of this farm depend on us. It is for your sake that we drink that milk, and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back.” (Orwell, 52)

With Squealer’s decisive answer, the cleverness is juxtaposed with the superiority of pigs, that’s to say, pigs are both clever and superior to other animals. They are clever, because of Squealer’s decisive answer to them, as in the quotation, and they are superior, because they have more rights than other animals and they are the ones who manage the farm. Furthermore, Squealer’s cleverness actually creates an image as if what he said was normally advantageous for both pigs and other animals, because here he does not give the real meaning directly, but he implies it, as if milk and apples were really necessary for pigs to strengthen their brain, and they manage the farm and consume these foods only for the good of other animals. On top of that, by threatening other animals with Mr. Jones, he leaves no chance for animals except for a desperate confirmation.

The more Napoleon controlled animals, the more their ideas moved opposite to the original idea given by Old Major. Napoleon gradually collapsed the idea, animalism, together with the hopes of all other animals. He began trading with neighbor farms, with the help of even a man named Mr. Whymper from neighbor farm. This was also surprising result for other animals as Napoleon himself told once that never trust humans. Actual rule as “Four legs good, two legs bad!” turned out to be “Four legs good, two legs better!” (Orwell, 132) Pigs slept in beds, drank alcohol and wore clothes, which were normally forbidden for animals. So, the beauty of the dream of animals turned into a nightmare. However, in my opinion, even if animals had applied what Old Major said and even if Napoleon had been good enough to support all seven commandments there would not have been any piece, prosperity or equality for animals. As the novel itself is the allegory of totalitarian government and supports that this idea is a myth and is impossible to come true, George Orwell himself speaks about the book in an interview:

“First, I wanted to kill the "Russian myth:" the myth that the Soviet Union was a working model of what a socialist state would be like. That was nothing but a lie. I wrote a history of the Russian Revolution and called it Animal Farm.”

As we can see, Animal Farm is an allegory of the society, which tries to persuade people with totalitarian government’s idea in order to keep piece and equality between all people, and which resulted in a disaster and a big lie. So Animal Farm, inevitably, shows the situation that was already experienced by people of that period. As a result of rebellion of animals in the farm the situation actually changed in opposite side which again George Orwell supports:

“Well, this is the great paradox, of course. What you don't want is to be taken over by a totalitarian power. The great danger is that in protecting yourself against a takeover, you might become totalitarian yourself -- at which point, as at the end of Animal Farm, the pigs become indistinguishable from the human beings.” (Orwell, Rev. of Palmer)

In conclusion, rebelling against the tyranny of men, animals were not able to be successful as it was before in real time. The problem did not stem from unsuccessful acts of animals themselves, but it is realities that prevented them to achieve their goal. The author himself supports the idea of impossibility of being equal to others quite consciously. Napoleon struggled to reach his goal by any means just as the other animals wanted to. Old Major wanted equality but Napoleon power. Old Major was the big power, because he was the cleverest. He died and another clever claimed the throne. If Napoleon was not clever and he did not do anything evil against other animals, Snowball would do, because he would be the head as the cleverest one in the farm. However, again, other animal would not accept Snowball’s authority, just as many people are against their authority and system in our modern world. This is the nature of the world and everybody is perfect according to themselves.

    

Works Cited

Palmer, Scott. "1984: An Interview with George Orwell." Review. 1984: An Interview with George OrwellMar. 1984. 27 Jan. 2009 <http://personal.nspalmer.com/>.

Orwell, George, Russell Baker, and C. M. Woodhouse. Animal Farm. New York: Signet Classics, 1996.

The Injustice of Prospero in The Tempest

Mahmut Deniz

The Injustice of Prospero in The Tempest

            Shakespeare's last play The Tempest is mainly concerned with the themes mercy and  justice. The use of themes of justice and mercy in the play is subjectively given to the audience, because while dealing with the themes and maintaining the mercy and the "illusion" of justice throughout the play, some characters are ignored as human beings. Prospero " is a tyrant who controls Miranda, Ariel and Caliban with the same 'paternal omnipotence' "(Croft 201) He has a peculiar treatment for the native of the island, such as , Caliban. Prospero's ill-treatment of Caliban and European approach towards the same subject and unjust events are dominant throughout the play.

            Caliban, a native who was on the island before Prospero arrives, is treated by Prospero as the violator. Anything Caliban does on the island is seen offensive and evil, because the play is biassedly read and understood from the point of view of European which  Hazlitt "was outraged by it" (Graf 7) when he realized how Caliban is treated in the play. For instance " 'there is little logic' to Prospero's argument that Caliban deserves his treatment for the offense of attempting to violate Mirnada's honour." (Croft 201). According to Hazlitt "not Prospero but Caliban was the legal king of the island" so actually "Caliban is actually the victim of Prospero" (Graf 7)

            The first time Caliban and Prospero appears on the scene in act one scene two, we witness the disagreement between them as Prospero orders his slave Caliban to bring firewood and Caliban rejects and then they have a fierce argument and cursing each other, but this argument is finally stopped by Prospero as he threatens Caliban that unless he does what he orders, he says" I'll rack thee with old cramps, fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar"(1.2.369-370) hearing this Caliban answers suddenly "No, Prey thee".(1.2.371) Thus, it is also clear that Caliban's freedom is taken from him as he is a slave now.

            Prospero, who is actually rightful duke of Milan, was usurped from his position by his brother Antonio and forced to flee the country in a boat with his daughter. So actually, Prospero once may be merciful and just man, was turned into a revengeful man who seizes his opportunity on the island and tries to take his revenge from Caliban. “Desire for vengeance has apparently lain dormant in Prospero through the years of banishment, and now, with the sudden advent of his foes, the great wrong of twelve years before is stirringly present again, arousing the passions and stimulating the will to action” (Palmer 225).

            Prospero may not seem to be a total monster as he has some good feelings towards the people on the ship and when Ariel returns with the news that he brings "I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak, Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin, I flamed amazement: sometime I'ld divide, And burn in many places; on the topmast, The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly, Then meet and join." (1.2.196-201) Although all these acts are performed by Ariel, they are actually ordered personally by Prospero: "Hast thou, spirit, perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee?" (1.2.193-194)

            Prospero mentions the moment when Caliban tried to rape his daughter Miranda; "in mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate the honour of my child."( 1.2.344-348). However, he unjustly speaks of the event  because the play is mostly read and analyzed from European perspective, not from Caliban's point of view. Caliban's "ambitions are to kill Prospero and rape Miranda, both, considering his situation, eminently natural desires."(Frye 61). He does not want to rape Miranda actually "Caliban has tried to reproduce himself" (Alexander 28) So, when thinking from the perspective of a native such as Caliban, we can realize that so called "monster" or "animal" actually wants to procreate in his island.

                        Caliban who "enslaved by the most powerful of the Europeans, a man named Prospero"(Peterson 1) is punished, tormented and shown as evil just because he disobeyed his master Prospero, he has no right to claim anything. Ariel earned his freedom as he obeyed and did everything word by word for his master Prospero. Caliban isn't seen or counted as human, as he has no right but to serve and obey, although he is obedient and he is always in need and search for a God or master, he rebels against his tyrant master but punished many times. When Trinculo first sees Caliban, he describes him as "a man or a fish? dead or alive?" (2.2.24-25) and he continues "Legged like a man and his fins like arms!"(2.2.33-34) Even the description shows the biased approach towards this native islander.

            To conclude, while it is clear that the theme of forgiveness is an important theme in the play, the analyze of the behaviors and attitude of the major characters in the play, especially Prospero, shows that there is almost no true justice and mercy in The Tempest." The way Prospero behaves Caliban and the way even the play portrays Caliban is unjust as the perspective of the play is subjective, which is to say, it is one sided and European. As Peterson stresses: "the Europeans treat Caliban like an animal, yet he can speak, just like a person."(Peterson 2)  

             

Works Cited

Alexander, Catherine M. S. The Cambridge Shakespeare Library. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge UP,      2003. Print.

Croft, Janet Brennan. Tolkien and Shakespeare: Essays on Shared Themes and Language. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &, 2007. Print.

Graf, Sandra. Is He a Monster? - Caliban in William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' N.p.: GRIN Verlag, 2009. Print.

Palmer, D. J. Shakespeare: The Tempest; a Casebook. Nashville: Aurora, 1970. Print.

 Shakespeare, William, and David Hamilton Horne. The Tempest. New Haven: Yale UP, 1955. Print.

Modernism and Virgina Woolf

Mahmut Deniz

Modernism and Virginia Woolf

Virgina Woolf exhibited the most important elements of modernism in her works very effectively. As she rejected the conventional techniques of Nineteenth Century literature, Woolf used poetic and symbolic language in her works, especially in The Waves, so that her works are mostly considered to be beautiful in form and not meaning. Along with a poetic language, she used also irony effectively in her A Haunted House which differentiates the short story from its classical sorts and simple ghost stories. Woolf, in order to emphasize inner psychological and emotional motives of her character and to let us see what is inside her character’s head, she used Stream of Consciousness literary technique in her both works. In my essay, I will focus on the use of language, irony and stream of consciousness technique as modernist techniques by Virginia Woolf in her works A Haunted House and The Waves.   

Woolf used stream of consciousness literary technique in her short story A Haunted House. In the story, the use of stream of consciousness is very important, since the technique itself helps meaning to be conveyed to readers by characters. Woolf used the technique very effectively, but complicated. Its being complicated, actually, is not the way we should see the story in my opinion. As we read her story, it resolves itself like a puzzle gradually. However, For instance, stream of consciousness which was used in the story creates ambiguity in Woolf’s  A Haunted House.  “Here we left it,” she said. And he added, “Oh, but here too!” “It’s upstairs,” she murmured. “And in the garden,” he whispered “Quietly,” they said, “or we shall wake them.” (Woolf, 3) In the quotation, we see “they”, “we” or “she”, but who are they? Or who is she? These questions are not clear till we read the story to the end and find out who are these people. Despite being rather ambiguous, in her story, stream of consciousness not only gives the story a mystic aspect, but also makes the story much more interesting to us. Besides, with the help of stream of consciousness, we can easily understand ghostly couple’s past and association of their past with the story, because couple’s conversations and inner thoughts reveal the realities to us: “Here we slept," she says. And he adds, "Kisses without number." "Waking in the morning" "Silver between the trees " "Upstairs " "In the garden " "When summer came " "In winter snowtime” (Woolf, 4)

Poetic language is almost everywhere in the story. Repetition of words in a prose is good example of poetic language. For example, we see “Safe, safe, safe, the heart of the house beats proudly” (Woolf, 5), apart from the repetition in the story the metaphorical language supports Woolf’s poetic language quiet effectively, as well. “the heart of the house beats proudly” (Woolf, 5) As normally, heart is an organ related to human being, but the metaphor “heart of the house” creates very good image as Woolf allows us to feel the atmosphere of the house much better and deeper.

Woolf’s short story A Haunted House might seem as a ghost story from the term “Haunted” in its title. In fact, the story is not a simple ghost story that gives us horrific and creepy images, but it is a story that has a meaning which is revealed at the end, that’s why she uses irony of “Haunted” in her work. At first glance, the term “Haunted” might seem rather horrific as one can understand that the house is simply haunted by ghosts. However, at the end, the story reveals its meaning and we understand that ghostly couple does not haunt the people in the house, but they try to make them understand the joy of life they have, as a valuable treasure. 

Symbols are mostly used in poetry in modern times, but quickly spread out to the novels which helped the novelist and his/her novels to gain more meanings and value, but, again, they are rather obscure in language. Being complicated and difficult to understand, The Waves is among the best example of modernist style novels. Woolf used symbols in The Waves which made her novel difficult to understand due to metaphorical meaning of the words. For example, The Waves itself is a symbol which symbolizes the life, because, in the novel “Woolf presents the ocean as a symbol of procreation and life-giving energy.” (J.Ward, 2003) With an elastic language, Woolf writes her novel The Waves like music in a poetic language. She writes to rhythm, not to plot. So what concerns the reader is not the meaning or the message in the novel, but the beauty of the language itself.

Stream of consciousness technique in the The Waves adds novel a great sense of understanding inner thoughts of character. In realist writers works, for example, it was not possible to get this feeling because of the omniscience point of view or fixed point of view narrative technique which was only controlled by author. So the characters were like puppets as we were aware that they were being managed by their authors. However, Woolf breaks these rules with her technique and let characters act freely.

In conclusion, both works A Haunted House and The Waves blaze the trail in modernist literature. By using some modernist techniques in a great efficiency, Woolf presents her works not in a language that is based on strict rules, but she prefers to play with the language and shape her works in a better form with her own creativity. In spite of being rather difficult to understand, language of her works and symbols show the beauty of Woolf’s works. She is not an author who relies on conventional narrative style which is rather insufficient for her, as she says: “Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end.” (Faulkner, 31)

Works Cited

Woolf, Virginia. A Haunted House and Other Stories : The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf. New York: Harvest Books, 2002.

"Virginia Woolf. A post-symbolist writer who relies on symbols?!" ENGLISH LITERATURE CRITIQUES. 27 Jan. 2009 <http://www.english-literature-essays.com>.

Faulkner, Peter. Modernism. New York: Routledge, 1977.

The Tyger by William Blake

William Blake is a famous poet for his collections of “Songs of innocence” and “Songs of Experience”. Blake gives his poems to the reader in two different perspectives. In “Songs of Innocence” the child’s perspective and soft language in the poems let us figure out the literal intentions of the collection as pure innocence. However, in “Songs of Experience” Blake reflects the opposite aspects of the “Songs of Innocence” in a severe language and he gives the evil side of the events as response to “Song of Innocence”. By using these two different approaches, Blake shows us both evil and good by presenting two different sides of the “human soul”. In his poem “The Tyger” Blake gives a fierce and dangerous aspect of the creation. In my essay I will try to explain allusions, intertextual reference and theme issued in the poem “The Tyger” by making some references to his other poem “The Lamb” in the category of “Songs of Innocence”.

The beginning of the line in “The Tyger” as the poet wrote foreshadows some of the forthcoming events, “Tyger! Tyger burning bright”. The phrase “burning bright” gives the poem a fierce and negative meaning together with “night” in the second line. Both “burning” and “night” have negative meaning as, obviously, “burning” relates to fire and “night” is to darkness. With the negative words given, reader can understand Blake’s this poem is different from the one in “Songs of Innocence” which is “The Lamb” as it begins with the line “Little Lamb”. Both words “Lamb” and “little” represent innocence, since the word “lamb” is opposite to “Tyger” as the tiger is wild but lamb is domestic, useful and harmless animal, and “little” represents weakness. So, the actual oppositions are given in both poems at the beginning.

Apart from some basic understandings of the poem from the beginning of the first lines, Blake gives some metaphorical words such as “immortal” in the third line in “The Tyger”. “Immortal” is obviously referred to God and so it is revealed that the creator of the “Tyger” is God. However, in the fifth stanza, he also mentions “The Lamb” as he asks: “Did he smile his work to see? / Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” Here, the question comes as the poet is surprised. Basically, the reference “he” goes to God, and he asks if it is the same power that created both “The Tyger” and “the Lamb”, and if God is happy for what he did. The word “The Lamb” is probably reference to the poem “The Lamb” from the “Songs of Innocence” by Blake. And he shows us the opposition that was created by God by referring to his other poem, because there is “Tyger burning bright” and also “Little Lamb” in the same world.

The poem goes on with some allusions to mythological figures both of whom committed something wrong. The second stanza, third line is a question “On what wings dare he aspire?” Here we have a reference to “Icarus” the figure who flew too high to the sun with his wings made of wax despite his father’s warning and fell into the sea as his wings melted by sun. And again, the second stanza, fourth line asks another question: “What the hand dare size the fire?” from the words “seize the fire” we remember the story of “Prometheus” who stole the fire from the gods and was punished for what he did. These two allusions show us the power of the God that he possesses. As we know these both figures committed what was forbidden. So these allusions also associate God’s creation with transgression that goes beyond the limits and laws, as poet’s field of understanding is not enough to comprehend it.

In the third stanza, the act of God is considered as “art”. As the words “shoulder” and “art” are referred to God’s art of being able create such a fierce creator as “tyger”. The word “dread” again implies the God’s act of creating dangerous things. However, the words in “The Lamb” are totally opposite to “The Tyger”, such as “tender voice”, “softest clothing” or “delight”. With such words, poet breaks the evil side of the poem and gives us a lively, innocent and happy side of the creation of God.

The art of God is repeated in the fourth stanza with some specific words, such as; “hammer”, “chain”, “furnace” and “anvil”. These words are referred to blacksmith who gives shape to a strong material, metal. While it is not easy to shape the metal, it is also not easy to control such a dreadful creature “tyger”. In the third line of the fourth stanza, it is written: “…what dread grasp / Dare its deadly terror clasp?”  Here the God as being the blacksmith, the poet shows us the power of the God that he can control the evil “deadly terror”. And with the last stanza, which is a repetition of the first one, poet tries to stress the questions he asked before, which are, again, related to power of God.

To conclude, I tried to explain the use of allusions, intertextual references and theme of the poem “The Tyger” along with giving some references to Blake’s “The Lamb”. While in “The Tyger” in “Songs of Experience” Blake gives us the evil side of the world, he also gives us good side of it in his “The Lamb” in “Songs of Innocence”. Throughout the poem, we understand that the poet stresses the power of God as he is capable of everything, and he is the one who created the “Tyger” together with “Lamb” and again he is the one who is able to control what he did.

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Mahmut Deniz

Nature is a perfect model for the writers of Romantic Era. According to their philosophy, nature is described as representing the best and properly ordered aspect of things. Also, nature is the representation of sincerity, equality and perfection. It is good to Romantic writers because they try to be emotional in their works and they express their feelings sincerely. They believe that the core of human nature is his emotions. Therefore the emotions should include the sympathy and empathy towards people. By putting these ideas into practice they can create an equal society for humankind. In the nature, every living being has its own opportunity and place. However nature is distinct from social existence. Society can distort natural feelings and destroy the perfect order of nature. As parallel to this, writers believe that every individual should have equal rights and have place in the society. For instance, two women Romantic writers Mary Wollstonecraft and Felecia Dorothea Hemans take the Romantic idea of equality as basis for their writings. In her A Vindication of the Rights of Women Mary Wollstonecraft argues about the roles which are loaded to women’s shoulders by the society and she implicitly demands for equality. On the other hand, in India Woman’s Death Song Felecia Dorothea Hemans introduces an Indian woman with a baby who is at the edge of death. By showing the pitiful situation of the Indian woman, she implies how society can be influential on a woman’s life in a negative way. That is why, the two writers respond to the social restrictions placed on women’s lives by traditional gender expectations clearly but differently.

                                                                                                                        

In Indian Woman’s Death Song, Hemans expresses the social restrictions from an Indian woman’s point of view. In the poem, she sings a mournful death song. The poem can be divided into two parts. The first part consists of one paragraph and one stanza which includes fifteen lines. The first part serves as background information for the reader. In the paragraph, Hemans introduces the situation of that pitiful woman because she is deserted by her husband and she is with her children in a canoe which goes to the edge of the cataract. Also the Indian woman and mournful death song are important clues for understanding the social pressure that she exposed to. In the poem it is expressed “Her voice was heard from the shore singing a mournful death-song, until overpowered by the sound of the waters in which she perished” (1)As we can understand from the quotation, while the sound of death song represents the pitiful Indian woman, the sound of water represents  nature that she wishes to live. At the end of sentence we see that she is overpowered by the waters in other words she is taken control by the nature.

Also the first stanza is a kind of narrative because it has no fixed rhythm and no rhyme. The speaker is the third person in other words it is the poet. Like in the paragraph she continues to give background information for the reader and it tells about Indian woman’s suffering. In order to focus on the Indian woman’s situation, she makes a connection between nature and her. In other words the thunder of the cataract shows the nature’s power. In the first lines the words such as “forest glooms”, “tempest’s wing”, “cataract’s thunder” show that the place which refers to nature and its superiority. Also the words such as “proudly”, “dauntlessly”, and the sentence “A woman stood. Upon her Indian brow sat a strange gladness and her dark hair wav’d as if triumphantly” (1) shows that Indian woman sees nature as a protection for her and her children from the social pressure. That is why by using these words she characterizes a proud and strong woman but glad one for going to death in the face of

                                                                                                                                        

social pressure. Also, her high and clear song is the symbol of voicing out her existence to the society.

The second part of the poem consists of seven quatrains of two rhyming couplets. We see that in comparison to the first part, there is strict pattern and regularity which emphasizes the Indian woman’s certainty against the social pressure. In first quatrain, she talks about her suffering and miserable condition after her husband’s desertion. In two lines she wants nature to take them to heaven by using the word “Spirit’s land”. Also she refers to the nature’s supremacy by using the words “Father of ancient waters”. In last lines she describes herself like tired bird and wounded deer who wants to go to a place so that no one would interfere with her.

In the second and third quatrains, the Indian woman starts to talk about her husband’s betrayal and her feeling about him. For instance, she describes her husband as a warrior and she says “Roll on!-my warrior’s eye hath look’d upon another’s face”. Here we see that her husband betrays her with another face referring to another woman. She loses her importance in the eyes of her husband that is why she is disappointed. Also in the third quatrain, she goes on the same theme. She expresses that her husband forgets her easily but she does not. That is why she says “but mine its lonely music haunts, and will not let me rest” she does not stop thinking about him. She describes him as a light which she cannot live without it.

In the fourth and fifth quatrains, she remembers her domestic life with him. Also, she implies that she have done enough to make him happy. However, he chooses another woman, he will not be happy with another woman. That is why in the fifth quatrain, she decides to forget him and starts to imagine after life. She says that after life takes away her “the burden of the heavy day” and “the sadness of the day”. In other words, after life will help her to eradicate her mournful memories.

                                                                                                                               

In the sixth and seventh quatrains, we see that she gives up her husband and gets rid of from the social pressure. For instance, in the sixth quatrain, she is talking to her daughter. By doing, this she universalizes her experience as women’s experience. She tells her that she will not experience the same miserable life that her mother has. She promises not to leave her. In order to escape from the social restrictions, she takes the baby with her. In the seventh and the last quatrain, Indian woman wants to go to Heaven in order to be beyond social bonds because throughout her life, she lived for her husband. Now she breaks the bonds of patriarchal society completely. Also she makes a room or “kingdom” for her and her children. As the line states that she will find her youth there. That is why at the end of the poem Indian woman has gained enough confidence and endurance to live with her children in the Heaven.

In A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Mary Wollstonecraft defines and makes a criticism about women position in society in order to respond to social restrictions. Although she accepts gender differences as natural, she rejects the social indoctrination that women are inferior to man. Furthermore, she thinks that women are made deliberately by society as inferior people. In the first paragraph, she tries to explain how and why society sees woman as inferior to men. For instance, she asserts that women “have acquired all the follies and vice of civilization.” This means they are not inborn foolish or have not bad morality but they get it afterwards. Also in the first paragraph it is very clear that she argues about excessive sensibility for women. She asserts that due to women’s inflamed senses and neglected understanding, they become “the prey of their senses”. In other words their judgment is not formed by the society. They have no good to themselves and to others. That is why she rejects the society’s perception of “a mixture of madness and folly”. By stating these reasons she tries to show women’s position in the society.

                                                                                                                              

In the second and the third paragraph, in order to respond the social restrictions, she focuses on the stereotypes of woman which is imposed by the society. According to her, society makes woman to learn about novel, music, poetry and gallantry in order to develop their sensational parts. She thinks that these are acquired skills. So that patriarchal society will have ultimate control on women. By having overworked sensibility, they are not capable of thinking rationally. Also in the third paragraph; she continues to emphasize the stereotypes. She says that women are seen as “abortive eagerness” and “defiled body”. They have no joy without their sensibility. And she expresses that due to these stereotypes “women are made slaves to their senses”

In the fourth and fifth paragraph, she starts to tell the other dimension of the woman issue. She implicitly accuses society for making women as listlessly inactive and stupidly submissive towards them. She constructs her argument saying that if they are not made stupid and foolish, they could have ability to make distinction between good ad evil and to think rationally. She thinks that this perception of society prevents woman to rise in the society. Also in the fifth paragraph, instead of telling women’s cares and sorrows, she continues accusing society’s perception about woman. According to patriarchal society women are “fine by defect, and amiably weak”. Due to their ultimate dependence, woman can not change their position in the eyes of patriarchal society. Society sees them morally bad because of their tendency on emotions.

In the sixth paragraph, we see that she not only criticizes the perception of the society about women, but also criticizes woman in order to submit to these kinds treatment. She accuses woman that they cannot live without man’s help. Also she makes an irony about men by writing the word “natural” in italics. In other words she does not agree with the idea that men are the natural protector for women. Also she criticizes women’s demanding help from

                                                                                                                                           

men by seeming pitiful creatures. According to her, these kinds of attitudes are the sign of “imbecility” and acceptance of men’s supremacy.

            In the last paragraph, she emphasizes the important point of women issue. In order to gain position in the society she asserts that woman can not allow man to treat hem as inferior beings. Metaphorically she says that women can not be confined to closed rooms. In other words she advises that they should see themselves as equal to the men. If they are successful seeing in this way, they can be accepted “more respectable members of society”. She continues to advice and she states they should get rid of “the important duties of life by the light of their own reason”. Finally she wants women not “to have power on men but themselves”. Namely she firstly wants women to gain their belated rights from man.

            In conclusion, both Felecia Dorothea Hemans and Mary Wollstonecraft deal with the social restrictions on women’s lives. While Hemans writes about an Indian woman’s voice about the women’s position, Wollstonecraft touches this issue by writing a well-developed essay. Although their ways of dealing the issue is different, their aim is the same which is to break social restrictions on women.

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Personal and Cultural Identity in Modern Poetry

Mahmut Deniz

25th May, 2009

Personal and Cultural Identity in Modern Poetry

Throughout the history, many writers wrote many works which were meant to protect and preserve their own culture and identity and at the same time, show the process of changing in self-identity. With their works, they tried to give the process of identity fragmentation to show how one’s country, language and thus identity are transformed or assimilated by others’. Poets such as; Tom Leonard, Tony Harrison and Seamus Heaney in their works, respectively, Unrelated Incidents, Them & [uz] and Digging give us an important picture of cultural and personal identity and their change. These poets: Leonard from Scotland, Harrison from Leeds (Northern England) and Heaney from Ireland, wrote their poems reflecting their own identity and culture on their works, so their being from different region from England or its accent have a great influence on what they wrote and what their intention was in writing their poems. Heaney’s poem, focusing on his family and homeland, gives us a fragmented culture and thus fragmented identity of Heaney, Leonard, by writing his poem in “Glaswegian” accent, which is considered to be not valid by standard English, exhibits the cultural discrimination by English and, similarly, Harrison’ use of his accent in his poem bringing him into an inferior or lower class position   thus, of course an uncertainty of self identity in a high class society. In my essay, I will focus on the cultural and personal identities and their reflection on the poems, Digging, Unrelated Incidents and Them & [uz].

Concerning the language and its accent, Unrelated Incidents and Them & [uz], reflect the poets’ personal and cultural identity through use of their own accents. The poems are written in a different accent from British accent, and show the reaction of British society towards the way they speak. The words used in the poem are mostly colloquial and slang as it is a daily speech language, the words such as: “wia, wahnt, wanne, trooth” respectively, “with a, want, one of and truth” are the words used in Glaswegian accent. In Unrelated Incidents, the poem is given as reported speech by a “Glaswegian” speaker who has been listening to the news and tells his interpretation of what it says to him. There is a special term mentioned in the poem as BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) which broadcasting the news in Glaswegian accent.

In Unrelated Incidents, the use of BBC is intentional, as BBC, which uses so called official correct version of English, tries to insult the accent spoken by Scotts, because their accent is not understandable, proper and acceptable, thus, they should “belt up” or speak proper English, “

“…this
            is ma trooth
            yooz doant no
            thi trooth
            yirsellz cawz
            yi canny talk
            right. this is
            the six a clock
            nyooz. belt up”

Scottish culture which also changes their accent is somewhat not accepted by British. Leonard himself is from Glasgow and the accent he uses here is part of his identity. The way he speaks cannot be questioned, because it is not the matter of true version or wrong version of language, it is a matter of personal and cultural approach to the language. Accepting other culture’s values just because it is proper or accepted, or simply, to let you feel in a better position or live in a better position is not the correct way of approaching to the matter, as what matters is that human is human, and accent does not determine the quality or value of a person.

Just like in Unrelated Incidents, the poem Them and [uz] exhibits the prejudice of British society. His language is again Scottish accent, and he angrily criticizes the British society. In the first part of the poem, at university Harrison is insulted by his history tutor due to his bad pronunciation of Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”. He starts to pronounce but as soon as he starts to pronounce only “4 words”, his accent is mocked as barbaric, and they want him to pronounce it properly which should be in the same way as RP (Received Pronunciation). The society wants him to pronounce the poem in proper way, because only then he can be accepted as a part of British society and high culture, which actually requires him to reject his own culture, working class background and identity and transform into one of them. To support his being mocked because of his background and identity, he gives the example of the role given to him in university: “I played the Drunken Porter in Macbeth” he acts in a minor and comic scene in a role of “Drunken Porter” which is seen suitable for his background as a lower class character. However, he furiously says: “All poetry (even Cockney Keats?) you see / ‘s been dubbed by [As] into RP” that’s to say; all poetry, even Keats who is from lower class have RP, but normally they would not have been RP speakers, and this shows us an obvious discrimination between British and Scottish people. His line: “your speech is in the hands of receivers.” Which means you are under the control of high class listeners, thus their judgment of a low class person would be negative. However, he finally accepts as his speech is like a trap for him because his speech puts him into a situation where he cannot escape, then submits the authority of higher class by respecting their values as he says: “I doffed my flat” and “…spit out…E-nun-ci-ate!”

Making him to succumb the authority and change his speech means making him reject his own accent, that’s to say, identity, which is the only way for Harrison to have access into a higher class society and be one of them. The second part of the poem contrast with the first part, which may be interpreted also as the change of Harrison in an elite and educated society into someone else. As we see in the second part of the poem, he uses “RIP” (Rest in Peace) for himself which stems from the British society and its influential power on person’s identity and culture by force. He uses the word “RIP” because his identity or his own accent is part of his life and losing these values means death for him. However, the use of “I am Tony Harrison no longer you!” after all those happened, may be interpreted as he is no longer any of those elite and educated society or he is actually no longer himself because of the same society. Former interpenetration would conflict with his idea as the second part is the part where Harrison is death, so is his personal identity. Thus, the interpretation can be the latter as he is actually one of them but no longer the real Harrison, as the “RIP” actually goes for “T.W” the name he was called, but not to Tony Harrison. Thus the name Tony Harrison can be said his name after his defeat by the British society. Besides, his mentioning about “The Times” is that he claims that his name is changed according to RP and British culture and values as he is called as Anthony in a polite way, but not Tony. As a result, throughout the poem, we witness Harrison fight for his identity but no matter how much he wants to break away and fight for his value, he cannot do it, as either he may live as the old uneducated Harrison or live as the one educated but rejected his identity to have the access into this society and develop.       

The poem Digging by Heaney, is written in a standard English, but the poem has many terms that is peculiar to Irish peasants, thus his own identity. In poem, “potatoes” and “peat”, for instance, are traditional mainstays of Irish peasants’ cultural and rural agrarian lifestyle. Heaney thinks of Irish identity as he digs for his cultural, historical root, because his poem is about his past, that’s to say, his ancestors’ time “My father, digging. I look down”. He is actually digging in his poem into his personal history but also rational, cultural history, as he compares his “pen” to “spade”. As the poem progress, we witness that the poem moves from Heaney’s past to the present day, to his position. His ancestors were digging with “spade”, but he will dig with his “pen”.  

Heaney’s father and grandfather are representatives of a traditional Irish culture and lifestyle. Contraction in the poem, as it returns to the present day of educated poet, suggests that there has been a decline from past culture to present day. As the time passes, the old method of making money through physical labor is replaced by modern methods, that’s, “spade” is replaced by “pen”.  However, he still dreams about the times that his grandfather lived as Irish which can be interpreted he thinks of his own past as an Irish, however, he realizes that he cannot do what his ancestors did with spade, but he suggests doing it with his pen as he says: “I will dig with it.” And by using the word “gun” in the first line, he defends his traditional Irish identity. There is a fragmentation and uncertainty, because the poem does not remain in the past but moves to his current position. He protects and defends his identity with his “gun”, but at the same time, he knows that he is not the one to use the “spade”.

In conclusion, the poems Unrelated Incidents and Them & [uz] with their accents and Digging with its metaphorical meaning and poetic style, reveal poets’ desire to defend and live their real identity. Heaney, Leonard and Harrison are the poets whose identity is fragmented, however, their effort to protect and write about their root actually stems from their being educated as poets, and they use their pen to defend their identity, in brief, as Heaney says “Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests; as snug as a gun.”   

Importance of Language and Style in Romantic Poetry

Mahmut Deniz

25th May, 2009

Importance of Language and Style in Romantic Poetry

Throughout the history of literature, all movements appeared as reaction to one another, and one of them is Romantic Movement which appears in the second half of the eighteenth century and flourished in the first half of the nineteenth century as a reaction to the Enlightenment Period. Romantic Movement and its authors take folk tales and poetries and nature as their important source. Since we know that folk poetry was created by ordinary people, such as, uneducated people living in a rural life, we can also say that Romantics are in favor of these ordinary people, rather than educated and elite part of the society. Being their important source, nature, for them, exists before society, culture, traditions, and emotions and so on. These important events naturally influenced Romantic authors’ language and style which are used in their works. As we know that a poem is different from a prose due to its language, form and style used by poets, it is fair enough to say that Romantic poets did their best to show this difference with their powerful abilities along with using a simple language. By using metaphors, imagery, symbols and vocabulary within a figurative language in their works, Romantic authors such as, William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley contributed greatly to Literature. In my essay I am going to analyze the significance of the language and style used in the poems The Tyger by William Blake and To a Skylark by Percy B. Shelley. 

In the poem The Tyger by William Blake, he uses symbolism to give a deep meaning to his poem. Since the poem is from Blake’s “The Songs of Experience” it includes terrible feelings that can be understood from the language and its use as well.  Our main character “tyger” in the poem is a symbol of power of God’s creation. Another symbol is “spears” which we see in this line “When the stars threw down their spears”. The “spears” are simple weapons used in battles and thus the word “spears” are used as symbol of fighting, and by throwing their spears we understand that fighting is over. Here, we see how Blake uses metaphors to convey the meaning in a way to make us sense the harshness of language together with its beautiful usage.

 Also, William Blake gives awful feelings and creates frightening atmosphere with the use of vocabulary in his poem. For example, in these lines ‘Tyger! Tyger! burning bright / In the forests of the night”. Fire is used metaphorically here. “burning” connotes the reader the fire of the Hell. Surely the imagination of this fire is not something dim but “bright”. By bringing these two words the poet creates a frightening and powerful image at the first line of the poem. The word “night” can directly be interpreted as evil, as the dark is a big obstacle for the eyes to see. Without seeing one might even be suspect for the good, because in the dark nothing is certain and clear.  Apart from these words, there are many other words which represent the evil and thus, terrifies the reader, such as; “fearful”, “fire”, “dread hand”, “dread feet”, “terror”, “spears”, etc. all these words contain negative meanings and they were used to create a horrific atmosphere throughout the poem. So, we can see how Blake plays with the words and, as a result, how the vocabulary of the poem can change the poem and its meaning.

            Personification is another poetic element which William Blake uses to contribute the language. Personification is giving qualities of a person to inanimate objects or animals. By these lines he makes stars actions as human beings. In the poem, firstly, “Tyger” itself is the most important example of personification which the poet deals with by asking some questions. Furthermore, “When the stars threw down their spears, and watered heaven with their tears.”  As we know the words “threw” and “tears” are the features of humans. Because stars neither could throw their spears nor did they shed tears. However, the importance of this is that due to the figurative language, the poem conveys more meanings and feelings to the readers.

As we see William Blake uses symbolism, personification, nature to give a more meaning and feelings to his poem. He uses simple language and common words which can be understood by anybody and infer the meaning of the poem easily. Of course, the simplicity of the language does not make the poem itself simple, but the most important aspect of its being simple is that it address to everybody, regardless of how educated one is.

Form is very important for a poem because it determines the way how the idea and the content are introduced to the reader. In “The Tyger” William Blake uses a regular form and meter. The poem consists of six quatrains and the stanzas rhyming aabb .That means each stanza have two rhyming couplets. Rhyming couplets are very helpful in terms of reserving the words in reader’s mind. The lines are written in trochaic tetrameter in other words a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed one. Most of lines are written like this. However, in the first line of the poem, Blake starts with the line using spondee which consists of two stressed syllables. ‘Tyger, tyger’ is the example of spondee. The reader can understand that spondee is used purposefully. By starting with stressed syllables not only takes attention of the reader but also emphasizing the word ‘tyger’ which the central theme is built on it. Also by using alliteration, Blake makes the poem very remarkable. He uses alliteration in every stanza such as ‘burning bright’, ‘distant deeps’, ‘what wings’, ‘frame fearful’, ‘dare deadly’. Also he uses alliteration in order to emphasize key words which strengthen the central idea of the poem.

The second poem I am going to analyze is To a Skylark by Percy B. Shelley. With its harmony which is provided by its form and content, the poem is an important example in Romantic literature. The poem begins by claiming that the bird is not a simple bird, but it is a spirit: “Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert”. As the poet tries to give a metaphorical meaning to the bird, this statement is a significant point in the poem to let us understand metaphorical meaning of the bird, because, the bird’s physical nature is not important, but, what is important is metaphysical and the spiritual nature of the bird. Another verse, “Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun” proves the bird’s not just being a simple bird but it symbolizes the bird as a spiritual reality and the poet also shows us that the spiritual reality of the bird as deeper than nature itself. Besides, the bird in literature symbolizes the poetry and the poem gives a parallel between Shelley and the bird. “Higher still and higher, from the earth thou springest”. In these verse Shelley sees the bird again as a spirit, as a metaphysical meaning, as the bird rises from the earth to the heavens, actually, it symbolizes rising from material realm to the ethereal realm. Throughout the poem we see the natural images of the sky and light which give us heavenly connections of spiritual happiness. “In the golden lightning, Of the sunken sun, O’er which clouds are bright’ning” Apart from these lines, in the rest of the poem we see more natural images such as fire, star, Venus, moon, waves, mountain and etc...

            Comparison used in the poem is another important element of Romantic poetry. As description of the bird’s spiritual nature cannot be in a direct way, the poet uses comparison in his poem. To convey the meaning of the poem to a spiritual art, poet uses many similes such as; bird is “like a poet”.  He instinctively and naturally makes people want to change their lives and the world. Bird is like a noble girl in love, cheering herself with music. Bird is like a glow-worm producing unseen light. Bird is like a rose making the bees faint with its sweet scent. Thus, we understand that Shelley’s similes are not enough to exactly describe the bird’s spiritual nature, which means Shelley himself cannot find a true image to describe the bird. As comparison is always imperfect, Shelley is not able to make it clear what exactly “Skylark” represent in the poem. So, it is inferable that the spiritual happiness of “Skylark” is not surely known, yet the meaning and the message that To a Skylark conveys is that it is rising from material ideal to the spiritual ideal through the use of metaphors and similes. Thus, again, the poetic language of To a Skylark creates a spiritual nature in the poem. 

To conclude, the poems The Tyger by William Blake and To a Skylark by Percy B. Shelley are important examples of Romantic period, because of their language and poetic techniques that contributed to literature. The poems’ language is the most important element of them, because without a figurative language, there would not be any difference between a prose and poet. Thus, these poems, by presenting the language in a figurative way, give many pages of prose in just several lines with a deeper, condensed meaning and emotions to the reader.  

"Digging" by Seamus Heaney

Mahmut Deniz

4th May, 2009

Digging by Seamus Heaney

Most of the poets’ poems have been focused on the reflection of their own life. The remembrance of his mother land and his ancestors, who worked hard to make a living, must have been very important for Seamus Heaney that he wrote his poem “Digging” about it. Born and lived in a family farm, Irish poet Seamus Heaney, in his poem “Digging” gives a very good understanding of hard labour of his ancestors in the past with juxtaposing his career as a writer. The poem is about the recollection of Heaney’s youth as a boy watching his father and grandfather working on the field. By using some repetitions, onomatopoeia, alliteration and simile, Heaney lets reader feel the moment vividly and with a deep sense.     

            First of all, “digging” is a masculine work which needs physical power to be done. While we read the poem, we can see the use of “digging” many times. As it is repeated, it makes its meaning stronger, so that the reader can realize how hard Heaney’s ancestor worked to make a living. The event takes place indoor:

“Under my window a clean rasping sound

When the sinks into gravelly ground:

My father, digging. I look down”

Narrator is watching his father indoor as he states in the second stanza’s first line: “Under my window”, while his father is digging. Poem goes on with his father’s hard work as Heaney describes the situation “till his straining rump among the flowerbeds / Bends low, comes up twenty years away”. The father’s hard work is stressed with “straining rump” and with the “comes up twenty years away” so, we understand his father’s twenty years of hard work.

“Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests; snug as a gun” Obviously, it is speaker himself who is writing the poem as he says “Between my finger and my thumb” while watching outside. He uses a simile in the second line of first stanza: “snug as a gun”. He may have used the word in a negative or positive meaning. It is an important line, because the simile resembles the “pen” to “a gun”. Guns were used mainly in negative way in the past and the present, but should we think it as the way it is or think throughout the poem and guess what he tries to say? Of course, when we look through poem as a whole, we understand Heaney’s intention in using this simile. Heaney’s use of simile can be deduced from the whole poem, as powerful as gun, as he tries to prove the power of his “pen” which is referred to education. He uses his pen as powerful as a gun, which makes also his thoughts and ideas powerful, as well. Furthermore, the gun is pointed down “squat” like a “spade”, so even in reality, when the gun is pointed down, it means it will not harm anyone, but it will also not lose its power, as it is still ready to fire, and the “gun” was used like a “spade” which is also pointed down while digging, so the poet, also, implies the juxtaposition of his ancestor’s work with his own life.

Another harmonic approach to the poem comes from his use of onomatopoeia. The reflection of sounds that the tools make is very effective to make readers feel it deeply and vividly. For example, “… a clean rasping sound / When the spade sinks into gravelly ground” make us feel like we are in the place of poet himself and listening to the sound, or “squelch and slap” the moment when the spade hits the soft ground. Another example of onomatopoeia which comes at the same time with alliteration and which is stressed to show how professional his grandfather is: “curt cuts”. These words imply that his grandfather does not do his job amateurishly but in an aesthetic way, that is to say, not clumsily or strongly, but in a smooth and accurate way. Furthermore, “curt cuts” is a good example of alliteration along with onomatopoeia, as both of the words begins with the same letters. So the professional use of both techniques at the same time can also be resembled to his grandfather’s professional work. These aspects of poems also show us how effective they are in giving the feelings deeply in a short verse, because, for instance, prose would approach the subject mostly in a straight way to makes us only know, but not feel.

The final line is very important as it is the point where writer compares himself to his grandfather and father, not by their hard work with the “spade”, but with his pen as he says “I’ll dig with it”. With the last line, reader can get also possible important messages that poet meant to give. Firstly, we know that in his last line, poet implies that he will help them, because he will do what his father and grandfather did in another method. They did it with their spades but Heaney will do it with his pen. The poem starts with a typical rural life of an Irish family, and ends with the writer’s current position, that’s, the poem ends the same way it begins with one more line: “I’ll dig with it”. So we also witness the change from rural culture to modern one. Heaney appreciates what his ancestor did, but he knows that he cannot do what they did and he chooses to do it in another way, with a pen, that’s education. By paralleling his life with his father and grandfather’s one, Heaney shows the respect to his heritage and inspiration that he got from them. As a poet his position is high enough in modern society, but he sees himself like his father and grandfather who worked in the field with their spades. His ancestors used the spade to plant vegetables and he will use his pen to plant words to reap his poems.

To conclude, I can say that Heaney’s professional reflection of past period to our time is very effective in a way to let us think that one should consider his/her ancestors’ hard work as important as the way we use in the present, that’s, using our pen as their “spade”. Furthermore, Heaney’s use of onomatopoeia, repetition, simile and alliteration gives the poem the most important functions that separate it from a simple prose and gives us the feelings as close as it can be. The message of the poem in my opinion is that as the time passes and changes, the spade turns into pen and does the same job what spade did. His ancestors worked hard to make a living; it is now time for the new generation to use their pens as effective as their ancestors used their spades.