Charles Baudelaire

Autumn

Soon we will plunge ourselves into cold shadows,
And all of summer's stunning afternoons will be gone.
I already hear the dead thuds of logs below
Falling on the cobblestones and the lawn.

All of winter will return to me:
derision, Hate, shuddering, horror, drudgery and vice,
And exiled, like the sun, to a polar prison,
My soul will harden into a block of red ice.

I shiver as I listen to each log crash and slam:
The echoes are as dull as executioners' drums.
My mind is like a tower that slowly succumbs
To the blows of a relentless battering ram.

It seems to me, swaying to these shocks, that someone
Is nailing down a coffin in a hurry somewhere.
For whom? --It was summer yesterday; now it's autumn.
Echoes of departure keep resounding in the air.

--Charles Baudelaire

MY RESPONSE:

I know what you're thinking.

Why did I post a picture of such an eerie looking man? or maybe you're trying to figure out as to why I chose such a morbid and gloomy poem to post on my blog?

way to bring the mood down right?

Well there is one main and obvious reason as to why I posted this poem.

Imagery. Imagery. Imagery.

If you, as the reader, just sit back and really read and try to understand this poem you can witness and hopefully appreciate the strong imagery used. For instance, an example of a line that demonstrates powerful imagery is,

"I shiver as I listen to each log crash, the echoes are as dull as executioners' drums."

As a reader we can see, feel and relate to the speaker shivering in the cold Autumn weather. We can hear the low eerie thuds of the executioners drum pounding before an execution. Baudelaire's poem Autumn is able to awaken our senses in a way that most poems don't. Every year we physically witness a change in the seasons, a change in the temperature, and a change in the environment. And every year we even witness a change in ones moods. As the weather gets colder so do ones attitudes. This is why Baudelaire states,

"all of winter will return to me: derision, hate, shuddering, horror, drudgery, and vice...."

We are aware of these changes and we are accustomed to them. Charles Baudelaire connects the change in the seasons with the change in moods by using similies and metaphors to tie together his judgments and help us understand clearly what it is he is trying to say.

Although, to some, his poems may be nothing more than just "plain ol' creepy," hopefully for others, we can learn to look past the "eeriness" and learn to respect and understand Baudelaire and his work.

And as far as my reasoning goes for posting the picture....don't you think he's such an alluring man? =]

Constantine P. Cavafy

Candles

The days of our future stand in front of u

like a row of little lit candles --

golden, warm, and lively little candles.

The days past remain behind us,

a mournful line of extinguished candles;

the ones nearest are still smoking,

cold candles, melted, and bent.

I do not want to look at them; their form saddens me,

and it saddens me to recall their first light.

I look ahead at my lit candles.

I do not want to turn back, lest I see and shudder

at how fast the dark line lengthens,

at how fast the extinguished candles multiply.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Earlier in the semester of my English 215 class when we first started learning about Edna St. Vincent Millay, I didn't really understand nor have an appreciation for her work.

However, after completing a recent project in which I decided to discuss Edna St. Vincent Millay's poetry, I grew an interest in her work and learned to appreciate it. Her poems deal with lost love, new found love, lust, the best and worst parts about growing older, and life. Personally, I feel like I can relate to her poems. Matter of fact, anyone that has ever loved, or has ever had heartbreak can relate to her work, and lets be real, 99.9% of us have already or eventually will deal with this in his or her lifetime.

Edna St. Vincent Millay writes about what people are thinking and what others want to say but don't ever say it. She's honest, sometimes brutaly honest, and she doesn't try to sugarcoat her words or emotions. I admire her for this.

In order for you to understand and hopefully gain an appreciation for Edna St. Vincent Millay I have compiled a few of my favorite lines from some of her works. Hopefully reading these will help you establish some sort of connection and respect.

1."My heart is what it was before,

A house where people come and go;"

2."Pity me that the heart is slow to learn

What the swift mind beholds at every turn."

3."Beauty is whatever gives joy."

4."Life is a quest and love a quarrel—"

5. "It's not true that life is one damn thing after another;

it's one damn thing over and over. "

6. "Where you used to be,
there is a hole in the world,
which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime,
and falling in at night. I miss you like hell."

7. "Parrots, tortoises and redwoods live a longer life than men do;
Men a longer life than dogs do;
Dogs a longer life than love does."

8. "Not truth, but faith, it is that keeps the world alive."

9. "Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.

Nobody that matters, that is."

10. "Time does not bring relief;

you all have lied

Who told me time would ease me of my pain!

I miss him in the weeping of the rain;"

William Butler Yeats

When You are Old
by W.B. Yeats

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Here are a few sites that I stumbled across while searching for information on W.B. Yeats. In my opinion these three sites provided the most adaquete information about his life and his work.

1. http://www.csun.edu/~hceng029/yeats/collectedpoems.html

This link is the most useful link when looking for poems by W.B.Yeats. When you enter the site the first page is organized by the title of the book of poems made. Once you click on a title of interest, you then are taken to a page of all his collected poems from that book. It was easy for me to read his poems in an organized manner then later find a poem that interested me the most.

2. http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/

This site goes into great detail about the life of W.B. Yeats. It includes a full biography discussing his birth, his greates accomplishments and achievements, and his final years. Also, this link not only provides more links to his poetry, it also includes his short stories, fictions, non fictions, and plays. Overall, I think that this is the better site for finding all the information you need on W.B. Yeats.

3. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/117

This last site

Langston Hughes

Born in Joplin, Mississippi on February 1, 1902, Langston Hughes became interested in writing poetry at a young age. His passion for writing was deemed as an unrealistic career by his father who instead paid for Hughes to attend Columbia University in order to study Engineering. Eventually after a year, Hughes dropped out and focused mainly on a career path as a poet. His first and most popular poem titled, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," was published shortly afterwards.

In 1924, Hughes moved to Harlem, New York during the time period known as the Harlem Renaissance. This was a time in which African-American music-jazz music, art, and literature were flourishing in Harlem. As the African-American culture was redefining, a new rhythm in Hughes writings were also emerging. In 1926 Hughes first book of poetry called, The Weary Blues was published.

One of my favorite poems by Langston Hughes is Harlem Sweeties. The imagery of the women that Hughes describes is so powerful and creative. Overall the poem has an intriguing rhythmic feeling to it that immediately captures the attention off all readers. To demonstrate a way in which I view the poem as being "song-like" I wanted to post a video of my boyfriend TJ Starks reciting Harlem Sweeties in his own style. Here is his interpretation. enjoy! =]

Harlem Sweeties
by Langston Hughes

Have you dug the spill
Of Sugar Hill?
Cast your gims
On this sepia thrill:
Brown sugar lassie,
Caramel treat,
Honey-gold baby
Sweet enough to eat.
Peach-skinned girlie,
Coffee and cream,
Chocolate darling
Out of a dream.
Walnut tinted
Or cocoa brown,
Pomegranate-lipped
Pride of the town.
Rich cream-colored
To plum-tinted black,
Feminine sweetness
In Harlem’s no lack.
Glow of the quince
To blush of the rose.
Persimmon bronze
To cinnamon toes.
Blackberry cordial,
Virginia Dare wine—
All those sweet colors
Flavor Harlem of mine!
Walnut or cocoa,
Let me repeat:
Caramel, brown sugar,
A chocolate treat.
Molasses taffy,
Coffee and cream,
Licorice, clove, cinnamon
To a honey-brown dream.
Ginger, wine-gold,
Persimmon, blackberry,
All through the spectrum
Harlem girls vary—
So if you want to know beauty’s
Rainbow-sweet thrill,
Stroll down luscious,
Delicious, fine Sugar Hill.




complete biography on Langston Hughes available at http://www.redhotjazz.com/hughes.html