34, 6. Cranmer's. Archbishop Cranmer was burned at the stake in 1556 by bloody Queen Mary. He had made six several recantations, all of which he finally disavowed; and he said his hand should burn first because it had signed the recantations. True to his word, he steadfastly exposed his right hand to the flames, "and several times during the burning was heard to exclaim with a loud voice, "This hand hath offended-this unworthy hand!"" THE NECKAN The neckan (Swedish nekken, hence in this poem localized "by the Baltic") is a nix or water-sprite. Compare the story of Hind Etin, The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry, and St. Stephen and Herod. Are the neckan and his bride reunited? What was the popular belief about such a union (compare Hind Etin and The Great Silkie)? What criticism in Arnold's poem is based upon this belief? If possible read also Matthew Arnold's The Forsaken Merman, a finer poem, but not in ballad form. Matthew Arnold was born 1822, died 1888. Study the use of adjectives in this poem. What is the author's attitude toward his story? Does he draw a moral? Does he criticize mortals or Christians or both? Compare the "moral meaning" of Coleridge's Ancient Mariner: He prayeth well, who loveth well He prayeth best, who loveth best The miracle in this story is the same as the miracle in the story of Tannhäuser. THE BALLAD OF FATHER GILLIGAN Yeats was born in the same year as Kipling, 1865, and like him was the son of an artist. John Butler Yeats, the father, was for some years a resident of New York City. William Butler Yeats, like Noyes and Masefield, has visited the United States and given readings from his works. His first volume of poetry, The Wanderings of Oisin (Usheen), was incorporated in his collected Poems (1895), and he has since published a volume of lyrics, The Wind among the Reeds. He has identified himself closely with the Celtic Revival and the Irish Literary Theater. He has published, besides poems, Irish folk stories, criticism (The Celtic Twilight, etc.), an Irish literary review, and several dramas for the Irish Theater (The Land of Heart's Desire, The Hour Glass, etc.). Compare the miracles treated in the ballads you have read. Which is most spectacular? Which is most subtle? Which has a deeper meaning? For which have you yourself the most feeling? Yeats draws his inspiration in part from the simple faith of the Irish peasantry, in part from Pre-Raphaelitism (observation and depicting of delicate detail). Illustrate. What phrases and fancies of his own has he woven into this poem? How do they suit the subject? One of Arnold's definitions of poetry is: A criticism of life.” Test The Neckan and Father Gilligan by this definition. Show that each poem is characteristic of its author. Show the absence of any such personal note in St. Stephen and Herod. LITTLE MOCCASINS AND OLIVER WEST Two Canadian poets have caught in virile and racy verse the lure and fascination of life in the open. Saddle and rifle, spur and rope, and the smell of sage in the rain, As down the cañon the pintos lope and spread to the shadowed plain. . Up on the ledge where the burro creeps, patient and sure and slow, ... Out where the tumbling schooner fights in the spume of the typhoon's hate; Up where the huskie bays the lights of the Northland's frozen gate. . . Sun and wind and the sound of rain! Hunger and thirst and strife! Robert W. Service, the "Canadian Kipling," is the author of Songs of a Sour Dough (The Spell of the Yukon), Ballads of a Cheechako, and Rhymes of a Rolling Stone. Little Moccasins is from the Rolling Stone volume. He was born in England in 1876, but has been long a resident of Canada. Henry Herbert Knibbs (born 1874), now a resident of California, has published both verse and fiction. Our selection is taken from Songs of the Outlands: Ballads of Hoboes and Other Verse. As with the cowboy singers, Service and Knibbs tend to selfdramatization and lyric utterance. The two ballads we give hint but obliquely at all this. However, each leads us straight to a salt lick of American romance: contact with the Indian in the northern woods, contact with the Spaniard in the great Southwest. They should be read in connection with the cowboy ballads. LITTLE MOCCASINS What is the situation? What is the story that led up to the situation? Who is the speaker? What kind of life is he used to? Supposed Varro loved Utah Carroll. Let her tell the story, by indirection, as the story of Little Moccasins is told. Is it as easy to tell the story one way as another? Does this suggest to you wherein Little Moccasins is artistic? OLIVER WEST This is more clearly a ballad. It reverts in fact to the old split situation, as in The Twa Sisters and The Cruel Brother. But the situation is in the hero's breast, and is developed by the poet's careful selection of details. Test this statement. Compare with the two old ballads named and with the cowboy ballads. How would the author of Utah Carroll have treated stanza 8? Study the stanza form, especially the effect of the last line. Note the internal rime in stanza 1, line 2, and stanza 6, line 3. May there be design in its use in just these two places and nowhere else? How is repetition used and to what end? 2, 2. Cayuse: Indian pony. 5, 2. 'Dobe: a house or hut built of adobe or sun-dried brick. 6, 4. Gringo: a depreciatory name given to English speaking persons by the Mexicans. THE WAR-SONG OF DINAS VAWR Peacock (1785-1866) was a satirical novelist and poet, and a friend of the poet Shelley. “In 1819 he was appointed assistant examiner at the India House. The papers he prepared as tests of his ability were returned with the comment, ‘Nothing superfluous and nothing wanting.' . . . What Shelley justly termed 'the lightness, strength and chastity' of his diction secures him an honorable rank among those English writers whose claims to remembrance depend not only upon matter but upon style."-Garnett. Another critic speaks of his "steely wit." Of the present poem Saintsbury says: "Nothing approaches the 'Dinas Vawr' song, which has a diabolical lightness and swing about it quite unlike anything that is to be found elsewhere. It is probably the succinctest piece of humorous modern poetry in the world: there is not a line, not a word to spare." The war-song is introduced into Peacock's satirical Arthurian romance The Misfortunes of Elphin. Dinas Vawr is the castle of King Ednyfed of Dyfed (pronounce duv-ed) in southwest Wales. It has been taken by storm by King Melvas. "The hall of Melvas was full of magnanimous heroes, who were celebrating their exploits in sundry choruses, especially in that which follows, which is here put upon record as being the quintessence of all the war-songs that ever were written, and the sum and substance of all the appetencies, tendencies, and consequences of military glory." Then follows our ballad. In what sense is this a humorous poem? How did Peacock intend his introduction to be taken? Note the effect of the rimes and of the change in riming in the last four lines. What character is lent the poem by the final line of each stanza? Which stanza is an exception? HOME THEY BROUGHT HER WARRIOR DEAD This is one of the several exquisitely wrought lyrics that serve as interludes in Tennyson's Princess. The artistic perfection of the present cameo ballad is attained by the selection and arrangement (parallelism and antithesis) of detail, and the tenseness of its restraint. Every phrase is moulded and shaded with minutest care. There is nowhere a word too much or a word out of place. What is the situation? What harmony and what contrast of character? Compare stanzas 2 and 3 with two incremental stanzas of an earlier ballad. In which is the climax more effective? Why? With the climax in stanzas 2 and 3 compare the use of contrast (?also climax) in stanzas 3 and 4. Note the effect of inversion in stanza 1, line I, and stanza 4, line in stanza 3, line I, and stanza 4, line 1; in the last line. Why is stanza 1, line 3, unlike a verse of a popular ballad? Can you make a similar statement for stanza 2, line I? for the inversions? Note the effect of the extra syllable at the beginning of the last line but one. Compare the earlier version: Home they brought him slain with spears, They brought him home at even-fall; Echoes in his empty hall, Sounding on the morrow. The sun peeped in from open field, Beat upon his father's shield, "Oh hush, my joy, my sorrow!" HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX An imaginary incident. What is the distance from Ghent to Aix? The poet doesn't tell us what the “good news” is: does it make any difference? Browning's poem may be compared with Thomas Buchanan Read's Sheridan's Ride for the handling of incident, climax, dramatic effect, and character. Compare also the account of a ride in the last canto of Scott's The Lady of the Lake. Explain: gate-bolts, postern, pique, (?) half-chime, askance, spumeflakes, croup, buff-coat, holster, jack-boots, burgesses. How does the story gain by having three riders set out instead of one? Would the story be as exciting if Roos collapsed after the roan fell dead? Why is the former incident told with more detail? How does Browning make us feel the fitness of Roland? How is the idea of Roland's endurance borne in on us? How much of Roland's heroism is a reflection of his master's? How are the riders introduced to us? Why wasn't this done more simply and clearly? How does stanza 2 prepare us for the outcome of the story? Can you explain why the detail in stanza 4, line 2, should have been noted by the rider? Are the details of stanza 3, line 3, and stanza 7, line 4, similar? How about the other details-those of stanza 5, e. g.? Explain the actions of the rider in stanza 9. What do the homely touches in the last line add? |