Lecture: The Poems of John Milton
Authored by: Ernest Bernbaum, Instructor of English at Harvard University
This lecture delves into some of the misunderstandings and apprehensions held by readers about Milton's Paradise Lost. Bernbaum assures the reader that the obstacles to appreciating and understanding Milton are not insurmountable.
One suggestion is to read the Bible passages that Milton drew on for his themes and see how large the chasm is between Milton's writing and the Bible, thus highlighting his creative contributions. Another suggestion is to read Paradise Lost aloud: "Only thus can teh artistic sense that slumbers within us be aroused to feel responsively that grandest rhythm and resonance that ever proceeded from an English tongue.
Bernbaum explains that the theme of Paradise Lost is not about Satan and God but of humanity (a common mistake made by readers). Milton believes in free will - a force that gives a human both a gift and a hindrance (the ability to make a decision but also have to live with it).
I think this will be handy to have around when we get to Paradise Lost in Volume IV.
Other important Milton works are: Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes, and the Nativity Ode.
Lecture: The English Anthology
Authored by: Carleton Noyes, Instructor in English at Harvard University
We are lucky to have Noyes return in this lecture after providing us with an earlier introductory lecture on poetry. After reading this new lecture, I am left with motivation and inspiration to enjoy poetry more than I have in the past. Noyes spurs the reader to allow poetry to connect deep within and teach us how to better appreciate our own experiences in life. He throws out some really great quotes; to recount them all would be an arduous task. Here is a highlight:
"To see the world poetically is itself a kind of success...The revelation which poetry affords carries us beyond the enjoyment of the instant; as it leads us out into a more beautiful world, it brings us deeper into the true significance of things, and so it widens our spiritual horizon. As we see father and feel more intensely, we are enabled more amply to understand the meaning of our own life in its relation to the whole."
Such beautiful words; such an idyllic thought. I look forward to reading the upcoming poetry volumes. I'm ready to give poetry another shot.
Noyes provides some definitions of types of poetry. An idyl (or idyll) is a small lyrical poem about nature. An epigram is an intellectual and satirical/witty poem. An elegy is a poem about sadness. An pastoral is a longer idyll.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Day Eight
Lecture: Homer and the Epic
By: Charles Burton Gulick, Professor of Greek at Harvard University
Prior to this chapter, I could only tell you that Homer wrote The Odyssey and The Iliad -- though after reading Day Six's lecture on the history of poetry, works from that time are likely a collaborative effort by many people. Gulick acknowledges that there is some question about the authorship of the Homeric poems because not much is known about Homer (trivia time - he may have been blind according to a bust being housed in the Naples Museum -- click here for picture; Rembrandt also painted a picture of "Aristotle with a Bust of Homer").
Homer's works are "epic poems" - what defines this genre? I went outside the Harvard Classics (HC) to find out. Per The Humanities Index, an epic poem has three components:
1) it is epic in length;
2) it is epic in subject matter; and,
3) the protagonist is a heroic figure or "quasi-divine" figure who is on a mission that if unsuccessful, would injure the state or the tribe or all of humanity. Yikes!
There are other characteristics of an epic poem but for an introduction, I think this will suit my purposes.
Profesor Gulick opines that Homer, Virgil and Milton are the only epic poets who were successful in producing a worthy epic poem; I guess that means his net had pretty larges holes in the mesh to let all the others through. I can't disagree with him yet but something tells me he's being overly critical. Going beyond liking only three, he has to declare one to be the best. He says that "Homer emerges as the one supreme and incomparable master of them all." He takes a few jabs at Virgil's Aeneid and Milton's Paradise Lost to knock them down a peg -- this guy is brutal. I guess he just loves Homer.
Homer's Odyssey tells the story of "a bold sailor" who goes through a series of encounters with monsters, witches, giants and pirates, in both our world and the underworld. It is not a battle or siege story.
Homer's poems would have been orally composed and orally shared. It is not known when they were first committed to writing.
Cool word: Hellenism - polytheism, especially associated with ancient Greece.
Lecture: Dante
By: Professor Charles Hall Grandgent, Professor of Romantic Languages at Harvard University
Dante's Divine Comedies is a famous writing we've all heard of. It was written by Dante (first name, not last name - full name is Dante Alighieri) in the Middle Ages. The story is about "the whole progress of a soul from sin, through remorse, meditation, and discipline, to the state of purity that enables it to see God." That sounds like a pretty epic journey.
Professor Grandgent contextualizes Dante's writing against the common beliefs about God and the known universe during the Middle Ages: beyond the Earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets is the next layer where God and his angels resides. The celestial bodies are controlled by the angels, resulting in control over us (a deterministic view). Little history was recorded at that time, which meant that progress was difficult to see.
I'll get a chance to read the first volume of his Divine Comedies in a later volume.
By: Charles Burton Gulick, Professor of Greek at Harvard University
Prior to this chapter, I could only tell you that Homer wrote The Odyssey and The Iliad -- though after reading Day Six's lecture on the history of poetry, works from that time are likely a collaborative effort by many people. Gulick acknowledges that there is some question about the authorship of the Homeric poems because not much is known about Homer (trivia time - he may have been blind according to a bust being housed in the Naples Museum -- click here for picture; Rembrandt also painted a picture of "Aristotle with a Bust of Homer").
Homer's works are "epic poems" - what defines this genre? I went outside the Harvard Classics (HC) to find out. Per The Humanities Index, an epic poem has three components:
1) it is epic in length;
2) it is epic in subject matter; and,
3) the protagonist is a heroic figure or "quasi-divine" figure who is on a mission that if unsuccessful, would injure the state or the tribe or all of humanity. Yikes!
There are other characteristics of an epic poem but for an introduction, I think this will suit my purposes.
Profesor Gulick opines that Homer, Virgil and Milton are the only epic poets who were successful in producing a worthy epic poem; I guess that means his net had pretty larges holes in the mesh to let all the others through. I can't disagree with him yet but something tells me he's being overly critical. Going beyond liking only three, he has to declare one to be the best. He says that "Homer emerges as the one supreme and incomparable master of them all." He takes a few jabs at Virgil's Aeneid and Milton's Paradise Lost to knock them down a peg -- this guy is brutal. I guess he just loves Homer.
Homer's Odyssey tells the story of "a bold sailor" who goes through a series of encounters with monsters, witches, giants and pirates, in both our world and the underworld. It is not a battle or siege story.
Homer's poems would have been orally composed and orally shared. It is not known when they were first committed to writing.
Cool word: Hellenism - polytheism, especially associated with ancient Greece.
Lecture: Dante
By: Professor Charles Hall Grandgent, Professor of Romantic Languages at Harvard University
Dante's Divine Comedies is a famous writing we've all heard of. It was written by Dante (first name, not last name - full name is Dante Alighieri) in the Middle Ages. The story is about "the whole progress of a soul from sin, through remorse, meditation, and discipline, to the state of purity that enables it to see God." That sounds like a pretty epic journey.
Professor Grandgent contextualizes Dante's writing against the common beliefs about God and the known universe during the Middle Ages: beyond the Earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets is the next layer where God and his angels resides. The celestial bodies are controlled by the angels, resulting in control over us (a deterministic view). Little history was recorded at that time, which meant that progress was difficult to see.
I'll get a chance to read the first volume of his Divine Comedies in a later volume.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Day Seven
Onward we go with Noyes' poetry lecture. We had just finished reading about lyricism but wait...there is much more Noyes has to say about it: "The lyric, therefore, is a poet's fullest outpouring of himself." What is the lyric? It is described many times using different musical attributes. So let's talk about lyricism.
First to consider is rhythm/measure beat/meter. There are countless examples of how rhythm is the foundation of nature: the ebbs and flows of the tides, the rising and setting of the song, the beating of a heart. We see beauty in poetry for its rhythm.
Second is the emotion behind the words. Noyes implies that the peak of poetry is unfiltered, uninhibited emotion. While this force of emotion may be difficult for some readers to handle, rhythm organizes this emotion in such a way that we can understand the poet.
Third is the choice of words. A poet makes a careful selection of words and then organizes them effectively. Some tools used are:
-assonance: "the repetition of the same vowel sound within syllables but with different consonants, as shape, mate"
-alliteration
-tone-colour -- "Sweet dimness of her loosened hair's downfall" --??? "the slow change in the vowel quality seems to invest the image of a kind of "penumbra" of sound. ??? Might have to do more research into this one.
Fourth is the reliance on intellect.
The poet, as described by Noyes, is able to "transfigure the beauty he has seen in his little corner of the earth into cosmic vistas, opening to infinity, and transmutes his private joys and griefs into the great passionate foundations of universal happiness and suffering accessible to all men." This appears to be a tall order for a mere mortal, but I guess I can believe that there are people who are more emotionally open and they may also be good communicators that can express how they see the world to other people.
First to consider is rhythm/measure beat/meter. There are countless examples of how rhythm is the foundation of nature: the ebbs and flows of the tides, the rising and setting of the song, the beating of a heart. We see beauty in poetry for its rhythm.
Second is the emotion behind the words. Noyes implies that the peak of poetry is unfiltered, uninhibited emotion. While this force of emotion may be difficult for some readers to handle, rhythm organizes this emotion in such a way that we can understand the poet.
Third is the choice of words. A poet makes a careful selection of words and then organizes them effectively. Some tools used are:
-assonance: "the repetition of the same vowel sound within syllables but with different consonants, as shape, mate"
-alliteration
-tone-colour -- "Sweet dimness of her loosened hair's downfall" --??? "the slow change in the vowel quality seems to invest the image of a kind of "penumbra" of sound. ??? Might have to do more research into this one.
Fourth is the reliance on intellect.
The poet, as described by Noyes, is able to "transfigure the beauty he has seen in his little corner of the earth into cosmic vistas, opening to infinity, and transmutes his private joys and griefs into the great passionate foundations of universal happiness and suffering accessible to all men." This appears to be a tall order for a mere mortal, but I guess I can believe that there are people who are more emotionally open and they may also be good communicators that can express how they see the world to other people.
Day Six
No, it’s no error – this blog starts on Day Six. I’m wishing I could have that classic first day captured on my blog because it’s always the day when hopes are boundless, the impossible seems possible. Everyone always has a “Day One” (and by everyone, I’m referring to every movie character who embarks on a new adventure and records their progress – I’m probably mostly referring to Bridget Jones). Anyways, Day One is history (unrecorded history), and so are days Two through Five. Day Six, however, is the lucky day that starts this blog.
Day Six:
Poetry Lecture 1: General Introduction by Carleton Noyes, formerly Instructor in English at Harvard University
We are learning about poetry! Poetry!!! Let me clarify: I don’t say this with overflowing excitement but with a deer-in-the-headlights look and a strained smile. Poetry? Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy. Time to be honest: I have never liked or understood poetry (with the exception of “roses are red” poems which I doubt the Harvard Classics will discuss). My experience with poetry was mostly in high school English where there was a right answer and a wrong answer for the interpretation of the poem. I rarely could give the right answer. Thus, I don’t like poetry. But I’m older now and probably a little smarter…so let’s review what we learned.
Noyes is a very eloquent writer. Here’s a dandy: “It is just because he sees farther and feels more intensely that he is a poet; and then because he is able to phrase his experience in words which have the power to create the vision and the meaning in us.” I like this interpretation of a poet because it explains the fundamental act of communication that a poet intends. After having such difficulty reading poetry, I assumed that poets were not in the business of communicating – I thought that they liked to be cryptic. But according to Noyes, they want to “create the vision and the meaning in us”. Well…I’m going to try to be more open-minded about these poets.
This lecture deals with the history of poetry. Noyes discusses the beginning of poetry as a means for telling a story. The earliest poetry reflected the culture of the time: a person did not exist unless he belonged to a tribe or a state or some collective. Poetry was written by a group of people, not one individual. The contents of the poetry (its characters, actions, plots) were all valued by the group. Example of poetry from this group includes The Iliad and Beowulf. This is very different from the period of individualism that followed.
Individualism in poetry developed parallel to a shift in culture were individuals began to grow specialized skills or trades that could not be matched by others in their group, thus giving them distinction and a sense of self-definition. The poetry of this period (which includes Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales) is derived from the individual poet expressing his feelings and perceptions. The characters are more human and ordinary in these narratives. Yet, the poetry still lacked the rhythmic flow that makes poetry so powerful.
The next period of poetry introduced lyricism. As Noyes writes, “Out of the fullness of his spirit, quickened by the beauty of the world and its inner meaning, wells a song. The lyric is born.” I quite enjoyed William Blake’s “Piping Down the Valleys Wild”. Perhaps what I liked most about this poem is the connection made between a child and a musician through a musical medium and the sharing of this music for other children. I believe music is one of the most beautiful things humans created and watching a children enjoy it sends me through the roof.
Side note: here is a clip of The Festival Singers of Florida performing a musical version of the poem. It’s lovely.
Day Six:
Poetry Lecture 1: General Introduction by Carleton Noyes, formerly Instructor in English at Harvard University
We are learning about poetry! Poetry!!! Let me clarify: I don’t say this with overflowing excitement but with a deer-in-the-headlights look and a strained smile. Poetry? Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy. Time to be honest: I have never liked or understood poetry (with the exception of “roses are red” poems which I doubt the Harvard Classics will discuss). My experience with poetry was mostly in high school English where there was a right answer and a wrong answer for the interpretation of the poem. I rarely could give the right answer. Thus, I don’t like poetry. But I’m older now and probably a little smarter…so let’s review what we learned.
Noyes is a very eloquent writer. Here’s a dandy: “It is just because he sees farther and feels more intensely that he is a poet; and then because he is able to phrase his experience in words which have the power to create the vision and the meaning in us.” I like this interpretation of a poet because it explains the fundamental act of communication that a poet intends. After having such difficulty reading poetry, I assumed that poets were not in the business of communicating – I thought that they liked to be cryptic. But according to Noyes, they want to “create the vision and the meaning in us”. Well…I’m going to try to be more open-minded about these poets.
This lecture deals with the history of poetry. Noyes discusses the beginning of poetry as a means for telling a story. The earliest poetry reflected the culture of the time: a person did not exist unless he belonged to a tribe or a state or some collective. Poetry was written by a group of people, not one individual. The contents of the poetry (its characters, actions, plots) were all valued by the group. Example of poetry from this group includes The Iliad and Beowulf. This is very different from the period of individualism that followed.
Individualism in poetry developed parallel to a shift in culture were individuals began to grow specialized skills or trades that could not be matched by others in their group, thus giving them distinction and a sense of self-definition. The poetry of this period (which includes Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales) is derived from the individual poet expressing his feelings and perceptions. The characters are more human and ordinary in these narratives. Yet, the poetry still lacked the rhythmic flow that makes poetry so powerful.
The next period of poetry introduced lyricism. As Noyes writes, “Out of the fullness of his spirit, quickened by the beauty of the world and its inner meaning, wells a song. The lyric is born.” I quite enjoyed William Blake’s “Piping Down the Valleys Wild”. Perhaps what I liked most about this poem is the connection made between a child and a musician through a musical medium and the sharing of this music for other children. I believe music is one of the most beautiful things humans created and watching a children enjoy it sends me through the roof.
Side note: here is a clip of The Festival Singers of Florida performing a musical version of the poem. It’s lovely.
The Story Begins Here
The Harvard Classic
When I graduated from Western with a degree in business, I felt sad that my formal career as a student (as far as I could determine at the moment) was over. The four years of university that I had longed for since I knew what university was, were done. Those years were vital to me in many ways: the friends I made, the knowledge I learned, the music I played and the boy I met who became my husband. And when it was all over, I felt that I’d skipped over part of the “education” that one should get in university: the arts. I had never taken a university-level English, philosophy or history course. To fix this gap, I decided to ask my parents for a set of books called the Harvard Classics as a graduation present. Charles William Eliot, President of Harvard University, was known to say that a liberal education could be gained by spending 15 minutes a day reading from books that would fit on a 5-foot shelf. Thus, the Harvard Classics were born. The set contains those topics I felt my university experience was lacking and more I didn’t even consider. I found a gorgeous broken set of volumes from the 1910 and 1914 printings in a used book store and took ownership of them. They looked exquisite on my bookshelf. But for the next 3.5 years, they were only there for decoration. I did not make any headway in my liberal education.
But some force has inspired me to change all that. A switch has been flicked on and I’m ready to begin my liberal education. But what a big task it is. The set has 51 volumes and each volume has about 500 pages. All together, I’m looking at a book that’s 25,500 pages long. It’s a big undertaking. So, in order to make it manageable, I’m going to divide my goal up into 10-page increments. That isn’t too much to ask of myself: 10 pages a day.
If I read 10 pages a day that will become 3,650 pages per year which means that I will finish the Harvard Classics within six to seven years. Wow. That’s not as long as I thought it’d take.
So, let’s begin!
When I graduated from Western with a degree in business, I felt sad that my formal career as a student (as far as I could determine at the moment) was over. The four years of university that I had longed for since I knew what university was, were done. Those years were vital to me in many ways: the friends I made, the knowledge I learned, the music I played and the boy I met who became my husband. And when it was all over, I felt that I’d skipped over part of the “education” that one should get in university: the arts. I had never taken a university-level English, philosophy or history course. To fix this gap, I decided to ask my parents for a set of books called the Harvard Classics as a graduation present. Charles William Eliot, President of Harvard University, was known to say that a liberal education could be gained by spending 15 minutes a day reading from books that would fit on a 5-foot shelf. Thus, the Harvard Classics were born. The set contains those topics I felt my university experience was lacking and more I didn’t even consider. I found a gorgeous broken set of volumes from the 1910 and 1914 printings in a used book store and took ownership of them. They looked exquisite on my bookshelf. But for the next 3.5 years, they were only there for decoration. I did not make any headway in my liberal education.
But some force has inspired me to change all that. A switch has been flicked on and I’m ready to begin my liberal education. But what a big task it is. The set has 51 volumes and each volume has about 500 pages. All together, I’m looking at a book that’s 25,500 pages long. It’s a big undertaking. So, in order to make it manageable, I’m going to divide my goal up into 10-page increments. That isn’t too much to ask of myself: 10 pages a day.
If I read 10 pages a day that will become 3,650 pages per year which means that I will finish the Harvard Classics within six to seven years. Wow. That’s not as long as I thought it’d take.
So, let’s begin!
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