The lunatic lover and the poet
“The lunatic lover
and poet " is written by William Shakespeare. He became the most popular
playwright of the Elizabethan age. Apart from writing famous tragedies like
Hamlet, Macbeth and famous comic plays like "The Merchant Of Venice",
"The Tempest" etc.. He wrote a series of 154 sonnets, which were
published together in 1609. His plays and sonnets exhibit an exceptional
understanding of life and a remarkable insight into the complexities of human
nature. He was a gifted poet.
"The
lunatic lover and poet" is an extract taken from Shakespeare's play
" A Midsummer Night's Dream ". In this poem Shakespeare explains the
similarities lies in the faculty of their imagination. Imagination is the
faculty of imagining. It is the ability of forming images, concepts and
sensations. It is a powerful phenomenon, it helps to understand knowledge and
to create something new, it helps to solving problems and give meaning to
experience.
One of them sees a
more devil's than even vast hell can hold. He is the madman. The lover sees the
Helens beauty in any common ordinary woman. Imagination of poet is very high
when compared to lunatic and lover. He give shapes to unreal things. Madman
imagines irregular shapes and things which do not exist. Lover imagines that
his lover is most beautiful woman in world though she might be average beauty.
The poet explains the power of imagination. Because of this power , he gives
shapes to unreal things, and he moves from earth to heaven and heaven to earth
and his eyes are rolling everywhere encompassing everything in universe.
Imagination gives both joy and fear. Sometimes a bush may appear as a bear in
dark night and vice-versa.
On His Blindness
"On His Blindness" is a sonnet and it is written by John Milton. He
was an English poet ,polemicist, man of letters. He wrote at a time of
religious flux and political upheavel, and is best known for his epic poem
" paradise Lost" . Milton's poetry and prose reflect deep personal
convictions , a passion for freedom and self determination and the urgent
issues and political turbulence of his day. Milton collected 1645 poems.
It is one of the best
and most popular of Milton's sonnets. Sonnet is a small poem which contains 14
lines.
The poet reflects
" On His Blindness " . He becomes blind at middle age . Because of
his Blindness he thinks regrets that his poetic talent has been
wasted. His heart , he always composed poem to justifies God's ways. He wishes
to give a true account of his powers to God. He is afraid that God may be angry
him for not using his power. He foolishly asks- Does God requires a blind man's
service?.
The patient thinking
might the poet conclude that God neither needs the service of man nor an
account of the gifts owned by Him. Those who resign themselves to the will of
God serve Him best. God is invested with royal power . Thousands of
angles fly quickly over land and ocean to do his bidding. Those who have faith
in God and calmly submit to God's powers also render him services.
Three Years She Grew In Sun and Shower
Wordsworth testified
his true attitude of nature. According to him , nature is heavenly spirit who
has the combined qualities of a mother and a teacher. The poem observes how
mother-nature raised Lucy, moulded and shaped her life till she becomes a fine
young lady.
From the day she was born till the day she was three years old. Lucy grew under
the light and the heat of the sun and the showers of the soft summer rain. The
nature said that there was no flower lovelier than Lucy that has ever been born
on earth; here Lucy was compared with flower, because of her beauty and the
natural way in which she was bringing up. Mother's Nature decided to take full
charge of nature's own ideal.
Nature would be to Lucy a source of inspiration for both law and impulse,
inspiring emotions and Lucy was learn about the secrets of mountains and plains,
and wisdom of the earth and heaven, in glade; a clear open space and bower,
shady space under the tree. She would learn to feel an over seeing power to
rouse and control.
Lucy would be playful and mercy like a young deer with that wild and timeless
joy , full of energy to go high up as the water spring on top of the mountain;
a source of a river. She would also learn to be silent and calm with the silent
inanimate objects of nature. The silent floating clouds that pass by would lend
their dignity and grandeur to her. She would learn modesty from the curved branches
of the willow tree. The strong movement of the storm symbolises power and
gracefulness. Lucy would learn to be powerful and graceful like the storm at
the same time. Yet in silence, she would ultimately be moulded into a fine
young lady.
In this process, she would someday display all her beauty like stars in the sky
on a midnight she would be loved and close to them and would listen carefully
in many secrets of nature. The secret places where the rivulets dance their way
ward round with their streams of clear rushing water. Their beauty was born
with a soft murmuring sound that would beautiful her and make her face
beautiful. The vital nourishment in her to a grandeur height. As long as Lucy
dwells with Mother's Nature in this joyful valley, she would shape Lucy's thoughts
to the height of maturity.
At last Mother Nature spoke and said that the work of educating Lucy was
finally done. How Soon was Lucy's race in her life's journey run? Lucy's
duration of life was compared to a race which has a beginning and an end. When
she died all that she left to the narrator was the heath ; barren land, the
calm and quite scene. The memory of what would always be perhaps suggestive to
the fact that this work of nature would never be repeated in future.
La Belle Dame Sans Merci
"Beauty is truth
and truth is beauty that is all you need to know on earth and all you need to
know". He was one of the main figures of the second
generation of romantic poets along with Lord Byron and Percy .Consumption , failure
in love with Fanny Brawne and the criticism Black Wood killed him.
This poem is autobiographical in nature. It speaks of unrequited
love.
The first three stanzes of " LaBelle Dame Sans Merci" pose the
speaker's questions to a melancholy knight who looks lonely, listless and ill.
The sedge a grass like plant that thrives in wet lands, has dried up and the
knight, as if in sympathy with this arid setting, appears depleted both
physically and emotionally.
In stanza four, the knight begins to answer the speaker's questions, reporting
that he met a beautiful , fairy like lady in the meads. Enchanted by this
beautiful figure, the knight describes her graceful movement, her alluring long
hair and her lively appearance, apparent in her wild eyes.
In stanza five , he makes a garland for her head and bracelets that enhance her
natural perfume. She is responsive to his loving tribute, and her sweet moaning
signals that she is falling in love with him. In stanza six , enraptured with
his new found love, the knight places her on his horse and follows her all day
as she looks down as him and sings a fairy song , while in stanza seven, she
gathers and feeds him sweet roots and delectable foods to express her true love
for him.
In stanza eight , the mood of the poem shifts back towards melancholy. When the
knight relates how the woman took him to a grotto , a sort of magical
space the knight associates with fairy creatures such as elves. In this
setting, the delicate fleeting nature of the lady's feelings suddenly erupts
with her tears, which the knight tries to soothe with his kisses that shut her
"wild wild eyes" - words that suggest he was fallen in love with a
creature that he can't possess.
It is the lady who lulls the knight to sleep , however , in stanza nine to
eleven , he is engulfed in a dream of kings and princes who are pale and who
warn him that he has become enslaved by the beautiful lady without mercy. When
he awakes , the knight finds himself on the cold hill side , feeling the death
like cold of his dream and looking like the sad figure that speaker first
encountered. Coming full circle in stanza twelve, the knight notes that his
experience with the lady is why he remains in this bleak setting , alone and
feelings that he has lost the love of this beautiful figure that haunts and
blights not only his life but also the world in which he finds himself.
Contributor: Ponnagati Viharika
Mail: ponnaganti.viharika38@gmail.com
Mail: ponnaganti.viharika38@gmail.com
