It gives a sense of time and place as his father is using a horse plough, a fairly old machine for mass use. Heaney does a magnificent job at describing his father vividly, using fabulous language to describe his adored father.
The poem is divided into six stanzas, each have four lines that are quite regular in length. The AB rhyme scheme is used to emphasis the precision his father had with the plough, it gives unity and regularity just like the furrows that have been ploughed.
The first five stanzas give a tone and sense of admiration for Heaney’s father. By the use of language by the poet we understand Heaney’s awe at his father’s strength and skill.
The poem shows the changing relationships between a son and his father. It deals with change and decline, and shifts of control. It tells how Heaney’s father was once a strong, fit, skilful man in his peak of life has been changed by the years under his belt. Heaney’s father now resembles the child his son used to be, following and watching his son at work.
The speaker is now an adult but is reflecting on fond childhood memories and experiences with his admired father on the farm. At the end though it comes back to present tense.
This is my second poem it’s entitled ‘Last lesson of the afternoon’ it deals with a teacher and his class and the pressure and hate of school they both feel and wish of the bell to ring.The writer of this poem D.H. Laurence was born in 1885 in Nottinghamshire. He became a teacher but he was unhappy with his career so after the publishing of his first novel “The White Peacock” he became a full time writer. Laurence is known much more for his novels than his poetry, as they were very controversial and stole the limelight. Laurence had a lot of talents as he also genres as poetry, short stories, letters, essays and travel. Much of Laurence’s work is deeply personal. We see this theme in the largely autobiographical “Sons and Lovers”. In this poem Laurence expresses a frame of mind of extreme anxiety.
This poem looks at the relationship between teacher and pupil. Relationships between teachers and pupils are often love hate. Teachers often stand in the way of pupils wants to misbehave while trying to teach them the necessities of their subject. The relationship like any other has to be two ways or it fails, struggling.
In the first stanza we get the feeling that the relationship between the teacher and his pupils are strained. The writer gives the impression and creates the illusion of the children as a:
“pack of unruly hounds”
The pupils are like dogs and the teacher, their owner tugs their leaches that restrain them, trying to control them. Yet they still struggle as they are unwilling to learn or be taught. The writer is just waiting for the bell to ring as his class is exhausting him. The class are fighting against him, refusing to learn or gain knowledge:
“a quarry of knowledge they hate to hunt”
The teacher has pulled them kicking and screaming through the lesson and is tired out and hasn’t got enough strength left to try to teach them any longer.
The writer in the second stanza has totally given up on the class. The class is careless and he feels that they have no manners as they insult him by handing in shoddy work. He feels that they are giving him untidy work with little effort put into it from the pupils; he feels it’s a personal insult. The teacher accessed the careless, untidy work that is given to him by his class; he feels the blotted pages are insulting. Throughout the entirety of the poem the language used by the poet is negative. For instance at the beginning of the second stanza the writer speaks of how he:
“No longer can I endure the brunt’
Of the books that lie out on the desks”
There is a feeling that the speaker has been shown bad work from the pupils before and can no longer preserver to look and mark their “slovenly work”. From the speakers use of description for the children’s work we feel they too have a negative feeling towards their work as they have given him careless and untidy work. As the speaker is so depressed with his class he takes their work as an insult to his teaching ability. We see negative language used again in the last stanza. The teacher is sick and tired and is searching for the point of why he’s doing this. He cannot see the benefit for him or his pupils from his:
“What good to them or me, I cannot see!”
In this stanza he uses alteration to emphasise his disappointment.
The writer on the first line of the third stanza makes an important decision, he decides to keep all his energy for himself and fuel his soul, his spirit with it. He wishes to keep his life force alight “kindle my will to a flame”. He refuses the indifference of these pupils dull his light. The writer refuses to let the pupils get to him. He will not let their insults annoy him or zap his strength he emphasises this point and is defiant “I will not!”
In the fourth stanza the speaker no longer cares for his class for he is submerged in saving his energy to fuel his inner being and worrying is draining and pointless to him. He questions why he should care about correcting their mistakes. He senses a feeling of futility, he tells of how he feels his teaching s going down into “abyss” and disappearing.
By the fifth stanza the writer has lost all worth of teaching and feels no responsibility for caring if they can do their work.
“What does it matter to me,”
The pupils are working on writing a description of a dog this suggests that the pupils are either young or weak making their work to him mundane. He yet again questions why he continues with this. He uses a colloquialism, a common expression to express that it’s all the same, that there’s no point:
“it is all my aunt!”
While by society he is supposed to care, it’s his job to care and put his mind, body and soul into teaching and expanding their minds he realizes this but cannot cope.
In the last stanza he shows great negativity and stubbornness:
“I do not, and will not; they won’t and they don’t.
He feels that he cannot change them by doing anything, he is very futile. There is an uncross able gulf between the teacher and the pupils, he feels they are from two different planets. This poem shows the great gulf that lies between teacher and pupil and deals with it. They live indifferent worlds come from different backgrounds have little in common and live completely different lives. This is very much emphasised in the last stanza:
“I shall keep my strength for myself; they can keep theirs
as well.”
He no longer feels like using his energy upon them but keeping it for himself and that they can do the same:
“I shall keep my strength for myself; they can keep theirs
as well.”
The writer feels unwilling to quarrel with the pupils any more as he feels it’s like banging their heads of the walls of each other, pointless on both sides. He feels they are like a wall as they cannot be urged to learn and he can’t move or go around them. While to the pupils he is like a wall standing between them and freedom. In the last stanza the writer uses the image of a wall to explain the relationship between him and his pupils:
“Why should we beat our heads against the wall
Of each other?”
To the teacher the children represent a wall for him. A wall is impenetrable, strong and stubborn. The pupils are stubborn like a wall and refuse to be taught; they have no desire for knowledge and resist cooperating with the teacher. The teacher represents a wall to them as a barrier that stands between them and freedom and one which they are unable to get around or over. The speaker may not fully understand his pupil’s backgrounds or why they refuse to learn. His only resort is to sit and wait for the bell to free him of this cage.
We see the negative attitude of not only the writer but the pupil also. The children give the impression of not wanting to learn and therefore they don’t. The speaker understands that he is expected to care about the work of his pupils yet has had enough of their indifference and now is keeping what energy and strength left within him for himself.
Throughout the poem the poet uses questions for example
“What is the point of this teaching of mine, and of this
Learning of theirs?”
The teacher is questioning the intellect of the pupils that don’t wish to be educated. There is also an underlying sense of futility running through the poem. The teacher feels that the teaching of his and the learning of theirs disappears into the same “abyss” the same black hole.
Just like the poem ‘Follower’ by Seamus Heaney it is divided into six stanzas. There is a rhyme scheme to the poem but it is not at all very regular, unlike the ‘Follower’. In the ‘Follower’ there is a regular pattern showing uniformity like his fathers repetitive ploughing. In the poem some of the lines rhyme showing a sense of order. It is obvious that the pupils resist the control of the teacher so like the rhyme scheme it is not in order.
Throughout the poem the tone expressed is bitterness. There is a feeling of desperation at the thanklessness expressed in the teachers work. There is an underlying feeling of stubbornness, determination and resilience to their imperfections. In the third stanza he is determined to take:
“My last dear fuel of life to heap on my soul
And kindle my will to a flame”
The teacher is determined to withhold his energy from his pupils and use it on his soul. He has decided to keep his energy for himself and will no longer waste it on worrying about his class. His external senses have been dulled by the indifference between them, but he will kind his flame.
The only middle ground that unites them is they both are waiting for this class to end:
“When will the bell ring, and end this weariness?”
This poem deals very well with a failed relationship and a lack o understanding between two groups of people. The pupils do not appreciate there given education but there is a feeling that the work is mundane:
“What does it matter to me, if they can write
A description of a dog, or if they can’t?”
Perhaps just like their teacher they too have become disillusioned.
This poem is entitled ‘My Last Duchess’, it deals with the relationship a man had with his late wife and how he felt about her and her nature and how he never understood her. The writer of this poem was born in Camberwell, London. Browning’s father was a bank clerk and was an educated man with a wide-ranging library. His mother was kind, religious and had a fond interest in music. Browning lived at home until the age of 34, when he married. Browning had a variety of hobbies and interests which ranged from foreign languages to boxing. Browning’s main inspiration came from his unusual education. His education consisted of a boarding school near Camberwell, University for a short time at London and then a home tutored education.
This poem deals with the relationship between a husband and wife. The subject in this poem is the relationship between the Duke and his last Duchess. Even from the beginning we can see that the relationship is out of all proportion. Browning has little personal experience to draw from for this. The poet takes great pleasure in describing the Duke like a tyrant.
The poet uses dramatic monologue to describe through one character and reveal their thoughts and feelings on a particular subject. This reveals the character’s traits by revealing their qualities by what they say. The Duke is very self-interested constantly using the personal pronoun ‘I’ and relates everything to himself. The Duke is talking to the emissary of the Count; a social inferior, as he wishes to marry his daughter but the conversation is one sided. We get the distinct feeling the Duke is in control of the entire conversation. The Duke talks about his dead wife, through his language we get sense of what the Duchess’s personality was, and what the Duke is like. The writer creates the situation that was like when the Duchess was alive and how it is now.
The Duke feels this is a very lifelike picture of his late wife:
“Looking as if she were alive;”
The Duke is obviously very proud of the painting as he calls it a “wonder” this gives the impression that he is happier with the painting of his last Duchess rather than her. The Duke adores Fra Pandolf’s capabilities of painting:
“I call / That a piece of wonder.”
The Duke is aware of his power to collect works of art. The Duke tells of how the artist Fra Pandolf worked hard for a day painting his wife and of how it now sits on the wall:
“and there she stands”
The Duke is in control and invites the emissary to sit but actually he is commanding him to sit and marvel at his late wife. The Duke again uses the personal pronoun
“I said”
The Duke tells of how it is Pandolf’s design while it is her passion captured in the painting.
The Duke speaks of how strangers that see the painting see the glow in her:
“The depth and passion of its earnest glance”
The Duke shows a lot of arrogance as he speaks of how no one, only he draws the curtain that conceals the painting of his departed wife. This shows the Duke likes to be in command and be obeyed. The strangers if they were brave enough to question him on how a depth of passion has come to be in his late wife’s eye. This suggests that people are generally scared of the Duke and that he is dominant. The Duke was suspicious that his late wife was unfaithful and disloyal. That she had high infidelity and played around behind his back, as it could not only be him that made her glow so. The Duke uses direct speech and suggests what Pandolf may have said to his wife. In the Duke’s proposal of Pandolf’s speech we find out how physically beautiful the Duchess was, as she had a rosy complexion and was pretty:
“Half flush that dies along her throat;”
The Duchess enjoyed being given complements and thought it courtesy for others to give them to her. The complements were so rich she blushed:
“calling up that spot of joy”
When the Duke tries to describe her character he fails, the writer uses broken sentences to show his:
“A heart…how shall I say?”
The Duke failed to understand or be able to accommodate her warm and friendly nature; he fails to describe her character as he never understood her.
The Duchess was sweet and easily impressed this aggravated the Duke as he wanted to be the only one and only thing that could impress her. I get a feeling of obsession and possessiveness from the Duke towards his last Duchess. The Duke was immensely jealous and hated the fact that it wasn’t the only thing she loved. The Duchess was a carefree, easy going, friendly person and had an interest in everything around her:
“and her looks went everywhere.”
The Duke failed to appreciate that the Duchess was a free-spirited and independent lady that could not be restraint. The Duke felt he wasn’t the only man to love her and that other men had satisfied her needs, this made the Duke very jealous.
The Duchess enjoyed simple, natural beauty for example:
“drooping of the daylight in the west.”
The Duchess was very impressed when a man brought her cherries and she loved being given gifts. The Duke disliked being upstaged and called the man a “fool”. The Duchess loved animals and enjoyed riding her while mule around the terrace. She was affectionate and enjoyed the company of others:
“She thanked men,”
This shows she was a modest and pleasant character; the Duchess was greatly loved in exterior and spirit.
The writer again uses broken sentences. The Duke cannot comprehend how she could rank other men’s gifts over his gift of his nine hundred year old name:
“With anybody’s gift.”
The Duke is jealous and obsessed that his wife can appreciate gifts from other men. The Duke feels she should be thankful for his gift, that means a lot to him, and that she should be grateful for it. The Duke fishes for a complement with false modesty:
“skill / In speech-(which I have not)”
We can see the Dukes talent through the way he beautifully describe the setting of the sun:
“The drooping of the daylight in the west.”
The Duke feels he couldn’t be bothered pointing out his late wife’s faults to her or where she had gone wrong:
“Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss.”
The Duke is now trying to diminish her character and blame her for his insecurities. The Duke wanted her to be:
“Herself be lessoned so,”
The Duke shows his feeling of rank by telling the emissary that he wouldn’t stoop to anyone:
“and I choose, / Never to stoop.”
The Duke tells of how his Duchess smiled when passed but her smiles were not only kept for him and there was hardly anyone that passed her without being given a smile. Her smiles increased and this concerned and afraid the Duke as he felt he was loosing her, the Duke was offended when she smiled at others. This poem shows visibly, concentrated and detrimental resentfulness of his late Duchess.
The Duke felt there was only one way to get rid of his problem, as the jealousy had taken over and he culminated his terrible decision to slaughter his wife. He made demands and she was killed:
“Then all smiles stopped together.”
The Duke has no remorse and feels he had the right to slay his wife, as she disobeyed to give up her warm nature. For this she paid the ultimate price, death. Through the entire poem there is no feeling of warmth from the Duke towards his wife, no sense that he loved her.
The Duke again invites the emissary to rise but really commands him to stand.
The Duke when speaking about the marriage of him and the Count’s daughter mentions the dowry that he gets on the event of the marriage before mentioning the Count’s fair daughter’s self. This shows the Duke only thinks about himself and is greedy, only marrying the Count’s daughter for the dowry.
The cold Duke while passing his statue of Neptune describes it with the same passion that he described his last Duchess’s painting. This shows he has a keen interest in art. The Duke is egotistical and materialistic over his pieces of art.
Since the death of his Duchess she only has meaning for him as a painting, and has great pride in the fact it was painted by Fra Pandolf. The painting just like the Duchess was a possession of the Dukes. The painting to him is as invaluable as the bronze statue that had been cast by Claus of Innsbruck. The Duke obviously likes acquiring works of art.
We get the feeling the poet despised characters like the Duke, domestic tyrants, Browning satirized domestic tyrants. His father-in-law was a character like the Duke this made Browning elope with his love, the poet had little personal experience of this only for his account of his father-in-law. In his longest poem ‘The Ring and the Book’ he again delves into the character of another domestic tyrant that just like in this poem was aggravated by his wife.
This poem unlike a lot of other poems like ‘Follower’ and ‘Last lesson of the afternoon’ is not divided into stanzas; the poem is a continuous flow of the Dukes thoughts and speech. The fact that they are uninterrupted shows just how arrogant the Duke is and how he adores the sound of his own voice, he’s self obsessed. The Duke fails to care what other people think as he tells the emissary:
“Then all the smiles stopped together.”
The Duke is very narrow minded.
The poem is written using rhyming couplets this gives a formal mood to the piece. We can see a contrast between the Duke’s cold nature and the Duchess’s warm nature.
I feel the Duke if he was dealing with today’s society would not get away with his opinions and actions. The Duchess was far out of his league and he felt once she said “I do” she was his. He couldn’t have been more wrong, he couldn’t tame her warm embracive qualities and this made him jealous as he wanted her for himself. I feel this is totally immoral as the Duchess was a human being with independence yet had a need for interaction with other people and the Duke hated what had once probably drawn her to him.
This is a very satirical poem. The poet gives a very detailed description of a Renaissance nobleman a period spanning from the 14th century to the 16th century. In this period art, literature and architecture rejuvenated the form of classical Greece and Rome.
