Sarah's Anthology ( poems #6- 10 )

"A Drunken Man's Praise of Sobriety"
by William Butler Yeats
(1865 - 1939) Timeline


Come swish around, my pretty punk,
And keep me dancing still
That I may stay a sober man
Although I drink my fill.

Sobriety is a jewel
That I do much adore;
And therefore keep me dancing
Though drunkards lie and snore.
O mind your feet, O mind your feet,
Keep dancing like a wave,
And under every dancer
A dead man in his grave.
No ups and downs, my pretty,
A mermaid, not a punk;
A drunkard is a dead man,
And all dead men are drunk.

~Yeats, William Butler. "A Drunken Man's Sobriety" from pg.347; 312. of The Collected Poems of Yeats. Revised Second Edition. Edited by Finneran, Richard J. Simon & Schuster Inc. Scribner Paperback Poetry. 1996. Book.


Yeats talks about something that can become such a problem for people and has been causing trouble all throughout time in deaths and addiction and this addicting substance is alcohol. The speaker is known to be an alcoholic before and wants to change this by being sober and abstinent represented in the line “sobriety is a jewel.” Alcohol affects the body but also results in others deaths so it is just not a good habit and the speaker fears or worries it being the death of him. Starting an addiction is usually one thing people tend to regret doing, so that is why I chose this poem as being a past regret in even starting to drink for the speaker. My theme being regret and wishes for the future both can be fulfilled and seen in this poem since the regretful thing of drinking is now leading him to wish and make a goal of stopping, so I think it fits well with my theme.

Another reason this poem is good for my anthology is that it can be a more recent poem in which I can compare to some of the older ones like Anacreon’s and even other poets around his time.



“He wishes for the cloths of Heaven”

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

By: W B Yeats

*Enwrought= worked or woven into material, especially decoratively

~Yeats, W B. "He wishes for the cloths of Heaven." Source from: Public Domain Poems. http://www.publicdomainpoems.com/wishesforclothesheaven.html.
http://ellenolinger.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/w-b-yeats-he-wishes-for-the-cloths-of-heaven/. Google Advertisement.
~Yeats, William Butler. "He wishes for the cloths of Heaven" from pg.73-74. of The Collected Poems of Yeats. Revised Second Edition. Edited by Finneran, Richard J. Simon & Schuster Inc. Scribner Paperback Poetry. 1996. Book.

I think it is good not just to compare one poet to another's poetry, but also the same poet and two different poems by them, so that is why I chose to do another one of Yeats’s poems, but this one is called “He wishes for the cloths of Heaven,” that is quite similar, but also different when written. “He wishes for the cloths of Heaven” is what I think is about a person being regretful and wishing that they had gone through in trying to or being able to try and carry out their dreams that are now being tread on and in so he wishes for the cloths of heaven since he being poor either in judgment and possibly literally did not have light and his hopes of “golden light” were only “dark light and night,” so they did not work out. This is a good teaching of when making goals carry them out and it may make quite a difference in one’s life rather than just continuing on miserable without anything that would be important to the person. This poem if made after “A Drunken Man's Praise of Sobriety” could be a continuation in his life in which he wanted to become sober and quit his addiction but failed at doing so, which would be a sad instance for him or anyone I think. I compared two of Yeats’s poems for analyzing among the same poet and editing can show different styles and forms poets like to try and vary in.


"HUMILITY"
(from "Northern Lass," 1632)
by: Richard Brome (c. 1590-1652)


NOR Love nor Fate dare I accuse
For that my love did me refuse,
But oh! mine own unworthiness
That durst presume so mickle bliss.
It was too much for me to love
A man so like the gods above:
An angel's shape, a saint-like voice,
Are too divine for human choice.

Oh had I wisely given my heart
For to have loved him but in part;
Sought only to enjoy his face,
Or any one peculiar grace
Of foot, of hand, of lip, or eye,--
I might have lived where now I die:
But I, presuming all to choose,
Am now condemned all to lose.

~ Brome, Richard. "Humility." from Northern Lass stage play http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/humility.html. 2002. Website.
VOCAB:
·mickle= great or abundant
·humility= The quality or condition of being humble or modest


This poem by Brome is in another time period (1590-1652) that is diverse from the other poets I have done so far and so this is another good poet to try and edit their poem and compare to others. “Humility” is a poem that after looking up the poet’s background he was a servant, so this can let the reader imagine much in the background story of the poem written. I decided on using this poem for my anthology since it is different in the other poets I have chosen so far and I thought was more of a happier set poem than some of the others, but ends up being just as bad with the speaker dying or being dead.

Brome has a style of rhyming each of the lines to another one such as to be the last word going with the last word to the following line being an AABBCCDD pattern in each stanza which makes it similar as continuous rhyme schemes are in some songs and yet this has a meaning that is imaginative in statements not having much of a story in the literal words, but behind it probably more and knowing the title being “Humility” of having personality traits of being humble or modest and in so this does seem like it would be a good way to stay out of the middle not getting involved in fights, but then this quality turning around on him in the end “now condemning all to lose” since not choosing a side and this could be good or bad but I think matters what is the story and how important the choosing may have made a difference or had an effect that may have prevented an even worse outcome. It does not really say and leaves kind of a cliff hanger, which many poems can do but I am thinking that this did not end well for them along with him since in the last few lines he exclaims that “he might have lived where now he is dying.” Since he is now dead I think that there is much regret or hopes of having done something differently so that being a reason for including it in my anthology.


“When I hoped, I recollect” by Emily Dickinson

When I hoped, I recollect
Just the place I stood --
At a Window facing West --
Roughest Air -- was good --

Not a Sleet could bite me --
Not a frost could cool --
Hope it was that kept me warm --
Not Merino shawl --

When I feared -- I recollect
Just the Day it was --
Worlds were lying out to Sun --
Yet how Nature froze --

Icicles upon my soul
Prickled Blue and Cool --
Bird went praising everywhere --
Only Me -- was still --

And the Day that I despaired --
This -- if I forget
Nature will -- that it be Night
After Sun has set --
Darkness intersect her face --
And put out her eye --
Nature hesitate -- before
Memory and I --


Emily Dickinson



~Dickinson, Emily. "When I hoped, I recollect." http://www.lovethepoem.com/famous-poems/when-i-hoped--i-recollect-by-emily-dickinson/

“When I hoped, I recollect” is one of many poems by Emily Dickinson that I think shows much in her style and yet can still be compared to other's poems and other poems' of by her that make it different. I chose this poem since it is of a poet that I have found to be really good and meaningful in many of her writings and she is one of my favorite. I chose this poem to go along with my theme since it is about the speaker that hopes for something more rather than the events that already occurred that seem to be bad and he/she may have regrets toward. The speaker reminisces about times in his/her life and doesn't recall other times that may be intentionally forgotten about such as in the "Day that I despaired(line 17)" in which many people don't like to think about the bad times in their lives. The speaker even during bad times does know say that "Hope it was that kept me warm--(line 7)," so looking for the future and thinking positive helped during those ".... ... ..... ...... cool(line 6)" times that's denotation being chilly and later ".... .... ....Cool(line 14)" possibly meaning frigid whose connotation being that of the dark and horrible times in one's life. I like the caesuras' and format of the poem being quatrain stanzas but the last stanza that could be seen as the last two stanzas joined to make one or just a way that Dickinson wanted to put it so that is showed that these verses end and conclude her poem. There is not much for rhyme schemes in this poem, but it still has the components of poetry so I included in my anthology for a varying in aesthetics.  


"Success is counted sweetest"

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory

As he defeated—dying—
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!

~ Dickinson, Emily. "Success is counted sweetest" from Kennedy; Gloia, Dana's.An Introduction to Poetry Thirteenth Edition. pg.332. Textbook.



The idea behind Dickinson's “Success is counted sweetest” poem is that those who don't and "who ne'er succeed(line 2)" are those who long and wish to, while those who do accomplish their goals or wins in any sense, does not tend to think about it as much. It is like the idea that longing for something is when someone cares and ponders on a goal, especially if unattainable or so close to reaching it seems so much more important than if someone actually does reach their goals they are glad but don't have to stride as long since they know it was attainable and are more confident about their "Victory" and "triumph." The idea is that people who wish for something and have a desire to win continue to want and find it greater of an accomplishment, while those who had wanted to win and do usually are not always putting all their energy and time into succeeding as often, so hoping to succeed by those who never do can be connected to my anthology's theme of praying and wishing for things to go a certain way in the future. I chose this poem by a poet I already had chosen a poem from to be used in my anthology, to be able to compare and contrast another poet's work to that of their own, so I can compare the style in this poem with that of "When I hoped, I recollect" also by Dickinson.