Another Original Poem

Here is a poem that I wrote for my Literatures in English Internal Assessment (IA). We were given an option to reinterpret one of  the prescribed texts on the syllabus. In other words, we could create an artistic piece based on one of  the novels, plays or poems but with an original twist. I decided to reinterpret the text, Twelfth Night or What You Will by William Shakespeare. Throughout the entire play the audience is not given in depth insight into the feelings and thoughts of  the protagonist, Viola. To psychologically penetrate what I assumed would be viola's mind set, I wrote a very lengthy poem. It was fun writing it!

Viola’s Unspoken Words

Orsino! You are a fool,

An absolute forward-mouthed fool!

How could you say such words to me

To make my heart race and blood boil. I prithee

 

5          My beloved Duke of Illyria,

            Not to speak to me so much of Olivia.

            If you love her so much why did ye

            Compare my lips to the moon goddess of chastity.

 

            What more, you made me your cupid,

10        I am commissioned to give your love wings to fly to her.

            How insipid!

            She may be beautiful but she treats you like a cur.

 

            I love you! I constantly see your face

            Lurking in dark corners when my mind is in quietude.

15        My thoughts are filled of you; I dote on you, my Grace.

            I have even been charmed by your frivolous attitude.

 

            You say my lips are in the semblance of Diana’s,

            However, your lips are the live coals from Heaven’s altar

            Which I long to touch my lips as Isaiah’s,

20        So the heat may surge through me and release the zeal of a passionate lover.

      

            You love my melodious voice,

            When I speak to you in many sorts of music and song.

            However, what makes me feel peace and comfort is your voice,

            It is the blessed oasis of my soul. Oh! How I long

 

25        To hear you say “Boy” or “Cesario.”

            Your voice soothes me. Oh! How my soul

            Longs for that low, deep melody to quiet the staccato

            Of my brother’s voice in my head who lost to the sea in a watery duel.

 

            Your dark complexion entices me.

30        I long to have your skin sun-darkened,

            To touch and embrace my skin of ivory,

            To ignite Venus’s fire within me, a flame not easily cooled

 

            By the night’s wintry air. Instead

            You woo the Countess Olivia, who is a Fair Cruelty.

35        While my feelings lie in concealment, agony and pain spread,

            Throughout my being, my very soul and heart, tempting to surface my frailty,

 

            The frailty of a maiden’s heart. However,

            My love for you is too great, I will love thee forever.

            I cannot let you go, so with my wit

40        And faith in and Fate we will one day in holy matrimony be knit.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

     Percy Shelley has made a name of  himself as an outstanding poet. He was indeed a romantic and had a knack for adding a dimension of  fantasy to ordinary things. He was no extraordinary visionary like William Blake, but his poetic works have been and still are  testimonies of  the beautiful artistic creations which can be crafted using the superior manipulation of language coupled with the mighty appliication of  wit.

    I intend to analyze many of  his works in a series of posts. I think that the first work I will deconstruct is  Shelley's dedicatory poem to his first wife, Harriet.

 

To Harriet -

   

Whose is the love that, gleaming through the world,

Wards off the poisinous arrow of  its scorn?

Whose is the warm and partial praise,

Virtue's most sweet reward?

 

Beneath whose looks did my reviving soul                               5

Riper in truth and virtuous daring grow?

Whose eyes have I gazed fondly on,

And loved mankind the more?

 

Harriet! on thine:- thou wert my purer mind;

Thou wert the inspiration of  my song;                                       10

Thine are these early wilding flowers,

Though garlanded by me.

 

Then press against thy breast this pledge of  love,

And know, though time may change and years may roll,

Each flow'ret gathered in my heart                                              15

It consecrrates to thine.                                                                   

 

An Analysis of  Shelley's "To Harriet -"









            The poetic composition, “To Harriet –“by Percy Shelley explores immutable love and adoration which are characteristic of  ideal love. In this dedicatory poem, Shelley constructs a speaking voice to express the intense affection that he has for his wife, Harriet.

            To powerfully render the intense love of the persona, Shelley crafts a metaphorical contrast between “the poisonous arrow” (2) of  society and the “sweet reward” (4) which is a fruition of  love. Ideal love is so strong that it protects the persona from society’s fatal eyes and tongues which destroy the narrator’s spirit, while, ensconcing the speaker in a “warm” (3) embrace with words of  “partial praise” (3) which builds confidence and self-esteem. Therefore, like in war, the persona has braved out the battle of  existing within a critical society and has succeeded in securing the spoils of  the war, the warmth of  love. Hence, the speaker justifies why he loves intensely and superbly imposes the beauty of  love by contrasting it with the dread of  battle.

            Through the vehicle of  metaphorical comparasion with abstract concepts such as “purer mind” (9) and “inspiration” (10), the poet masterfully delivers the intense love of  the speaking voice by exploring the  profound transformative effect of  ideal love which enables the persona to persevere. The requited love of  a significant other has purified the narrator’s mind which both contrasts with and protects the speaker from the “scorn” (2) of  “the world” (1). Further, to mightily impose the contradistinctive delineation of  the narrator’s  refined mind with society’s  destructive manner of  thinking, Shelley metaphorically submits a newly awakened need to create and build, in the phrase, “inspiration of  my song” (10). Therefore, Shelley’s superb metaphors comparing abstract concepts skilfully depict the intensity of  the narrator’s love for Harriet.

            In the second stanza, the causal relationship between Harriet’s love and the speaker’s mighty transformation is concretized with the use of  rhetorical questions.   This concretization implicitly but powerfully imposes the intense love of  Shelley’s persona. According to the narrator, Harriet’s “looks” (5) and “eyes” (7) were imperative and essential in producing a revival of  the” soul” (6) and love for “mankind” (8), respectively. The poet rationalizes and confidently implies the unquenchable passion of  his love by asking rhetorical questions.

            The uniform physical form and structure of  the poetic work expertly reinforces and aesthetically enhances Shelley’s poetic examination of  the issue of intense love and adoration. The four quatrains represent the stages of  love by illustrating the past events which planted the seed of  love, the vigorous growth of  the speaker’s love and the promise of  an everlasting and immutable love. Therefore, the eternally vigorous love of Shelley’s persona is masterfully rendered by displaying the chronological development of  mutual love and its powerful effects on the enamoured speaker.

            Shelley’s “To Harriet –“has the perfect balance between logically investigating issues through rationalization and romanticized aesthetic beauty. Despite the fact that the two contrary investigative methods are interweaved within the work there is a manifestation of  coherency because of  the unifying threads of  literary devices. Though differing poetic techniques are used by Shelley, he successfully provides a powerful deliver of  the effervescent love and adoration for Harriet.

Work Cited

Shelley, Percy. “To Harriet –“. The Selected Poetry and Prose of Shelley. Ed. Bruce Woodcock.

            Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 2002. 3. Print.

Two original poems

I have not posted for a very long time. Anyway, here are two of my own poems which explore the dark aspects of  love and relationships.  Enjoy!

Wolf of Romance

         

She feels all warm and happy inside,

And suspects  no deceit or treachery.

She listens to the sweet, fragrant words of love

And dotes herself in them.

 

5        He has her now where he wants her.

          His poisonous, treacherous words have

          Charmed her and now she is paralyzed

          By the poison.

 

          She is unable to resist or fight,

10      All her will power has been swallowed up

          By the sly serpent’s wide mouth.

          He makes her his with ease.

 

          Her body and heart are his now

          He stays by her side for a while,

15      But in the end he gets tired and

          Leaves to devour another Lamb.

          He is the Wolf of Romance.

 

 

 

You Have Broken Many Hearts

         

You walk with your head high,

          Radiating an air of confidence and pride.

          Your gestures and posture gives off

          A majestic aura.

 

5        Those hands have caressed many cheeks,

          They have transferred your warmth to the bare skin

          Of many girls. They are your tiger claws

          Which you sink into your prey’s flesh to trap it.

 

          Those lips have touched many lips with

10      Passion and sensual desire. They excrete venom

          Which makes hormones rage and passions flare, sweeping

          Your prey away in the typhoon of your vile kisses.

 

          That tongue housed in your mouth is a serpent,

          Who is a teller of lies just like its father which was

15      In Eden’s Garden. It has whispered sweet

          Words to make a prey’s will and resistance dissipate

 

         

 

And become one with your lustful desire.

That tongue has trespassed the sacred boundary of

Innocent lips and intruded their mouths,

20      Making her weak and receptive to your agonizingly pleasurable touch.

 

          You have broken many hearts,

          Crushed many dreams,

          Trampled on many sincere feelings and,

          Destroyed the trust of many girls.

 

25      You are a modern day Adonis,

          Well-crafted by the hands of Nature,

          However, what lies under your

          Fleshy outside is a stony inside.

 

          I feel sick when I see you!

30      I loathe you! I detest you!

          You are a tare among wheat, a weed among crops,

          Like a leech you suck the love out of them.

 

         

 

 

You have broken many hearts,

          That is why I will not be subdued by your fiery darts

35      Of false passion, lies and lustful desire,

          I will not be bested by you.

 

          You have broken many hearts,

          That is why I will not be subdued by your fiery darts.