Blake and Word
One of the main differences I noticed between the poetry of W. Blake and W. Wordsworth is that many of Blake's poems are much shorter and don't have as deeper a meaning as Wordsworth's.
One example would be "The Lily" (pg.21) which is solely comprised of two couplets. In this poem, Blake compares the lily flower with the rose and the sheep; he concludes that the lily is the more beautiful because it has no defense (thorn or horn) to "stain" its beauty; it only has love.
*barf*
I understand this is the shortest poem in his Songs of experience piece given to us but it's a good example of how shallow most of the meanings of his poems are compared to Wordsworth's.
Now if you look at the shortest poem by Wordsworth in the set we were given, it has significantly more to say compared to Blake. "London: 1802" is an Italian, or Petrarchan, sonnet composed of an octave (eight lines: a b b a a b b a) and a sestet (can be organized in several ways). The switch in rhyming groups signals a change in subject. In this Poem, Wordsworth uses the octave to describe how the English race is full of corruption and is in dire need of John Milton's wisdom. He styles it so that it is as if he is speaking to Milton and begging him to rise from the grave. In the sestet, the second and third lines are similes comparing Milton's soul to a star and his voice to the sea. The last three lines are also devoted to admiration of Milton and his character.
I find soo much more depth, meaning, and enjoyment in Wordsworth's poems than I do in Blake's. This may be because I prefer more serious poetry over silly and happy poetry. His WORDS were just WORTH more than Blake's. *badum-tsh*
I commented on Faith and Zelda's posts
One example would be "The Lily" (pg.21) which is solely comprised of two couplets. In this poem, Blake compares the lily flower with the rose and the sheep; he concludes that the lily is the more beautiful because it has no defense (thorn or horn) to "stain" its beauty; it only has love.
*barf*
I understand this is the shortest poem in his Songs of experience piece given to us but it's a good example of how shallow most of the meanings of his poems are compared to Wordsworth's.
Now if you look at the shortest poem by Wordsworth in the set we were given, it has significantly more to say compared to Blake. "London: 1802" is an Italian, or Petrarchan, sonnet composed of an octave (eight lines: a b b a a b b a) and a sestet (can be organized in several ways). The switch in rhyming groups signals a change in subject. In this Poem, Wordsworth uses the octave to describe how the English race is full of corruption and is in dire need of John Milton's wisdom. He styles it so that it is as if he is speaking to Milton and begging him to rise from the grave. In the sestet, the second and third lines are similes comparing Milton's soul to a star and his voice to the sea. The last three lines are also devoted to admiration of Milton and his character.
I find soo much more depth, meaning, and enjoyment in Wordsworth's poems than I do in Blake's. This may be because I prefer more serious poetry over silly and happy poetry. His WORDS were just WORTH more than Blake's. *badum-tsh*
I commented on Faith and Zelda's posts
I do like that Wordsworth's poems do have more meaning to them. He actually noticed enough about the world and the people in it to write about it. His mind is more focused on the meanings behind why people are the way they way are instead of being all rainbows and unicorns.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting the different choice of style each of the Williams chose. They each have a completely different tone from each other. Your post made me laugh when you were talking about Blake's poem "The Lily" because you are right that it is in a way very shallow poem and the message of pure love may or may not be correct haha. Though it raises the question, does poetry have to be deep to be good? I think some people may argue that it doesn't. ( P.S your pun has given meaning to my life )
ReplyDelete*bows* thank you thank you, no applause please
DeleteBlake is truly a great poet if you dive deep into the meaning of his poems. While "The Lily" is short and while it seems to be about nothing important on the surface, there's more to it than that. Blake is putting up the lily as a picture of perfect love, saying it's honest and vulnerable, whereas the rose and sheep have thorns and horns to defend themselves even though they don't need to. The rose is too modest, her beauty cannot be admired without some fear of the thorns. The sheep has horns, yet is too humble to use them. Something to note is the lily is most commonly used to symbolize purity and virginity. This poem is in Blake's Songs of Experience so we know it can't be as innocent as it seems. Blake is speaking out against the sexual repression of his time. How ironic- satirical, even- if he wrote about a flower that symbolizes purity and virginity and say that flower delights in love (sex)?
ReplyDeleteAnd what about the rest of his poems? He speaks against the church, against slavery, against the exploitation and neglect of impoverished children. I dunno, seems like there might be some meaning there if you ask me. Also, a poem's length doesn't make it a "better" or "worse" poem. A poem doesn't have to go one for pages to be meaningful.
poems that say the most in the least amount of words are my favorite. trust me it has little to do with the length, I just did not find much enjoyment of Blakes poems
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