Good morning everybody. Okay it's my pleasure to
have you for the second poetry class. And as you
see, today we're having here the class in this
comfortable place, which I think is very suitable
for poetry class. As the norms of each class, I
would like first to start by having your daily
report. So I need one student to come here and to
deliver her daily report. Today, I'm asking who is
going to volunteer. Next time, I'm going to pick
out randomly. Okay? Good. Please come here.
You can come here.
For the bells were rung, for the songs were sung,
poetry class was announced to be open. Since the
class was crowded and the apprehension was
founded, everyone's compliment was raised as
often. As some poetic terms have been implicated,
formatting demands to be updated, the abstracted
ears will be no more taken. From having
definitions and the elements of aesthetics shared
and the figures of speech were asked to be
prepared to the video tape our class would be
chosen. To those who are concerned about the
matter of marks, you will have your test while
having some snacks. You will have it done even you
have no pen. OK. I think this is very amazing.
It's nice to have such a report in poetic form.
And this shows how some of you, right from the
very beginning, are interested in poetry. And this
personally thrills me. So good. I don't want to
ask for another report. Later, as I told you, I
might pick out randomly. As today, as you see, we
have poetry criticism. This is class number two.
You see, the title is, we'll continue this series
until next week, Reading and Talking About Poetry.
I would like to start by summarizing what I'm
going to say in this class. So at the beginning,
there will be a summary of the previous class.
Then, we're going to talk about poetry, and then
reading poetry. Okay, let's see. What was last
class? I think last class we tried to elicit your
response to the question I gave you earlier. What
is voting? And I was very happy when you came up
with like different definitions, mainly the famous
Wordsworthian definition. Poetry was spontaneous
overflow of powerful feelings. And we tried to
look into that definition and we realized how it
was paradoxical. And the paradox which was there
in that statement shows that how poets are
craftsmen. They do a lot of craftsmanship when
they write poetry. And then we talked about other
definitions, and those definitions made us able to
demarcate poetry as a different genre. We started
to talk about rhyme, rhythm, assonance,
alliteration, etc. So these are the features like
which we might be interested while having this
course. I know this course, as I told you from the
very beginning, this course is a course in reading
poetry. But it is a course in reading this poetry
in the context of its culture, in the context of
its history. But as you see, it is difficult, and
this is what will take us to this point, is
talking about poetry. It is difficult to talk
about poetry in a very impulsive manner. I mean,
we have to be aware what, you know, we are
talking, what language we are talking. Right,
talking about poetry. In fact, there are two ways
we can talk about poetry. I don't know, like when
I ask you to talk about a poem, You might say,
okay, I like this poem. It's very interesting. It
appeals to me. Another student say, okay, I like
this metaphor. Now I want you to bring these two
things. Like when you say this is a metaphor, if
you identify that this is a metaphor, it means
like you realize that there is a specialized
language important. So, when you talk about
poetry, you have to be aware of this special
language. But when we talk about the meaning, you
know, we are using a general language. So, if you
talk about a certain metaphor, okay, it's good to
realize that this is a metaphor. But it is not
enough to identify the metaphor. You have to say
how this metaphor serves the meaning, you know, in
a special context. I know this is like very
abstract, and you need some examples, okay? Now,
if you look at this example, you know, Wordsworth,
it says, the city now does like a garment wear the
beauty of the morning. If we look closely at this
line, We see that there is a kind of comparison.
What is he comparing? Can anybody tell me what is
he comparing? Is he comparing something to
something else? The city now doth like a garment
wear the beauty of the morning. Yes.
So the city is wearing a garment. What is the
garment? What is the garment exactly here? It is
compared to the beauty of the morning. So this is
what we call a simile. For example, my friend is
like a lion.
This is a kind of simile in which we compare one
thing with another thing. Now here, as you see in
this poem, Wordsworth compares the beauty of the
morning to a garment which is dressed. Now, when
we want to talk about poetry,
have to say, in this life, it's very important to
see how this simile expresses the extent of
happiness the people in this city enjoy at this
moment. Okay? So here, you're mixing between the
specialized language with the general language. So
this is what I expect. You later when we are
doing, when we are reading some poems, we are
going like to, you know, mix between the
specialized language and, you know, the general
language. Okay. Now we're going to move to another
point. Sorry.
This is another example. Also, it shows us how we
can mix. Dylan Thomas is a famous English poet,
and one of his poems entitled A Grief Ago, he was
lamenting the death of his wife,
and he used this like a grief ago. the poem by
saying agrifago. Now, it's very interesting
because do we say in ordinary language agrifago?
So here, this is very poetic. It is very poetic by
the norm of its deviation from the normal use of
language. If we look at this a grief ago, usually
we say one day ago, two days ago, three days ago,
but we never say a grief ago. And like a grief is
like a day. So there is here a kind of metaphor.
It's a metaphor. You have here what we call
syntactic deviation because in grammar, We often
say a day ago, two days ago, three days ago, and
we have semantic deviation. Why? Because grief is
being compared, you know, to days. So here, like
the metaphor shows how the poet is obsessed with
this sense of sadness and agony. Okay? You see
here, again, this is another example We can
combine both, you know, specialized language and
general language.
Okay, reading poetry. This course, or in this
course, we're going to read a lot of poems. And we
are going, as we explained in the outline, we're
going to respond to the poems.
Be aware of what we are doing when we read poetry.
I know through my experience as a student and even
as a teacher, the first time you look at your
poem, you become a little bit repulsive, aversive.
You don't want to read. You know, it's, what is
this? And I want you to dismiss this feeling. I
want you to approach the poem with, you know, a
sense of alacrity, psychological readiness. I want
you to be open-minded, to look at the poem, and to
read the poem aloud, as you see here. Reading the
poem aloud is very important. You have to read the
poem aloud many times, just not one time. And you
should vary. Sometimes you read it slowly, you
concentrate on words. And then you vary the speed.
You speed up to make it sound like what it was
meant by the poet himself. Some people can record
the poem. I did this many times, and it was
lovely. You can also get, nowadays, I think we are
blessed because we have all these electronic
resources so we can harness these resources by
downloading, you know, some poems written by
native speakers or even by the poets themselves.
Now let's give an example about reading a poem.
How to read a poem. Now this poem, as you see,
Some of you might not say it's a poem, you know,
because is it a poem? Yeah. Like, look at you, you
are surprised. I think a good poem, you know, is
the poem that induces in us a sense of surprise.
Some might gloss over this poem by saying, 40 love
middle-aged couples playing tennis. When they go
home and, you know, when they go home, the net
will still be between them. It is like reading,
you know, a statement without just like variation,
without stressing. But if we have to read this as
if it were a poem, and I think it is a poem, So
how would you like to read it? Should I give you
one minute and then you try reading it? Okay.
I need a daring student who
would like to come and say yes. Okay, I need
another student, hold on.
Yes? Okay, go ahead. Yeah, maybe. For me, it's
playing couple. Couple?
Playing?
Okay,
now this is like initial reading, but if you were
to read it again, I don't think, you know, you're
going to stick to this, you know, pace, you might
change the pace. How would you like to change the
pace? Is anybody trying to change the pace? Yes or
no? of middle-aged couple playing tennis when the
game ends and as they go home, the network is
still between them. I bet it's a little bit
musical. Does anybody think of like reading this
poem? Forty love middle-aged couple playing tennis
when the game ends and they go home. The network
will still be between them. Have you thought of
it? Or do you want to say, forty-love, marriage,
age, couple, play, game, tell, you know? I mean,
the way you are reading, the more you read, the,
you know, the better perception, the better your
perception of the poem becomes. But let's, reading
aloud might allow us to generate some initial
responses. But again, it's not enough. We have to
look at the words. And we have to ask ourselves a
couple of questions. Because when we read, if we
want to talk about poetry, it's not only just
reading aloud. Reading aloud might induce in us a
sense of surprise, a sense of pleasure, you know,
and some questioning. I think these are
interesting because By doing this, we format our
mind in order to understand the poem better. Okay.
Now, what about, do you like the way it is, it
should be like read? Forty-love, middle age,
couple playing tennis. When the game ends and they
go home, the net will be still with them. It's
very funny, huh? You like it? So, but did anything
attract your attention here if you look at this?
What attracts your attention?
Yes? The stress on the sound. There is no meaning.
So you think, yeah, look here, we are meaning
oriented.
like from the very beginning to understand the
meaning. I think this is a legitimate question,
but we don't have to be impatient. We have to
read, you know, to see how the words, you know,
leave some impact on us. We have to look at the
poem closely to see how it is patterned, how it is
formed. You know, what is happening in the poem,
how the words, look here, if you look closely,
chasm here or this space. Do we have this? This is
like Arabic. And if you look closer, we don't have
like, look at the words here, tinness. It is, it
is what? Fragmented. It is in two pieces. Look at
the word. Have you noticed this? Yeah, between
like even them. So we might say, what is this poem
talking about? And who are involved? What is this
poem talking about? Have you asked yourself what
is it about? I know. What is it about? Yes? It
might be... So we are talking about a couple, a
man and a woman?
So they are playing a game. This is what the poem
tells us. When we read the poem, and when we look
at the poem more closely, we start to ask, is it a
friendly game? Or is it a game which involves some
sense of rivalry, like somebody's competing? Is it
a poem which holds in itself some feeling of
acrimony? Because here, as you see, it is Not
very, is it friendly? Like, how do you know it's
not friendly? How do you know it's not friendly?
Yes? For 40 love. Yeah, what do you mean 40 love?
Like if there's a friendly relationship between
them. Yeah, like 40 love is a friendly
relationship, okay? But you know, in tennis, love
means zero. So, I don't know, look, whether you
have, yeah, 40 laps. So, it might, yes?
So,
yes, there is a barrier. You know, the Pope says
the net will be still there. And I, again, if we
look at how the words are patterned, like how the
words are fragmented, we see that this is like a
very you know, unhealthy relationship, you know,
because there is a separation. So I don't want to
go deeper in like to this poem. I'll be giving you
another example how we should read the poem and
how we should look at the words, the certain
patterns of the word, and then how to form these
questions. These questions will help us
Or I would say possible thematic meanings, because
I don't want like to be, you know, just like
saying this is about this. So as we said, you
know, poetry has multiple meanings. It is not
referential, but rather representation. Okay? So
let's move to the second example. And I bet you're
going to find it as funny as, even more funny than
the first one. Good. You need somebody to read
this. Okay? More polemic? Yeah, you started
laughing. I don't know, it might be chemistry. So
look here, you laughed. Isn't nobody afraid? Are
you afraid?
Okay, very good. Like, do you want to read it? Go
ahead. N-N-T-T N-N-T-T-N T-N-N T-N-N T-N T-N T-N T
-N T-N T-N T-N T-N T-N T-N T-N T-N T-N T-N T-N T-N
T-N T-N T-N T-N T-N T-N T-N
Ah, good.
Thank you very much. Okay. It's fun, isn't it?
Yeah. But like when you read the poem, You didn't
feel it. You didn't imbue it, charge it with any
sentiment. So you were reading as if you were
reading a piece of news. So reading poetry
requires that we put some sentiments, we put some
feelings. Okay? So is anybody going to add
feelings, sentiments? Yeah, come on.
Go ahead.
Yes? I know it's funny. So let me just like read
it. An-an, chi-chi. An-an, chi-chi, chi-chi-chi,
an-an. Chi-chi, an-an, chi-an. Chi-an, chi-an, chi
-an, chi-an, an-chi. An-chi, an-chi, an-chi, an.
Ti-an. An-ti. An-ti. An-ti-an. An-ti-an-ti-an-ti
-an. Ti-ti. An-an. Ti-ti. An-an. Ti-ti. Ti-ti. An
-an. Ti-ti. Ti-an. An-an. An-an-an-an-an-an-an? An
-an-an-an-an-an. Ti-ti-ti. Ti-ti-ti. Ti-ti-ti. Ti
-ti-ti. Very funny. You like it? Oh, look here.
Thank you. You started to like poetry. And is
anybody worried? Thank you. Nobody's worried? You
want me to bring this in the exam and to ask you,
what is this poem about?
But look at me, like I interacted with the poem.
And as you felt at the end of the poem, You know,
it was a little bit sad. Why? Because, as you see,
an-an-an, you know, it's taking side, and the chi
-chi-chi is taking side. So, we might say, hey,
what is this poem about? Okay? Let's guess, you
know, for fun, what this poem might be about.
Because, you know, in this course, poetry course,
I don't want you to end the poem by saying this
poem is about. It might be about. It might be
about this. It might be about that. And sometimes
when we reach the intended meaning of the poem, we
might lose the poem. We might lose the beauty of
the poem. So I think poets would be very happy
when they see that their poems spoon, generate
multiple meanings. I met some poets, and when I
started, like, to interpret certain words, they
started, like, to be amazed. I didn't think of
that. They were very happy. So, I think even for
us, like, when we learn, yes, we have to figure
out different meanings. What do you think? What is
it about? Yes?
Yeah, it could be two Chinese, you know, they are
fighting with each other. Very good. Thank you.
Could be. Yes.
Yeah, it could be a conflict between two friends,
you know, Khalid and his friend and they are doing
this. It could be. Yes. Could be. Yeah, thank you.
It could be between two countries, like, you know,
they're fighting, they are always in conflictual
relation, like what happened between Iran and
Iraq. Thank you very much.
It's a church. A child, like it could be a nursery
rhyme, like, good, thank you. Yes.
A couple, a wife and husband fighting each other.
You know, they keep like their life is full of
wrangling dispute. You know, it could be like they
are not on good terms. Good. Yes.
Suffered from? Flu. Yeah, very good. I haven't
thought of that. It could be good. And then, you
know, keep doing this. And there is no doctor like
to prescribe medicine for him. Good. Thank you.
But like, it's very interesting to hear maybe. I
want to ask what made you reach this? But when you
say maybe it's about this, is it the sound? Is it
the word on the page? Is it the arrangement? So
what makes you come to this interpretation?
Yeah? The sound itself. Thank you. The sound. The
words like am and chi, how they sometimes, the
words are reciprocal and sometimes they are not.
When I say reciprocal, like you see am, am, chi,
chi, they reciprocate. They reciprocate, they
change, you know, the communication is reciprocal.
I say good morning, you say good morning. But if I
say good morning and you stop, there is no
reciprocation or reciprocity, sorry. So it's not
reciprocal. Good. Yes? The number of the words,
yes. Yeah, the repetition is, you know, like the
number of the lines. Okay. What does the
repetition tell you, like, that this is what? What
interpretation did you come up with?
two countries because you know we have like an and
chi and all the time they are repeated yeah that's
why so this duality of like because we have two
words this duality thought you that this might be
a conflict between two countries or you know a
conflict uh you know between a man and a woman you
know or a friend and another friend mother and
daughter I don't think a mother and daughter would
suffer such a relationship. The mother-daughter is
very intimate, matriarchal relationship. The
happiest creature in the world would be the mother
when she sees her daughter. So we're not talking
about this. Good. Have you thought of another like
meaning? rather than this. Somebody told me
yesterday, I see the word chain, which is
negative. See? And like this led me to think, yes,
is the poem positive or negative? Okay? Is it
positive or negative? So again, as you see, these
questions are very important. We ask question, who
is speaking to whom? What is this about? And why
are the words arranged in this way? Why, you know,
for example, the beginning is different from the
end. Look at the beginning, you know, the
arrangement is different. At the beginning, like,
you know, the M and the G are interchangeable. But
here, You see? You see everybody is taking side.
So this might make us come to the conclusion that
this is a negative. It is a conflictual
relationship which ended by this crisis. There is
a sense of crisis here. Okay? So it could be like
a crisis in, you know, a family relation between a
husband and a woman, between a country and another
country, you know? I don't know. It might have
different meanings. But some student told me,
don't you think this is about a jolting, a car
jolting in the morning? You know, uh-uh, gee-gee,
you know? So I was amazed by the number of
interpretations the students gave to this poem,
and they started to talk. Look here, you know, I
think this is about this because of this and that.
And this is what I like the students, you know, to
do when we are reading our poems. I don't want you
to talk about the tropes, I mean, the figures of
speech in isolation of the meaning. So usually
there should be this merging, this connection
between specified or specialized language and
general language. But let me perhaps put an end to
your sense of surprise because of this poem by
revealing the real context. Do you think this is a
poem? How do you think it's a poem? Why is it a
poem? Yes, the arrangements, the way it is
patterned. Yes, it is a poem, but as you see, it
is incomprehensible poem. And, you know, it needs
some interpretation. Sometimes we might ask, who's
the poet? What is the title? Nobody asked me a
question like this. Why? Who's the poet? You know?
Is he Chinese? Is he English? You know? When was
the poem written? These are legitimate questions.
What is this poem about? Who's the poet? Who is
speaking to whom? When was the poem? Should I
answer you some of these questions? Okay, this
poem was written by an English poet named George
Macbeth.
When was it written? It was written in 1968.
Yeah, not long time ago. So last century. So we're
talking about not traditional poetry, not
Shakespearean poetry, like the poetry we are going
to study next week. We are talking about very
postmodern, very cryptic, Very polemic poetry, you
know, cryptic. It's not clear, you know. But it's
funny, you see. And it's not difficult. It was
written during the peak of the Cold War, the war
between the Western camp led by America and the
Eastern camp led by the Soviet Union during that
time. Okay. During that year, Like the two
countries, Russia in particular, the Soviet Union,
and England started to talk to each other. So they
started to have what we call in politics some
rapprochement attempts, to rapproche, to become
close together. So they started talking, they
started visiting each other, exchanging visits,
having banquets. But what happened, gradually,
this relation started to be strained, to be
weakened, and it ended with this crisis. So the
poet, like the English poet, wanted to record that
experience. And as we said in the previous
lecture, poets respond their own ways to daily
experiences. Like this is a daily experience. Like
he responded by writing this poem. But what did he
do in order? How did he, like here the question is
how we encode our experience. I think he encoded
his experience by just having these two words. He
looked at the zoo of London, there was a panda
animal called Qi, and the zoo of Moscow, there was
another panda called An. So he thought it might be
Wonderful, a good idea to represent this situation
or this crisis situation in politics by having
this funny and interesting patterning. I know some
of you are not happy now. Why? Because we narrowed
the poem to the intended meaning of the poet. And
I think the poet would not be very happy as well.
So I think in this course I'm going to give you
space, freedom to express yourself, like to figure
out different interpretations to any poem. even
like they will establish themes of certain poems
we are going to study. This course is to make you
widen your critical perception. We are not going
to rule out certain interpretations and say,
that's it. No. So, I mean, when we read poems, you
might For example, disagree with us, but the most
important thing is to bring together the
specialized language and the
general language. Any questions so far?
Good. So next time, we're going to read, to start
the course by reading Sir Thomas Wyatt and his
poem, Who's a Lost Hunt. But in order to prepare,
I told you, you should read something about the
historical background. I left for you in the
reader, in the pamphlet, a biography about the
poet, something about courtly love, because it's
very important to know what is courtly love, and
then to read the poem. And before pinning your
response, it is very important to read the poem
several times. I don't know how would you read it,
but I don't want you to read it as if you were
reading a newspaper. You might read it in
different ways until the poem makes sense. And
after that, you have to start writing your
response. I know that your initial response might
not be deep, but it is a response which I would
evaluate and perhaps develop in the class. Okay?
So somebody might say, what should we write? You
can say, okay. Like, after having enough
background about the life of the poet, and, you
know, after understanding that he was a famous
courtier, I became more interested in, you know,
reading his poetry. And when I read this poem, you
know, Hosein Ostouhan, I started, like, to see,
like, something different. I started to see how
the poet was frustrated, disappointed because of
this and that. You see what I mean? And I would
see this, you can bring it like a hard copy and at
the same time prepare a soft copy because we might
put this on the page. So until then, I wish you
good luck and thank you very much for listening to
me, okay?