We're going to read and perhaps have a point of
entry to Thomas Hardy's poem, The Oxen.
I'm sure like you had a look at the poem and you
might have read it aloud. Did anybody of you read
the poem aloud? Have you read the poem? Those who
have read the poem, what do you think? Do you like
it? Is it a poem?
It's not a poem. It's difficult.
So when you were reading the poem, what did you
think it was about?
Actually, when I read the poem, maybe I was
confused. You were confused? Yes. And I can guess
it is about religious idea. Uh-huh. So yes, yes,
you think this is like there is something about
religion? And people are changing or what? How do
you know that?When he speaks about the kids, using
kids in present and in past. In past means
shifting from present moment. So as he converts to
past. You see he's like contrasting. Okay, show me
how he's contrasting. Because it's very
interesting like to know you know how he's
contrasting.
So you have
the past and the present. You think that people in
the past were something and in the present they
are something else. Good. Let's see another
student. It's very important that you participate
because this will help you in your participation
mark, you know. Yes. Those who have read the poem.
Yes, please. Exactly. Actually, when I read the
poem, I did not understand the whole idea because
I think the poem uses a difficult language. Like
what? Like a gloom? Yeah, and even you didn't find
this in the dictionary. So what did you do? You
just found it difficult and you said you gave up?
But do you think it is specifically about
religion? Because here, Is it about religion or is
more about religion?
Okay,
so good. I'm very happy this is a real response.
Yes, another response? Does anybody have a written
response?
Okay, yes.
Do you have a response here? Do you want to read
it? No, I think the poem, it's sort of... At
first, he talks about the bath, then he
presents... I am confusing the poem. It's very
difficult. Also, his language is difficult. Okay.
But, like... I see that nobody has tried to read
the poem aloud. And even nobody... In the morning,
I was browsing YouTube And I found the poem in
songs and it was recited by many people. Did you
try like this? It is there. But, yes. You watch a
video? So, I don't know, how would you like read
this poem? Can anybody like give a try and read
this poem?
It should be like this, Christmas Eve and 12 of
the clock, now they are all on their knees like
this. How should we read the poem? Okay, let me
read the first stanza and then ask you one
question. Christmas Eve and 12 of the clock, now
they are all on their knees and elders sit as we
sat in a flock. by the embers in heart side E's.
Okay, here in this stanza, somebody is talking.
Yes? But I want to ask you, how many voices do we
have in this stanza?
How many voices do we have in this stanza? One
voice? Two voices, where are they?
The elder and the poet, the poet. So when we read
this, we should read, we should simulate or try to
imitate it in a good way. Like here, we have the
poet who's telling us and we have this direct
speech. So how should it be read then?
How should it be read?
Should we give like, yes? Yes,
so if you were to teach this at school, and then
you ask your students to read this aloud, how
should they read it, you know, you think?
Okay, do you want to give yourself like, okay. I'm
inviting everybody like to try. Christmas Eve and
12 o'clock, now they are all on their knees. And
they offer self as we sat in a park by the embers
in hardside caves. Uh-huh. Do you think? Little
bit different. Little bit different, but it's not
like as you want. What do you want it to be like?
Okay, come on, you know? Go ahead, read it. Just I
want you to read this.
Yes? Go ahead. Okay, I won't like you to read it.
That's it. You know, this is like, you know,
because we have two voices. You know? Could you do
it again? Christmas Eve at 12 of the clock. Now
they are all in their knees. And elders sit as we
sat in a flock by the embers in here still. In the
heart side east. Wow, yes. Like here, Christmas
Eve and 12 of the clock. Now they are all on their
knees. An elder said, as we sat in the block, by
the embers in hardside east. It seems like, you
know, what is the picture here? What is the
picture? Like, have you visualized the picture?
Can you visualize the picture? What is the picture
here? We have a picture. Now, poets draw pictures
by words. So what is the picture? It is, you know,
like, do we have a party here? Do we have, like,
anniversary, like today's anniversary? Yes. Yes,
it's a Christmas day. It's a Christmas day? Yes.
An older man come and speak for a group of people.
So, a speaker? Speaker, yes. And he's scribing the
oxen outside in the pen. They are kneeling when
the... So he's describing. You think that
somebody's, you know, like talking to people in a
big rally like today? In a big rally, where? Like,
do you think, what is the place? The picture is,
you know, people and they are listening to
somebody, an elder telling them, describing, you
said, What is the real picture?
What is the real picture?
Yeah, it's a house. It's a church. Yeah, because
Christmas, you know, it's a Christmas Eve, you
know, just one day before Christmas. So,
Yeah, it could be a house, it could be a church,
but this is like the occasion, it is clear. It is
Christmas.
And it seems like these people are getting ready
to Christmas. But how are they getting ready? By
getting together and somebody is telling them
stories. Stories about what? About the oxen? What
has the oxen to do with Christmas?
You know, it's a question. I'm just like, what do
the oxen have to do with Christmas? It's a
question we should answer. I don't want to go deep
in the poem today, I want, like, to concentrate,
to focus on what you said. Like, it seems, you
know, that the poet in this poem is contrasting
between two words, the word of the past and the
word of the present. Okay, this is what you felt.
And you said that the word of the present was,
you know, religious.
was full of religion, and the word of the past,
sorry, the word of the past was very religious,
and the word of the present is not. This reminds
us of whom? Of, no, William Wordsworth or Dover
Beach, the one we all love, let us be true, the
sea of faith, if you remember. Good. Now, I want
to give you a small exercise. Imagine you're
sitting with your grandma and she's talking about
the past.
You know? How do you think she would, you know,
tell stories about the past? What would she say
about the past? and compared or contrasted with
the present. Do you think she would prefer the
present to the past? Okay, what would she say
about the past? Imagine.
She would be confident when she speaks about the
past. Yeah, she would be confident when she talks
about the past. She will praise the past. She will
praise the past for what? Why? That people love
each other. Okay, that people were caring. Loved
each other? Yes, and faced the problem by
cooperation. Yes. Okay.
So yeah, she would talk about cooperation, about
social conjugation.
Yeah, about simplicity, honesty. Strong
relationship. Strong relationship. And of course,
she would talk this as antithesis of the present.
So it's like when she talks about the past in this
way, in fact, she's complaining about the present.
When she says in the past, life was simple, it
means now it is complicated. Life was full of
cooperation, it means today we have selfishness. A
life of caring, today we have carelessness
and so on. Do you think this is happening in the
poem? Is Hardy contrasting between two words?
Yes, I think he contrasted between two words,
especially children. Let's draw boundaries here.
Like the poem, as you see, I don't know, the poem
here, as you see, he's talking, you know.
So we have four stanzas, I think.
This is the stanza number one, Christmas Eve, we
pictured. We have four stanzas. So if you say,
Like, where is he speaking about the present and
where is he speaking about the past? In which
stanza is he speaking about the present? Okay, I
want you like to have one minute or two minutes to
look, you know, on your notebook and to tell me
where he's speaking about the present and where
he's speaking about the past. Go ahead. Where is
he speaking about the present and where is he
speaking about the past? Look at your notebook.
Where? Where? The problem is like you are not
reading. You want to listen to me. That's it.
Please read. Okay?
Okay.
Yes? The second and the third passed. Yeah. The
first and the second? No, the first prison. The
first prison.
So there is a little bit confusion. Okay.
Yes.
So here he's talking about the past and here he's
talking about the present. How do you know?
In the past, tense in the past, first and second.
Okay. Describing the situation that happened in
the past. But in the third standard, he said in
these years. In these years, very good. So here,
an elder said like it was You know, something of
the past. Like he was referring, you know, to the
past traditions of holding Christmas, you know,
let's say, celebrations, you know. And now he's
talking about in these years. Okay? So... Yeah.
Okay, now I think in both words, he's describing
how people were
celebrating Christmas.
I don't know, I know that sometimes when we have
Ramadan, people might feel homesick for their past
practices. They want like, nowadays they are not
celebrating Ramadan as they were celebrating in
the past. They would tell you, no, Ramadan in the
past was more beautiful. Why? Because people were
like eating together, getting together. There was
like, like the children going after breakfast at
night, you know, making, calling for suhoor. So
they would cherish the past. Now, I think, you
know, with the modern life, with the complexity of
modern life, everything has changed. You know, we
lost the flavor of the past. It happened the same,
you know, like the same happened here.
It happened the same, you know, here. I mean, the
same thing happened, you know, in the past. The
Christmas celebrations were different. In the
present, you know, they are different. Okay? Do
you have an idea how Christians celebrate
Christmas in the past, for example? Or you didn't
like
You know, in, for example, in the early, you know,
literary forms, like before, in the past, they
used to, like actors, you know, people, religious
people, they used to have, you know, you know,
carriages and they go from one place to another to
tell stories about the birth of Jesus Christ.
Nowadays, they don't do this anymore. I, you know,
I spent like three days over Christmas with an
English family. They do, you know, what they do on
Christmas, like, I think they just listen to the
queen's speech. Some of them, the religious might
go to the church, but there are even no churches
nowadays. They would just celebrate by eating and
talking, decorating the trees. So the
manifestations are not very traditional. In the
past, they were different. Now, in fact, Hardy,
yes, in this poem, tries to describe two words. A
word of the past, which was full of serenity,
love, cooperation, and a word of the present,
which, you know, lacks all these things.
Now, in fact, if you go to your reader, I left for
you, or there is, you know, a stylistic analysis
of this poem, and how Hardy, you know, was
deliberate, chose certain, I mean, stylistic
choices, like tenses, pronouns, to describe each
word. So when you read it, will be in a better
position even to understand the poem more. And
this is what we are going to do next time. But,
you know, let me continue reading the poem. in
order to have a better idea about the pictures in
the poem. So, as we said, the picture in the poem,
you are having a group of people listening to a
senior, he could be a priest, telling them stories
about the birth of Jesus Christ. So when we
sometimes tell the stories of Prophet Muhammad,
peace be upon him, birth, like, What do we talk
about, like, when Muhammad, peace be upon him, was
born? What do we say? What happened in the
universe? So we might refer to some miracles. Now
also in Christianity, when they talk about Jesus,
they talk about miracles that took place in... Do
we have any miracle here? What is the miracle? You
know what is the miracle? Something unbelievable.
Do we have any miracle here marking the birth of
Jesus Christ? Yes, the oxen kneeling. Because we
know the oxen are animals. Ox, you know, and oxen.
Oxen are animals. So how come they kneel? They
kneel Why? Why would they kneel? Because Jesus
Christ was born. So this is one of the miracles
that coincided with the birth of Jesus Christ. Can
you remember any miracle coincided with the birth
of Prophet Muhammad? What happened?
What happened when he, what happened to the
palaces of, you know, the Persian palaces that
were shaken? Yes? When prophet, and this is an
assignment for you, like, what happened when
Jesus, when sorry, when Muhammad, peace be upon
him, was born? What miracles can you tell me?
You see what I mean? The miracles that accompanied
the birth of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.
You should know that. Okay, see here, one of the
miracles, like the oxen were kneeling. Now, if you
tell a believer about this, what would his
reaction be?
If you tell this story, if you tell the story of
the shaking off of the Persian palaces when
Muhammad peace be upon him was born, what would a
Muslim or a believer say? No? I don't believe?
This is ridiculous? Or he would take it for
granted? he would take it for granted. Similarly,
this is what is happening here. We pictured the
meek, mild creatures where they dwelt, what
happened, where they dwelt in their straw weapon.
Can I have, do you have the reader? We pictured.
What does it mean we pictured? We pictured. What
does it mean we pictured? To picture something?
To imagine something. So what was the reaction of
people? We pictured the creatures.
I don't know, something happened.
We pictured the creatures. We pictured the
creatures doing what? Kneeling. So, it means our
reaction was A reaction of trust, belief, you
know? So this is something good or bad? It is good
when you like trust.
It takes time, you know? So we pictured the meek,
you know? mild creatures where they dwelt in their
straw pen. Nor did it occur to one of us that they
were kneeling.
Okay, but what would happen if somebody is telling
us a story nowadays about this? Say, no, I don't
trust you. Come, come and show me. This is the
difference. Okay? Like this is you know exactly
what is happening in the poem. So I won't like to
finish at this limit because today outside we have
celebrations. But as you see this is a point of
entry. Next time we are going to conduct stylistic
analysis. We're going to see how the poet you know
by certain stylistic choices entrenched like the
division between the past and the present and we
are going to see also the attitude of the Pole.
Thank you very much and see you like Saturday.