An Unfolding of Robert Frost's "Design"

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"I always wanted to be very observing," Robert Frost once said, after reading his poem "Design" to an audience. Then he added, "But I have always been afraid of my own observations". What could Frost have observed that could scare him? Let's observe the poem in question and see what we discover.

Starting with the title, "Design", any reader of this poem will find it full of meaning. As "Webster's new world dictionary" defines "Design", the word can denote among other things, a plan, or "purpose; intention; aim". Some arguments for the existence of god (I remember from Sunday school) are based on the "argument from design"; that because the world shows a systematic order, there must be a designer who made it. But the word design can also mean "a secret or sinister scheme" - such as we attribute to a "designing person". As we shall see, Frost's poem incorporates all of these meanings. His poem raises the old philosophic question of whether there is a designer, and evil designer, or no designer at all. Frost probably read William James on this question, as a critic has shown convincingly.

Like many other sonnets, "Design" is divided into two parts. The first eight lines draw a picture centering on the spider, which at first seems almost jolly. It is dimpled and fat like a baby, or Santa Claus. It stands on a wild flower whose name, heal-all, seems ironic: a heal-all is supposed to cure any disease, but it certainly has no power to restore life to the dead moth. In this second line we discover, too, that the spider has hold of another creature. Right away we might feel sorry for the moth, were it not the simile applied to it in line three: "like a white piece of rigid satin cloth." suddenly the moth becomes not a creature but a piece of fabric - and yet satin has connotation of beauty. Satin is luxurious material used in rich formal clothing, such as coronation grows and brides' dresses.

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The Awkward Love Songs of J Alfred Prufrock, the Catcher in the Rye, and Smells Like Teen Spirit

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The word "wooing" doesn't get used very much anymore. Not just because the word itself sounds outdated, but because the relationship scene has changed a tad over the last hundred plus years.

Newfound social flexibility has taken a lot of the ritual out of love, which is great if you don't want to be exchanged to the neighboring villager for a goat but less great when you're trying to figure out how long to wait before you call someone back. Or what to say when you do call. Or whether there's anything to call about in the first place. OR, dare we speculate, if the call might somehow result in marriage, children, and a fixed 10/30 mortgage.

Suffice it to say that the relationship between modernity and love is "complicated." If you struggle with today's mating rituals, raise a toast to these awkward wooers across the twentieth-century: J. Alfred Prufrock, Holden Caulfield, and Kurt Cobain. In addition to being tongue-twisted, evasive male lovers, all three figures arise during particularly fat and happy times in American history - which certainly doesn't help if you already feel like a loser.

J. Alfred is the original guy awkwardly crushing on the girl at the party. His entire 132-line "love song" is a speculation about whether or not to approach his love interest, whose identity he doesn't even have the guts to divulge. There are several alternate interpretations of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, including the following:
Prufrock approaches the woman he loves, loses his nerve, and gives up without saying anything.Prufrock wanders through the city streets imagining approaching said woman, then anticipates rejection and gives up without saying anything.Prufrock spends the entire poem at home, where he imagines wandering through the city streets imagining his fantasy self approaching said woman, being rejected, and then giving up without saying anything.Prufrock isn't even in love with anyone specific and just likes to torture himself.Folks, welcome to modernism. It doesn't get any easier from here.

Fast forward thirty years to The Catcher in the Rye: the heyday of Ford Mustangs, drive-in burger joints, the nuclear family, post-war purposelessness, and an unbelievable pressure to conform. Then imagine trying to date.

Although Catcher might not strike you as a love story so much as the disillusioned ramblings of a na?ve seventeen-year old, once you strip away all the criticism of phonies, meanness, adulthood, and popularity, you're left with... not much of anything. Which is why we can't ignore the fact that the two areas of Holden's life that remain unscathed are his (deceased) little brother, Allie, and his (absent) crush, Jane. These are the rulers by which Holden measures everything.

Of course, Holden never works up the nerve to go through with calling Jane - any of the times he tries - but he does violently attack his roommate after suspecting him of "giving her the time" (possibly by coercion). As far as Holden goes, that's quite the display of knight-in-shining-armor-ness. Unfortunately, the fact that the book ends with Holden in some sort of institution gives us the distinct impression that things with Jane never quite work out.

Jump ahead another forty years for the disjointed, jilted love story of the breakout 1991 hit Smells Like Teen Spirit. In it, Cobain describes a woman - "over-bored and self-assured" - that automatically makes his mind jump to "a dirty word." He then says "hello" several times before asking, "how low?" You smooth talker, you.

Next comes the chorus, which assures us that "with the lights out, it's less dangerous." In case you're not already feeling uncomfortable, Cobain then rattles off the following items like they somehow belong together: "a mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido." Yup. Nothing puts a gal in the mood like a pejorative racial term, a pigmentation disorder, a blood-sucking insect, and talk of the ol' sex drive. We can't say we're surprised that the song ends in a famously repeated "denial."

For someone so romantically inept, it's only fitting that Cobain be dubbed the "self-hating icon of the inarticulate generation" by the UK Telegraph. Then again, if they think the 1990's were the only inarticulate generation, the joke is on them.

Shmoop is an online study guide for Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Catcher in the Rye and many more. Its content is written by Ph.D. and Masters students from top universities, like Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, and Yale who have also taught at the high school and college levels. Teachers and students should feel confident to cite Shmoop.

With A Silver Wing Tanya Pens

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"With Silver Wings And A Golden Quill"
Tanya writes as her emotions spill
Words written to make emotions rise
As you read through you will be surprised
Page by page poems are filled with grace
Emotions stare you right in the face
Mature audiences must read this book
Her love views are just off of the hook
Thoughts will guide your imagination
Leaving you desiring temptation
"With Silver Wings and a Golden Quill"
A legacy for the heart to fill

Tanya Campos Gracia has certainly shared with her reading great poems of emotion and love. Her imagery are etched upon each page in this heartfelt book. May your imagination guide you to heights unknown as Tanya shares from her heart.From Across The Room, you will see how, Feelings of You all Whispers from Tanya's heart as she pours out of her soul to the readers.

Many will be able to identify the essence of love as only Tanya can captivate her readers with these beautiful pieces. I can truly say, what comes from the heart-reaches the heart. Tanya certainly has done this well.

You will also find beautiful graphics throughout the book by Daveda Gruber.

I would certainly gear this lovely poetic book to mature readers who have experienced the amazing languages of love as Tanya's golden quill spell out in her poetic pieces. Page after page your imagination will expand as you read through the lovely poetic pieces as Tanya golden quill continues to guide her line by line.

Shakespeare Love Poems - A Lover's Complaint Analysis

One of the four full-length Shakespeare love poems, this poem is written in seven-line stanzas and is written in rhyme royal, just like another Shakespeare love poem, the Rape of Lucrece. The rhyme royal rhyming scheme is (aba-bb-cc). This full length poem is 394 lines long, and has 2,579 words... so if you haven't read it yet and don't have the time to do so, have a look at my summary below.

The poem tells the story of a young maid who laments over her seduction by a persuasive, womanising young man. He eventually dumps her and breaks her heart. The story begins with her weeping and wailing by the river, and an old shepherd hears her and takes pity, and goes over to console her. He finds her throwing love tokens into the river as she weeps, all given to her by the same man, old love letters (some written in blood) and jewellery... The shepherd notices that although she looks bedraggled, she is still young and must have been pretty before she became in such a state.

She tells the story of how she was an innocent and chaste young woman, not to be easily seduced by red-blooded men. This young man had a reputation as a notorious womaniser, and the young maid was wary to begin with. Eventually his charms and popularity seduced her. Shakespeare goes on to describe the young man's many qualities, he was very handsome, and had wit and charm and a twinkle in his eye. He had a "subduing tongue" and could "make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep" and she accepted them and almost believed her loved her, He gave her gifts and love tokens from his previous lovers to show how much her loved fer... Perhaps he did, it is not made clear in the poem, but soon the young maid started to fall in love with the young man, even though she knew of his nature as a womaniser and a cheater.

Eventually the young man started becoming untrue and deep down she knew it, but she was so in love that it blinded her and she ignored it. The young man eventually left her to pursue other woman, and now the young woman is sad and alone.

Shakespeare explores two different themes of the nature of love here, both are very dangerous. In this Shakespeare love poem, there is firstly the power of love to blind all to sense. The young maid was at the time a chaste and good young lady, and she knew that the young man was a fickle seducer, but yet at the time she was blinded by love and it robbed her of all reason.

Another theme is the cruelty of love, how this young woman was cheated and dumped unkindly by this man. Sometimes people have very little concern for other peoples feelings... This could also be interpreted as a theme on how fickle men's hearts are... In this poem, we are unsure whether the man really over loved the young maid or whether he was just using her, but some lines portray him in a bad light. I particularly like this very clever description near the end of the poem "...though our drops this difference in bore, His poison'd me, and mine did him restore..." This is my favourite line in the poem, and it describes how the seducing young man's false tears tricked the young maid into falling in love with him, but her real tears gave the young man the strength and boosted his ego. The use of the word poison almost gives an evil edge to the young man's motives I like this poem's description of each character's flaws and qualities... The young maid's description invokes pity in the reader "Her hair, nor loose nor tied in formal plat... Hanging her pale and pined cheek beside ", this description makes her seem very plain in appearance, almost as if she could be pretty, but has no strength or energy to care about her appearance. We could all learn from Shakespeare's romantic writings here.

This in my opinion is one of the best Shakespeare Love Poems to learn poetry from because of its simple themes of the dangers of love... Many of you may be able to relate to the story of the young maid in this poem, but if you're looking for clever description, this is one of the best poems to look at.

Cluivee Lee is interested in Shakespeare love poems, especially learning about them, discussing them, and reading them.

http://www.shakespearelovepoems.com/

Spiritual Enlightenment - Uplifts the Mind, Body and Spirit

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Christina R. Jussaume, a spiritual poetic writer has published her sixth collection of poetry entitled, "Spiritual Entitlement: Healing of Mind, Body, and Spirit." Jussaume is a wife, mother, grandmother, and is a founding member of the poetry site "Poetry and Publishing" located in the UK. She dedicates this book to God from whom she gets her inspiration and to her friends for their encouragement.

Spiritual Entitlement begins with the poem "God's Enlightenment," which is written in the Shadow Sonnet form (page 1). The inventor of this poetic form is Amera M. Anderson. This form is similar to the American Sonnet which does not use end rhymes and has a syllable count of unequal lines. Reflecting on the first poem, the words of her late mother resonates in her soul as she pens the poem "Pass No Judgment," which in written in the Monchielle form (page 4). This poem sends tribute to her mother for the lessons she learned from her as a daughter. The creator of this poetic form is Jim T. Henriksen. Additionally, the poetics lines send a clear message that such an act of judgment rest only with God the Creator.

The poem, "Offering of Peace and Joy," is written in The Tree format (page 14). The creator of this poetic form is Dorian Peterson Potter. It is actually a concrete poem since it outlines the form of a tree. This poem brings the essence of peace and joy to the heart of the reader. Her poem which is entitled, "Stairway to Heaven," is written in the Linked format (page 67). The creator of this poetic form is Erich J. Goller. This poem gives some insight regarding the path to Heaven and what it takes to walk the "Stairways to Heaven."

The book continues with another concrete poem entitled, "The Lighting Bugs," which is written in The Butterfly Oclet form (page 117). The inventor of this poetic form is Joree Williams. Each individual stanza in the poem is in the form of a butterfly's wings. This poem sends images of angelic wings reflecting stars as a guiding light.

Jussaume has not forgotten her parents. She also gives credit to her late father in the poem "To My Father," written in the Pruntiform poetic style (page 181). The creator of this poetic form is Randy Prunty. The author's plea to God in this poem is for everyone to live in faith and grow in love. She ends her poems on page 181 with another poem written in the Monchielle form and is entitled, "Believe in Me to Be Well." This poem stems from the Book of Exodus 15:26, and is based on the voice of God which states, "I am the Lord who heals you."

The book also has a glossary of over 80 plus poetic forms and styles for greater understanding of the poems. Following the glossary is another section with the front cover of the books written by Jussaume. The last section of the book has a list of books in which she contributes her poems for the betterment of others and world peace.

Joseph S. Spence, Sr. (aka "Epulaeryu Master"), authored "The Awakened One Poetics" (2009), published in seven languages, "A Trilogy of Poetry, Prose and Thoughts for the Mind, Body and Soul," and "Trilogy Moments for the Mind, Body and Soul." Joseph is a Goodwill Ambassador for Arkansas, and is a US Army veteran.

http://www.TheAwakenedOnePoetics.com/

Shakespeare Love Poems - Analysis of Sonnet 18 (Shall I Compare Thee?)

Analysis of Sonnet 18: 1st quatrain

Sonnet 18 is the most famous of Shakespeare's love poems... In the story of the Shakespeare sonnets, the main character directs this message to the fair youth, with whom he shares a special love. Whether the love is platonic or sexual, has been debated over the years, however the romantic and loving nature of this sonnet cannot be debated. The writer begins by asking, Shall I compare you to a summer's day?, and is comparing the fair youth's beauty, youthfulness and vitality to that of a summer's day... The writer also says that the fair youth is more lovely and more temperate than a summer's day-possibly saying the fair youth is more calm, kind and gentle.

But the last two lines of this quatrain say that summer is far too short, and begin to question the fair youths good looks will they last forever

2nd quatrain

In this quatrain, negative thoughts and worries start to fill the writer's head. He begins by carrying on with his thoughts that the summer lasts very short... You can sense a a rather pensive and doubting mood as he talks about the summer being too hot, and at other times being too cold-the nasty extremes of summer. So even though the fair youth is lovely, at times the fair youth can also be angry, and he can also be harsh. He then starts to question nature, "...every fair from fair sometime declines"-even fair and beautiful things such.as the fair youth will lose its beauty to "nature's changing course".

quatrain 3 rd

But a new sense of vigour seems to have overtaken the writer at the start of this quatrain, "thy eternal summer shall not fade as he says firmly,"... He says that the fair youths beauty and vitality shall not fade... He says you will not lose your youth, or the beauty you possess, and death will not claim you for his own. The writer could be saying that the fair youths in inner beauty shall not fade, and there is certainly an element to that with these poetic words, but the moreover the writer is also saying with the words "with eternal lines" that the fair youth's beauty is immortalised in the words of this sonnet.

Final rhyming couplet

The final rhyming couplet of any Shakespearean sonnet, this reinforces the writers previous assertion. That as long as there are people on this earth to read these words, the fair youths spirit and beauty lives on in this poem.

Here is the Shakespeare love poem, Sonnet 18. I have even separated this poem out into quatrains for you...

1st quatrain

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate;

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date;

2nd quatrain

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;

quatrain 3 rd

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow ' st;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander ' st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow ' st:

Final rhyming couplet

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

If you want to learn more about Shakespeare love poems, or indeed, anything to do with romance and Shakespeare, have a look at some of my other posts at Shakespeare love poems

Hi! I'm Cluivee, and I'm interested in all things Shakespeare! I especially enjoy reading and writing about Shakespeare love poems and the famous Shakespeare love sonnets.
If you want to know more about Shakespeare love poems, check out my site at http://www.shakespearelovepoems.com/

Lanval: Ladies Man or Girly Man?

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Abstract: In Marie de France's Lanval was Lanval truly a homosexual and alluded to in the following verses, and what were the punishments for homosexuality in the Middle Ages?

"That women are not what you prefer".
But you have many little boys,
With whom you take your joys" (lines 278-280).

In Lanval, by Marie de France, Lanval is accused of being a homosexual by Queen Guinevere after Lanval refuses to accept Guinevere's advances. Although Lanval explains to Guinevere that he had saved himself for his fair lady and is loyal to his king, it seems as if Guinevere thinks that Lanval is lying and accuses him of being a homosexual. She then puts him on trial for turning down her advances even though he had done so out of love and his loyalty to the king. This paper will seek to research the medieval outlook on homosexuality and common punishments that were handed out from being found to be a homosexual in medieval times and the social ramifications of being accused or found guilty.

First, in medieval times there was an ecumenical council that condemned homosexual couplings. This council was established in 1179 and was called Lateren III (Blogged.the-protagonist.net). This council was attended by 302 bishops and presided over by Pope Alexander III. This council also dealt with other social stigmas such as heresy and sodomy. The church took allegations of homosexuality very serious and the condemned could have faced beheading or being burnt at the stake. There were specific torture devices used on a condemned homosexual. One such device was called the Pear of Anguish. It had the shape of a pear and, as the handle was turned, the spoon shaped lobes flowered open causing major damage to the intestines of the victim when inserted into the anus. This apparatus was rarely washed so that the victim would surely succumb to infection if he managed to live through the intestine damage. This device was used widespread as punishment for a plethora of crimes, one of them being homosexuality.

Being found guilty of homosexuality in the Middle Ages for a person of noble status could bring forth excommunication from the church and exile from the kingdom. Although it was not a death sentence, being exiled could be far worse than death. Being cut off from one's land and court could be a fate worse than death for nobility. The exiled would be subjected to loss of status, land holdings, and any wealth that was accumulated through wills. This punishment of exile leaves the accused alone and far from familiar surrounds and people.

Next, one could argue that the queen's ego was bruised so badly that she had no recourse but to accuse Lanval of homosexuality. Lanval was bound by secrecy not to reveal his lover's name for fear that he would lose the hand of his beloved. Guinevere was so offended by her pass being discarded by Lanval that she took him to trial. Offending nobility was often a death sentence in itself. Taking Lanval to trial was a way to expose what she had perhaps heard others say about his sexual behavior. The line "But you have many little boys" (line 279) (de France) could not only insinuate homosexuality, but pedophilia as well. It is often overlooked that the reason that Lanval is put on trial to begin with is from the Queen's improper advancements. It was her improprieties and Lanval's refusal to betray his love and King that ends him up on trial. The Queen was the one that threw herself at Lanval and it was Lanval that refused. This is never brought up in open count; perhaps Lanval is so noble that he still wants to protect the honor of the Queen. However, this protection could very well cost Lanval dearly --either his life, exile, or his love. Perhaps it is Lanval's devotion to the King and his refusal to smear the name of the royal family and mark it with infidelity that makes Lanval endure the court proceedings.

Lastly, Lanval was put in an awkward situation by being bound by secrecy by his lover. The one thing that could exonerate Lanval from the charges of homosexuality is disclosing his relations with his beloved. Instead, he has to endure the stress of trial at the hand of the Queen. It is only at the last moment that he is saved from judgment being passed on to him by his beloved. His beloved could have, at any time, made her way to the Queen's court and exonerated Lanval. Her testimony of their sordid times in her tent would have quickly dissolved any thoughts of homosexuality from anyone that had an audience with the King and Queen at the court proceedings. Instead she waits until the last moment to save Lanval; letting him deal with the accusations and stress from the court proceedings with no way to exonerate himself without breaking his oath to his lover. This oath of secrecy does not help his case and Lanval's refusal to give up his lover's name for his innocence shows his passion towards her. The King's court, and the Queen, could view him as a homosexual that is making up lies of heterosexual intimate escapades to try and cover up the fact that he is truly a homosexual. In the end Lanval's lover came to his aid and it seemed as if there was no stigma put on him at the end of the poem. It is slightly ironic that throughout this whole story, even at the end where he is exonerated, the Queen is not brought forth before her King, and husband, to answer for her role in this whole ordeal.

In conclusion, homosexuality has been prevalent since ancient Roman and Greek times. These acts weren't punished as harshly back in ancient times as they had been since the conversion to Christianity in the Middle Ages. The act of homosexuality was brought against Lanval by Queen Guinevere although no first hand evidence is brought against him except the refusal of Guinevere's advances by Lanval. It is hearsay and a bruised ego that leads Lanval to stand trial. Whether the trial was truly based on the Queen thinking that Lanval was a homosexual, and thus going against God's will, is never really openly discussed other than the aforementioned quote and the beginning of this text. It is more reasonable to assume that the Queen was furious out of her own vanity and lack of rejection coping skills that made Lanval a target for homosexual accusations to cover up her own improprieties. This argument stirs questions within the author of this paper as to how many people were put to death, or exiled out of vanity or the inability to cope with rejection throughout the ages.

Sources Cited
De France, Marie, "Lanval." The Norton Anthology. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. Eighth Edition. Vol. One. New York, NY: W.W Norton and Company, 2006. 142-157. Print.
Homosexuality: The Queer Fight for Equality. 1 Dec. 2005. Blogged. 2 Nov. 2010 < http://blogged.the-protagonist.net/2005/01/25/homosexuality-the-queer-fight-for-equality/ >.

Written by Dominic Sobieralski, November 3rd 2010