Friday, February 24, 2012

009. Two Famous Death Poems. Shirley And Shakespeare. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran

009.

Two Famous Death Poems. Shirley And Shakespeare. Appreciation By P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum


By 
PSRemeshChandra, 21st Mar 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/evi23ktc/ First Posted in Wikinut Poetry, Drama & Criticism
Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/2012/02/009-two-famous-death-poems-shirley-and.html


01. Article Title 1 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP


Death is the end of all earthly cares and the beginning of eternal things. It is believed that the moment we die, we are born in another universe. With it begins a new way of being. More number of songs and poems has been written on death than on birth. It is considered an important event in man's life. In many communities throughout the world, death is an occasion for rejoicing and celebration. Shakespeare's Fear No More and James Shirley's Death The Leveller are appreciated here. 

I. FEAR NO MORE. A Song By William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare at last has begun to be read and appreciated, than being acted on stage.

 
William Shakespeare was one of the world's greatest poets and dramatists. He considered himself a poet, but to make a living, could not exclude himself from the tedious work of being on stage. He very much wished his plays to be read and appreciated more as literary creations, than to be acted on stage as plays. His wishes have been granted by Time. Now his plays are rarely acted, but being read and appreciated as literary masterpieces as he wished. He is being taught and learned in universities, and less in theatres. 

Fear No More is a song from his play Cymbeline. Two brothers weep over the supposed death of their sister who is only unconscious. The song is actually an Ode To Death. Death comes as a release from the evils of the world and is inevitable to all. This song is the poet's prayer for the peace of the departed soul. 

Work in this World, for which wages will be paid in Heaven.

  02. A Burial Painting By Enrico Pollastrini 1851.

When we have done our works in this world, we return to our home which is in heaven where we will be paid our wages for the work done in the world. We will be blessed or punished according to the measure of the virtue or vice resulted from our work. It is a consolation to think that there is an after world there where our actions are weighed and judged by sympathetic and kindly beings, after having gone through a life time of injustices and ingratitude in this world. Death is a release which is universal and man cannot escape from it. 

Even the young brimming with vibrancy and loveliness of life has to die.

  03. Children Accompanying The Dead To Burial By Vasily Perov 1865.

There is no armour to hold against death and man has to succumb to the inevitability of the final passing away. Or is it the passing away final? He has no protection from death and cannot refuse to pass through this gateway of death to the next world and the next form of being. ‘The rich and leisurely golden lads and girls and the poor and lowly chimney-sweepers who do the dirtiest of works- all have to die. Physical strength, scholarship and authority follow man to the grave and finally turn to dust and oblivion. Even young lovers who seem to be brimming with the vibrancy and loveliness of life have to die some day. 

Is it to bliss that we go after death?

  04. The Poor Man's Way To Grave By Jakub Schikaneder 1886.

The parting soul finally gets some peace, since it has now been released from the clutches of the world, the evils of the world. It needn't anymore fear the heat of the Sun or the angry outbreak of winter. The frown and anger and displeasure of well-placed persons and people in power and the mortal strikes from authorities and tyrants- the very things that make hell in human lives and man fears most - needn't anymore be feared. 

With death, our burdens of life are lightened, for we do not need clothing and eating anymore.

05. Wounded Worker's Farewell By Erik Henningsen 1895.
 
With death, our burdens of life are lightened, for we do not need clothing and eating anymore. The deadly lightning and thunder-bolts- the dread of all out-in-the-field workers- will not touch/affect us anymore. Abusing words and unkind criticism, which we encountered everywhere in life and which constantly humiliated us, lowered our status and self-respect and tormented our souls, will no more reach our ears, for we will have no more ears. Weeping and happiness are past. We reach bliss, the state of supreme happiness. And distinctions also are things of the past; the fragile reed and the hardened oak are the same to the dead man.

II. DEATH THE LEVELLER. A Poem By James Shirley.

A land where sceptre and crown and scythe and spade are made equal.
  06. Grave Diggers And Grieving Family By Erik Henningsen 1886.

James Shirley was an English teacher and poet who became famous later for his plays. He died during the great London Fire. Like Shakespeare’s Fear No More, Death The Leveller also is part of one of his plays. He conceives death as a great leveller, an equalizer, who levells the distinctions between the rich and the poor, the high and the low and the hard and the soft. The glories of our blood and state are nothing but shadows. Family traditions and social status do not come to our aid when we are dying. Man has no immunity against fate. Death lays his icy hands on kings and his subjects alike. Kings wearing the sceptre and crown, the symbols of their sovereignty and peasants wearing the scythe and spade, the tools of their trade, are all brought to dust and made equal by death without any distinctions. 

Eloquence of a poet in defense of death.

  07. A Poor Man's Funeral By Oscar Graf 1900.

Glory is but a momentary glimpse of eternity. It just shows us the magnificence waiting for us in our after life to live in permanently. Great emperors like Alexander and Ashoka have conquered vast plains of land and hordes of armies, won battlefields and raised victory memorials, but they too have had to go to the other world. Great swordsmen reaped heads of opponents in the battlefield, but even their strong nerves have had to yield at last and they too have had to stoop to fate, early or late. Actually they were not winning over the other, but taming each other. Great War heroes all will become wounded captives one day, creeping to their deaths. In the hands of death they are now pale with shame because, unlike in the battlefield, they cannot fight their captor now. 

Only our just and right actions will blossom and emit sweet smell, after we have gone.

08. Laid At Rest In Elegance By Luis Montero 1867.
 
Victory memorials may wither away and great battles in history forgotten. The once-victor will one day become a bleeding victim on the purple altar of death, purple because of blood and gore. However high our heads are held, they will one day have to come down to the cold tomb. Great heroic acts do not survive us. Only the just and right actions of a man will blossom and emit sweet smell, after he has long withered away in dust. 

III. WHY THIS SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE TWO SONGS?

Are we really living here, or lying somewhere else and dreaming about living here?

Death is a universal closing of a way of life in one universe and the beginning of another in another universe. It is believed that, and also it is a thrill to think that, once that gravitational constriction of a black hole that is the life-proofed passage between two universes is passed, the dead and the now reborn organism would feel nothing about anything that might or might not have happened. It would be a feeling like everything reversed mathematically. Some seers have even doubted as to whether we are really living in this world, or lying relaxed in some other planet or universe and dreaming about living in this World. Where seers and poets are concerned, and involved, anything strange can be conceived and formulated. Bizarre notions are not un-travelled lands for poets. We would expect these two poets to elaborate on life after the feeling of death. It was but their modesty and reserve that prevented William Shakespeare and James Shirley from elaborating on after-death experiences, and not their unfamiliarity with any such notions, especially Shakespeare having created a long line of uncanny characters. 

Death is universal, so rouses similar feelings in man everywhere.

  09. The Final Resting Place By Albert Anker 1863.

Since death is universal, it rouses similar feelings in man everywhere, though intensity and direction of emotions may vary from person to person, country to country and continent to continent. Some spend the time of bereavement in absolute silence and grief and some spend it in dancing and singing and revelry. The universality of death is a foundation for the similarity between the two poems, Fear No More and Death The Leveller. They both share the universal feeling about death. They are similar in many other aspects also. They hold the same views and project the same ideas. Both poems celebrate the glory of death. Both poems are part of plays by the authors. Both poets used the same word Sceptre to denote Kingly Authority. Shakespeare hints that we will be paid our wages in heaven for our deeds done in this world. Shirley warns us that only our just and rightful actions would survive us. Both poets project the inevitability and inescapability of death. Shakespeare's life period in England was 1564-1616 and Shirley's was 1596-1666. Shirley was 14 years old when Shakespeare was 44. Therefore Shirley certainly might have been inspired by Shakespeare. Or it can also be that he was absolutely independent of Shakespeare’s influence in his thoughts. And both poets were Londoners too. 

Has mankind lost the formula for the longevity of life?

 
What is the highest possible lifespan of human beings and how can it be raised are questions scientists have been trying to answer for a long time. How death occurs and why it occurs also have been subjects for research, and speculation, through many centuries. Some of the Biblical characters seem to have lived through 800 and 900 years. The ancient Indian classics Mahabharata and Ramayana also have plenty of characters who lived beyond a thousand years. They must have known the formula for the prolongation of life. Even though it is believed that the Bible is a coded manifesto recording everything that concerns man, even the events that may happen in his future, mankind seems to have lost this formula for suspending death and prolonging life. He could have lived at least 150 years and succumbed to death only after fulfilling his mission somewhat to his satisfaction, had he not lost this formula for longevity of life. Lifespan of human beings is not a fixed one, not seventy or eighty years anyway, for it has risen and fallen everywhere in accordance with the availability or unavailability of food and other resources. 

What is the greatest wonder in this world?

  10. Here Lies Your Ancestors By Rudolf Wiegmann 1835.

In Mahabharata, there is this story of Prince Yudhishdtira and his four younger brothers travelling through jungle in search of water when they were ousted from their kingdom after having lost a game of gambling to their co-brother. The youngest brother was the first to find water in a pond beneath a tree. But before he could drink, an incorporeal voice from heaven warned him not to drink that water lest he would die, unless he correctly answered a question before drinking. The question was ‘What is the greatest wonder in this world’? He heeded not the warning, drank the water, and fell dead then and there. His three elders who went in search of the youngest brother one after the other also had the same experience and fell dead beside that pond. Finally Yudhishdtira went in search of the four and was asked the same question by the incorporeal voice. ‘Even while death occurs everywhere around us and we still thinking we will never die is the greatest wonder in this world’ was Yudhishdtira’s answer, which pleased the incorporeal voice. It was the Man of Time in disguise, who resurrected from death the four princes and blessed Yudhishdtira for his virtuousness.

  11. Article Title 2 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP

First Published: 21 March 2011
Last Edited…..: 28 March 2017


__________________________
Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

__________________________

Picture Credits:

01. Article Title 1 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP
02. A Burial Painting By Enrico Pollastrini 1851.
03. Children Accompanying The Dead To Burial By Vasily Perov 1865.
04. The Poor Man's Way To Grave By Jakub Schikaneder 1886.
05. Wounded Worker's Farewell By Erik Henningsen 1895.
06. Grave Diggers And Grieving Family By Erik Henningsen 1886.
07. A Poor Man's Funeral By Oscar Graf 1900.
08. Laid At Rest In Elegance By Luis Montero 1867.
09. The Final Resting Place By Albert Anker 1863.
10. Here Lies Your Ancestors By Rudolf Wiegmann 1835.
11. Author Profile of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.
12. Article Title 2 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

  
12. Author profile of P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single. 

Author of several books in English and in Malayalam, mostly poetical collections, fiction, non fiction and political treatises, including Ulsava Lahari, Darsana Deepthi, Kaalam Jaalakavaathilil, Ilakozhiyum Kaadukalil Puzhayozhukunnu, Thirike Vilikkuka, Oru Thulli Velicham, Aaspathri Jalakam, Vaidooryam, Manal, Jalaja Padma Raaji, Maavoyeppoleyaakaan Entheluppam!, The Last Bird From The Golden Age Of Ghazals, Doctors Politicians Bureaucrats People And Private Practice, E-Health Implications And Medical Data Theft, Did A Data Mining Giant Take Over India?, Will Dog Lovers Kill The World?, Is There Patience And Room For One More Reactor?, and Swan, The Intelligent Picture Book. 

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/+PSRemeshChandran
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com
Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.

Tags


Comparison Poems, Cymbeline, Death Poems, Death The Leveller, Essays On Death, Fear No More, Free Student Notes, James Shirley, Literary Essays Reviews, Poetry Appreciation Review Notes, P S Remesh Chandran, Sahyadri Books Trivandrum, William Shakespeare, 

Comments

Rathnashikamani
31st Mar 2011

 
Shirley might have been inspired by Shakespeare. But, certainly I'm inspired by your literary work here on Wikinut. This article of appreciation by you has brought the great poets together. 

Identifier: SBT-AE-009. Two Famous Death Poems By Shirley And Shakespeare.

Articles English Downloads Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.
Editor: P S Remesh Chandran





Wednesday, February 22, 2012

008. Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening. Robert Frost Poem. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran

008.

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening. Robert Frost Poem. Appreciation By P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

By PSRemeshChandra, 19th Mar 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/eslzz8m7/ First Posted in Wikinut-Reviews>Books-Poetry, Drama, Criticism
Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2012/02/08-stopping-by-woods-robert-frost.html
01. Article Title 1 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP.


Nature creates many beauties for man to observe but man, being burdened with the multitude of tasks of running a family, cannot spare his time for sharing the pleasantness nature imbues. In his rush of life he is forced to abandon the easy solaces nature offers which if accepted, would have served as a balm for his mind in flames. Robert Frost's poem ‘Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening’ shows a glimpse of what treasures man has lost. True, what man forgets first is the beauty of his mother. 

A British poet trained on practical American lines.


 
02. Robert Frost Portrait 1913.


Robert Frost was a farmer and poet who had a deep concern for nature. He lived during 1874-1963. ‘Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening’ is his world famous poem which appeals to man's desire to be always be with nature. In the poem we see the poet riding a little horse into a snow falling forest in the evening. His sense of beauty tends him to stay but his dominating sense of duty sends him away. The genius of Frost shuttles between dream and reality and finally lands on immediate reality. Perhaps his long American life might have trimmed him on practical lines. 

Nature's Cynosures are for all the world to see.



03. Whose Woods These Are I Think I Know.


The poet stops by the wood on a snowy evening in winter. He doesn't know who the owner of the forest is. Judging from the fact that there were no signs of any modern constructions to be seen there, he assumes that the owner of the forest might not be a town’s man, but a villager. So far so good. He hopes that the owner will not appear there at that time of heavy snow fall, as he does not wish to be seen tress-passing into private land. Sweet English reserve and shyness! Even though somewhat reluctant to enter a private property, his soul's desire to be with nature tempted him and he entered the forest riding his horse. 

All a winter's work for the squirrels and sparrows to see.

04. All A Winters Work.
 
Nature's benedictions are man's common asset, limited to no one's ownership. She creates her cynosures for all the world to see, through generations and ages. She creates them not exclusively for humans, but anticipating the admiring eyes of the squirrels, sparrows, peacocks and the marsupials also. 

Animal instincts are sharper-tuned to sensing danger than man's.


05. To Watch The Woods Fill Up With Snow.


Snow heavily falling on the trees and rocks and shrubs will form curious images of strange shapes and sizes. The poet plunges deep into observing their beauty and quite forgets the passing of Time. The horse was more danger-conscious and responsive to surroundings than the poet. Have anyone ever heard about an animal that took its own life? It became suspicious. What is this fellow on my back doing? 

Between the woods and frozen lake.


06. Between The Woods And Frozen Lake.


Dangers of an ink-black night are ahead. No farm houses are to be seen anywhere nearby. They are standing between an unfriendly wood and a frozen lake where no one will get shelter and can survive. Man and animal can be lost and frozen in these circumstances. Besides, it is the darkest night of the year that is approaching. Is this man on my back having ideas of suicide? Animal instincts are sharper-tuned to sense danger than man's. So thinking such and such, the horse gave his harness bells a shake to ask his master whether there was any mistake. Actually he was asking his master why they were stopping and staying in that unfavorable atmosphere for long. 

07. Article Title 2 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP.

The Tiny Little Boy with Hay-Ho, the Wind and the Rain.


 
08. Forage is scarce in winter, so a long neck.


The sounds of the horse-bells were heard distinctly against the only other background sound there, the swish-swishing sound of the easily-flowing wind sweeping against the incessantly down-falling snow. The exquisiteness of the description here reminds the readers of another master craftsman. In The Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, there is a little song sung by the clown: 

'When that I was a tiny little boy,
With hay- ho, the wind and the rain.'

 
Everyone knows the wind and the rain, but who is this Mr. Hay-Ho? Critics have long debated who this Hay Ho is. It is very simple. Every little child knows Hay Ho; it is the combined effect of sound caused by wind on the rain personified. When wind blows against a green paddy field and the long lines of grass bow their heads in row after row, Hay Ho is present there. When we walk along a tar road while the rain comes down in torrents and the wind sweeps heavily against the rain, then again we can see Hay Ho on the road, coming towards us and going away from us. Hay Ho is indeed something to a tiny little boy and also for the poets. One is always the other. An exactly similar beauty with words is created here by Frost, in describing in vivid and suggestive words the swish-swishing of the wind and the rain in the snow-filled forest. 

One single line written across the face of Time: How far to go before rest?



09. Miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go.....


The timely sound of his horse-bells roused the master to reality and reminded him of his immediate duties. Thus rightly inspired, the poet continues on his journey, singing those famous lines which made this song immortal. 

'The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.'

An admirer of Robert Frost from across the oceans.



10. The woods are lovely, but I have promises to keep.
 

The sleep referred to here is the final sleep. These are lines written across Time, to inspire the world through ages. It is not certain whoever were inspired, excited and intoxicated with these lines. But it is known, the famous author of books such as Glimpses Of World History and The Discovery Of India and the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, wrote them down on his walls to be seen always. 

Bloom Books Channel has a video of this song.


11. Stopping By Woods Video Title. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy6nlrKRH10
 
Bloom Books Channel has a video of this poem Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening. A primitive prototype rendering of this song was made in a crude tape recorder decades earlier, in 1984. In 2014, a home made video of this song was released. In 2015, a third version with comparatively better audio was released. The next version, it's hoped, would be fully orchestrated. It's free for reuse, and anyone interested in can develop and build on it, till it becomes a fine musical video production, to help our little learners and their teachers. 

Link to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy6nlrKRH10

Also read the article 'The Life And Works Of Robert Frost Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran'. 

12. Life And Works Of Robert Frost Article.
 
Readers are advised to also read the article The Life And Works Of Robert Frost Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran in Sahyadri Books Trivandrum at http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2017/04/073-life-and-works-of-robert-frost.html 


13. Article Title 3 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP.



First Published: 19 March 2011
Last Edited…..: 24 March 2017

___________________________
Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
___________________________

Picture Credits:

01. Article Title 1 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP
02. Robert Frost Portrait 1913 By The New York Times
03. Whose woods these are I think I know By Ruhrfisch
04. All a winter's work By Böhringer Friedrich
05. To watch the woods fill up with snow By Adrian Michael
06. Between the woods and frozen lake By Harke
07. Article Title 2 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP
08. Forage scarce in winter, so a long neck By Unknown
09. Miles to go before I sleep By Jim Champion
10. The woods are lovely, but I have promises to keep By John Davies
11. Stopping By Woods Video Title By Bloom Books Channel
12. Life And Works Of Robert Frost Title By Sahyadri Archives
13. Article Title 3 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP
14. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

14. Author Profile of P. S. Remesh Chandran.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single. 

Author of several books in English and in Malayalam, mostly poetical collections, fiction, non fiction and political treatises, including Ulsava Lahari, Darsana Deepthi, Kaalam Jaalakavaathilil, Ilakozhiyum Kaadukalil Puzhayozhukunnu, Thirike Vilikkuka, Oru Thulli Velicham, Aaspathri Jalakam, Vaidooryam, Manal, Jalaja Padma Raaji, Maavoyeppoleyaakaan Entheluppam!, The Last Bird From The Golden Age Of Ghazals, Doctors Politicians Bureaucrats People And Private Practice, E-Health Implications And Medical Data Theft, Did A Data Mining Giant Take Over India?, Will Dog Lovers Kill The World?, Is There Patience And Room For One More Reactor?, and Swan, The Intelligent Picture Book. 

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/+PSRemeshChandran
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com
Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.

Tags

 
American English Poets Poems, Free Student Notes, Literary Articles, Nature Poets, Poem Appreciations Reviews Essays, Robert Frost, P S Remesh Chandran, Sahyadri Books Trivandrum, Stopping By Woods, Winter Poems, 

Comments

Rathnashikamani
31st Mar 2011 (#)

This is again a wonderful appreciation of one of my favorite poets, Robert Frost. I don't think there is anybody in the world who may not admire this great poet. 

PSRemeshChandra
16th Apr 2012 (#)

In every nook and corner of the world, this poet has admirers. But if poets are to be believed, there indeed are people who never admire a poet- the residents of his native village, the people with whom he grew up, played, fought and lived. Anyway it would be hard for a poet for his villagers to admire him and behave in a totally new way. 

NEERAJ BHATT
16th Oct 2011 (#)

This is an apt appreciation of the poem "STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING" I read this poem in class 12. It is since then that I got the last stanza remembered for ever. 

PSRemeshChandra
16th Apr 2012 (#)

I too studied it dear Neeraj Bhatt. Thank you for going through the article. 

PSRemeshChandra
16th Oct 2011 (#)

Yes Dear Rathnashikamani,
And Dear Neeraj Bhatt,

Robert Frost wrote wonderful poetry and in my boyhood days I got one very old pocket book sized illustrated edition of a collection of his poems from my father. I still remember the pictures from the book. I very much wished to one day sing his songs exactly like my father did and in my later years I somewhat succeeded in this. Like my father I also had the opportunity to teach a few of his poems. Illustrating his poems is beyond my ability which I tried to augment by incorporating a few good pictures. Thank you both for your ripe opinions. 

Rathnashikamani
17th Oct 2011 (#)

That was really wonderful to know that you've been an admirer of Robert Frost and cherished great memories and desire to sing such a great poet.

I too love his poems. They are such master pieces which must be read carefully and contemplated upon to enjoy them to full extent. 

PSRemeshChandra
17th Oct 2011 (#)

There are thousands who are admirers of Frost but the majority of them are unfortunately unable to sing his poems. First a casual reading, then a few attempts to sing it in fast rhythm, and finally succeeding in actually sing it clarifies the poem and imprints it on our minds more effectively than by reading it a hundred times. It is, I believe, the straight road to understanding, appreciating and enjoying a poem. The more we do this kind of thing without any regard to such awful talentless recordings as made available in Poetry Out Loud, etc, the more an expert we become. It is like unlocking a complex mechanism. Many poems such as those like Tagore's, Matthew Arnold's and T. S. Eliot's have excellent locking mechanisms in them but through perseverance now they are excellent music for me. I perfectly well sing Where The Mind Is Without Fear, Forsaken Merman and Waste Land. Anyone can try. Music is the best means of Instruction. It most often effectively substitutes a teacher. Moreover poems are born out of tunes and are meant to be sung anyway. 

Identifier: SBT-AE-008. Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening. Robert Frost Poem. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran.

Articles English Downloads Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.
Editor: P S Remesh Chandran.





Tuesday, February 21, 2012

007. Song To The Men Of England. P B Shelley Poem. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran

007.

Song To The Men Of England. Percy Bysshe Shelley Poem. Appreciation By P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum


By PSRemeshChandra, 18th Mar 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/21kpi-9l/ First Posted in Wikinut-Reviews-Books-Poetry, Drama, Criticism

Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2012/02/07-song-to-men-of-england-pbshelley.html

01. Article Title 1 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP.


A revolutionary is a person who causes constant changes around him wherever he is. In this sense, Shelley was a revolutionary poet. Song To The Men Of England opened up world's eyes to the torture, brutality and exploitation workers were subjected to in England during the time of her colonial prosperity and raised the question: Why can't they revolt? Karl Marx predicted workers’ revolution in England as follow up of the Industrial Revolution but it never happened. The English workers were inert.

Kill not a bird or beast or man, they are all our brethren.

02. A portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley.
 
Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote each poem to celebrate a particular tune as we can see in his poems Song To The Men Of England, Ode To The West Wind, To A Skylark, The Cloud, Adonais and many others. He is considered one of the greatest poets in English and his influence on world literature is immense. When we refer to him as a revolutionary poet, it does not mean he stood for merciless killing. In fact, he considered even animals as our fellow creatures, not to be slain for human food. It was after reading his works that the famous English author and dramatist George Bernard Shaw became a vegetarian. 

Workers and exploiters are like bees and drones in bee community.

 03. A 1939 weaving loom with flying shuttles.
 
Here in this poem, Shelley asks the Nineteenth Century peasants and workers of England why they are not revolting against the landlords and the industrial production owners who are exploiting them to the last drop of their blood. In the Bee Community, female bees do all the work and the male drones live by exploiting them. Shelley calls the workers Bees and the exploiters Drones which is apt. 

Purpose of weapons fails when they are used against man.

04. A 200 single yarn beaming machine of 1907.

Shelley's questions to the workers of England skillfully bring out the pitiful living conditions they live in in England in his times. He is asking them for what reason they plough the fields for the lords who are responsible for their poverty. For what reason, with toil and care, they weave the rich robes their tyrants are wearing, while their own children are shivering in the dark without cotton or coal. From their birth till their death why the workers feed, clothe and save those ungrateful drones, who in their turn, would either drain their sweat or drink their blood. 

Weapons become spoiled when they are stained with their makers' blood.

05. The celestial forge of Venus and Vulcan. 1641 Oil.

The Bees of England forge many weapons, chains and scourges which go straight to the hands of the tyrants to be used against them in it's time. Weapons were invented to assist man in his works, but when used against its creator, their purpose fails and they become spoiled. Critics have differed in their interpretations of the word 'spoiled.' A weapon to become spoiled means ‘to become stained with its maker's blood’. Knives were invented for cutting away tree branches from paths of the ancient man in the forests, chains were invented for lifting huge weights from the ground, and whips were designed for taming wild animals. But when they come to be used for throat-cutting, binding men together and for beating man, their purpose fails and they become spoiled. 

Sacrificing their lives, making arms and robes and riches for tyrants.

06. Forge arms, in your defense to bear.

The workers pay so high a price by living in constant pain, fear and poverty but even then, in spite of all these sufferings, at least their physical and spiritual needs are not satisfied. If not for fulfilling at least their basic animalistic needs, why should they labour from morning till night and from night till morning again? (Shelley can say this, but there was unbelievable poverty in England. Peasants and workers lived in abject poverty, want and exploitation in the middle of immense wealth arriving from distant colonies. Just a little food for sustenance and the shade of a shack to rest their heads beneath was all that the workers of England wished in those times). Leisure, comfort and calmness are the spiritual needs of man. Food, shelter and the medicinal treatment of love are the physical needs of man. It is not strange to note that Shelley, unlike most of the other poets in his times, has included love as a physical need of man, like food. The workers sow seed, but the harvest is taken away by lords. They bring wealth out of earth through their work, but the riches are amassed and kept by others. They weave robes for others, but their own children have nothing to wear. The arms they forge also go to the armories of oppressors. Thus Shelley convinces the workers of England and elsewhere that they are exploited to the extreme, and that rising through revolts is the only option before them. 

A poet's burning eloquence forcing the doors of England open.

 07. Sow seed and reap, but let not the idle heap.
 
We will normally think the poet, spreading such radical ideas in Colonial England, will finally find his way to London Tower, the English equivalent of the notorious French Bastille. But it was also the era of the Industrial Revolution, immediately following the English version of the Italian Renaissance. No workers' revolution ever occurred in England then or later as Shelley hoped, and Marx had predicted. Communism, the supreme theory of revolution, was born indeed in England's soil, but Carl Marx fuming and storming his head in the British Museum for Thirty two long years came to nothing. Prosperity extinguishes revolutionary traits, whereas poverty inflames them. But England in later years did become a haven and world headquarters for revolutionaries in exile, due to the open door policy there, carved out of passionate poetry and literature by generations of sympathetic littérateurs. Shelley's burning eloquence in this song cannot be denied its due share of influence and credit in bringing about this change. 

The silent song of weaving winding sheets to graves.

 08. Weaving their winding sheet to their graves.
 
Shelley showed to the workers exploited everywhere in the world that they have a right to rise in revolts. He encourages them to sow seed but let no tyrant reap the harvest; find wealth but let no impostor heap them. But his clarion-calls fell into deaf ears. Seeing the inertness of English workers, towards the end of his poem, Shelley condemns them. By not revolting against their exploiters, they finally will have to shrink to their cells, holes and cellars which are their dwelling places, as the vast halls they constructed and decorated are all possessed by the rich. Imagine a great massive elephant getting melting itself down and disappearing into the tiny pit of a sand-elephant: that is how the proletariat shrinks. The great beast does not know its capabilities. It is a pity to see the workers still wearing the chains they themselves wrought and shaking them. 'The steel ye tempered glance on ye', he writes. ‘Glance’ here has a dual meaning. He used the word in its both senses- ‘slip off from the hand causing a mortal wound’, and ‘have a quick look at’. The steel the workers themselves tempered is ridiculingly laughing at them! If their destiny goes on unhampered in this way, with plough and spade and hoe and loom- the tools of their trade- they will be continuing to build their tomb and weave their winding-sheet till their beautiful England becomes a vast sepulchre. 

Shelley set fire to the conscience of his century.

 09. Shelley’s poem To A Skylark Video Title By Bloom Books Channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFVoiRm-yEI


Shelley must have been very bold and daring to have published this poem during the peak of England's colonial powers and sovereignty. And he certainly must have been extremely sympathetic and deliquescent in his attitude to workers in his native land. He indeed was a very brilliant poet to have set fire to the conscience of his century. This poem is a masterpiece of poetical eloquence, as well as of political eloquence. It is a brilliant example of commitment and involvement in flames, in action.


10. Article Title 2 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP.
 
Thousands and thousands of workers and peasants succumbed to poverty and mortal illnesses in Shelly's days in England. Not many poets in his times cared to write about these misfortune-struck people. And he too wrote not many poems of this kind about them. Perhaps he might have conceived that ‘the present turbulence in his times might be inimical to the fine achievements of mankind so far and become a hindrance to drastic changes in future’. That might have been why he decided to bless his land with a poem which would open everyone’s eyes to a world problem. It is a perfectly musical poem, with a perfectly balanced rhythm and a captivating tune which came along originally with the song. Actually the song and its tune are inseparable in this poem. Do not anyone be misled by those lazy, dragging and monotonous tunes which we find in many recitations of this song already circulating in the internet and those tuneless and prose-like utterances propagated by conventional and less imaginary teachers. They want only to exhibit before their listeners and poor students their pompous recitational skills and that impurity we call accent. They did sore injustice to the excellent musical-minded poet Shelley. The original tune of this poem proves that it was accompanied by some kind of rural peasants' dance in some remote hamlet of England. It contains such a simple, light, country tune, with no complications.

Going through Shelley’s poems is like a squirrel going through a mountain of gold dust.

 11. Shelley’s poem Ozymandias Video Title By Bloom Books Channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_exxBg5urk0


It would have been a fine spectacle to watch if someone orchestrated and choreographed the Song To The Men of England as a tribute to Shelley. Singing Shelley’s songs is like going through a savoury treat delightful to the tongue and the palates. A singer of this song would undergo an experience similar to the one of the squirrel’s who went through a mountain of gold dust and found it impossible not to be sprayed with a few golden dust particles. 

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s life and works during 1792-1817.

12. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in 1792 August 04 in Horsham, England as the first of seven children of the Sir Timothy Shelley, a country squire and baron, and his wife Elizabeth Pilfold Shelley. His father was a British Parliamentarian of the Whigs Party. He began boys’ boarding school at Eton College in 1804. After six years’ of boarding school studies, he enrolled at University College, Oxford in 1810 where he became indifferent to studies, published ‘The Necessity of Atheism’ which made his father angry and caused his expulsion from Oxford the next year. He published his first novel ‘Zastrozzi’ also in that period. In 1811 he ran away with a young student Ms. Harriet Westbrook to Scotland who he soon became tired of. In 1813 he published the long poem Queen Mab and exposed his political views irrespective of his father being a conservative Parliamentarian. In 1814 he eloped again with the daughter of the famous writer and philosopher William Godwin- young Mary Wollstonecraft- to Europe and the next year we see Shelley hiding in London to evade his creditors. During the years from 1815 to 1818, Shelley became close friends with poets Lord Gordon Byron and John Keats, published The Spirit of Solitude in 1816, children were born and died, married the mother of their children Mary, toured Switzerland and came back with the book History of Six Weeks Tour published in 1817, his first wife Harriet took her life by jumping into London river, and his second wife Mary started writing the famous horror novel Frankenstein. 

Shelley’s life and works during the years 1818-1824.

13. Writer Philosopher William Godwin.

In 1818, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley published Frankenstein, an all time success, Shelley published Ozymandias and The Revolt of Islam, and they travelled to Italy never to return. Song To The Men Of England and The Masque Of Anarchy were written while Shelley was in Florence. In 1820 Shelley wrote the mythological drama Prometheus Unbound, and in 1821 when John Keats died, he wrote the elegy Adonais. While living in Pisa and Rome, he completed the tragedy The Censy. In 1822 his schooner Don Juan caught up in a storm and Shelley died at the age of 29. He was cremated on the beach and his ashes buried in Rome. Sir. Timoti Shelley was still furious over the political and heretical writings of his son and threatened Shelley’s wife Mary in 1924 never to publish anymore of his son’s works while he lived. He even threatened to stop financial support to her if she did. After many years, in 1839, he reluctantly allowed Mary to publish Shelley’s collected poems and essays on the condition that ‘it contained no memoirs of his son’. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an intellectual equal to Shelley in genius and her ‘The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe of 1824 stands a monumental work. 

Irony in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s life.

 14. Different editions of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
 
Left wing activists considered Shelley as ‘Red Shelley’ but in real life he was a strict vegetarian and against blood sheds of any kind. His words were not final but wavering and often contradictory. He who said in his work Defense Of Poetry that ‘man’s imagination is only a reflection of god’s’ was expelled from Oxford University for publishing in 1811‘The Necessity of Atheism’. No one cared his non-belief in god was not final and binding. Literary critics pointed out that his views were contradictory and wavering for he became in soul The Cloud, The West Wind, The Skylark and The Man Of England all at the same time, synchronizing his mind with the natural elements and nature’s creations which were his characters, but these critics of Shelley forgot all the while that he synchronized his soul with his characters beautifully. 

Bloom Books Channel has a video of this poem Song To The Men Of England.

 15. Song To The Men Of England Video Title. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy6nlrKRH10


Bloom Books Channel has recitation videos of Song To The Men Of England, Ozymandias and To a Skylark. Their You Tube links are:
 
Song To The Men Of England:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy6nlrKRH10
 

Ozymandias:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_exxBg5urk0


To a Skylark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFVoiRm-yEI



A primitive prototype rendering of these song were made in a crude tape recorder decades earlier, in 1984. In 2014, home made videos of these songs were released. In 2015, their third versions with comparatively better audios were released. The next versions, it's hoped, would be fully orchestrated. They are free for reuse, and anyone interested in can develop and build on them, till they become fine musical video productions, to help our little learners and their teachers.


16. Article Title 3 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP.


First Published: 18th Mar 2011
Last Edited: 15 April 2017

___________________________
Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
___________________________

 

Picture Credits:
 
01. Article Title 1 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP
02. Portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley 1819 By Alfred Clint
03. 1939 weaving loom with flying shuttles By Imus Eus
04. 200 single yarn beaming machine 1907 By Imus Eus
05. The celestial forge of Venus and Vulcan 1641 By Le Nain Brothers
06. Forge arms in your defense to bear By Penny Mayes
07. Sow seed but let not the idle heap By Bernard Gagnon
08. Weaving winding sheets to graves By Thomas Khaipi
09. Shelley's poem To A Skylark By Bloom Books Channel
10. Article Title 2 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP
11. Shelley’s poem Ozymandias By Bloom Books Channel
12. Mary Wollstoncraft Shelley By John Williamson
13. William Godwin 1875 By Henry William Pickersgill
14. Different Editions of Frankenstein By Andy Mabbett
15. Song To The Men Of England Video Title By Bloom Books Channel
16. Article Title 3 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP
17. Author Profile of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

17. Author Profile of P. S. Remesh Chandran.
 
Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single. 

Author of several books in English and in Malayalam, mostly poetical collections, fiction, non fiction and political treatises, including Ulsava Lahari, Darsana Deepthi, Kaalam Jaalakavaathilil, Ilakozhiyum Kaadukalil Puzhayozhukunnu, Thirike Vilikkuka, Oru Thulli Velicham, Aaspathri Jalakam, Vaidooryam, Manal, Jalaja Padma Raaji, Maavoyeppoleyaakaan Entheluppam!, The Last Bird From The Golden Age Of Ghazals, Doctors Politicians Bureaucrats People And Private Practice, E-Health Implications And Medical Data Theft, Did A Data Mining Giant Take Over India?, Will Dog Lovers Kill The World?, Is There Patience And Room For One More Reactor?, and Swan, The Intelligent Picture Book. 

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
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You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com
Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.

Tags

English Poets Poems, Free Student Notes, Literary Articles, Poem Appreciations Reviews Essays, P B Shelley, P S Remesh Chandran, Revolutionary Poets Poems, Sahyadri Books Trivandrum, Song To The Men Of England, 


Comments

PSRemeshChandra
18th Mar 2011 (#)

 
Shelley was very bold and daring to have published these lines during the peak of England's colonial powers. And he certainly might have been very sympathetic and delinquent in his attitude to the workers in his native land. He indeed was a very brilliant poet who set fire to the conscience of his century. This poem is a masterpiece of poetical eloquence. Commitment and involvement in flames. 

Rathnashikamani
31st Mar 2011 (#)

I'm inspired by P. B. Shelley also. Thank you for such a wonderful treat as this on Shelley.

PSRemeshChandra
16th Apr 2012 (#)

Singing Shelley is like going through a treat to me, which actually delights my tongue and palates. What happens to me is like becoming the squirrel that went through a mountain of gold dust. 

deepa venkitesh
25th Jun 2011 (#)

Thank you for the insightful article.

PSRemeshChandra
2nd Aug 2011 (#)

Dear Rathnashikamani, Deeps,



Thousands and thousands of peasants and workers succumbed to poverty and mortal illness in Shelly's days in England. Not many poets of his times cared to write about them. And he wrote not many poems of this genre. It is a perfectly singable song. It has a perfectly balanced rhythm and a captivating tune which came along when he wrote the song. Actually the song and its tune are inseparable. But do not please be misled by any dragging lazy monotonous tunes of recitations that we may occasionally happen to hear in some famous websites. In fact, the original tune to this song proves that it accompanied some kind of peasants' dance. It would be a very fine spectacle if someone orchestrated and choreographed this song as a tribute to Shelley. It contains a very simple, light, country tune. 

Identifier: SBT-AE-007. Song To The Men Of England. Percy Bysshe Shelley Poem. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran.

Articles English Downloads Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.
Editor: P S Remesh Chandran


 
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