"Synge proclaims: 'the strong things of life are needed in poetry also . . . and it may almost be said that before verse can be human again, it must be brutal.' "Masefield brought back to poetry that mixture of beauty and brutality which is its most human and enduring quality." Do you like this extract from "Dauber"? Read the whole poem and see what kind of man this was who held in spite of his terror. Whose "... soul, body, brain, Knew nothing but the wind, the cold, the pain." Find traces of "beauty" and of "brutality" in this poem. Why are boys attracted toward a sailor's life? LAUREATES OF THE HOME. "The Monk in the Kitchen"...... Branch (p. 99) Select the lines in the poem which seem to you to glorify humble, home-keeping acts. Compare this poem with "Autumn" by Jean Starr Untermeyer. Which poem do you think would appeal most to a young home-maker? Try reading both poems to your mother, or some other experienced housekeeper. Read them to some careless housekeeper you happen to know. Try to get opinions from both. "Domestic Economy". .Wickham (p. 333) Here you have an English woman's reaction to the duties of a housekeeper. Do you know of any other poems which deal with the same general topic as the poems in this group? SOCIAL CONSCIENCE. "Columbus" Miller (p. 38) Do you see why this poem should be included in the Social Conscience group? Would this story be as effective in prose as in verse? Which lines appeal particularly to you? "The Man with the Hoe"....... Markham (p. 52) (See Preface, page 12.) ... "This poem . . . caught up, with a prophetic vibrancy, the passion for social justice that was waiting to be intensified in poetry. Markham summed up and spiritualized the unrest that was in the air; in the figure of one man with a hoe, he drew a picture of men in the mines, men in the sweatshop, men working without joy, without hope. To social consciousness he added social conscience." In "The Man With the Hoe," select the lines which make you see most clearly the possibilities of greatness in man. Which make you feel most keenly "man's inhumanity to man"? Is there a note of hope in the poem? Where? How does the poem illustrate the statement that Markham had a social conscience? "Caliban in the Coal Mines". Untermeyer (p. 163) "Summons" . Untermeyer (p. 164) "On the Birth of a Child"...Untermeyer (p. 165) "Prayer" ..Untermeyer (p. 166) Look for the germ-thought in each poem. Which lines most arouse your sympathy in "Caliban"? What glimpse does "Summons" give you into the heart of a boy? Which lines in "Summons" reflect the theme of "Prayer"? Do you see any connection between the thought in "Summons" and that in "On the Birth of a Child"? "Invictus" (See Preface, page 219.) .Henley (p. 237) "Art, he knew, could not be separated from the dreams and hungers of man; it could not flourish only on its own essences and technical accomplishments. To live, poetry would have to share the fears, angers, hopes, and struggles of the prosaic world." Do you detect the sympathy with struggling humankind in the poem? Compare it with Markham's "The Man With the Hoe" in regard to its appeal. Has this poem any special appeal for boys? How is the vagabond spirit expressed in each of these poems? Compare one of these poems with one of Richard Hovey's to discover why these two men enjoyed writing together. "At the Crossroads" "Sea Fever" ... (See Preface, page 10.) . Hovey (p. 68) Hovey (p. 70) Hovey (p. 71) . Masefield (p. 301) "Restlessness was in the air and revolt openly declared itself with the publication of Songs from Vagabondia. In the very first poem Hovey voices their manifesto: Off with the fetters That chafe and restrain Off with the chain! Here Art and Letters, Music and Wine And Myrtle and Wanda, The winsome witches, Here is Golconda, Here we are free |