_ NSRRIVN NN IAGOU © SyOOU HINWS]9 WORBrooks, Cleanth, ed. Understanding poetry. Includes index. 1 English poetry. 2 American poetry. 1. Warten, RobertPena, jointed. Il. Title. ee : Berane Coleg) ig! (conse 1950 fs), ad The Son TMF Lon Lene ee SP 1k by Eley ae Fxcourt Brae Jotaonkh pe al fom this text or produc, submit a request online tight ©-1974 by Pater Devan woe Sedu Be Devs coy pam Amy sditinnal quctions about peisaone See cacdctiemianel Now hepte - be! Witrex De 1A sane: “The Mic rm Colle Poem by Watt dea Mare (epprign 19%) "Water ets Mary, Sos ese Wes PodTC1818 by Walle dea Mere Cpr 900 By Ba ed Catone Ine: copy SUS by Water de Bat) at tpl By Seta srt nd Wison from Poems, A Selection (Funk and Wagnais, “pesca. Fae Sen Ons” opi © ty ems Deo) a "Game by Leonie Adims), is reprinied by permission of SEE, Gera, @ 96 by Temes Beker) fom Bacdacars Ch by James sires g nen amen pe im Soe caer en ps es eer ses feieee eee ve.‘Green Fuse” and “A Refusal to Mourn’ Bae ees Si et TM, Dent & Sons, Lid, and the Trustees for the Copyrights yf the te “Phe Gallows” and “The Ow!” ate reprinted by permission of Baar!) Thomas. ear ihe Founding of Libena” from Libretto for the Rep {eB Tolson (copyright 1983 by Twayne Publishers, Inc.) fs, A Division f G. K. Hall & Co,, Bost Colton Flower from Cane by Jean ‘Toomer’ (copyright 1928 by Boni & Liver, Inc.) 1s reprinted hy ‘York. by Mona van ty of North Carolina Press. ‘Riverbed by David Wagoner (copyright © on) is reprinted by permission of te * from Selected Poems by Derek Walcott ‘by permission of Farrar, Straus & Or Else: Poem/Poems 1968-1974 nted by permission of Random ‘Vernon Watkins (copyright f New Directions Publishing ‘Wheelwricht (copy- permission of This fourth edition of Understanding Poetry has been much more thor- oughly and radically changed than were the second and third editions. What wwe began as merely another revision became, during several years of con- versation and argument, an attempt to re-inspect, to re-think, from the start, This revision is thus the result of a new immersion in poetry for both of us. We have tried always to keep in mind that this book should be both teachable and flexible. These two qualities interact in our minds—and, we believe, in the book—with what we feel is the most natural and fruitful way to approach any poem: To begin with as full and innocent an immersion in the poem as possible; to continue by raising inductive questions that lead students to examine the material, the method, and their relations in the ‘poem-that is, to make an appeal to students’ “understanding” of the poetic ‘process; then to return students as far as possible to the innocent immer= sion—but now with a somewhat instructed innocence to make deeper 3 ppreciation possible. The purpose of such a process is to lead rot to a set of clichés that may be parroted about any experience of the poem—an experience that is at fi ‘Pact and then gradually acquires greater and j jin other words, can be encouraged tinuity with, and a comment(x PREFACE os a protest piece from Boston (“For the ‘and Ginsbers's lam the Depression, two ballads, L« Tnion Dead”), two noteworthy pieces yy ent for America (“A Supermarket jy Jnstances of such interweaving of periods under a sing 4 jogical Language: Metaphor and eerie dealing with the various strat Tretaphor and symbol, we include “She Dwelt Among thy sreWordsworth), as well as “You're the Top” (Cole ‘of old and new inevitably involves cultural n to dramatize the matter of poetry and ‘chronological and geographical spread, but s, We should emphasize here that this is rative literature and that it is confined to the are certain obvious sources of ‘black Americans and Indians of spirituals and blues), a s orders, and an appendix of by smaller units~< ncern arising from the general topic of a section ‘An entirely new feature in this edition, Section 6 (p. 341), is organ- ized about the relation of a number of poems to @ common subject, a way of dramatizing the varity of the attitudes, meanings, and methods available when “the poet Iooks at a bird 6. Perhaps our most marked de ordinary is in the method of treating metrics and other technical problems. All instructors now that when this type of material is offered in terms of abstract prin- ciples, the result, for many students at least, is boredom and alienation. Yet there is a systematic body of such material which is essential to an understanding of the nature of poetic practice—not merely in an intellectual sense, but, more importantly, as a way of sharpening the ear and the feelings of the reader. Our conviction is that only the instructor, who knows the specific class, can finally decide on the best way of handling this most dif- ficult of problems, We have therefore sought a method flexible enough to give the instructor room for maneuver, but without sacrificing the possibility of a systematic treatment of the subject. We offer Appendix B, “Metrics” (p. 493), which consists of a system- atic treatment of both meter and other technical questions, including such topics as theoretical variation, unity and texture, musicality of verse, stress meter, and free verse. Except, perhaps, in certain advanced groups, this appendix should not, in the beginning at least, be studied as a whole, The ideal is for students to grasp the relevance of the technical material bit _ by bit as it applies to the poetry they have already made some basic nection with and, presumably, immersed themselves in, even as a ‘experience. ee ‘What we have done is to insertid that constantly emphasizes Wipect iis and constantly suggests our governing idea of 1h. poor: ‘of this book was published In 1938 and the fon, 1960, During all the years that these three ise, we have benefited from comments, » reat number of instructors who hav Wing i Beestion used the book, have had much to do with the fact that eae, ‘we believe, been a decided improvemen formal acknowledgment here of our dey CB, RPW, Contents Preface ix POETRY AS A WAY OF Sonnet 73 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 5 DRAMATIC SITUATION 17 wreword 17 * “Out, Out" RowERr rRost 18 * Frankie and Jobnay ANONYMOUS 19 * Jesse James ANONYMOUS 20 * Sir Patrick Spence ANONYMOUS 23 ‘The Demon Lover ANONYMOUS 27 ‘Mama and Daughter LANGSTON HUGHES 29 * The Echoing Green WILLIAM BLAKE 30 Battle of the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapls WALT WHITMAN 31 Danny Deever RUDYARD KIPLING 38 * Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree |. MOUSMAN 36 fen Days Leave W.D, SNODGRASS 37 Waking in the Blue“ KonmRT LOWELL 39 Meeting at Night RODERT BROWNING 41 Parting at Morning KonERT nKOWNING 41 "The Worktox THOMAS ANDY 42 * The Fall of Rome W.i AUDEN 44xiv CONTENTS 4 Red Wheelbarrow WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAS * Written in March Ong ROBERT BROWNING 76 November Cotton Flower JEAN TOOMER 78 Beloved, Let Us Once More Praise the ‘Two Voices in a Meadow | RICHAND WILBUR Cavalry Cressing a Ford WALT WINTMAN 81 Cuttings THEODORE ROETHKE 82 Taversnai GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS 83 Spring WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 85 * Winter WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 86 ‘To Autumn JOHN KEATS 87 Oge: Autumn THOMAS HOOD 89 ‘Preludes Ts ELT 91 "* Blow; Bugle, Blow ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON 94 “CHANNEL FIRING’: A SECOND LOOK 95 RHYTHM AND METER: 297 ‘Supplemental Poems 98 from The Palace of Art ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON 98 ‘The Main-Deep Janes STEPHENS Pearse (attonpoourscs) 100 Rain CONRAD AIKEN ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge WILLIAM WoRDswonTH Taser MAN MEL Dule et Decorum Est WiLPREDOWEN 129 C. The Lovers Give Up the World 130 1d GoBy 3. KERN BRE 0 ERT GREENE. 131 ind of Love Poems 138 * Western W When Loy ind aonyMous 138 ‘Meets Love THOMAS EDWARD BROWN 139 Fatima "ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON. 140 Not to the Marriage of True Minds WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 141 Must Love Me ELIZABETH RARRETT BROWNING 142 Lullaby We AUDEN 143 E, The Miser and the Spendthrift 145 from Don Juan GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON 145 * Toa Young Heir saMUBL JOHNSON | 147 Provide, Provide ROBERT Fxost 148 F. Against the Rstablishment 149 London WiLLinne LAKE 149 from Beppo GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON 150 England in 1819 PERCY HYSSHE smELLEY 151 ‘Am Elementary School Classroom in a Slum STEPHEN SPENDER ‘Joe Hill ALFRED MAYES 153 «Sam Hall aNowyacous | 154 *Forthe Union Dead ROnERT LOWELL 155 Puzzled LANGSTON MUGHES 158 Kitchenette Building @WENDOLYN BROOKS | 158 MWe Must Die CLAUDE McKAY 159 ‘ASupermarket in California ALLEN GINSBERG 159 Afterword 161 RHYTHM AND METER: 3 1 Supplemental Poems 164 132 G. Eve inthe Garden 164 Eve RALPH HODGSON 164 + Eve ARTHUR. BULL 166 * from Paradise Lost JOHN MLTON 168 1H, Modern War 170 -Ailtaian View of be Montors ight natn yryat 110_ Phe Death of the Ball Turret Gunner RANDALL JARRELL 171 as