Post on 16-Dec-2015
transcript
WEBSTER was much possessed by death
And saw the skull beneath the skin;
And breastless creatures under ground
Leaned backward with a lipless grin.
Daffodil bulbs instead of ballsStared from the sockets of
the eyes!He knew that thought clings
round dead limbsTightening its lusts and
luxuries.
John Webster - English Jacobson dramatist Gruesome distinguished
work
Daffodil: symbolizes new beginning and rebirth “Breastless creatures”-the
buried dead
Donne, I suppose, was such another
Who found no substitute for sense;
To seize and clutch and penetrate,
Expert beyond experience,
He knew the anguish of the marrow
The ague of the skeleton;No contact possible to
fleshAllayed the fever of the
bone.
Donne John Donne English poet and priest Obsessed about death
Ague Fever without chills
Allayed To calm or quiet;
alleviate
Grishkin is nice: her Russian eye
Is underlined for emphasis;Uncorseted, her friendly
bustGives promise of pneumatic
bliss.
The couched Brazilian jaguar
Compels the scampering marmoset
With subtle effluence of cat;
Grishkin has a maisonette;
GrishkinWoman named Serafima
AstafievaRussian Ballet DancerOpened a ballet school
Introduced to Eliot by Ezra Pound
Pneumatic BlissBrazilian JaguarMarmoset
Squirrel like MonkeysCat
Sometimes symbolizes guardian of underworld (hell)
MaisonetteSmall House
The sleek Brazilian jaguarDoes not in its arboreal
gloomDistil so rank a feline smellAs Grishkin in a drawling-
room.
And even the Abstract Entities
Circumambulate her charm;But our lot crawls between
dry ribsTo keep our metaphysics
warm.
Abstract Entities Abstract=Difficult to
understand Entities=Ghosts/Spirits
Circumambulate To walk/go about/around
Metaphysics Philosophy concerned
with existence of God and the external world
“our lot” meaning our sort of people (people mentioned in poem)
T.S. Eliot uses juxtaposition, personification, and visual imagery to convey his idea on how too much desire leads to death in Whispers of Immortality.
Written 1920 (at the end of WWI)1920’s was full of people who lost faithJacobean (James I of England time period);
17th century attitude link to sex and deathSign against modern separation
8 stanzas4 lines each (quartet)Capitalized “WEBSTER” (line 1)End-Stopped at the end of each stanza
(exclude 3 & 6)Exclamation point – Important part
“Stared from the sockets of the eyes!” (stanza 2, line 6)
AllusionsWebsterDonneGrishkinP.D. James
“The Skull Beneath The Skin”Book
William WordsworthPoem imitates “Imitations of Immortality”
MoodDark
JuxtapositionCompares desire with death
Visual Imagery Stanza 1, 2, 4
Dead Leaned backward with a
lipless grin Dead limbs Skeleton, bone
Stanza 5 “her Russian eye is
underlined for emphasis” Stanza 6
“Couched Brazilian Jaguar” As if lying on a sofa
Stanza 7 Drawing room
Stanza 8 Abstract entities
circumambulate
Personification Stanza 2
Daffodil bulbs instead of balls/Stared from the sockets of the eyes.
He knew that thought clings round dead limbs
Stanza 5 Her friendly bust gives
promise of pneumatic bliss.
Symbolism Grishkin (Russian dancer)
in line 17 represents the desires of man, as Eliot explains her to be pneumatic bliss in line 20.
“the breastless creatures underground” in line 4 to represent people in Hell.
ABCB Rhyme 8 Syllables per line –
Creates rhythm Repetition
“Brazilian Jaguar” (stanza 5 & 7)
Iambic tetrameter Putting stress on every
other syllable starting with the second syllable. Tetra is the prefix because the lines are separated into four sections
Alliteration – To emphasize certain images “Daffodil bulbs instead of
balls” (stanza 2, line 5)
Consonance “s” Stanza 2
“Started from the sockets of the eyes”
Lusts and luxuries” Stanza 3
“Donne, I suppose, was such another/Who found no substitute for sense/To seize and clutch and penetrate/Expert beyond experience”