Tamburlaine the Great by Christopher Marlowe | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Tamburlaine the Great is a play by Christopher Marlowe written and published in 1587. The play attained huge success in the theater; hence, Marlowe wrote the second part in 1588. Tamburlaine the Great was the only play by Christopher Marlowe that was published while he was alive.

The titular character of the play is loosely based on Timur of Central Asia who founded the Timurid Empire in 1405. Tamburlaine is significant because it was the first play in which the author adapted blank verse, breaking from the rigid Tudor style in which poetry and plays were written before it. Marlowe wrote the play in blank verse. The play also exhibited innovation and moral and intellectual complexity in the plot. Christopher Marlowe often depicted ordinary characters chasing extraordinary dreams. Medieval society had preached that each individual should know his (or her) place. However, Marlowe believed in breaking the norms and this is what he depicted in most of his plays. Tamburlaine pursues the best even if it appears beyond his reach. In his plays, Marlowe depicted characters who, through force of character, rejected the lot into which they were born and, through force of personality, reached unbelievable heights. Marlowe's Barabas in The Jew of Malta seeks limitless wealth; Faustus seeks forbidden knowledge; Mortimer (in Edward II) wants to usurp the crown. Tamburlaine, on the other hand, aims much higher than any of the other Marlovian characters, he wishes to rule the world and almost succeeds. But his quest for power doesn’t stop there, he aims to challenge gods.

The first part was a five-act play while Marlowe penned the second part as a four-act play in 1588, culminating the story of Tamburlaine.

Characters of Tamburlaine the Great:

Tamburlaine is a poor shepherd who becomes the emperor of Turkey through his sheer will. He is a war-loving man who manages to conquer many countries. He is very proud and likes being addressed as Tamburlaine the Great. He is cruel and war-loving, expecting his sons to be the same. However, his eldest son Calyphas is a calm, rather cowardly man whom Tamburlaine kills by his own hands. Mycetes is the king of Persia. He is a coward and foolish man tricked by his brother Cosroe. Cosroe takes the help of Tamburlaine in overthrowing Mycetes, believing that he will be the next king but Tamburlaine tricks him too and becomes the king. Zenocrate is an Egyptian princess whom Tamburlaine captures. She falls in love with him even though she is supposed to marry someone else. She has three children with Tamburlaine. She is as sadistic, proud, and ambitious as Tamburlaine and supports him through thick and thin until she dies. Bajazeth is the emperor of Turkey whom Tamburlaine defeats and captures. Bajazeth too is very proud and violent. He kills himself by bashing his head into the walls of his cell when he realizes that Tamburlaine will humiliate him forever. Zabina is the empress of Turkey and the wife of Bajazeth. She too is captured by Tamburlaine who wishes to treat her as a slave. Like her husband, she kills herself. Amyras is Tamburlaine’s younger son who succeeds him. Like his father, he too is a brave war-mongering ruler. Callapine is the son of Bajazeth and Zabina, the heir to the Turkish empire. He manages to remain alive and unconquered by Tamburlaine. He tries to take revenge and the Turkish empire back. He attacks Tamburlaine before he dies. Though Tamburlaine manages to avoid defeat, it is implicated that Callapine will continue to attack until he defeats Tamburlaine’s successor. Orcanes is the king of Natolia. He is a fierce soldier and opponent of Tamburlaine who tries everything possible to save his kingdom against Tamburlaine’s expansionist moves. King of Soria and King of Trebizon are conquered by Tamburlaine who forces them to pull his chariot and ultimately kills them. King of Jerusalem too is defeated by Tamburlaine. Techelles and Usumcasane are friends of Tamburlaine whom he makes the king of Fez and king of Morocco respectively. Both are loyal to Tamburlaine. Sigismond is the king of Hungary who vows not to attack Natolia but breaks his vow and gets defeated by the king of Natolia. The Captain of Balsera is killed when Techelles and Theridamas attack his city. His wife Olympia kills her son and tries to kill herself but Techelles stops her, impressed by her beauty, he decides to imprison her and present her to Tamburlaine. However, Olympia succeeds in tricking Techelles into killing her.

Summary of Tamburlaine

Part 1

The play begins with a prologue in which the frivolous “clowns” and “mother wits” of other works declare that this play won’t be focussing on petty subjects that are discussed in other plays and that the story is about a great conqueror and his victories. Act 1 begins in the court of Mycetes, the king of Persia who discusses with his brother Cosroe about Tamburlaine, an outlaw and his band of other outlaw shepherds continually trouble his estate. Meander, the loyal advisor of Mycetes describes Tamburlaine as a “sturdy Scythian thief, who first opposed to pay taxes and when soldier abrogated his field, he threatened to revolt. Mycetes sends Theridamas, a proud chieftain with a thousand horsemen to defeat Tamburlaine. He then orders Menaphon, another chieftain to follow and help Theridamas. But Cosroe interjects and says Menaphon must be sent to Africa to control the revolting Babylons. When Mycetes leaves, Cosroe tells Menaphon that many Persian nobles are supporting him to overthrow Mycetes and become the king himself.

Meanwhile, Tamburlaine attacks and captures a caravan taking Zenocrate, the Egyptian princess. When he sees Zenocrate, he falls in love with her and proposes to her to marry him. Zenocrate is already promised to the prince of Arabia but she genuinely falls in love with Tamburlaine, seeing his leadership qualities. Techelles and Usumcasane praise Tamburlaine and his bravery. Tamburlaine promises Zenocrate that she will be respected and remain safe. At the same time, Theridamas appears with the force of a thousand horsemen but is convinced by Tamburlaine to shift his allegiance in favor of him. Theridamas becomes a loyal chieftain of Taburlaine.

When Cosroe learns this, he plans to take the help of Tamburlaine and his force to depose Mycetes. Tamburlaine attacks Persia. To disarray his soldiers, Meander advises Mycetes to throw gold in the streets. Mycetes tries to protect his crown and Tamburlaine lets him keep the crown until his army is totally defeated. Persian soldiers soon accept defeat but Cosroe flees with the crown to Persepolis. Tamburlaine challenges Cosroe and wins, killing Cosroe during the fight.

Tamburlaine becomes the king of Persia and decides to attack Turkey.

Bajazeth, the emperor of Turkey gathers all his kings and prepares to resist Tamburlaine. Meanwhile, Agydas, a loyal lord of Egypt advises Zenocrate to not let herself be manipulated by Tamburlaine; Zenocrate tells Agydas that she wants to marry Tamburlaine. Agydas realizes that Tamburlaine overheard what he said and stabs himself to avoid being tortured by Tamburlaine. Tamburlaine marches on Turkey and defeats the forces of Bajazeth. He captures Bajazeth and Zabina, his wife, and keeps them as slaves. Tamburlaine and Zenocrate then enjoy torturing and humiliating Bajazeth and Zabina. Zenocrate then sends Zabina to serve Aippe, Zenocrate’s maid while Tamburlaine instructs Anippe to treat Zabina as a slave.

Tamburlaine plans to attack Arabia as he wishes to defeat the prince of Arabia to whom Zenocrate is betrothed. Meanwhile, the Sultan of Egypt is worried about Zenocrate and asks for the help of the Arabian king to stop Tamburlaine. When Tamburlaine comes to know about this, he prepares to attack Egypt. Zenocrate pleads him not to attack Egypt but he ignores her pleas. His army reaches Damascus. The governor of Damascus sends virgin girls to please Tamburlaine to avoid an attack but Tamburlaine declines the gift. He orders the slaughter of all those virgins and then displays them on the city walls. He kills the governor of Damascus himself. He continues to march towards Egypt.

While Tamburlaine is at war against Egypt, Bajazeth realizes that there is no way he can protect his pride and decides to end his life. He hits his head on the wall of his cell until he dies. When Zabina learns this, she runs toward his cell hits her head on the wall of Bajazeth’s cell, and dies. Callapine, the son of Baljazeth and Zabina is still imprisoned.

Meanwhile, Tamburlaine defeats the Sultan of Egypt and murders the Prince of Arabia. He spares the life of the Sultan and rather offers him much more territory to rule than the Sultan ever had.

After returning, Tamburlaine marries Zenocrate. The first part of Tamburlaine the Great ends here.

Summary of Tamburlaine the Great Part 2

The terror of Tamburlaine continues as he wishes to conquer the world. Orcanes, the king of Natolia learns that Tamburlaine’s next target is his kingdom. The king of Natolia is already engaged in a tussle with Sigismond, the king of Hungary. He meets Sigismond and offers a truce to unite their army and protect their territories against advancing Tamburlaine. Sigismond recognizes the gravity of the situation and accepts the truce, vowing not to attack Natolia and thus helping Orcanes against Tamburlaine. However, Frederick, one of his advisors suggests to him that they should ally with Tamburlaine and help him defeat Natolia.

Meanwhile, Callapine, the prince of Turkey bribes the jailer of his cell and promises him a kingdom if he lets him slip away from the cell and prepare an army against Tamburlaine. The jailer remembers how Baljazeth and Zabina were humiliated and decides to help Callapine and lets him slip away.

Before marching to Natolia, Tamburlaine meets his three sons. While the younger two of his sons, Amyrus and Celebinus are exactly like him, cruel, war-loving, and ambitious, his elder son Calyphus often preaches about peace. He worries that his grown sons are not warlike, especially the lazy and cowardly Calyphas. Zenocrate assures him that they are. Zenocrate shows some signs of illness but hides away and Tamburlaine marches toward Natolia.

When Sigismond learns about Tamburlaine’s army preparing to attack, he accepts Frederick’s advice and attacks Natolia from other side. However, Tamburlaine learns about Zenocrate’s sudden death due to her illness while he is still in the war. Stricken by grief, he decides to return to Turkey while his sons remain on the battlefield. Orcanes successfully defends Natolia, defeating Sigismond and Tamburlaine’s war chiefs together.

After returning to Turkey, Tamburlaine burns down the city where Zenocrate died and forbids anyone to rebuild it. Callapine takes advantage of the situation and gathers Turkish kings to support him who crown him as their emperor and swear to help him in taking revenge for the humiliation his father and mother were forced to face.

After sulking for a while, Tamburlaine learns about the revolt of Callapine and decides to return to the battlefield again. He sends Theridamas and Techelles to march northward where they attack the city of Balsera whose captain fights valiantly but dies during the war. His wife Olympia knows how cruel and sadistic Tamburlaine and his ways are. Thus, she decides to murder her son and then to kill herself. While she succeeds in murdering her son, Techelles stops her from killing herself and imprisons her, hoping to present her to Tamburlaine as a gift. When Theridamas sees Olympia, he gets seduced by her and tries to court her. Olympia makes a fool of him and tells him that she has an ointment that protects against any injury or even knife stabs. To prove herself, she applies some ointment on her belly and asks Theridamas to stab her. He foolishly does so and unwittingly murders her.

Meanwhile, Tamburlaine and Usumcasane attack the kings supporting Callapine. He then marches to Natolia and confronts and defeats Orcanes and the Turk forces in battle, in which his sons Amyras and Celebinus perform valiantly. Calyphas, however, had sat out the battle gambling in his tent. The next day, Amyrus and Clebinus confront Calyphas and ask why he didn’t help them during the war. Calyphas makes airy excuses and they call him a coward and challenge him to fight. Calyphas shies away. When Tamburlaine learns about his absence from the battlefield while his brothers were facing enemies, he gets enraged and kills him.

Tamburlaine then captures many kings who supported and crowned Callapine as the emperor of Turkey and yokes them by the mouth like horses to pull his chariot. When they get tired, he murders them. In his rage, he continues to attack new territories and attacks Babylon. The governor of Babylon is a coward who tries to hide in the city among the citizens, hoping Tamburlaine won’t kill citizens. When the city is conquered, the governor tries to convince Tamburlaine not to kill him, but his plan fails. Tamburlaine hangs the governor of the city, orders every Babylonian drowned, and burns Islamic religious books. In his rage, he declares he is destined to rule the world and dares Mahomet to challenge his own power. Suddenly, he falls ill and feels very weak. He decides to return to Persia. On his way back, his forces are ambushed by Callapine and his army. Tamburlaine strives to fight a last battle but cannot garner the strength. His son Amyras skillfully manages to defeat Callamine who runs away, vowing to attack again.

As they reach Persia, Tamburlaine falls terminally ill. He laments the lands he did not have the chance to conquer and bestows his crown on Amyras, telling him to carry on his conquest. The play ends with the lamentations of Amyras, fearing that he will never be as great as his father.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

My Heart Leaps Up by William Wordsworth | Structure, Summary, Analysis

 

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘My Heart Leaps Up’ is a short lyrical poem by William Wordsworth in 1802. According to his sister Dorothy’s diary entry, William Wordsworth composed the poem on March 26, 1802, while living at Dove Cottage in the scenic Lake District of northern England. However, the poem was first published in 1807 in his poetic collection ‘Poems: in Two Volumes’. Wordsworth and his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge were working together for the publication of the third edition of Lyrical Ballads which was meant to oppose the priggish, learned, and highly sculpted forms of 18th-century English poetry and to make poetry accessible to the average person via verse written in common, everyday language. ‘My Heart Leaps Up’ is a prime example of this effort because the vocabulary and meaning of this poem are pretty easy to grasp. The major theme of the poem is to signify the importance of childhood feelings and suggests that one should try to keep their childlike nature alive while aging. The most quoted line of the poem is ‘The Child is father of Man.’

Another important theme of the poem is Love for nature, the natural life cycle, and purity in nature.

Structure of ‘My Heart Leaps Up’:

It is a short poem consisting of only nine lines that do not follow any particular poetic form. While there is only one stanza, these nine lines can be divided into three sections. In the first two lines, the speaker mentions how wonderful and joyful he felt when he glimpsed a rainbow. In the next four lines (3-6), he mentions that he has felt the same since childhood and throughout adulthood and wishes to feel the same till his death. In the final three lines, the speaker expresses his philosophical note on the feelings in the lines above. The poet followed iambic tetrameter throughout the poem, however, in line 2, he used iambic trimeter, and line 6 is composed in iambic dimeter. The rhyming scheme of the poem is ABCCABCDD, however, one may say it is written in free verse.

Consonance, Assonance, Personification, Paradox, Allusion, Enjambment, Hyperbole, Imagery, and Symbolism are used in the poem.

Summary of ‘My Heart Leaps Up’:

Lines 1-2

“My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:”

Wordsworth is often considered as a nature poet. His deep love towards nature is well expressed in his various poems and this poem follows the same pattern. In the first two lines, the speaker mentions his deep affinity towards nature as he glimpses a rainbow in the sky. Rainbows are, universally, regarded as beautiful, but the rainbow in this poem is a symbol of nature as a whole. The speaker says ‘My heart leaps up’...which suggests that it is an extreme reaction. Almost everyone likes to see a rainbow, but adults generally do not feel such excitement while seeing a rainbow. However, as the poem progresses, the speaker suggests that everyone should be similarly excited like a child while witnessing the wonders of nature. 

The poet used Symbolism in Line 2. The rainbow is used as a symbol of hope. Rainbows are beautiful sights that show up after storms. As such, they signify the passing of a storm—symbolically, of turmoil and suffering—and the start of a calmer, lovelier period. The rainbow may also allude (Allusion) to the story of Noah in the Book of Genesis, in which God sends a rainbow as a promise to never again destroy the earth with floods. The heart of the speaker fills up with the same sense of hope and promise.

Lines 3-4

“So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;”

In these lines, the speaker mentions that he felt a similar joy, and sense of wonder-struck when he saw a rainbow as a child, and he feels the same now when he is an adult. The speaker expresses that his admiration for nature began right from his childhood and persisted through his adulthood.

The poet began lines 3 and 4 with ‘So’ using Anaphora to emphasize that aging has not reduced his admiration for nature. Consonance has also been used in line 3 (sound of /w/).

Lines 5-6

“So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!”

The poet used Hyperbole in these lines. The speaker says that he wishes to grow old with the same reverence, awe, and love for nature that he has maintained since his childhood. Otherwise, he will prefer to die (Or let me die!). The sixth line shows the strength of the speaker's convictions. The speaker suggests that he would rather prefer death than live a boring life bereft of beauty, unable to grasp the wonder of nature.

Line 7

“The Child is father of Man;”

This is the most popular, deep, and intriguing line of the poem. The poet used Paradox in this line. Readers can have different interpretations of the line. The simplest and logical understanding of this line is that wonder, awe, and respect towards nature, along with many other values such as sincerity, honesty, enthusiasm and respect for others are characteristics of a child, and these characteristics shape the growing child into the man he becomes. The experiences of a child make him a man and hence, the child is a father of a man. The speaker stresses that for an ever-evolving individual, one should maintain these childlike characteristics, at least, the speaker suggests that one should maintain, the wonder and respect towards nature that one feels as a child, throughout their life.

Another interpretation of the same line can be that for a parent, a child can be a great teacher and a role model from whom the adult parent may learn to respect and admire nature and other little wonders of life.

Lines 8-9

“And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.”

The poet ends the poem by stressing the importance of childhood and how strongly he desires to maintain its characteristics throughout his life.

The importance of childlike attributes was also explained in Tintern Abbey in which the speaker suggested that children are closer to heaven and God, and through God, nature, because they have recently come from the arms of God. The speaker expresses the importance of staying connected to one's own childhood. Wordsworth was a naturalist who believed nature is divine and thus, he uses the phrase ‘natural piety’ that children often enjoy and that the speaker wishes to enjoy throughout his life.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

Sunflower Sutra by Allen Ginsberg | Structure, Summary, Analysis

 

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘Sunflower Sutra’ is a free verse poem by Allen Ginsberg published in 1955. Ginsberg’s poetry was strongly influenced by Walt Whitman and he always maintained that William Blake was his idol. In 1948, Ginsberg claimed that he had visions of Blake reading his poems. One of Blake’s poems that Ginsberg claimed he heard in his vision was “Ah! Sunflower”. Blake’s "Ah! Sunflower" mentions a withering sunflower ‘weary of time.’ Still, the poem ends with a positive note suggesting that the sunflower will reach the heights of spirituality and be with the celestial beings.

Ginsberg’s poem ‘Sunflower Sutra’ follows a similar pattern. Ginsberg describes America as a sunflower in withering dilapidated condition. He tells about a desolate American landscape, destroyed and devastated by the careless work of modern society, capitalism, and consumerism. However, he ends the poem on a hopeful note, suggesting that he will preach a “sermon” of light to all who see only despair in their country and their lives.

In Blake’s poem, the sunflower is a metaphor for the soul seeking the afterlife. In Ginsberg’s poem, the sunflower symbolizes the individual, Ginsberg himself, and many others suffering the ills of the war-oriented consumerist, capitalist American socio-political scenario of that period. In ‘Sunflower Sutra’, the murky industrial world of postwar America has corrupted Blake’s sunflower, leaving it ‘dusty with the smut and smog and smoke’ in its eye.

Structure of ‘Sunflower Sutra’:

It is a long poem, 63 lines of varying lengths written in free verse, following no definite meter or rhyming scheme. There is no division of the poem in specific stanzas. The poet used Assonance, Anaphora, Consonance, Imagery, Metaphor, Rhetorical Question, and Symbolism in the poem. The main theme of the poem is the triumph of individuality. It is a poem of crisis and recovery. Ginsberg’s sunflower suggests an America that has been tarnished and battered by the carelessness of modern society but contains the ability to be redeemed and to be beautiful once again.  In observing the “dead gray shadow” that is the sunflower Ginsberg finds both beauty and horror within it.

Summary of ‘Sunflower Sutra’:

Part 1 Lines 1-9

“I walked on the banks of the tincan banana dock and sat down under the huge shade of a Southern Pacific locomotive to look at the sunset over the box house hills and cry.

Jack Kerouac sat beside me on a busted rusty iron pole, companion, we thought the same thoughts of the soul, bleak and blue and sad-eyed, surrounded by the gnarled steel roots of trees of machinery.

The oily water on the river mirrored the red sky, sun sank on top of final Frisco peaks, no fish in that stream, no hermit in those mounts, just ourselves rheumy-eyed and hung-over like old bums on the riverbank, tired and wily.”

The speaker opens the poem while lamenting how industrialization and modernization have ruined the landscape of America and mourns the loss of a “wild” West and the end of the American frontier.

Ginsberg uses the phrase ‘tincan banana dock’ in the opening line. "Tincan banana dock" is an expression that consists of basic words that have no apparent meaning. The expression is often read as a juxtaposition of images, often contrasting nature and humanity, and government and sex. The speaker uses varied images to depict the growth of modern industrial and commercial society which is hazardously polluting the natural environment. The speaker says that he sits down “under the / huge shade of a Southern Pacific locomotive” and looks at the sunset over “the box house hills....” (1-3) The scene of growing urbanization in the face of this beautiful sunset only makes the speaker cry. Ginsberg is not alone though, his friend Jack Kerouac is sitting alongside him and he shares the same pain. They weren’t sitting in a lush garden with tall trees, rather they were surrounded by the “gnarled steel roots of trees of machinery” and they were lamenting the loss of nature.

Ginsberg uses natural imagery to depict industrial blight. Ginsberg is using a technique that the Romantic poets used; a picture of raw nature meant to elicit a feeling in the reader of awe and respect for the natural world. Yet Ginsberg twists this imagery. It is not really a tree’s roots we are looking at but machinery and rusted iron. The reader is disappointed because nothing is as beautiful as it should be.

The picture of industrial waste continues. The river that the two see is covered with a film of oil that makes it impossible for fish to live in. The mountains that overlook San Francisco can no longer support the hermit who might live off the land. Ginsberg alludes to Thoreau, whose famous experiment at Walden Pond is a prime example of the American Romantic tradition. Ginsberg and Kerouac sit and watch this display of wasted land and resources, “rheumy-eyed and hung-over like old bums....” (9) In Beat literature, ‘the bum’ means a respected figure who became sacred by the sacrifices he made to live both in and outside the restrictions of the modern world. The bum is a part of the society that he hates, and the fact that he too is a part of the same society drives him insane. Thus, he chooses to live apart from society, from art, and from his own expression.

Lines 10-21

“Look at the Sunflower, he said, there was a dead gray shadow against the sky, big as a man, sitting dry on top of a pile of ancient sawdust—

—I rushed up enchanted—it was my first sunflower, memories of Blake—my visions—Harlem

and Hells of the Eastern rivers, bridges clanking Joes Greasy Sandwiches, dead baby carriages, black treadless tires forgotten and unretreaded, the poem of the riverbank, condoms & pots, steel knives, nothing stainless, only the dank muck and the razor-sharp artifacts passing into the past—

and the gray Sunflower poised against the sunset, crackly bleak and dusty with the smut and smog and smoke of olden locomotives in its eye—”

Kerouac shows a sunflower to Ginsberg a sunflower which appears to be an object out of place in such a blighted landscape that Ginsberg had described. But, as Ginsberg looks at the sunflower he sees both beauty and horror. Ginsberg first sees an abnormality of nature, a “dead gray shadow” that is “big as a man...” He believes that, at first, he cannot see what he is actually seeing and he has memories “of Blake / my visions - Harlem.” (11-14). Ginsberg remembers one of William Blake's famous poems, titled “Ah, Sunflower.” The poem references the beauty of youth that mankind strives for. Ginsberg’s poem is a continuation of Blake’s modernism, yet it shows the extremes of pollution and corruption that have come into the world. In the next few lines, the speaker continues to describe the deadly, lifeless pictures of pollution and environmental devastation that Ginsberg finds on the West Coast. New York is filled with the culmination of industry and this culmination has made the city foul and nasty. But there was a moment of redemption for Ginsberg in New York; it was the vision of Blake’s sunflower, “poised against the sunset, crackly bleak and dusty / with the smut and smog and smoke of olden locomotives....” (20-21).

Lines 22-46

“corolla of bleary spikes pushed down and broken like a battered crown, seeds fallen out of its face, soon-to-be-toothless mouth of sunny air, …….

…….

A perfect beauty of a sunflower! a perfect excellent lovely sunflower existence! a sweet natural eye to the new hip moon, woke up alive and excited grasping in the sunset shadow sunrise golden monthly breeze!”

The sunflower is a difficult thing for Ginsberg to interpret because, while it is meant to be an object of beauty, it has taken over the weariness and pollution of the environment it lives in. Yet, Ginsberg sees the flower as persevering in the face of such hardships and he relates to such action. The holy bums of the Beat poets must do the same. Ginsberg writes that “The grime (of the flower) was no man’s grime but death and human locomotives” (31). Ginsberg subtly changes the meaning of the word “locomotive” here. When first used, it denoted the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century and the way that revolution ended up paving a path of devastation. Here, when using the word, Ginsberg means himself and Kerouac and the other Beat poets. They have taken on the characteristics of the locomotive - always in motion, powerful, and dominant in their artistic landscape.

Ginsberg continues to describe the desolate scene in which he and Kerouac find themselves, yet this time he means to call attention to the plight of these human “locomotives” who find themselves in an America of waste and destruction. Much like he did in “Howl,” Ginsberg uses crude sexual imagery and vivid pictures of homosexual acts to wrap this American landscape into a picture of lewd censorship of its best minds.

These lewd, disturbing images are contrasted with the sunflower, the “perfect beauty” which is a “sweet natural eye to the new hip moon....” (45-46). Here, Ginsberg means to suggest that the Romantic tradition still has something to say to the modern industrial and corporate society. Just as the Romantic poets prophesied of the pending doom of the growing industrialism contrasted with the natural beauty and order of the world, so too can that message be translated into Ginsberg’s America and a “hip” new direction.

Lines 47-55

“How many flies buzzed round you innocent of your grime, while you cursed the heavens of the railroad and your flower soul?

Poor dead flower? when did you forget you were a flower? when did you look at your skin and decide you were an impotent dirty old locomotive? the ghost of a locomotive? the specter and shade of a once powerful mad American locomotive?

You were never no locomotive, Sunflower, you were a sunflower!”

In these lines, Ginsberg clarifies what he means by the word “locomotive” that he used as a symbol. He also expresses more specifically what the “sunflower” represents. He clarifies that the sunflower represents America, a land once filled with the promise of progress and advancement. The locomotive was the symbol of that progress - a machine powerful enough to connect the coasts and bring about a revolution in transportation and human ingenuity. Yet, the sunflower, as well as the locomotive, have lost their luster and have in a way died. America has given up and decided that it is “an impotent dirty old locomo- / tive...” (51-52). But that’s not who America really is, Ginsberg says. “You were never no locomotive, Sunflower, you were a sunflower!”

Lines 56-65

“And you Locomotive, you are a locomotive, forget me not!

So I grabbed up the skeleton thick sunflower and stuck it at my side like a scepter,

and deliver my sermon to my soul, and Jack’s soul too, and anyone who’ll listen,

—We’re not our skin of grime, we’re not dread bleak dusty imageless locomotives, we’re golden sunflowers inside, blessed by our own seed & hairy naked accomplishment-bodies growing into mad black formal sunflowers in the sunset, spied on by our own eyes under the shadow of the mad locomotive riverbank sunset Frisco hilly tincan evening sitdown vision.”

As the speaker realizes that America is not the pollution-creating machine ruining everything, rather, America is the sunflower, he decides to confront the corruption caused by the locomotive. His new vision of an America that remembers its progressive roots has taken root in his own soul, so he “brabbed up the skeleton thick sunflower and stuck it at my side like a / scepter...” (57-58). This message is so dangerous, and will be offensive to so many, that he will have to use this sunflower not for its beauty but as a weapon. Ginsberg knows that he will “deliver my sermon to my soul, and Jack’s soul too, and anyone who’ll / listen...” (59-60).

Ginsberg ends with the beginning of this sermon. Humanity, and America, are not composed of the grime of industry, the greed of corporatism, and the violence of war. People are “golden sunflowers inside, blessed by our own /see & hairy naked accomplishment...” (62-63). 

The speaker decides to discard the corrupt locomotive causing ruin, blight, and corruption, rather he envisions America as a new kind of locomotive that may turn the desolate landscape as, once again, a picture of beauty.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

London, 1802 by William Wordsworth | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘London, 1802’ is a poem by William Wordsworth, a Petrarchan sonnet about England’s decadence at the turn of the nineteenth century. The sonnet was first published in 1807 in “Poems, in Two Volumes”.

The poet emphasizes the need for John Milton’s virtuous example. The speaker notices that selfishness has resulted in a lack of happiness and virtue and invokes John Milton, seeking his wisdom and guidance to confront the social and spiritual ills of contemporary England.

In 1738, Samuel Johnson wrote a long poem titled London. In that poem, Samuel Johnson also described the various problems of London, including an emphasis on crime, corruption, and the squalor of the poor. William Blake wrote a short poem of 16 lines titled London published in 1794. In that poem, Blake expressed his disappointment in the socio-political situation of London during that period, emphasizing the effects of Industrialization, Moral Corruption, Poverty, Exploitation of the masses, and Universal suffering.

In 'London, 1802', William Wordsworth castigates the English people as stagnant and selfish and eulogizes seventeenth-century poet John Milton. The speaker laments that 19th-century England has failed to maintain certain standards. These standards, the speaker believes, were perfectly exemplified by the 17th-century poet John Milton, a writer widely admired for his artistic innovation, religious devotion, and moral compass.

Structure of London, 1802:

‘London, 1802’ is an Italian sonnet or the Petrarchan sonnet.  The poem has 14 lines. The first 8 lines are known as the octave, which is made up of two four-line quatrains. The next six lines make up the sestet, which itself is composed of two three-line tercets. Wordsworth followed the standard structure of the Italian sonnet and split the octave and sestet with ‘volta’ in the first line of the sestet.

In a standard Petrarchan sonnet, the Octave is used to describe a problem while the volta is used to offer a possible solution to the problem. That is what Wordsworth does in his poem. In the first eight lines, he describes England as a swampy marshland of "stagnant waters" where everything that was once a natural gift (such as religion, chivalry, and art, symbolized respectively by the altar, the sword, and the pen) has been lost to the scourge of modernity. In the sestet, he celebrates Milton, praises the famous poet and his way of life, and presents it as the antidote to England's societal decline.

The poem is written in Iambic Pentameter, with frequent disruptions as the poet used trochees instead of iambs in some instances. The rhyme scheme is ABBAABBACDDECE. Though the speaker remains unidentified, he or she is a citizen of England, respects its past glory, and admires John Milton. One may safely assume that the speaker is Wordsworth himself.

The poet used Apostrophe, Caesura, Personification, Metaphor, Simile, Metonymy, Enjambment, and Consonance in the poem. The poem's tone is pleading and praising as the speaker pleads and praises the dead poet Milton to reappear and lead his countrymen to better ways of living.

Summary of London, 1802:

The Octave Lines 1-8

“Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:

England hath need of thee: she is a fen

Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,

Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,

Have forfeited their ancient English dower

Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;

Oh! raise us up, return to us again;

And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.”

The speaker begins with the use of Apostrophe as he calls out John Milton, the 17th-century poet. The speaker exclaims that England needs Milton now in 1802 though he died in 1674, thus, Milton cannot answer his call. (Apostrophe is a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses someone (or something) that is not present or cannot respond in reality. )

The poet used Trochee (Milton) with the stressed-unstressed metrical foot, he changed the meter back to iambic pentameter after the caesura. However, this abrupt opening of the poem emphasizes the importance of Milton. The speaker mentions that Milton is the need of the hour and expresses his plight, for England has become like a swamp full of still water (fen). The speaker uses ‘she’ for England, personifying the country as a woman (she is a fen). Fen is a low, marshy body of water. Such bodies of water often develop a filmy appearance and rank odor, emphasizing the sense of decay and rot being evoked. The poet used Enjambment as the sentence continues from the first line to the second without punctuation. The speaker uses a metaphor and says England is not just a fen, but a fen "of stagnant waters," which means England has lost its energy and momentum.

When looking at England’s prosperous history, and comparing it to the country’s current religious values, Military, literature, and common life, the speaker feels they are no longer the same.

Wordsworth used Metonymy while describing England becoming ‘stagnant’ and corrupt. In lines 3-4 (“altar, sword, and pen, / Fireside the heroic wealth of hall and bower”) means the church, the army, British writers, and homes.

The speaker mentions the reason for this decline of his nation in line 6 and says ‘we are selfish men.’ The speaker continues to call upon Milton and seeks his help to uplift the people of England, to the former glory, he prays Milton to rise from death and bring the English ("us") "manners, virtue, freedom, power".

The Sestet Lines 9-14

“Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart:

Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:

Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,

So didst thou travel on life's common way,

In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart

The lowliest duties on herself did lay.”

The first line of the sestet serves as the volta. After describing the problem the speaker is facing regarding England, his nation, he offers a solution that lies within the means and way of life that Milton followed. The speaker says that Milton’s "soul was like a Star," he was different even from his contemporaries in terms of the virtues listed above. The speaker tells Milton that his voice is like the sea and the sky, a part of nature and therefore natural: "majestic, free." The speaker also compliments Milton's ability to embody "cheerful godliness" even while doing the "lowliest duties." The speaker deliberately compares Milton to things found in nature, such as the stars, the sea, and "the heavens." Wordsworth was a nature devotee and for him,  being likened to nature is the highest compliment possible. Furthermore, the speaker also offers a contrast between the highly devoted religious life that Milton led while living an ordinary life as everyone. The speaker says that though Milton was a highly successful and celebrated poet, he led an ordinary life with no sham and pompousness. The speaker wishes his countrymen to learn and follow the simplicity of life that Milton followed.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!