The New Criticism and Formalist Analysis

This article was particularly interesting. I like that it began by addressing a question that we all consider. Is literary analysis still relevant or is it just something of the past? I am guilty of occasionally getting caught up in thinking that literary criticism is something of the past, because I don't see tangible results from it in my life. Ultimately, I think that is serves a purpose and indeed is relevant for society. If nothing else the article addresses that studying literature is a way to apply morality and heart which is a timeless quality of literature.

The emergence of New Criticism is an interesting form. New Critics assert that the "sole task" of a critic is to understand exactly how through language and form meaning and is expressed and "impressed upon the reader." Pure New Criticism is rarely practiced. I think the other formalist views are interesting as well, such as the Russian Formalism.

Russian Formalism emphasizes the need for particular skills to analyze. They focus on plot structures, rhythm, sound, and syntax as revealing aspects of the meaning and to see the social function of the work. They look into how an author can make a concept "new and strange."

I found it interesting to learn about the New Critics approach. They focus on the text itself and not the emotional effect. In fact, this is called the Affective Fallacy. Many critique the New Critic approach, but it is hard to argue against the importance of form. If we find meaning in the poem, it is certainly relevant how we found such meaning, or how that meaning was conveyed.

Literature is different than other forms of expression in that is has a clear formal aspects and aesthetic qualities to consider. A beautiful claim is that literature meaning works not only on readers "intellects," but also their "sensibilities." To understand this meaning of what is being said, it is absolutely necessary to explore how this is done. Formalists think that the form of a literary work is always meaningful.

The dividing into genres is actually a task of formalists, because it is organizing based on unique qualities.

Of the entire article, I was most intrigued by the section over meaning beyond intent of the author. This addresses the intentional fallacy. According to such a concept: Writers do not necessarily understand or plan every aspect. A writer's intensions can be misleading because a work can change from the beginning to what it finally ends up as when its done. A work has more meaning than the writer can give it. A work must prove its own meaning.

Sincerity vs. Insincerity

While reading through the fifth chapter in HTRAP, I began thinking about the connection between sincerity and experience in a poets’ life. The poet does not necessarily have to feel something or see something to write a sincere poem about it. As Eagleton states, “sincerity and insincerity in poetry are qualities of language, not moral virtues.” This got me thinking about the authenticity of the poem and how at first, I was taken aback by how easily a poet can trick his reader into making them believe his sincerity in experience. However, the beauty of poetry is just that. The beauty is that a poet can use the language, tone, mood and pitch to create sincere meanings whether or not he actually experienced what he is writing about. This reminded me of a poem that I read in High School that is very applicable to what Eagleton discusses in chapter 5 of HTRAP. The poem is I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud by William Wordsworth. I copied the poem below so that if you wanted to read it and respond to it you could. Enjoy.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed--and gazed--but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

2-8-11

In class today I was almost provoke right out of my seat when Krzys mentioned the word "lens." He for a brief moment mentioned how you look at the poem through different lens. It sort of clicked something inside of me. I feel any filmmaker or photographer can have a special understanding from this. When using prime lens you have a certain shot in mind. There is not as much option for zoom, you simply focus in on something. I think this focusing is similar to the concept of close reading. But with each shot and when you switch lens you can see something different. You could perhaps see more surface with a wide lens. I think when first looking at a poem it is smart to utilize a wide lens or even a variable lens, one that allows zooming in and out, mentality. Though as you delve into understanding the connections and intricacies of language and punctuation of the poem, it is helpful to continue the process with the mindset and discipline of using prime lenses with longer focal lengths. Nothing is hidden when filming with different lens, just as nothing is hidden in the poem. It just can help to see something better or with better perspective when using different lenses. When filming a flower, just because the camera does not see the stem for a moment, does not mean that it went away or that is it not important. The flower cannot stand without the stem. Every aspect of the flower makes up the flower. As Krzys said, you can look at every detail of a flower and note every detail. You can note its environment and its place in its environment. Ultimately though, you need to smell it. The roots of a flower are hidden underground simply as a result of its nature. Poetry has elements that inherently seem hidden at first, but it just means switching to a prime lens and rearranging your position to see a little bit better.

- Kelly Johnson

One Art

After reading the poem One Art, Elisabeth Bishop I was reminded of a quote by Ernest Hemingway that says, "You know what makes a good loser? Practice." I have found this to be true in my own life, and have heard similar stories from many others. While being a good loser isn't something that we necessarily strive to be, it is something that we all have the capability to achieve. As Bishop says, it isn't hard to master. However there are different types of loses. The more insignificant ones we do almost everyday and feel no regret are the easiest to overcome, while the loss of a friend or family member is no so easy thing. As Bishop implies in her poem, by making herself, "(Write it!)" she is forcing herself to overcome the loss of something hard. The only way that losing something so special becomes easier is losing something of equal value again. Practicing losing is no fun task, however it is a thing that as we grow older, we become better at, since by living longer, one will have more practice in losing.

This idea of becoming a better loser is something that we must fight against. As Richard Nixon says, "you must never be satisfied with losing. You must get angry, terrible angry, about losing." Fighting against losing is something that is hard for us since we want to forget about it and move on, but we must remember that we can not be complacent about losing. Once you do, the objects in which you already have lose their value.

HTRAP Part 1 Chapter 5 discussion

In a writing sample about Bright Star/"Ode to a Grecian Urn," I talked about how I think that writers must be inspired by their experiences, following the saying, "write what you know." However, in HTRAP 5 Eagleton says, "whether authors of fiction really did experience an emotion they write about is not the point." I understand this to some extent, like the example of Shakespeare not having to have felt "sexual jealousy" in order to write Othello, but at the same time I think that is a somewhat lackluster example. It is more likely than not that Shakespeare did, at some point, feel sexual jealousy, and while this may not have inspired Othello, it is a feeling that he possibly could have drawn from to better shape his characters. Authors have to fully understand a feeling in order to be able to flesh out that feelings when creating their characters.  Also, because writing is such a solo job, authors have to be continually self-reflecting and allowing that to, in some way, shape their writing. Eagleton does, however, make the point that we cannot assume that a writer's only influence is their personal experiences, and that there is no way to actually tell if their own lives are having an affect on the content of their work. This seems to make sense. Also, in this section he is talking about fiction writers, and I wonder if poetry is considered fiction or not; I can't recall there ever being a distinction with poetry, and I often find myself asking whether or not I think the protagonist of a poem is the author himself. Eagleton also states that poems "can be the occasion for emotion," but that "literary feelings are responses to poems." This seems like a very important distinction; while a poem can make you feel something, that is purely a response, and that response can differ based on the person. The idea that poems are interpreted in various ways is discussed on the first page of this chapter.

Reflection on Bright Star discussion and part 1 of ch5 HTRAP

I read the first half of ch.5 HTRAP today and felt like I was reading about the organs and functioning systems of how poems live and breathe. To me they really seem like living creatures: The human has a mind and a body...and somehow they are interconnected by some spiritual, nonphysical soul. Similarly, a poem has physical body structures like meter, rhyme scheme, syntax and language. And all these organs are linked with tone, mood, connotation and "feeling." Another statement reminded me a lot of Fanny in Bright Star: "It is also hard to see why we should think of our emotions as being "inside" us, and so shut off from public view." Today in discussion we almost ridiculed her outward expression of emotion and how she was helpless without Keats. But why shouldn't she feel that way? Our emotions don't have spatial locations like the organs in our body do. Nor are they meant solely to exist in the private. So we don't have perfect control over them. On the same note, Eagleton states that "tones and feelings are quite as much social matters as meaning." Why is it so hard for people to admit they are emotional nowadays? Odds are somebody else in the societal sphere has had similar experiences. Is this a result of being exposed to the deepness and complexities of poetry in a formulaic and mechanical way that our school system provides? The meaning of a poem couldn't possibly be a "private process" because the author of the poem doesn't always experience that process personally. And that doesn't mean they are restricted from writing about it.

Ah, happy, happy ode

In the third stanza, Keats uses the word happy six times in five lines. Throughout the poem Keats has shown that his vocabulary is extensive, so the fact that he chose to say happy six times seemed peculiar to me. It seems like he is trying to convince himself into believing that being frozen in time, and staying forever young is better then fading, and eventually dying. If he actually did believe this then there would be no need to repeat the word happy, he could easily illustrate it in other terms. Maybe, he's confused and cannot really seem to choose which is better, quietness or sound, frozen for eternity or alive if only for a moment.

ode to an ode

Keats' poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is a speaker reflecting on his thoughts about an urn made in ancient Greece. A "foster-child of silence and slow time," an artifact that has been passed down through the ages and whose original creator is not alive nor likely known, tells unknown stories of people living at the time and holds only mystery to those who view it now. The speaker contemplates two scenes -- one depicting two people singing and piping, whom he interprets to be lovers, one pursuing the other, among trees in the springtime; the other, an emptied town, whose residents he believes have gone to some sacrificial ritual. It seems the speaker's biggest woe in viewing the urn is that the scenes it displays are forever frozen in time. The pursuing lover will never satiate his desire to be with the woman just out of his reach; the empty town will always be empty, with no one to explain why. I think the speaker also feels a sort of envy for the nature of the art, in that he wishes he could usurp time himself. He almost curses the object for its ability to "tease us out of thought" and make us feel, in effect, frozen in time. In the last lines, however, he realizes the good intention of the object and of all art to reveal to us truth through beauty, and vice versa.

Ode on a Grecian Urn

I attempted to flatten Urn today and it was difficult. It was hard to really break it up word for word, but I have a few theories about the poem. There seems to be a mental conflict between Keats, (or the observer of the Urn) and the Urn itself. However, it could also be a voiced argument that the observer is having with himself and what he is seeing. He could be both praising and condemning the Urn for its ideal imagery and its inability to exist as real events. It seems like the beautiful vase is the epitome of an Absolute Nirvana, and the observer is emotionally attached to it because he longs for that kind of life, but knows he can't have it because his soul is mortal. The Urn, or the one who painted it made an ambitious attempt to create an illusion of both an individual and communal Utopia. A "burning forehead and parching tongue" implies that Observer is envious of the fabricated image. Several times I felt sorry for the observer, but sometimes I laughed inside because I couldn't help but imagine a passionate guy talking to an Urn. But why not? Art talks to us, so it only seems fair to communicate with art. The "love" and "priest" indicate that the connection between the observer and the Urn is an emotional and spiritual one. Perhaps the observer was imagining himself as the living flesh of the urn's emotions and the worshipper of its beauty. But then there is the contradiction when he exclaims, "Cold Pastoral!" Does he love the urn for it's scene but hate that the scene never changes? There's a lot of mystery in this piece....

Ch.1 and An Essay on Criticism

In class we discussed how criticism and literature have a symbiotic relationship. I never approached Criticism in this way before. I have always ignorantly assumed that critics really served no purpose. The writers were geniuses and the critics were not creative enough to come up with there own work so they wrote about other people’s work. After reading Ch.1 of Eagleton’s How to read Poetry, it really lays out “The Functions of Criticism.” He early on addresses the idea that literary criticism is a dying art. I think that I am a classic example of why that would even cross his mind. I do not feel I was trained in this art, and as he suggests perhaps because my teacher was not trained in this art. I have been trained to close read. I think this may be why I struggle with reading poetry. As Eagleton demonstrates so often that people treat “the poem as language but not as discourse.” As I am beginning to see more clearly through this class, Poetry inherently must be approached as discourse because it draws meaning from everything and has a density unlike other literature. In fact, “poetry was pitted against rhetoric” for being not a battle of logic, but a battle “of the heart.” Additionally Eagleton makes comments on a belief that the value of Experience is dying. We like to rush for an immediate experience and focus only on the end result not the process leading up to it. Following such a claim was his commentary on Imagination. I found this to be inspiring. He points out that the reading of works can help make your own creativity and make your imagination more dynamic. After thinking about Ch.1 I tried to join that and Pope’s Essay on Criticism. At first I disliked the poem, I thought it was long, way to long. The more I read over it the more I tried to understand what Pope was saying and why he was saying it, the more I saw how it so beautifully related to Ch. 1. Rules of literature were derived from the ancient classics, and therefore it is necessary to study them. I felt like I picked up on an idea that most people are born with a certain taste, but it is the education we go through that kills that inside of us. Just as I feel Eagleton might agree Education kills students sense of Experience and Imagination. Overall, after reading Essay on Criticism I found the format more interesting. It is long, similar to the epic poems written by those he sites within the poem. He reference La Mancha from Don Quixote and that book is extremely long.

- Kelly Johnson

Wordsworth and the Paradox of Imagination

After having read Wordsworth and the Paradox of Imagination, I wonder what Pope would have thought of this critique/analysis of Wordsworth's poem. The critique isn't even so much of a critique until the second to last page when the author begins to speak in first person. Throughout the rest of the essay, judgments are made, as is analysis, but it seems quite fair. He sites other scholars and speaks of their thoughts in addition to his own. It seems balanced, and as though the author took the time to view the poem in its entire context. Yet, I still wonder if this would have been up to Pope's standard, and this begs the question of what does it mean to write a "good" critique? After reading Wordsworth's poem again after having read this essay, I have found that I have a much clearer understanding of the poem, so I suppose that this fact alone would make this a beneficial analysis/critique.

Essay on Criticism

After flattening out Essay on Criticism the other day, I sat down to work through steps two and three, bringing the poem back to life.

The first task I felt needed to be addressed were the italicized words. At first glanced, they seemed random and out of place, and almost made reading the poem awkward. I felt like some sort of verbal emphasis was meant to be placed on these particular words, as they were set apart from the author. Although I do not know for a fact the reason these words are italicized, one thought did cross my mind. Keeping in mind the poem's length and more flowery, Romantic language, it seems to me that the Author may have been attempting to keep the message of the poem intact. Look at the first words that are set apart (in the portion for memorization:

Writing/Judging

Patience/Sense

That/This

The words represent both sides of the scenario Pope is presenting to the reader. This separation is vague at some points, but I think it could be a factor in Pope's decision to italicize these particular words.

As far as the author's tone, it seems as if the subject of the poem is very personal. It almost seems as if the author's work was at some point wrongly critiqued. Also, although there is wit and humor scattered throughout the work, the tone is generally harsh. I found it interesting that although the language is very romantic in its nature, it somehow feels blunt when read.

The key message of the poem then - the warning to critics and detailed comparison - is contained in a tightly organized package. Somehow, though, Pope manages to retain a tension between the beauty of the poem and the sincere warning it represents - a tension that could easily be lost in such a formally structured and lengthy work.

romantic-era themes

I've not read Wordsworth before tonight, but "Ode on Intimations of Immortality" reminded me distinctly of William Blake's viewpoint on the innocence and spirituality of children, and how society begins from day one of infancy to train up children into 'adult life.'

In line 91 the speaker notes a child playing with some mock 'plan or chart' of an event of importance, like a funeral or wedding. He (speaker) observes that as children, we often feel a rush to obtain the maturity and responsibilities and freedoms of adulthood, but fervently questions this desire. Children have access to an honesty and joy that seems to be lost with the coming-of-age, and adulthood consists of merely acting out what others have done before you (As if his whole vocation /Were endless imitation. Lines 107-108).

The speaker feels serious moments of these losses of "visionary gleam" and the passing "away a glory from the earth," but he resolves at the end of the poem that he can retain the spirituality of infancy through memories and the beauty of nature. Suffering and faith breed a wisdom and new philosophy with which to look at the world and value its loveliness; the tenderness of the human heart allows us new spiritual moments in place of the ones we lost with childhood.

Ch.1 HTRAP and Essay on Criticism

Eagleton says that poetry "combines the individual and universal." By this he means that while poetry can be expressive and aesthetic, it is also a form of social honesty even if there is "distance from the public sphere." It is flexible in that it can connect the part to the whole, (the individual to the collective) in ways that government, history or even language itself cannot do single handedly. In this sense poetry is capable of being the product of a writer who is also a critic, or a critic who is also a writer. In class, we talked about how criticism analyzes literature but how it is also a form of literature itself. This never crossed my mind when I was writing literary analysis essays in high school, but now I see the point. There is definitely a presence of pure truthfulness when a critic has the ability to peel back the layers of a poem, examine them individually for what they are, then fit the parts into whole again to expose the true message. When one takes Pope's advice, close reading can transform into noteworthy "judgements." And because critics have to fit the puzzle pieces together, it is necessary for them to be GOOD critics. Alexander Pope's Essay on Criticism justifies why bad criticism does more harm that bad writing: "But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' Offence, To tire our Patience, than mislead our Sense." There is more potential for damage when a critic preaches vague opinions than there is for an author to write with bad taste.

The Modern Element-Philip Larkin

It seems that Larkin is just as tortured as the individual he speaks of in How to Read a Poem, and in fact, maybe that person is Larkin himself. It is not surprising that Larkin is as twisted as he is made out to be. From the beginning of the reading in The Modern Element, I questioned how it was fair of critics to judge Larkin based on his personal activities, and I was pleasantly surprised to read on pages 196-197 that the author believes that reading "Larkin's poem is to know the worst...But also to know the best" of him. That strikes me with its truthfulness; Larkin's poetry is so good because he opens himself up, and allows people to see into the dark lives of those that he writes about or maybe even of his own life. The almost candid style of his writing is what draws people in and keeps them reading. "The true subject of his poetry was the immolation of his life" (196), and he gave up himself for the art of literature.

This is a much more romantic way of looking at poetry when compared to chapter one of How to Read a Poem. After reading Kirsch's section on Larkin, I do not find myself thinking about Larkin "suppressing linguistic possibilities" that How to Read a Poem suggests that some poets may do for sake of making sure that their works of art "flow" (Eagleton 20). I do however, see his work as "a supremely refined product of human consciousness" (Eagleton 22). It is clear that he devoted his life to his writings, but his talent for writing seems to be an innate one, not forced or contrived, just very well thought out.

Relationship Between Negative Capability and Poetry

One wouldn't expect the fluidity and deep essence of poetry to derive from often alienated and clouded conditions. Today in class we were talking about how great poets have negative capability. How they have the capacity to orient themselves with fear, doubt, defeat, even disgust, and create a masterpiece out of those mental states. While reading the essay about Philip Larkin in The Modern Element, it said that Larkin "could not write without a nearly monastic isolation and routine." To me this statement completely paralleled with a poet's negative capability. Of course I can't speak for Larkin, and I do not have the title of being a "great poet," but I have definitely been capable of negative and isolated experiences when I write. Some of my most introspective thoughts come from negativity: the most familiar being that when I have a bad day or I'm feeling restless and discouraged, I try to blow off some steam by writing about it. It may not be an amazing piece of writing, but at least the bad day inspired the ability to write. It's a sad thing to say, but it is so much more easy for me to put on my pessimistic "specs" and be cynical about life rather than be "yellow" and "keep the store." I have a tendency to seclude myself into a routine continuum, and the affects of that state of being are the source of inspiration for composition. Being able to write under these conditions would not take place without the awareness that I am in isolation. The essay on Larkin also says that his greatness only came by confronting "the full implications of this bargain." What I am starting to learn is that with a disadvantage (in this case being isolation), comes an advantage--(the end product): Poetry. It seems as though poets, (and critics) have to exist simultaneously in both good and bad settings to create literature.

Exhaustion

Let me start off by saying how glad I am for the outline of "Essay on Criticism." With the exception of the epic poems of the ancients, this was by far the largest chunk of poetry I've ever read.
Which, I guess, is in fact explained by Pope's high admiration for the ancient poets and strong belief of emulating their style, passion and form. Pope places immense value on the processes by which a writer comes to maturity and worthiness of high critique. So Pope also says of the processes of becoming a worthy critic; the two, the author and the judge, must check and guide each other.
Eagleton also pays due homage to the ancients, but instead of strictly following Pope's focus of the critic's need for integrity, level-headedness and worthiness, he recounts critic's (specifically rhetoric's) places through time. Eagleton defines how the major world-wide events and resulting changes in ideologies removed and replaced rhetoric in the areas of politics, the public sphere, the private sphere, the transcendent, the specific.
Both authors, however, recognize in the critic the necessity of deep appreciation and understanding of the art of writing. As the author's true being as a writer is developed over time, accumulation of wit, understanding of human nature, so the critic must closely shadow the author's moves in analyzing methodologies, discovering contexts and intentions, relating ideas and examples -- and vice versa.

Analysis on Larkins' poem

The title is confusing in this poem. What you expect is a list or something clearer on how to read, or something along those lines. Instead, what you get is a poem that ends with “books are a load of crap.” This had me confused for quite a while. Why would someone dedicate a whole poem just to say that books are meaningless, there must be some sort of ulterior motive behind it all.

In A Study of Reading Habits, Larkin makes many things clear that I can closely relate to in many ways. He starts of the poem with a flashback to his childhood and how reading helped him cope with many issues. “When getting… cured most things short of school.” This is attributed to living vicariously through characters in a book in order to diminish his struggles in real life. He doesn’t clearly establish what those struggles are, which is a great way to include many people. If he had included only certain struggles then by specifying only certain problems, it would limit the people who could connect to this poem. By leaving it open-ended it allows readers to connect with the world of escaping into a book, no matter whether the problem is big or small. One thing that I think is clear is that he deals with bullies more in the metaphysical world. In reading a book about an underdog defeating the bully, or a David v Goliath story it’s as if he becomes the hero in the story and can defeat the bullies. I think this is attributed much to a child-like innocence and imagination. He can as a young child avoid all his problems, and become a superhero in a book while in the second and third stanzas his outlook on life bleak and jaded.

In the second stanza he already has grown so much that his eyesight requires him to wear glasses. “Later, with inch-thick specs, Evil was just my lark.” As this line shows, he has grown so much that evil is his source of amusement. Instead of focusing on hero stories or something to help him cope with his problems; he now is more interested in the darker side of books and possible humanity. The whole stanza is based on the premise of him hiding in the dark and clubbing women with sex. These metaphors could be considered as alluding to rape or some sort of violence towards women. Whether it’s because he isn’t comfortable around them, he feels ignored, or it’s just a sort of awkward teen phase everything is left for speculation. What I can tell is that it makes a complete different turn from the first stanza, from beating the bully to being a person who preys on women. The title would have me believe that it is intended to represent how we approach reading and the different things we take from it in different points in our lives.

By the last stanza he has already become jaded by life that books have no more meaning for him, because he can’t find a disconnect between reality and a ficticious world. They are too much in common and the enjoyment of immersing himself in a different world is gone. Now, the only thing he can read about is about the common man, about himself. “the chap who’s yellow and keeps the store seems far too familiar.” To me by this point in the poem life has come too far for the author to be able to enjoy reading, because he doesn’t have the child mentality that allowed him to just focus on reading and believe that heroes exist, and that they win. By the time adulthood roles around everything is based on having a job and maintaining it in order to be able to live, so you have to become a realist. There just isn’t time to focus on dreams and fantasy. So, by this point the only thing that you can do is get drunk, forget about books, forget about your problems and use alcohol as a coping mechanism.

I think it is all related to how our lives become jaded as we grow older. Children are the ones with the most imagination while towards the latter half of our lives we are so worried with having a job, the right women, the perfect home and all these other things that we tend to become more realistic. People tend to ignore and forget about dreams and fantasy, putting in their place a more sinister outlook on life. No longer treading there pain with hopes, but rather just drinking and dulling there pain.

“A Study of Reading Habits” Analysis

When beginning to analyze my initial observations of A Study of Reading Habits by Philip Larkin, the most noteable trend was the shift in imagery and language as the poem progressed. Larkin’s language and imagery allow the reader to feel the emotions he experienced while reading. As the poem progresses, the language and imagery shift, allowing the reading to understand the dynamic relationship between the narrator and reading.

In the opening stanza, the images are childish and the language is simple. The opening two lines evokes an image of a child laying on his or her stomach in bed, so engrossed in reading that their face is between the pages. The next four lines further indicate that the narrator is a child, as a child is likely to be more concerned with “keeping cool” than their eyesight. It also becomes clear that the stories the narrator was comforted by the stories s/he was reading because they assured him that even little guys like him can still triumph over the physically larger, less intelligent (because they are dogs) and morally reprehensible (dirty) enemies.

The language and imagery in the second stanza is much different than that of the first. He has progressed to reading stories about “evil” for his mischievous entertainment. The narrator proceeds to indicate he has a coat and fangs, the features of a wild beast. The phrase “ripping times” means that the narrator had good times, but the verb “ripping” also has violent and destructive implications. The next line is perhaps the climax of the poem. The phrases “clubbed with sex” and “broke them up like meringues” reveal the violent and sexual nature of his fantasies.

The final stanza has a much different tone from the previous two. The author does not include “I” in his statement “Don’t read much now”, which gives the sense that he is not willing to give any more energy to books. Also, this phrase can be taken as a command to the reader. The narrator goes on to explain that he doesn’t read because he no longer sees himself as the hero who saves the girl, but rather as a forgettable extra condemned to normality. The final sentence indicates the narrator’s ultimate opinion on the matter: Reading cures nothing. If you’re looking for an escape from your problems, alcohol is your best bet.

How to Read a Poem

How to Read a Poem consists of three stanzas that track the life of an individual who lives vicariously through his reading. It seems that each of the stanzas represents a particular time in the individual’s life, drawing a map of his road to maturity, or lack there of. The title of the poem is awfully ironic, given that it has little to do with the content of the poem. I think it may have something to do with the progression of reading; one beings a poem hoping that it will have lasting significance, but by the end, it can sometimes feel like a let down. This let down is something that the individual discussed in this poem experiences himself.

The first stanza of Study of Reading Habits is talking of the past. The reader knows this because the first line begins with the word “when,” showing that the author is speaking of past times. The individual that Larkin is speaking of did not take his reading habits lightly; it was not just a hobby, but it was a way of life. It was taken so seriously that the individual went so far as to ruin his eyes by reading. It seems that he used reading as an escape from his life that was clearly not as desirable as the lives of those that he read about. He was enveloped by his reading; he was able to “deal out the old right hook” to the bullies that bothered him. Instead of being weak, as he may have been in his real life, he was able to take the power and be the bully to the real bullies in his childhood. Through his readings, the subject became the person that he wanted to be and was able to forget about the individual that he actually was.

The second stanza moves us closer to present day. The subject’s eyes have worsened, and he is still an outcast who now has “inch-think specs.” The individual has begun to take an interest in darker readings. He makes it clear that evil is laughable to him. The second stanza is considerably more violent than the first. It seems as though the individual has more anger and is delving into darker books, one can tell because the diction in the second stanza is much more aggressive. The individual views woman as fragile items that he can break up; the poem conjures the image of “meringues.” His sexual experiences with women make him feel stronger as an individual; he does not have mature, loving relationships with the women whom he is sexually involved with; instead, these relations make him feel dominating over the women that he views as lesser than himself. The tone in the second stanza is disturbing; it seems that the individual feels some excitement toward possessing what may be considered rapist qualities and participating in such actions. The subject is still very involved with his reading as a way to experience a life that he does not possess, and it is clear that his character is reflecting the darkness of his readings.

The third stanza represents the individual as a mature adult.  He no longer sees value in his readings, because the words can no longer take him away from his own life. His readings have become predictable, and he comes to recognize that he has to own his own life and live in that reality. He realizes that the characters in the stories that he has read are not as impressive as they once were; he no longer finds solace in his reading. Due to this, he proclaims “get stewed,” inferring that while books can no longer take him away from his miserable life, alcohol may be able to fill that void. His imagination was once brought alive by reading, and he now believes that alcohol will have the same effect.

A Study of Reading Habits - Can't Escape Forever

Within the first two lines of the poem the narrator establishes that he used reading as a way to avoid the problems in his life (When getting my nose in a book/Cured most things short of school). He then goes on to explain that reading allowed him to maintain his sanity, while also providing a means for him to mentally deal with his issues. In the case of the first stanza the narrator used reading as a way to deal with bullies ("dirty dogs twice my size"). This sense of escapism has been shown in many other mediums, where a child envisions themselves as a superhero with more than enough power to handle bullies. In this stage of his life one can assume that the narrator read works based around a hero overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles.

In the second stanza the narrator indicates that a significant amount of time has passed with the line, "Later, with inch-thick specs". This line makes a connection with the third line of the first stanza, "It was worth ruining my eyes". In other words, the narrator had read so much that he required thick glasses. The narrator then implies that he has moved on from heroic works to darker stories with lines, "Evil was just my lark:/Me and my coat and fangs/Had ripping times in the dark." The narrator no longer identifies himself with the hero, but with the villain. He may be reading these types of works to escape loneliness or social awkwardness. Villains are typically portrayed as cool, suave, and in control. The narrator further supports this by stating that he "clubbed women with sex" and "broke them up like meringues." These sexual acts gave the narrator a sense of empowerment. He was too much for women too handle, and they couldn't resist him. The narrator may have used this as a to deal with rejection. In real life women had power over him (through rejection), but through his escapism he controlled women whether they liked it or not (i.e. it's possible that he imagined raping women).

Again, the narrator indicates that time has passed. This time with the line, "Don't read much now:". The next few lines hint at what types of books he is reading at this stage of his life. These works are about common people, they lack the bravery and mystery found in the books he read in the past. As a result, these works remind him too much of his own life ("Seem far too familiar"). He no longer identifies with the courageous hero or the powerful villain, but instead with the cowardly clerk ("...the chap/Who's yellow and keeps the store"). This unflattering identification leads him to hate books. In the past books gave him the power to overcome the obstacles in his life, any problem he had he could solve by escaping in a book. But now the books only remind him of the problems he's facing. Thus, leading him to proclaim that it is better to drink his problems away ("Get stewed") since "books are a load of crap."

Comparison of Chapter 1 of How to Read a Poem and Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism

Reading Chapter 1 of How to Read a Poem (HTRAP), I felt that there were several key points that stood above the rest in importance from the author’s viewpoint. Most were found in the first few pages.

First, there is the idea that critics produce literature as well as poets through the act of commenting on it. The relationship between poet and critic is dynamic; Each benefits from the other, and essentially are dependent on the other in terms of existence. HTRAP presents the modern idea - although arguing against it extensively - that criticism actually harms poetry.

Although it was not in the materials we have discussed in class, I recently watched the movie Howl, and found that the plot of the story, which is entirely true, supports this idea completely. Many may feel that Ginsberg’s poem Howl has no substance or literary worth. During the work’s obscenity trial which is documented in the movie, numerous critics are called to the stand to defend the poem’s legitimacy, or to argue that it is worthless. Some of the witnesses argued that because the poem did not follow a set pattern, it was simply the lewd ramblings of a maniac. One of the witnesses, however, looked at the poem from an appropriate critical perspective. He presented the idea that although the poem was obscene, it was simply an honest representation of the subculture of that day, and perhaps even a true portrayal of the thoughts and imaginations of a majority of 1950s culture. He understood that, as it is explained in HTRAP, a large part of criticism is understanding the forces that shape a particular sentence in a piece of work. Poetry is a conglomeration of art and existence; they go hand in hand. Thus, to understand the meaning of a poem, both must be at the forefront during analyzation.

In comparison, Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism speaks to the importance of reading a work in context.

A perfect Judge will read each Work of Wit

With the same Spirit that its Author writ,

This stanza of the lengthy work cautions a critic to avoid neglecting the life and times of the poet. Although it may seem negligible - especially when lost within the many words and nuances that make up a poem - remembering the context can be key to the understanding of the author’s intent.

Also, it is mentioned in HTRAP that it may seem unfashionable in our modern world to cling to these age old methods of critique. Chapter 1 speaks of students who are led to only conduct ‘content analysis,’ skimming the poem and describing what is going on. It is important, though, to treat poetry as a discourse, attending to language and all of its density and implications (including cultural context) rather than simply disembodying the poem and giving a sort of summary.

Both HTRAP and Essay on Criticism discuss the history of poetry and rhetoric in detail, although HTRAP goes beyond the 1711 date on which Essay on Criticism was published. It is a bit ironic that Pope’s work calls for an avoidance of trends. Consider the stanza:

Avoid Extreams; and shun the Fault of such,

Who still are pleas'd too little, or too much.

At ev'ry Trifle scorn to take Offence,

That always shows Great Pride, or Little Sense;

Those Heads as Stomachs are not sure the best

Which nauseate all, and nothing can digest.

According to HTRAP, this warning was overlooked by many of the romantic and even transcendental poets who delved deeply into the literary trends of their day, with little consideration to cultural connection.

One of the last observations I made while reading HTRAP dealt with the section on imagination. Essentially, poetry is not a real thing, and in that sense the criticism of poetry is an even further step from reality.

Because of this, it is absolutely necessary that the critic of poetry does not allow his analyzation of a work to be influenced by his own mindset. Pope speaks of this a bit in the opening of his poem. From his perspective, the best way to accomplish this goal is through self awareness:

But you who seek to give and merit Fame,

And justly bear a Critick's noble Name,

Be sure your self and your own Reach to know.

How far your Genius, Taste, and Learning go;

Launch not beyond your Depth, but be discreet,

And mark that Point where Sense and Dulness meet.

Steps 2 and 3 on A Study of Reading Habits

After looking at the poem by Philip Larkin, A Study of Reading Habits more closely and making observations in class, it is time to move onto the second and third stages by analyzing and interpreting the poem, looking at how it says what it does and use this knowledge to find out what it means.

By beginning the poem with the word “when,” Larkin lets the reader know that he is reflecting on what he used to do when he was younger, back when books were his way or escaping or relaxing. By using phrases such as, “getting my nose in a book” and “ruining my eyes,” Larkin reveals that he did not casually read books for fun, but instead, became enveloped by the stories and couldn’t get enough of them. The phrase “ruining my eyes” might also be interpreted as the idea of ruining his physical eyes in which he views the world, since all that he ever looks through are they eyes created in his books. He is no longer able to enjoy the sight of this world, due to his overuse of his eyes in his fantasies. Like a drug addiction, Larkin needs to see something that is not real.

The use of the word “cured,” shows how, to Larkin, reading was a medication of some sort, or a way to be filled with something outside of his body. Books were a way to find another joy, and he grew to yearn for this feeling. This can be compared to the end of the poem when Larkin urges his readers to just “get stewed,” or drunk, instead of reading these books. Growing up, books were used in the same way alcohol is used, and for the same reason. For this reason, it was worth ruining his eyes and having to wear “inch-thick specs.”

Through books, Larkin was able to become the bully he always despised in his real life. In fact, he could be whatever he wanted to be. As he grow older, instead of just using the power of his imagination to “deal out the old right hook” to bullies twice his size, he turned himself into some sort of dark monster. The words “fangs,” “ripping” and “dark” show Larkin’s malicious intent, as his fantasies grew larger. In his mind, he could become whatever he dreamed of, whether it be a vampire, wolf or possibly even a rapist, which can be inferred through the line, “the women I clubbed with sex.” The idea of escaping his everyday life through books is again made clear in the second stanza. Instead of living governed by rules, Larkin yearns to be free and roam as he pleases, in a place different from his real life.

Finally, by bringing the reader into present time, Larkin explains how books today are no longer able to fulfill the job they once did. Instead of reading about evil and dark books, where he could take on the role of the villain, Larkin is constrained by stories of the common man. He no longer wishes to read these stories, believing they are stories of himself and not who he seeks to be. As he states these stories, “seem far to familiar,” since he is now the one actually living them. No longer do books help him escape, instead they reveal more truth about his life, which in turn causes him to call them “a load of crap.” Now, instead of books, Larkin turns to drinking in hopes of escaping and attaining his dreams.

A Study of "A Study of Reading Habits"

Larkin's poem is cleverly titled a Study of Reading Habits in order to mislead the reader. At first glance, one would expect a scientific account of observations of one's reading habits, but that would defeat the purpose of writing a humorously nuanced poem! The poem is designed as a narrative of three stages of the speaker's life and how his reading experiences impacted his philosophy and assessment of himself as a person. We can't assume that Larkin himself is the speaker in this poem, because a poet probably wouldn't say that "books are a load of crap." The ABCBAC rhyme scheme, line enjambment, tonal changes, maturity of viewpoints, loaded words and final message at the end are all utilized to describe the speaker's evolution of reading habits throughout his maturity.

The three stanzas of the poem are divided by tone correlating with a stage of life. For instance, the first stanza embodies the cleverly courageous, whimsical and inventive mind of a child. Childhood is full of highs and lows, so naturally a child will find some sort of medium to escape the the difficulties of growing up. The speaker's preference, was books. The naive imagination of the speaker as a child was used as a secret weapon against the harshness of being picked on by his peers. This relates a lot to the imagination section of chapter 1 of How to Read a Poem. It states that imagination is a "form of compensation for our natural insensibility to one another." Similarly, the poem's speaker uses his intellectual capital he acquired from books as a tool to defend himself against "dirty dogs" and escape the insanity even if it meant "ruining" his eyes.

The second stage of life could be interpreted as young manhood. Just tapping into the excitement and fearfulness of making one's own rules and deciding who to be and how to be one's idealistic person. Or how to embody the qualities of culturally accepted attractiveness in the eyes of the opposite sex. There is still maturity lacking in this stage of life. The tone of the second stanza is enthusiastically scheming, even pretentiously overambitious. This is where we really start to notice the stage of life pattern. The speaker's ideology changes from playful and childish, to dangerously careless. Innocence is lost, the genre of reading preference has changed from adventure, to thriller and mystery. The application of imagination is being applied for scandalous, almost immoral reasons. Rather than using it to defend himself from bullies, the speaker uses it to fantasize about his attractiveness to women. This attraction is almost fatal by the use of the loaded words "ripping" and "clubbed with sex!" Associating women with a sweet delicacy like "meringues" empowers him on a domineering pedestal in comparison to the weak-kneed, fragility of a female he had sexual relations with. There is a boasting quality by the plural "women" and exclamation point of that line. In this stage of life, the act of sex is more of a self-glorifying, recreational activity without deep feelings for a woman. The subtle implication of the speaker taking joy in imagining himself as a rapist is also present.

The third stanza indicates the hopeless defeat of a mature adult. With adulthood comes pros and cons. Wisdom might be gained, but sometimes at the cost of one's spontaneity and care-free nature. By this time, the speaker has grown bored with all the stories because he knows he exists in reality, not fantasy. He is not a fabricated, intellectual weapon invented by a childhood fantasy. Nor is he a fatally attractive vampire, werewolf, or creature of the night that sweeps women off their feet only to be "clubbed" with meaningless sex. Nor is he an idolized hero of wealth that wins over the dame and keeps good economic standing. The speaker is only "the dude." At least, that is all he sees himself as because he has grown tiresome of the same old tale. So, he leaves the reader with a final message: drink up, because books are stupid and useless. Alcohol is the only way to numb the realization that you are not a character in a book. Books have become a waste of time because they don't possess the magical stimulation that they used to. One can question why the speaker's imagination was lost with age, and whether it was Larkin's primary goal to make the reader aware of this.