1 00:00:06,230 --> 00:00:09,310 Good morning ladies. This is again the English 2 00:00:09,310 --> 00:00:11,870 poetry course from the Islamic University of Gaza 3 00:00:11,870 --> 00:00:16,070 Palestine. Today we'll have one session on 4 00:00:16,070 --> 00:00:20,250 neoclassical poetry but before we do that let's 5 00:00:20,250 --> 00:00:24,070 hear some of the poems or parodies some of you 6 00:00:24,070 --> 00:00:29,770 wrote and want to share with us. Could you come 7 00:00:29,770 --> 00:00:34,110 please? Good morning, everyone. I wrote a parody 8 00:00:34,110 --> 00:00:37,390 of Come Live With Me and Be My Love. In this 9 00:00:37,390 --> 00:00:40,110 parody, the voice is an Israeli voice when the 10 00:00:40,110 --> 00:00:43,790 Israelis were calling people to come and immigrate 11 00:00:43,790 --> 00:00:49,190 to Palestine. So this is what I wrote.Come live 12 00:00:49,190 --> 00:00:52,830 with me and have come live with us and have your 13 00:00:52,830 --> 00:00:57,190 land and we will all our wishes stand that fertile 14 00:00:57,190 --> 00:01:01,030 lands trees and fields milk or flowing honey 15 00:01:01,030 --> 00:01:04,910 yields and we will sit upon the mosques seeing the 16 00:01:04,910 --> 00:01:08,290 Arabs apply their jokes by Balfour's promise to 17 00:01:08,290 --> 00:01:12,610 who's signed singing Hatikvah we first find. And 18 00:01:12,610 --> 00:01:15,510 we will make the homes and beds and a thousand 19 00:01:15,510 --> 00:01:19,330 jobs do trade with Arabs, their homes get in, 20 00:01:19,790 --> 00:01:23,090 their olive trees and holy lands, then when? All 21 00:01:23,090 --> 00:01:26,410 Israeli soldiers shall dance and sing for Arabs 22 00:01:26,410 --> 00:01:30,250 defeat each fifth John morning. Yet if Muslims 23 00:01:30,250 --> 00:01:34,510 unite and gather again, then go back or you'll 24 00:01:34,510 --> 00:01:35,530 taste pain again. 25 00:01:39,580 --> 00:01:44,060 Very nice attempt at again appropriating a 26 00:01:44,060 --> 00:01:47,640 particular text to your own course. Thank you very 27 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:53,290 much. It's a short poem. Life is too short to 28 00:01:53,290 --> 00:01:55,490 hesitate, taking the adventures our hearts 29 00:01:55,490 --> 00:01:57,950 indicate. Life is too short to keep thinking 30 00:01:57,950 --> 00:02:00,790 physically. Set your soul free and let madness 31 00:02:00,790 --> 00:02:04,230 spread excessively. Let it happen, darlings. Don't 32 00:02:04,230 --> 00:02:06,790 think about the surroundings. Smell, touch, and 33 00:02:06,790 --> 00:02:08,850 feel it, the freedom you wished you could even 34 00:02:08,850 --> 00:02:11,270 have a bit. Farewell overthinking, goodbye 35 00:02:11,270 --> 00:02:13,770 regretting. Hey love, hello hope, welcome 36 00:02:13,770 --> 00:02:17,130 happiness. Get out of here sadness. No fears, no 37 00:02:17,130 --> 00:02:20,110 tears, just smiles all over here and there. Open 38 00:02:20,110 --> 00:02:23,370 the curtains and stir, colors here and there. The 39 00:02:23,370 --> 00:02:26,250 sun is smiling, blue clouds are surrounding. Ha, 40 00:02:26,330 --> 00:02:28,910 everything sucks, how I dare. It's nice, pretty, 41 00:02:29,030 --> 00:02:31,810 and so rare, the trip we decide to take with those 42 00:02:31,810 --> 00:02:34,150 who are willing to stake. With them, all scars 43 00:02:34,150 --> 00:02:36,530 disappear, all hunting ghosts fear. As long as 44 00:02:36,530 --> 00:02:41,750 they are here, we say bye fear. Thank you. Thank 45 00:02:41,750 --> 00:02:46,610 you. Anna? Thank you, Rawan. So you have a clay? 46 00:02:48,050 --> 00:02:49,090 This is all for pottery? 47 00:02:53,090 --> 00:02:57,650 Okay, good. Good morning. I have a parody about, a 48 00:02:57,650 --> 00:03:00,250 parody of my mistress' eyes are nothing like the 49 00:03:00,250 --> 00:03:04,410 sun. My mama's eyes. My mama's eyes are nothing 50 00:03:04,410 --> 00:03:07,870 like the sun. They give him color and give him 51 00:03:07,870 --> 00:03:11,770 fun. If sun has wires, golden wires grow on her 52 00:03:11,770 --> 00:03:16,310 smile. Sun rays are tranquil, warm. for the sight. 53 00:03:17,190 --> 00:03:20,570 But no such warmth feel I as her own teeth are 54 00:03:20,570 --> 00:03:23,910 burning bright. For I am shake, disturbed with 55 00:03:23,910 --> 00:03:27,490 this delight. And yet by heaven I think my love as 56 00:03:27,490 --> 00:03:27,730 rare. 57 00:03:31,710 --> 00:03:35,770 And yet by heaven I feel this love as rare as when 58 00:03:35,770 --> 00:03:39,010 we meet and she prevails. No such fear and no 59 00:03:39,010 --> 00:03:42,990 despair. Therefore by heaven you see I dare say 60 00:03:42,990 --> 00:03:44,610 that her love has no compare. 61 00:03:54,110 --> 00:03:57,170 Okay, so I've written a parody about also my 62 00:03:57,170 --> 00:03:59,430 mistress' eyes, but here I want to show you 63 00:03:59,430 --> 00:04:01,930 something. Now, when I read the poem, I was 64 00:04:01,930 --> 00:04:04,570 actually thinking about this person here. If we 65 00:04:04,570 --> 00:04:08,610 look at the description that Shakespeare himself 66 00:04:08,610 --> 00:04:12,030 gave, it was like describing dimmed eyes and no 67 00:04:12,030 --> 00:04:15,410 red lips, tan complexion, and black curly hair, no 68 00:04:15,410 --> 00:04:19,350 redness in her cheeks, she smells normal, music is 69 00:04:19,350 --> 00:04:21,350 better than her voice, and she walks, she ain't an 70 00:04:21,350 --> 00:04:24,130 angel. So if we think about it, probably 71 00:04:24,130 --> 00:04:27,650 represents most if not all of us. So here I am 72 00:04:27,650 --> 00:04:30,330 trying to draw the same portrait of this lady 73 00:04:30,330 --> 00:04:35,290 here, but in a different style. Okay. Okay, I will 74 00:04:35,290 --> 00:04:38,590 read now. The beauty I behold is nothing mundane. 75 00:04:39,110 --> 00:04:41,450 Your eyes charm me with endless depths of ink, 76 00:04:41,910 --> 00:04:44,470 shielded with black peacock's feather in vain. 77 00:04:45,250 --> 00:04:48,810 Your lips' cupid bow conquered every pink and 78 00:04:48,810 --> 00:04:52,030 lived peacefully on your sunkissed skin. Hair 79 00:04:52,030 --> 00:04:55,090 drowns me in endless stretch of midnight sky. It 80 00:04:55,090 --> 00:04:58,810 waves, I wave, or I commit a sin. With few words, 81 00:04:59,050 --> 00:05:02,230 you shout a million replies. One smile, two 82 00:05:02,230 --> 00:05:05,350 dimples are all it shall take to drill your love 83 00:05:05,350 --> 00:05:08,390 in my heart as dauntless. Your natural scent 84 00:05:08,390 --> 00:05:11,790 travels at daybreak. No perfume could ever do you 85 00:05:11,790 --> 00:05:15,310 justice. By heavens, my love for you is rare, when 86 00:05:15,310 --> 00:05:18,470 with other lovers, me you shall compare. I just 87 00:05:18,470 --> 00:05:21,470 want to say one thing. I chose to confront her 88 00:05:21,470 --> 00:05:25,270 because Yerehov. I think that he meant to 89 00:05:25,270 --> 00:05:28,490 highlight her imperfections. So yes, this is kind 90 00:05:28,490 --> 00:05:29,890 of like challenging for Shakespeare. 91 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,380 Very good, very good poems. I know many of you 92 00:05:36,380 --> 00:05:39,100 have hidden talents when it comes to writing 93 00:05:39,100 --> 00:05:44,120 fiction and poetry, but you need some pushing. I'm 94 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:49,780 willing to do the pushing, the guiding, the help. 95 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:54,860 Just keep writing. Okay, so today we move to 96 00:05:54,860 --> 00:05:58,760 English poetry, neoclassical or Augustan poetry. 97 00:05:59,910 --> 00:06:01,390 We already mentioned something about 98 00:06:01,390 --> 00:06:03,990 neoclassicism. We mentioned something about them 99 00:06:03,990 --> 00:06:08,010 when we discussed John Donne. Remember many people 100 00:06:08,010 --> 00:06:10,330 consider the metaphysicals John Donne and his 101 00:06:10,330 --> 00:06:14,070 followers to be a digression. Our argument here is 102 00:06:14,070 --> 00:06:16,810 no, John Donne was as important. John Donne and 103 00:06:16,810 --> 00:06:20,370 his followers are where and are still as important 104 00:06:20,370 --> 00:06:23,210 as any movement, maybe as important as the 105 00:06:23,210 --> 00:06:26,390 romantic movement of poetry, not a digression, not 106 00:06:26,390 --> 00:06:30,130 somebody or a group of poets who are doing they 107 00:06:30,130 --> 00:06:35,390 don't know what. And we understood this. So John 108 00:06:35,390 --> 00:06:37,570 Donne was in the heyday of neoclassicism, as I 109 00:06:37,570 --> 00:06:41,530 claim. So therefore we need to go back to two of 110 00:06:41,530 --> 00:06:45,570 the most significant names of neoclassical poetry. 111 00:06:46,250 --> 00:06:50,950 Number one is John Milton. We're going to study a 112 00:06:50,950 --> 00:06:55,810 short extract from his epic, Paradise Lost, and 113 00:06:55,810 --> 00:06:58,130 then we're going to study in more detail an 114 00:06:58,130 --> 00:07:02,830 extract from Alexander Pope's essay on criticism. 115 00:07:03,950 --> 00:07:09,140 Just to get an idea, what neoclassical or Augustan 116 00:07:09,140 --> 00:07:15,740 poetry is. So this is by John Milton, An Extract 117 00:07:15,740 --> 00:07:21,900 from Paradise Lost. And as the name suggests, it's 118 00:07:21,900 --> 00:07:28,420 about paradise. Paradise we lost. Who are we? How 119 00:07:28,420 --> 00:07:30,960 did we lose this paradise? What is this paradise? 120 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:35,640 What happened? How can we probably regain it later 121 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:40,030 on? When you look at the title here, you come with 122 00:07:40,030 --> 00:07:44,350 the fact that this is basically not an ordinary 123 00:07:44,350 --> 00:07:48,330 poem, especially if you take Paradise, like 124 00:07:48,330 --> 00:07:50,870 literally not. Sometimes when you lose something, 125 00:07:51,010 --> 00:07:53,890 you say, oh, my paradise. Many people speak of 126 00:07:53,890 --> 00:07:57,420 Palestine as paradise lost, for example. or you 127 00:07:57,420 --> 00:08:00,900 losing something. But here this is literally about 128 00:08:00,900 --> 00:08:04,620 paradise. This is not a metaphor or some kind of 129 00:08:04,620 --> 00:08:10,180 simile or something. When we read the poem, again 130 00:08:10,180 --> 00:08:13,020 it begins with of man's, there should be an 131 00:08:13,020 --> 00:08:18,600 apostrophe here, of man's first disobedience and 132 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:19,080 the fruit. 133 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:26,420 of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought 134 00:08:26,420 --> 00:08:33,060 death into the world, and all our woe, with loss 135 00:08:33,060 --> 00:08:37,360 of Eden till one greater man restore us and regain 136 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:41,740 the blissful seat. If you look here, there are 137 00:08:41,740 --> 00:08:47,380 many biblical references, many biblical references 138 00:08:47,380 --> 00:08:49,400 taken directly from religious texts, from the 139 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,500 Bible, et cetera. Look at the subject matter of 140 00:08:52,500 --> 00:08:54,820 the poem. It's not an ordinary subject matter. 141 00:08:54,980 --> 00:09:00,300 It's not, in their opinion, simplistic like we 142 00:09:00,300 --> 00:09:03,520 have with the metaphysicals. Remember, we said the 143 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:07,320 subject matter for most of those neoclassicists 144 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:10,860 had to be about significant issues, issues of 145 00:09:10,860 --> 00:09:12,820 great significance to the society, the collective 146 00:09:12,820 --> 00:09:16,570 society as a whole, not to individuals. We'll see 147 00:09:16,570 --> 00:09:20,170 how also the romantics hated this about this, the 148 00:09:20,170 --> 00:09:23,030 poetry of this age They said poetry has to be self 149 00:09:23,030 --> 00:09:27,150 -expression rather than a tool of teaching and 150 00:09:27,150 --> 00:09:32,000 educating or sometimes delighting If you notice 151 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,120 here of man, this is a phrase of man's first 152 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:40,320 disobedience and of the fruit of that forbidden 153 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:44,060 tree whose mortal taste brought, this is still a 154 00:09:44,060 --> 00:09:47,400 dependent clause, brought death into the world, 155 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:51,920 brought death and woe into the world with loss of 156 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:55,980 Eden, you know, Eden. And that's the title here, 157 00:09:56,700 --> 00:10:01,330 Paradise Lost, loss of Eden. till one greater man, 158 00:10:01,410 --> 00:10:07,350 perhaps he's talking here about Jesus, restore us. 159 00:10:07,730 --> 00:10:11,410 He did write actually another text which he called 160 00:10:11,410 --> 00:10:16,190 Paradise Regained, where again Jesus brings us 161 00:10:16,190 --> 00:10:21,210 back to God, saves us, the savior. Restore us and 162 00:10:21,210 --> 00:10:24,810 regain the blissful seat, our place in heaven. 163 00:10:25,090 --> 00:10:29,900 Sing, this is the main verb, delayed for like In 164 00:10:29,900 --> 00:10:36,500 line six, interesting. Sing or muse, sing muse. 165 00:10:37,140 --> 00:10:40,500 The muse is considered to be the source of 166 00:10:40,500 --> 00:10:43,860 inspiration for many classical poets, almost all 167 00:10:43,860 --> 00:10:48,100 of them. The muse, you know, in Arabic we say 168 00:10:48,100 --> 00:10:52,030 Rabbit al-shar sometimes or Shaytan al-shar. The 169 00:10:52,030 --> 00:10:54,010 Arabs used to believe in this. Some poets believe 170 00:10:54,010 --> 00:10:58,250 that every poet is like this muse thing. The muse 171 00:10:58,250 --> 00:11:01,170 here means a goddess of poetry. I think I quoted 172 00:11:01,170 --> 00:11:04,350 Ahmed Matar the other day saying something to the 173 00:11:04,350 --> 00:11:04,990 effect of 174 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:16,320 something like this. The inspiration doesn't have 175 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:20,020 to be restricted by rules. But look at how this 176 00:11:20,020 --> 00:11:23,560 muse, the source of inspiration for poetry, is not 177 00:11:23,560 --> 00:11:27,900 ordinary, it's also heavenly. Heavenly. Saying 178 00:11:27,900 --> 00:11:31,660 heavenly muse that on the secret top of Urib or 179 00:11:31,660 --> 00:11:35,460 Sinai did inspire that shepherd, and perhaps the 180 00:11:35,460 --> 00:11:40,940 shepherd is Moses. who first taught the chosen 181 00:11:40,940 --> 00:11:45,440 seed, probably the Israelites. And now look at 182 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:48,360 this, of man's first disobedience, that's Adam, 183 00:11:48,420 --> 00:11:49,540 Adam and Eve, right? 184 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:57,500 There's the forbidden tree here, the tree of 185 00:11:57,500 --> 00:12:02,380 knowledge, the fruit. And there's the Garden of 186 00:12:02,380 --> 00:12:06,600 Eden, Janat Adam. Look at the characters, look at 187 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:10,710 the setting. A very significant representation of 188 00:12:10,710 --> 00:12:16,790 what neoclassical poetry was mainly about You 189 00:12:16,790 --> 00:12:18,590 don't talk about ordinary people, about poor 190 00:12:18,590 --> 00:12:21,690 people, about the masses You speak about 191 00:12:21,690 --> 00:12:24,990 significant issues. This is, if you read these 192 00:12:24,990 --> 00:12:28,710 texts and you have no idea about the biblical 193 00:12:28,710 --> 00:12:32,730 story of Adam and Eve or even the story we tell in 194 00:12:32,730 --> 00:12:36,050 Islam, you will find this difficult to understand. 195 00:12:36,190 --> 00:12:39,330 And again, I'm imagining somebody in the 17th 223 00:14:26,930 --> 00:14:31,790 talking to still the heavenly muse. I invoke. This 224 00:14:31,790 --> 00:14:34,770 is my, this is how I can write poetry, by being 225 00:14:34,770 --> 00:14:38,940 inspired. ''Thy aid to my adventurous song that 226 00:14:38,940 --> 00:14:43,280 with no middle flight intends to soar above the 227 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:46,740 Ionian mount where it pursues things unattempted 228 00:14:46,740 --> 00:14:49,860 yet in prose or rhyme'' And I find this really 229 00:14:49,860 --> 00:14:56,520 beautiful and sweet Things unattempted yet in 230 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:57,940 prose or rhyme 231 00:15:02,740 --> 00:15:06,420 Look at the ambition here to do so. And indeed, 232 00:15:06,620 --> 00:15:09,780 this is something that is unmatched. This is one 233 00:15:09,780 --> 00:15:12,320 of the most beautiful poems. It's a very, very 234 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:14,560 long poem, thousands of lines. If you are 235 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:16,560 interested more in Milton, one of the most 236 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:20,400 fascinating poets, you could at least listen to 237 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:22,860 his poetry on YouTube. You will find some good 238 00:15:22,860 --> 00:15:26,340 dramatizations of this poem and sometimes sketches 239 00:15:26,340 --> 00:15:30,450 on YouTube. You'll enjoy this. Things, look at 240 00:15:30,450 --> 00:15:31,830 what he's doing, he's not doing something 241 00:15:31,830 --> 00:15:35,090 ordinary, he knows this from the beginning. Things 242 00:15:35,090 --> 00:15:37,850 unattempted yet, things that have never been 243 00:15:37,850 --> 00:15:42,330 written about in prose, yet in prose or rhyme. 244 00:15:42,410 --> 00:15:44,830 This is an old spelling of rhyme. 245 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:52,620 Okay, and chiefly thou, O spirit that dost prefer 246 00:15:52,620 --> 00:15:56,440 before all temples the upright heart and pure 247 00:15:56,440 --> 00:16:01,180 instruct me seeking instruction. For thou knowest 248 00:16:01,180 --> 00:16:04,440 thou from the first was present, and with mighty 249 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:08,660 wings outspread dove-like sets brooding on the 250 00:16:08,660 --> 00:16:13,200 vast abyss, and made it pregnant. What in me is 251 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:16,440 dark? That's the object. That's why he's doing it. 252 00:16:16,500 --> 00:16:19,520 He wants what is dark in him to be illumined, to 253 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:26,100 be bright, to be lightened. What is low, raise and 254 00:16:26,100 --> 00:16:31,410 support? Bring me up. that to the height of this 255 00:16:31,410 --> 00:16:35,430 great argument. And again, the most important 256 00:16:35,430 --> 00:16:40,970 thing is how this opening ends there, here. This 257 00:16:40,970 --> 00:16:44,550 is just the opening. Why are you writing this? Why 258 00:16:44,550 --> 00:16:48,130 do you write poetry? Why is this poem being 259 00:16:48,130 --> 00:16:52,900 written? Because he wants to assert, I may in 260 00:16:52,900 --> 00:16:55,680 order to, I may assert eternal providence, an 261 00:16:55,680 --> 00:17:00,520 eternal providence, that God is there, that God is 262 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:02,720 taking care of everything, is watching over us, 263 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:05,020 that he will always protect us, that whatever God 264 00:17:05,020 --> 00:17:10,000 does, it's for our own good. I may assert eternal 265 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:14,280 providence and justify the ways of God to men. So 266 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:17,000 if you sometimes suffer or you know you are in 267 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,240 pain, you lose, you don't get what you like, what 268 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:21,880 you love, what you work for, don't worry because 269 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:26,940 this is God's doing and God likes us all, loves us 270 00:17:26,940 --> 00:17:29,740 all. It's always going to be for your own benefit. 271 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:32,480 If you get it, it's good. If you don't get it, 272 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:35,620 it's also good. And I usually say that this is 273 00:17:35,620 --> 00:17:40,740 basically not the job of poets. It's the job of 274 00:17:40,740 --> 00:17:43,800 prophets and messengers. Look at again how the 275 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,860 poet here is assuming this position, being a 276 00:17:46,860 --> 00:17:50,720 prophet-like, getting inspiration from wherever it 277 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:55,140 gets, from God, from the muse, the spirit, in 278 00:17:55,140 --> 00:17:58,940 order to write great poetry. Poetry that, in the 279 00:17:58,940 --> 00:18:01,710 definition of are neoclassicists, neoclassical 280 00:18:01,710 --> 00:18:06,750 critics, both that teaches and delights. You'll be 281 00:18:06,750 --> 00:18:09,950 delighted here. But it's also going to teach you 282 00:18:09,950 --> 00:18:14,730 about life, about the creation. Now when you read 283 00:18:14,730 --> 00:18:18,240 this, you need to be careful, because this is a 284 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:19,860 religious poem. Indeed, it is a religious poem, 285 00:18:19,900 --> 00:18:21,580 but many people did not take it as a religious 286 00:18:21,580 --> 00:18:24,900 poem. Many Christians hated John Milton for 287 00:18:24,900 --> 00:18:27,520 doing this and considered him to be, you know, 288 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:31,400 heretic and, in a way, blasphemous. Because in the 289 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:34,640 text, who are the main characters again? There's 290 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:40,700 God, Adam, Eve, Satan, you know, the angels, the 291 00:18:40,700 --> 00:18:45,440 good and the fallen ones. Now in literature there 292 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:51,540 is no pure or good or bad. Many students want to 293 00:18:51,540 --> 00:18:55,640 write short stories or texts or whatever and they 294 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:58,520 usually focus on the pure good or the pure evil. 295 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:00,620 This is not good literature. Literature is about 296 00:19:00,620 --> 00:19:04,560 the grey area, the area that makes us all wonder 297 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:08,760 and think. It's not about being too good or too 298 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:11,700 bad. It's about a good person doing something bad 299 00:19:11,700 --> 00:19:16,770 or a bad person doing something good. Now, in 300 00:19:16,770 --> 00:19:20,330 Paradise Lost, Satan sometimes, the devil, is 301 00:19:20,330 --> 00:19:27,510 depicted as blameless or to blame as other 302 00:19:27,510 --> 00:19:32,950 characters. Sometimes you feel like, oh, you feel 303 00:19:32,950 --> 00:19:34,730 sorry for Satan. If you do, it doesn't mean you're 304 00:19:34,730 --> 00:19:41,700 evil. It means John Milton is a genius. But that's 305 00:19:41,700 --> 00:19:45,460 not what I want to focus on. But it's good to 306 00:19:45,460 --> 00:19:49,600 think about this. So again, we end here this 307 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:53,420 example by why he's doing this, why he's writing 308 00:19:53,420 --> 00:19:56,260 this text. I may assert eternal providence and to 309 00:19:56,260 --> 00:20:01,810 justify the ways of God to men. I find this very 310 00:20:01,810 --> 00:20:05,650 beautiful in many ways, the poetry. If you notice, 311 00:20:05,770 --> 00:20:08,950 of course, there's no particular regular rhyme 312 00:20:08,950 --> 00:20:11,090 scheme there because this could be classified as 313 00:20:11,090 --> 00:20:13,130 blank verse. Like in Shakespeare, when you write 314 00:20:13,130 --> 00:20:15,170 thousands and thousands of lines, it's going to be 315 00:20:15,170 --> 00:20:19,510 very tough to keep the rhyme regular. So you free 316 00:20:19,510 --> 00:20:21,690 yourself, this is poetry, but you free yourself of 317 00:20:21,690 --> 00:20:28,950 the rigidity of the rhyme scheme. Now most 318 00:20:28,950 --> 00:20:34,200 importantly, This essay on criticism by Alexander 319 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:38,800 Pope 320 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:42,620 basically 321 00:20:42,620 --> 00:20:48,880 lived the first half of the 18th century. Remember 322 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:51,360 Alexander Pope, he was one of the critics who did 323 00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:56,580 not like John Donne. And when many critics who 324 00:20:56,580 --> 00:20:58,960 even didn't like John Donne said that John Donne, 325 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:03,580 at least he was witty, like he has this unmatched 326 00:21:03,580 --> 00:21:07,340 intellectuality and wit. Alexander Pope said, 327 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:10,180 nope, he doesn't have even imagination. His 328 00:21:10,180 --> 00:21:13,900 imagination is ordinary. And I find him very 329 00:21:13,900 --> 00:21:15,700 interesting. He's one of the most canonical 330 00:21:15,700 --> 00:21:18,400 writers, but also very interesting. If you read 331 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:22,480 him and Shakespeare, I once read an article that 332 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:26,360 explained how Alexander Pope was not happy with 333 00:21:26,360 --> 00:21:28,140 many things in Shakespeare's plays, and he would 334 00:21:28,140 --> 00:21:30,580 just fix them and change them and edit them, 335 00:21:31,020 --> 00:21:32,940 saying that it should be this way. Shakespeare 336 00:21:32,940 --> 00:21:34,800 must have meant it this way, not that way. 337 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:37,940 Shakespeare was wrong. That's very extreme in many 338 00:21:37,940 --> 00:21:42,500 ways. Okay, so the title is also very interesting. 339 00:21:42,900 --> 00:21:46,120 It says an essay on criticism. If one of you wants 340 00:21:46,120 --> 00:21:50,300 to read, like you Google, okay, you have some time 341 00:21:50,300 --> 00:21:53,040 to kill, you Google essay on criticism, you want 342 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:54,640 to know more about criticism and how to do 343 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:58,320 criticism, and this essay pops up as the first 344 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:01,840 result, you're going to be surprised. Because this 345 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:05,690 is not an essay, it's a poem. But look at how even 346 00:22:05,690 --> 00:22:10,830 he says, even your criticism, your critical ideas 347 00:22:10,830 --> 00:22:14,830 are written in the form of long poems, not 348 00:22:14,830 --> 00:22:18,770 ordinary poems. The second thing we notice is this 349 00:22:18,770 --> 00:22:21,750 foreign language, not English. Again, imagine 350 00:22:21,750 --> 00:22:23,490 yourself living in the 18th century. 351 00:22:28,110 --> 00:22:31,790 It's Latin, I guess. You don't have, your father 352 00:22:31,790 --> 00:22:33,850 couldn't afford the money to send you to 353 00:22:33,850 --> 00:22:36,570 university or even to a grammar school, but you 354 00:22:36,570 --> 00:22:38,850 worked hard and you managed to be able to read 355 00:22:38,850 --> 00:22:42,090 English and you pride yourself in this. And then 356 00:22:42,090 --> 00:22:44,690 somebody tells you, hey, there's this interesting 357 00:22:44,690 --> 00:22:47,090 text if you want to read it. It's like, okay, it's 358 00:22:47,090 --> 00:22:50,750 say on criticism and what? That's all I can say, 359 00:22:50,830 --> 00:22:54,990 it's a poem. And then you come face to face with a 360 00:22:54,990 --> 00:22:56,750 foreign language, a language you're not familiar 361 00:22:56,750 --> 00:22:59,890 with. I'm not sure if this is going to be a turn 362 00:22:59,890 --> 00:23:04,690 off or what. But again, this is one reason why I 363 00:23:04,690 --> 00:23:07,630 say that much of the poetry written by those 364 00:23:07,630 --> 00:23:10,450 people was poetry written by the elite and for the 365 00:23:10,450 --> 00:23:12,810 elite. You had to be educated at university 366 00:23:12,810 --> 00:23:15,330 sometimes to understand their allusions. There are 367 00:23:15,330 --> 00:23:19,770 many allusions. Like when you read John Milton, 368 00:23:19,930 --> 00:23:22,930 there are so many religious allusions and 369 00:23:22,930 --> 00:23:25,310 allusions to other places and sometimes 370 00:23:25,310 --> 00:23:29,150 mythologies that you don't get if you don't read 371 00:23:29,150 --> 00:23:32,850 about them. You have to do effort. Unlike Jonah 372 00:23:32,850 --> 00:23:35,410 and all you have to do sometimes is just to think 373 00:23:35,410 --> 00:23:37,970 and try to connect things. 374 00:23:40,550 --> 00:23:43,050 And also what he says, this is translated here, I 375 00:23:43,050 --> 00:23:46,010 think this is a quote from Horace. It's translated 376 00:23:46,010 --> 00:23:49,290 into, if you have come to know, it's like a 377 00:23:49,290 --> 00:23:52,550 challenge. The poem opens with a challenge. If you 378 00:23:52,550 --> 00:23:56,370 write something as good as this, then show it to 379 00:23:56,370 --> 00:23:59,880 me. If you don't, then follow me. In a way, you 380 00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:03,560 can't do this. Nobody can do something like this. 381 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:08,180 If you have come to know any precept more correct 382 00:24:08,180 --> 00:24:12,820 than these, share it with me brilliant one. If 383 00:24:12,820 --> 00:24:16,200 not, use these with me. Follow me. These are the 384 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:20,780 ways to write poetry. These are the ways to write 385 00:24:20,780 --> 00:24:23,420 poetry. These are the rules and the regulations. 386 00:24:24,530 --> 00:24:27,910 And again, this is only the opening bit extracts 387 00:24:27,910 --> 00:24:31,530 from Hesayon criticism. Let's focus more on them, 388 00:24:32,130 --> 00:24:37,010 say, discuss issues and examine how he wants us to 389 00:24:37,010 --> 00:24:41,370 write poetry. The first idea is the first, the 390 00:24:41,370 --> 00:24:47,610 opening paragraph is an imperative verb. First, 391 00:24:47,910 --> 00:24:51,290 follow. Follow what? We need to follow nature. 392 00:24:51,450 --> 00:24:54,760 You're already familiar with Plato and Aristotle 393 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:58,400 imitating nature. Somebody said, was it Plato? 394 00:24:58,500 --> 00:25:01,220 Plato said, pottery is not good because it's just 395 00:25:01,220 --> 00:25:03,860 an imitation of an imitation, the world of being and 396 00:25:03,860 --> 00:25:06,520 the world of becoming. We're not writing anything 397 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:10,280 original. We're just imitating something that is 398 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:15,260 itself an imitation of a perfect thing. And then 399 00:25:15,260 --> 00:25:17,860 Aristotle said, it's okay as long as our imitation 400 00:25:17,860 --> 00:25:23,380 is good, is close to nature. So the fact, but 401 00:25:23,380 --> 00:25:28,820 again, don't mix between the concept of nature for 402 00:25:28,820 --> 00:25:31,480 the romantics and the concept of nature for 403 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:35,700 Alexander Pope. Nature basically means the world 404 00:25:35,700 --> 00:25:40,720 that exists around us. And in many ways, nature is 405 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:44,640 perfect. We are perfect. We are created in this 406 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:50,110 fascinating symmetrical Image. Look at the eyes 407 00:25:50,110 --> 00:25:53,370 and the nose, where everything is, right? Like 408 00:25:53,370 --> 00:25:56,370 almost everybody. Look at the animals, the tigers 409 00:25:56,370 --> 00:25:59,810 and the lions or the cats, or like how beautifully 410 00:25:59,810 --> 00:26:02,650 they are. Very symmetrical. Look at the trees. 411 00:26:02,750 --> 00:26:04,830 Most of the trees, you will find them in a way 412 00:26:04,830 --> 00:26:08,370 very, very symmetrical. So if you want to produce 413 00:26:08,370 --> 00:2 445 00:28:33,380 --> 00:28:36,160 source and end and test of art. 446 00:28:39,620 --> 00:28:44,410 Talking about nature. How's that? It's the source 447 00:28:44,410 --> 00:28:47,870 of our life. We were born here and the end of our 448 00:28:47,870 --> 00:28:52,290 life and our grades. And it's just a word like art 449 00:28:52,290 --> 00:28:54,550 is art. Art. Art. 450 00:28:58,750 --> 00:29:02,430 It's like the experience of a whole life. More. 451 00:29:02,850 --> 00:29:06,090 Please. I think it means that like you are born in 452 00:29:06,090 --> 00:29:08,350 this nature and you die in it. So you're not 453 00:29:08,350 --> 00:29:10,670 really seen except for this imitation and the 454 00:29:10,670 --> 00:29:14,760 imitation. So in a way or another, this nature 455 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,740 represents everything in your life. You did not 456 00:29:17,740 --> 00:29:20,520 really see anything else to be inspired by it. 457 00:29:21,620 --> 00:29:22,100 More? 458 00:29:26,940 --> 00:29:32,100 I don't think he means nature being our source and 459 00:29:32,100 --> 00:29:37,960 our in. He's saying that nature is the source of 460 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:43,140 art, the end of art, the test of art. If you want 461 00:29:43,140 --> 00:29:44,900 to, because this is about writing poetry, it's 462 00:29:44,900 --> 00:29:48,480 your own criticism. You're inspired, you should 463 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:51,900 be, you have to be inspired by nature and natural 464 00:29:51,900 --> 00:29:56,340 elements. And we write to reflect on natural 465 00:29:56,340 --> 00:30:00,470 elements, the end, not the end like Finish, done. 466 00:30:01,170 --> 00:30:03,610 It's why we do things, you know, the end. We say 467 00:30:03,610 --> 00:30:05,690 sometimes the end doesn't justify the means. 468 00:30:08,030 --> 00:30:10,910 That's why we write poetry. We write poetry to 469 00:30:10,910 --> 00:30:14,830 imitate, to echo, to mirror life, to mirror 470 00:30:14,830 --> 00:30:18,970 nature. And at the same time, it's the test of 471 00:30:18,970 --> 00:30:23,260 art. And that's a very extreme thing to say. The 472 00:30:23,260 --> 00:30:26,600 thing is that this idea about nature being the 473 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,260 test of life is very, very, very subjective 474 00:30:29,260 --> 00:30:33,020 because nature is not a human being to test 475 00:30:33,020 --> 00:30:35,340 things. But again, those poets with Horace and The 476 00:30:35,340 --> 00:30:37,120 Rules of Decorum, remember I'll go through them 477 00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:39,620 when I finish again, so you remember, you don't 478 00:30:39,620 --> 00:30:44,060 forget. Those people looked at, they believed that 479 00:30:44,060 --> 00:30:48,200 the greatest Greek and ancient poets were the 480 00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:52,040 closest to nature. Nature that is unchanged before 481 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:55,340 man could change and destroy nature. So when they 482 00:30:55,340 --> 00:30:58,300 wrote poetry, their poetry was a perfect 483 00:30:58,300 --> 00:31:03,340 reflection of nature. Okay, so we study these 484 00:31:03,340 --> 00:31:08,060 poems. We study these poems and we come up with 485 00:31:08,060 --> 00:31:11,360 the criteria and standards why these texts are 486 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:16,680 great. And then we follow these rules. So in 487 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,260 reality, we're not following nature because nature 488 00:31:19,260 --> 00:31:22,000 is different. Sometimes you find trees that are 489 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,700 not symmetrical. Sometimes you find things that 490 00:31:24,700 --> 00:31:27,440 are not, that don't go, that have, don't have 491 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:31,530 balance or symmetry or a pattern. Indeed, we are 492 00:31:31,530 --> 00:31:35,590 following people who wrote poetry in a particular 493 00:31:35,590 --> 00:31:39,230 way, but those critics claim that those people are 494 00:31:39,230 --> 00:31:43,210 the best, the perfect embodiment of nature. So 495 00:31:43,210 --> 00:31:45,910 when we say nature is the test of art, it's 496 00:31:45,910 --> 00:31:48,610 actually not nature itself, but the rules of 497 00:31:48,610 --> 00:31:52,890 decorum, devised in a way, not devised by Horace. 498 00:31:52,950 --> 00:31:56,170 Horace examined the greatest literary works of the 499 00:31:56,170 --> 00:32:00,950 golden age of poetry 2000 years ago. And he said, 500 00:32:01,130 --> 00:32:03,270 okay, these are great because one, subject matter, 501 00:32:03,450 --> 00:32:08,550 two, the language, three, the form. And if you 502 00:32:08,550 --> 00:32:10,990 want to write a great poetry, you need to follow 503 00:32:10,990 --> 00:32:15,590 these standards. So the test of art, if you want 504 00:32:15,590 --> 00:32:19,130 to examine whether a test, a text is great or not, 505 00:32:19,630 --> 00:32:23,470 you bring it to these criteria devised by those 506 00:32:23,470 --> 00:32:28,030 poets and critics. If these, if the text is closer 507 00:32:28,030 --> 00:32:35,120 to to these criteria, then like. If it's not, then 508 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:38,740 meh. And that's why John Donne in many ways 509 00:32:38,740 --> 00:32:41,320 violated these rules of decorum, violated the 510 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:46,680 natural standards set by those poets in form, in 511 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:50,040 theme, in language. We're going to see also next 512 00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:52,900 class how the romantics also violated everything 513 00:32:52,900 --> 00:32:54,560 about this. They didn't believe, they trashed 514 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:58,440 everything the neoclassicists came up with. 515 00:33:08,710 --> 00:33:22,090 Nature is the source 516 00:33:22,090 --> 00:33:26,390 of these beautiful things and also they should 517 00:33:27,310 --> 00:33:29,950 embody nature, true. If you write, if you want to, 518 00:33:30,230 --> 00:33:32,970 life should embody, I don't know what exactly he 519 00:33:32,970 --> 00:33:35,190 means by force, but beauty, if you write beauty, 520 00:33:35,830 --> 00:33:39,770 if you want, beauty is inspired by nature, but 521 00:33:39,770 --> 00:33:41,510 also if you want to write about something that's 522 00:33:41,510 --> 00:33:47,850 beautiful, you imitate nature. In a way. I have a 523 00:33:47,850 --> 00:33:51,470 question. Is he with the rules of decor or 524 00:33:51,470 --> 00:33:55,780 against? What do you think? He's against. No. So 525 00:33:55,780 --> 00:33:59,180 how should he be with them when he says about 526 00:33:59,180 --> 00:34:02,300 nature that it is a test of art? So when I want to 527 00:34:02,300 --> 00:34:04,400 write about something, nature will be the source 528 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:09,880 of my poetry or my art, while nature have from 529 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:13,900 black to white. It doesn't meant to move. I'll 530 00:34:13,900 --> 00:34:17,960 just answer this question in a way. How, again, 531 00:34:18,060 --> 00:34:22,040 these rules are inspired by Homer. The Elliot and 532 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:24,240 the Odyssey and those great literary works of 2000 533 00:34:24,240 --> 00:34:24,840 years ago. 534 00:34:28,990 --> 00:34:31,150 Yeah, true. So they are inspired by nature, 535 00:34:31,450 --> 00:34:35,130 because they were closer to nature than us, to the 536 00:34:35,130 --> 00:34:39,750 perfect reality of nature than us now, today. So 537 00:34:39,750 --> 00:34:41,950 when they wrote poetry, they were very close to 538 00:34:41,950 --> 00:34:45,170 nature. And then if you examine these texts, you 539 00:34:45,170 --> 00:34:48,310 come up with the rules that we have to follow. The 540 00:34:48,310 --> 00:34:52,230 rules dictate that there should be a particular 541 00:34:52,230 --> 00:34:54,130 language, a particular form, and a particular 542 00:34:54,130 --> 00:34:57,890 subject matter. He is. That's Alexander Pope. 543 00:34:59,130 --> 00:35:01,850 That's Alexander Pope. Please. I need to get this 544 00:35:01,850 --> 00:35:04,630 clear. So he's suggesting here that a poet should 545 00:35:04,630 --> 00:35:07,190 be inspired by nature and its rules but not 546 00:35:07,190 --> 00:35:10,790 depicting natural elements? No. He doesn't say 547 00:35:10,790 --> 00:35:12,990 that. Whereas he's saying don't depict natural 548 00:35:12,990 --> 00:35:15,710 elements. No, not this. But the subject matter of 549 00:35:15,710 --> 00:35:18,330 the poet should not be like romantics, for 550 00:35:18,330 --> 00:35:20,950 example. Imagination and natural elements. We 551 00:35:20,950 --> 00:35:23,230 haven't come to imagination and romantics yet. 552 00:35:23,290 --> 00:35:27,110 Yes, I get this. But the main idea is to give 553 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:35,480 Actually, 554 00:35:48,540 --> 00:35:52,180 not that nature follows rules, that nature is the 555 00:35:52,180 --> 00:35:52,400 rules 556 00:35:58,510 --> 00:36:01,810 But I think everything everything everything even 557 00:36:01,810 --> 00:36:09,450 I don't think he basically means human nature like 558 00:36:09,450 --> 00:36:12,430 the human nature because human nature is erring 559 00:36:12,430 --> 00:36:19,830 everybody knows this Instinct is always right I 560 00:36:19,830 --> 00:36:21,970 think maybe he means like when you want to judge 561 00:36:21,970 --> 00:36:26,670 something just follow your instinct I think it 562 00:36:26,670 --> 00:36:29,270 means everything, like our nature as humans, but 563 00:36:29,270 --> 00:36:34,770 also life around us, creatures, the creation as a 564 00:36:34,770 --> 00:36:38,570 whole, and we being part of this. This is what I 565 00:36:38,570 --> 00:36:41,850 believe. We can look more into what, because those 566 00:36:41,850 --> 00:36:44,370 people would be using words in a way that we don't 567 00:36:44,370 --> 00:36:46,330 use them nowadays. Like we'll see wit and 568 00:36:46,330 --> 00:36:50,590 judgment, how he tries to do, look at them. Now, 569 00:36:51,150 --> 00:36:53,370 more. 570 00:36:55,130 --> 00:36:59,550 Art from that fund, so this is a fund, like you 571 00:36:59,550 --> 00:37:03,450 take money from, you take inspiration from. Each 572 00:37:03,450 --> 00:37:06,530 just supply provides works without show and 573 00:37:06,530 --> 00:37:10,230 without pomp resides. I don't know how, like this 574 00:37:10,230 --> 00:37:12,230 is like when you work without pomp, you know 575 00:37:12,230 --> 00:37:15,670 pompous, pedantic, showing off your linguistic and 576 00:37:15,670 --> 00:37:21,460 poetic abilities and skills. Although some people 577 00:37:21,460 --> 00:37:24,380 accuse those neoclassicists of being pompous, of 578 00:37:24,380 --> 00:37:27,460 trying to show off, to use language in a way, you 579 00:37:27,460 --> 00:37:29,580 know, we spoke many times about the highly 580 00:37:29,580 --> 00:37:31,500 embellished language, the language that nobody 581 00:37:31,500 --> 00:37:34,440 understands except educated people, people who 582 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:39,940 went to Oxford or Cambridge. In some fair body, 583 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,780 thus the informing soul with spirits feeds, with 584 00:37:43,780 --> 00:37:48,800 vigor fills the whole. Each motion guides. because 585 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:53,440 we are guided by, again, by the nature of things. 586 00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:57,140 Each motion guides, and every nerve sustains 587 00:37:57,140 --> 00:38:02,340 itself unseen. But ineffects remain, some to whom 588 00:38:02,340 --> 00:38:06,560 heaven in wit has been profuse. Look at, again, 589 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:11,980 heaven. This is just one syllable because he wants 590 00:38:11,980 --> 00:38:15,750 to do something, change. So I think here he's 591 00:38:15,750 --> 00:38:21,410 saying that heaven, God, nature, life give some of 592 00:38:21,410 --> 00:38:26,970 us an excess of wit, too much wit. You know 593 00:38:26,970 --> 00:38:29,730 sometimes you hear somebody cries profusely, like 594 00:38:29,730 --> 00:38:34,570 you cry a lot. So some to whom heaven in wit has 595 00:38:34,570 --> 00:38:37,990 been profuse. Many people were blessed by 596 00:38:37,990 --> 00:38:43,460 excessive wit, excessive intellectuality. Want as 597 00:38:43,460 --> 00:38:48,100 much more to turn it to its use, to make use of 598 00:38:48,100 --> 00:38:51,540 this wit, probably by writing poetry. For wit, and 599 00:38:51,540 --> 00:38:53,860 then he goes to something that I find very 600 00:38:53,860 --> 00:38:58,920 striking here. For wit and judgment often are at 601 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:02,260 strife. I find it striking because, you know, when 602 00:39:02,260 --> 00:39:05,360 two things are at strife, struggling, like kind of 603 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:10,000 a conflict, conflicting interests here. Does he 604 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:17,140 mean wit? The brain, the mind, possibly, and 605 00:39:17,140 --> 00:39:21,900 judgment means instinct, our intuition, our guts, 606 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,940 knowing how you feel about things. I'm not sure, 607 00:39:25,020 --> 00:39:34,020 but these things are at strife. Using your? 608 00:39:35,100 --> 00:39:37,160 But that's still an intellectual thing, an 609 00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:39,360 intellectual activity. But if we talk about the 610 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:42,670 heart here, we talk about feelings and emotions 611 00:39:42,670 --> 00:39:47,250 rather than ideas and thoughts. Now what I usually 612 00:39:47,250 --> 00:39:50,170 do with Alexander Pope, I want you to try to do 613 00:39:50,170 --> 00:39:53,010 this. I usually try to hide, when I read one line, 614 00:39:53,170 --> 00:39:58,190 I try to hide the other line and guess what word 615 00:39:58,190 --> 00:40:00,590 he's going, it's a game I play, it's a very boring 616 00:40:00,590 --> 00:40:04,070 game I play sometimes. Try to guess the rhyme 617 00:40:04,070 --> 00:40:06,670 scheme, the rhyme, how he's going to rhyme the 618 00:40:06,670 --> 00:40:10,410 line. And when I when I got here for wit and 619 00:40:10,410 --> 00:40:14,330 judgment often are at strife though meant each 620 00:40:14,330 --> 00:40:17,830 other's aid like man and wife I never expected him 621 00:40:17,830 --> 00:40:23,690 to go for for wife because but again in poetry 622 00:40:23,690 --> 00:40:26,030 anything is possible it's just it takes a simile 623 00:40:26,030 --> 00:40:28,670 or a figure of speech and everything can be 624 00:40:28,670 --> 00:40:34,730 possible Why do I find this interesting? We know 625 00:40:34,730 --> 00:40:36,910 like, and we see this all the time, I pronounce 626 00:40:36,910 --> 00:40:41,530 you husband, man and wife, right? But logically 627 00:40:41,530 --> 00:40:44,150 speaking, it shouldn't be man and wife, it should 628 00:40:44,150 --> 00:40:48,390 be man and woman or husband and wife. I know it's 629 00:40:48,390 --> 00:40:50,350 more common to say man and wife, but some 630 00:40:50,350 --> 00:40:53,950 feminists will find this offensive because it 631 00:40:53,950 --> 00:40:56,990 suggests that a man when he marries never changes, 632 00:40:57,090 --> 00:40:59,370 he's the same. A man is a man, no matter what 633 00:40:59,370 --> 00:41:03,520 happens to him. But the woman, when she gets 634 00:41:03,520 667 00:43:18,850 --> 00:43:24,000 nature of things? It is more to guide. These rules 668 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:26,900 guide us. The rules of nature, the standard of 669 00:43:26,900 --> 00:43:32,500 nature, the just fixed standard of nature is meant 670 00:43:32,500 --> 00:43:37,680 to guide us than spare the muse's steed. 671 00:43:40,110 --> 00:43:43,110 I find this also very strange coming from 672 00:43:43,110 --> 00:43:47,410 Alexander Pope. Look at John Milton. John Milton 673 00:43:47,410 --> 00:43:52,410 was invoking the muse. He was expecting 674 00:43:52,410 --> 00:43:54,790 instructions and inspiration from them. He was 675 00:43:54,790 --> 00:43:59,110 asking for help to do this great project of his. 676 00:44:02,110 --> 00:44:05,970 Now here he says if you're basically writing 677 00:44:05,970 --> 00:44:11,240 poetry means you need to guide your Muse your 678 00:44:11,240 --> 00:44:15,260 writing rather than spare, you know spare here, 679 00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:21,740 you know spare Anybody follows football Premier 680 00:44:21,740 --> 00:44:25,680 League England the spare is what's the spare? 681 00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:34,860 No Spare 682 00:44:34,860 --> 00:44:42,080 a spare When usually, when horsemen, when they 683 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:44,740 ride, first thing they do, usually it's not good 684 00:44:44,740 --> 00:44:48,220 for horsemen to carry sticks and hit the horse. 685 00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:51,320 It's not good for the optics of it. A horse 686 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:54,780 shouldn't be hit, unlike a donkey sometimes or a 687 00:44:54,780 --> 00:44:57,560 mule. So the first thing they do, they just hit 688 00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:02,120 with the back of their foot, they hit the horse. 689 00:45:02,180 --> 00:45:04,480 But usually, we see this in Western movies, in 690 00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:07,200 Hollywood movies, there's some metal there. The 691 00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:12,960 pointy, spiky metal No, that's for the horse, this 692 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:18,180 is for the horseman Yeah exactly, we see it in 693 00:45:18,180 --> 00:45:21,640 Hollywood cowboy movies In Arabic it's called 694 00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:27,540 المهمز because it تهمز So there's a football team 695 00:45:27,540 --> 00:45:32,480 in England called Tottenham Hotspurs They call 696 00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:34,880 them the Spurs, المهاميز, something like this 697 00:45:36,520 --> 00:45:38,900 Strange in Arabic, but very beautiful in English. 698 00:45:39,420 --> 00:45:43,060 So we're not he says we need to guide again He's 699 00:45:43,060 --> 00:45:45,240 not also talking about the muse. He brought a 700 00:45:45,240 --> 00:45:50,040 horse for the muse Okay Then spare the muse's 701 00:45:50,040 --> 00:45:54,500 steed. We should not spare the muse's steed We 702 00:45:54,500 --> 00:45:59,020 should control it and guide it Restrain his fury 703 00:45:59,020 --> 00:46:04,080 his still refers to Restrain, limit. Remember we 704 00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:06,260 said for John Donne these rules were limiting, 705 00:46:06,460 --> 00:46:09,300 were restraining for imagination and experience 706 00:46:09,300 --> 00:46:12,740 and whatever. Even for the romantics later on, 707 00:46:12,900 --> 00:46:15,040 they believed that these rules are not only 708 00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:18,720 restrictive but also repressive. They restrict you 709 00:46:18,720 --> 00:46:21,080 from what you want to say, but they also repress 710 00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:24,260 you. They keep your feelings deep inside you, 711 00:46:24,600 --> 00:46:29,160 causing implosion sometimes. Restrain his fury, 712 00:46:29,640 --> 00:46:33,140 then provoke his speed. Don't provoke the speed of 713 00:46:33,140 --> 00:46:38,660 your muse. Don't let your muse loose. Free, 714 00:46:39,380 --> 00:46:43,220 unchained, ungoverned, uncontrolled, unpatterned, 715 00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:45,840 unorganized. There should be rules. There should 716 00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:50,600 be organization. The winged, and again, I find it 717 00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:53,500 very strange that he goes back to horse. He just 718 00:46:53,500 --> 00:46:55,940 said steed, meaning horse, and then he comes back 719 00:46:55,940 --> 00:47:00,840 to horse, which rhymes with course. The winged 720 00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:05,120 courser, like a generous, again, we drop here the 721 00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:10,400 generous, the extra horse, so we have a perfect 722 00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:15,380 example. Perfect music here. The winged courser, 723 00:47:15,500 --> 00:47:20,260 like a generous horse, shows most true mettle when 724 00:47:20,260 --> 00:47:24,680 you check his course. In a way, what I understand 725 00:47:24,680 --> 00:47:29,560 is that if you control, if you try to control, to 726 00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:34,620 limit this horse, this steed, it gives you better 727 00:47:34,620 --> 00:47:38,060 results. If you just keep it out in the open, 728 00:47:38,180 --> 00:47:40,820 doing whatever it wants to do, it won't help. And 729 00:47:40,820 --> 00:47:43,060 he's referring to the muse here. Our everybody, 730 00:47:43,640 --> 00:47:47,620 like those poets who can write following the muse 731 00:47:47,620 --> 00:47:51,580 unrestrained, probably they're not going to be 732 00:47:51,580 --> 00:47:54,500 writing good poetry. You need to control and limit 733 00:47:54,500 --> 00:47:58,140 and organize and structure these things. So the 734 00:47:58,140 --> 00:48:01,900 winged courser, the horse, like a generous horse, 735 00:48:02,440 --> 00:48:04,440 probably the winged courser, maybe the muse 736 00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:07,990 itself. Shows most middle, when does it show 737 00:48:07,990 --> 00:48:12,330 results, good results? When you check his course, 738 00:48:12,430 --> 00:48:17,110 when you control his, where he's going, where it 739 00:48:17,110 --> 00:48:22,330 is going, where and how. When you follow the 740 00:48:22,330 --> 00:48:27,010 rules. And then the most interesting part, I 741 00:48:27,010 --> 00:48:31,450 quoted this before in one of the classes. The 742 00:48:31,450 --> 00:48:33,630 summary is this, look at this, this is like an 743 00:48:33,630 --> 00:48:35,750 essay, like an academic essay with an argument 744 00:48:35,750 --> 00:48:38,650 with the opening line, first follow nature being 745 00:48:38,650 --> 00:48:41,470 the general statement and then narrow it down to 746 00:48:41,470 --> 00:48:46,550 things and then going for the wrapping up. Those 747 00:48:46,550 --> 00:48:50,890 rules of old discovered, not devised. 748 00:48:53,690 --> 00:48:56,510 These rules have been discovered from ancient 749 00:48:56,510 --> 00:49:02,220 times. No man made them up. They are not man-made. 750 00:49:02,320 --> 00:49:06,340 They are man-made. But the claim is that these men 751 00:49:06,340 --> 00:49:10,700 who put them down, wrote them down, were more into 752 00:49:10,700 --> 00:49:14,260 discovering them because they already existed in 753 00:49:14,260 --> 00:49:16,380 nature and because they already existed in the 754 00:49:16,380 --> 00:49:20,640 poetry of the great poets of the past. Those rules 755 00:49:20,640 --> 00:49:24,160 of all discovered, not devised, are nature still. 756 00:49:25,610 --> 00:49:30,010 They are nature still, but nature methodized. And 757 00:49:30,010 --> 00:49:32,190 look at like there's something different here. 758 00:49:33,190 --> 00:49:36,250 Remember we, in the opening, he invited us to 759 00:49:36,250 --> 00:49:39,250 follow nature because nature is unchanging, 760 00:49:39,570 --> 00:49:44,130 unerring. Nature is unchanged. Nature is divinely 761 00:49:44,130 --> 00:49:48,350 bright. Nature is the same. Nature is fair. But 762 00:49:48,350 --> 00:49:53,040 the idea, what I understand here is that What he 763 00:49:53,040 --> 00:49:56,720 implies is that of course nature has been changed 764 00:49:56,720 --> 00:49:59,380 because of society, because of civilization, 765 00:49:59,660 --> 00:50:02,960 because of man, because of industry, because of 766 00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:07,200 everything. So what he's doing, he claims to be 767 00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:10,120 methodizing nature. And I love how he's using this 768 00:50:10,120 --> 00:50:14,220 word as a verb. I'm not sure if it was used as a 769 00:50:14,220 --> 00:50:18,450 verb before. So not devised, but nature 770 00:50:18,450 --> 00:50:21,450 methodized. I am not making these rules up. I am 771 00:50:21,450 --> 00:50:25,510 just trying to regulate what has already been 772 00:50:25,510 --> 00:50:29,470 discovered in the past. Nature like liberty. Look 773 00:50:29,470 --> 00:50:32,950 at this simplistic, cool simile here. Like 774 00:50:32,950 --> 00:50:36,410 freedom, nature is but restrained. There's no 775 00:50:36,410 --> 00:50:41,170 absolute freedom. And nature itself is not 776 00:50:41,170 --> 00:50:43,710 absolute. Not because there's something wrong with 777 00:50:43,710 --> 00:50:46,650 nature, but perhaps because man changed nature. We 778 00:50:46,650 --> 00:50:49,190 don't want to follow the changed nature of things 779 00:50:49,190 --> 00:50:52,570 and people and life. We need to follow the origin, 780 00:50:52,790 --> 00:50:56,730 virgin form of it. By the same laws which first 781 00:50:56,730 --> 00:51:02,990 herself ordained. Nature itself, I like the use of 782 00:51:02,990 --> 00:51:07,790 herself ordained. These are rules dictated upon us 783 00:51:07,790 --> 00:51:12,180 by nature. Not the trees necessarily, but the 784 00:51:12,180 --> 00:51:14,460 nature of things, nature of people. 785 00:51:16,720 --> 00:51:21,460 To many this is very extreme, very restrictive, 786 00:51:21,640 --> 00:51:28,120 very repressive, very suppressive even. But for 787 00:51:28,120 --> 00:51:31,100 Jonah, again, if you read this poetry, some of the 788 00:51:31,100 --> 00:51:33,780 most beautiful poetry was written in this. period. 789 00:51:34,320 --> 00:51:36,540 It's similar to the Arabic poetry of, you know, 790 00:51:36,600 --> 00:51:38,360 the classical Arabic poetry where you have to do 791 00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:40,620 the same thing, the same rhyme scheme, the same 792 00:51:40,620 --> 00:51:43,500 meter, choosing, you know, highly embellished 793 00:51:43,500 --> 00:51:47,760 language and choosing very significant subject 794 00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:52,640 matters to write about. Before I let you ask 795 00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:58,480 questions, if you notice, I'm not sure whether how 796 00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:02,020 much he sticks here to the same number of 797 00:52:02,020 --> 00:52:05,480 syllables and And feet, if you have time, extra 798 00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:07,960 time at home, some time to kill, could you please 799 00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:10,360 count the syllables and see whether he, you know, 800 00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:17,020 goes for perfect iambic pentameters or like at 801 00:52:17,020 --> 00:52:18,760 least the number of syllables and the number of 802 00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:22,860 feet? You'd be surprised that almost always he 803 00:52:22,860 --> 00:52:27,500 does that. But the other interesting thing is the 804 00:52:27,500 --> 00:52:31,340 couplets, the rhyme scheme. Frame same bright 805 00:52:31,340 --> 00:52:36,560 light impart art Provides, presides, soul, whole, 806 00:52:36,660 --> 00:52:41,200 sustains, remains, profuse, youth, strife, wife, 807 00:52:41,460 --> 00:52:45,060 steed, speed, horse, course, devised, methodized, 808 00:52:45,240 --> 00:52:49,660 restrained, and, or didn't. Not even one imperfect 809 00:52:49,660 --> 00:52:52,620 triumph. If this is John Donne, he could have 810 00:52:52,620 --> 00:52:55,380 thrown two or three imperfect triumphs in our 811 00:52:55,380 --> 00:52:55,720 faces. 812 00:52:59,270 --> 00:53:03,410 And that's why we'll see next class. Again, I said 813 00:53:03,410 --> 00:53:05,390 this many times. We'll see this when we talk about 814 00:53:05,390 --> 00:53:08,950 romanticism. Romanticism took all these things and 815 00:53:08,950 --> 00:53:16,790 you just literally trashed them. They are all, all 816 00:53:16,790 --> 00:53:22,070 of them. That's, that's very, you know, extreme 817 00:53:22,070 --> 00:53:25,140 discipline here. But look at John Donne. Remember 818 00:53:25,140 --> 00:53:27,400 John Donne? Sometimes he goes for 12, sometimes he 819 00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:30,380 goes for 9. If you want to say something before 820 00:53:30,380 --> 00:53:31,200 the question, please. 821 00:53:36,590 --> 00:53:39,270 to make a connection between the note that he 822 00:53:39,270 --> 00:53:42,630 wrote in the beginning and the whole nature of 823 00:53:42,630 --> 00:53:45,710 nature itself. Like he's saying that if you find 824 00:53:45,710 --> 00:53:48,830 anything that is more correct or anything more 825 00:53:48,830 --> 00:53:52,510 perfect than nature, than this poetry, come back 826 00:53:52,510 --> 00:53:54,650 to me. And the same thing he says about nature. 827 00:53:54,710 --> 00:53:57,110 Nature is perfect and you cannot find anything 828 00:53:57,110 --> 00:54:00,720 else that you can get inspiration from. Again, I 829 00:54:00,720 --> 00:54:04,180 take this as some kind of arrogant, you know, 830 00:54:04,420 --> 00:54:11,160 challenge. I take this as he say, you can't come 831 00:54:11,160 --> 00:54:15,960 up with better poetry than this. And with this 832 00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:18,120 mentality, with this mindset, with this worldview, 833 00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:22,280 hopefully we will understand how and why they 834 00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:25,400 excluded John Donne and his followers from the 835 00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:27,440 English canon, how they trust John Donne, how they 836 00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:30,080 negatively frame John Donne. And then we'll see 837 00:54:30,080 --> 00:54:33,740 how the romantics said, okay, sorry, it's time for 838 00:54:33,740 --> 00:54:34,440 change now. 839 00:54:42,400 --> 00:54:42,920 Yeah. 840 00:54:50,690 --> 00:54:52,850 Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And this 841 00:54:52,850 --> 00:54:56,530 is again, if you don't read that, if you don't 842 00:54:56,530 --> 00:54:59,110 have knowledge, how can you make the connection? 843 00:54:59,790 --> 00:55:02,510 You have to be educated. You have to be a person 844 00:55:02,510 --> 00:55:05,510 who went to Oxford or Cambridge, who studied the 845 00:55:05,510 --> 00:55:07,550 Elliot in order to understand to make this 846 00:55:07,550 --> 00:55:11,840 connection. They will find so many allusions, so 847 00:55:11,840 --> 00:55:16,800 many myths, so much intertextuality with other 848 00:55:16,800 --> 00:55:20,700 texts that you have to be an educated person to 849 00:55:20,700 --> 00:55:23,980 realize this. And again, this in itself is 850 00:55:23,980 --> 00:55:26,860 challenging. This in itself pushes poetry up for 851 00:55:26,860 --> 00:55:31,480 the 1%, for the elite, so to speak, rather than 852 00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:35,840 for the masses. And this again, thankfully, will 853 00:55:35,840 --> 00:55:40,900 be challenged by the romantics themselves. So 854 00:55:40,900 --> 00:55:43,900 we'll find the features of romanticism here, the 855 00:55:43,900 --> 00:55:46,420 subject matter, the language, the sophisticated 856 00:55:46,420 --> 00:55:50,120 language, the rules of decorum, how strictly he 857 00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:53,100 sticks to ten syllables, five feet, and the 858 00:55:53,100 --> 00:55:56,860 perfect couplets, described sometimes as the 859 00:55:56,8 889 00:57:43,990 --> 00:57:47,550 Donne as a revolutionary poet, a man who said no, 890 00:57:47,910 --> 00:57:50,470 who turned everything upside down. The same thing 891 00:57:50,470 --> 00:57:52,730 could apply to the Romantics, especially to 892 00:57:52,730 --> 00:57:57,130 William Blake. Just if you give me one or two 893 00:57:57,130 --> 00:57:59,650 minutes maximum. Again, I just want to remind you 894 00:57:59,650 --> 00:58:02,790 of something we went through before the rules of 895 00:58:02,790 --> 00:58:07,530 decorum by Horace. Horace meant to guide the poets 896 00:58:07,530 --> 00:58:11,070 to the features how to write great poetry. They 897 00:58:11,070 --> 00:58:13,550 were adopted from ancient Greece and Roman 898 00:58:13,550 --> 00:58:17,650 literature. The aim of poetry is to teach and 899 00:58:17,650 --> 00:58:21,010 delight, not to confuse, not to make us ask 900 00:58:21,010 --> 00:58:23,530 questions or raise questions or question things. 901 00:58:24,870 --> 00:58:27,950 In order to achieve greatness themes in poetry, 902 00:58:27,950 --> 00:58:31,750 themes language and forms have to be elevated, like 903 00:58:31,750 --> 00:58:34,830 subject matters, things of great issues of great 904 00:58:34,830 --> 00:58:38,790 significance to the society as a whole, usually 905 00:58:38,790 --> 00:58:42,770 about universal truths to achieve decorum. Mixtures 906 00:58:42,770 --> 00:58:45,110 of forms should not happen; you shouldn't mix 907 00:58:45,110 --> 00:58:49,660 tragedy and comedy, or different things. Poetic 908 00:58:49,660 --> 00:58:51,640 diction, we spoke about the refined, highly 909 00:58:51,640 --> 00:58:53,800 embellished, sophisticated language, the language 910 00:58:53,800 --> 00:58:56,980 of like; that's why you mix Latin, you use 911 00:58:56,980 --> 00:59:00,360 references to Sinai. Imagine someone in England 912 00:59:00,360 --> 00:59:03,280 like 400 years ago, someone telling him, Sinai, 913 00:59:03,360 --> 00:59:05,560 what's Sinai? I never heard of this word, like 914 00:59:05,560 --> 00:59:06,820 another reference is there. 915 00:59:10,590 --> 00:59:13,630 Avoid conversational, colloquial language because 916 00:59:13,630 --> 00:59:16,170 this is the everyday language. You make poetry 917 00:59:16,170 --> 00:59:19,250 special, you don't just mirror what people say in 918 00:59:19,250 --> 00:59:21,790 the state. And finally, the form means that the 919 00:59:21,790 --> 00:59:23,450 rules of decorum dictate that the poem has to 920 00:59:23,450 --> 00:59:25,730 follow a regular form. 921 00:59:27,630 --> 00:59:31,510 We've seen this with our friend Alexander Pope. In 922 00:59:31,510 --> 00:59:33,550 both the shape and the lines have to be well 923 00:59:33,550 --> 00:59:35,870 structured. This applies to the number of lines, 924 00:59:36,070 --> 00:59:37,750 the number of syllables, and even the rhyme 925 00:59:37,750 --> 00:59:41,710 scheme, which has to be regular. And again, I gave 926 00:59:41,710 --> 00:59:47,530 the sonnet as the example. Okay, we'll stop here. 927 00:59:47,910 --> 00:59:51,690 If you have questions, please stay.