ONE DAY I WROTE HER NAME

                                            Edmund Spenser

1.   1 Name the sonnet series to which “One day I wrote her name” belongs to? What is the theme of the series

Ans: Spenser’s sonnet “One day I wrote her name” belongs to “Amoretti”, a series of eighty nine love sonnets which give an idealized account of his own courtship with Elizabeth Boyle. The sonnets celebrate the renaissance love beauty and idealistic aspiration. A curious undertone of melancholy is delicately blended in the sonnets.

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         . 2         Do you think “One day I wrote her name” is a representative Spenserian sonnet?

Ans: As a representative Spenserian sonnet “One day I wrote her name” celebrates Renaissance love of beauty and idealistic aspiration through simple language and commonplace imagery .The simple emotion of love runs throughout the sonnet and culminates in the poet’s bold assertion in the supremacy of poetic art to immortalize his love. 

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            3      “One day I wrote her name” is typical in its idealization--- Do you agree ?

Ans: Like a typical Renaissance love poetry, Spenser’s “One day I wrote her name” is inspired by the high ideal of sincere love. The poem is the poet’s bold assertion of the supremacy of poe5tic art to eternalize love and to make it triumphant over the ravages of time.

     

4        4   What is the central theme of the sonnet “One day I wrote her name”?

Ans: The central theme of Spenser’s sonnet “One day I wrote her name” is the poet’s bold assertion of the supremacy of poetic art to immortalize his love. Though his lady love is sceptic about the result of his endeavour , the poet is highly optimistic that his love will survive the ravages of time.

      

     5.    What is the structure of the sonnet “One day I wrote her name”?

Ans: This sonnet is formed of three alternately rhymed quatrains and a concluding couplet. The last line every quatrain rhymes with the first line of next quatrain to achieve an effective melody. The rhyme scheme followed in the sonnet is abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee .

    6.     What variation does Spenser make to the rhyme scheme of the typical English sonnet structure in “One day I wrote her name”?

Ans: Spenser skillfully combined the typical English sonnet structure of Shakespeare with its three quatrains and a couplet pattern and the concatenated rhyme of Petrarchan  sonnets. So “One day I wrote her name” rhymes thus abab, bcbc,cdcd, ee. Last line of every quatrain rhymes with the first line of succeeding quatrain to get an effective melody.

    7.    “Our love shall live and later life renew”—How will his aspiration be successful ? OR How does Spenser defy death in “One day I wrote her name” ?

Ans: In his robust optimism, Spenser asserts the supremacy of his verse to immortalize his love. His life will survive the onslaught of time and will ever remain new to his poetry. Even if death may subdue all the world, their life will be renewed through this immortal love.

     8.    “One day I wrote her name”--Who wrote whose name ? What was the fate of writing?

Ans: In the sonnet Spenser wrote the name of his lady love on the sea beach in order to eternalize it. But the huge wave of the sea washed it away. He wrote the second time but again it suffered the same fate.

       

    9 “But came the tyde and made my payness his prey” How did the ‘tyde’ made the speaker’s ‘payness’ its prey?

Ans: Spenser’s  repeated attempts to write his lady love’s name on the sea beach and thus to preserve his love on earth are foiled by the devouring sea waves. The huge waves ,which resemble a giant animal, pounch and wash the name and thus make the poet’s effort its prey.

     10.               “Vayne man” said she “that dost in vaine assay” –Whom does ‘she’ refer to? What is ‘vaine assay’ according to her?

Ans: ‘She’ refers to the lady love of Spenser. According to her, the lover’s attempt to write his beloved’s name on the shore of the sea and thus to immortalize it is a futile effort because the devouring sea waves will instantly wash it away. So she calls the effort ‘vaine assay’.

1  11.               How would the speaker in “One day I wrote her name” make his beloved  ‘live by fanci’ ?

Ans: The beloved of Spenser was dissatisfied with him for for his futile attempt to eternalize a mortal thing. At this the poet vigorously asserts her that his verse will confer upon her an immortality in a world of decay and degeneration. Her fame would be made permanent .

1  12.               How did the poet try to immortalize the name of his beloved ?

Ans: . Spenser begins the sonnet  with a simple yet archetypal and obsessive and symbolic act on the part of a lover. One day in the presence of his beloved he wrote the name of his beloved on the sea-beach with a view  to immortalizing her name. But he very tragically found that it was washed away by the waves. He tried for the second time but again it suffered the same fate.

1    13.               Why did the beloved rebuke the poet in “One day I wrote her name”?

Ans: One day in the presence of his beloved Spenser wrote the name of his beloved twice on the sea-beach with a view  to immortalizing her name. But repeatedly and very tragically it was washed away by the waves . Seeing this, the beloved reminded him that he was trying to immortalize a mortal thing, as like her name she would also one day be wiped out from this world.

14.               How does the poet-lover answer the beloved’s questionings about his attempt at immortalizing her name? 

Ans: The speaker starts with a belief of the renaissance alchemy that baser elements naturally perish in the dust. “Baser things” i.e the earthly things are subject to decay and death. What he seeks to immortalize is not the physical beauty of the beloved, but those spiritual qualities which provide her with spiritual beauty. The poet is hopeful that his verses will be able to eternalise  the spiritual beauty of the beloved and transfigure her into a heavenly being. Thus he will be successful in preserving her name even after the world is destroyed in the Apocalypse.

Prepared By : Pulak Nath

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CHRISTABEL

S.T. COLERIDGE

QUESTION & ANSWER

1.       Do you think ‘Christabel’ represents the conflict between the forces of good and evil?  Or- What is ‘Christabel’ about?

Ans: ‘Christabel’ indeed represents an aspect of ever recurring conflict between the forces of evil and good, between motiveless malice and pure innocence. The former is represented by Geraldine and the latter by Christabel. Christabel’s dead mother is a symbol of good angel; but her power is often weak to protect innocence from the malignity of evil.

2.      What is the significance of the title ‘Christabel’?

Ans: The title ‘Christabel’ is a fusion of Christ and Abel, both of them are martyr in their own right. Christabel also becomes a martyr of her own innocence whereby she would atone her lover’s wrong. In another sense, Christabel is Christ’s ‘belle’ or spiritual daughter of Christ, in view of her purity and innocence.

3.      Does ‘Christabel’ belong to any particular genre of poetry?

Ans: Coleridge’s ‘Christabel’ may be said to belong to the genre of Gothic Romance. All the staples of the genre- the ancient castle, the moat, the veiled moonlight, the screech of owls, the midnight forest, the meeting between evil and innocence- are present in the poem and build an atmosphere of supernatural inferno. However there is nothing of crude horror of gothic romance.

4.      What constitute the supernaturalism in ‘Christabel’?

Ans: Coleridge’s ‘Christabel’ constitutes supernaturalism through medieval touches and haunting suggestiveness. The interplay of light and shade, the moated castle with massive gate, the moan of the mastiff bitch and the sudden flaring up of the dying fire while Geraldine passes constitute supernatural atmosphere. It is intensified by the portrayal of evil woman, practice of witchcraft and the hovering of Christabel’s mother.

5.      What is the allegorical significance of the poem ‘Christabel’?

Ans: The theme of ‘Christabel’ presents an aspect of the ever recurring struggle between the powers of light and darkness, between innocence and motiveless malice. Here Coleridge tries to point out the susceptibility of innocence to the world of evil. However, the poem ends with a hint of the eventual triumph of innocence in this world because saints always aid good people in their danger.

6.      Would you consider ‘Christabel’ as a journey from innocence to experience?

Ans: Through ‘Christabel’ Coleridge shows how innocence is susceptible and easily victimized in this world by evil. The poem may be described as a journey from innocence to experience because the innocent girl, standing on the verge of womanhood, who went to the midnight forest, is quite different from the lady who woke up next morning with strange and experience.

7.     What medieval touches do you find in ‘Christabel’?

Ans: Coleridge’s ‘Christabel’ leads us to the old medieval days with which witchery, magic and superstitions are associated. The moated castle with its massive gate, the tower clock, the shady presence of a feudal lord, a fair lady and a witch woman- all reinforce a pervasive medieval spirit. The theological idea in the poem- the battle between innocence and evil- is also a part of medieval piety.

9) Consider ‘Christabel’ as a ballad.
Ans: As ballad Coleridge’s ‘Christabel’ follows finely the art of story telling. Additionally the poet uses the old ballad devices of using the interrogation to intensify interest and give dramatic vividness to the narration, repetition to linger a little on interesting details and gaps in story telling to stimulate the imaginations of the readers, direct narration in the conversation to give force to the narration

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KEATS’ “ODE  TO A NIGHTINGALE” 

1.   “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains

              My sense, as though of hemlock I had   drunk…” 

Explain the occasion in which the poet experiences this kind of sensations.

Ans: As Keats listens to the song of the bird nightingale alone in the poem “Ode to a Nightingale”, he experiences euphoric ascent of joy to such an extreme degree that it ultimately leads to the feeling of pain at his heart. He compares his state of numbness to that being created by the administration of the legendary poison given to Socrates, Hemlock, which would set in rigor mortis in the human body.

2.   What is Hippocrene ? why is it blushful?                                                                                                                                  

 Ans:  Hippocrene was a spring on the Mount Helicon, the haunt of the nine Muses. It is said to have been created by the blow of the hoofs of Pegasus, the winged horse of the Sun God. The water of this fountain brought poetic inspiration.

              Keats here identifies the bright, red, sparkling wine with the water of Hippocrene because he looks upon wine as a powerful source of poetic inspiration. It is blushful because over-consumption of wine provides a blush to the checks.

3.   What is ‘Hemlock’ and ‘dull opiate’?

  Ans: ‘Hemlock is a poisonous plant which has the capacity to suspend a person’s feeling and activity. Socretes was compelled to drink it, and he died.

 ‘Dull opiate’ means a drug which contains opium and therefore induces sleep.

4.   How does the transitional thought from first stanza to the second work?

 Ans: In the first stanza the happiness of the nightingale as embodied in its song reminds the    poet, by contrast, about the finitude and pain of human life. In the second stanza the poet   tries to find intoxication through wine as a means for losing himself completely into the blissful world of the nightingale.   

5.   Who is Bacchus and why does Keats refer to him ?

 Ans: According to Roman mythology Bacchus is the Roman god of wine who is traditionally shown in chariot drawn by leopards. Previously the poet had expressed his wish to fly away to the world of the nightingale with the help of alcohol. But now he resolves to take recourse to poetic imagination to go there.

6.   “To thy high requiem become a sod”---How does ‘high requiem’ become a sod?

Ans: ‘Requiem’ means a song of mourning while sod means the surface of the ground. Here it means grave. Even after the death of the poet, the nightingale would still continue to pour forth his song as a lament to his death. But in grave being as insensible as a clod of earth he would not be able to listen to it.

7.   Who is Dryad ? Why is the nightingale called ‘light winged Dryad’?

Ans: Dryad is generally believed to be a wood nymph and an embodiment of the wild spirits inhabiting the forest. Keats thinks that the wings of the nightingale are not weighed down by the heavy burden of life, and so it can flit from one tree to another like a Dryad. So Keats calls the nightingale ‘light winged Dryad’.

8.   “One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk” What is Lethe? Who has sunk Lethe-wards and why?

Ans: Lethe is the river of forgetfulness in the lower world. Here poet Keats under the soothing effect of the nightingale’s song feels like one who has drunk the water of the river of forgetfulness and has become oblivious of the sorrows and suffering of the mundane world.

9.   “Tis not through envy of thy happy lot”—Why does Keats say so?

Ans: In the poem “Ode to a Nightingale” Keats confesses that he feels the pain of joy and sense of numbness not because of the jealousy of the better fate of the bird, but because the rapturous music of the nightingale’s song has produced an excessive joy in his heart.

10.   What does the poet mean by “shadow numberless”?

Ans: The phrase refers to the innumerable shadows created as the moon light pierces through the dense mass of leaves. Though the first two stanzas do not clearly establish the fact that the time is night, it is indeed so. Moreover the interplay of light and shade does not allow the poet to trace the exact location of the bird.

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