PL9fwy3NUQKwYGN66V9CL-c7DFnG0_Swb2/Mn01sqaFd3E_raw.srt

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Good morning ladies. This is again the English

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poetry course from the Islamic University of Gaza

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Palestine. Today we'll have one session on

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neoclassical poetry but before we do that let's

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hear some of the poems or parodies some of you

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wrote and want to share with us. Could you come

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please? Good morning, everyone. I wrote a parody

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of Come Live With Me and Be My Love. In this

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parody, the voice is an Israeli voice when the

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Israelis were calling people to come and immigrate

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to Palestine. So this is what I wrote.Come live

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with me and have come live with us and have your

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land and we will all our wishes stand that fertile

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lands trees and fields milk or flowing honey

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yields and we will sit upon the mosques seeing the

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Arabs apply their jokes by Balfour's promise to

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who's signed singing Hatikvah we first find. And

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we will make the homes and beds and a thousand

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jobs do trade with Arabs, their homes get in,

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their olive trees and holy lands, then when? All

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Israeli soldiers shall dance and sing for Arabs

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defeat each fifth John morning. Yet if Muslims

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unite and gather again, then go back or you'll

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taste pain again.

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Very nice attempt at again appropriating a

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particular text to your own course. Thank you very

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much. It's a short poem. Life is too short to

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hesitate, taking the adventures our hearts

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indicate. Life is too short to keep thinking

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physically. Set your soul free and let madness

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spread excessively. Let it happen, darlings. Don't

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think about the surroundings. Smell, touch, and

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feel it, the freedom you wished you could even

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have a bit. Farewell overthinking, goodbye

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regretting. Hey love, hello hope, welcome

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happiness. Get out of here sadness. No fears, no

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tears, just smiles all over here and there. Open

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the curtains and stir, colors here and there. The

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sun is smiling, blue clouds are surrounding. Ha,

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everything sucks, how I dare. It's nice, pretty,

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and so rare, the trip we decide to take with those

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who are willing to stake. With them, all scars

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disappear, all hunting ghosts fear. As long as

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they are here, we say bye fear. Thank you. Thank

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you. Anna? Thank you, Rawan. So you have a clay?

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This is all for pottery?

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Okay, good. Good morning. I have a parody about, a

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parody of my mistress' eyes are nothing like the

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sun. My mama's eyes. My mama's eyes are nothing

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like the sun. They give him color and give him

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fun. If sun has wires, golden wires grow on her

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smile. Sun rays are tranquil, warm. for the sight.

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But no such warmth feel I as her own teeth are

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burning bright. For I am shake, disturbed with

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this delight. And yet by heaven I think my love as

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rare.

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And yet by heaven I feel this love as rare as when

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we meet and she prevails. No such fear and no

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despair. Therefore by heaven you see I dare say

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that her love has no compare.

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Okay, so I've written a parody about also my

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mistress' eyes, but here I want to show you

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something. Now, when I read the poem, I was

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actually thinking about this person here. If we

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look at the description that Shakespeare himself

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gave, it was like describing dimmed eyes and no

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red lips, tan complexion, and black curly hair, no

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redness in her cheeks, she smells normal, music is

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better than her voice, and she walks, she ain't an

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angel. So if we think about it, probably

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represents most if not all of us. So here I am

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trying to draw the same portrait of this lady

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here, but in a different style. Okay. Okay, I will

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read now. The beauty I behold is nothing mundane.

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Your eyes charm me with endless depths of ink,

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shielded with black peacock's feather in vain.

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Your lips' cupid bow conquered every pink and

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lived peacefully on your sunkissed skin. Hair

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drowns me in endless stretch of midnight sky. It

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waves, I wave, or I commit a sin. With few words,

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you shout a million replies. One smile, two

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dimples are all it shall take to drill your love

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in my heart as dauntless. Your natural scent

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travels at daybreak. No perfume could ever do you

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justice. By heavens, my love for you is rare, when

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with other lovers, me you shall compare. I just

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want to say one thing. I chose to confront her

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because Yerehov. I think that he meant to

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highlight her imperfections. So yes, this is kind

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of like challenging for Shakespeare.

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Very good, very good poems. I know many of you

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have hidden talents when it comes to writing

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fiction and poetry, but you need some pushing. I'm

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willing to do the pushing, the guiding, the help.

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Just keep writing. Okay, so today we move to

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English poetry, neoclassical or Augustan poetry.

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We already mentioned something about

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neoclassicism. We mentioned something about them

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when we discussed John Donne. Remember many people

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consider the metaphysicals John Donne and his

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followers to be a digression. Our argument here is

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no, John Donne was as important. John Donne and

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his followers are where and are still as important

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as any movement, maybe as important as the

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romantic movement of poetry, not a digression, not

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somebody or a group of poets who are doing they

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don't know what. And we understood this. So John

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Donne was in the heyday of neoclassicism, as I

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claim. So therefore we need to go back to two of

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the most significant names of neoclassical poetry.

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Number one is John Milton. We're going to study a

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short extract from his epic, Paradise Lost, and

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then we're going to study in more detail an

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extract from Alexander Pope's essay on criticism.

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Just to get an idea, what neoclassical or Augustan

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poetry is. So this is by John Milton, An Extract

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from Paradise Lost. And as the name suggests, it's

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about paradise. Paradise we lost. Who are we? How

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did we lose this paradise? What is this paradise?

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What happened? How can we probably regain it later

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on? When you look at the title here, you come with

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the fact that this is basically not an ordinary

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poem, especially if you take Paradise, like

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literally not. Sometimes when you lose something,

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you say, oh, my paradise. Many people speak of

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Palestine as paradise lost, for example. or you

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losing something. But here this is literally about

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paradise. This is not a metaphor or some kind of

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simile or something. When we read the poem, again

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it begins with of man's, there should be an

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apostrophe here, of man's first disobedience and

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the fruit.

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of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought

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death into the world, and all our woe, with loss

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of Eden till one greater man restore us and regain

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the blissful seat. If you look here, there are

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many biblical references, many biblical references

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taken directly from religious texts, from the

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Bible, et cetera. Look at the subject matter of

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the poem. It's not an ordinary subject matter.

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It's not, in their opinion, simplistic like we

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have with the metaphysicals. Remember, we said the

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subject matter for most of those neoclassicists

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had to be about significant issues, issues of

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great significance to the society, the collective

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society as a whole, not to individuals. We'll see

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how also the romantics hated this about this, the

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poetry of this age They said poetry has to be self

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-expression rather than a tool of teaching and

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educating or sometimes delighting If you notice

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here of man, this is a phrase of man's first

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disobedience and of the fruit of that forbidden

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tree whose mortal taste brought, this is still a

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dependent clause, brought death into the world,

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brought death and woe into the world with loss of

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Eden, you know, Eden. And that's the title here,

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Paradise Lost, loss of Eden. till one greater man,

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perhaps he's talking here about Jesus, restore us.

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He did write actually another text which he called

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Paradise Regained, where again Jesus brings us

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back to God, saves us, the savior. Restore us and

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regain the blissful seat, our place in heaven.

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Sing, this is the main verb, delayed for like In

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line six, interesting. Sing or muse, sing muse.

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The muse is considered to be the source of

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inspiration for many classical poets, almost all

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of them. The muse, you know, in Arabic we say

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Rabbit al-shar sometimes or Shaytan al-shar. The

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Arabs used to believe in this. Some poets believe

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that every poet is like this muse thing. The muse

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here means a goddess of poetry. I think I quoted

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Ahmed Matar the other day saying something to the

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effect of

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something like this. The inspiration doesn't have

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to be restricted by rules. But look at how this

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muse, the source of inspiration for poetry, is not

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ordinary, it's also heavenly. Heavenly. Saying

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heavenly muse that on the secret top of Urib or

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Sinai did inspire that shepherd, and perhaps the

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shepherd is Moses. who first taught the chosen

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seed, probably the Israelites. And now look at

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this, of man's first disobedience, that's Adam,

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Adam and Eve, right?

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There's the forbidden tree here, the tree of

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knowledge, the fruit. And there's the Garden of

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Eden, Janat Adam. Look at the characters, look at

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the setting. A very significant representation of

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what neoclassical poetry was mainly about You

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don't talk about ordinary people, about poor

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people, about the masses You speak about

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significant issues. This is, if you read these

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texts and you have no idea about the biblical

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story of Adam and Eve or even the story we tell in

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Islam, you will find this difficult to understand.

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And again, I'm imagining somebody in the 17th

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century reading this. If this person is not

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religious, doesn't go regularly to the church to

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hear very often about Christ and the forbidden

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tree, there will be a lot of difficulty

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understanding what this man is talking about. Now

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look at even these references, Urib and Sinai.

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So sing heavenly muse that on the secret top of

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Urib or Sinai did inspire the shepherd who first

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taught the chosen seed in the beginning And in the

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beginning is a direct quote from also the Bible in

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the beginning was the word, probably the opening

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verses of the Bible. How the heavens, if you look

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here, like the extra, the syllable there is gone,

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heavens, should be read as heavens to keep the

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music of, or the flow and the music of the meat of

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the lion. How the heavens, look at what he's doing

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here again How the heavens and earth rose out of

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chaos كيف خلق الله السماوات والأرض من العدم How

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God created the heavens and earth Look at what the

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poet again is doing This is not a love poem, this

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is not a relationship poem It's a poem about how

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God created the universe

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And if Zion, hell delight thee more, and Ceolus

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brook that flowed fast by the oracle of God, I

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thence invoke thy aid. You know, to invoke, like

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to try to beg for somebody to bring, to be

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inspired by something. Thy aid, probably he's

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talking to still the heavenly muse. I invoke. This

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is my, this is how I can write poetry, by being

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inspired. ''Thy aid to my adventurous song that

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with no middle flight intends to soar above the

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Ionian mount where it pursues things unattempted

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yet in prose or rhyme'' And I find this really

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beautiful and sweet Things unattempted yet in

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prose or rhyme

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Look at the ambition here to do so. And indeed,

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this is something that is unmatched. This is one

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of the most beautiful poems. It's a very, very

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long poem, thousands of lines. If you are

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interested more in Milton, one of the most

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fascinating poets, you could at least listen to

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his poetry on YouTube. You will find some good

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dramatization of this poem and sometimes sketches

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on YouTube. You'll enjoy this. Things, look at

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what he's doing, he's not doing something

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ordinary, he knows this from the beginning. Things

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unattempted yet, things that have never been

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written about in prose, yet in prose or rhyme.

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This is an old spelling of rhyme.

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Okay, and chiefly thou, O spirit that dost prefer

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before all temples the upright heart and pure

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instruct me seeking instruction.For thou knowest

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thou from the first was present, and with mighty

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wings outspread dove-like sets brooding on the

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vast abyss, and made it pregnant. What in me is

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dark? That's the object. That's why he's doing it.

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He wants what is dark in him to be illumined, to

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be bright, to be lightened. What is low, raise and

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support? Bring me up. that to the height of this

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great argument. And again, the most important

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thing is how this opening ends there, here. This

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is just the opening. Why are you writing this? Why

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do you write poetry? Why is this poem being

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written? Because he wants to assert, I may in

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order to, I may assert eternal providence, an

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eternal providence, that God is there, that God is

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taking care of everything, is watching over us,

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that he will always protect us, that whatever God

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does, it's for our own good. I may assert eternal

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providence and justify the ways of God to men. So

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if you sometimes suffer or you know you are in

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pain, you lose, you don't get what you like, what

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you love, what you work for, don't worry because

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this is God's doing and God likes us all, loves us

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all. It's always going to be for your own benefit.

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If you get it, it's good. If you don't get it,

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it's also good. And I usually say that this is

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basically not the job of poets. It's the job of

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prophets and messengers. Look at again how the

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poet here is assuming this position, being a

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prophet-like, getting inspiration from wherever it

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gets, from God, from the muse, the spirit, in

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order to write great poetry. Poetry that, in the

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definition of are neoclassicists, neoclassical

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critics, both that teaches and delights. You'll be

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delighted here. But it's also going to teach you

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about life, about the creation. Now when you read

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this, you need to be careful. because this is a

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religious poem. Indeed, it is a religious poem,

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but many people did not take it as a religious

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poem. Many Christians hated John Hamilton for

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doing this and considered him to be, you know,

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heretic and, in a way, blasphemous. Because in the

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text, who are the main characters again? There's

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God, Adam, Eve, Satan, you know, the angels, the

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good and the fallen ones. Now in literature there

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is no pure or good or bad. Many students want to

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write short stories or texts or whatever and they

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usually focus on the pure good or the pure evil.

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This is not good literature. Literature is about

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the grey area, the area that makes us all wonder

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and think. It's not about being too good or too

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bad. It's about a good person doing something bad

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or a bad person doing something good. Now, in

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Paradise Lost, Satan sometimes, the devil, is

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00:19:20,330 --> 00:19:27,510
depicted as blameless or to blame as other

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characters. Sometimes you feel like, oh, you feel

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sorry for Satan. If you do, it doesn't mean you're

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evil. It means John Milton is a genius. But that's

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not what I want to focus on. But it's good to

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think about this. So again, we end here this

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example by why he's doing this, why he's writing

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this text. I may assert eternal providence and to

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justify the ways of God to men. I find this very

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beautiful in many ways, the poetry. If you notice,

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of course, there's no particular regular rhyme

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scheme there because this could be classified as

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blank verse. Like in Shakespeare, when you write

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thousands and thousands of lines, it's going to be

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very tough to keep the rhyme regular. So you free

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yourself, this is poetry, but you free yourself of

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the rigidity of the rhyme scheme. Now most

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importantly, This essay on criticism by Alexander

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Poppe

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basically

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lived the first half of the 18th century. Remember

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Alexander Poppe, he was one of the critics who did

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not like John Donne. And when many critics who

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even didn't like John Donne said that John Donne,

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at least he was witty, like he has this unmatched

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intellectuality and wit. Alexander Pope said,

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nope, he doesn't have even imagination. His

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imagination is ordinary. And I find him very

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interesting. He's one of the most canonical

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writers, but also very interesting. If you read

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him and Shakespeare, I once read an article that

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explained how Alexander Pope was not happy with

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many things in Shakespeare's plays, and he would

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just fix them and change them and edit them,

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saying that it should be this way. Shakespeare

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must have meant it this way, not that way.

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Shakespeare was wrong. That's very extreme in many

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ways. Okay, so the title is also very interesting.

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It says an essay on criticism. If one of you wants

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to read, like you Google, okay, you have some time

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to kill, you Google essay on criticism, you want

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to know more about criticism and how to do

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criticism, and this essay pops up as the first

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result, you're going to be surprised. Because this

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is not an essay, it's a poem. But look at how even

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he says, even your criticism, your critical ideas

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are written in the form of long poems, not

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ordinary poems. The second thing we notice is this

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foreign language, not English. Again, imagine

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00:22:21,750 --> 00:22:23,490
yourself living in the 18th century.

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It's Latin, I guess. You don't have, your father

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couldn't afford the money to send you to

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university or even to a grammar school, but you

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worked hard and you managed to be able to read

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English and you pride yourself in this. And then

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somebody tells you, hey, there's this interesting

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text if you want to read it. It's like, okay, it's

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say on criticism and what? That's all I can say,

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00:22:50,830 --> 00:22:54,990
it's a poem. And then you come face to face with a

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foreign language, a language you're not familiar

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with. I'm not sure if this is going to be a turn

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off or what. But again, this is one reason why I

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00:23:04,690 --> 00:23:07,630
say that much of the poetry written by those

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people was poetry written by the elite and for the

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elite. You had to be educated at university

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sometimes to understand their allusion. There are

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many allusions. Like when you read John Milton,

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there are so many religious allusions and

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allusions to other places and sometimes

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mythologies that you don't get if you don't read

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about them. You have to do effort. Unlike Jonah

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and all you have to do sometimes is just to think

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and try to connect things.

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And also what he says, this is translated here, I

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think this is a quote from Horace. It's translated

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into, if you have come to know, it's like a

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challenge. The poem opens with a challenge. If you

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write something as good as this, then show it to

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me. If you don't, then follow me. In a way, you

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can't do this. Nobody can do something like this.

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If you have come to know any precept more correct

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than these, share it with me brilliant one. If

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00:24:12,820 --> 00:24:16,200
not, use these with me. Follow me. These are the

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way to write poetry. These are the ways to write

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poetry. These are the rules and the regulations.

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00:24:24,530 --> 00:24:27,910
And again, this is only the opening bit extracts

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00:24:27,910 --> 00:24:31,530
from Hesayon criticism. Let's focus more on them,

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00:24:32,130 --> 00:24:37,010
say, discuss issues and examine how he wants us to

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write poetry. The first idea is the first, the

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00:24:41,370 --> 00:24:47,610
opening paragraph is an imperative verb. First,

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follow. Follow what? We need to follow nature.

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You're already familiar with Plato and Aristotle

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imitating nature. Somebody said, was it Plato?

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Plato said, pottery is not good because it's just

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imitation of an imitation, the world of being and

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00:25:03,860 --> 00:25:06,520
the world of becoming. We're not writing anything

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00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:10,280
original. We're just imitating something that is

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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 Paul. Nature basically means the world

404
00:25:35,700 --> 00:25:40,720
that exists around us. And in many ways, nature is

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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

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00:26:04,830 --> 00:26:08,370
very, very symmetrical. So if you want to produce

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00:26:08,370 --> 00:26:12,950
something, you need to echo the perfection and the

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00:26:12,950 --> 00:26:17,930
symmetry of nature around us. before it is touched

415
00:26:17,930 --> 00:26:22,450
and changed and damaged by man. First, follow

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00:26:22,450 --> 00:26:26,310
nature and your imagination frame. By here,

417
00:26:26,410 --> 00:26:33,170
because nature has just standards. Her standard is

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00:26:33,170 --> 00:26:37,970
just, is fair. Not sure if it means more than

419
00:26:37,970 --> 00:26:41,830
this. And also, which is still the same. Nature

420
00:26:41,830 --> 00:26:48,010
was and is and will be. it's almost fixed. I think

421
00:26:48,010 --> 00:26:50,270
here the idea is that if you count on your

422
00:26:50,270 --> 00:26:54,410
imagination and you on your feelings emotions

423
00:26:54,410 --> 00:26:58,910
experiences encounters these are things that are

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00:26:58,910 --> 00:27:02,290
changeable by time possibly changeable you change

425
00:27:02,290 --> 00:27:04,750
now you're sad then you're happy now you're

426
00:27:04,750 --> 00:27:07,530
optimistic and then you're pessimistic we can't

427
00:27:07,530 --> 00:27:11,450
count on this because They're not fixed, they're

428
00:27:11,450 --> 00:27:13,470
not the same. But nature is the same, it doesn't

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00:27:13,470 --> 00:27:17,210
change. So it should inspire us to write in a

430
00:27:17,210 --> 00:27:19,690
particular way. And also nature is, I like this

431
00:27:19,690 --> 00:27:24,310
word, unerring. You know, to err is human, to

432
00:27:24,310 --> 00:27:27,910
forgive is divine. So nature never makes mistakes,

433
00:27:28,230 --> 00:27:33,010
never errs. Unerring nature, still divinely

434
00:27:33,010 --> 00:27:39,150
bright. One clear, unchanged and universal light.

435
00:27:40,460 --> 00:27:43,840
I think the idea is that nature provides us with

436
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:48,240
clear, unchanged, universal light, life, force and

437
00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:52,660
beauty. Must all impart. Imparts all of these on

438
00:27:52,660 --> 00:27:58,900
us. Nature imparts, gives us, bestows on us light,

439
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:04,180
life, force and beauty. We can be touched by

440
00:28:04,180 --> 00:28:09,400
nature because it gives us everything we need, we

441
00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:15,440
require. And also, at once nature should be,

442
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:21,620
that's following nature, at once the source and

443
00:28:21,620 --> 00:28:26,080
end and test of art. What a beautiful thing to

444
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:33,380
say. Can someone try to explain this? At once, the

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

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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 --> 00:41:05,720
married, she changes totally. She becomes somebody

635
00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:08,200
else because she is no longer a woman. In a way,

636
00:41:08,260 --> 00:41:11,760
she becomes a wife. Probably I'm putting too much

637
00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:14,300
into this or stretching it a little bit, but I

638
00:41:14,300 --> 00:41:17,380
find this very striking here. And does he mean,

639
00:41:17,460 --> 00:41:20,260
like when he says, wit and judgment, man and wife,

640
00:41:20,340 --> 00:41:24,280
does he mean wit like in man and judgment like in

641
00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:28,320
wife? But also there's something interesting,

642
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:32,340
though mint each other, he's saying that wit and

643
00:41:32,340 --> 00:41:34,920
judgment should complement each other, should

644
00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:38,140
complete each other, should be there in harmony.

645
00:41:38,620 --> 00:41:42,240
And he uses one of the most striking similes here,

646
00:41:42,740 --> 00:41:45,440
like man and wife. And we know husbands and wives

647
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:49,340
are not always in a harmonious relationship. So

648
00:41:49,340 --> 00:41:54,200
this is a very strange thing to say, like man and

649
00:41:54,200 --> 00:42:00,060
wife. So for wit and judgment often are at strife,

650
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:04,800
though they are meant to be to each other's aid,

651
00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:07,480
to aid each other, to help each other, to

652
00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:12,520
complement each other, like man and wife.

653
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:21,300
And finally, is this the final thing? No, we still

654
00:42:21,300 --> 00:42:26,520
have the finally to come. It is more to guide than

655
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:32,020
spare the muse's steed You know steed? What's a

656
00:42:32,020 --> 00:42:32,500
steed?

657
00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:40,020
What's a steed? Don't watch Shrek?

658
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,600
Any cartoon? There's always a steed in cartoon

659
00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:49,500
movies Steed is horse, but it's a poetic word

660
00:42:49,500 --> 00:42:51,620
Steed

661
00:42:54,770 --> 00:42:59,390
Like in Arabic, like horse is in Arabic, horse,

662
00:42:59,490 --> 00:43:03,010
الحصان for example You don't find the word حصان in

663
00:43:03,010 --> 00:43:09,070
poetry, right? It's not poetic It's

664
00:43:09,070 --> 00:43:13,690
more to guide, now going back, again it's not easy

665
00:43:13,690 --> 00:43:15,730
sometimes to follow the pronouns here because here

666
00:43:15,730 --> 00:43:18,850
it says it is not, is he referring to nature, the

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
00:55:56,860 --> 00:56:00,500
heroic couplet. This Alexander Pope is one of the

860
00:56:00,500 --> 00:56:02,740
most fascinating. Don't take me wrong. I'm not

861
00:56:02,740 --> 00:56:04,860
trashing anybody. I'm not saying this poetry is

862
00:56:04,860 --> 00:56:08,840
better than that poetry. I'm saying this poetry is

863
00:56:08,840 --> 00:56:11,420
the poetry of its time. But later on, we'll have

864
00:56:11,420 --> 00:56:14,300
people change this in many ways. It's up to you to

865
00:56:14,300 --> 00:56:18,380
like whichever school or movement or poet, et

866
00:56:18,380 --> 00:56:20,760
cetera. You could, if you are interested, you

867
00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:24,280
could read or at least go to YouTube and listen to

868
00:56:24,280 --> 00:56:28,390
The Rape of the Lock. A mock epic by Alexander

869
00:56:28,390 --> 00:56:33,670
Popp. We have two questions here. How does the

870
00:56:33,670 --> 00:56:39,110
poem by Alexander Popp reflect the rules of

871
00:56:39,110 --> 00:56:42,090
decorum that were followed in the neoclassical age

872
00:56:42,090 --> 00:56:48,990
in terms of form, theme, and language? And then

873
00:56:48,990 --> 00:56:53,790
number two, important question. Popp seems to

874
00:56:53,790 --> 00:56:57,680
indicate that There is no room for originality and

875
00:56:57,680 --> 00:57:00,540
innovation. All you have to do is just to imitate,

876
00:57:00,800 --> 00:57:05,500
to follow. Follow. Don't invent.

877
00:57:07,320 --> 00:57:12,300
Don't devise. Just follow the discovered rules in

878
00:57:12,300 --> 00:57:15,940
nature, that nature itself or herself ordained. So

879
00:57:15,940 --> 00:57:17,480
I want you to think of this question. Why does

880
00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:21,180
Pope think there is no room? Because for many

881
00:57:21,180 --> 00:57:24,080
people this is very, very serious. Like it doesn't

882
00:57:24,080 --> 00:57:26,420
only reflect poetry, but it reflects the mentality

883
00:57:26,420 --> 00:57:29,960
of the high class, the ruling class. If you belong

884
00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:32,680
to the ruling class, you need to believe this

885
00:57:32,680 --> 00:57:35,820
because you want people to follow you and your

886
00:57:35,820 --> 00:57:38,000
constructs and not to think about breaking the

887
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:39,920
rules or breaking the pattern or changing the

888
00:57:39,920 --> 00:57:43,990
worldview. And in this sense, I understand John

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 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 Popp. 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.