1 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,680 Assalamualaikum and good morning from Gaza. This 2 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,100 is English poetry at the Islamic University of 3 00:00:12,100 --> 00:00:18,000 Gaza. Today we move to do something perhaps a 4 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:22,180 little bit different from Neoclassicism. But don't 5 00:00:22,180 --> 00:00:25,640 be mistaken, this is not that much different from 6 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:29,400 Metaphysical poetry or the poetry of John Donne. 7 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:32,560 Unfortunately, when we read many English 8 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,800 literature books, English poetry books, they will 9 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,700 tell you that the real Modernist movement started 10 00:00:39,700 --> 00:00:42,380 with the Romantic poets, with the likes of William 11 00:00:42,380 --> 00:00:46,980 Blake, Wordsworth, and Coleridge. This is true to 12 00:00:46,980 --> 00:00:51,260 some extent, but sadly this erases the likes of 13 00:00:51,260 --> 00:00:53,900 John Donne, who himself was practicing this 14 00:00:53,900 --> 00:00:57,640 probably 100 years before the Romantics. We've 15 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,940 seen how John Donne categorically refused the 16 00:01:00,940 --> 00:01:05,220 rules of decorum, how he put meaning over rule, 17 00:01:05,340 --> 00:01:08,540 how he didn't like the collective idealistic 18 00:01:08,540 --> 00:01:13,180 poetry of the Elizabethan age. But with the 19 00:01:13,180 --> 00:01:15,920 Romantics, we speak about totally, also in a way, 20 00:01:16,020 --> 00:01:18,700 totally different poets and their sensibility and 21 00:01:18,700 --> 00:01:22,440 their approach to individualism and the universe, 22 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:28,420 nature. If I want to draw a timeline, a random 23 00:01:28,420 --> 00:01:35,030 timeline, of Neoclassicism, I usually claim that 24 00:01:35,030 --> 00:01:39,270 this is where perhaps John Donne was writing 25 00:01:39,270 --> 00:01:43,910 poetry. He was writing poetry during the heyday, 26 00:01:44,070 --> 00:01:48,460 the peak of Neoclassicism, when people, the giants 27 00:01:48,460 --> 00:01:53,160 like Samuel Johnson and later on, the great names 28 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:58,620 50 years later, 100 years later, like Ben Jonson, 29 00:01:58,900 --> 00:02:03,060 Samuel Johnson, John Dryden, and Alexander Pope 30 00:02:03,060 --> 00:02:06,060 later on, were dominating the scene. For John 31 00:02:06,060 --> 00:02:11,400 Donne, it was swimming not against one current, 32 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,820 but swimming against currents of giants, people 33 00:02:14,820 --> 00:02:17,280 who were already loved, who were writing some of 34 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,920 the greatest literature, poetry in English. So it 35 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:23,780 wasn't easy for him. And that's why this is the 36 00:02:23,780 --> 00:02:26,480 reason why he, to a great extent, was 37 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,120 negatively framed, like we explained before. 38 00:02:30,430 --> 00:02:32,990 He was largely kicked out of the English canon, was not 39 00:02:32,990 --> 00:02:36,670 taken seriously for many years. If I want to talk about 40 00:02:36,670 --> 00:02:41,430 Romanticism, probably this is where they were 41 00:02:41,430 --> 00:02:44,470 writing, when Neoclassicism was already in 42 00:02:44,470 --> 00:02:48,010 decline, and people had already had enough of the 43 00:02:48,010 --> 00:02:50,770 same poetry being written in the same way, 44 00:02:50,810 --> 00:02:52,930 following the same rules, you know, rules of 45 00:02:52,930 --> 00:02:57,010 decorum, the subject matter, and the form, and the 46 00:02:57,010 --> 00:02:59,620 language, et cetera. I'm not saying that the 47 00:02:59,620 --> 00:03:01,560 Romantics, I'm not suggesting that the Romantics 48 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,060 had it easy; they didn't, because most of the 49 00:03:04,060 --> 00:03:06,480 Romantic poets, you will be surprised to know that they 50 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:11,000 were not famous during their lifetimes. Again, 51 00:03:11,220 --> 00:03:13,760 there is this connection between them and 52 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,360 individualism. The four great Romantic poets, 53 00:03:17,780 --> 00:03:21,500 probably except for Shelley, almost all of them were 54 00:03:21,500 --> 00:03:24,380 not famous, were not sometimes taken seriously by 55 00:03:24,380 --> 00:03:27,800 their contemporaries. We'll see this as we go. Today, we 56 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:33,890 begin with the one and only William Blake. William 57 00:03:33,890 --> 00:03:37,050 Blake wrote some of the most beautiful poetry in 58 00:03:37,050 --> 00:03:41,170 English. Many people like to classify him as a 59 00:03:41,170 --> 00:03:44,550 unique poet, a poet of his own, in his own 60 00:03:44,550 --> 00:03:48,810 world. But others like to consider him as a pre- 61 00:03:48,810 --> 00:03:51,470 Romantic, somebody who started, who pioneered 62 00:03:51,470 --> 00:03:53,950 this movement, who ushered in this movement, and who influenced 63 00:03:53,950 --> 00:03:57,330 Wordsworth and Coleridge. So whether he is a 64 00:03:57,330 --> 00:03:59,350 Romantic or a pre-Romantic, it's not a big issue 65 00:03:59,350 --> 00:04:01,930 for us, but we'll find so many similarities 66 00:04:01,930 --> 00:04:05,570 between him and Wordsworth and some other Romantic 67 00:04:05,570 --> 00:04:12,190 poets, like even Shelley and Keats. Now, I don't 68 00:04:12,190 --> 00:04:13,970 want to speak much about his background. I don't want to give 69 00:04:13,970 --> 00:04:16,470 you the background and the context. Let's see his 70 00:04:16,470 --> 00:04:21,230 poetry and then try to draw some conclusions or 71 00:04:21,230 --> 00:04:26,010 come up with the features that we might find in 72 00:04:26,010 --> 00:04:30,470 his poetry. This is a short poem by William 73 00:04:30,470 --> 00:04:35,570 Blake. Again, you already studied this perhaps or 74 00:04:35,570 --> 00:04:38,990 read it before. Small, short, beautiful, cute, 75 00:04:39,150 --> 00:04:42,010 punchy poem. It's just eight lines, not only 76 00:04:42,010 --> 00:04:45,630 eight lines. Is it the shortest poem so far in this 77 00:04:45,630 --> 00:04:49,070 course? Perhaps yes, but also look at the lines. 78 00:04:50,500 --> 00:04:53,580 Even the short lines, probably if you count the 79 00:04:53,580 --> 00:04:56,040 syllables, you'll come across about five syllables, 80 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:59,820 which is half the syllables we had in the sonnet 81 00:04:59,820 --> 00:05:05,860 and other poems. So this says, "The Sick Rose," O 82 00:05:05,860 --> 00:05:11,900 rose, thou art sick. The invisible worm that flies 83 00:05:11,900 --> 00:05:16,600 in the night in the howling storm has found out 84 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:22,120 thy bed of crimson joy, and his dark secret love 85 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:28,020 does thy life destroy. Somebody read, please. 86 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:34,200 The aurora of the Arctic, the invisible worm that 87 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,880 flies in the night in the howling storm. Howling 88 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:41,700 storm. The howling storm has found out thy bed of 89 00:05:41,700 --> 00:05:46,800 crimson joy, and his dark secret love does thy 90 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:48,660 life destroy. Thank you very much. 91 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:09,680 Can you focus on the tone? How would you...? Is this 92 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,100 a celebratory poem? Is it sad, dark, happy, 93 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:18,500 optimistic, pessimistic? Can you capture this in 94 00:06:18,500 --> 00:06:19,200 the way you read it? 95 00:06:23,260 --> 00:06:27,900 Okay. So how would you read it? Would 96 00:06:27,900 --> 00:06:30,060 you read it with this tone in mind? 97 00:06:42,380 --> 00:06:46,600 Okay. Thank you 98 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:47,240 very much. Very good. 99 00:06:58,990 --> 00:06:59,470 Okay, 100 00:07:03,650 --> 00:07:06,670 thank you very much, very good readings. Now, if 101 00:07:06,670 --> 00:07:11,710 this were a short story, a narrative, what type of 102 00:07:11,710 --> 00:07:17,250 narrator do we have here? First person? Are you 103 00:07:17,250 --> 00:07:17,470 sure? 104 00:07:34,210 --> 00:07:38,930 That's not what a first-person narrator is. First- 105 00:07:38,930 --> 00:07:43,610 person narration uses "I." So there's no "I" 106 00:07:43,610 --> 00:07:46,330 like "Shall I compare thee..." or "Come live with me..." and 107 00:07:46,330 --> 00:07:51,450 most of the poetry we studied already uses a first-person 108 00:07:51,450 --> 00:07:54,410 narrator, whether it is a personal experience like 109 00:07:54,410 --> 00:07:56,650 in John Donne's work, or a collective personal experience 110 00:07:56,650 --> 00:08:00,970 like in Shakespeare's works, for example. So 111 00:08:00,970 --> 00:08:05,290 there is "you" and "your," but basically this is a 112 00:08:05,290 --> 00:08:07,810 poem that talks about something using the third- 113 00:08:07,810 --> 00:08:08,530 person pronoun. 114 00:08:11,330 --> 00:08:17,170 making it a third-person narrative. So the 115 00:08:17,170 --> 00:08:19,670 speaker is talking to someone; true, there's 116 00:08:19,670 --> 00:08:22,030 some kind of dialogue with the other being silent, 117 00:08:22,910 --> 00:08:30,430 but also the persona, the speaker here, who is not 118 00:08:30,430 --> 00:08:32,590 a character in this text, unlike in 119 00:08:32,590 --> 00:08:35,290 Shakespeare's "Shall I compare thee...", the speaker is 120 00:08:35,290 --> 00:08:38,970 a character in the poem. Here, the speaker is not; 121 00:08:39,090 --> 00:08:45,470 he is basically an outsider to the poem. And the 122 00:08:45,470 --> 00:08:47,470 second question I want to ask is, who are the 123 00:08:47,470 --> 00:08:52,910 characters here? Who are the characters? Okay, 124 00:08:53,630 --> 00:08:58,590 please, okay. Okay, you're saying rose, like 125 00:08:58,590 --> 00:08:58,910 this, 126 00:09:01,770 --> 00:09:03,390 Like what? Rose? 127 00:09:06,610 --> 00:09:13,290 Or rose? Would it make a 128 00:09:13,290 --> 00:09:13,730 difference? 129 00:09:17,610 --> 00:09:19,690 In the title it says—I'm not sure if this is the 130 00:09:19,690 --> 00:09:22,770 exact title—it says "The Sick Rose," particularly 131 00:09:22,770 --> 00:09:27,070 "The Sick Rose," but the first line says "O Rose" with 132 00:09:27,070 --> 00:09:27,750 a capital R. 133 00:09:31,100 --> 00:09:33,880 So if you're saying rose, somebody said rose, this 134 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:37,540 is a name, somebody's name, right? 135 00:09:40,100 --> 00:09:44,400 The "Rose," with a capital R here could be a proper noun, "Rose," also a 136 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:47,300 rose is possible, could be... You say, for example, 137 00:09:47,780 --> 00:09:52,860 grammatically speaking, "A Mr. Smith is 138 00:09:52,860 --> 00:09:55,140 waiting for you." So somebody whose name is Mr. 139 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,060 Smith and you don't know this man before. The Mr. 140 00:09:58,300 --> 00:10:03,120 Smith, like he's a man and the one and only, in a 141 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:09,780 way. So this is the main character, and the worm, 142 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:16,990 are you sure? And so okay, we have the worm. The 143 00:10:16,990 --> 00:10:21,030 speaker...The speaker is usually, in a narrative, if 144 00:10:21,030 --> 00:10:24,030 it is a third-person narrator, we don't count the 145 00:10:24,030 --> 00:10:29,070 narrator as one of the characters, most often. So, 146 00:10:29,630 --> 00:10:32,550 the worm and the rose. That's very good. What 147 00:10:32,550 --> 00:10:35,910 about the timing? The setting? Before we come to 148 00:10:35,910 --> 00:10:38,030 talk more about this, what about the setting? The 149 00:10:38,030 --> 00:10:43,890 setting, sorry. It's taking place at 150 00:10:43,890 --> 00:10:45,630 night, in the night. 151 00:10:49,310 --> 00:10:53,030 What's happening during this night? A howling 152 00:10:53,030 --> 00:10:58,130 storm. So probably this is winter, right? Because 153 00:10:58,130 --> 00:11:02,450 there is a storm that is not only a storm, but a 154 00:11:02,450 --> 00:11:06,250 howling storm. Look at the choice of word here. In 155 00:11:06,250 --> 00:11:09,890 a way, this is onomatopoeic. "Howling." The sound 156 00:11:09,890 --> 00:11:15,910 that's like a sound a storm could make in a poem, 157 00:11:16,110 --> 00:11:21,510 if not in real life. So a howling storm, it's 158 00:11:21,510 --> 00:11:27,410 dark, stormy, and the storm is very strong. The wind 159 00:11:27,410 --> 00:11:30,330 could be heard through the howling storm. 160 00:11:34,690 --> 00:11:36,570 Okay, what else is there in the poem? 161 00:11:41,210 --> 00:11:43,570 What else do you notice? Like other than the 162 00:11:43,570 --> 00:11:46,450 place, the time, the setting? 163 00:11:49,420 --> 00:11:51,900 It is in the present tense. Are you sure? Yes. 164 00:11:52,020 --> 00:11:56,220 Where is the main tense? Grammatically speaking, 165 00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:58,580 what sentence is it? How many sentences do we have 166 00:11:58,580 --> 00:12:06,340 here? Two. Two? Where are they? First stanza or 167 00:12:06,340 --> 00:12:09,320 first line? First line. First stanza is one 168 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:13,140 sentence? No, first line. Because here it says, "O 169 00:12:13,140 --> 00:12:15,980 Rose, thou art sick," the invisible worm that flies in the 170 00:12:15,980 --> 00:12:20,580 night in the howling storm. Still a dependent 171 00:12:20,580 --> 00:12:24,280 clause. Dependent clause because we have the 172 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,120 subject, we have the adjectival clause. So the 173 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:30,860 first... please. Two sentences. Where are they? The 174 00:12:30,860 --> 00:12:35,560 first line is a sentence. Okay. And then there's... 175 00:12:35,820 --> 00:12:40,700 This is one whole sentence? Three sentences. Three 176 00:12:40,700 --> 00:12:43,400 sentences, are you sure? Yes. What is a sentence? 177 00:12:44,940 --> 00:12:46,740 We have a verb in a sentence. 178 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:52,780 Are you sure? What is a sentence? 179 00:12:57,780 --> 00:13:02,260 But this 180 00:13:02,260 --> 00:13:08,640 is a comma, Raf. But this is a comma. A sentence 181 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:11,840 is a group of words with at least one main clause. 182 00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:16,640 A group of words that begins with a capital letter 183 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:20,470 and ends with a full stop. A full stop, a question 184 00:13:20,470 --> 00:13:22,550 mark sometimes, or an exclamation mark, like in this 185 00:13:22,550 --> 00:13:25,330 case. So this is one sentence, one simple 186 00:13:25,330 --> 00:13:29,130 sentence. "O Rose, thou art sick." "Thou art sick." 187 00:13:30,930 --> 00:13:35,150 "Thou art sick." And I really can't understand 188 00:13:35,150 --> 00:13:39,630 exactly what... like imagine the situation here 189 00:13:39,630 --> 00:13:43,490 clearly; like is he talking to the rose? Is the 190 00:13:43,490 --> 00:13:45,910 speaker... what is the speaker? Is the speaker, like 191 00:13:45,910 --> 00:13:50,030 because here we have a few saying "rose," and a 192 00:13:50,030 --> 00:13:55,430 worm, or "the" worm, it's "the" here, right? So is the 193 00:13:55,430 --> 00:14:01,610 speaker a bird? A tree? Or is it a human 194 00:14:01,610 --> 00:14:04,290 being? Like observing and saying, does the rose 19 223 00:15:42,850 --> 00:15:44,870 complicated, it's the sentence that you say, but 224 00:15:44,870 --> 00:15:48,050 everything else gets complicated because things 225 00:15:48,050 --> 00:15:53,070 get inside others. I like how the worm is 226 00:15:53,070 --> 00:15:56,610 described and yet described again with a phrase 227 00:15:56,610 --> 00:15:58,730 and another phrase, and then the verb, and then the 228 00:15:58,730 --> 00:16:01,110 object, and then another prepositional phrase; 229 00:16:01,230 --> 00:16:05,730 things get inside each other. Interesting. What 230 00:16:05,730 --> 00:16:09,890 else do you notice? Other things about the poem? 231 00:16:11,750 --> 00:16:14,090 What do you find interesting, different, 232 00:16:14,670 --> 00:16:20,010 intriguing? Okay, okay, I'll go to the jump; I'll 233 00:16:20,010 --> 00:16:23,810 jump to the rhyme scheme. There is sick, a; are 234 00:16:23,810 --> 00:16:30,590 you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? Should it be 235 00:16:30,590 --> 00:16:33,170 a? This is the /kah/ sound. 236 00:16:38,610 --> 00:16:43,970 It's always A? Okay, good. Always A. And then 237 00:16:43,970 --> 00:16:52,110 worm, B. And then night, C. And storm, possibly 238 00:16:52,110 --> 00:16:57,690 another B. Not one hundred percent, but still. Now 239 00:16:57,690 --> 00:17:00,190 I know, like I told you before, that people would 240 00:17:00,190 --> 00:17:03,270 continue with A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, but I like 241 00:17:03,270 --> 00:17:06,330 doing it differently, where we go back to the 242 00:17:06,330 --> 00:17:08,370 alphabet with every new stanza, because sometimes 243 00:17:08,370 --> 00:17:11,410 you have long poems, and then you run out of 244 00:17:11,410 --> 00:17:14,310 letters, and then what should I do next? Different 245 00:17:14,310 --> 00:17:19,050 scenarios, okay? So go back again to the rhyme 246 00:17:19,050 --> 00:17:21,390 scheme. We have here A, 247 00:17:25,130 --> 00:17:27,530 B? C? Are you sure? 248 00:17:30,410 --> 00:17:31,410 Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. 249 00:17:31,450 --> 00:17:31,930 Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. 250 00:17:31,930 --> 00:17:32,010 Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. 251 00:17:32,010 --> 00:17:33,030 Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. 252 00:17:33,330 --> 00:17:34,250 Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. 253 00:17:34,250 --> 00:17:38,450 Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. 254 00:17:38,450 --> 00:17:38,550 Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. 255 00:17:38,550 --> 00:17:42,230 Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Joy. 256 00:17:46,490 --> 00:17:46,890 Joy. 257 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:58,320 Okay, so the rhyme scheme is perfect. What else do you 258 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:03,580 notice? Please. Thank you very much. Look at the 259 00:18:03,580 --> 00:18:06,880 simple words. I'm not sure which word you checked 260 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,220 using; you used the dictionary to check to 261 00:18:09,220 --> 00:18:13,380 understand. How many words did you check? 262 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:16,680 Honestly, those of you who looked at the report. 263 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:23,950 That's the word crimson. Okay, and? Howling, even 264 00:18:23,950 --> 00:18:26,130 if you don't know what howling is, you can always 265 00:18:26,130 --> 00:18:30,170 guess, because usually we don't say a calm storm; 266 00:18:30,450 --> 00:18:34,410 usually a storm is windy, 267 00:18:34,810 --> 00:18:42,470 stormy, strong, powerful, so howling storm, and 268 00:18:42,470 --> 00:18:47,860 then crimson, possibly. Again, you're not a native 269 00:18:47,860 --> 00:18:50,000 speaker, so if you don't know one or two words, 270 00:18:50,120 --> 00:18:52,820 that's still a good achievement, but it means that 271 00:18:52,820 --> 00:18:57,290 this man is using simple language. Simplicity of 272 00:18:57,290 --> 00:18:59,790 language. Remember the neoclassicists, who would 273 00:18:59,790 --> 00:19:02,170 always, every couple of lines, they would send you 274 00:19:02,170 --> 00:19:04,650 rushing to the dictionary, checking the meaning, and 275 00:19:04,650 --> 00:19:08,130 even going Googling stuff to understand what he 276 00:19:08,130 --> 00:19:11,250 means by these references and these allusions, and 277 00:19:11,250 --> 00:19:13,610 translating this Latin and translating this Greek, 278 00:19:13,610 --> 00:19:15,650 and understanding why he's intertexting with 279 00:19:15,650 --> 00:19:19,240 Horace and everything. You come to the poem, and 280 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:21,200 you stay for the poem. Unlike the NAE classes, 281 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,340 where usually you come for the poem, and then you 282 00:19:23,340 --> 00:19:27,200 rush out to dictionaries and the internet, and then you 283 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:31,820 come back and go on and on. Simple language. 284 00:19:32,180 --> 00:19:34,060 That's very good. A very good thing to notice. 285 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:36,680 Please. The number of syllables are not the same 286 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:37,200 in English. 287 00:19:40,250 --> 00:19:43,370 Okay, I'll come to this, but again, let's move 288 00:19:43,370 --> 00:19:46,830 gradually, Rosanne. What about the words, the 289 00:19:46,830 --> 00:19:50,210 choice of words? Tell me this word is interesting, 290 00:19:50,310 --> 00:19:52,010 for example, or that word; this phrase is 291 00:19:52,010 --> 00:19:53,950 interesting. What things do you find interesting? 292 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:59,580 We'll come to symbolism, like again it's always 293 00:19:59,580 --> 00:20:02,640 better to work gradually; look at the poem, notice 294 00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:05,260 the shape and the form, and then look at individual 295 00:20:05,260 --> 00:20:09,660 words, so what does every individual word inspire 296 00:20:09,660 --> 00:20:15,150 in you, or what does it connote? And then you go 297 00:20:15,150 --> 00:20:17,110 for, for example, reading the poem, trying to 298 00:20:17,110 --> 00:20:18,950 understand. We'll do this. We try to link 299 00:20:18,950 --> 00:20:22,370 everything to a possible reading of the poem. Is 300 00:20:22,370 --> 00:20:24,490 there one word or one phrase you find interesting, 301 00:20:24,590 --> 00:20:26,710 like we did with, for example, here, the howling 302 00:20:26,710 --> 00:20:31,890 storm, or other words? He's giving a bad image 303 00:20:31,890 --> 00:20:34,670 about what we already know. Again, my question is 304 00:20:34,670 --> 00:20:37,830 one particular word, one particular phrase. We're 305 00:20:37,830 --> 00:20:40,090 not going to comment on the meaning now. We're 306 00:20:40,090 --> 00:20:41,690 working step by step. 307 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,920 A worm is beautiful? Do you like worms? 308 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,740 Worms? Ah, that's because you're reading it "warm." 309 00:20:55,840 --> 00:21:00,580 It's not warm. And it's a character. It's a thing. 310 00:21:00,980 --> 00:21:06,480 It's a creature. So is worm good or bad? Positive 311 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:10,870 or negative? It's what makes the rose sick. Thank 312 00:21:10,870 --> 00:21:14,170 you. At least it is, even if worm is good, it is 313 00:21:14,170 --> 00:21:20,330 what is making the rose sick. And the worm is 314 00:21:20,330 --> 00:21:23,950 described as? Invisible. That's a very good word. 315 00:21:24,490 --> 00:21:29,530 So it's not only dark and winter and cold and 316 00:21:29,530 --> 00:21:33,350 stormy and howling. This creature, the cause of 317 00:21:33,350 --> 00:21:38,820 this sickness, is working invisibly. It's not; 318 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:41,820 it's invisible. What does it mean, invisible? 319 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:47,760 Because it's like, is the worm in disguise, 320 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,520 disguised? Is it a close; is it a family member? 321 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,080 Is it somebody you trust, somebody you try, you 322 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,040 seek safety, security, and protection from? And 323 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:59,380 then it turns out that this person, this thing is 324 00:21:59,380 --> 00:22:03,430 the very opposite of what you think. The person 325 00:22:03,430 --> 00:22:09,970 you seek, the person whose protection and stuff 326 00:22:09,970 --> 00:22:14,390 you seek, is the very reason for your destruction. 327 00:22:14,910 --> 00:22:16,650 That's invisible. What does it mean? What does it 328 00:22:16,650 --> 00:22:19,470 indicate? Why is it invisible? Other words, we'll 329 00:22:19,470 --> 00:22:21,170 come back again to wrap things up. What other 330 00:22:21,170 --> 00:22:23,990 words do you find peculiar? 331 00:22:29,420 --> 00:22:34,260 Okay, so we jump to the kind of love. There is 332 00:22:34,260 --> 00:22:40,060 love. Love is good, right? Oh Rose, thou art sick. 333 00:22:40,500 --> 00:22:43,100 Blah blah, night, visible worm, howling storm. But 334 00:22:43,100 --> 00:22:45,920 then there is love. If you look at the poem, *From 335 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:48,500 Afar*, you see the word love. Could give you a good 336 00:22:48,500 --> 00:22:54,760 impression, against the mostly negative words. 337 00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:59,050 Sick. Rose is good, yeah? But this is a rose that 338 00:22:59,050 --> 00:23:02,930 is sick. There's a worm that is invisible. It's 339 00:23:02,930 --> 00:23:09,130 night. It's stormy, and it's howling. And then 340 00:23:09,130 --> 00:23:11,990 there is love. But this is not an ordinary love. 341 00:23:12,870 --> 00:23:16,910 This is a love that is, number one, first, it's 342 00:23:16,910 --> 00:23:20,870 secret. Is it one-sided, unrestricted love? 343 00:23:24,150 --> 00:23:29,350 But why is it secret? When is love secret? When it 344 00:23:29,350 --> 00:23:33,470 is harming, like destroying its life. Okay. And 345 00:23:33,470 --> 00:23:39,750 the thing is that it's dark. Like say hey to خلصنا 346 00:23:39,750 --> 00:23:43,550 or لا. Why would you say it's dark love, love? 347 00:23:45,990 --> 00:23:51,570 It's a disease. Love is not always good, and not 348 00:23:51,570 --> 00:23:55,280 all kinds of love are good. So you're saying this 349 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,680 is; this means unhealthy love? Unhealthy love. For 350 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:02,280 example, the character of the worm. Let's, let's, 351 00:24:03,020 --> 00:24:06,660 for example, consider that; consider the rose as a 352 00:24:06,660 --> 00:24:09,020 woman, and the worm as a man. He could be an 353 00:24:09,020 --> 00:24:11,040 oppressive person if he loves her, but he's 354 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:13,360 oppressive at the same time. So that's going to 355 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:17,630 destroy her life. So, the dark secret. Do you 356 00:24:17,630 --> 00:24:20,650 think that toxic people, toxic lovers, understand 357 00:24:20,650 --> 00:24:22,770 this? They know that they're not doing a good job, 358 00:24:22,890 --> 00:24:24,670 that they're being abusive and everything? It's 359 00:24:24,670 --> 00:24:26,610 their nature. They don't know that what they're 360 00:24:26,610 --> 00:24:32,410 doing is unhealthy, but it is unhealthy. That's 361 00:24:32,410 --> 00:24:35,510 why it's invisible. That's why it's invisible? 362 00:24:36,050 --> 00:24:39,370 Invisible to whom? To the rose? 363 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:46,060 The speaker knows. The speaker is diagnosing 364 00:24:46,060 --> 00:24:49,180 everything. The speaker is all-knowing. He's a 365 00:24:49,180 --> 00:24:52,200 third-person narrator. He knows that there is a 366 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,940 worm that is feeding and that it is invisible. Is 367 00:24:55,940 --> 00:24:59,480 there 368 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:01,240 an indication in the text that the speaker is 369 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:07,540 guessing? No. Or probably invisible to the rose. 370 00:25:08,470 --> 00:25:10,770 But yeah, these are all valid points. We don't 371 00:25:10,770 --> 00:25:12,990 have, and it's again the beauty of poetry. This is 372 00:25:12,990 --> 00:25:15,690 the beauty of even romanticism. It's an extra 373 00:25:15,690 --> 00:25:18,110 feature we have in romanticism. You can talk about 374 00:25:18,110 --> 00:25:21,770 a poem for a year and have different opinions and 375 00:25:21,770 --> 00:25:25,570 everything. There are many gaps. These are poems 376 00:25:25,570 --> 00:25:29,320 that encourage us to think, to link; try to make 377 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,420 up our mind, and then something shows up, and then 378 00:25:31,420 --> 00:25:34,980 yeah, possibly the other reading is, is also, is also 379 00:25:34,980 --> 00:25:39,460 valid, so this is a love that is secret, but it's 380 00:25:39,460 --> 00:25:45,280 also a love that is dark, destructive. What else? 381 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,660 There's one word, one key word, that is significant 382 00:25:48,660 --> 00:25:53,840 that you haven't highlighted; there's 383 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,460 one word here that is also, other than the ones we 384 00:25:56,460 --> 00:25:58,100 highlighted, a word we didn't highlight. 385 00:26:01,630 --> 00:26:02,270 Okay, 386 00:26:04,970 --> 00:26:11,470 I like that you paid attention to his, yeah. But 387 00:26:11,470 --> 00:26:15,290 you're saying that she's a woman because the worm 388 00:26:15,290 --> 00:26:18,810 is a he; not necessarily, but rose is usually taken 389 00:26:18,810 --> 00:26:21,770 as feminine. I think this is a key word in the 390 00:26:21,770 --> 00:26:25,650 whole poem. He could have simply said "it." 391 00:26:30,230 --> 00:26:36,590 Does it make a difference that the worm is a "he"? In 392 00:26:36,590 --> 00:26:41,630 what sense? He's personifying the worm in order to 393 00:26:41,630 --> 00:26:44,270 show that this… He's also personifying the rose, 394 00:26:44,350 --> 00:26:46,390 don't forget. Yes, okay, but here he's 395 00:26:46,390 --> 00:26:49,410 personifying the rose to raise, let's say, raise 396 00:26:49,410 --> 00:26:53,850 her awareness, to raise her awareness to what she 397 00:26:53,850 --> 00:26:56,890 is facing, but she does not know. Like we're saying, 398 00:26:56,890 --> 00:27:00,250 hey, we're saying here that you are sick, and you 399 00:27:00,250 --> 00:27:02,790 do not know that there is an invisible worm. Why 400 00:27:02,790 --> 00:27:05,780 is the worm a "he"? The worm is here because he 401 00:27:05,780 --> 00:27:09,360 wants to give it the traits of people, of human 402 00:27:09,360 --> 00:27:11,780 beings; like they are deceptive. Why isn't the 403 00:27:11,780 --> 00:27:13,040 worm a "she"? 404 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:25,220 We can consider his return to "worm," because his 405 00:27:25,220 --> 00:27:31,340 return to the worm itself. Yeah, "his" refers to 406 00:27:31,340 --> 00:27:33,220 worm. Do I agree on this? 407 00:27:37,340 --> 00:27:40,940 Because the poet wants to say that his dark; maybe 408 00:27:40,940 --> 00:27:43,840 the rest she doesn't know about this love; she 409 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,600 doesn' 445 00:29:48,410 --> 00:29:52,170 a mess like this. He's informing her, please. I 446 00:29:52,170 --> 00:29:55,730 think this poem goes beyond a relationship between 447 00:29:55,730 --> 00:29:58,630 a man and a woman. I think he's actually lamenting 448 00:29:58,630 --> 00:30:01,850 the loss of innocence in any way. But there's 449 00:30:01,850 --> 00:30:04,450 nothing wrong even with taking it on this 450 00:30:04,450 --> 00:30:07,090 particular level, on a man-woman relationship. 451 00:30:09,590 --> 00:30:12,470 As I said, he's lamenting the loss of innocence in 452 00:30:12,470 --> 00:30:15,270 any kind of way. Okay. The warmth is something 453 00:30:15,270 --> 00:30:19,630 that makes you lose your interest. Okay. Now we'll 454 00:30:19,630 --> 00:30:22,750 come now to the symbolism, but somebody said 455 00:30:22,750 --> 00:30:25,730 something about the number of syllables. Okay. How 456 00:30:25,730 --> 00:30:27,230 many syllables do we have in line number one? 457 00:30:27,250 --> 00:30:32,890 Five. Usually, if you have five, it means there are 458 00:30:32,890 --> 00:30:37,740 two feet. Because some feet consist of three 459 00:30:37,740 --> 00:30:40,260 syllables. Yes, most feet consist of two syllables. 460 00:30:40,260 --> 00:30:42,840 But some of them consist of three syllables, so 461 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:47,620 we'll take this as, you know, as a two-feet line. 462 00:30:47,620 --> 00:30:53,620 Number two, how many, how many syllables are 463 00:30:53,620 --> 00:31:03,950 there? You sure? Say again: "the invisible worm." Okay, three 464 00:31:03,950 --> 00:31:10,650 feet. And then, "that flies in the night," five; in 465 00:31:10,650 --> 00:31:16,770 the howling storm," also five; and then, "has found out 466 00:31:16,770 --> 00:31:23,770 thy bed," five syllables; "of crimson joy," four; and 467 00:31:23,770 --> 00:31:30,930 then, "his dark secret love?" And then 468 00:31:30,930 --> 00:31:34,050 finally, "does thy life destroy?" 469 00:31:36,810 --> 00:31:40,850 Of course 470 00:31:40,850 --> 00:31:43,510 it's irregular, going from four to five to five to six 471 00:31:43,510 --> 00:31:49,730 to four to five. Does this make "The Sick Rose" any 472 00:31:49,730 --> 00:31:52,070 less of a poem? 473 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:58,520 It doesn't make it unpoetic; it doesn't lose some of 474 00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:01,400 its poeticality, some of its beauty, because it 475 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:05,860 doesn't conform, it doesn't obey the rules of 476 00:32:05,860 --> 00:32:10,940 decorum. Now, we'll talk about this in a bit, what 477 00:32:10,940 --> 00:32:14,400 the Romantics think about the rules of decorum. 478 00:32:15,260 --> 00:32:18,220 And I'm sure that the likes of Alexander Pope, 479 00:32:18,500 --> 00:32:21,640 methodized and systematized, speaking about rules, 480 00:32:24,270 --> 00:32:26,370 and those people will be pulling their hair now, 481 00:32:26,470 --> 00:32:29,810 that those people are like, "Sorry, this is not the 482 00:32:29,810 --> 00:32:33,090 way we should do poetry. This is the way how we 483 00:32:33,090 --> 00:32:35,950 should do poetry." So what about the symbolism? 484 00:32:36,170 --> 00:32:42,390 What does the poem stand for? What is the key 485 00:32:42,390 --> 00:32:46,430 issue in the poem? Like, thinking of this, thinking 486 00:32:46,430 --> 00:32:49,730 of the words, the negative words, even the 487 00:32:49,730 --> 00:32:54,130 beautiful word here is negative. The rose itself 488 00:32:54,130 --> 00:32:58,290 or herself. That's it. So what do you think? What 489 00:32:58,290 --> 00:33:01,450 does the rose symbolize? Please. 490 00:33:15,470 --> 00:33:17,350 This doesn't apply to William Blake. William Blake 491 00:33:17,350 --> 00:33:20,150 was a Londoner. He lived in London. He stayed in 492 00:33:20,150 --> 00:33:23,050 London. And some say he even loved London despite 493 00:33:23,050 --> 00:33:25,710 the fact that he was severely critical of London 494 00:33:25,710 --> 00:33:29,770 and the life there. So what does the rose in 495 00:33:29,770 --> 00:33:34,150 specific symbolize? Please. I think this word 496 00:33:34,150 --> 00:33:39,070 symbolizes one thing. Stop counting. Do this. 497 00:33:39,990 --> 00:33:45,310 Okay, the rose symbolizes love where one half of 498 00:33:45,310 --> 00:33:48,710 this relationship, love relationship, is sick, 499 00:33:48,870 --> 00:33:51,510 destroyed, and the other half is causing this 500 00:33:51,510 --> 00:33:55,270 destruction. Thank you, interesting. Also, stop 501 00:33:55,270 --> 00:33:58,450 counting, one. So okay, you think that the word 502 00:33:58,450 --> 00:34:02,890 rose symbolizes nature. What is destroying nature 503 00:34:02,890 --> 00:34:05,230 in your sense? What is man? Please. 504 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:15,680 You know, yeah, sometimes you feel he loves 505 00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:18,160 London, sometimes you think he, you realize that 506 00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:19,500 he hates London, he doesn't like it. 507 00:34:24,340 --> 00:34:28,140 He, him, oh, yeah, okay. So he's Rose, he's, it's 508 00:34:28,140 --> 00:34:30,740 like, you know, the Da Vinci painting, some people 509 00:34:30,740 --> 00:34:33,540 think that this was a self-portrait, Da Vinci 510 00:34:33,540 --> 00:34:36,400 drawing himself, the Mona Lisa, right? So this 511 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:40,460 could be, oh, Rose looking in the mirror, and, you 512 00:34:40,460 --> 00:34:43,760 know, liking himself and then saying, "It's the city 513 00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:47,660 that destroyed me." I like this. Thank you very 514 00:34:47,660 --> 00:34:53,060 much. Please. This is innocence and this is 515 00:34:53,060 --> 00:34:54,300 experience. We'll talk about innocence and 516 00:34:54,300 --> 00:34:59,640 experience in a bit. Please. The worm is life, the 517 00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:04,500 rose is life in general. Please. Stop counting. 518 00:35:04,580 --> 00:35:08,800 One thing. Beauty. So if beauty can be destroyed 519 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:11,880 by what? What's the worm here if this is beauty? 520 00:35:12,860 --> 00:35:18,160 If this is beauty, what is the worm? Make-up? Or 521 00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:28,320 food? Age, thank you. Age. Poetry is the rose and 522 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:33,200 what is destroying it is the... Okay, I find this far 523 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:38,360 -fetched, but also I like it. I like it. If you want 524 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:40,360 to take this... the whole poem is symbolic and also 525 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:49,640 a parody. Toxic 526 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:51,780 because it's repressive and restrictive; it 527 00:35:51,780 --> 00:35:53,980 prevents you from expressing yourself, being 528 00:35:53,980 --> 00:35:58,440 yourself. Rose. 529 00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:05,280 rose. Rose. The rules? I think sometimes they do. 530 00:36:06,580 --> 00:36:07,720 Sometimes we do. 531 00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:16,480 That's my opinion. That's your opinion. Again, 532 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:18,760 this is up to you, whether you want to like 533 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:20,500 classical poetry, whether in Arabic or English, 534 00:36:20,620 --> 00:36:23,180 whether you like classical poetry more than 535 00:36:23,180 --> 00:36:26,520 metaphysical or Romantic poetry, free verse, blank 536 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,800 verse, or vice versa. This is a personal 537 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:33,600 preference. Please. I think you can also say that 538 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:38,420 the "howling storm" symbolizes life. Okay. In this 539 00:36:38,420 --> 00:36:40,660 sense, what is the rose? What is the worm? 540 00:36:43,430 --> 00:36:47,650 Okay, so life, innocence, and experience. Now look 541 00:36:47,650 --> 00:36:50,170 at this. Please, finally. 542 00:36:54,370 --> 00:36:59,830 So you're 543 00:36:59,830 --> 00:37:01,870 connecting it with this understanding that this 544 00:37:01,870 --> 00:37:05,650 could be about the repressive rules, the invasive 545 00:37:05,650 --> 00:37:08,690 rules of life, of modern life, of the city 546 00:37:08,690 --> 00:37:11,990 controlling and limiting our imagination. Thank 547 00:37:11,990 --> 00:37:12,110 you. 548 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:23,700 Like what? Okay, what else? Who usually depends on 549 00:37:23,700 --> 00:37:27,560 others in society, in our life? Okay. Oh, 550 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,240 don't say that the rose is students and the worm 551 00:37:30,240 --> 00:37:34,300 is a teacher. Okay. Maybe it's vice versa. Maybe 552 00:37:34,300 --> 00:37:37,480 we are, you know, we are sick because of the 553 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:41,380 invisible worms destroying us. Assignments? What 554 00:37:41,380 --> 00:37:46,040 are the assignments? The "howling storm"? This 555 00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:50,680 sense, this oxymoron here, it's like Hamlet says, 556 00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:56,100 "tough love," "cruel to be kind." So this is, okay. I 557 00:37:56,100 --> 00:37:59,180 like how this poem is helping you use your 558 00:37:59,180 --> 00:38:04,100 imagination even more. With the Romantics, it's 559 00:38:04,100 --> 00:38:08,420 usually, sometimes you feel that they have one 560 00:38:08,420 --> 00:38:12,640 idea, one thing to teach in a poem; to teach and 561 00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:15,060 delight, right? But with the Romantics, you'll 562 00:38:15,060 --> 00:38:18,640 come to a reality where a poem could mean many 563 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:22,080 things. And I think all your understandings and 564 00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:24,620 interpretations are valid here. But we can also 565 00:38:24,620 --> 00:38:26,680 take this poem to today. I remember last year, one 566 00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:31,280 of the students was saying, "This is women now on 567 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:37,060 social media, sometimes men, you know, take 568 00:38:37,060 --> 00:38:39,620 advantage, try to take advantage of women, of 569 00:38:39,620 --> 00:38:42,540 their innocence, of their, you know, and they try 570 00:38:42,540 --> 00:38:45,580 to destroy their lives." I like this 571 00:38:45,580 --> 00:38:47,640 interpretation. The other day, a student was 572 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:51,340 saying, "La Rose is Palestine, the worm is the 573 00:38:51,340 --> 00:38:54,500 Zionist entity coming to Palestine, destroying 574 00:38:54,500 --> 00:38:55,520 Palestine, and... 575 00:38:58,450 --> 00:39:01,370 That is also valid. But there are two things here. 576 00:39:01,430 --> 00:39:04,630 We don't want to mix things. For William Blake, 577 00:39:04,970 --> 00:39:07,430 yes, this could be taken as some might suggest 578 00:39:07,430 --> 00:39:09,870 that the rose is probably an actual rose. He was 579 00:39:09,870 --> 00:39:12,010 walking down the road, I don't know, somewhere in 580 00:39:12,010 --> 00:39:13,770 London. He found a rose, where there is a woman 581 00:39:13,770 --> 00:39:17,390 that he made a fuss out of all of this. Or the 582 00:39:17,390 --> 00:39:20,330 rose could symbolize nature. It could symbolize 583 00:39:20,330 --> 00:39:22,490 life in a city and how it was destroyed by the 584 00:39:22,490 --> 00:39:24,290 Industrial Revolution and the factories and the 585 00:39:24,290 --> 00:39:27,820 pollution, somebody said here. Or it could mean 586 00:39:27,820 --> 00:39:30,940 some woman, a woman he knows, or women in general, 587 00:39:31,140 --> 00:39:33,840 or children. I expected some of you to say 588 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:37,940 children, but there's not much indication here. 589 00:39:38,020 --> 00:39:41,140 But this could be about, or a child, or childhood, 590 00:39:42,100 --> 00:39:46,400 or innocence and experience, or beauty, or nature, 591 00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:48,220 or the countryside and how it's being destroyed 592 00:39:48,220 --> 00:39:54,960 by... Now what is it about? I think it's about all 593 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:58,140 of these. And I think this is a feature of 594 00:39:58,140 --> 00:40:02,920 Romanticism, imagination. Encouraging imagination, 595 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:08,920 encouraging using your mind, not to think 596 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:11,420 intellectually, to find facts, to create facts 597 00:40:11,420 --> 00:40:12,020 about this, 598 00:40:15,340 --> 00:40:20,380 but to imagine how things could be, how things can 599 00:40:20,380 --> 00:40:23,740 be. The fact that the poem offers so many 600 00:40:23,740 --> 00:40:27,180 possibilities is the very opposite of Neoclassical 601 00:40:27,180 --> 00:40:31,940 literature, where usually there's one main 602 00:40:31,940 --> 00:40:34,900 understanding of the text. This is what it is. 603 00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:37,940 It's like mathematics. In a sense, I don't want to 604 00:40:37,940 --> 00:40:40,740 be extreme. But here, there are so many 605 00:40:40,740 --> 00:40:46,240 possibilities for one poem. So if in your exam I 606 00:40:46,240 --> 00:40:51,460 ask you, "What is the rose a symbol of?", you could 607 00:40:51,460 --> 00:40:54,710 say whatever you like, as long as you support your 608 00:40:54,710 --> 00:40:59,770 argument with things about Blake or things from 609 00:40:59,770 --> 00:41:02,170 the book. But don't go too far to taking it to say 610 00:41:02,170 --> 00:41:07,590 this, "it stands for Palestine or Facebook." What I 611 00:41:07,590 --> 00:41:11,050 mean here is that you could post this poem, you 612 00:41:11,050 --> 00:41:16,560 could have this Photoshop design; put a picture of 613 00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:19,040 the top of the rock or a map of Palestine and 614 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:21,600 write this and it worked and say, "Oh Rose, thou 615 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:26,420 art sick. The invisible worm." You could say this to 616 00:41:26,420 --> 00:41:29,260 somebody who has been in a toxic relationship, like 617 00:41:29,260 --> 00:41:32,420 trying to cheer them up. I don't know, tell them 618 00:41:32,420 --> 00:41:36,420 it has been happening. But remember, I don't care 619 00:41:36,420 --> 00:41:38,620 about the authorial intention. I don't care what 620 00:41:38,620 --> 00:41:42,140 he intended, William Blake. He could have intended 621 00:41:42,140 --> 00:41:47,280 all these things you just mentioned. Now, in the 622 00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:49,740 remaining time, I want you to see this other 623 00:41:49,740 --> 00:41:52,340 beautiful poem by William Blake. 624 00:41:55,660 --> 00:41:59,320 William Blake was very famous for 625 00:42:02,130 --> 00:42:06,750 his two groups or two volumes of poetry entitled 626 00:42:06,750 --> 00:42:09,470 "Songs of Innocence," "Songs of Experience," where he 627 00:42:09,470 --> 00:42:13,010 talks about the two statuses of life. Sometimes 628 00:42:13,010 --> 00:42:17,490 the same experience is looked at because he 629 00:42:17,490 --> 00:42:20,870 believes in the fact that the world is our own 630 00:42:20,870 --> 00:42:25,690 perception. We create the world; we create it. How 631 00:42:25,690 --> 00:42:30,070 we see the world is what the world is, and you 632 00:42:30,070 --> 00:42:35,270 see it. I'll quote him in a bit. He says, "Both 633 00:42:35,270 --> 00:42:41,870 read the Bible day and night. Thou saw dark, I saw 634 00:42:41,870 --> 00:42:45,010 light." It's the same Bible, different people, 635 00:42:45,170 --> 00:42:48,760 different understanding and perception. And 667 00:44:39,850 --> 00:44:42,690 Keep going on to play. I have no problem with 668 00:44:42,690 --> 00:44:46,710 that. So this is the nurse first describing what's 669 00:44:46,710 --> 00:44:50,030 going on, and then because the sun is gone 670 00:44:50,030 --> 00:44:56,150 down, come, come. The sun is gone, leave off play 671 00:44:56,150 --> 00:44:59,610 and let us away until the morning appears in the 672 00:44:59,610 --> 00:45:05,110 skies. And then the kids also, this is a quote, 673 00:45:05,990 --> 00:45:10,490 speaking back, talking back. No, no, let us play 674 00:45:10,490 --> 00:45:15,890 for it is yet day. It is still day, Fada. And we 675 00:45:15,890 --> 00:45:20,510 cannot go to sleep. Besides, in the sky, little 676 00:45:20,510 --> 00:45:24,370 birds fly. There are still birds out there. And 677 00:45:24,370 --> 00:45:27,310 the hills are all covered with sheep. So people 678 00:45:27,310 --> 00:45:30,210 are out there; life is there; nature is there. Why 679 00:45:30,210 --> 00:45:34,370 would you take us back home? Well, well, and this 680 00:45:34,370 --> 00:45:37,830 is again the nurse. Well, well, go and play until 681 00:45:37,830 --> 00:45:41,410 the light fades away. And then go home to bed. 682 00:45:42,230 --> 00:45:44,570 That's the end of, again, the speech here, the 683 00:45:44,570 --> 00:45:46,670 dialogue. Look at the dialogue. You will not find 684 00:45:46,670 --> 00:45:50,150 this dialogic thing in neoclassical, this much of 685 00:45:50,150 --> 00:45:56,070 dialogism in neoclassical poetry. The little ones 686 00:45:56,070 --> 00:46:01,050 leaped and shouted and laughed, and all the hills 687 00:46:01,050 --> 00:46:06,890 echoed. Nature is laughing back. Very simple poem, 688 00:46:06,970 --> 00:46:09,890 yeah? It's very simple. Kids playing, come back 689 00:46:09,890 --> 00:46:12,450 home. No, we're not coming back home. There's 690 00:46:12,450 --> 00:46:15,490 still, you know, birds and sheep out there. So 691 00:46:15,490 --> 00:46:19,050 okay, play some more, like one more hour, 30 692 00:46:19,050 --> 00:46:22,290 minutes more, and then when the light fades away, 693 00:46:22,610 --> 00:46:25,710 come back home. Look at this poem, okay? 694 00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:36,640 This is the same experience, the same story, from a 695 00:46:36,640 --> 00:46:40,560 different point of view, experience. The nurse's 696 00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:41,440 song experience. 697 00:46:44,220 --> 00:46:46,800 The first thing is that this is the whole poem. 698 00:46:48,540 --> 00:46:54,280 Two stanzas. It's 50%, it's half 699 00:46:54,280 --> 00:47:00,880 the song of innocence. When voices of children are 700 00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:05,400 heard on the green, the very same first line, and 701 00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:11,660 not laughing and giggling and playing and sounds 702 00:47:11,660 --> 00:47:17,300 and naughtiness, whisperings. Now there is, why 703 00:47:17,300 --> 00:47:19,880 would we whisper? It's either a secret or there's 704 00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:24,670 fear; you're not allowed to speak. You're not 705 00:47:24,670 --> 00:47:26,910 allowed to speak. You shouldn't speak. And 706 00:47:26,910 --> 00:47:31,510 whisperings are in the dale. The days of my youth. 707 00:47:31,610 --> 00:47:33,350 The poem is about the speaker; it's no longer 708 00:47:33,350 --> 00:47:35,210 about the children. That's why it changes from 709 00:47:35,210 --> 00:47:39,030 innocence to experience. The days of my youth rise 710 00:47:39,030 --> 00:47:44,330 fresh in my mind. My face turns green and pale. 711 00:47:45,050 --> 00:47:47,950 Probably an older person. Feels jealous. Feels, 712 00:47:47,970 --> 00:47:54,610 you know, green and pale. Not happy that the kids 713 00:47:54,610 --> 00:47:58,490 are playing; not happy that the kids are, then 714 00:47:58,490 --> 00:48:02,730 it's not even an attempt to strike a dialogue 715 00:48:02,730 --> 00:48:05,330 here, to begin a conversation. It's just taken 716 00:48:05,330 --> 00:48:08,070 matter-of-factly. Then, come home, my children. 717 00:48:08,290 --> 00:48:11,850 The sun is gone down, and the dews of night arise. 718 00:48:12,030 --> 00:48:17,270 Your spring and your day are wasted in play, and 719 00:48:17,270 --> 00:48:19,610 you, yeah, wasted. That's a very negative word. 720 00:48:19,730 --> 00:48:24,750 And you winter a night in disguise. The good is 721 00:48:24,750 --> 00:48:27,890 yet to come; the bad is yet to come. That's the 722 00:48:27,890 --> 00:48:30,510 whole problem. There's no reply from the kids. 723 00:48:31,150 --> 00:48:34,730 They don't talk back; they're not allowed to speak 724 00:48:34,730 --> 00:48:35,450 back. 725 00:48:38,290 --> 00:48:41,770 They're never taken seriously. Kids are muted. 726 00:48:42,170 --> 00:48:46,390 Kids are repressed. And probably two of the most 727 00:48:46,390 --> 00:48:50,250 important English poets who were fascinated with 728 00:48:50,250 --> 00:48:54,500 the concept of childhood: William Blake and William 729 00:48:54,500 --> 00:48:59,340 Wordsworth. Wordsworth says a child is the father 730 00:48:59,340 --> 00:49:03,760 of man. A child is the father. It's paradoxical 731 00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:08,240 for what it means. So look at the differences here 732 00:49:08,240 --> 00:49:10,360 in language; look at the differences in 733 00:49:13,240 --> 00:49:16,220 and the size and the dialogue. The most important 734 00:49:16,220 --> 00:49:18,840 thing I like about this poem is the fact that the 735 00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:21,620 first, the innocence poem includes the dialogue 736 00:49:21,620 --> 00:49:24,620 that the kids are speaking, having their voice, 737 00:49:24,780 --> 00:49:28,420 representing themselves, you know, asking for 738 00:49:28,420 --> 00:49:31,640 their right to play, to have fun, to laugh, to 739 00:49:31,640 --> 00:49:31,940 run. 740 00:49:34,980 --> 00:49:38,560 And that's why the first poem is, it's a musical, 741 00:49:38,940 --> 00:49:43,120 the positive words; it's not only the kids 742 00:49:43,120 --> 00:49:47,160 playing; also nature, the sheep, the birds, 743 00:49:47,260 --> 00:49:50,300 everything is also happy and singing and dancing 744 00:49:50,300 --> 00:49:54,340 with the kids. Is he saying that when kids are 745 00:49:54,340 --> 00:49:56,780 playing and happy, everything around will be also 746 00:49:56,780 --> 00:50:00,220 happy? But in the second poem, because the kids 747 00:50:00,220 --> 00:50:04,850 are not allowed to speak, we destroy them, but also 748 00:50:04,850 --> 00:50:07,370 we destroy ourselves because we don't see the 749 00:50:07,370 --> 00:50:09,950 beauty of the children playing and being innocent 750 00:50:09,950 --> 00:50:15,210 and all we see is green, pale, 751 00:50:17,450 --> 00:50:23,850 wasted, and also disguised. Yeah? Green, I think 752 00:50:23,850 --> 00:50:26,410 like, has two indications here; it is like gloomy 753 00:50:26,410 --> 00:50:28,970 and it's a sad indication, but there it's like 754 00:50:28,970 --> 00:50:32,820 green, the green helps, and you. So the same thing, 755 00:50:32,980 --> 00:50:37,120 thank you for noticing this; the idea is that this 756 00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:41,300 is what innocence and experience, like innocence 757 00:50:41,300 --> 00:50:44,540 is usually things viewed from the perspective of 758 00:50:44,540 --> 00:50:48,100 children, mostly of innocence or purity. Experience 759 00:50:48,100 --> 00:50:51,460 means like, I don't know, corruption? Like it 760 00:50:51,460 --> 00:50:53,240 doesn't mean like having more experience; having 761 00:50:53,240 --> 00:50:55,480 something that is negative that's destroying your 762 00:50:55,480 --> 00:51:00,060 life. You being corrupted by age, by life, by the 763 00:51:00,060 --> 00:51:03,040 city, by the fact that you have to compete, by 764 00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:05,660 conflicts you have around, by the hate you have 765 00:51:05,660 --> 00:51:08,020 when you grow up. When you are kids, you would 766 00:51:08,020 --> 00:51:12,240 fight with somebody. But ten minutes later, you're 767 00:51:12,240 --> 00:51:15,380 playing again, your friends again. But when you 768 00:51:15,380 --> 00:51:18,240 grow up, if you hate somebody, sometimes you hate 769 00:51:18,240 --> 00:51:21,740 them forever. Even if you later on realize that, 770 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:26,120 well, it's been some insignificant issue. It's a 771 00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:27,040 silly thing. Please. 772 00:51:36,790 --> 00:51:38,630 Thank you very much. Thank you very much for 773 00:51:38,630 --> 00:51:41,530 bringing up the Industrial Revolution because it's 774 00:51:41,530 --> 00:51:44,570 one reason for why we have the Romantic poets 775 00:51:44,570 --> 00:51:46,670 writing the poetry they wrote. Industrial 776 00:51:46,670 --> 00:51:49,970 Revolution, French Revolution, the American 777 00:51:49,970 --> 00:51:51,610 Revolution. We'll talk about this more when we 778 00:51:51,610 --> 00:51:55,810 speak about William Wordsworth. So the Industrial 779 00:51:55,810 --> 00:51:59,010 Revolution changed life, corrupted life, polluted 780 00:51:59,010 --> 00:52:02,730 life. But the Industrial Revolution also brought 781 00:52:02,730 --> 00:52:08,090 people in masses from the countryside to the city. 782 00:52:10,130 --> 00:52:12,690 And when you go to the city, you go to the city, 783 00:52:13,250 --> 00:52:18,230 why? For the experience? For work, okay? For a 784 00:52:18,230 --> 00:52:22,150 job, to improve your life, for looking, expecting 785 00:52:23,050 --> 00:52:26,490 your dreams to come true. But at that time, when 786 00:52:26,490 --> 00:52:31,030 England was becoming the greatest empire of all 787 00:52:31,030 --> 00:52:33,630 times, the empire on which the sun never set, 788 00:52:37,830 --> 00:52:41,210 The British armies were, and companies and 789 00:52:41,210 --> 00:52:44,090 enterprises, they were bringing raw materials from 790 00:52:44,090 --> 00:52:46,710 the colonies, from India, Africa, around the 791 00:52:46,710 --> 00:52:50,210 world, and bringing most of them to the factories 792 00:52:50,210 --> 00:52:53,110 in London, in Liverpool, in Manchester. And these 793 00:52:53,110 --> 00:52:56,550 factories needed so many laborers and workers, and 794 00:52:56,550 --> 00:52:59,510 they would be leaving the countryside, the rural 795 00:52:59,510 --> 00:53:02,090 areas, hoping for a better life, and they would 796 00:53:02,090 --> 00:53:07,520 end up enslaved in factories. They would end up 797 00:53:07,520 --> 00:53:12,440 being controlled, working from six or eight or 798 00:53:12,440 --> 00:53:16,200 seven a.m. until six or eight or seven p.m. 799 00:53:19,040 --> 00:53:23,060 And thank you very much. And this is, we'll quote 800 00:53:23,060 --> 00:53:27,120 Shelley, describing the situation. Similar to the 801 00:53:27,120 --> 00:53:30,760 situation we live in Gaza nowadays. The poor get 802 00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:33,800 poorer, and the rich get richer. And again, we 803 00:53:33,800 --> 00:53:36,180 always come back to Bernie Sanders saying the 1% 804 00:53:36,180 --> 00:53:43,660 and the 99%. So the 1%, the richest people keep 805 00:53:43,660 --> 00:53:46,600 getting rich no matter what. And the poor people 806 00:53:46,600 --> 00:53:49,740 are destroying their lives. Look at Amazon and GFP 807 00:53:49,740 --> 00:53:53,380 $180 billion. 808 00:53:56,890 --> 00:54:00,050 There was a story the other day about an employee 809 00:54:00,050 --> 00:54:04,090 at Amazon who died, who just fell. He had a heart 810 00:54:04,090 --> 00:54:06,750 attack and died, and nobody noticed him for 20 811 00:54:06,750 --> 00:54:09,970 minutes. Despite the fact that there are so many 812 00:54:09,970 --> 00:54:15,240 people there. And I think his brother said that a 813 00:54:15,240 --> 00:54:20,380 week before this guy mistakenly labeled a 814 00:54:20,380 --> 00:54:22,800 different product, and within two minutes, the 815 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:26,800 cameras and the computer managed to find this 816 00:54:26,800 --> 00:54:30,880 error and mistake. Two minutes. If you make a 817 00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:33,180 mistake for a product, for a thing that brings 818 00:54:33,180 --> 00:54:36,260 money, it can be recognized. But when somebody 819 00:54:36,260 --> 00:54:41,120 just falls, dies, has a heart attack, a human 820 00:54:41,120 --> 00:54:45,150 being is not as important as a product that 821 00:54:45,150 --> 00:54:50,170 could cost, I don't know, two or three dollars. So 822 00:54:50,170 --> 00:54:54,450 yeah, there is always this in Romantic poetry. The 823 00:54:54,450 --> 00:54:56,210 Industrial Revolution is always in the background. 824 00:55:00,480 --> 00:55:02,400 We can't apply the Industrial Revolution to this 825 00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:06,340 because when a man lives in a city and he misses 826 00:55:06,340 --> 00:55:09,620 nature, so when he goes to the countryside and he 827 00:55:09,620 --> 00:55:13,860 values nature more because he misses it and he's 828 00:55:13,860 --> 00:55:15,880 not used to it. But people who live in the 829 00:55:15,880 --> 00:55:18,300 countryside, they see these flowers and nature and 830 00:55:18,300 --> 00:55:20,740 beauty every day, so maybe it's the opposite. 831 00:55:21,470 --> 00:55:23,470 You're right, but with the Romantics, even with 832 00:55:23,470 --> 00:55:25,230 Wordsworth and Coleridge, who lived in the 833 00:55:25,230 --> 00:55:28,310 countryside, they loved the countryside. I agree. 834 00:55:28,950 --> 00:55:31,270 They actually talk about this. This is a feature 835 00:55:31,270 --> 00:55:35,530 of Romanticism. They try to defamiliarize their 836 00:55:35,530 --> 00:55:40,530 experiences, to rip the veil of familiarity. When 837 00:55:40,530 --> 00:55:43,630 you live, there are flowers and roses and trees 838 00:55:43,630 --> 00:55:46,390 and cats and birds around campus here, right? But 839 00:55:46,390 --> 00:55:48,470 sometimes, usually we don't pay attention. I 840 00:55:48,470 --> 00:55:51,430 usually say this, like, when is the last time you 841 00:55:51,430 --> 00:55:55,930 looked at the moon? It's because we live in 842 00:55:55,930 --> 00:56:01,230 concrete buildings. We don't have even a crack to 843 00:56:01,230 --> 00:56:03,570 see the moon. We usually don't see it from our windows 844 00:56:03,570 --> 00:56:07,170 from where we live most often. Very few of us 845 00:56:07,170 --> 00:56:09,510 would just wait for the moon to look at how big it 846 00:56:09,510 --> 00:56:11,030 is, how beautiful it is. Remember when we were 847 00:56:11,030 --> 00:56:14,490 kids; we spent most of our time looking at clouds 848 00:56:14,490 --> 00:56:17,390 and what shapes they make. We don't do this now, 849 00:56:17,770 --> 00:56:20,050 even if you like nature, because we're busy; we 850 00:56:20,050 --> 00:56:21,690 have exams; we have to study; we have reflections 851 00:56:21,690 --> 00:56:23,590 to write; we have classes to attend; we have work 852 00:56:23,590 --> 00:56:27,090 to do; we have, you know, we need, we keep rushing 853 00:56:27,090 --> 00:56:29,710 and this is city, this is new, this is life, this 854 00:56:29,710 --> 00:56:34,050 is civilization. Therefore, the Romantics call for 855 00:56:34,050 --> 00:56:36,630 this thing called the childlike experience. We 856 00:56:36,630 --> 00:56:40,490 have to see everything anew, afresh every time. 857 00:56:41,760 --> 00:56:44,820 889 00:58:38,980 --> 00:58:42,360 experiences. The subject matter could be about 890 00:58:42,360 --> 00:58:44,380 anything. It's about a rose. It's about, I don't 891 00:58:44,380 --> 00:58:47,220 know, it's about children playing. This wasn't the 892 00:58:47,220 --> 00:58:50,500 case with neoclassicism. Childhood is also a 893 00:58:50,500 --> 00:58:54,150 feature. They are fascinated with childhood. I 894 00:58:54,150 --> 00:58:56,370 will say something. I think that decriminalization 895 00:58:56,370 --> 00:58:58,870 appears in the word "spring." Like in "Song of 896 00:58:58,870 --> 00:59:02,410 Innocence," he only says "your spring and your day." 897 00:59:02,730 --> 00:59:06,290 But in the "Song of Innocence," he illustrates more. 898 00:59:06,390 --> 00:59:10,570 And he says, "like hell's sky fly and birds fly and 899 00:59:10,570 --> 00:59:14,910 sheep." So this is how children see spring, while 900 00:59:14,910 --> 00:59:17,590 this is like the word "spring" itself is how adults 901 00:59:17,590 --> 00:59:18,270 see spring. 902 00:59:21,050 --> 00:59:23,530 It's possible, but defamiliarization is basically 903 00:59:23,530 --> 00:59:28,070 making familiar things look unfamiliar. Like when 904 00:59:28,070 --> 00:59:31,290 you read "the daffodils," the thousands of daffodils 905 00:59:31,290 --> 00:59:33,210 dancing and tossing their heads and like that. 906 00:59:33,330 --> 00:59:35,610 That is something like, what's his name? The guy 907 00:59:35,610 --> 00:59:37,710 who draws the sunflowers. 908 00:59:39,610 --> 00:59:47,150 Van Gogh. He drew hundreds of these sunflowers, and 909 00:59:47,150 --> 00:59:50,030 every time you see them, they look different. It's 910 00:59:50,030 --> 00:59:51,790 as if you see them for the first time. 911 00:59:56,370 --> 01:00:00,910 I'm sorry, that Blake was interested in the 912 01:00:00,910 --> 01:00:05,420 childlike vision more than childhood itself. And I 913 01:00:05,420 --> 01:00:08,800 think both. I think both. But yeah, the vision is 914 01:00:08,800 --> 01:00:11,080 like, not only the vision, the vision and the 915 01:00:11,080 --> 01:00:15,060 state of innocence. So here we find that the nurse 916 01:00:15,060 --> 01:00:19,960 also has that childlike vision here because she's 917 01:00:19,960 --> 01:00:22,320 telling children to play. Okay, just play. The 918 01:00:22,320 --> 01:00:25,240 first one. Yeah, the nurse. You're speaking about 919 01:00:25,240 --> 01:00:28,500 a mature person here, not only the children. She 920 01:00:28,500 --> 01:00:31,140 has a childlike vision; she supports playing; she 921 01:00:31,140 --> 01:00:33,280 thinks it's healthy and it's something that should 922 01:00:33,280 --> 01:00:36,520 be done. While the nurse in the other one 923 01:00:36,520 --> 01:00:40,220 experienced that belief that it's a waste of time. 924 01:00:40,660 --> 01:00:44,300 And again, there is no room, no space for kids to 925 01:00:44,300 --> 01:00:46,580 express themselves. So she doesn't have the 926 01:00:46,580 --> 01:00:52,000 childlike vision. That's right. True. And look at 927 01:00:52,000 --> 01:00:54,700 how the kids even, I'm imagining a situation where 928 01:00:54,700 --> 01:00:57,300 the kids are playing, and then this nurse comes and 929 01:00:57,300 --> 01:01:00,260 everybody starts whispering rather than laughing. 930 01:01:00,460 --> 01:01:02,400 So they know here already that she's repressive; 931 01:01:02,720 --> 01:01:07,820 she's going to oppress them. I'll go through and 932 01:01:07,820 --> 01:01:10,200 then finish. I'll go through some of William 933 01:01:10,200 --> 01:01:15,000 Blake's fascinating, by the way, if you Google "top 934 01:01:15,000 --> 01:01:20,890 100 most influential British people of all time," 935 01:01:20,890 --> 01:01:23,870 "100 most influential British people," Blake is on the 936 01:01:23,870 --> 01:01:28,190 list. Wordsworth is not. Many people you think of 937 01:01:28,190 --> 01:01:30,450 are not on the list. But William Blake is one of 938 01:01:30,450 --> 01:01:32,930 the people because he's a pioneer of this 939 01:01:32,930 --> 01:01:37,850 movement. Look at what fascinating things. If you 940 01:01:37,850 --> 01:01:40,330 are interested in Blake, you could go for more 941 01:01:40,330 --> 01:01:45,070 quotes or things. "Prisons are built with stones of 942 01:01:45,070 --> 01:01:45,310 law; 943 01:01:48,630 --> 01:01:54,040 brothels with bricks of religion." How this man was 944 01:01:54,040 --> 01:01:57,060 anti-establishment. In his poem "London," you should 945 01:01:57,060 --> 01:02:00,620 read this poem. He clearly, openly attacks the 946 01:02:00,620 --> 01:02:03,440 establishment, the palace, and the church; how 947 01:02:03,440 --> 01:02:08,260 they exploit people, exploit their privileges to 948 01:02:08,260 --> 01:02:11,340 destroy people; how the law is turning people into 949 01:02:11,340 --> 01:02:13,900 criminals; how religion here is used to turn 950 01:02:13,900 --> 01:02:17,440 people. "Great things are done when men and 951 01:02:17,440 --> 01:02:23,680 mountains meet," nature. "Both read the Bible day 952 01:02:23,680 --> 01:02:33,020 and night, but thou read black where I read 953 01:02:33,020 --> 01:02:33,380 white." 954 01:02:39,340 --> 01:02:42,980 He says the Bible is different, not because the 955 01:02:42,980 --> 01:02:46,270 Bible is different, but because we are different. If 956 01:02:46,270 --> 01:02:48,610 you are open-minded, if you see things, you know, 957 01:02:49,390 --> 01:02:51,710 you see good things, positive; you look at the 958 01:02:51,710 --> 01:02:54,790 stupid cliché of looking at the half-empty cup and the 959 01:02:54,790 --> 01:02:58,310 half-full cup. So I read, you 960 01:02:58,310 --> 01:03:02,450 read black because of your, you know, your mind, 961 01:03:02,570 --> 01:03:05,230 your perception. I must—I think this 962 01:03:05,230 --> 01:03:07,410 is the most powerful thing you need to learn about 963 01:03:07,410 --> 01:03:10,010 William Blake. I must—look at the "must" here, not 964 01:03:10,010 --> 01:03:14,810 "should." I must create a system; create my own 965 01:03:14,810 --> 01:03:18,530 rules, my own constructs; or be enslaved by 966 01:03:18,530 --> 01:03:21,630 another man's. Or else I'll be enslaved by another 967 01:03:21,630 --> 01:03:28,090 man's rules. The three? 968 01:03:32,370 --> 01:03:37,130 A, B. Possible, it could be common with him. But 969 01:03:37,130 --> 01:03:41,890 different from the A, B, B, A or A, B, A, B. I 970 01:03:41,890 --> 01:03:44,310 will not reason, but again, it's not only about 971 01:03:44,310 --> 01:03:45,930 the rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme is just one 972 01:03:45,930 --> 01:03:49,570 indication. I will not reason and compare, like 973 01:03:49,570 --> 01:03:52,330 the age of intellectuality, the age of reason, the 974 01:03:52,330 --> 01:03:55,730 Augustan Age. My business is to create. By the 975 01:03:55,730 --> 01:03:58,690 way, he was a famous painter. If you Google his 976 01:03:58,690 --> 01:04:03,190 poems and look at Google images, he would be doing 977 01:04:03,190 --> 01:04:05,850 these engravings and beautiful paintings for his 978 01:04:05,850 --> 01:04:11,120 poems. They were very expensive. "The tree which 979 01:04:11,120 --> 01:04:15,080 moves some to tears of joy." Again, look at how he 980 01:04:15,080 --> 01:04:19,040 focuses on these two states, how experience and 981 01:04:19,040 --> 01:04:22,900 our perceptions create the world we live in. "In 982 01:04:22,900 --> 01:04:27,800 the eyes of others, only a green thing, only a 983 01:04:27,800 --> 01:04:31,080 green thing could move you." Something that happens 984 01:04:31,080 --> 01:04:33,120 all the time. You find somebody says something, is 985 01:04:33,120 --> 01:04:35,860 telling a story, and some people are like crying 986 01:04:35,860 --> 01:04:39,090 their eyes out, and some people are like, "Nothing. 987 01:04:39,290 --> 01:04:41,170 It means nothing to them." It doesn't mean you're 988 01:04:41,170 --> 01:04:43,830 bad. It means this time, this place is not touching 989 01:04:43,830 --> 01:04:45,170 something new. 990 01:04:47,460 --> 01:04:51,640 But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature 991 01:04:51,640 --> 01:04:54,580 is imagination itself. We see this in "words, 992 01:04:54,780 --> 01:04:57,840 words, words." Nature is the theme. Some people say 993 01:04:57,840 --> 01:04:59,680 Shakespeare is using nature. "Shall I compare thee 994 01:04:59,680 --> 01:05:02,180 to a summer's day?" He's saying "summer's day," but 995 01:05:02,180 --> 01:05:05,620 he's using nature to ornament his poem, to make 996 01:05:05,620 --> 01:05:10,060 his poem as metaphors. But here nature itself is 997 01:05:10,060 --> 01:05:12,140 the theme. Imagination itself is the theme; it's 998 01:05:12,140 --> 01:05:16,550 not only the medium or the tool. "What is now 999 01:05:16,550 --> 01:05:21,310 proved was once only imagined." Beautiful. What is 1000 01:05:21,310 --> 01:05:24,650 now proved was once imagined in somebody's 1001 01:05:24,650 --> 01:05:28,050 imagination. "Pottery fitted." I love this very much 1002 01:05:28,050 --> 01:05:31,610 again. "Pottery," and this clearly shows how he 1003 01:05:31,610 --> 01:05:34,150 deliberately was saying "sorry" to the rules of 1004 01:05:34,150 --> 01:05:38,310 decorum and classicism. "Pottery fitted." Pottery 1005 01:05:38,310 --> 01:05:42,900 that is restrained, restricted by rules, "fitters" 1006 01:05:42,900 --> 01:05:46,380 the human race. That's an extreme opinion. If you 1007 01:05:46,380 --> 01:05:49,880 control poetry, if you repress poetry, restrict 1008 01:05:49,880 --> 01:05:53,320 poetry, you restrict the human race, our imagination 1009 01:05:53,320 --> 01:05:58,280 and our experiences. "Nations are destroyed or 1010 01:05:58,280 --> 01:06:01,780 flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting 1011 01:06:01,780 --> 01:06:05,840 and music are destroyed or flourish." This feels 1012 01:06:05,840 --> 01:06:09,680 like somebody in the 20th century, 21st century 1013 01:06:09,680 --> 01:06:14,010 said. This is how ahead of his time he was. This 1014 01:06:14,010 --> 01:06:17,930 is another extract from a beautiful poem. What 1015 01:06:17,930 --> 01:06:22,370 he's doing, "to see a world in a grain of sand and 1016 01:06:22,370 --> 01:06:26,010 a heaven in a wildflower; hold infinity in the 1017 01:06:26,010 --> 01:06:29,430 palm of your hand and eternity in an hour." 1018 01:06:33,400 --> 01:06:35,740 When I tell the truth, it's not for the sake of 1019 01:06:35,740 --> 01:06:38,740 convincing those who don't know it, but for the 1020 01:06:38,740 --> 01:06:41,820 sake of defending those that do. 1021 01:06:45,100 --> 01:06:49,240 When I tell the truth, it's not for the sake of 1022 01:06:49,240 --> 01:06:52,160 convincing those who don't know the truth, but 1023 01:06:52,160 --> 01:06:54,240 for the sake of convincing those who know the truth or who are 1024 01:06:54,240 --> 01:06:58,350 willing to know the truth. Those who restrain 1025 01:06:58,350 --> 01:07:01,790 their desires do so because their desire 1026 01:07:01,790 --> 01:07:07,230 is weak enough to be restrained. Desires, 1027 01:07:07,890 --> 01:07:11,330 imagination, feelings shouldn't be controlled. If 1028 01:07:11,330 --> 01:07:14,450 the doors—again the perception issue here—if the 1029 01:07:14,450 --> 01:07:18,770 doors of perception were cleansed, everything would 1030 01:07:18,770 --> 01:07:21,610 appear to man as it is, infinite. 1031 01:07:24,800 --> 01:07:28,400 And again, the city life destroys our perception, 1032 01:07:28,800 --> 01:07:32,480 makes everything mundane, boring, repetitive. 1033 01:07:32,480 --> 01:07:39,740 "Without contraries, there is no progression." If 1034 01:07:39,740 --> 01:07:44,300 something is very black, it could sound very black 1035 01:07:44,300 --> 01:07:47,800 when it's next to a very white color, or something 1036 01:07:47,800 --> 01:07:50,180 like this, very short, very tall, and these things. 1037 01:07:50,970 --> 01:07:53,190 And that's why he's focusing on these two states 1038 01:07:53,190 --> 01:07:57,270 of mind. If you don't understand innocence, unless 1039 01:07:57,270 --> 01:08:03,610 there is experience there, and vice versa. And 1040 01:08:03,610 --> 01:08:06,050 finally, this is a very powerful statement, but it 1041 01:08:06,050 --> 01:08:09,850 shouldn't be fixed here. "I care not whether a man 1042 01:08:09,850 --> 01:08:14,950 is good or evil; all that I care is whether he is 1043 01:08:14,950 --> 01:08:23,480 a wise man or a fool. Go put off holiness and put 1044 01:08:23,480 --> 01:08:28,100 on intellect. Don't disguise under an attire or a 1045 01:08:28,100 --> 01:08:33,680 mask of religion or goodness or whatever. All I 1046 01:08:33,680 --> 01:08:37,400 care about is whether you are a wise man or a fool. If you are a wise man, like if you 1047 01:08:37,400 --> 01:08:41,680 are a fool. 1048 01:08:41,680 --> 01:08:42,300 I'm stopping here. Okay, I want you to think of 1049 01:08:45,010 --> 01:08:48,390 possible features for William Blake and his 1050 01:08:48,390 --> 01:08:53,600 poetry. Read more poetry by William Blake. Many 1051 01:08:53,600 --> 01:08:57,180 students usually approach me and ask me, "I want to 1052 01:08:57,180 --> 01:09:00,080 write poetry. I want to like English poetry. Where 1053 01:09:00,080 --> 01:09:01,940 should I start?" I usually point to William Blake. 1054 01:09:04,520 --> 01:09:07,420 If you want to write poetry, read his many, many, 1055 01:09:07,420 --> 01:09:09,220 many poems. You're lucky if you're doing also the 1056 01:09:09,220 --> 01:09:12,800 Romantic literature course because you will be 1057 01:09:12,800 --> 01:09:15,180 exposed to more poems by William Blake. Thank you 1058 01:09:15,180 --> 01:09:17,420 very much, ladies. If you have a question, you can 1059 01:09:17,420 --> 01:09:18,040 stay behind.