Explication of poem "Break of Day"

Upon first reading the poem “Break of Day,” by John Donne I was instantly struck by it’s similarity to a line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In Act 3 Scene 5 Juliet remarks “It is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear.” Juliet is begging Romeo to stay with her, claiming he doesn’t yet have to leave because it is not quite morning, a time when the lark would sing. Donne’s poem is similar in situation and having a feeling of desperation.
Donne opens the piece with “‘Tis true, ‘tis day, what though it be? O wilt thou therefore rise from me?” The first line depicts the narrator’s exasperation with passing time and sad inquiry of whether their lover will leave them. The narrator reasons with their partner, who is the receiver of these pleas, claiming “Why should we rise because ‘tis light? Did we lie down because ‘twas night?” He continues to disregard time with the expression “Love, which in spite of darkness brought us hither, Should in despite of light keep us together.” He finds that their being together should not be exclusive to night’s ability to hide them, an ability that they didn’t rely on for their connection in the first place.
The second stanza personifies day-light and gives it reason in the situation, logic that the two lovers seem not to have. The individual narrating claims “Light hath no tongue, but is all eye” in hopes of convincing his love that light has no power to indicate their time around one another and can only shed light on what they do. He does find that if light did have a voice, it would view their relations as vexed. The speaker states that “the worst disease of love” is “the poor, the foul, the false, love can / Admit, but not the busied man.” To the narrator, it is feelings that reflect the negativity found in a relationship, but those in the relationship themselves refuse to see it due to their ‘busied’ nature. The final line of the piece reflects the conflict felt by the subject. Donne writes: “He which hath business, and makes love, doth do / Such wrong, as when a married man doth woo.” The central issue of the poem is revealed in that the speaker is in love with a person that they are not legally wed to. The narrator addressing their lover is done most likely during the-morning-after when they wake and realize the fault in their decision and wrongs in their relationship. To the narrator, the break of day is also the end to his errant relationship.

To be or Not to be

To apply or not to apply? That is the question-
Whether it’s easier to decide impulsively
On a college that may not be for me
Or to choose them definitely and decide quite carefully
And find myself more lost in the college search?
To read up on, to research -
No more - and by giving up I end this process
The confusion and stress
It’s an abomination! But a necessary evil at best.
Financial Aid gives us pause. There’s the tours that
Take weekends out of our long life!
Pangs of someday missing family and friends, attack
The heart like whips and oppress the mind.
One grunts and sweats through high school,
Barely getting by and must consider higher education?
Fie, I tell you, Fie!
This process does make cowards of us all,
But still there is the end result, the resolution,
We will find out ways with thought and reason.
Our enterprising minds will go free into this new world and
These trying months will be but a blip on our life’s radar
And with the choice the currents pull us away,
From home and life here
To a new world and a new life of action.

Hamlet 2.1-2.2

In the entirety of Act 2 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the reader is given insight into the parental lengths the parent figures in the play go to, so as to look out for their children. This is seen in Polonius’ plan for Laertes and Claudius’ ideas regarding Hamlet.
Polonius opens the first scene of the Act with a conversation he is having with servant, Reynaldo. It is quickly made clear that Polonius’ watchful eye on his son is more literal than originally thought. He asks Reynaldo to bring Laertes some money and letters, but prior to that he tells the man that he must spy on Laertes. He asks that he “inquire / of his behavior,” (4-5) by spreading rumors amongst the local French Danish people (after having their backgrounds checked) and determining if Laertes’ actions will bring “dishonor,” (21) to himself and his father. The situation presented will provide Polonius with information, but could still potentially harm Laertes’ social life. This begs the question: Why does Polonius wish to learn of his son in this dishonest way. Polonius himself states that the best method of watching Laertes is “by indirections find directions out,” (65). Polonius is a hypocritical, conniving, untrusting and self-satisfying individual so it is only sensible that he must spy on his seemingly deceitful son with his “fetch of wit” (39) master-mind plan but also tells Reynaldo he must “observe his inclination in yourself” (70), because gossip cannot be trusted.
A second breech of parental limitations comes in the second scene when Claudius proposes a plan to determine what is bothering Hamlet. He tells of Hamlet’s condition, with his wife, to two of Hamlet’s old friends saying that he has undergone a “transformation” (5) and the men must watch over Hamlet to find the problem and while doing so “draw Hamlet to pleasures” (15) to lift his mood and eventually the kingdom will finalize a “remedy,” (18) for the negative and crazed actions. Polonius claims Hamlet is mad, overstepping his bounds once again, and states that using Ophelia as bait (another less-than-moral parenting choice) could find them an answer. The friend-plan of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz by Claudius does not succeed and Hamlet is onto the hoax immediately. The reader is still left to wonder Claudius’ intentions. Was it genuine worry for Hamlet? Or concern simply for the odd behavior about the castle? Whatever the reason, Claudius (like Polonius) utilizes espionage to determine their child’s well-being and thus proves himself to be a lacking and untrusting parental figure.

Explication of poem "Ars Poetica"

In the piece “Ars Poetica,” Archibald MacLeish explores the nuances of poetry and deems the way it should be written. The opening lines of the poem are: “A poem should be palpable and mute / As a globed fruit.” This simile is utilized to give an image to the reader, causing them to bring a “globed,” “palpable,” and “mute” fruit to mind. At first the comparison appears confused and nonsensical but in the entirety of the poem it makes the statement that poetry is a combination of words on paper, a silent object, that is brought to life. The exploration of silence continues in the verse with the phrases: “Dumb / As old medallions to the thumb, / Silent as the sleeve-worn stone / Of casement ledges where the moss has grown.” MacLeish isolates the word “dumb” to the third line so as to create the effect of quiet and continues with a simile “As old medallions to the thumb.” The image of holding a medallion is the author’s way of conveying that there is interest, value and longevity in poetry. Longevity of poetry is also explained with MacLeish’s line “as the sleeve-worn stone / Of casement ledges where the moss has grown,” where a rock has had such time to settle that it has gained a coating off moss. With the final line “A poem should be wordless As the flight of birds,” a new dimension is added to the imagery. Not only are the images’ silence symbolic to a poem’s lack of voice, but the imagery itself is what inspires poetry to be written. Things such as fruit, medallions, rocks and birds in flight are all subject of poems, if they are used as such.

The poet’s second verse is an extended metaphor of the moon’s rise at night. The stanza opens and closes with the line “A poem should be motionless in time / As the moon climbs,” this is referencing poetry’s tendency to capture particular experiences and suspend them in time with language. MacLeish uses the lines “Twig by twig the night-entangled trees” and “Memory by memory the mind—” to also depict the capture of  moment by a poem. The repetition of words indicates the building of poetry with word selection, it moves slowly as the moon does to it’s place in the sky.

The final paragraph portrays the meaning and reasoning behind poetry. MacLeish asserts “A poem should be equal to: Not true.” Here he defines that a poem can be seen by many readers in many perspectives. A poet’s message is never exactly translated into a reader’s mind, but it can be close or “equal to.” MacLeish continues with the claim that poems can stem from all areas of life such as “all the history of grief,” or simply “An empty doorway and a maple leaf.” MacLeish closes the poem with the lines “A poem should not mean / But be.”  The concept of poetry being representations of things and experiences culminates in MacLeish’s affirmation that a poem cannot be composed of language that does not provide the reader imagery, it must be so concrete and real that it does not “mean,” but it simply is. The make-up of the poem is simply because poetry should be simple, simple in that it speaks for itself and does so successfully.

Hamlet 1.1-1.3

Impressions of Hamlet, Claudius and Gertrude 

The first two scenes of Shakespeare’s Hamlet give the reader introductions to the three main characters; Hamlet, Claudius and Gertrude. The first member presented is Claudius. He opens Act 1 Scene 3 with an expression of grief over the recent passing of Hamlet’s father and then states that the memories of the late Hamlet are fresh in his mind but the soon-to-be family must still exist “together with remembrance of ourselves,” (Line 7). This allows him to segue into he and Gertrude’s recent engagement, calling it a “defeated joy,” (Line 10). Claudius seems genuine in his remorse but quickly disproves this with the expression of marriage. Claudius also is seemingly polite to staff and is greatly generous to Laertes. From his opening moments it seems this man is somewhat considerate and trustworthy. This assumption is instantly rebutted with Hamlet’s first line being an aside about how Hamlet refuses to be associated as his son. This presents Hamlet as a bitter and sarcastic character and places Claudius in a newly negative light. Later Claudius asks why “clouds…hang on you?” (Line 66) to Hamlet and the Prince is then introduced as a melancholy individual. Hamlet confirms this with a speech about how his appearance doesn’t nearly indicate the intensity of his sadness saying “all forms, moods, shapes of grief…denote me truly” (Line 82-83). Claudius’ response defines him as a harsh character claiming Hamlet’s clinging to grief as being “unmanly…incorrect to heaven,…impatient…and unschooled” (Line 94-97). Claudius does not tolerate his grief and even calls it a terrible weakness of Hamlets. 

Following this interaction the reader is given even more insight into Hamlet’s depression. He wishes that suicide was not illegal and calls his life “…an unweeded garden / that grows to seed” (Line 135-136). Hamlet also continues to negatively depict Claudius with the line “my uncle…no more like my father/Than I to Hercules.” Claudius is seen as foil to Hamlet Senior’s noble and strong constitution. In this line the reader also sees Hamlet’s sense of inadequacy in that he is far from being a Hercules of the world. 

Exposition on Hamlet continues to be provided in the following scene. Laertes calls Hamlet’s love for Ophelia “a violet in the youth of primy nature” (Line 7). To Laertes, Hamlet is nothing but an impulsive, lustful and hot-blooded youth who cannot love Ophelia properly. He also states that Hamlet’s choice in life “depends / The safety and health of this whole state” (Line 20-21) and he is totally bound to family obligations. 

The third main character, Gertrude, is seen less frequently in the first three scenes. Her first lines are asking Hamlet to lighten up and wear less dark clothes. She also asserts “Do not forever…/Seek for thy noble father in the dust” (Line 70-71). It is also known that she shares a bond with Hamlet. He only agrees to not leave for Wittenberg only when she asks and he only promises to obey her. Later he describes the loving relationship Gertrude had with his father and expresses shock over her quick grieving of him.