Literature

DEADLINES:

· Activity on questions 6. to 10 on “Lament” – Tuesday 7 July

· Questionnaire on “The Signalman” – Friday 10 July

· Work on sonnets about grasshoppers – Tuesday 14 July

(Take note the deadlines have been modified!!!!...for your benefit).

Two Sonnets about Grasshoppers

Read carefully both poems (if you do not have the photocopy I gave you on Wednesday 30 June, find the poem “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats in Songs of Ourselves, and “The Grasshopper” is transcribed below!).

Look up the following words in the dictionary. Choose the meaning that best suits the context.

Keats´s poem: GRASSHOPPER – CRICKET - FAINT – HEDGE – MOWN – MEAD – TAKE THE LEAD – DO WITH – DELIGHT – AT EASE – BENEATH – WEED – CEASE – LONE – FROST – WROUGHT – STOVE – SHRILL (v) – WARMTH – DROWSINESS

Hunt´s poem: VAULTER – SOLE – AMIDST – LAZY – NOON – LAG (v) – SUMMONING – BRASS – HOUSEKEEPER – CLASS (v) – TRICKSOME – TUNE – NICK (v) – TINY – HEARTH – MIRTH

Read the poems for a second and a third time with the glossary handy.

Then make a comparative table to establish how both sonnets are similar and different from the point of view of a) theme, b) tone, c) language, d) imagery, e) viewpoint, f) message. Use the introductory notes transcribed below which is a very good reference and source of parameters for analysis.

After completing the table, write an essay with your findings. Remember you must submit the glossary, the table and the essay (*)

(*) Don´t forget the structure for the essay: INTRODUCTION (you introduce the topic with a general view of what is common to both poems), then the BODY (one or two or even three paragraphs in which you consider the differences from the different items listed a) to f)). Finally your CONCLUSION in which you can include your judgement, whether you like them or not and why, and even which sonnet you prefer and why.

Two Sonnets: “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats and “The Grasshopper” by Leigh Hunt

There is a lovely story about these poems.

Firstly- It is a sonnet i.e. a poem of 14 lines, with Iambic rhythm (de-dah, de-dah, de-dah) and 5 stressed syllables to every line. The other requirement of a sonnet is that there should be a change of thought or and expanding of ideas in the last six lines. Usually every line rhymes with at least one other; the rhyming pattern varies FROM sonnet to sonnet.

John Keats and his dear friend Leigh Hunt (there is a poem by him below) discussed the difference between the grasshopper and the cricket and challenged each other to write a sonnet, to be judged by some literary friends. The young Keats won the competition, but he always humbly said that he preferred Hunt's sonnet to his own.

Keats's line "The poetry of earth is ceasing never" goes down with "A thing of beauty is a joy forever" as one of Keats's most quotable quotes. (They sound as if they come FROM the same poem .... but No....

Here is Hunt's sonnet-

Green little vaulter in the sunny grass,

Catching your heart up at the feel of June,

Sole voice that's heard amidst the lazy noon,

When even the bees lag at the summoning brass;

And you, warm little housekeeper, who class

With those who think the candles come too soon,

Loving the fire, and with your tricksome tune,

Nick the glad, silent moments as they pass;

O sweet and tiny cousins, that belong

One to the fields, the other to the hearth,

Both have your sunshine; both, though small, are strong

At your clear hearts; and both seem given to earth

To sing in thoughtful ears this natural song,

In doors and out, summer and winter -- mirth.

It's especially nice that Keats and Hunt could be so open with each other about their mutual love and admiration instead of HAVING to deny it and lie about it and hurt each other when they write their little poems about being the grasshopper and the cricket back and forth over time, isn´t it?