a Pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA.

I think this form of poetry is a little confusing, and very unpopular due to the rigorous structure and little space for a messae to come accross. In A Survey of Engligh Poetry I found a poem that hopefully has somewhat of a pantoum structure or jsut varies slightly form it. I looked for hte repetition in lines, which I saw.

As Dew in Aprille by Anonymous
I sing of a maiden
That is makels:
King of all kings
To her son she ches.

He came also stille
There his moder was,
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the grass.

He came al so stille
To his moder's bour,
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the flour.

He came al so stille
There his moder lay,
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the spray.

Moder and mayden
Was never none but she:
Well may such a lady
Goddess moder be.

All I could find on youtube were really high pitched annoying choires singing this song along wiht harps, so I thought I'd spare you guys and just write about it. Anyway, I guess that this was a medival hymn of some sort which was found and written down as poetry, or the opposite way around. "As Dew in Aprille" disgusses the relationship between a mother and son, and then progresses toward a mother and a madden. The repetition of "As dew in Aprille" is signifigant to the fact that it is in the middle three stanzas, and sets the light tone for hte poem. The "King" is presumeably the maiden's husband who is being idolized and the "fallen" aspects of the poem sudgest a lapse in something, although I am not quite sure what. I do't really understand all the symbolism of hte poem, but htat is my best analysis.

Week 2 Villanelle, Pantoum

The villanelle has 19 lines, 5 stanzas of three lines and 1 stanza of four lines with two rhymes and two refrains. The 1st, then the 3rd lines alternate as the last lines of stanzas 2,3,and 4, and then stanza 5 (the end) as a couplet. It is usually written in tetrameter (4 feet) or pentameter. The form is originally French and didn't appear in English until the later 1800's.

I selected a famous villanelle by Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night." Thomas does not stray form the form and structure of the poem, it is an effective example of how villanelle repetition works.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night,

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night,

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

This poem clearly contrasts hte light versus dark theme present in many literary works. With the repeating lines "Do not go gentle into that good night" emphasizes the message of possible death or the unknown darkness that "night" symbolizes, and how to not easily slip into the darkess but rather pick a fight. The second line of repetition is "Rage, Rage, against the dying of the light" furthur emphasizes the fight for resistance of the darkness so "dying of the light" acts like a euphamism.

Throughout the poem's three stanzas death lurks heavily, as in each stanza there is a scenario of possible death and fall into darkness of a mysterious "man", where the subject is then reassured by one of the repeating lines. The poem then concludes in the quatrain where the speaker reassures his own father to fight and live on wiht both of the repeating lines to serve as the concluding couplet.

Week 1: Ode, Elegy

I am focusing on an elegy poem, since I did an ode in my last post.

elegy of ages by Sakura Tomoko

poets of centuries,
their words ever so
-eloquent
whisper their lives
which
Result in catastrophe
but preserve them forever
-in elegy

I've never heard of Sakura Tomoko, but I like his word choice in this elegy.
"eloquent" and "catastrophe" really juxtopose the idea of "preserv[ation]" and "poets of hte centuries" seems to sum up the ideas of how Brittish and Midevial origination of these types of styles of poetry, with odes and elegys. My interpretation of hte poem is that Sakura is addressing hte "poets of the centuries," in sayign that they chose their words well to portray and describe their lives. He also says that since people's talk "Result in catastrophe" and gets them into trouble, or jsut that lives "result in catastrophe" by dying, or jsut having problems. In saying "but preserve them forever" I think Sakura notes how peoples tragedies make for great poems ("-in elegy") and rememberance.

Week 1: Ode, Elegy

ode- a lyric poem with complex stanza forms
elegy- a mournful poem; a lament for the dead

A little unsure of what an ode was I looked it up, so I got what I posted above. My selection is in the category of Medieval Lyric Poetry by Anonymous, with a subtitle of "Deo Gracias/Adam Lay Ibounden" (does that mean it is not anonymous if there is an author?)

I didn't feel like typing the poem out, so i searched for it on google and i found this instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DocrO_hRW2w

Its this group of singers who sing the poem, only its a little more repetative, ut all hte same stanzas are in it never the less.

The poem embodies the literary device of euphonys, which makes sense becasue it is able to be sung. A euphony appears to the ear to be smooth, pleasant, and musical. Deo Gracias has somehtign to do wiht thanks, (gracias) while deo is a conjugated verb which most likely is from dar, which means to give. This poem plays wiht the word "bound" (ibounden, bounden, bond) in the first stanza to really get the point accross of an attachment. The second stanza focuses of "appil", which really is an "apple" which symbolizes somethign forbidden, since this poem is biblicly (sp?) based the apple plays of Adam and Eve. In the third stanza it talks about "appil take ben" and "hadde never our lady" which emmulates hte adam and eve theme moreso.

I was drawn to this poem becasue I thought it emmulated the theme of an ode becasue of its lyricy, and i was happy i could find a song to go wiht it. The style it was written in was a little hard to understand, but nice none the less.