Poetry Section Critical Analysis

W.D. Snodgrass

      Snodgrass wrote him revolutionary work along with Robert Lowell and other confessional poets. He is chiefly known for his intricate, restrained and gently self-mocking poems with hidden and complex issues. He writes on what he cannot help thinking, not for readers, or for himself or for anything.

                                             April Inventory

     The title suggests the poet's schedule for coming April, the month of spring, greenery and happiness. This presupposes his timebound, busy life so that he requires a recess for rest and solitude. The green catalpa' tree has turned all white refers to the blooming April. The speaker realizes his old age with his hair turned grey, yet emotions are as young as spring. Flowers do not bloom to pay for any blessed thing we give. They do as are bestowed upon them by nature spontaneously without human cause. The fourth line apparently employs symbols which vivify the speaker's old age as can be discerned in "the blossoms snow down in my hair."

       The second line of the second stanza informs about the speakers profession, teaching and moves on to express his interest in girls, their physical attributes and beauty and his desire for them. He admires the physical body of the girl as sleek and expensive. 'Pinker', a color bears a sensual connotation. 'Bloom' 'out of reach' marks his sense of impassivity to obtain them because of the widening age gap between him the girls. The reference to 'pear tree' has a significant as regards his appearance at the old age since the white flowers covering the whole tree begin to fall down in the winter and finally there remain mere skeletons in the tree as can be justifiably compared with an old man's falling of grey hairs and remaining of mere ball head.

      A remarkable rhythm catching up movement as well as the way hairs fall is an outcome of linguistic play in the poem: 'petal drop like on a tabletop; most of them monosyllabic with alliteration and assonance which give a visual and sensuous picture. The speaker is till mute about his planning, he is occupied to describe his outer appearance and inner desires which are contrastive from each other. 'By now' show a time dimension and the speaker's long standing examination of the girls. He is aware of himself and his duty and realizes he is too old to wedge through a crowd to stare them (girls). He is so attentive, about himself that he takes their smile as a mockery of his fallen teeth. He is not ready to accept from the core of his heart the emotional difference between him and them but physique is betraying him, this knocks at his head all the time.

        This emulates the overtone of psychological complexity of the speaker. He even admits the linear passing of time which will not drive him back to his young shrewd, candid and duty free age. "The tenth time" presupposes his pervious lists about his requirements and duties. He is not tired of graphing his further activities which pronounce the tireless efforts of human being. He prepared a list year of what he had to know and told these things to his parents, and others who trusted him. Fifth Stanza jumps upon another part of discourse; he explores another aspect of his nature and experience. It bears in it a trace of mockery of scholars who are engulfed in moneymaking as soon as they receive degree and they forget what they have learned and what they have to learn. He places himself in that category and invokes his own temperament of forgetfulness and skepticism. Their (scholars) so-called dignity in cloth and profession is marked by 'starchy collars' and lectureship. He moves from third person again which has occurred throughout the poem. He taught a a British philosopher, whitehead's doctrine, Mahler's songs on one hand and on the other, he taught a child how to love and nature.

         

            Other seemingly absurd references to his teaching of his own name, barking back, loosening love and crying, comforting his woman(probably his wife), and dying old man show the trivial daily chores of professor who cannot rid himself of homely affairs and of raw reaction to any experience despite his artificially imposed behaviour. I can find a dichotomy between nature and culture, former dominating over latter even in a so-called civilized and educated man. The continuation of the last two lenses of seventh stanza to the successive one points at the speaker's automatics responses of his natural instincts as he says "I have not learned how often I can win, can love but choose to die. I have not learned there is a lie/love shall be blonder, slimmer, younger…" All these things do not need to be learnt yet they are deeply seated in one's intuition. The speaker is at a confused condition so he is unable to distinguish what he has learnt and what not. Most of the things he talks about are unlearnt but powerful which lead him into action. 'blonder (more beautiful), slimmer, younger 'revoke in the speaker's mind an unsurpassable desire of sexuality which perplexes his eyes.

       The second last stanza speaks out directly about the hypocrisy of scholars who look modest, controlled, disciplined, well cultivated hiding their inner fallacious disposition as the phrase" procure and spend their leaves" suggests. 'Trees' symbolizes scholars. 'The gold and silver in my teeth' signifies external sufficiency and sobriety. The final stanza postulates the persona's self-consolatory remarks about the importance of soul rather than body or essence rather than forms expressed through 'gentles' and loveliness'. "There is loveliness exists/preserves us, not for specialists"-Creates a distinction between general and special perceivers and the speaker probes into the value of human existence which he sees in behaviour not in study, in intuition not in research and so on.

       However we have not got any specific list for his April. We can only speculate what he intends to do is not enlisted because what is enlisted is one's out-ward duty, responsibility or affectation. The persona in the last Stanza is very optimistic as he says, "we shall afford our costly season" which not by restructuring the sentiment, vigour and spirit. He is aptly articulating that man is never old as long as his spirit is young. The poem is ironical, full of self-mockery with a strong sense of moral lesson embedded in it.

       

Billy Budd: Captain Vere, another tragic hero

Billy Budd: Captain Vere, another tragic hero

We mourn the death of Billy, but the tragedy in this novel falls equally upon Captain Vere who has the mind to comprehend it, as well as the heart to feel. This novel then has not one but two tragic heroes. While Billy is a humble sailor; captain Vere is a man of an exalted rank. The higher status of captain Vere certainly makes his tragedy a little more painful, even though Billy Budd too is descended from noble ancestors. The tragedy of captain Vere lies in the fact that, although he is convinced of the essential innocence of Billy, he at the same feels compelled to enforce the military law strictly against Billy on a charge of having assaulted his superior officer and having about his death, though unintentionally. Captain Vere’s immediate reaction to Claggart’s death is that “It is the divine judgment on Ananias” and that Claggart has been “Struck dead by an angel of God”. However in the same breath Captain Vere also says that the angel who has struck the villain dead must himself be hanged. Thus, although captain Vere perceives the hand of God in the death of Claggart, he yet feels it obligatory upon himself to see that Billy doesn’t escape the punishment prescribed by the law for the offence, which he has committed. The court martial feels inclined to show some clemency in dealing with Billy; but captain Vere is strongly opposed to any such consideration being shown to the accused. Any leniency shown to Billy might give the ship’s crew the felling that the officers are afraid of enforcing the law. Any leniency might therefore cause damage to the discipline on the ship. Captain Vere goes so far as to tell the court-martial that Billy is innocent in the eyes of God and that, on the judgment Day, Billy would be honorably acquitted of the charge of murder. And yet captain Vere finds it necessary to have Billy convicted and sentenced to death. Captain Vere has here to choose between divine justice and secular justice; between moral justice and legal justice, between private morality and public morality, between the private conscience and the imperial conscience; and capita Vere in each case chooses the later. But the choice made by him robs him completely of his peace of mind afterwards. Up to the point of Belly’s conviction and the pronouncement of the sentence against him, Captain Vere shows no signs of any inner conflict or any mental reservations, or any uncertainty whatever. Once the sentence has been pronounced, however, Captain Vere feels overwhelmed by his feeling that, in absolute terms, a grave injustice has been done to Billy. He now holds a private interview with Billy and explains to him the reasons why Billy had to be convicted and sentenced to death. Captain Vere has allowed his private conscience and his moral principles to be pushed into the background by his official sense of duty and by his oath of allegiance to his king. Of course, he now tries to soothe Billy’s feelings and his won feelings by dwelling upon the rationale behind the arguments, which he had advanced against Billy during the trail; but he cannot really achieve any mental peace or serenity. He continues to be haunted by the thought of the injustice, which has been done to Billy, so that even at the time of his death he is heard repeatedly murmuring the name of Billy Budd. Even at the time of his death, Captain Vere isn’t able to forget the Handsome sailor, the innocent Billy, who had been hanged to satisfy the requirements of the military law at the cost of the law of God. Such then is captain Vere’s tragedy. He certainly doesn’t die a happy man; and he, like Billy wins our deepest sympathy.