poetry about grandmothers

							 Structuralist Analysis of
Three Poems: “Spleen”; “The Map”
           “Sestina”
“Spleen”
  Source: (Provided by Buck Lee)
 http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/flowersofevil/s
 ection1.rhtml
 http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/flowersofevil/s
 ection2.rhtml (need to register a free
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 “Unlike traditional poetry that relied on the serene
 beauty of the natural world to convey emotions,
 Baudelaire felt that modern poetry must evoke the
 artificial and paradoxical aspects of life. . . . ”
“Spleen” (2) : meaning of Spleen
   The result is a clear opposition between two
 worlds, "spleen“ and the "ideal." Spleen signifies
 everything that is wrong with the world: death,
 despair, solitude, murder, and disease. (The
 spleen, an organ that removes disease-causing
 agents from the bloodstream, was traditionally
 associated with malaise; "spleen" is a synonym for
 "ill-temper.") In contrast, the ideal represents a
 transcendence over the harsh reality of spleen,
 where love is possible and the senses are united in
 ecstasy.
“Spleen” (3): Form
   By beginning the first three stanzas of
 "Spleen" (IV) all with the word "When,"
 Baudelaire formally mirrors his theme of
 monotonous boredom and the speaker's
 surrender to the inexorable regularity and
 longevity of his spleen.
“The Map”
 Binary opposites?
 Poetic form? Poetic language?
 Meaning?
“The Map”: Binary opposites–
(land and water) vs. we; contain and cross
           Lies                   Sea-weeded ledges,
  The land Leans down             fine tan sandy shelf
           Tugging at --water

  Eskimos Oil the land;           Names crossing
  We      Stroke -- to blossom;   boundaries; land
          to provide a clean cage takes water

  The      Conform to land        Hare runs;
  mapped                          Profiles investigate;
  water
                                  Delicate colors.
“The Map”
 Poetic form? --1st and 3rd stanzas organized;
  Poetic language? A lot of personification. Map-
 makers seem less important.
  Meaning? While the speaker changes her
 perspectives from cosmic to
 subjective/imaginative, and then to
 objective/descriptive, the poem shows in the ever-
 changefulness of geography, two types of
 interactions: that in nature, and that between
 nature and human beings. After all, nature cannot
 be contained or fixed.
“Sestina” : What is Sestina?
“The sestina is an old fixed form of poetry, dating as
  far back as the twelfth century. It onsists of six
  six-line stanzas and a three-line concluding stanza.
  The ending words of the first stanza are repeated
  throughout each subsequent stanza in a set pattern.
  The same six words appear in the concluding
  three-line stanza, two in each line. ” (source
  http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Villa/8287/sestina.htm )


house, grandmother, child, Stove, almanac (?),
  tears.
Meaning?
Sestina: variation of the 3 pairs
1. Grandmother (sender) the child (Receiver),
    hide the tears from her.
2. Grandmother (Subject)  Tears  equinoctial
    tears + rain = foretold by the almanac (Object),
    hidden from the child (Object); iron kettle sing
 3. Child (passive; Subject)  the teakettle +
    tears + the house (Object); grandmother
    (Subject) almanac (Object).
4. Almanac (Opponent)  grandmother and child
    (Object); grandmother (Subject) her teacup
    full of dark brown tears + stove;
5. Marvel Stove and the almanac (S) 
  limitation; the child (S)  creation (a
  man with buttons like tears)
6. Grandmother  stove; little moons
  (subject)  on the almanac; the child’s
  flower bed.
7. almana (S) compose oneself;
  grandmother sings (S)  stove; the
  child draws (S)  inscrutable house
“Sestina”
 Pattern?
 Meaning?