The Last Leaf

The Last Leaf (Brief Summary)

Masdiqkzone - "The Last Leaf" is a short story by O. Henry published in 1907 in his collection The Trimmed Lamp and Other Stories. Set in Greenwich Village, it depicts characters and themes typical of O. Henry's works.

Johnsy has fallen ill and is dying of pneumonia. She watches the leaves fall from a vine outside the window of her room, and decides that when the last leaf drops, she too will die, while Sue tries to tell her to stop thinking like that.

An old, frustrated artist named Behrman lives below Johnsy and Sue. He has been claiming that he will paint a masterpiece, even though he has never even attempted to start. Sue goes to him and tells him that her friend is dying of pneumonia, and that Johnsy claims she will die when the last leaf falls off of a vine outside her window. Behrman scoffs at this as foolishness, but—as he is protective of the two young artists—he decides to see Johnsy and the vine.

In the night, a very bad storm comes and wind is howling and rain is splattering against the window. Sue closes the curtains and tells Johnsy to go to sleep, even though there is still one leaf left on the vine. Johnsy protests but Sue insists on doing so because she doesn't want Johnsy to see the last leaf fall. In the morning, Johnsy wants to see the vine, to be sure that all the leaves are gone, but to their surprise, there is still one leaf left.

While Johnsy is surprised that it is still there, she insists it will fall that day. But it doesn't, nor does it fall through the night nor the next day. Johnsy believes that the leaf stayed there to show how wicked she was, and that she sinned in wanting to die. She regains her will to live, and makes a full recovery throughout the day.

In the afternoon, a doctor talks to Sue. The doctor says that Mr. Behrman has come down with pneumonia and, as there is nothing to be done for him, he is being taken to the hospital to be made comfortable in his final hours. A janitor had found him helpless with pain, and his shoes and clothing were wet and icy cold. The janitor couldn't figure out where he had been on that stormy night, though she had found a lantern that was still lit, a ladder that had been moved, some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it. "Look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece - he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell."

Summary 

Living in early 20th century Greenwich Village are two young women artists, Sue and Johnsy (familiar for Joanna). They met in May, six months previously, and decided to share a studio apartment. Stalking their artist colony in November is "Mr. Pneumonia." The story begins as Johnsy, near death from pneumonia, lies in bed waiting for the last leaf of an ivy vine on the brick wall she spies through her window to fall.

"I’m tired of thinking," says Johnsy. "I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves"(16). However, an unexpected hero arrives to save Johnsy. It’s not the brusque doctor who gives her only one in ten chances to survive, raising them to one in five if Sue can get her to hope for something important like a man, not her true desire to "paint the Bay of Naples some day" (14).

Mr. Behrman, an old man who lives in the apartment below Sue and Johnsy, who enjoys drinking, works sometimes as an artist’s model, and as yet has made no progress over the past 40 years on painting his own masterpiece, becomes in typical O. Henry fashion the hero. The evidence of his heroics are found the day before he dies from pneumonia: outside Johnsy’s window are a ladder, a lantern still lighted "some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it . . . it’s Behrman’s masterpiece--he painted it [a leaf] there the night that the last leaf fell"(19), Sue informs Johnsy.

Commentary 

There are two interesting things I found in this story in addition to the general theme of death and dying. First, there is the ambiguity surrounding the relationship of the two women. I believe that they may have been lovers, but it was something that the author only felt comfortable hinting at.

Summary II

The story is set in the studio apartment of two young, female painters who live together, in Greenwhich village, America, a place which was made famous by a painter who used motifs from this place. It is a popular place for young artists, because of the low rent on the apartments, and nice atmosphere.

Outside, there is a storm, and one of the girls, Johnsy, is very ill, and bedridden. She thinks she is going to die when the last leaf on the ivy vine outside her window falls. The doctor gives her small chances of survival. Her roomate, Sue, prevents her from continuing to count leaves that night. She goes to get an old man called Behrman. The next day, there is still an ivy leaf outside the window. Johnsy realises she is being stupid, waiting to die like that, when the leaf does not fall, and starts to get better. The same day Johnsy gets better, Behrman dies. We discover that the last leaf on the ivy plant was painted onto the window by Behrman. Sue is the main character of this story, she is a young painter in Greenwhich Village, and shares an apartment with Johnsy, whom she met earlier that year, in May. She is very fond of Johnsy, and is quite distressed when she hears of her fancy: That she will die as the last leaf falls off the ivy plant outside. Sue is quite a quick thinker, and finds a solution to the problem very quickly, although  perhaps she does not think too far ahead – at least if she was the one who talked Behrman into going out into the terrible weather – she should have known he could get sick.

        Johnsy, or Johanna, is, although not the main character, perhaps the most important character. The conflict revolves around her, and none of the story would have happened if she was not there, hadnot caught pneumonia, and not been delerious with fever. She believes that when the last leaf on the ivy vine outside her window falls off, she will die, and she wants to die. Sue tells the doctor that Johnsy has always wanted to oneday paint the Bay of Naples. 

Symbolism: 

The last leaf symbolizes life and death. Before winter came, the tree was full of green, luscious leaves. And as time passes by, the leaves decayed and fell. The last leaf remained strong, just like Johnsy, and it only fell when it knew it was Mr. Behrman’s time to go. 

Summary: 

       "The Last Leaf" is a story about 2 female roommates and aspiring artists that live in Greenwich village. One of them, Johnsy, gets sick with pneumonia, and the doctor doesn't give her much of a chance. Johnsy's roommate, Sue, keeps watch over her and notices her counting. She asks why, and Johnsy replies that she is counting the "Leaves on the ivy vine. When the last one falls, [Johnsy] must go, too." Soon, there is only one leaf on the vine, and Sue is in despair that it will fall, and Johnsy will die. She expresses her fears to the unconventional and often grumpy old man that lives downstairs, Mr. Behrman. He comes up and sits with her for a while. The next morning, Sue opens the blinds to find the leaf still there, and Johnsy recovers. Later it is revealed that it was painted there by Behrman, who then, from exposure to Johnsy, and the cold, died of pneumonia at the old age of 60 years old. 

Socrates - Sir Richard Livingstone

                                                     Socrates

                                                                               -  Sir Richard Livingstone

Introduction

      Socrates is a biographical work written by Sir Richard Livingstone (1880-1960).  He was the President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford and Vice chancellor of the University of Oxford.  He was interested in Greek civilization.  His lectures on education appeared under the title Some Tasks for Education.  In this essay Sir Richard Livingstone has given the biographical sketches of Socrates regarding his life, works and death.  Socrates (469-399 B.C) was born in the city of Athens which belongs to the country Greece. He was a great philosopher who was engaged in questioning Truth and Virtue (purity), but finally faced death since he refused to give up the truth.

Topics for discussion in the lesson:

     The ‘Apology’ describes the last address of Socrates to the Athenians after the sentence of death was pronounced.  The second half of the lesson ‘Phaedo’ describes his last moments.  The author translated the dialogues of Plato in English. Socrates feels that the Athenians will get a bad name from the criticizers of the city who is about to kill a so called wise man.  If they had waited a little, their desire would have been achieved by the course of nature.

Views of Socrates about death:

     He feels that ‘death’ is supposed to be good.  He also talks about the two alternatives of death. Death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or it is the migration of soul from this world to another. In another world no one will put a man to death for asking questions and he feels too happy to be immortal.  He is not feeling angry with his condemners or with his accusers; since they have not done any harm to him rather they did good unknowingly. 

     He asks for a favour from those who victimized him, to punish his sons as they grew up, if his sons seem to care about riches, or anything more than virtue.  If they do this, both he and his son’s would be happy to receive justice at their hands.  He feels that the hour had come for his departure from this mortal world, and finally uttering that the true justice is better known to God and only to him.

Golden words

     Socrates use to talk with his friends and share new ideas with them but he never put anything in the form of writing.  Plato, his close friend made notes of what Socrates spoke and they were written down and published after the death of Socrates.  Many thought that he is the wisest (one who have good knowledge) of all men.  Later he decided to spend his time towards Philosophy or love of wisdom.  His wise sayings are as follows;

          § ‘Truth is beautiful and enduring’

          § ‘The uncriticized life is not worth living’

          §   The noblest of all studies is the study of ‘What a man should be and what he should do’.

Death Trial

     When he was at the age of 70 some people started to suspect and criticize him.  When he asked people to think they thought that Socrates was trying to destruct (destroy) the peace of Athens city. They began to think that he was against the government and he was later accused as criminal.  But he was not worried at all.  There was a custom (practice) that every accused will be given a chance to speak and to defend himself.  For this Socrates said ‘I have been preparing this all my life’.  Meletus and Anytus were the two who said Socrates was going against the government and disloyal.

     He was later sentenced to death.  He was given a cup of poison.  His friends tried to save Socrates life by giving bribe to the guards of the jail. But Socrates refused it.  The day of putting him to death came and jailor gave him the cup of poison and he asked Socrates to drink it.  Socrates wanted to give a part of poison as an offering to God but the jailor declined (didn’t accept) it.  He prayed for good luck on his journey to death and he drank the poison.  Later he asked Crito to give a cock as a sacrifice to God of Healing (Asclepius, the name of the God of Healing). He asked Crito not to forget the offering.  He covered his eyes with cloak (loose cloth) and soon died.

Conclusion

     This was the end of a good man, the noblest, the wisest and the best of all men. Thus this summary consists of all the happenings in the life of a great philosopher Socrates which has been clearly portrayed by Sir Richard Livingstone.

Apology For Poetry - Philip Sidney

Examine in detail the main ideas in Sidney's 'An Apology for Poetry' and comment on its significance.

An Apologie for Poetrie may for purposes of convenience be divided into sixteen sections.

1. The Prologue

     Before launching a defence of poetry, Sidney justified his stand by referring in a half-humorous manner to a treatise on horseman-ship by pietro Pugliano. If the art of horsemanship can deserve such an eloquent euology and vindication, surely poetry has better claims for euology and vindication. There is a just cause to plead a case for poetry since it has fallen from the highest estimation of learning to be 'the laughing stock of children.'

2. Some Special Arguments in Favour of Poetry

      Poetry has been held in high esteem since the earliest times. It has been 'the first light-giver to ignorance.' The earlier Greek philosophers and historians were, in fact, poets. Even among the uncivilized nations, in Turkey, among the American Indians, and m Wales, poetry enjoys an undiminishing popularity. To attack poetry is, therefore, to cut at the roots of culture and intelligence.

3. The Prophetic Character of Poetry

      

      The ancient Romans paid high reverence to the poet by calling him Vates, which means a Diviner, a Prophet, or a Foreseer. The etymological origin of Greek word 'poet' is Poiein, and this means 'to make'. Hence the Greeks honour the poet as a maker or creator. This suggests the divine nature of poetry.

4. The Nature and Function of Poetry

     Poetry is an art of ‘imitation' and its chief function is to teach and delight. Imitation does not mean mere copying or a reproduction of facts. It means a representing or transmuting of the real and actual, and sometimes creating something entirely new. The poet, so Sidney declares, "lifted upwith the vigour of his own invention, doth grow in effect another nature, in making things either better than Nature bringeth forth, or, quite a new, forms such as never were in Nature, as the Heroes, Demigods, Cyclops, Chimeras, Furies, and such like."

     Commenting on the creative powers of the poet, Sidney further states: "Nature never set forth the earth in so rich tapestry as divers poets have done, neither with pleasant rivers, fruitful trees, sweet smelling flowers, nor whatsoever else may make the too much loved earth more lovely. Her world is brazen, the poets only deliver a golden."

5.  The Three Kinds of Poetry

     The three kinds of poetry, according to Sidney, are : (a) religious poetry, (b) philosophical poetry, and (c) poetry as an imaginative treatment of life and nature. He calls special attention to the third class of poets, for 'these be they that, as the first and most noble sort may justly be termed vates.' They 'most properly do imitate to teach and delight, and to imitate borrow nothing of what is, has been, or shall be, but range, only with learned discretion, into the divine consideration of what may be, and should be.'

6.  Various Sub-divisions of the Third Kind of Poetry

     Poetry proper may further be divided into various species—the heroic, lyric, tragic, comic, satiric, iambic, elegiac, pastoral and others. Poets generally make use of verse to apparel their poetical inventions. But verse is 'an ornament and no cause to poetry since there have been many most excellent poets that never versified, and now swarm many versifiers that need never answer to the name of poets.'

7.  Superiority of Poetry to Philosophy and History

     In the promotion of virtue, both philosophy and history play their parts. Philosophy deals with its theoretical aspects and teaches virtue by precept. History teaches practical virtue by drawing concrete examples from life. But poetry gives both precepts and practical examples. Philosophy, being based on abstractions, is 'hard of utterance and mystery to be conceived.' It cannot be a proper guide for youth. On the other hand, the historian is tied to empirical facts that his example drags no necessary consequence. Poetry gives perfect pictures of virtue which are far more effective than the mere definitions of philosophy. It also gives imaginary examples which are more instructive than the real examples of history. The reward of virtue and the punishment of vice is more clearly shown in Poetry than in History. Poetry is superior to Philosophy in the sense that it has the power to move and to give incentive for virtuous action. It presents moral lessons in a very attractive form. Things which in themselves are horrible as cruel battles, unnatural monsters, are made delightful in poetic imitation. Poet is, therefore, the monarch of all sciences. 'For he doth not only show the way but giveth so sweet a prospect into the way, as will entice any man to enter into it.' The poet does not begin with obscure definitions which load the memory with doubtfulness, 'but he cometh to you with words set in delightful proportion, either accompanied with, or prepared for, the well enchanting skill of music; and with a tale forsooth he cometh unto you, with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney corner. And pretending no more, doth intend the winning of the mind from wickedness to virtue.

8.  Various Species of Poetry

     The pastoral poetry treats of the beauty of the simple life, and sometimes, of the miseries of the people under hard Lords. Why should it be disliked? Elegiac poetry deals with the weakness of mankind and wretchedness of the world. It should evoke pity rather than blame. Satiric poetry laughs at folly, and iambic poetry tries to unmask villainy. These also do not deserve to be condemned.

Nobody should blame the right use of comedy. Comedy is an imitation of the common errors of our life presented in a ridiculous manner. It helps men keeping away from such errors. Tragedy, which opens the greatest wounds in our hearts, teaches the uncertainty of this world. No body can resist the 'sweet violence' of a tragedy.

The lyric which gives moral precepts and soars to the heavens in singing the praises of the Almighty, cannot be displeasing. Nor can the epic or heroic poetry be disliked because it inculcates virtue to the highest degree by portraying heroic and moral goodness in the most effective manner. Sidney asserts that the heroical is 'not only a kind, but the best and most accomplished kind of poetry.'

9.  Main Objections Brought Against Poetry by its Enemies

     A common complaint against poetry is that it is bound up with 'rhyming and versing'. But verse is not essential for poetry. 'One may be a poet without versing, and a versifier without poetry' Verse is used for convenience. It produces verbal harmony and lends itself easily to memorizing. It is the only fit speech for music. It adds to words a sensuous and emotional quality.

10. Four Chief Objections to Poetry

     There are some more serious objections to poetry, namely :

(a)        that there being many other more fruitful knowledges, a man might better spend his time in them than in this;

(b)        that it is the mother of lies :

(c)        that it is the nurse of abuse, infecting us with many pestilent desires; and,

(d)        that Plato had banished poets from his ideal republic.

11. Replies to These Objections

     Sidney dismisses the first charge by saying that he has already established that 'no learning is so good as that which reacheth and moveth to virtue, and that none can both teach and move thereto so much as poetry.'

     His answer to the second objection that poets are liars is that of all writers under the sun the poet is the least liar. The Astronomer, the Geometrician, the historian, and others, all make false statements. But the poet 'nothing affirms, and therefore never lieth,' his aim being 'to tell not what is or is not, but what should or should not be.' So what he presents is not fact but fiction embodying truth of an ideal kind.

     The third charge against poetry is that all its species are infected with love themes and amorous conceits, which have a demoralising effect on readers. To this charge Sidney replies that poetry does not abuse man's wit, it is man's wit that abuseth poetry. All arts and sciences misused bad evil effects, but that did not mean that they were less valuable when rightly employed. Shall the abuse of a thing make the right use odious? Certainly not.

     Sidney is rather perplexed at the last charge, namely Plato's rejection of poetry. He wonders why Plato found fault with poetry. In fact, Plato warned men not against poetry but against its abuse by his contemporary poets who filled the world with wrong opinions about the gods. So Plato's objection was directed against the theological concepts. In Ion, Plato gives high and rightly divine commendation to poetry. His description of the poet as 'a light winged and sacred thing' in that dialogue reveals his attitude to poetry. In fact by attributing unto poetry a very inspiring of a divine force, Plato was making a claim for poetry which he for his part could not endorse. Not only Plato but, Sidney tells us, all great men have honoured poetry.

12. Why is Poetry not honoured in England as it is elsewhere?

     Why has England grown so hard a step-mother to Poets? asks Sidney. He thinks that it is so because poetry has came to be represented by 'base men with servile wits' or to men who, however studious, are not born poets. He says that 'a poet no industry can make, if his own genius be not carried unto it'. Another cause is the want of serious cultivation of the Poetic Art. Threeihings necessary for producing good poetry are Art, Imitation, and Exercise which are lacking in the present generation of poets.

13. A Brief Review of the State of Poetry in England from Chaucer to Sidney's own Time

      Sidney says that few good poems have been produced in England since Chaucer. Chaucer did marvellously well in Troilus and Cresseida. The Mirrour of Magistrates also contains some beautiful passages. Earl of Surrey's Lyrics also deserve praise. Spenser's The Shepherds Calender is worth reading. English lyric poetry is scanty and poor. Love lyrics and sonnets lack genuine fire and passion. They make use of artificial diction and swelling phrases.

14. Condition of Drama

      The state of drama is also degraded. The only redeeming tragedy is Gorboduc which itself is a faulty work. A tragedy should be tied to the laws of poetry and not of history. A dramatist should have liberty to frame the history to his own tragical convenience. Again many things should be told which cannot be shown on the stage. The dramatists should know the difference between reporting and representing. They should straightway plunge into the principal point of action which they want to represent in their play. There should be no mingling of tragedies and comedies, English comedy is based on a false hypothesis. It aims at laughter, not delight. The proper aim of comedy is to afford delightful teaching, not mere coarse amusement. Comedy should not only amuse but morally instruct.

15. Advantages of the English Language

      The English language has some definite advantages. It is appreciable for its adaptability to ancient and modern systems of versification. It admits both the unrhymed quantitative system of the ancient poetry and the rhyme peculiar to modern language.

16. Summary

      Poetry is full of virtue-breeding delightfulness. It is void of no gift that ought to be in the noble name of learning. All the charges laid against it are false and baseless. The poets were the ancient treasurers of the Grecian divinity; they were the first bringers of all civility. There are many mysteries contained poetry. A poet can immortalize people in his verses.

Wordsworth's Intimations of Immortality

Ode: Intimations of Immortality

Text

The child is father of the man;

And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.

(Wordsworth, "My Heart Leaps Up")

      1)      There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

The earth, and every common sight,

To me did seem

Apparelled in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream.

It is not now as it hath been of yore;—

Turn wheresoe'er I may,

By night or day.

The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

       2)      The Rainbow comes and goes,

And lovely is the Rose,

The Moon doth with delight

Look round her when the heavens are bare,

Waters on a starry night

Are beautiful and fair;

The sunshine is a glorious birth;

But yet I know, where'er I go,

That there hath past away a glory from the earth.

       3)      Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song,

And while the young lambs bound

As to the tabor's sound,

To me alone there came a thought of grief:

A timely utterance gave that thought relief,

And I again am strong:

The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep;

No more shall grief of mine the season wrong;

I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng,

The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep,

And all the earth is gay;

Land and sea

Give themselves up to jollity,

And with the heart of May

Doth every Beast keep holiday;—

Thou Child of Joy,

Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd-boy.

        4)      Ye blessèd creatures, I have heard the call

Ye to each other make; I see

The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee;

My heart is at your festival,

My head hath its coronal,

The fulness of your bliss, I feel—I feel it all.

Oh evil day! if I were sullen

While Earth herself is adorning,

This sweet May-morning,

And the Children are culling

On every side,

In a thousand valleys far and wide,

Fresh flowers; while the sun shines warm,

And the Babe leaps up on his Mother's arm:—

I hear, I hear, with joy I hear!

—But there's a Tree, of many, one,

A single field which I have looked upon,

Both of them speak of something that is gone;

The Pansy at my feet

Doth the same tale repeat:

Whither is fled the visionary gleam?

Where is it now, the glory and the dream?

       5)      Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar:

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home:

Heaven lies about us in our infancy!

Shades of the prison-house begin to close

Upon the growing Boy,

But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,

He sees it in his joy;

The Youth, who daily farther from the east

Must travel, still is Nature's Priest,

And by the vision splendid

Is on his way attended;

At length the Man perceives it die away,

And fade into the light of common day.

      6)      Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own;

Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind,

And, even with something of a Mother's mind,

And no unworthy aim,

The homely Nurse doth all she can

To make her Foster-child, her Inmate Man,

Forget the glories he hath known,

And that imperial palace whence he came.

      7)      Behold the Child among his new-born blisses,

A six years' Darling of a pigmy size!

See, where 'mid work of his own hand he lies,

Fretted by sallies of his mother's kisses,

With light upon him from his father's eyes!

See, at his feet, some little plan or chart,

Some fragment from his dream of human life,

Shaped by himself with newly-learned art

A wedding or a festival,

A mourning or a funeral;

And this hath now his heart,

And unto this he frames his song:

Then will he fit his tongue

To dialogues of business, love, or strife;

But it will not be long

Ere this be thrown aside,

And with new joy and pride

The little Actor cons another part;

Filling from time to time his "humorous stage"

With all the Persons, down to palsied Age,

That Life brings with her in her equipage;

As if his whole vocation

Were endless imitation.

     8)      Thou, whose exterior semblance doth belie

Thy Soul's immensity;

Thou best Philosopher, who yet dost keep

Thy heritage, thou Eye among the blind,

That, deaf and silent, read'st the eternal deep,

Haunted for ever by the eternal mind,—

Mighty Prophet! Seer blest!

On whom those truths do rest,

Which we are toiling all our lives to find,

In darkness lost, the darkness of the grave;

Thou, over whom thy Immortality

Broods like the Day, a Master o'er a Slave,

A Presence which is not to be put by;

Thou little Child, yet glorious in the might

Of heaven-born freedom on thy being's height,

Why with such earnest pains dost thou provoke

The years to bring the inevitable yoke,

Thus blindly with thy blessedness at strife?

Full soon thy Soul shall have her earthly freight,

And custom lie upon thee with a weight,

Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life!

      9)      O joy! that in our embers

Is something that doth live,

That Nature yet remembers

What was so fugitive!

The thought of our past years in me doth breed

Perpetual benediction: not indeed

For that which is most worthy to be blest;

Delight and liberty, the simple creed

Of Childhood, whether busy or at rest,

With new-fledged hope still fluttering in his breast:—

Not for these I raise

The song of thanks and praise

But for those obstinate questionings

Of sense and outward things,

Fallings from us, vanishings;

Blank misgivings of a Creature

Moving about in worlds not realised,

High instincts before which our mortal Nature

Did tremble like a guilty thing surprised:

But for those first affections,

Those shadowy recollections,

Which, be they what they may

Are yet the fountain-light of all our day,

Are yet a master-light of all our seeing;

Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make

Our noisy years seem moments in the being

Of the eternal Silence: truths that wake,

To perish never;

Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavour,

Nor Man nor Boy,

Nor all that is at enmity with joy,

Can utterly abolish or destroy!

Hence in a season of calm weather

Though inland far we be,

Our Souls have sight of that immortal sea

Which brought us hither,

Can in a moment travel thither,

And see the Children sport upon the shore,

And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.

      10)  Then sing, ye Birds, sing, sing a joyous song!

And let the young Lambs bound

As to the tabor's sound!

We in thought will join your throng,

Ye that pipe and ye that play,

Ye that through your hearts to-day

Feel the gladness of the May!

What though the radiance which was once so bright

Be now for ever taken from my sight,

Though nothing can bring back the hour

Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;

We will grieve not, rather find

Strength in what remains behind;

In the primal sympathy

Which having been must ever be;

In the soothing thoughts that spring

Out of human suffering;

In the faith that looks through death,

In years that bring the philosophic mind.

      11)  And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves,

Forebode not any severing of our loves!

Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might;

I only have relinquished one delight

To live beneath your more habitual sway.

I love the Brooks which down their channels fret,

Even more than when I tripped lightly as they;

The innocent brightness of a new-born Day

Is lovely yet;

The Clouds that gather round the setting sun

Do take a sober colouring from an eye

That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;

Another race hath been, and other palms are won.

Thanks to the human heart by which we live,

Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,

To me the meanest flower that blows can give

Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

v  The full title of the poem is “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.”

v  It is a poem by William Wordsworth, completed in 1804 and published in ‘Poems, in Two Volumes (1807)’

v  It is an irregular Pindaric ode consisted of two parts.

v  The first part consists of 4 stanzas completed on 27 March 1802.

v  The second part consists of 7 additional stanzas completed in early 1804.

v  It was edited and reworked to the version that is currently known, Ode: Intimations of Immortality in 1815.

v  It can be divided into three sections.

F The first four stanzas discuss death, and the loss of youth and innocence.

F The second four stanzas describe how age causes man to lose sight of the divine.

F The final three stanzas express hope that the memory of the divine allow us to sympathize with our fellow man.

v  The poem relies on the concept of Pre-existence, the idea that the soul existed before the body, to connect children with the ability to witness the divine within nature.

v  As children mature, they become worldlier and lose this divine vision.

Summary:

Stanza 1:   

v  In his childhood, the meadow, grove, stream, the earth and every common object appeared to Wordsworth clothed with heavenly beauty.

v  The splendid beauty he saw in Nature appeared to him as vivid and life-like as in a dream.

v  Now he does not find that divine glory in Nature.

v  Wherever he turns and sees in night or day he does not find the former splendor in the objects.

Stanza 2:

v  The rainbow had a special fascination to Wordsworth; it comes and goes; still the rose is lovely.

v  The moon shines brightly in the cloudless sky; the stars reflect in the water are beautiful.

v  The bright rays of the sun glorious.

v  Now he finds that divine glory has passed away from the earth.

Stanza 3:

v  The birds are singing joyous song; the young lambs are leaping to the tune of the little drum.

v  The poet feels lonely; he grieves over the loss of heavenly glory which he experienced in his childhood.

v  He again feels strong when he notices the joy of Nature.

v  He hears the loud noise of the waterfalls rushing down from the top of the hill; it sounds like the blowing of a trumpet.

v  He does not like to spoil the joy of the season with his grief; he hears a number of sounds of animals, birds, waterfalls etc.

v  The wind comes to him from the calm fields; the whole earth and sea are full of joy with the spirit of spring season.

v  He asks the shepherd boy to shout playfully around him so that he also may share his happiness.

Stanza 4:

v  The lambs and shepherd boy are blessed; Wordsworth has heard the sounds made by them in their fullest joy.

v  The heavens seem to share their happiness; Wordsworth wants to share their happiness.

v  He wants to become one with these objects of Nature in their joyous moments; the whole earth is rejoicing but he is gloomy.

v  In the month of May the earth seems to be adorned with beautiful flowers.

v  Children are plucking flowers from the valleys far and wide; the sun shines brightly.

v  The baby leaps on his mother’s arm; the poet hears the sound of joy around him.

v  But a tree or a piece of green field speaks of something which he has lost; Pansy also speaks of the charm which he has lost.  

v  Where has gone the divine light of the inner vision and glory in the objects of Nature.

“Whither is fled the visionary gleam?

Where is it now, the glory and the dream?”

Stanza 5:

v  This second section is a brief account of growth of man and the loss of the vision; it is based on the Platonic philosophy of pre-existence and the realm of the pure idea.

“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting”

v  Our birth is a temporary forgetfulness as in sleep; before coming to the earth, the soul lived in heaven; it does not cease to exist with death; it goes to back to heaven and comes from there.

v  When the child comes to this world, it does not completely forget its pre-natal existence.

v  Even after the sun is set, the clouds still retain its glory. Likewise, the child after his birth, retains traces of divine vision.

v  In our childhood, we have clear vision of heaven; but as we grow the anxieties and worries of the earth the vision of heaven become fainter and fainter.

v  The youth goes farther and farther away from the heaven; as he grows the celestial light that on Nature always goes with him.

v  In manhood, the heavenly glory completely vanishes away; it is replaced by the sober light of earthly life.

Stanza 6:

v  The earth is full of her own pleasures; she has strong feelings which belong to he own nature.

v  The earth has maternal affections for the child; it makes the child fall in love with earthly things.

v  This is not unworthy aim; the earth is the simple nurse; it does the best she can.

v  This makes her foster child a temporary inhabitant of earth to forget heaven from where he came.

Stanza 7:

v  The child is among his newly found joys; the child is six year old and small in size.

v  He arranges the toys according to his imaginations.

v  The mother kisses the child; it disturbs his playing with the toys.

v  The father also looks at the child; his eyes are beaming with love.

v  The child arranges the toys according to some idea of what he dreams of human life.

v  The child has just learned to arrange the play things; sometimes he tries to imitate a marriage, a festival, mourning or a funeral.

v  Some other times he may be engrossed in some other things; sometimes he speaks about some business, love or strife.

v  But soon the child shifts to some other object with a feeling of new joy and pride.

v  Like an actor the child assumes various roles and imitates various actions.

v  In the whole vocation, the child imitates all the characters that he sees around him at one time being an old man and at another time another.

Stanza 8:

v  The outward appearance of the child gives a wrong idea about the greatness of the soul.

v  The child is the best philosopher who has the vision of heaven.

v  The grown up man is blind to see heaven; but the child is able to see them.

v  The child is not deaf but he is deaf to the external temptations.

v  He continually possesses the divine visions

v  He is a great seer of truths who has a vision of unseen things.

v  He has an instinctive perception of truth, which the grownups have been labouring to find out.

v  We are enveloped with spiritual and physical darkness; but the child is enveloped with divinity like day light.

v  The child is mastered and cannot get rid of the idea of immortality.

v  He is small in stature but mighty in glory; he enjoys the heaven-born freedom.

v  Then why the child desires and strives to be grown-up? He invites the cares and anxieties of life which are bound to curse.

v  He is ignorant of his blissful state and puts an end to his celestial happiness; soon he carries the load of worldly cares and anxieties.

v  They press him down with great burden as frost lies upon soil.

Stanza 9:

v  In the mature years, the glow of childhood is seen; the spark of boyhood is covered with ashes of the old age.

v  The divine influence is wholly extinct; something of its still exists.

v  Our human nature has recollections of the short-lived heavenly memories.

v  The thoughts of the past years produce feelings of gratefulness to God.

v  This gratefulness to God is not for the blessings such as delight and liberty enjoyed in childhood but for all his moods full of eager curiosity or calmly receptive, with the heart full of new hopes.

v  The poet sings this hymn for the sake of persistent doubts about the reality of existence.

v  The feeling we have that external visible and tangible objects seem to fall away and vanish as unreal.

v  The vague doubts about the reality of objects are not understood by the person who moves in a mysterious world.

v  The realisation of the reality of this earth and our existence upon it shocks our moral nature.

v  The poet is grateful for the early impressions of childhood.

F They are the vague remembrances of our previous existence in heaven.

F They are the guiding light of human life.

F They are the real source of all knowledge.

F They enable us to see the reality of things.

F They have the power to convert the noise and fury of our life into eternal calm.

v  The divine memories do not disappear altogether. Neither indifference nor the fret and fever of life, neither in manhood nor in boyhood not everything that spoils our joys.

v  When man is advanced in years, the soul has the glimpse of the sea of immortality which helped us to come to this world.

v  In a moment, our soul can recollect the experiences of childhood.

v  In our imagination, we can enjoy childhood hearing the mighty sound of the waves of eternity.

Stanza 10:

v  Wordsworth wants the birds to sing a joyous song and the young lamb to leap to the sound of the tabor.

v  In imagination, the poet would join this singing and playing crowd and feel the jollity of the spring.

v  What does it matter, if the heavenly light that was enjoyed in childhood is now seen no more?

v  The radiance was bright once was taken out from our sight.

v  The poet does not want to feel sorry for the loss of the vision of childhood.

v  Nothing can bring back the beauty in the grass and in the flower.

v  Instead of lamenting for the loss of childhood visions, he wishes to find strength in what has remained behind.

v  The first sympathy felt for Nature in childhood remains in memory.

v  He wishes to have soothing thoughts that arise out of human sufferings.

v  He would seek strength in the faith about the immortality of the soul and there is life beyond death and in the mature years the mind would become philosophical.

Stanza 11:

v  Wordsworth addresses the objects of Nature not to anticipate any separation between Nature and his heart; in his heart, he owns the influence of nature.

v  He has given up only that particular kind of pleasure which he used to feel in his childhood.

v  Still he loves the brooks which ran swiftly and innocent brightness of the dawn more than he did in his childhood.

v  But now his love for Nature gives gloomy meaning; the clouds that gather round the setting sun fill him with sober ideas.

v  Always the poet has been conscious about the mortal nature of man; this consciousness made him gloomy in his thoughts.

v  The poet thanks the human heart which makes life worth living; human heart is capable of feeling, sympathy, joy and fear.

v  The most ordinary flower fills him with thoughts so deep that they cannot be expressed even by tears.