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Assalamualaikum. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Welcome

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back to our hopefully beautiful journey into

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English literature. Today we move, finally we move

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from the Augustan literature, the neoclassicism

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and the rules of the Quran to speak about one of

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the most interesting, one of the most fascinating

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literary movements in England. but also in Europe.

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But our focus is English literature, so we're

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going to be focusing on the romantic poets or

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romanticism or romantic literature in England. So

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far, we have been speaking about poetry in so many

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ways. We've seen how, for example, that men

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dominate poetry. Not because there's something

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wrong with women, but because the way the society

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was treating men and women, we have something

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different here. We've seen how, for example, in

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the Augustan Age, Those people, those poets, those

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great poets like Dryden, Alexander Pope, and other

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poets even like Milton, how they preferred to

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follow a particular etiquette, a particular

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decorum, particular rules in order to write

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particular types of poetry? Before these people

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were preaching what is called the Rules of

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Decorum, we've seen something from Alexander Poppe

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from his poem Essay on Criticism, how he was

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saying that poetry has to be methodized because

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these rules were discovered from nature, and

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that's why we have to follow them, to follow, to

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imitate the great ancient poets in order to

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produce poetry. Only John Donne probably was

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writing different poetry. And we've seen how he

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was hated. He was negatively framed in so many

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ways. Now, we move to a group of people who were

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really fed up with the classical or neoclassical

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Augustan way of expressing yourself as a poet. And

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this movement is called Romanticism, Romantic

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Literature, or Romantic Poetry. This is a movement

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that started in the late 18th century, actually

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beginning from The French Revolution. Remember we

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said this before about the 17th, 18th century,

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there were like so many changes taking place. In

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the 18th century, in a way or another, it was

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called the Age of Revolutions. People wanted real

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change, radical change. In America, we have the

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American Revolution. In France, we have the French

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Revolution, in addition to the Industrial

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Revolution and the revolutions in all walks of

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life. But England did not like to change radically

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because After the Commonwealth and the

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restoration, they realized that stability is the

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best thing we could possibly have. However, some

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people said, okay, if we can't do political and

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social changes, real changes, at least we can do a

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revolution in poetry, in literature, and this is

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the romantic poets, basically William Wordsworth

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and Coleridge. So as a movement, the beginnings,

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go to more or less, again these dates are not

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clear cut. It doesn't mean like this is the French

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Revolution, the next day people wake up and they

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find themselves writing different poetry. It's

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gradual, it takes time sometimes. More or less. So

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after the Age of Revolutions was sweeping all

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across America and Europe, England had to do

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something. It didn't do it in politics. It didn't

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do it in other areas. It was literature. And this

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is how I usually focus on this, how literature

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changes lives. how literature changes societies,

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how literature makes us different people,

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hopefully better people, affects us, how it

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influences us positively. And this is true because

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literature addresses the heart and the mind in a

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way or another. It's similar to watching a movie.

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Sometimes you watch a movie and you weep, you cry,

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you feel sorry for something or you decide to

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change something about your behavior. And this is

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the power of literature. So don't undermine the

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fact that It was only a revolution in literature

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in England. So we speak about the two major

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romantic poets, William Wordsworth and his friend,

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his best friend, he's also a romantic poet and

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critic, Samuel Coleridge. So Wordsworth and

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Coleridge. Together, they published a book they

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called The Lyrical Ballads. They called it the

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lyrical palace. And they were writing totally

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radically different poetry from the Augustan

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poetry. Remember, The Age of Reason, The Rules.

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The satire where poetry was basically an elite

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subject matter, elite, highly sophisticated

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language, and it's generally about the court life,

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about the king, the queen, battles, heroism. Here,

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everything changed. We'll talk about this in more

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details today and in the coming classes. When they

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published this book, many people wanted to read

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it, and they sold out. So they had to work on

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another edition and they added a preface. You know

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preface? An introduction to the second edition.

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And this introduction is so significant. In Arabic

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we know, where the introduction could be more

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significant than the book itself in many ways.

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Here the preface is so significant because William

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Wordsworth and Coleridge together in a way or

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another, they defined poetry. They gave us a

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different definition of poetry. And they told us

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poetry has to be one, two, three. I'll talk about

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this in a bit. Okay, so it was later, the same

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book was republished, but there was an extra

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preface, introduction in which they defined poetry

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and they told the people what they were doing. The

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tenets, the fundamentals of Romanticism. Okay, now

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one significant point. is the comparison between

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the Romantics and the Neoclassicists or the

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Augustans. When I say the Neoclassicists or the

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Augustans or the Age of Reason, think of Dryden,

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think of Samuel Johnson, and think of Alexander

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Pope. You know, the couplets, the rules of

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decorum, the subject matter that has to be a

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particular issue. Some people say, The Romantics

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were almost the very opposite of the Augustan Age.

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This is true. But we have to be careful, again.

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This is true, but we need to be careful because we

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don't want to give the impression that the

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romantics were writing poetry only to oppose and

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contrast the Augustans. No. They had their own

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idea of what poetry means. So what did they

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change? Number one, what is poetry? In the past,

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poetry was following the rules of decorum to speak

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about an important issue in the society using

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important, highly sophisticated language. But now,

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for the romantics, poetry is an expression of

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feelings. Poetry is the overflow, this is part of

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the definition, the overflow of emotions, of

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powerful emotions.

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It's the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotion.

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In a way, when you ask a romantic poet, why do you

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write poetry? He's not going to tell you, I'm

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writing poetry to teach and delight. I'm not

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writing poetry to assert eternal providence and to

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justify the means of God to man or something. I'm

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not writing poetry to teach you how poetry is

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methodized and how poetry is discovered in nature.

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I'm not writing poetry to teach you that a little

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learning is a dangerous thing. No. I'm writing

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poetry to self-express myself. What is poetry?

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Self-expression. And this is beautiful and new and

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revolutionary and different. So why would you

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write poetry? I don't care. In a way, it doesn't

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mean that they didn't care about the audience.

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They did. But more significant than teaching and

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delighting first is to express yourself as an

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individual. As an individual. So what is poetry?

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It's emotions. It's feelings. It's expressing

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powerful emotions and feelings. The overflow of

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powerful emotions.

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What is the language of poetry?

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For the romantics? Highly sophisticated language,

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you know, embellished. We spoke about embellished,

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highly embellished language where you sometimes

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usually you need to check the dictionary to see

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what a particular word means. Oh yeah. So the

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romantics, for the romantics poetry was the common

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Language, or the language of everyday man.

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What does it mean everyday man? Like the language

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we use normally as we speak. And not, no, no, no,

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not slang. General, I don't even want to say

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colloquial. It's poetic still, but you don't go

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for the difficult words. One simple thing, when

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students sometimes come to me and say, I want to

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write poetry. I write poetry. I want to learn how

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to write English poetry. I always tell them, try

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to read something by William Blake. Try to read

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these poems by William Wordsworth because

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sometimes you would read the whole poem and you

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don't even use the dictionary once because you

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know all the words. It doesn't mean it's very

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easy, very simple, no, but they don't go for the

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difficult expressions, for the difficult language,

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the language that only people who go to

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university, they understand. It's a language that

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if you say it to anyone, They will understand.

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We'll take examples in a bit. So poetry is

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different. The language of poetry is different.

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The subject matter in

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the past, remember, was about heroism, about God,

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about Adam, about Eve, about the queen, the fairy

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queen, right? Yes. About paradise lost. So the

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subject matter has always been about generally

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courtly life. And that's why we have courtly love

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poetry about the king and the queen and even about

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Adam and Eve and God and the creation. Mostly

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issues according to the Augustan definition like

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something of importance to the society as a whole.

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But now for the romantics they said no. I can't

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fix the whole society. I can't make one poem

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change the whole society. I can't change one

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person at a time. I can't change an individual at

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a time. So the subject matter is also taken from

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common life. Simple and

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generally about ordinary people.

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Sometimes, The people take even the title of the

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book, the poem. We'll find a poem called, for

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example, Chimney Sweeper. Lucy Gray. Who's Lucy

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Gray? Is she the queen? Is she a princess? She's a

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poor little girl. A poem called Sick Rose. will

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find a lot of nature. So basically, everything we

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learned about the Augustans was changed. Poetry is

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no longer written in order to please the king or

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the court or important, highly educated people.

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It's to please, to address, to communicate

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internal powerful emotions with the masses. with

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the individuals, with the individuals. Simple

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language, subject matters are taken from ordinary

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life, from nature mainly. The romantics were

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fascinated with nature.

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I'll come back to this many times, especially when

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I talk about William Wordsworth. So the general

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features of the romantic poetry, these are very

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significant. We have general features for the

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whole school, and we have each individual poet has

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extra particular features. We'll see William Blake

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in a bit. So the romantics, number one, they use

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simple language. And then also simple subject

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matter from common life, common daily life. For

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example, the sick rose, the daffodils, Lucy Gray.

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Who's Lucy Gray? She's not the fairy queen. She's

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an ordinary little girl. The chimney sweeper,

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little lamb, nature, simple people. And what does

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this mean? When you change the language, when you

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break the rules of decorum, you are certainly

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employing new poetic forms. I always like to liken

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John Donne to the romantics in the way he broke

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the rules, in the way he wanted to change so many

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things. But there are different issues. Those

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people were focusing more on feelings, emotions,

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powerful emotions, personal individual

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experiences. We have this in John Donne, but not

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in this particular way. And those people were

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fascinated with nature. Fascinated with nature. So

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like John Donne, the idea, the meaning is more

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important than the rule. And that's why we'll see

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new poetic forms. We'll see long lines, short

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lines. We'll see extra, many extra syllables here

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or there if this is necessary. So like John Donne,

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they would follow the rules unless The rule is

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hindering, is not helping the message, so they

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break the rule of the Koran. How did the

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mainstream predict poetry's move from the Quran?

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That's a very interesting question. When John

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Donne was writing poetry, it was the beginning of

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the Renaissance, the heyday of neoclassicism.

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People were writing poetry imitating horrors of

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people in the past. And John Donne was alone. So

252
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many people criticized him. But here this came,

253
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this movement naturally came at the end of an era

254
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where people in a way or another were tired of the

255
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same poetry, were fed up with the same poetry

256
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about the same subject matters. People wanted

257
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change, wanted things to be different. And now the

258
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romantics started doing this. So yeah, many people

259
00:16:24,740 --> 00:16:26,920
were like, oh wow, we like this, we want this.

260
00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:32,340
especially after the giants were no longer around.

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Dryden was dead. Alexander Pope, I think, was

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dead. They were nowhere to be seen. So sometimes

263
00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:45,580
you're lucky to be born in a particular age.

264
00:16:47,130 --> 00:16:51,310
Okay, so important features here. And then for the

265
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romantics, they focus on the heart, the emotions,

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the feelings. They care more about particular

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feelings rather than the mind and the intellect

268
00:17:02,170 --> 00:17:04,750
and the age of reason. The Augustan age is called

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the age of reason, where the mind is more

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important, more significant. The heart was

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dangerous, but now for the romantics, the mind is

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dangerous. Meaning feelings and imagination, the

273
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power of imagination, feelings and imagination are

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above reason and intellect. They were encouraging

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individual people to just depend, rely, express

276
00:17:32,140 --> 00:17:35,080
themselves, their feelings, rely more on their

277
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hearts, just release and free their imaginations.

278
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In the past, you didn't have the freedom to

279
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express yourself. And by the way, naturally, if

280
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you want to depend on imagination and feelings,

281
00:17:49,910 --> 00:17:52,590
naturally, you will break the rules, because

282
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sometimes the rules would limit your imagination,

283
00:17:56,550 --> 00:18:00,970
right? When I tell you, for example, write me a

284
00:18:00,970 --> 00:18:02,830
Shakespearean sonnet about a particular

285
00:18:02,830 --> 00:18:06,450
experience, you will find yourself tied up. But

286
00:18:06,450 --> 00:18:09,150
here, the experience, the feelings are more

287
00:18:09,150 --> 00:18:11,450
important. So you break the rules in order to fit

288
00:18:11,450 --> 00:18:16,210
your feelings. And nature was the source of

289
00:18:16,210 --> 00:18:20,570
inspiration. Those people hated the city very

290
00:18:20,570 --> 00:18:24,470
much. Some people consider romantic poetry to be

291
00:18:24,470 --> 00:18:30,110
anti-city literature. Can you guess why? They

292
00:18:30,110 --> 00:18:33,230
hated the city. Remember Marvel? He didn't like

293
00:18:33,230 --> 00:18:38,290
the city. They hated the city, but in principle,

294
00:18:38,590 --> 00:18:41,150
Marvel was getting old and tired of politics, so

295
00:18:41,150 --> 00:18:43,430
he said, okay, I want to go to the countryside and

296
00:18:43,430 --> 00:18:47,310
enjoy my life because the society is corrupt. When

297
00:18:47,310 --> 00:18:49,450
we speak about... Yes, please. Countryside

298
00:18:49,450 --> 00:18:52,890
symbolizes love, nature. Yeah, also purity,

299
00:18:53,930 --> 00:18:57,510
innocence. Symbolizes trading, maybe money and

300
00:18:57,510 --> 00:18:59,890
Europe. Money, corruption, but more than this, we

301
00:18:59,890 --> 00:19:03,810
have the Industrial Revolution. attracted a lot of

302
00:19:03,810 --> 00:19:06,070
people from the countryside and the villages to

303
00:19:06,070 --> 00:19:10,510
work in factories. So many people thought, OK, if

304
00:19:10,510 --> 00:19:14,070
I go to the city, to London, to work in the town,

305
00:19:14,190 --> 00:19:16,530
in the cities, in the factories, I will be rich. I

306
00:19:16,530 --> 00:19:18,710
will make a lot of money, and I'll be rich. I'll

307
00:19:18,710 --> 00:19:21,770
improve my life. So people were, in a way, moving

308
00:19:21,770 --> 00:19:25,940
in masses. But they ended up being slaves to

309
00:19:25,940 --> 00:19:29,320
capitalism, to factories. And the factories were

310
00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:33,720
polluting everything. London was one of the most

311
00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,640
polluted cities in the world. There was

312
00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:38,280
corruption, there was poverty, there was death,

313
00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:41,820
there was disease. Only very few people, the

314
00:19:41,820 --> 00:19:44,700
owners, the rich people were getting richer, but

315
00:19:44,700 --> 00:19:47,480
the poor were still getting poorer. The ordinary

316
00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:51,500
people would only take the bare minimum just to

317
00:19:51,500 --> 00:19:56,460
keep themselves alive so that they can work. And

318
00:19:56,460 --> 00:19:59,020
this destroyed the relationships in the society.

319
00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:04,120
It depersonalized human beings. You are no longer

320
00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:06,600
a human being. You are no longer a name, a person

321
00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,860
with a story, with feelings and emotions. You are

322
00:20:09,860 --> 00:20:15,300
part of the machine. And that's why They said, OK,

323
00:20:15,380 --> 00:20:17,940
nature is our mother. Let's go back to our

324
00:20:17,940 --> 00:20:21,380
innocence and purity. And this is, by the way,

325
00:20:21,420 --> 00:20:24,260
criticized by many people. If there's a problem in

326
00:20:24,260 --> 00:20:28,420
your society, you escape. Do you escape? Do you

327
00:20:28,420 --> 00:20:31,080
escape? What do you do if there are a lot of

328
00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:35,360
problems in your society? You either face them or

329
00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:37,820
you just deal with them. Yeah, like you deal with

330
00:20:37,820 --> 00:20:40,380
them or you run away. Now, the romantics, many of

331
00:20:40,380 --> 00:20:44,640
them were like, OK, let's go back to nature. They,

332
00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:47,160
that's why some people call them escapists. You

333
00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,540
know escape when you escape, oh sorry, I escaped.

334
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:54,260
When you escape here, it's just you don't want to

335
00:20:54,260 --> 00:20:56,420
deal with the problems at all.

336
00:21:00,420 --> 00:21:03,580
So they are escapists, many of them. They just

337
00:21:03,580 --> 00:21:07,080
want to leave the trouble behind. But I don't

338
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:10,630
think this is accurate because Poetry itself is

339
00:21:10,630 --> 00:21:13,470
change. Poetry itself is a revolution. When you

340
00:21:13,470 --> 00:21:16,610
change individuals and people's ways of life and

341
00:21:16,610 --> 00:21:21,530
thinking, I think you can do a lot to real life.

342
00:21:21,990 --> 00:21:24,330
So the city was a source of corruption and vices

343
00:21:24,330 --> 00:21:29,890
and sins. Another feature, childhood is a source

344
00:21:29,890 --> 00:21:32,330
of innocence and inspiration. In the past,

345
00:21:32,790 --> 00:21:36,210
remember all the texts we read before this was

346
00:21:36,210 --> 00:21:41,690
about old people, adults. Children were nowhere to

347
00:21:41,690 --> 00:21:43,690
be seen because they were supposed to be

348
00:21:43,690 --> 00:21:46,710
controlled, to be educated, to be regulated. But

349
00:21:46,710 --> 00:21:48,950
for the romantics, actually William Wordsworth

350
00:21:48,950 --> 00:21:55,190
says the child is the father of man. The child is

351
00:21:55,190 --> 00:21:58,870
the father of man. That's a paradox, right? Why?

352
00:22:00,770 --> 00:22:05,150
Is the child the father of man in real life? In

353
00:22:05,150 --> 00:22:08,490
real life, no, literally. But how can,

354
00:22:08,850 --> 00:22:11,030
metaphorically speaking, the child be the father

355
00:22:11,030 --> 00:22:11,690
of man? Please.

356
00:22:16,710 --> 00:22:21,070
Wow, this is an amazing idea. So our childhood

357
00:22:21,070 --> 00:22:24,510
influences the way we grow up, defines us as we

358
00:22:24,510 --> 00:22:27,170
grow up. Wow, that is an amazing idea. But what

359
00:22:27,170 --> 00:22:32,810
else? Can we learn from the kids? Do we learn from

360
00:22:32,810 --> 00:22:37,110
the babies? Do we change? I know a friend of mine

361
00:22:37,110 --> 00:22:43,170
was telling me some time ago that he only really

362
00:22:43,170 --> 00:22:46,150
started appreciating his parents when he had kids.

363
00:22:47,110 --> 00:22:51,470
He then realized that because kids teach us to be

364
00:22:51,470 --> 00:22:54,870
selfless, to give, to love, to care, to work hard.

365
00:22:55,700 --> 00:22:59,520
In many ways. So childhood was significant and a

366
00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:03,240
source of inspiration. So this is basically the

367
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:07,240
major features. We'll come to them again and

368
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:09,380
again, especially when we talk about individual

369
00:23:09,380 --> 00:23:13,640
poets. Any question before we move to William

370
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:14,120
Blake?

371
00:23:16,780 --> 00:23:20,260
Everything is new, different type of language,

372
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,600
subject matters, structures, poetic forms,

373
00:23:24,020 --> 00:23:27,760
inspirations, feelings, hearts, childhood, nature.

374
00:23:31,340 --> 00:23:37,380
Any questions? Okay. The first romantic poet is

375
00:23:37,380 --> 00:23:41,480
William Blake. Many people describe William Blake

376
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:47,750
as a pre-romantic. because he was writing poetry

377
00:23:47,750 --> 00:23:53,710
this way before even William Wadsworth and Samuel

378
00:23:53,710 --> 00:23:59,350
Coleridge. Now, William Blake, he was born in

379
00:23:59,350 --> 00:24:01,650
London and he lived in London, and this will see

380
00:24:01,650 --> 00:24:04,490
the difference between him and the other poets who

381
00:24:04,490 --> 00:24:06,970
went to the countryside to live in the village,

382
00:24:07,570 --> 00:24:13,230
you know, among natural elements. Two things to

383
00:24:13,230 --> 00:24:17,150
focus here or to focus on. Number one, he has a

384
00:24:17,150 --> 00:24:20,710
particular individual view of the world. And this

385
00:24:20,710 --> 00:24:25,690
individuality is actually a romantic feature. It's

386
00:24:25,690 --> 00:24:28,390
no longer collective. You know the collective

387
00:24:28,390 --> 00:24:33,470
idea? of we must praise God, every individual is

388
00:24:33,470 --> 00:24:36,890
free to do whatever he or she wants to do, as long

389
00:24:36,890 --> 00:24:40,630
as you're following your pure and innocent nature,

390
00:24:41,170 --> 00:24:46,020
your purity, your original pure status. And in his

391
00:24:46,020 --> 00:24:50,080
poetry, we'll see, for example, how this

392
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:53,280
influences his styles and ideas and sensibilities.

393
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:58,480
Everything he writes, in a way, contrasts with the

394
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,020
order and control of the Augustans. Again, this is

395
00:25:01,020 --> 00:25:06,100
a romantic feature. You can say a romantic feature

396
00:25:06,100 --> 00:25:11,340
contrasts the order and control of the Augustans.

397
00:25:11,420 --> 00:25:16,120
Who are the Augustans? Remember? Like Dryden, like

398
00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:19,080
Samuel Johnson, Alexander Pope, the

399
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:25,880
neoclassicists. Another feature we'll see in a bit

400
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:28,720
for William Blake is symbolism. He uses a lot of

401
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:29,140
symbolism.

402
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:36,520
What is a symbol? Yeah, in English, how would you

403
00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:41,510
define it? When you use something, To refer to

404
00:25:41,510 --> 00:25:45,970
something else. To inspire a particular idea of

405
00:25:45,970 --> 00:25:48,850
something else. Like how a rose inspires,

406
00:25:49,570 --> 00:25:55,590
symbolizes what? Love, childhood, nature. Now some

407
00:25:55,590 --> 00:25:58,910
of his symbols are clear to understand, easy to

408
00:25:58,910 --> 00:26:00,690
understand. We'll see in a bit. But some of his

409
00:26:00,690 --> 00:26:04,510
symbols are really very personal and not easy to

410
00:26:04,510 --> 00:26:06,030
understand. It doesn't mean like we can't

411
00:26:06,030 --> 00:26:09,450
understand it. It means we can't agree what it

412
00:26:09,450 --> 00:26:14,590
means. We'll see this in a bit. He published two

413
00:26:14,590 --> 00:26:17,930
collections. The first one is called Songs of

414
00:26:17,930 --> 00:26:22,870
Innocence. Songs of Innocence. Even the name

415
00:26:22,870 --> 00:26:26,950
suggests purity and innocence. And the other one

416
00:26:26,950 --> 00:26:29,910
is Songs of Experience. Experience doesn't

417
00:26:29,910 --> 00:26:31,810
necessarily mean like when you work and have a job

418
00:26:31,810 --> 00:26:33,650
and work for two, three, five years and then you

419
00:26:33,650 --> 00:26:35,770
have a lot of experience. Here it means the

420
00:26:35,770 --> 00:26:39,150
opposite of innocence. It's like corruption in a

421
00:26:39,150 --> 00:26:43,610
way. So most of his poems, you will have the poem

422
00:26:43,610 --> 00:26:48,450
and its contrast, a state of innocence when you

423
00:26:48,450 --> 00:26:50,630
are pure, when you are good, when you are a child.

424
00:26:51,330 --> 00:26:54,270
But for him, innocence is not necessarily for

425
00:26:54,270 --> 00:26:58,110
children. But most children are almost always

426
00:26:58,110 --> 00:27:02,240
innocent. You can grow up. keeping and protecting

427
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:04,760
this state of innocence, and you are still

428
00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,500
innocent. But some people will be corrupted by

429
00:27:07,500 --> 00:27:11,720
life, by society, by the city. And he exposes this

430
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:17,760
in the songs of experience. Songs of experience.

431
00:27:17,900 --> 00:27:22,320
Let's see the examples here. So this is taking us

432
00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:23,500
back to the symbolism issue.

433
00:27:26,850 --> 00:27:29,450
So, generally, two types of symbols for William

434
00:27:29,450 --> 00:27:33,030
Blake. What are they? Number one, simple, direct

435
00:27:33,030 --> 00:27:39,590
symbols. Simple and? Simple. And direct. Like, you

436
00:27:39,590 --> 00:27:43,050
can see where he's going. Like, for example, he

437
00:27:43,050 --> 00:27:47,110
uses the lamb. You know the little lamb? The lamb?

438
00:27:47,710 --> 00:27:51,890
Yes. Silent B here? Lamb, silent B? Yes, lamb. The

439
00:27:51,890 --> 00:27:54,630
lamb, the little lamb, the little sheep. Yes. What

440
00:27:54,630 --> 00:27:55,390
does it symbolize?

441
00:27:59,090 --> 00:28:04,690
Innocence, purity, simple life, simplicity, right?

442
00:28:05,310 --> 00:28:10,970
But what if the poem is tiger? It's going to be

443
00:28:10,970 --> 00:28:16,270
more. It's about more than simplicity and

444
00:28:16,270 --> 00:28:18,070
innocence. It's about complexity. It's about

445
00:28:18,070 --> 00:28:20,590
experience. It's about power. Thank you. It's

446
00:28:20,590 --> 00:28:24,590
about mystery. Thank you. And some of his symbols,

447
00:28:24,950 --> 00:28:30,430
especially in his late poems, are really, again, I

448
00:28:30,430 --> 00:28:32,610
don't want to say complex or difficult to

449
00:28:32,610 --> 00:28:37,310
understand, but they don't easily reveal what they

450
00:28:37,310 --> 00:28:40,450
indicate, in the sense that you could read a poem

451
00:28:40,450 --> 00:28:42,230
and we could have ended up with 10

452
00:28:42,230 --> 00:28:46,070
interpretations. So what does the symbol refer to?

453
00:28:46,830 --> 00:28:50,660
It's not clear. It refers to many things. It's

454
00:28:50,660 --> 00:28:54,460
very personal. He uses symbols for the first time

455
00:28:54,460 --> 00:28:58,600
that no one else has used them before. Two

456
00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:04,240
examples here for symbolism. Number one, from the

457
00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:07,380
lamb, how it symbolizes innocence. In

458
00:29:07,380 --> 00:29:10,640
Christianity, it symbolizes Christ. You know,

459
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,840
Jesus Christ is usually like the shepherd, and we

460
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:18,850
are like, the people are like the lambs. Little

461
00:29:18,850 --> 00:29:23,330
lamb, look at the poetry. These are difficult

462
00:29:23,330 --> 00:29:28,930
words here. It's like poetry for the kids, but

463
00:29:28,930 --> 00:29:32,430
it's also for us because it addresses this state

464
00:29:32,430 --> 00:29:36,630
of innocence. Little lamb, who made the dust down?

465
00:29:37,010 --> 00:29:40,370
Who created

466
00:29:40,370 --> 00:29:44,760
you? Oh, little lamb. Notice the repetition of

467
00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:47,580
the. We have never seen a repetition of the same

468
00:29:47,580 --> 00:29:52,260
word in the previous poetry. Because I think in,

469
00:29:52,420 --> 00:29:54,960
I'm not sure about English. In Arabic, when you

470
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,560
have a poem, you can't repeat the same word at the

471
00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:01,900
end of the line, unless you count like seven

472
00:30:01,900 --> 00:30:07,620
lines. So you say, you can't

473
00:30:07,620 --> 00:30:13,560
repeat the word, until you go for seven more lines

474
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:16,100
and if it shows up again, it's okay. But before

475
00:30:16,100 --> 00:30:19,360
that, it's a sign of weakness. In English,

476
00:30:19,900 --> 00:30:22,200
definitely there's something similar here. But

477
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:26,320
here, it's just a couplet with the same word. And

478
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:28,760
this is why how a romantic poet doesn't care much

479
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:32,740
about the sophistication of the rules as long as

480
00:30:32,740 --> 00:30:36,740
this conveys the message. And yes, this could be a

481
00:30:36,740 --> 00:30:39,240
poem for kids, but it is about simplicity of life.

482
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:42,820
This is the lamb. Little lamb who made the dust

483
00:30:42,820 --> 00:30:46,030
down, who made the... Even the language, even the

484
00:30:46,030 --> 00:30:49,350
tone, the atmosphere. Very poetic and very

485
00:30:49,350 --> 00:30:53,570
innocent in. However, when he talks about the

486
00:30:53,570 --> 00:30:57,710
tiger as a symbol of experience. Can someone read?

487
00:30:58,870 --> 00:31:02,990
Please. Tiger, tiger, burning bright in the forest

488
00:31:02,990 --> 00:31:06,950
of the night. What immortal hand or eye could

489
00:31:06,950 --> 00:31:13,630
frame thy fearful? Fearful. Symmetry. Someone

490
00:31:13,630 --> 00:31:15,570
else, thank you. Hin, please.

491
00:31:21,190 --> 00:31:25,750
Not immoral,

492
00:31:25,930 --> 00:31:26,470
immortal.

493
00:31:32,190 --> 00:31:38,370
Thy fearful, thy meaning your fearful symmetry.

494
00:31:39,090 --> 00:31:44,160
Can you think of a better tone or atmosphere than

495
00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,730
this because if you're saying tiger tiger it's

496
00:31:47,730 --> 00:31:50,070
like saying little lamb who made thee but this is

497
00:31:50,070 --> 00:31:53,870
a tiger here can you give it a try please yeah go

498
00:31:53,870 --> 00:31:59,150
on very

499
00:31:59,150 --> 00:32:05,150
good

500
00:32:05,150 --> 00:32:08,210
so i think it's more like this tiger look at the

501
00:32:08,210 --> 00:32:13,630
old writing here tiger tiger burning bright in the

502
00:32:13,630 --> 00:32:18,000
forest of the night What immortal hand or eye

503
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,420
could frame thy fearful symmetry? Even the word

504
00:32:21,420 --> 00:32:27,940
fearful here is part of the tone. The ta-ta, burn

505
00:32:27,940 --> 00:32:31,060
it, taiga, taiga, burning bright. And even the

506
00:32:31,060 --> 00:32:33,820
burning bright. Ta-ta. There is alliteration.

507
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:38,090
Thank you for seeing this. So he creates the

508
00:32:38,090 --> 00:32:41,370
atmosphere of the whole poem changes, shifts from

509
00:32:41,370 --> 00:32:44,430
innocence of the lamb to the seriousness, the

510
00:32:44,430 --> 00:32:49,570
darkness, the complexity, the experience of the

511
00:32:49,570 --> 00:32:53,530
tiger. If you count the syllables, can we count

512
00:32:53,530 --> 00:32:58,110
the syllables together? Tiger, two, three, four,

513
00:32:58,330 --> 00:33:03,570
five, six, seven, right? So seven syllables. One,

514
00:33:03,690 --> 00:33:08,430
two, three, four, five, six. Seven syllables. One,

515
00:33:08,590 --> 00:33:14,550
two, three, four, five, six, seven. Interesting.

516
00:33:15,510 --> 00:33:22,590
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Symmetry.

517
00:33:24,590 --> 00:33:29,570
Symmetry. Two. Symmetry. Two or three? Three.

518
00:33:33,070 --> 00:33:33,870
Symmetry.

519
00:33:37,540 --> 00:33:40,560
Vowel, vowel, vowel. You can take out this as a

520
00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:43,580
schwa. You can remove the schwa and say it

521
00:33:43,580 --> 00:33:47,480
symmetrically. But it's still going to do the same

522
00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:52,860
thing. So this is A. Look at the rhyme scheme. A,

523
00:33:52,920 --> 00:34:00,760
A. I think

524
00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:05,260
it's B, B. But it is imperfect.

525
00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:14,780
Symmetry is three. Even if you say symmetry, there

526
00:34:14,780 --> 00:34:16,680
is something the poet is doing. Listen, in poetry,

527
00:34:17,240 --> 00:34:19,220
in literature in general, poetry in particular,

528
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:24,100
the poet usually hides, indicates a message or an

529
00:34:24,100 --> 00:34:26,880
idea where he or she creates something called

530
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:30,610
tension. You know tension, something that doesn't

531
00:34:30,610 --> 00:34:32,490
fit, something that is different, something that

532
00:34:32,490 --> 00:34:34,950
doesn't follow the norm, the pattern, the rules.

533
00:34:35,590 --> 00:34:38,510
Listen, here we have seven, seven, eight. Why? Why

534
00:34:38,510 --> 00:34:40,990
did he shift from seven, seven, eight? And we have

535
00:34:40,990 --> 00:34:44,090
A, A, perfect rhyme, and then A, B, imperfect

536
00:34:44,090 --> 00:34:48,370
rhyme. So we raise a question here. Why is the

537
00:34:48,370 --> 00:34:51,730
poet doing this? What is he doing? Can someone

538
00:34:51,730 --> 00:34:54,850
tell? Can you guess? Why is he adding an extra

539
00:34:54,850 --> 00:35:00,060
syllable And why is there an imperfect rhyme here?

540
00:35:00,740 --> 00:35:02,720
There is always a reason.

541
00:35:05,820 --> 00:35:09,260
Okay, interesting suspense, like, Oh, what's going

542
00:35:09,260 --> 00:35:12,540
on? Why is this extra here? Maybe we can't count

543
00:35:12,540 --> 00:35:14,880
the extra syllable as we read, but we definitely

544
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:20,160
can feel the imperfect rhyme. I symmetry. Yes,

545
00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:25,900
more. Why? The question is again, why is there an

546
00:35:25,900 --> 00:35:29,380
extra syllable, and an imperfect rhyme here,

547
00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:34,580
Shayman. Very good, very interesting answer. He's

548
00:35:34,580 --> 00:35:37,660
not following the rules, simply. But he doesn't

549
00:35:37,660 --> 00:35:40,140
break the rules because he wants to break the

550
00:35:40,140 --> 00:35:45,160
rules. He wants to indicate something. He wants to

551
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,740
tell us something. What is he telling us? That's

552
00:35:48,740 --> 00:35:51,220
my question, in a way or another. How?

553
00:36:01,530 --> 00:36:04,990
What does the tiger symbolize, in your opinion?

554
00:36:05,930 --> 00:36:10,590
Power. Power. Yes. Wow. What else? Nature. Nature.

555
00:36:11,290 --> 00:36:16,290
The dark side of nature. What else? The forest.

556
00:36:16,830 --> 00:36:20,310
The forest? Like, tiger, tiger. Seriously, look.

557
00:36:20,670 --> 00:36:25,470
When you go home today, Google image pictures of

558
00:36:25,470 --> 00:36:28,050
tigers. And look at them. They're really

559
00:36:28,050 --> 00:36:31,730
fascinating. Beautiful creatures. How everything

560
00:36:31,730 --> 00:36:36,670
is like a perfect painting. And indeed, when you

561
00:36:36,670 --> 00:36:39,750
look at it, it's perfect. And it's fearful. It

562
00:36:39,750 --> 00:36:46,490
creates this, whoa, whoa. So in my opinion, the

563
00:36:46,490 --> 00:36:51,090
tiger could symbolize the Industrial Revolution.

564
00:36:53,260 --> 00:36:56,380
or the machines, or the factories, or the city

565
00:36:56,380 --> 00:36:59,860
itself. The city sounds... When you look at the

566
00:36:59,860 --> 00:37:02,860
city from afar, maybe you hate a particular city,

567
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:05,280
but you are in a plane and you look down, they all

568
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:09,340
sound majestic, magisterial and beautiful. Why

569
00:37:09,340 --> 00:37:11,820
would the poet do this? The irony, I'm not sure if

570
00:37:11,820 --> 00:37:14,460
you paid attention to this, the irony is the word

571
00:37:14,460 --> 00:37:16,080
symmetry. What's symmetry? What does it mean in

572
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:18,560
Arabic? Balance. Balance, like perfect, something

573
00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:23,390
perfect. And the word symmetry itself is not

574
00:37:23,390 --> 00:37:23,870
symmetrical.

575
00:37:26,590 --> 00:37:30,510
The word symmetry breaks the symmetry of the

576
00:37:30,510 --> 00:37:33,990
poetry. And that's in a way ironic. How does it

577
00:37:33,990 --> 00:37:38,430
break the symmetry? By the extra syllable and by

578
00:37:38,430 --> 00:37:42,300
the imperfect rhyme. In my opinion, I think The

579
00:37:42,300 --> 00:37:44,760
idea I have in mind is that the poet is saying

580
00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:47,560
that if this symbolizes life or the Industrial

581
00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:51,400
Revolution, it looks perfect. But in reality,

582
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:54,980
there is something missing. There is a problem

583
00:37:54,980 --> 00:38:00,340
here. There is something lacking here. This is the

584
00:38:00,340 --> 00:38:02,540
facade. This is just the appearance. But the

585
00:38:02,540 --> 00:38:08,160
essence and the reality, they are lacking. There

586
00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:13,340
is something missing here. How does he do it? by

587
00:38:13,340 --> 00:38:16,120
playing on the rules, playing on the number of

588
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:19,720
syllables and the number, the perfect rhyme, the

589
00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:25,500
imperfect rhyme, yeah. One more example from our

590
00:38:25,500 --> 00:38:28,460
friend William Blake. We actually have this one

591
00:38:28,460 --> 00:38:31,340
and another one. So let's see quickly. This is a

592
00:38:31,340 --> 00:38:34,440
poem, sorry I didn't add this, I was in a rush.

593
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:37,460
The inverted commas, never forget the inverted

594
00:38:37,460 --> 00:38:41,800
commas for the text. The Sick Rose. Look at the

595
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:43,560
title of the poem. It's again and it's a very

596
00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:46,480
short poem. This is the whole poem. It's no longer

597
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:48,680
a thousand lines, two hundred lines. It's no

598
00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:51,860
longer about Adam and Eve and some synagogist and

599
00:38:51,860 --> 00:38:56,920
a paradise lost. A Sick Rose. Can someone read

600
00:38:56,920 --> 00:38:58,320
here, please?

601
00:39:13,540 --> 00:39:19,680
Okay. What's going on here? Do you think there are

602
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:20,920
many difficult words here?

603
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:31,600
Which one? Crimson? It's a color, crimson like red

604
00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:34,840
or pink or something like red. I think other than

605
00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:37,660
this, if you don't know what howling is, and

606
00:39:37,660 --> 00:39:40,220
listen, think of yourself as a native speaker.

607
00:39:40,780 --> 00:39:43,340
Even if you are 13 or 14, you will be able to know

608
00:39:43,340 --> 00:39:47,680
what crimson is. Storm and howling. So, oh rose,

609
00:39:47,780 --> 00:39:50,400
there's a personification here. Thou means you

610
00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:57,340
are, are, are here. Oh rose, thou art sick. The

611
00:39:57,340 --> 00:40:00,800
invisible worm, so who are the people, who are the

612
00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:04,320
characters in this text? Number one? Rows. Rows,

613
00:40:04,420 --> 00:40:07,120
or the rows, because here he says the sick rose,

614
00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:11,120
here he says rose. And then there is? A worm. A

615
00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:15,460
worm. And this worm is? Invisible. Invisible. And

616
00:40:15,460 --> 00:40:20,340
secrecy, darkness, generally not positive. The

617
00:40:20,340 --> 00:40:27,620
invisible worm that flies might darkness, In the

618
00:40:27,620 --> 00:40:33,040
storm, in the howling storm. Howling storm. Yeah,

619
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:38,660
the sound is there. Has found out thy bed, thy,

620
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:44,120
the rose's bed, your bed, of crimson joy, and his

621
00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:52,880
refers to? His? The rose seemingly female. The

622
00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:59,110
one, yes? So the rose is personified as a sick

623
00:40:59,110 --> 00:41:05,770
human being and also the worm is personified as a

624
00:41:05,770 --> 00:41:11,690
woman or a man? A man. His love. Love is good,

625
00:41:11,790 --> 00:41:17,310
right? But this is not only secret, but also dark.

626
00:41:17,390 --> 00:41:21,750
It's like a horrible person in secrecy at night,

627
00:41:21,950 --> 00:41:24,590
in the storm, in the howling storm, invisibly

628
00:41:24,590 --> 00:41:30,190
trying to take advantage of the rose, making it

629
00:41:30,190 --> 00:41:37,390
sick. And his dark, secret love does thy life,

630
00:41:37,450 --> 00:41:42,090
your life, destroy. That's the poem. What is it

631
00:41:42,090 --> 00:41:45,690
about? What does the rose stand for? Can you

632
00:41:45,690 --> 00:41:50,350
guess? Okay, could be about how life was destroyed

633
00:41:50,350 --> 00:41:53,950
by the industrial revolution, by the city, the

634
00:41:53,950 --> 00:41:54,750
corruption.

635
00:41:58,150 --> 00:42:01,790
Could be. So life was good, was pure, innocent

636
00:42:01,790 --> 00:42:05,730
until Capitalism and Industrial Revolution. Yes.

637
00:42:08,090 --> 00:42:13,390
Thank you very much. This could be a symbol of

638
00:42:13,390 --> 00:42:16,210
women. It could, by the way, it could be a

639
00:42:16,210 --> 00:42:20,150
particular woman. He knows. Or all women

640
00:42:20,150 --> 00:42:22,190
destroyed. What could be about childhood?

641
00:42:22,470 --> 00:42:25,710
Children. How children are destroyed by life, by

642
00:42:25,710 --> 00:42:30,310
parents, by corruption. Or it could be about a

643
00:42:30,310 --> 00:42:33,010
simple rose. It could be about nature.

644
00:42:36,050 --> 00:42:38,670
One of your friends in another group was saying

645
00:42:38,670 --> 00:42:42,730
that this could also be about women nowadays,

646
00:42:42,890 --> 00:42:47,120
today. I said, how? He said, there are many people

647
00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:50,440
on Facebook, many guys, many dudes, who just go on

648
00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:52,580
Facebook and try to stalk particular girls and

649
00:42:52,580 --> 00:42:55,520
tell her, deceive her, trick her, oh, I like you,

650
00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:57,520
I love you, something, and then they destroy her

651
00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:01,940
life. And then they just disappear. I was like,

652
00:43:02,140 --> 00:43:05,000
hmm, interesting. I'm sure William Blake did not

653
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:10,460
mean this. But as readers here, we can see this

654
00:43:10,460 --> 00:43:14,200
idea in this poem. In my opinion, this poem is

655
00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:17,420
about everything you said. And it's about the

656
00:43:17,420 --> 00:43:20,000
power of imagination. Remember when we read

657
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:22,470
Alexander Pope? The poem was about one thing,

658
00:43:23,910 --> 00:43:26,850
satire. Remember? We had one meaning, one idea,

659
00:43:26,930 --> 00:43:29,850
one interpretation. Don't feel sad for this if a

660
00:43:29,850 --> 00:43:33,030
poem has several interpretations. Because as a

661
00:43:33,030 --> 00:43:36,410
reader or in your exam, you only need to pick one

662
00:43:36,410 --> 00:43:38,470
idea. If you tell me in your exam that I think

663
00:43:38,470 --> 00:43:40,390
this symbolizes nature and you explain it, it's

664
00:43:40,390 --> 00:43:42,370
OK. It's correct. I think this symbolizes

665
00:43:42,370 --> 00:43:46,490
childhood and loss of innocence. Yeah, show me how

666
00:43:46,490 --> 00:43:51,050
in the text. But look at this poem and how

667
00:43:51,050 --> 00:43:53,810
beautiful and how simple in its language. The

668
00:43:53,810 --> 00:43:56,330
features are there. Simplicity, subject matter,

669
00:43:56,870 --> 00:43:58,130
nature, imagination.

670
00:44:00,670 --> 00:44:03,670
The symbolism, I don't think this is complex.

671
00:44:03,910 --> 00:44:06,590
There are more complex than this. But yeah, there

672
00:44:06,590 --> 00:44:09,810
is symbolism here. This is William, William Blake.

673
00:44:10,230 --> 00:44:10,750
Individual.

674
00:44:13,610 --> 00:44:17,110
Thank you. As Palestinians here, we could take

675
00:44:17,110 --> 00:44:20,350
this as how colonizers and imperialists, how

676
00:44:20,350 --> 00:44:24,390
occupiers come, take everything good, and destroy

677
00:44:24,390 --> 00:44:28,330
our lives. Pretend to be good, in love, that we

678
00:44:28,330 --> 00:44:31,690
care about you. Thank you. It could be many

679
00:44:31,690 --> 00:44:35,010
things. Okay, in one minute, before I stop here,

680
00:44:35,750 --> 00:44:46,990
can we see the rhyme scheme? Sek. Wam. B, C, I

681
00:44:46,990 --> 00:44:49,190
think this is B but it's still not perfect because

682
00:44:49,190 --> 00:44:54,130
this is torn, this is one, one, has found the eye

683
00:44:54,130 --> 00:45:04,000
secret, bed of crimson joy, C, destroy, B. So one

684
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:06,180
imperfect, and the imperfect works with the one,

685
00:45:06,260 --> 00:45:08,100
because the one is the imperfect that destroys

686
00:45:08,100 --> 00:45:10,940
this perfection of the whole thing, disrupts it in

687
00:45:10,940 --> 00:45:15,480
a way. If you count the, you're not required to do

688
00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:18,160
this, but it's really cool if you start counting

689
00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:22,960
the feet, how many feet we have, and the

690
00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:24,760
syllables, because in my opinion, there is

691
00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:27,480
something here. So if you say one, two, three,

692
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:33,660
four, five. One, two, three, four. And then one,

693
00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:37,900
two, three, four, five, six. See? He doesn't have

694
00:45:37,900 --> 00:45:40,260
to follow. Is this poetry? This is beautiful

695
00:45:40,260 --> 00:45:43,210
poetry. But many people will say, no, no, no. This

696
00:45:43,210 --> 00:45:44,650
is not poetry. It's not following the rules. You

697
00:45:44,650 --> 00:45:47,410
have to go for 10 syllables or eight syllables, so

698
00:45:47,410 --> 00:45:50,670
you have four feet or eight feet in a way or

699
00:45:50,670 --> 00:45:55,450
another. I think if Alexander Pope or Samuel

700
00:45:55,450 --> 00:45:57,610
Johnson or Dryden were alive, they would be

701
00:45:57,610 --> 00:46:00,430
pulling their hair. They would be acting angry

702
00:46:00,430 --> 00:46:04,130
like they reacted to John Donne. I wanted to have

703
00:46:04,130 --> 00:46:06,590
time for this poem, but we can do it next class.

704
00:46:07,470 --> 00:46:11,830
Blake's London. Thank you very much and please if

705
00:46:11,830 --> 00:46:14,490
you have any questions, do ask.