"Clenched Soul" by Pablo Neruda

 

Clenched Soul

We have lost even this twilight.

No one saw us this evening hand in hand

while the blue night dropped on the world.

 

I have seen from my window

the fiesta of sunset in the distant mountain tops.

 

Sometimes a piece of sun

burned like a coin in my hand.

 

I remembered you with my soul clenched

in that sadness of mine that you know.

 

Where were you then?

Who else was there?

Saying what?

Why will the whole of love come on me suddenly

when I am sad and feel you are far away?

 

The book fell that always closed at twilight

and my blue sweater rolled like a hurt dog at my feet.

 

Always, always you recede through the evenings

toward the twilight erasing statues.

Enjoy the poem with  beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/bxqcYICEomo

Who wrote the poem "Clenched Soul"?

Pablo Neruda (July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973)

Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet and politician who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. He wrote in various styles, including surrealist poems and passionate love poems. After Neruda experienced Spanish Civil War as a diplomat in Spain, he became a devoted Communist for the rest of his life. Neruda is often called one of the greatest poets of the 20^th century.

"Clenched Soul" explanation

In the poem, the speaker expresses deep feelings of loneliness and sorrow due to perhaps being far away from his love. His passionate love gives him so much pain because she is not there with him and might be somewhere else far away with someone else.

"To the Spring" by Sir John Davies

 

To the Spring

From “Hymnes of Astræa, in Acrosticke Verse”

 

E ARTH now is green, and heaven is blue,

L ively Spring which makes all new,

I olly Spring, doth enter;

S weet young sun beams do subdue

A ngry, agèd Winter. 

B lasts are mild, and seas are calm,

E very meadow flows with balm,

T he Earth wears all her riches;

H armonious birds sing such a psalm,

A s ear and heart bewitches. 

R eserve (sweet Spring) this Nymph of ours,

E ternal garlands of thy flowers,

G reen garlands never wasting:

I n her shall last our state’s fair Spring,

N ow and for ever flourishing, 

A s long as Heaven is lasting.

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poem video👇

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Who wrote the poem "To the Spring"?

Sir John Davies (April, 1569 – December 8, 1626)

John Davies was an English poet, lawyer, and politician. As a renowned lawyer, he served as Attorney General for Ireland and contributed to establishing many legal principles for the British Empire. While concentrating mostly on his political and legal career, he wrote many poems, much of which were sonnets and epigrams. His poetry was largely neglected until 19^th century when T.S. Eliot reexamined his works. He died of apoplexy at the age of 57.

"To the Spring" explanation

In the poem, the speaker cherishes the arrival of Spring and the beauty of nature using vivid imagery and personification.

"To George Sand: A Desire" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 To George Sand: A Desire

Thou large-brained woman and large-hearted man,

Self-called George Sand! whose soul, amid the lions

Of thy tumultuous senses, moans defiance

And answers roar for roar, as spirits can:

I would some mild miraculous thunder ran

Above the applauded circus, in appliance

Of thine own nobler nature's strength and science,

Drawing two pinions, white as wings of swan,

From thy strong shoulders, to amaze the place

With holier light! that thou to woman's claim

And man's, mightst join beside the angel's grace

Of a pure genius sanctified from blame

Till child and maiden pressed to thine embrace

To kiss upon thy lips a stainless fame.

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poem video👇

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Who wrote the poem "To George Sand: A Desire"?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (March 6, 1806 — June 29, 1861)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an English poet of the Victorian era, famous in England and the U.S. during her lifetime. She was the eldest of 12 children and wrote poetry from 11. She was an avid reader and writer, and Shakespeare was her favorite. From 15, she suffered from frail health due to intense head and spinal pain and lung problems throughout her life. After her 1844 volume "Poems" had a great success, Robert Browning, an English poet and playwright, was inspired to write to her, praising her work. The two met in 1845, fell in love, and soon got married. Their special bond had an important influence on their respective subsequent writings. Her work also had a great influence on famous contemporary writers such as the American poets Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson.

"To George Sand: A Desire" explanation

This poem is about the French female poet, Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin who wrote under the pen name of George Sand. The speaker praises the quality of her work and appreciates the greatness of her accomplishments. 

"The Brain is Wider than the Sky" by Emily Dickinson

 

The Brain is Wider than the Sky

The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

For—put them side by side—

The one the other will contain

With ease—and You—beside—

The Brain is deeper than the sea—

For—hold them—Blue to Blue—

The one the other will absorb—

As Sponges—Buckets—do—

 

The Brain is just the weight of God—

For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—

And they will differ—if they do—

As Syllable from Sound—

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poem video👇 

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Who wrote the poem "The Brain is Wider than the Sky"?

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886)

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet who was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. She spent most of her adult life at the family home in isolation, attending to her ill mother. Introverted and timid, she never married or sought a permanent romantic relationship all her life. Although she wrote nearly 1,800 poems during her lifetime, her poetry was largely misunderstood or underrated while she was alive. Her poems were quite original and disregarded many conventional rules, containing short lines, typically lacking titles, and often using imperfect rhyme and odd-looking syntax. Her poetry however captures universal feelings in a simple sentence with unique but resonating metaphors and reflects the poet’s lively, imaginative, and dynamic inner world. Her poetic genius began to be appreciated only after her death when her sister published her works. Now Dickinson is regarded as one of the most important American poets.

"The Brain is Wider than the Sky" explanation

In the poem, the speaker compares the human brain with the sky, the sea, and God. By doing so, she cherishes the wonder of the human mind and the complexity of the human experience. 

"Afternoon in February" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

Afternoon in February

The day is ending,

The night is descending;

The marsh is frozen,

The river dead.

Through clouds like ashes

The red sun flashes

On village windows

That glimmer red.

The snow recommences;

The buried fences

Mark no longer

The road o'er the plain;

While through the meadows,

Like fearful shadows,

Slowly passes

A funeral train.

The bell is pealing,

And every feeling

Within me responds

To the dismal knell;

Shadows are trailing,

My heart is bewailing

And tolling within

Like a funeral bell.

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poem video👇

https://youtu.be/EyaLBfU_QEA

Who wrote the poem "Afternoon in February"?

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator. He was one of the most famous American poets of the 19th century, both domestically and internationally, and was one of the few American writers honored in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine (then still part of Massachusetts). He studied at Bowdoin College and became a professor there and later at Harvard University. His poems were known for their musicality, often including stories of mythology and legend.

"Afternoon in February" explanation

The speaker in the poem describes a funeral procession and a desolate wintry scenery in a late afternoon of February. The overall sober and grim tone out of various imageries and metaphors accentuate a deep sense of sadness of a person mourning a death. Relatively short verses create a feeling of fast pace, which can be connected to the shortness of a February afternoon.

"The Snow Man" by Wallace Stevens

The Snow Man

One must have a mind of winter

To regard the frost and the boughs

Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

 

And have been cold a long time

To behold the junipers shagged with ice,

The spruces rough in the distant glitter

 

Of the January sun; and not to think

Of any misery in the sound of the wind,

In the sound of a few leaves,

 

Which is the sound of the land

Full of the same wind

That is blowing in the same bare place

 

For the listener, who listens in the snow,

And, nothing himself, beholds

Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

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poem video👇

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Who wrote the poem "The Snow Man"?

Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955)

 

Wallace Stevens was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, and attended Harvard University as a non-degree special student and later graduated from New York Law School. He worked as an executive for an insurance company for most of his life. He often used simple images to express complex ideas. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1955.

"The Snow Man" explanation

In the poem, the speaker presents the complexities of human mind and the importance of perspectives using such simple images of a snow man and the wintry landscape.

"From the Antique" by Christina Rossetti

 

From the Antique

It's a weary life, it is, she said:

Doubly blank in a woman's lot:

I wish and I wish I were a man:

Or, better then any being, were not:

 

Were nothing at all in all the world,

Not a body and not a soul:

Not so much as a grain of dust

Or a drop of water from pole to pole.

 

Still the world would wag on the same,

Still the seasons go and come:

Blossoms bloom as in days of old,

Cherries ripen and wild bees hum.

 

None would miss me in all the world,

How much less would care or weep:

I should be nothing, while all the rest

Would wake and weary and fall asleep.

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poem video👇

https://youtu.be/BnWoUD3rbyk

Who wrote the poem "From the Antique"?

Christina Rossetti (December 5, 1830 ~ December 29, 1894)

Christina Rossetti was an English poet who was lauded as one of the foremost female poets of the 19th-century Victorian era. She wrote romantic, devotional, and children's poems, marked by symbolism and intense feeling. Her literary status was often compared to that of Elizabeth Barren Browning, and upon Browning's death in 1861, Rossetti was hailed as Browning's rightful successor. She opposed slavery, cruelty to animals, and the exploitation of girls in under-age prostitution. Rossetti suffered from Graves' disease in the later decades of her life. In 1893, she was diagnosed of breast cancer and died of a recurrence in 1894.

"From the Antique" explanation

The female speaker in the poem laments the weariness of life and wishes to be a man. She even prefers to be non-existent at all. Perhaps the poem is about the transience of life. Or perhaps it is about the plight of women in the Victorian era.

"Down by The Salley Gardens" by William Butler Yeats

Down by The Salley Gardens

Down by the salley gardens

my love and I did meet;

She passed the salley gardens

with little snow-white feet.

She bid me take love easy,

as the leaves grow on the tree;

But I, being young and foolish,

with her would not agree.

 

In a field by the river

my love and I did stand,

And on my leaning shoulder

she laid her snow-white hand.

She bid me take life easy,

as the grass grows on the weirs;

But I was young and foolish,

and now am full of tears.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video 👇

https://youtu.be/xmuEm-EuSr0

Who wrote the poem "Down by The Salley Gardens"?

William Butler Yeats (June 13, 1865 – January 28, 1939)

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, playwright, prose writer, and is widely considered as one of the greatest poets of the 20^th century. He was born to the Protestant, Anglo-Irish community that considered themselves English people born in Ireland and had largely controlled the economic, political, and social life of Ireland. However, Yeats strongly affirmed his Irish nationality and found inspiration in Irish legends and the occult in his early career. Later his poetry became more physical and realistic. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923. 

"Down by The Salley Gardens" explanation

The speaker recalls a time when he and his love were together by the salley gardens, but now she is gone and he is left with only the memories. Yeats adapted an old Irish folk song and created this melancholic and nostalgic poem. The original title of the poem was “An Old Song Re-Sung” when it was first published in 1889 and later was changed into the present title when it was reprinted in 1895. The poem has been set to music by several composers, including Benjamin Britten, and is often performed as a song. The poem is a good example of Yeats' early use of traditional Irish imagery and themes.