SUBJECT MATTER & THEME Subject matter: something that the author deals with in the work Theme: the meaning of the work that the author wants to share with or deliver to the reader Among other important subject matters in poetry are: life, death, nature, love, loyalty, happiness, sorrow, anxiety, and freedom. 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 1 Life the hound Equivocal Comes at a bound Either to rend me Or to befriend me. I cannot tell The hound's intent Till he has sprung At my bare hand With teeth or tongue. Meanwhile I stand And wait the event. THE HOUND by Robert Francis 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 2 Holy Sonnets: Death Be Not Proud Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell; And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. Holy Sonnets: Death Be Not Proud Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 3 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 4 For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 5 From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 6 1
And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell; 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 7 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 8 And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 9 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 10 OZYMANDIAS Percy Bysshe Shelly (1792-1822) 1822) I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which h yet survive, stamped on these lifeless l things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. OZYMANDIAS Percy Bysshe Shelly (1792-1822) 1822) I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand, 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 11 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 12 2
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 13 Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 14 And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 15 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 16 AH, ARE YOU DIGGING ON MY GRAVE Thomas Hardy "Ah, are you digging on my grave, My loved one? ---planting rue" ---"No: yesterday he went to wed One of the brightest wealth has bred. 'It cannot hurt her now,' he said, 'That I should not be true.' "Then who is digging on my grave? My nearest dearest kin? ---"Ah, no: they sit and think, 'What use! What good will planting flowers produce? No tendance of her mound can loose attendance Her spirit from death's gin.'" snare 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 17 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 18 3
"But some one digs upon my grave? My enemy"---prodding sly? stabbing secretly ---"Nay: when she heard you had passed the Gate That shuts on all flesh soon or late, She thought you no more worth her hate, And cares not where you lie. "Then Then, who is digging on my grave? Say---since I have not guessed!" ---"O it is I, my mistress dear, Your little dog, who still lives near, And much I hope my movements here Have not disturbed your rest?" "Ah, yes! You dig upon my grave... Why flashed it not on me That one true heart was left behind! What feeling do we ever find To equal among human kind A dog's fidelity! "Mistress Mistress, I dug upon your grave To bury a bone, in case I should be hungry near this spot When passing on my daily trot. I am sorry, but I quite forgot It was your resting-place." 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 19 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 20 AH, ARE YOU DIGGING ON MY GRAVE Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) 1928) "Ah, are you digging on my grave, My loved one? ---planting rue" ---"No: yesterday he went to wed One of the brightest wealth has bred. 'It cannot hurt her now,' he said, 'That I should not be true.'" "Then who is digging on my grave? My nearest dearest kin? ---"Ah, no: they sit and think, 'What use! What good will planting flowers produce? No tendance of her mound can loose Her spirit from death's gin.'" snare 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 21 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 22 "But some one digs upon my grave? My enemy" ---prodding sly?" ---"Nay: when she heard you had passed the Gate That shuts on all flesh soon or late, She thought you no more worth her hate, And cares not where you lie." 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 23 "Then, who is digging on my grave? Say---since I have not guessed!" ---"O it is I, my mistress dear, Your little dog, who still lives near, And much I hope my movements here Have not disturbed your rest?" 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 24 4
"Ah, yes! You dig upon my grave... Why flashed it not on me That one true heart was left behind! What feeling do we ever find To equal among human kind A dog's fidelity!" "Mistress, I dug upon your grave To bury a bone, in case I should be hungry near this spot When passing on my daily trot. I am sorry, but I quite forgot It was your resting-place." 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 25 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 26 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION AND PARTICIPATION SEE YOU AGAIN NEXT WEEK GOOD BYE 4/11/2011 Intro. to Lit/M.Thoyibi/Session 6 27 5