Brit. lit quotes for 10 Apr 08

Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Ulysses lines 6-9
“I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoy’d
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone;”

I like the aim of these lines. It can be seen as a life definition, or the ultimite goal of somebody’s life. Maybe it is because it certainly pertains to the way I have always lived mine. As well, line 9 helps him to remember triumphs and losses which give appreciation for a full life.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Ulysses lines 60-61
“To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die”

Again this caught my eye as a sort of goal for life. I think he is trying to tell us of a good life that he has had and make it sound appealing for the ultimite happiness of others if they take up this life too.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson
In Memoriam A.H.H. lines 15-16
“‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all”

Of course I had to include this famous qoute. Most people never know where this came from, as well as they will never know that it is from a man to a man–best friends. Beautiful!

Robert Browning
Porphyria’s Lover lines 41-42
“And strangled her. No pain felt she;
I am quite sure she felt no pain”

In my notes I wrote No! no no no! It is remindful of Poe. He immortalized her and put her on the pedastool he thinks and possibly society thinks she deserves. It is also a power control issue, which alludes to his possible lower class.

Robert Browning
Porphyria’s Lover lines 53-56
“So glad it has its utmost will,
That all it scorned at once is fled,
And I, its love, an gained instead!”

Why? The love is always there now. She sounded so beautiful; he got a truly shocked reaction out of me. This ends up becoming a goal for artists in the coming century. Fun. He is brilliant at investigatiing the human psyche. I’m sure he had a lot of questions to answer when he was walking the streets of London at this time.

Robert Browning
My Last Duchess lines 55-56
“Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!”

What a novel of a poem. Almost like a novel in just one page, there is a lot there and we get a strong sense of character. You don’t even notice the rhymes either. Final question: Is it a warning to the father in law to control his daughter and a display of his need of trophy wives? Fun.

Robert Browning
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came lines 1-2
“My first thought was, he lied in every word,
That hoary cripple, with malicious eye”

A fiery tale? The guy goes out to look for something. Has a dream like quality. He takes the persona of the hero with the first person. Interesting, never before done in this way.

Robert Browning
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came line 65
“‘Tis the Last Judgement’s fire must cure this place”

I wrote in my notes, because I am confused by the word “cure” as I usually am with redemption and these matters with religion: Is that what is supposed to take place? Is that what the “fear of God” means? -too confusing

Robert Browning
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came line 84
“He must be wicked to desserve such pain.”

Karma or divine punishment? Again, very confusing this religion stuff. Kind of a huge turn off reading all these poems with religious context, though alluding into the times I know. I’m trying.

Robert Browning
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came lines 202-203
“I saw them and I knew them all. And yet
Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set,”

Kind of an ambigious poem. He is not willing to give us a conclusion. That’s fine and all. It’s serious, the hero doesn’t triumph, no easy obvious solution, no resolution. People today need this, they wanna think life is not always the same. Final question though: Is the road in the poem the road of life? They knew that they didn’t know, not too far removed from us in our society. Cool.