Week 5

Happy May Day

Welcome to class.  Hope you are well, and keeping up with reading and writing assignments.

I here review some of what we read and discussed last week.  I'll start with a short poetry selection, by Emily Dickinson:

Presentiment–is that long Shadow–on the lawn

Presentiment–is that long Shadow–on the lawn–

Indicative that Suns go down–

The notice to the startled Grass–

That Darkness is about to pass–

What does Dickinson do here that is unusual, remarkable?  She defines an abstract word–presentiment–by means of sound (liquid n's and long hissing s's) and metaphor.  The setting sun, casting long shadows on the lawn, brings home the feeling of imminent danger.  "Darkness"(line 4)  is near, seemingly predatory, and the "startled Grass"(line 3) betrays its fear.  We are the grass, perhaps, the suns our all in all, and Darkness the fate we flee, calamity, death.

The two general classes of letters, vowels and consonants, have particular attributes:  a vowel can be perfectly uttered alone, but a consonant cannot until joined with a vowel.  Semivowels are consonants that can be imperfectly sounded alone, and which sound protracted at the end of a syllable, as with l, n, z,   in al, an, az.  Semivowels c, f, g, h, j, s, or x  require strong breath or air– aspirates they are called.  L, m, n, and r are called liquids, as they seem to flow.  K, p, t,  in ak, ap, at are called mutes, for they cannot be sounded without a vowel and stop the breath.  The feeling accompanying these sounds, here only briefly discussed, is used to certain effect.

 Hush!  Be quiet!  Shut up!    The abruptness of the t and p makes for a connotative difference in the sound of each of these imperatives.  Like the difference between rock and stone, word sounds_even letter design– may correlate to the meaning or connotation of a word.  The play of sound effects noticeable in alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia (buzz, bee, rumble, roar) is one of the resources to which poets' ears are tuned.

The Word Plum       by Helen Chasin (b.1938)

The word plum is delicious

pout and push, luxury of

self-love, and savoring murmur

full in the mouth and falling

like fruit

taut skin

pierced, bitten provoked into

juice, and tart flesh

question

and reply, lip and tongue

of pleasure.

Identify the sounds in the poem above that bring to mind the actual sounds and sensations of eating.