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i

Poetic Plethora

An Annotated Anthology of Select Victorian and

Modern Poems


ii

Publishing-in-support-of,

EDUCREATION PUBLISHING

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Copyright © Nilanko Mallik, 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the editor.

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Poetic Plethora An Annotated Anthology of Select Victorian

and Modern Poems

Compiled and Edited by

Dr. Nilanko Mallik

MA, PhD (AM), TESOL (ASU)

EDUCREATION PUBLISHING (Since 2011)

www.educreation.in


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v

Contents

Sr. Title Page

i Preface vii

ii Acknowledgements ix

1. Ulysses – Tennyson 1

a. Structural Pattern of Ulysses 13

b. Critical Analysis of Ulysses 14

c. Idea of Self-Projection in Tennyson‘s Ulysses

– Koushik Dey

17

d. Ulysses as a Dramatic Monologue – Tanusree

Roy

25

2. Porphyria‟s Lover – Robert Browning 29

a. A Psychoanalytic Study of Robert Browning‘s

Porphyria‟s Lover – Ankita Pandey

34

b. ‗Necromance‘ in Browning‘s Porphyria‟s

Lover: A Study in Abnormal Psychology –

Pritesh Chakraborty

38

3. The Last Ride Together – Robert Browning 43

4. My Last Duchess – Robert Browning 51

a. Does the Duke in Robert Browning‘s Poem My

Last Duchess inadvertently betray his own

self? – Subrata Ray

55

5. Strange Meeting – Wilfred Owen 60

6. Spring Offensive – Wilfred Owen 64

a. Owen and War: Reading Strange Meeting and

Spring Offensive – Shruti Roy Chakraborti

69

7. Lake Isle of Innisfree – W.B. Yeats 73

a. A stylistic Analysis of Lake Isle of Innisfree – 74


vi

Anuradha Dosad

8. Preludes – T.S. Eliot 78

a. Eliot‘s Use of Imagery in Preludes – Sunayan

Mukherjee

83

9. The Waste Land – T.S. Eliot 90

a. Broken Images: T.S. Eliot‘s The Waste Land

and the Inevitably Fragmentary Experience of

Modernity – Aaron Edwards

141

b. In the Gloom of Spiritual Sterility ―What are

the roots that clutch‖ in T.S. Eliot‘s The Waste

Land? – Subrata Ray

156

10. References 161


vii

Preface

This book has come into existence out of the need of students who

need a comprehensive understanding of the poems which are

generally studied in English courses at undergraduate or post

graduate levels, particularly the Victorian and the Modern ages.

While there abound a lot of good books on the poems of the

preceding ages, there is not much available for Victorian and

Modern age, when it comes to academic study. Even if there exists

a good collection, there is hardly any annotation.

This book brings some of the representative poets of the

Victorian and Modern times. This does not go to say that the other

poets are less important. This selection offers poems which are

academically studied, and studying which, the students would gain

a comprehensive understanding of the ages which the poems

belong to.

This book unites scholars of different institutions, most of

whom have previously worked with me in bringing out another

book, a collection of articles, titled, Through the Literary Glass

(Educreation, 2017).

This book was originally conceived to be of the same pattern

as the work stated above, but after seeing the depth of insight in the

articles, I deemed it necessary to include the text of the poems, and

began the cumbersome task of adding annotations to each text, to

do justice to the articles which I received, and which have been

printed in the following pages.


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In bringing out the annotations, a lot of time was taken, and what

was scheduled to come out in 2017 has come out in 2018, but I

think it is safe to say that a good read is worth a little wait.

I hope this book will be well-received, so that future works of

such kind can follow.

Nilanko Mallik

Kolkata, 2018.


ix

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank all those who have contributed by submitting their

invaluable articles, and for waiting patiently even though I took

longer than the stipulated time to complete the annotations.

I would like to thank Educreation for their wonderful support

through all the stages of publication, and for their prompt service.

All references to the Bible are from the English Standard

Version (ESV), unless otherwise specified.

Translations from other languages are mine, unless otherwise

listed.

All citations have been duly credited in the articles and in the

reference section. If any source has been unintentionally left

unacknowledged, I would appreciate if I were to be notified in

email (mentioned in the back cover), so that corrections can be

done in future editions of the book.


x


Ulysses

1

Ulysses1

- Alfred Tennyson

It little profits that an idle king,2

By this still hearth,3 among these barren crags,

4

Match‘d with an aged wife,5 I mete and dole

6

1 The title of the poem is an allusion to the classical hero Ulysses

(in Latin and Odysseus in Greek). The Odyssey, sequel to the Iliad,

recounts his part in the battle of Troy and of his adventures while

returning. He was cursed to roam for a long time before seeing his

home, and so, his name became a metonymy for a hero as well as a

wanderer. 2 Ulysses was the King of Ithaca.

3 There is no reason for a ―hearth‖ in the Greek times, and it is

anachronistic. This is more of an English image, that of a family

seated comfortably by the fireside, getting warmth from the cold

English climate. Right from the start, we find Tennyson

―Anglicising‖ the Greek hero. Moreover, ―still hearth‖ is an

oxymoron. A hearth (fireside) cannot be still, when there is fire.

The word ―still‖ is therefore, symbolic, and stands in opposition to

the life of warfare. Tennyson suggests that Ulysses is now back in

his homeland, and leads a calm and quiet life, which he says profits

―little‖ as he clearly dislikes being ―idle‖. 4 Crag is a rocky outcrop (a piece of land that stands out into the

water from the land). Barren means of poor fertility. The image is

of a rugged area. As we have seen the mindset of Ulysses, we may

safely say that the barrenness is also the lack of creative output in

his life in Ithaca, particularly after the adventures abroad. 5 Penelope was the wife of Ulysses.

6 mete and dole – i.e., to allot and distribute


Poetic Plethora | Nilanko Mallik

2

Unequal laws unto a savage race,7

That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.8 5

I cannot rest from travel:9 I will drink

7 The retrospective quality of Ulysses is admirable – he clearly

understands he is not able to make neutral judgement. However, as

the land is ―savage‖, it somehow fits that there is inequality.

This mindset of Ulysses again makes him differ from the classical

hero that Homer presented him to be. Homer‘s Ulysses is a

cunning planner (he came up with the idea of hiding inside the

wooden horse, after all) and in his (mis)adventures, he never

abandons his crew and men. He rescues them (as many as he can),

though the numbers keep dwindling with each incident. The Greek

Odysseus cares for his people; Tennyson‘s Ulysses longs to

abandon his kingdom, family and men, and go on a voyage again. 8 Tennyson clearly presents the people of Ithaca to be a savage race

which believes in looting and merry-making, without

understanding – or trying to understand – the mind of the leader.

Ulysses – by his travels abroad – has become an intellectual, and is

not able to relate to them. Although he says that they are not able

to understand him, it is actually he who has become distant; he no

longer understands their motives for the ―savage‖ behaviour of

hoarding, sleeping and feeding.

There is also a Biblical allusion here, that of the people giving

honour to God in their mouths, but not really understanding him,

as per the words of the prophets. The most famous of such lines is

spoken by Isaiah, ―this people draw near me with their mouth, and

with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from

me‖ (Isaiah 29:13). The expression ―know not‖ instead of ―not not

know‖ is also a Biblical influence. The words of Jesus on the cross,

―Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do‖ (Luke

23:34). 9 These lines have become quite famous, and it springs the debate

about whether or not this is a dramatic monologue. In a dramatic

monologue, the persona speaks to a silent listener or listeners, and

that seems to be the case here. However, it can also be argued that

these are his musings – he is merely thinking.


Ulysses

3

Life to the lees:10

All times I have enjoy‘d

Greatly, have suffer‘d greatly,11

both with those

That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when

Thro‘ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades12

10

Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;13

For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known; cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments,

10

This is a metaphor. The comparison is with someone who raises

a toast to drink on some occasion. ―Lees‖ are the sedimentary

deposits after the fermentation of alcoholic drinks. In earlier days,

there was no modern way of keeping out the sediments and

offering only the liquid. The liquid, along with the sediments, were

poured into the glass, and the sediments would deposit in the

bottom. Ulysses says he will drink his glass of wine to the last

drop, to the very dregs. While drinking, he will offer a toast – to

life, i.e., to adventure and activity.

This brings out the spirit of the Victorian age, where the zeal of

knowledge, spurred by Darwin‘s theories of evolution, made the

Victorians thirst for more. Ulysses, in that sense, represents the

spirit of the Victorian age, which does not believe in slumber.

However, as we will see later, Tennyson does not make his

Ulysses blindly reject traditional beliefs, which many Victorians

were doing.

The lines also become personal for the poet. This poem was

written closely after the death of Tennyson‘s friend Arthur Henry

Hallam. The death of Hallam had made Tennyson plunge into grief

for years, giving us In Memoriam. This poem was written when

Tennyson was writing the many poems of In Memoriam, and the

note of embracing life (by coming out of a negative state of mind)

is comparable to Tennyson deciding that he will live on and

embrace life once more. 11

It must not go unobserved that Ulysses embraces not just the

enjoyable moments, but also the moments of suffering. He has

lived both types of experiences from his heart. 12

This constellation was supposed to relate to rain. 13

See footnote on the title of the poem.


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