Poems on the various syllabi are analysed line-by-line by Dr. Andrew Barker, with insights given to their meanings. Poems from Andrew Barker's Poetry Collections are read by the author.
Brilliant analysis! Very detailed. I've analyzed 30-something poems on my channel for my own students (mainly Caribbean). This is one of the two or three poems (I believe) that we have both covered.
@@mycroftlectures I'd be honored! My poetry analyses are here: ru-vid.com/group/PLShDieccSiWh0tunDbHOQXNUKu32BFuK3&si=QJgxJArHJJZ8tUsO I've worked hard on all of these, but I'm happier with my more recent videos. Perhaps start with Death, Be Not Proud. By the way, have you done anything on that poem? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
The best rendition i have heard of this Poem, is Michael Sheen by a country Mile. However what i find sad is that the Poem is telling his father to no go Gentle and to fight the dying of the light. Yet only a few years later he himself passes away way before his time barely reaching 40 years old, like the Universe spoke to Dylan
Thank you. A few days ago I put away the volume of Yeat's collected poems because I could not make sense of them. This lecture has taught me so much. Thank you!
Wonderful explanation, sir. You also digged the poem by spade and gone down and down. I like your method of delivering lectures on poetry. I enjoyed your Shakespeare sonnets, and i am waiting for your explanation of the sonnets of the master poets.
Oh my good God, I am a Mycroft & have onky known of this series for three minutes whilst aged 66. My father died when I was 15. I was coming off the pitch for tea playing for Warlingham Sunday Threes & said to Pete Hurn, "My father just died" a dozen miles away he did
I disagree with your interpration of wise men. I view this as follows; wise men who are truly knowledgeable about self and have understanding of things, realise that whatever words, ideas we have created and shared - as generative as they may seem to be have still not changed anything truly. These words have not forked lighting, seemingly a simple enough thing to achieve if the right element is in the right place, but words will not achieve this. So I think Thomas is saying that these wise men, full of self knowledge realise that whatever has been said in the ultimate ledger is meaningless and hence they RAGE - not to hope to achieve the forking of lightning or to change the world but because of that. I think indeed of wizards who are mouthing spells to try and change events and yet in the final analysis leave things not worse or better as our cosmic comedy of a billion years whilrygig continuous to spin around a small star ….. Great poetry because of such ambiguity and ability to have multiple meanings - I recall a small coda that I repeat to myself in times of need. “One day the world of man will be at end, all my hopes and dreams as nought and the walls of my house laid bare - but not today, not today”. This owes much of course to the Henry IV like rallying call of Aragorn at the gates of Mordor - but powerful all the same.
Very nicely put. They are wise in that they actually realise their words have forked no lightning, whereas a foolish man would not have the wisdom to understand such a thing. That's a very persuasive take. Very. This is one of those commends that I hope others find and read. Many thanks.
The reason this is my personal favorite poem is that I relate to a broader, or alternate interpretation that the context is not exclusively death, but more broadly, old age. In that way, it can be read as a warning, or more inspirationally, a carpe diem rally, to maximize the time you have left. Live passionately. Use it or lose it. Being close to age 50, I think about this poem when I don’t feel up to going for a run.
Making difficult things seem easy for the learners is a fundamental tenet of teaching and you do that well here. Browning though significantly home-educated was a ferociously intelligent autodidact. All of his poetry is worth study not only for its depth but for his control of sound and form. His wife's poetry too.
"how much he loves this girl ... or claims to". he understands poetry and human nature. a poem like this is usually inspired by infatuation not "real" love. i believe that men are capable of true love but usually that kind of man is subtle - it's kind of beautiful really.
i just found this channel and have not been able to stop watching - he is amazing at explaining this and even better at presenting and speaking. i could listen to him read a phone book lol
I love the innocence of people who are not Italian lol. Anyone with an italian father and and irish mother wld understand this poem immediately lol. not all italian men are psychotic but they have crippling jealously. especially if their wife is beautiful. my mother looked like catherine denerve when she was young - she's stunning even now in her 70s. people still stare at her - my mom was always polite but i had never seen her act flirtatious - but my dad would go into a jealous rage anytime a man paid attention to her. his family was from northern italy - descendants of french "nobility" and he could not understand why an irish blue collar daughter was not impressed with him lol. i noticed this with other italian men - when they fall in love it infuriates them. like the other Italian men in his family my father became more gentle when he got older and was able to explain this to me❤
As a Scot I challenge your use of 'British'. This is a very, very, very ENGLISH poem, using the word England 6 times. Yes Scots served but very few would relate to this. In fact I'd cite as an example of the myopia some people have in assuming English = British.
Nicely done! It is a pleasure to hear a professor explain a poem without getting overly technical or philosophical and yet shed perfect light on the poem. The poem is quite powerful, sad, excellently depicting an unsatisfying life and as morbid as my own life.
I interpreted that Thomas's relationship with his father was not very harmonious; I felt that they were not close to each other. From the first to the last stanza, Thomas seems to observe several types of men, such as wise man, good man, and grave man, but in the final stanza, Thomas does not seem to categorise the three types of men as his father. Because Thomas refers to his father only as "my father". Sorry if my opinion doesn't fit. But lately, I've been interested in poetry. And your explanation and interpretation really intrigued me in learning about literature in general. Thank you!!!
A-Level English Literature student here. Could the use of a full-stop rather than a question mark in 'What thou and I did, till we loved.' suggest the emptiness of the answer to what has been asked by the speaker? Effectively stating 'Neither of us truly lived until we fell in love. We didn't do anything.'
I certainly think the answer the speaker expects to the opening question is the one you present here, but I don't really see how changing the question mark to a full stop creates much of a difference. Either way he wishes to elicit the response, "Life is about to start/really start now because were are so great together." I read the inspiration for the change as not so much that life was uneventful before, but that life is about to get really eventful now because they are together. How does that sound?
The problem with nomenclature is… there was no group of metaphysical poets… they were so named afterwards… and thus is a falsification… what the poet means with the poem we will never know, for he is not present… hence another falsification
