Week 5

What is to give light must endure burning. – Victor Frankl

Eldorado ` Edgar Allan Poe

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old-
This knight so bold-
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow-
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied-
"If you seek for Eldorado!" 

   The knight or the seeker of whatever sort must be bold and stout of heart, or the ultimate gold may forever elude him, or her.  Or so E.A. Poe seems to suggest in the poem above, in the meeting between weary and aged knight and "pilgrim shadow"(line 15), each mindful, it seems, that the legendary Eldorado is not of this world at all.

The Rose Family                                 by Robert Frost

The rose is a rose,

And was always a rose.

But the theory now goes

That the apple's a rose,

And the pear is, and so's

The plum, I suppose.

The dear only knows

What will next prove a rose.

You, of course, are a rose -

But were always a rose. 

In a world of continually changing ideas and attitudes and definitions, the poet Robert Frost playfully suggests here in "The Rose Family" that some things do not change. The original nature of the one whom he addresses in the poem, the "you" referenced in line 9, is and always has been, metaphorically, a rose.

Like Sylvia, the shy girl character in "A White Heron," who finds companionship and solace and joy in the woods among small animals and birds and who in the end will not betray them for anything or anyone, there is here recognition of some essential goodness, beauty, and truth of sorts.

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  Next week essay 3, posted last week, is due in class.  We have gotten behind in our readings and discussions and so some of the material I will cover here may not get much air time in class.  Be reminded that the recitation due week 11 requires you memorize and recite a 14-line poem or passage from a longer poem.  AT getlit.org and poetryoutloud.org you can review some of the stellar performances of students doing just such performance work.  I hope the assignment is fun and enriching for you.  Choose a poem you feel you have a strong connection with or that draws you in powerful ways.