Nine Poems on the Death of my Mother (original) (raw)

The botanist at his mothers grave (Poem/Creative component)

2012

In this poem I consciously drew on eco-critical theory – (Wilson, 1992); (Bate , 2000) – and Darwinian literary theory (Carroll, 2004) to explore the tension between ideas of the interconnected ‘natural’ in ecology, and objective scientific method, in processing human grief. Through the botanist’s monologue to his mother, the poem proposes a possible synthesis of the ‘natural’ as something constructed by language, with more immediate experience via the senses – a concept validated by Darwinian literary theory (eg., our adaptation to the natural world long predates adaptation to the built environment). Though trained to be an observer and classifier of the natural word, the botanist experiences a more intimate connection with both his mother and nature, similar to Heidegger’s ‘Being-in-the-World’.

Archias, Meleager, Tymmes: Dead Birds in Context

Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, 1998

DEAD BIRDS IN CONTEXT eA JtáQoç дутьфбоууоУ ànonkáy^aoa vo'izvoi лоХкаш xai ÔQVtófiOLç xíaaa xai i/OupóXotc, jioXXáxi ôè XQ&jaoa hoXvQqoov oíá xiç a/á) xéQiofiov аутфооГд ypíkeciiv aQ'iovíav, vüv eiç yõv áy^coaaoc àvaúòrjxóç те neoovoa xeijjiai, 'ii'ir'Tàv ÇãXov ovt] valeva. This poem (A.P. 7.191), one of thirty-seven in the Greek anthology attributed to the poet Archias1, appears among a fairly large group of epitaphs or epice dia for dead animals. The particular segment of that group in which we find this poem can actually be more narrowly defined. For one thing that segment, variously identified as extending from 7.189, 190 or 194 to 198 or 20 12, has been identified as part of a 'Meleagrian sequence', so designated because it consists of works by authors who were either named in Meleager's own programmatic poem on the Garland (A.P. 4.1) or who, on chronological grounds, could have been represented in that collection. This Meleagrian segment, in other words, is a group of poems that was assembled by Meleager from among the works of nis predecessors or contemporaries to which he added a couple of poems of his own (195 and 196). I here identify the sequence as a panel of sixty-six verses comprised of epigrams 189-201. These are predominantly for dead insects, specifically for cicadas and grasshoppers, although there are two anomalous poems, the Archias epigram quoted above and one by Tymnes (199), which are both for dead birds rather than insects. It is a curious fact that these two poems are placed symmetrically within 1) The poems are assembled in one place by A. S. F. Gow & D.L. Page (edd.), The Greek Anthology: the Garland of Philip and some Contemporary Epigrams (Cambridge 1968) vol. I 400 ff. 2) bee A. Wirstrand, btudien zur griechischen Anthologie (Lund v)¿/) 46;

On The Relationship between Birds and Spirits of the Dead

Society & Animals, 2014

Birds have an ambiguous symbolic significance across cultures throughout human history, ubiquitously relating to both life and death. Birds are routinely seen as portents of impending calamity and death, while they are also often thought to bear or steal spirits of the dead, sometimes even embodying those very spirits themselves. On the other hand, birds are also commonly associated with life, fertility, and longevity. This paper brings together cross-cultural evidence for the practically universal associations between birds and both life and death. This paper offers an explanation for this association as an expression of the deep-seated human ambivalence to mortality. As a form of Jungian archetype, birds reflect a fundamental aspect of human nature-the denial of death as finality through a desire for renewal, transformation, and rebirth.

From Phoenix to Chauntecleer: Medieval English Animal Poetry (1996)

This 240-page study on the use and function of animals in medieval English vernacular literature covers a period of roughly 700 years (A.D. 700 – c. A.D. 1400). Although a wealth of critical literature exists on most of the poems treated, no comprehensive comparative study which discusses the function of the animal-protagonists has been available so far. It is thus the intention of the present study to fill this gap and to provide an in-depth analysis of the major ‘animal poems’. The introductory part provides a general historical survey of medieval animal literature, its roots, its various genres, and its relation to the history of ideas. Yet, of this plethora of genres which use animals as their main protagonists, or at least objects, only three traditions are of importance for vernacular English literature. These are the Physiologus-tradition, the typically English genre of ‘bird debates’, and the ‘beast epic and beast fable’ traditions. In the ensuing chapters, the study follows a rough chronology, starting with the earliest tradition (i.e. the Physiologus-tradition) and closing with the ‘beast epic and beast fable’ traditions (of which Chaucer’s The Nun’s Priest’s Tale is the last and most accomplished representative analysed). Thus, after the introduction, the second chapter deals with the Physiologus-tradition, which comprises The Old English Phoenix, The Old English Physiologus, and The Middle English Physiologus. The third chapter analyses the ‘bird debate’ poems (The Owl and the Nightingale, The Thrush and the Nightingale, The Cuckoo and the Nightingale, and The Parlement of Foulys), and the fourth chapter is devoted to the English offshoots of the continental ‘beast fable’ and ‘beast epic’ traditions (The Vox and the Wolf and Chaucer’s The Nun’s Priest’s Tale). A brief survey of the subsequent development of these three main traditions and a final evaluation of the different genres treated in the preceding chapters provide the conclusion to the study. As a rule, each new chapter begins with an introduction to the relevant literary, historical, cultural, philosophical, and religious backgrounds necessary for a full understanding of the function of the animal-protagonists in the poems dealt with. A ‘close reading’ of the poems and a detailed discussion of the function of the animal-protagonists follows. Even though most chapters could be read on their own, the roughly chronological presentation of the four traditions contributes to a step-by-step initiation into the increasingly complex interpretation of the animal-protagonists of the later poems. Thus, to give just one example, the hen, the cock and the fox in Chaucer’s The Nun’s Priest’s Tale are no longer merely the anthropomorphised animals known from the beast epic; they also contribute to the allegorical potential that is the heritage of the Physiologus-tradition, and which leads to a complex and multi-layered reading not only of the protagonists, but also of the narrative itself. Thus, each succeeding chapter takes into account the results of the previous ones, widens the reader’s horizon and enables him or her to achieve a fuller appreciation of the qualities and peculiarities of the individual poem. Thus, the study highlights the gradual development which took place in the use of animals as main protagonists. As a result, it can be said that the often rather simplistic and one-dimensional allegorical interpretations of the Physiologus-tradition gradually gave way to a more complex and increasingly secular outlook (see, for example, The Owl and the Nightingale). In the end, this new way of looking at things not only superseded the moralistic-religious bias, but was at the same time able to incorporate the symbolic potential of the older tradition, and thus to level the way for the creation of works of great sophistication, such as The Nun’s Priest’s Tale.

Exploring Birds as Glorified in the Romantic Poetry

Global academic journal of linguistics and literature, 2022

English Romantic poetry contributes profound love and genuine reverence of the poets to nature. Birds constitute a part of nature, and love for nature is one of the perpetual features and themes of the Romantic poetry. This article, which aims at exploring birds how English Romantic poets glorify them in their poetry, comprises five poems of four celebrated English Romantic poets, namely Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley and Keats. This article concludes that the Romantic poets glorify birds as a blithe spirit, a light-winged fairy, an ethereal minstrel, a blithe newcomer , a wandering voice, a darling of the spring, Christian soul and so on.