Music of Poetry

Examining Lines and Sound in Poetry:

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A) Yeats’ “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” (10-11)

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, 5

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; 10

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,

I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Questions:

1. What are the lines like in this poem? Do you see any patterns to how Yeats starts or stops the lines?

2. How would you describe Yeats’ reading of this poem? Was it what you expected? What makes it sound like he is reading a poem and not prose?

B) Frost “Stopping By the Woods on a Snowing Evening” (16)

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village, though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

1. What are the lines like in this poem? Do you see any patterns to how Frost starts or stops the lines?

2. How would you describe Frost’s reading of this poem? Was it what you expected? What makes it sound like he is reading a poem and not prose?

C) Langston Hughes’ “The Weary Blues”

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,

Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,

I heard a Negro play.

Down on Lenox Avenue the other night

By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light

He did a lazy sway . . .

He did a lazy sway . . .

To the tune o' those Weary Blues.

With his ebony hands on each ivory key

He made that poor piano moan with melody.

O Blues!

Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool

He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.

Sweet Blues!

Coming from a black man's soul.

O Blues!

In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone

I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan--

"Ain't got nobody in all this world,

Ain't got nobody but ma self.

I's gwine to quit ma frownin'

And put ma troubles on the shelf."

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.

He played a few chords then he sang some more--

"I got the Weary Blues

And I can't be satisfied.

Got the Weary Blues

And can't be satisfied--

I ain't happy no mo'

And I wish that I had died."

And far into the night he crooned that tune.

The stars went out and so did the moon.

The singer stopped playing and went to bed

While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.

He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.

1. What are the lines like in this poem? Do you see any patterns to how Hughes starts or stops the lines?

2. How would you describe Hughes’ reading of this poem? Was it what you expected? What makes it sound like he is reading a poem and not prose?