The WHAT
Personification –
Apostrophe –
The WHY
“Bright Star” by John Keats
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task5
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,10
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.
Questions:
- The speaker repeats “still” (13). What relevant denotations does the word evoke, and how does the repetition add intensity and meaning to this apostrophe?
- Why is an apostrophe more effective than a description of the star that does not address it?
“The Author to her Book” by Anne Bradstreet
Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth did'st by my side remain,
Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad exposed to public view,
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,5
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
The visage was so irksome in my sight,10
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could.
I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet,15
Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet.
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save home-spun cloth, i' th' house I find.
In this array, 'mongstvulgarsmay'st thou roam.
In critic's hands, beware thou dost not come,20
And take thy way where yet thou art not known.
If for thy father askt, say, thou hadst none;
And for thy mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.
Questions
- The poem is an extended personification addressing her book as a child. What similarities does the speaker find between a child and a book of poems? What does she plan to do now that her child has been put public display?
- Trace the developing attitudes of the speaker toward the child/book? Why does she instruct the child to deny it has a father (22)?
The WHAT
Personification – the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate objects, natural forces, animals or ideals.
Apostrophe – addressing someone who is absent or dead or something nonhuman as if that person or thing were present and alive and could reply to what is being said.
The WHY
Personification – gives life and immediacy to one’s language
Apostrophe - gives life and immediacy to one’s language
“Bright Star” by John Keats
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task5
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,10
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.
Questions:
- The speaker repeats “still” (13). What relevant denotations does the word evoke, and how does the repetition add intensity and meaning to this apostrophe?
- Why is an apostrophe more effective than a description of the star that does not address it?
“The Author to her Book” by Anne Bradstreet
Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth did'st by my side remain,
Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad exposed to public view,
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,5
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
The visage was so irksome in my sight,10
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could.
I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet,15
Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet.
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save home-spun cloth, i' th' house I find.
In this array, 'mongstvulgarsmay'st thou roam.
In critic's hands, beware thou dost not come,20
And take thy way where yet thou art not known.
If for thy father askt, say, thou hadst none;
And for thy mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.
Questions
- The poem is an extended personification addressing her book as a child. What similarities does the speaker find between a child and a book of poems? What does she plan to do now that her child has been put public display?
- Trace the developing attitudes of the speaker toward the child/book? Why does she instruct the child to deny it has a father (22)?