“Man In The Long Black Coat”

Quotes:

“Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness” -Horatio

“Tis e’en so.The hand of little employment hath the daintier sense”-Hamlet

This is part of a conversation between Hamlet and Horatio as they stand over the grave, watching the gravedigger at work. Horatio points out that he has been digging graves for so long that it no longer bothers him to bury the bodies. Hamlet agreeswith Horatio, and says that only people who only need to work a little, or not at all, can afford to be sensitive. I felt that this was an interesting quote because it can apply to any profession or choir. The more you do something, the easier it becomes to do. Eventually, the senses will dull and one won’t feel emotion when doing something such as digging graves. Over time, it can just become second nature.

“Dost thou think Alexander looked o’ this fashion i’ th’ earth” – Hamlet

Hamlet and Horatio are still overlooking the grave, and again they talk about death. In this conversationHamlet and Horatio discuss what will eventually become of all people. Hamlet is most likely talking about Alexander the Great when he speaks of Alexander. It is an interesting look at the inner thought process of Hamlet. I found it clever that Hamlet realized that everyone is equal in death. No matter how great the person, or how grand the ceremony, everyone ends up turning into dust in the end.

“But thou wouldst not think how ill all’s here about my heart. But it is no Matter” -Hamlet

Hamlet says this when he agrees to fight Laertes in the end of the play. What doesn’t make sense to me is why he doesn’t try to find out more before the dual.He knows that something doesn’t feel right, however, he just brushes the feeling aside. In my opinion, he should have taken some time to think before he agreed to dual Laertes.

“Here’s yet some liquor left” – Horatio

In the final scene, with all its pandemonium and death, I finally realized who my favorite character was. When Horatio sees that some poison still remains he is intent on killing himself. The line made me feel more emotion than any of the actual deaths. For some reason I didn’t care who died as long as Hamlet lived. I felt that he was the only true, honest, and sane character in the play. By the end of the book I disliked all of the other characters, so I could not stand to see Hamlet almost follow in their faith.

“O heavy deed! It had been so with us, had we been there. His Liberty is full of threats to all” -Claudius    (said to Gertrude after Claudius finds out about Polonius’ death).

I think what Claudius is saying is that if he had been there that he would have been killed. Claudius realizes that Hamlet did not plan to kill Polonius. Claudius knows that Hamlet thought that he was behind the curtain. Now that Claudius knows for sure that Hamlet wants to kill him, he can use the murder of Polonius as an excuse to put thousands of miles between Hamlet and himself. He wants to kill Hamlet or jail him, but he knows that the public is on his side. Sending him away to England is a quieter way to get Hamlet out of his hair. The king of England seems to owe Claudius some favors. Hopefully for Claudius, The King of England will come through for him and deal with his “Problem”.

 ”To draw apart the body he hath killed, O’er whom his very madness, like some ore among a mineral of metals base, show itself pure. He weeps for what he has done” – Gertrude (She says this to Claudius in her conversation about Hamlet)

Even though she knows that Hamlet killed Polonius and is “most certainly” crazy, she defends her son. She doesn’t want to admit to herself that her son’s mind is lost. However, Hamlet’s actions do seem strange. Why did he move the body? It wasn’t to hide the evidence, because he knows his mother will tell Claudius. It also seems strange that Hamlet would cry for what he has done. When he discovered he had killed the wrong man he didn’t seem to upset, so why would he weep now for what he did?

Questions:

Will the king of England come through for Claudius and kill Hamlet?

Why would Fortinbrus lead an invasion to capture worthless land? Could this just be a clever ploy to get his troops into Denmark? Maybe he still has plans to get his father’s land back from Denmark.

Has Ophelia gone insane? Her singing suggests she may have.

Is Hamlet’s capture, by pirates, a true story, just a clever fabrication of his mind, or a trick?

What does Lamond have to do with anything the king and Laertes are talking about?

Was Ophelia’s death a natural one?

Act III, contains the “to be or not to be” soliloquy, which is probably the most famous soliloquy in literature. In this soliloquy, Hamlet debates whether or not he should end his life by suicide. “To Be or Not to be” is a question of life or death. He ponders if it would be better to suffer the pains of life: His father’s murder, his mother’s marriage, his loss of Ophelia, than to die. To him death is a kind of sleep that would relieve him of his pains and problems. However, he doesn’t know what would awaited him in death. The uncertainty of death, Hamlet realizes, is what prevents many people from committing suicide. Himself included.

We also see Claudius’ first show of remorse for killing his brother. He and Polonius are taking about how to make it look natural that Ophelia is wondering alone in the main hall. Polonius and Claudius don’t want Hamlet to find it strange when he runs into her. Polonius suggests that Ophelia read from a book of prayers to mask her attention. Polonius says that it would be natural to read alone and that many people use devotion to God to mask their bad deeds. This comment from Polonius had a very strong emotional effect on Claudius.

“How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience! The Harlot’s cheek, beautied with plastering art, Is no more ugly to the thing that helps it. Than is my deed to my most painted word. O heavy burden!”

His remorse for his actions may have come to late to protect him from Hamlet’s revenge. However it is quiet a development in character. Shakespeare doesn’t portray Claudius as completely lacking in remorse as he was portrayed earlier in the play. Whether or not he will admit and apologize for his actions, however, seems to be pretty unlikely.

Act 2 of Hamlet deals mainly with Hamlet’s “Insanity”. Although in the last scene Hamlet said that he was going to act crazy, it seems to me that he may actually be going crazy.

“I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly I Know a hawk from a hand saw”

In this quote Hamlet means that he is crazy sometimes, But he knows what is what. It seems interesting that he would defend his sanity if he was pretending to be crazy. If he was really pretending it would seem more likely that he would try to keep up his act. The scene with Ophelia also makes me question his sanity. If it is an act that Hamlet puts on it is quite an act. He really hams it up. The scene is very weird. He storms in to her room pale white with his pants falling off. It is believed by Polonius that Hamlet is mad with his love for her. It makes sense that Hamlet could be emotionally distraught with the murder of his father, the marriage of his mother and uncle, and Polonius forbidding his daughter to see him.

Act 2 also futher devolps the Plonius’s character. We see in his conversation with Reynaldo that he is not very trusting of his son, nor is he a trustworthy person himself. He wants Reynaldoto “spy” on his son’s actions in France. He doesn’t believe that his son is behaving properly  but he doesn’t want to ask him because he wants to catch his son in the act. Lastly, although it seemed in Act , that he and Laertes had a good relationship, it seems now that it is only friendly on the top. Below the surface Polonius hides his distrust for his son.

Quotes:

“A little more then kin and less then kind”- Hamlet p.22

Hamlet clearly doesn’t get along with Claudius. Claudius went from being Hamlet’s unlcle to being his new step-father. However, Hamlet doesn’t feel that Claudius has ever been kind to him, so he doesn’t his mothers choice to marry him.

“If it be why seems it so particular with thee?”- Gertrude p.22

This quote comes in a conversation between Hamlet and his mother. His mother tells him that everyone dies and that he should just move on. She says his fathers death is no different than any other death. Hamlet takes this very hard. It doesn’t make any sense to Hamlet why his mother wouldn’t mourn his fathers death longer. It also upsets him that she would marry his uncle, who is completly his father and doesn’t get along with Hamlet.

“T’is unmanly grief”- Claudius p.24

This quote also deals with Hamlet’s grief. Like Hamlet’s mother, his new step-father also questions why hamlet is still upset about his fathers death. Claudius insults Hamlet’s manhood in front of the entire court, which only furthers the rift between the two

 ”But I have that within which passath slow, these but trappings and suits of woe”- Hamlet p.24

Hamlet says that anyone can wear black clothes or mop around. These actions can be easily faked. Hamlet says that the only true grief is found deep inside. The grief inside is real and cannot be faked.

“In my minds eye”- Hamlet p.30

I found this quote very interesting because it is commonly known. Hamlet contains the first record of many words and phrases. This phrase is one of those phrases first coined by Shakespeare, and it still in use.

Questions: (Left unanswered at the end of Act 1)

Why does the king keep saying that he lived a sinful life?

Why did the king’s brother kill him? for his crown? His wife?

on p.66 Hamlet says “O most pernicious women! O villain, villan, smiling, damne’d villian- to whom is he referring to?

What does “Hic et ubique”-p.72 mean?

Although the blog experience was completely different from the traditional written research project, I had fun trying the new style. As a matter of fact, I liked the blog a lot better than the research paper. This was my first time using the blogosphere and I found it to be very interesting. Before the project I had no idea of the extent of the blogosphere. It amazes me how incredible of a tool it is for connecting with others and shares your ideas. At first, I found it hard to set up the blog, but with the help of Mr.Hendershot, I caught on pretty quickly. The blog was quite an educational experience. I feel that learning how to use the blogosphere will help me in college when I will have to use the scholarly sources on the Internet for various classes. The only trouble I had was in connecting to classmate’s blogs (I.e. Derek’s). It was also hard to find discussion about Dylan’s connection to the early masters of poetry. However, overall I liked this project a lot better than the one in first semester.

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bobdylan/articles/story/5940049/the_immortals__the_greatest_artists_of_all_time_2_bob_dylan

This fist one I was not able to join the conversation without creating a log in so this is where I got my comment from, however, I posted the comment on my blog.

http://oliviaegr5.edublogs.org/2009/03/10/intro-to-ginsberg/#comments

After reading articles online I discovered a recurring name in the articles about Dylan. Allen Ginsberg kept popping up so when I found out that he was Olivia’s poet I could not wait to read her blog. Before this assingment, I never knew that they were friends and both members of the so called “Beat Generation”.

http://kevinwegr5.edublogs.org/2009/03/11/4/#comment-11

I was unable to find an earlier blog post I made on Kevin’s site, so I went back and redid it. I first realized a possible connection between are poets when he commented on Olivia’s blog. I soon dicovered that are three poets had alot in common

http://clippernolan.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/bob-dylan-sings-desolation-row/

Like the fist one I was not able to post my comment without logging in so my post can be found on my blog(this is a link to the blog I’m commenting on). For this post I tried to find someone discussing similarities between Dylan and Elliot. However, I was unable to find any discussions. I chose this blog because it talked about the song “Desolation Row” which happens to include T.S Elliot’s name in it.

Changin’ Nation

The greyhound bus pulled up to the station

Who knew she would cause such a sensation

As the little lady sat down on the bus

The green seat squeaked in the white section

Across the aisle, the faces of shock

This was the day the world was rocked

What was black and white was no longer clear

The time for change is here

A world shrouded with hate and fear

Listen people can’t you here

A soaking rain of despair

On the cold hard pavement

Pools and puddles, tears and sorrows

What was black and white was no longer clear

The time for change is here

A nation embroiled in a system of racial hate

An open seat, an act of civil disobedience

In a changin’ Nation she crossed the line of segregation

What was black and white was no longer clear

The time for change is here

A woman on her way home from work

She sat for a Nation, a people, a right

She lit the spark that started the fire

What was black and white was no longer clear

The time for change is here

Things changed in fifty-five

A fight that’s still kept alive

 This is my attempt at mimicking Dylan’s poetry. I noticed that others had included their poets words in their own poems. However, I felt that mine would flow better and feel more original if I only used my own words. I tried to incorporate a similar theme with my poem. Dylan’s lyrics often discuss events, such as murders, in the time period. Many of Dylan’s works also work to support the anti-war in Vietnam protest as well as the fight for Civil Rights. My poem centers around the incident with Rosa Parks. I choose this because I wanted to discusssomething in the time period on about the same subject. However, I didn’t want to write about murder, so I decided to right about the struggle for civil rights. Although my poem includes rhyme, like many of Dylan’s songs, there is no particular rhyme scheme. I also tried to focus on imagery in my poem. I attempted to use layered allusions, that would show rather then tell. I wanted to come up with images that would produce specific emotional responses. However, Dylan seems to be much better at imagery than I am. Lastly, I attempt to write long lines, like many of Dylan’s spewing verses. Although, the incident with Rosa Parks happened in 1955, before Dylan became big, I felt that the event was very important to the Civil Rights Movement in which Dylan was personally involved.

Unfortunately, the blog would not let me sign in without creating a log in and filling out all my personal information. So here is my most recent comment…

The article I found did not specific all discuss T.S Elliot and Dylan together, however, the blog cites the lyrics from Dylan’s song “Desolation Row”, in which Dylan mentions both Ezra Pound and T.S Elliot. I feel that it is a very interesting move on Dylan’s part to includes such famous name in poetry. Although, as of yet, I have been unable to find any blogger or scholar discussing T.S Elliot as an influence on Dylan, I feel that the connection is quite clear. Both poets use the objective correlative and indirect metaphors to illicit emotional responses from their readers. They also share a strong use of imagery in their poetry.

Although Dylan’s lyrics are similar to the work of many of the of the major masters, his work most closely resembles the poetry of T.S Elliot. T.S Elliot’s poetry is very focused on imagery. Elliot uses Enjambment to link ideas. Enjambment forces the reader to pause, and puts emphasis on certain words or symbols. Like Dylan, Elliot also uses layered allusions in his poetry, which add together to produce specific emotional responses from the readers.

T.S Elliot, like Dylan, stressed realism in his poetry. His poems focus on the actual; the bare realities of real life. For Dylan, the realities focused on the political and social turmoil of the 1960′s, such as Protest of The War in Vietnam and The Civil Rights Movement. Elliot’s poetry was much earlier, however, like Dylan he too explored the darker truths of life.

(Here is an example of Elliot’s Poetry. This Is Preludes from the collection of poetry, Prufrock and Other Obesrvations  (1917).

The winter evening settles down
With smell of steaks in passageways.
Six o’clock.
The burnt-out ends of smoky days.
And now a gusty shower wraps
The grimy scraps
Of withered leaves about your feet
And newspapers from vacant lots;
The showers beat
On broken blinds and chimneypots,
And at the corner of the street
A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.
And then the lighting of the lamps.

II

The morning comes to consciousness
Of faint stale smells of beer
From the sawdust-trampled street
With all its muddy feet that press
To early coffee-stands.

With the other masquerades
That times resumes,
One thinks of all the hands
That are raising dingy shades
In a thousand furnished rooms.

III

You tossed a blanket from the bed
You lay upon your back, and waited;
You dozed, and watched the night revealing
The thousand sordid images
Of which your soul was constituted;
They flickered against the ceiling.
And when all the world came back
And the light crept up between the shutters
And you heard the sparrows in the gutters,
You had such a vision of the street
As the street hardly understands;
Sitting along the bed’s edge, where
You curled the papers from your hair,
Or clasped the yellow soles of feet
In the palms of both soiled hands.

IV

His soul stretched tight across the skies
That fade behind a city block,
Or trampled by insistent feet
At four and five and six o’clock;
And short square fingers stuffing pipes,
And evening newspapers, and eyes
Assured of certain certainties,
The conscience of a blackened street
Impatient to assume the world.

I am moved by fancies that are curled
Around these images, and cling:
The notion of some infinitely gentle
Infinitely suffering thing.

Wipe your hand across your mouth, and laugh;
The worlds revolve like ancient women
Gathering fuel in vacant lots.

•  There is end rhyme, but it appears to be in no particular order
• Imagery is very essential to this poem ie: “Withered Leaves”, “Broken Blinds”, “light crept up between the shutters”, “Newspapers from vacant lots”, and “blackened street”.
• The Metaphors lead the reader to make connections with images they have seen in their own lives
• As the reader can see and hear the images and sounds, he can also “feel” what is going on in the poem
• The poem looks at the culture, beneath the beauty of the city to the dark and dirty “underground” and harsh realities it hides.
• Elliot acheives the depressing atmosphere through the images of the lonely city night
• The images each ellicit emotional responses  that add up to the overall mood of the poem
• Like Dylan, his lines are fairly long,with mathaphors in every line
• Elliot also uses the Objective Correlitive (using symbols to show rather then tell) in this poem and many of his other poetry

“Preludes,” deals with spiritually exhausted people who exist in the impersonal, tawdry modern city. “Preludes” impressionistically captures the impoverished spiritual lives of those living in a lonely, sordid, decadent culture.

Like Elliot, Dylan uses the Objective Correlitive in much of his poetry. Many of Dylan’s metaphors are indirect to show the reader with out directly telling them

(For example “The Times They Are a Changin’” contains many indirect images)

“There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls”

These lines address the social and cultural changes in the Nation without directly stating the changes.

Lastly, while Elliot belived that a poet should speak for their time, both he and Dylan stood up to this idea. Dylan was considered the “Voice of his Generation”. His music became anthems for social movements like The Civil Rights Movement and protest against the war in Vietnam. T.S Elliot also spoke for his time. His poetry documented the struggles of Postwar society.

Although Elliot’s most popular works were published over forty years before Dylan became popular, Dylan’s poetry follows many of the same stylistic technics as Elliot’s poetry. Interestingly, Dylan included both Elliot’s name as well as Pound’s in one of his songs.

Desolation Row

Praise be to Nero’s Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody’s shouting
“Which Side Are You On?”
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain’s tower
While calypso singers laugh at them

(As of yet I have not been able to find any explanation of why Dylan uses the names)

Allen Ginsberg, an American Poet, who was a celebrated figure around the time Dylan became popular. Like Dylan, Ginsberg was a member of the Beat Generation . A group of writers who rejected mainstream American values around the 1950′s. Ginsberg and Dylan meet in late 1963. They quickly became friends and Ginsberg frequented Dylan’s concerts. They remained friends until Ginsberg’s death in 1997.

Dylan and Ginsberg had writing styles that were quite similar. Like Dylan, Ginsberg used long, almost rambling lines, in which he seemed to spew out his ideas. He also speaks in a conversational tone. His tone mimics the natural speaking voice.

(This is an excerpt from Ginsberg’s poem, Crossing Nation)

 

Crossing Nation

 Vietnam War flesh-heap grows higher,

         blood splashing down the mountains of bodies

                 on to Cholon's sidewalks--

Blond boys in airplane seats fed technicolor

        Murderers advance w/ Death-chords

    Earplugs in, steak on plastic

                   served--Eyes up to the Image--

It is also evident that like Dylan, Ginsberg is highly political in his poetry.Ginsberg was highly active in protest efforts against the war in Vietnam, so some of his subject matter is similar to Dylan’s. 

 late 1965, Dylan gave Ginsberg a gift of
money which Ginsberg used to purchase a portable tape-recorder.  Ginsbergused the machine to tape a Dylan concert (thus becoming one of the pioneerbootleggers), but primarily to record his own stream-of-consciousness
observations as he and Peter Orlovsky travelled across America intheir
Volkswagen van.  These tapes became the basis of Ginsberg’s major work, The Fall of America, the definitive poetic chronicling of the Viet Nam years.The poem evokes Dylan at several key points, notably in “Wichita Vortex Sutra,” which I would regard as the most important American poem of the decade. (The Fall of America contains the poem Crossing Nation).

Lastly, Dylan and Ginsberg seem to express, not only their own personal feelings, but also make public statements through their poetry. They both “Angrily” express their political and social views in their poetry.

Both of them saw the poet’s role as far more than the expression of purely personal feelings, but rather as a public statement of a morally responsible position.  Ginsberg’s three greatest poems are all elegies (and an elegy is, by definition, the public statement of a private grief

(Here are some pictures of Ginsberg and Dylan)

 

 

Being a poet himself, Ginsberg did take the time to examine and explain some of Dylan’s works. Here is his Ginsberg’s take on a verse for Dylan’s song, “Idiot Wind”.

Idiot wind, blowing like a circle around my skull,
From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol

The metaphorical relation between the head and the head of state, both of them two big domes, and the “idiot wind” blowing out of Washington, D.C., from the mouths of politicians, made this particular lyric the “great disillusioned national rhyme,” according to Allen Ginsberg.