Poetry Coursework

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Answering Study Topics in Poetry
Louise Halfe, "The Boarding School"
Just like most of Louise Halfe’s work, "The Boarding School" is rich with vivid descriptions. She uses the ambiance in the cabin to project the image and emotions of the family before and after their conversation with the "white-skins". We know from the beginning of the poem that it is now fall and that the weather outside is cold. The whole family is inside the cabin, as evidenced by the "crackling fire" and the lit "coal oil lamp" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Halfe", "given" : "Louise", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Bear bones and feathers", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "1994" ] ] }, "page" : "62", "publisher" : "Coteau Books", "publisher-place" : "Regina, SK", "title" : "The boarding school", "type" : "chapter" }, "locator" : "5, 8", "suppress-author" : 1, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=ca91350f-c6b2-4c34-b3cf-421d9d339390" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(5, 8)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(5, 8)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(5, 8)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(5, 8). Though the home is a simple one, a "one-room shack" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Halfe", "given" : "Louise", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Bear bones and feathers", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "1994" ] ] }, "page" : "62", "publisher" : "Coteau Books", "publisher-place" : "Regina, SK", "title" : "The boarding school", "type" : "chapter" }, "locator" : "10", "suppress-author" : 1, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=ca91350f-c6b2-4c34-b3cf-421d9d339390" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(10)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(10)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(10)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(10), it is unaffected by the cold weather, evidenced by these lines, "ice waited/outside our cabin" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Halfe", "given" : "Louise", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Bear bones and feathers", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "1994" ] ] }, "page" : "62", "publisher" : "Coteau Books", "publisher-place" : "Regina, SK", "title" : "The boarding school", "type" : "chapter" }, "locator" : "2-3", "suppress-author" : 1, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=ca91350f-c6b2-4c34-b3cf-421d9d339390" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(2\u20133)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(2\u20133)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(2\u20133)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(2–3). The family living inside is comfortable, the home full of life and warmth. But this was only at the beginning.
As mother and father’s conversation with the "white-skins" progress, we are given a glimpse of the people inside. Whatever message the "white-skins" have come to deliver is obviously upsetting as "Father’s long face/stretched further/to the floor" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Halfe", "given" : "Louise", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Bear bones and feathers", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "1994" ] ] }, "page" : "62", "publisher" : "Coteau Books", "publisher-place" : "Regina, SK", "title" : "The boarding school", "type" : "chapter" }, "locator" : "13-15", "suppress-author" : 1, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=ca91350f-c6b2-4c34-b3cf-421d9d339390" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(13\u201315)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(13\u201315)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(13\u201315)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(13–15), while mother’s has turned "ashen", perhaps due to shock. The six-year-old sister has balled her hand into a fist in anger, and the protagonist of the poem is on the verge of vomiting for fear. It is at this point that the air began to be wrapped in "raven darkness" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Halfe", "given" : "Louise", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Bear bones and feathers", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "1994" ] ] }, "page" : "62", "publisher" : "Coteau Books", "publisher-place" : "Regina, SK", "title" : "The boarding school", "type" : "chapter" }, "locator" : "35", "suppress-author" : 1, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=ca91350f-c6b2-4c34-b3cf-421d9d339390" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(35)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(35)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(35)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(35) despite the fact that the lamp is still lit and the fire still burning. Something major has happened to this family, as the coldness of the weather began to be felt inside the cabin, "The cold seeped in the/ cracks of the door"ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Halfe", "given" : "Louise", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "Bear bones and feathers", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "1994" ] ] }, "page" : "62", "publisher" : "Coteau Books", "publisher-place" : "Regina, SK", "title" : "The boarding school", "type" : "chapter" }, "locator" : "43-44", "suppress-author" : 1, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=ca91350f-c6b2-4c34-b3cf-421d9d339390" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(43\u201344)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(43\u201344)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(43\u201344)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(43–44) as soon as the "white-skins" left. There is a feeling of loss and dread, as the world turned silent, and the family was not gone.
Robert Browning, "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister"
We know from the very beginning of this poem that the speaker, the unnamed monk is angry of Brother Lawrence, as evidenced by these lines: "G-r-r-r—there go, my heart’s abhorrence! / Water your damned flower-pots, do! / If hate killed men, Brother Lawrence, / God’s blood, would not mine kill you!" (1-4). This monk hates everything about Brother Lawrence – the way he cares for his plants, the conversations he opens during meals, even the way Brother Lawrence eats and drinks. He mocks the goodness of Brother Lawrence, accusing him of wrongful deeds. And yet, we know from his vivid descriptions of Dolores and Sanchicha, and the "scrofulous French novel" he possesses, the unnamed monk inadvertently reveals his true colors. He also reveals to us why he is so angry. His mention of the "great text in Galatians" ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Browning", "given" : "Robert", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "container-title" : "My last duchess and other poems", "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "1993" ] ] }, "page" : "4-6", "publisher" : "Dover Thrift Editions", "title" : "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister", "type" : "chapter" }, "locator" : "49", "suppress-author" : 1, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=c0466181-dd21-47af-bbdb-b5af8f081ff0" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(\u201cSoliloquy of the Spanish Cloister\u201d 49)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(\u201cSoliloquy of the Spanish Cloister\u201d 49)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(\u201cSoliloquy of the Spanish Cloister\u201d 49)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }("Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" 49) leads us to an important verse:
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them."...