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Post by ABC Singh on Jul 9, 2014 18:46:41 GMT 5.5
Sir/Madam,
I reads William Wordsworth's " To the Skylark ", but there are some lines and words about which i am comfused. In " Ethereal minstrel ! pilgrim of the sky". Why is the skylark called the pilgrim of the skylark ? What is the meaning of the " dewy ground " in the first stanza ?
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Post by Thoithoi O'Cottage on Jul 10, 2014 12:37:52 GMT 5.5
Let's reproduce the poem in full here for our convenience: Ethereal Minstrel! Pilgrim of the sky! Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound? Or while the wings aspire, are heart and eye Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground? Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will, 5 Those quivering wings composed, that music still! To the last point of vision, and beyond Mount, daring warbler!—that love-prompted strain ('Twixt thee and thine a never-failing bond) Thrills not the less the bosom of the plain: 10 Yet mightst thou seem, proud privilege! to sing All independent of the leafy Spring. Leave to the nightingale her shady wood; A privacy of glorious light is thine, Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood 15 Of harmony, with instinct more divine; Type of the wise, who soar, but never roam— True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home! Pilgrim of the sky: A pilgrim is a person who travels (far away from home) to a holy place for religious or spiritual reasons. These spiritual purposes are high--they are above the mundane concerns (abounding cares [Line 2]) of our daily life. The skylark flies (and even remains soaring but never remains roaming/walking on or lingering about the low ground [Line 17]) high above the earth (which is its home, or which its home/nest is in), and the poet (as a romantic poet always does) imagines (or wonders if) the bird is on a pilgrimage in the sky--high/divine thoughts in mind, singing(ethereal minstrel) divine songs of the lofty height and pouring the flood of divine music (harmony [Line 16]) down upon the world full of cares (cares abound [Line 2]), for it loves (or the poet imagines so) the earth, and pilgrims return home. The skylark's pilgrimage is in the sky, and he is thus a pilgrim of the sky. Dewy ground: You can interpret "dewy" literally--the ground is wet with dew or metaphorically, something like--full of life. I will write more about this later today.
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Post by Somak Meitei on Jul 11, 2014 10:43:31 GMT 5.5
I don't know why a 'pilgrim' goes to a holy place.It is answered that it is for religious reasons/purposes. So is it one of the reasons that the one who is on a pilgrimage leaves one's house because of his mundane feeling for one's house? But I don't think they feel so. 'The skylark' soars into the sky from the earth full of cares.Here, does the bird hate the earth,its home/nest.If it is so,why is the skylark called a pilgrim? Why do you use 'mundane' in your explanation on ABC's thread on 'To The Skylark',tamo Thoithoi?
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Post by Thoithoi O'Cottage on Jul 11, 2014 18:16:59 GMT 5.5
It is not that a pilgrim goes to holy places, but that a person who goes to holy places for spiritual reasons/purposes is called a pilgrim. A person is not first a pilgrim and then goes on a pilgrimage, but a person is a pilgrim when on a pilgrimage. Many people want to make pilgrimages (to visit holy places; we also have the tradition of going on a pilgrimage to Brindavan to drop the forehead bone of our elder family members into the Ganges), while many are atheists (yes, many atheists want to do some travelling in the name of or on the pretext of traditional pilgrimage). I don't know why some people are believers while some are non-believers. Strictly, a pilgrim does or should do away with most mundane cares during his/pilgrimage, (yes, there are many exceptional non-religious cases which are not the norm--many people make pilgrimages just for fun, and many Manipuri pilgrims to Brindavan relish "Ram ladoo" (eggs) and "amrita" (wine) during the journey, and they do a lot of additional sight-seeing--yes, their main purpose is mostly that, to take a break from the humdrum of their daily life) but it does not mean that one, to be a pilgrim, should hate home/house for its mundane cares. The point (to echo Emily Dickinson) is trade should not encroach upon a sacrament. In fact a pilgrimage, with its spiritual purposes, has much significance for our mundane life back home--usually (or at least some of us feel so and many think so) after a religious/spiritual experience, your mind is calmer, your heart is more peaceful, which is essential for good homes. Pilgrims return home. The skylark is metaphorically a pilgrim (or at least the poet imagines so--no wonder, Wordsworth is a romantic poet of the first order, and we should not take him literally). It is clear from the text that the skylark does not hate but rather loves the earth on which its nest is: A privacy of glorious light is thine, Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood Of harmony, with instinct more divine; Type of the wise, who soar, but never roam— True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home! The skylark occupies the mid position (high above the earth (far from our "mundane" cares blinding us from and making us too calloused for the "divine") between heaven and earth, which is what religious figures have for ages done for the rest of the billions of people, who are "less elevated" spiritually. Consider Jesus, Prophet Muhammad, Nanak, Swami Sivananda, etc. All these figures stand between us and heaven, and they bring us "good news" (harmony) from heaven, for us who are "less fortunate". This divine news or harmony softens us, quietens us, and this is the influence of the pilgrimage made by the skylark. Literally, there is no holy place in the sky, no shrines at all. Metaphorically, there is. Culturally, we associate "high" with more spiritual and lofty intellectal things difficult to attain (though many jump from high buildings and bridges (for example Golden Bridge) to take their own lives). Othetwise what is "high thinking" at all? We have always imagined hell to be below our feet, deep inside the earth. See, for example, Dante's Inferno. Here, it would be interesting to compare this poem with P. B. Shelley's To A Skylark, in which the skylark just flies away from the earth and does never return. I have reproduced the poem in full, just in case you want to take a look: Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert, That from Heaven, or near it, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
Higher still and higher From the earth thou springest Like a cloud of fire; The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
In the golden lightning Of the sunken sun, O'er which clouds are bright'ning, Thou dost float and run; Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.
The pale purple even Melts around thy flight; Like a star of Heaven, In the broad day-light Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight,
Keen as are the arrows Of that silver sphere, Whose intense lamp narrows In the white dawn clear Until we hardly see, we feel that it is there.
All the earth and air With thy voice is loud, As, when night is bare, From one lonely cloud The moon rains out her beams, and Heaven is overflow'd.
What thou art we know not; What is most like thee? From rainbow clouds there flow not Drops so bright to see As from thy presence showers a rain of melody.
Like a Poet hidden In the light of thought, Singing hymns unbidden, Till the world is wrought To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not:
Like a high-born maiden In a palace-tower, Soothing her love-laden Soul in secret hour With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower:
Like a glow-worm golden In a dell of dew, Scattering unbeholden Its a{:e}real hue Among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view:
Like a rose embower'd In its own green leaves, By warm winds deflower'd, Till the scent it gives Makes faint with too much sweet those heavy-winged thieves:
Sound of vernal showers On the twinkling grass, Rain-awaken'd flowers, All that ever was Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass.
Teach us, Sprite or Bird, What sweet thoughts are thine: I have never heard Praise of love or wine That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.
Chorus Hymeneal, Or triumphal chant, Match'd with thine would be all But an empty vaunt, A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.
What objects are the fountains Of thy happy strain? What fields, or waves, or mountains? What shapes of sky or plain? What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain?
With thy clear keen joyance Languor cannot be: Shadow of annoyance Never came near thee: Thou lovest: but ne'er knew love's sad satiety.
Waking or asleep, Thou of death must deem Things more true and deep Than we mortals dream, Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?
We look before and after, And pine for what is not: Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.
Yet if we could scorn Hate, and pride, and fear; If we were things born Not to shed a tear, I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.
Better than all measures Of delightful sound, Better than all treasures That in books are found, Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!
Teach me half the gladness That thy brain must know, Such harmonious madness From my lips would flow The world should listen then, as I am listening now. Shelley was a revolutionary, Wordsworth was not. Shelley hated many things about humans, Wordsworth loved humans despite their frailties. Shelley's skylark and Wordsworth's skylarks are different. Shelley's is an escapist, while Wordsworth's is harbinger of divine blessing and singer of divine harmony.
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Post by Thoithoi O'Cottage on Jul 11, 2014 23:51:17 GMT 5.5
I don't know why a pilgrim goes to a holy place.It is answered that it is for religious reasons/purposes. So is it one of the reasons that the one who is on a pilgrimage leaves one's house because of his mundane feeling for one's house? But I don't think they feel so. A "sincere" morning or evening (but not neccessarily only these times of the day) vistit to a local temple quietens the mind (at least of many people) and brings some peace to their soul in some subtle or mysterious way. Being full of cares (what to eat, what to drink, what to wear, will my business fail, will my family take ill, what will I do if I lose my job to keep my family alive, to send my children to the most competitive school, etc--these cares are all more closely related to the survival of the body than to spiritual welfare), most houses do not spare the minds of their dwellers some spiritual room roomy enough to make them internally/spiritually contented and happy. Most houses, thus, are not a spiritual places for its dwellers (not that they are supposed to be). The result is, for those whose have some spiritual inclination, they feel the spiritual thirst to go visit a temple or some places their community regards as sacred or holy. A local temple should be enough for many, while there are still others who think a hard-earned joy is much more blussful and of more spiritual value. And a longer break from the calculations and other wear and tears of life away in a place which yoou belive had a soothing influe on your soul and the souls of your loved ones is really relieving. Be it spiritually, or just psychologically, or both. This is the feeling of a pilgrim on a genuine pilgrimage. At the same time I would add that pilgrims don't make pilgrimages for hating home. They don't hate home. It is just like you going to a physician's if you are ill physically, to a psychiatrist if you need mental help. Pilgrims go to holy places for their souls' regeneration, and they come back home (they love home, and their journey is not just for their own single individual selves--it is for the home) spiritually strong, regenerated, and fresh like spring sprouts. North India দা চহী অমগি কিরগুম্বা মতম অমদা নহা ওইরিবা নূপাশিংনা মখোঙনা ঋশিকেশ তানা অরাপ্পদগি লাকনৈ। অদুগা লেংবান্দ শম্বোত শারগা গঙ্গাগি ঈশিংদু পুন পুন পুনৈ মযুমদা। মখোঙনা পুগদৌরিবনি, গারিগা অমত্তা তোংদনা বানা হোতনজগদৌরিবনি মহৈ যৌনবা। ঈশিংদুনা মযুমগি অহলসিং, অরাপ্পদা করিদা তিরথগা চতচবা ঙমদ্রবা মমা মপা, মপু মবেন, অমদি লৈকাইগি অহলশিংদা পীথক্কদৌরিবনি অদুগা মখোযনা লঙজরুবা পাপ কোক্লে হাযদনা মথমোই নুঙাইজগদৌরিবনি। নহাশিংসিনা ঈশিং পুনশিংদু বানা লেংথোং পুরকপদা লম্বীদা মীযাম্না ঈশিং পীথকপিগনি, পোত্থাফম শেমদুনা অহিং নুংথিল চূপ্পা লম্বী মপান্দ ঙাইদুনা লৈগনি। I know there are people who go to holy places for non-holy or non-spiritual purposes. That kind of visit is not the subject of our discussion. The skylark' soars into the sky from the earth full of cares.Here, does the bird hate the earth,its home/nest.If it is so,why is the skylark called a pilgrim? Unlike such sweet-sounding birds as the nightingale which cannot fly "high" (let alone soaring) but remains low around the ground (roaming), sticking helplessly to shady trees, the skylark characteristically flies high and remain there soaring for long and singing sweetly, as if (as Wordsworth imagines) on a pilgrimage. In the first stanza the poet pretends to wonder if the skylark hates the earth for its cares, but he balances this wonder with Or while the wings aspire, are heart and eye Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground? Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will, Those quivering wings compised, that music still! The skylark loves the earth, its nest so much that it would compose its wings and drop (not even flying) into the nest, without even bothering to sing. And in the third and ladt stanza, the poet confirms that the bird is the meeting point of heaven and earth, high above the earth, below the heaven, but pouring onto the earth the harmony of heaven, bringing down home the joy/bliss of heaven to the world. Leave to the nightingale her shady wood; A privacy of glorious light is thine, Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood Of harmony, with instinct more divine; Type of the wise, who soar, but never roam— True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home.
The skylark sorts with the high type though it identifies itself as an earthling. This makes it a pilgrim who loves home.
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