who is said 191 times in the poem - pretty incredible to have at least ~150 of them not being repetition and being instances of the American Empire's violence

notable for its date being ~1 year after 9/11

connects historical white supremacy (referring to slavery - both the trade and practice, the crucifixion of Christ, colonialism) with the white supremacy practiced today (largely focusing on the American context)

juxtaposition here, describing the whiteness as darkness

potentially referring to literal whiteness and the self-centeredness of the American Empire overseas as a colonial power where it feels the authority to dominate over other countries [covers all]

later goes on to tell us that if we look and listen we can hear and learn of the history of the Empire and how it has exerted its force and violence onto others (largely Native, pre-colonial Americans)

describes Fernand as a cultured, artistic person earlier (Albers <-- Modernist painter, Angkor Vat = ancient temple, cultural site)

speaker thinks that the cultured individual ought not to care about nature, but instead leaves with something absurd, "The pool is slime"

Fernand's repetition of the pool and connecting it with the kingfishers makes us understand how vital these animals and how vital nature ought to be to us; the lack of reaction from the others tells us how they have neglected nature and do not understand the kingfishers' value (also referred to earlier when they are narrated without giving value or internal focus and only in their absolute, external, visual selves)

form: short, scattered, variable lengths of stanzas with visual cues cutting itself off at varied points

form gives a sense of exaggerated speech ('uncontrollable!' 'what good? what worth? dying!') and sets a strong tone for the speaker

stanzas like to use repetition, alliteration, common themes in the stanzas to accentuate the tone and importance; sounds very realistic and grounded in how we speak and over-emphasize ideas or questions or words that matter most to us (stanza one: everything else, anything else, i have nothing, shall have nothing, immediate, inescapable, invaluable) (stanza 2/3/7 refer to pink/orange/green) (stanza 5/7 use multiple questions)

unpunctuated poem, this line implies a breath being taken between the sentences and a separation of ideas but is still unpunctuated - partially but not entirely separated, interconnectivity of passages and words

-immersion in the environment, people, places, art, culture, life around the speaker goes on continuously and is not able to be viewed in a vacuum despite the attempts to separate

-throughout there is constant reference to things happening <-- jam-packed with action, but none of the actions try to introduce this separation either; thematically life goes on despite the trauma of the speaker

the use of brackets make this revelation (and the future bracketed terms) feel secretive, hidden, and quiet

the revelations and contempt of the speaker grows and grows in power throughout the poem until it becomes vocalized at the end with this sentiment no longer whispered but instead declared

accusatory tone of the piece culminates here, where the speaker is telling readers that the land itself is not responsible and that America, the physical place, is not evil or committing the sins of its people

Call to action focuses on redeeming the physical land and on connecting with nature

African-Americans, just like nature, are the victims of White American racism and ought to be made America again - free, individual, beautiful, cultured, etc

meaning "going" - roots in Caribbean and U.S. Southern regional manners of speech, showing how the pains of the singer are likely responsive to the pains of the American Empire - both colonialism and segregationist pains and sufferings caused by America are resulting in African-American and global African sufferings and this general sense of exhaustion

personification of the piano itself as singing - not just an accompaniment which is subservient to the singer but the instruments itself are powerful, vocal, and centered

however, also implies that something is being done to the piano that forces it to sing (rather than singing, its moaning - involuntary and pained rather than joyous or enthusiastic)

connected with the sense of pathos throughout the poem - the forcing of the piano to play is reflective of the singer themselves who seems to be forced by something itself to play; not an excited performance but a 'weary' one

all the hyphens are placed beside words that could be repeated and continued (and beside the repeated words)

gives a cadence and rhythm to the work

feels like the words don't catch up to the speaker's thoughts

physicality of the dash makes readers stop reading and sit on the words themselves

vesuvian = volcano

imagery of something dangerous under the surface that will cause great destruction

vesuvian connected with pleasure = the gun enjoys the violence it commits and uses positive language to describe violence

a gun smiling = the noise of a gun smiling occurs when its shot; the gun is ecstatic to engage in its violence acts and is self-aware of its nature and power

the awareness of itself as dangerous raises the question of how far it is to blame for its violence; can the gun be blamed for enjoying violence if it is in its nature (a gun is meant to shoot)

life is still passing for the gun but has a sense of inertia the loaded gun (violent imagery gives a sense of time sensitivity and that there are consequences that will come from the gun at a determinate point)

makes us assign some sort of blame to the owner for identifying and carrying off the loaded gun (knows its dangerous yet still carries it out of this corner where it is inert)

readers question to what degree blame should be placed on the gun, who seems to take joy through these actions of violence (And do I smile, My Master's Head - / 'Tis better than Eider-Duck's Deep Pillow) yet still acknowledges that the master was the pivotal role in activating the gun's potential

autonomy assigned to the Owner, not the gun throughout the poem, the gun is described as powerful and dangerous to foes, but yet is still not powerful enough to control itself and leave the corners

repetition (treading - treading, beating - beating, down and down) gives a sort of motion and fluidity to the descent and shows how the speaker's loss of control is accelerating throughout

physical imagery (brain, sense, mind going numb, ear, soul) and very personal imagery

feels as though the speaker is having a sort of brain-death where they lose their control over their senses and body

intensity builds as the poem goes on and has a sort of crescendo of the brain-death described (going from mere mourners treading around in the funeral, to a service like a drum - constant noise and ongoing action, to boots of lead - heavy weight onto the soul - drop down and down in reason, reached the breaking point)

repetition of And throughout the poem (and particularly in each line of the stanza) gives a continuous tone - run-on, stream of consciousness

flowing words of the speaker and references to death show a sort of unending descent into death

abrupt cut-off at the end, feels like the poem is meant to keep going; speaker keeps descending and the funeral imagery doesn't stop

c. 1400, "an inspector, one who makes inquiries," from Latin inquisitor "searcher, examiner; a legal investigator, collector of evidence,"

also associated with the religious Spanish Inquisition

the will of the person searching for death traditional Christian theology would be very opposed to suicide or one seeking death sort of antithesis created - religious seeker searching for death

when combined with the other lines, searching for the privilege of death

body-focused and feeling-focused imagery (heart, pleasure, pain) are the ones searching; something very deep and natural longing for the escape of death and to avoid suffering - gives a sense of a pain so great for the heart that it cannot bear going on

As a noun, "substance which alleviates pain," 1540s; in old slang, frequently a euphemism for "death"

relieving tone for death - immediate strangeness for readers

juxtaposes privilege (something excessive, better, above) with death (typically associated as the lowest low)

"freedom from civil disorder, internal peace of a nation" Through following Christ and not organized religion, one is free from the rigidity and confines of churches as institutions

"The" Shepherd; again reference to Christ (rather than "A" shepherd, "the" important one)

"containing all that can be received", "perfect, entire, utter" Christ is empowering and entirely oriented towards goodness

Christ referred to himself as a shepherd, Blake was a devout follower of Jesus Christ (though not organized religion); celebratory poem about Christ, his teachings, and the beauty of his lifestyle

Etymology - echo, but also from to cry (Latin) develops pathos. Also references the story of Narcissus (Greek) and the nymph who was obsessed with him; pathetic, unending obsession

Etymology is rooted from Ramses II, commonly regarded as the most successful and powerful pharaoh in Egyptian history

alliteration

Alliteration of hand/heart; personification of hand + heart to emphasize the king's power

Alliteration

Alliteration

Alliteration and then broken alliteration: b b b sound repeated, m m n; shows a disconnect in the language, makes it awkward to the ear, focus placed on what this newness will be, what form it will take

Poem composed of two tercets with simple rhyme scheme of a a a --> b b b Allows the reader to easily flow the stanzas together; separation of stanzas and rhyme creates a space for the reader to breathe Content wise, the first stanza focuses on Julia's appearance and beauty that the speaker is infatuated with, while the second focuses on how the speaker is infatuated and what effect Julia's clothes is having on them

Focuses on Julia’s exterior rather than interior Does not focus on her features Poem goes on to describe clothes rather than Julia’s body or any other personal characteristics Questions the extent to which the speaker's love is about Julia herself/the level of personality to his love of her

the letter u is repeated throughout, creating internal rhyme and musicality (vs the translation, which focuses on more definitional accuracy than the flow emphasized in the original)

from Old English singan meaning to chant/sing

when performed, sounds very continuous, repetitive

in ME, sometimes refers to playing on a musical instrument

voices sound like a musical instrument, in that they use different tones and introduce different voices to create musicality