The object of the present work is to discuss and analyze the poem A Love Song for Lucinda by Langston Hughes.

 The poem focuses the reader’s attention thanks to its regular pattern that creates an effect of balance and elegance. Indeed, there is a symmetrical layout which results from an anaphoric structure due to the initial line of every stanza that opens with the word love. The intelligent reader therefore understands that “Love” is really the keyword and the theme of the whole text. In addition, it recalls the title.

 The text is a song addressed to Lucinda and once more, it underscores a reflection on love. The poem has a lyrical nature and invites reflection. To tell the truth the intelligent reader may be curious to find out the identity of the addressee and the reason why the speaking voice is writing to Lucinda, whose name suggests the idea of light and therefore something that may provide a sense of direction or a guide. It follows that the analysis of the poem is meant to find out/discover the message the speaking voice wants to send Lucinda and what relationships he might have with her.

 In order to reach the goal, the present work will develop a structure analysis first and on a second moment will consider how connotative choices add to meaning.

Just considering the layout the reader realizes the text is arranged/organized into sestets, that exhibit the same structure as well as the same anaphora meant to make the reader aware that what is being discussed here is the nature of love.

From a structural point of view, punctuation reveals as essential to understand the reason why the poet has arranged/organized the sestets into two tercets. To tell the truth in each stanza the tercets play the same role: the first one relies on a metaphor hinting at some qualities of love, while the second tercet conveys the possible or probable consequences of that particular feature of love anticipated by the previous metaphor.

 Before tackling with the different metaphors for love and its effects it is worth considering also line length in the song. Immediately makes clear that every stanza starts the second tercets with a very short line or at least one shorter than the other one or than any other. What’s more, the fourth line of the last stanza consists of two words, among which the personal subject pronoun “you” comes to the forefront. Thus, giving Lucinda a central end therefore core position to lady. In so doing the speaker not only focuses the reader’s attention on “you”, but it also gives Lucinda a privileged position and no in intelligent reader can escaping noticing this. 

What’s more, the intelligent reader should speculate on the nature of that subject pronoun, because it may refer to Lucinda as well as to the reader or, last but not least, acquire an impersonal meaning and therefore being meaningful to everybody. This will result from the next steps of analysis.

Now moving forward with the analysis of the metaphoric structure of the text the reader realizes that all metaphorical choices that cover the second line of each sestet provide a highly positive connotation of love as well as being expressed with an assertive tone that admits no replica/reply “love is”, “love is” and “love is”. The speaker sounds totally sure of his statements that are made up according to the structure adjective + noun: “ripe plum”, “bright star” and “high mountain”. In addition, the expressions are the result of love long open vowel sounds that widen both the prospective of love and the phonological/sound effect on the reader who might understand something more than the simple metaphorical meaning that relies on the language of sense impression (taste, sight and so on). Indeed, love is an experience that requires a dynamic opening and welcome to someone different from the subject who experiences it. It follows that all the stylistic choices illustrated so far contribute to make meaning livelier. Also, they add a sense of fullness to the message send. You certainly feel satisfied once you live a love experience.

Syntax, too, contributes together with the semantic choices to add to the idea of love has a dynamic process. You can see it if you compare the structure of line 3 in the first two sestets. They both rely on a progressive aspect of the verb. Indeed “growing on a purple tree” and “glowing in far Southern skies” both convey the idea of the pleasure one can feel/experience when he or she is in love. The use of the progressive aspect hints at love as its transforming experience. In the third sestet, on the contrary, the speaker does not use the progressive aspect, but adds qualities to the metaphor of love. In particular, the adjective “stark in a windy sky” underlines a feature of love as an experience that asks for a commitment. Therefore, the last sestet seems to play to play a warning function. Which comes to the forefront in the end of the text.

If you carry on with the analysis of the second tercet in the different stanzas, you will soon realize that each one shows the consequences or the effect of the specific idea of love expressed in the previous metaphor.

In the first sestet the effect underlined by the speaker is a form of “enchantment”, a feeling that recalls the word “song” of the title, but the speaking voice also warns both Lucinda and the readers that, once you experienced love, you will no longer be as you were before the experience, because you are under a “spell” and the speaking voice’s is aware that in a way or another you become addicted. The use of the verb taste in the imperative not only underlines the bodily aspect of love, it also lets the reader understand the feeling of loss you experience when your love is gone. It follows that the key-idea developed in the first sestet is one of love being a magic formula able to turn one’s life upside down.

And the ends such love is growing on a “purple tree”. The color purple is generally associated to very important contexts since it is the color of religions ministers. Once more connotation is widen here with reference to the religious experience.
From the idea of spell and enchantments in the second sestets the image of light plays the main role thus creating a connection with the addressee of the song. “bright, stark, glowing, burning flames” are all semantic choices that contribute to the idea and to tell the true in the second tercet the effect of love seen as a bright star is to be a “burning flames” that make hard one eyes if you “look to hard”. It follows that/as a result/as a consequence love is newly defined as something burning which not always follows the pattern of the progressive aspect (cfr. growing and glowing), it also suggests the idea of a passionate love that make cross all your body. The speaker is well aware that the experience when lived to hard “always hurt”. The image exploit in the sestets appeals to sight and, therefore, the reader finds a similarity between the first sestets, that appealed to taste, and the second one appealing to an additional sense (sight). The reference in the third line to (in far southern skies) hints at an exotic experience that “seduces both lover and reader”. Indeed, to seduce etymologically means to project somebody somewhere else. This explains the force of a loving experience that may be perceived as one that made send you in a determinate dimension. That is why one must be careful when experiencing passionate love. He or she should be able to live a balanced experience; vice-versa he will suffer from sight problems. Ones more you can recognize a regular pattern also in the use of the simple future tense in the second and first sestet. The use of the future conveys the strong conviction of the speaker and this might make you think that he may have undergone both experiences. The one that it not letting go and the one of too passionate love. Coming now to consider the last sestet, you realise that it is somehow different from the previous ones: the third line of the first tercet does not show a progressive aspect. Rather, it focusses the reader attention as well as Lucinda’s on a sort of warning underlined by the second type of its close “would never lose” implies the possible effect of trying to climb too high on a mountain. The adjective “high” not only comes twice in the economy of the sestet, it has got a key position: its pronunciation shows and makes you hear a long vowel sound. It creates sort of an equal effect typical of a mountain context. If you climb a mountain and reach its top you experience the feeling of pleasure and fear at the same time because if on one hand you are attracted by your proximity to the sky, on the other hand you fear to fall down. The image of the first tercet in the last sestet is functional to attract the attention of “you” on the double nature of any love experience. Love is a complex feeling to live. It makes you feel sort of enchantment and fear at the same time and the experience is therefore sublime. Consequently, one must pay attention not to expect only a paradise but also the chaums of live. In the last tercet the speaker alerts the “you” that if he or she wants to experience and experiment a love process he or she must be ready and willing to cope with alternating moments of spell, illumination, passion and suffering all the same. Indeed, spell, lightening and pain are the complex and the contradictory elements of any love experience.
The intelligent reader now understands that the speaker’s addressee is not simply Lucinda, who is never mentioned in the text, on the contrary the choice of the personal pronoun “you” opens the song to a much wider dimension: an including one where the speaking voice Lucinda and the reader all together take part of the same experience thus making of a personal message and warning a universal one.
The song becomes therefore an experience of sharing human feelings considerations and reflections that may make of the readers and Lucinda more aware listeners.

Activities of pages 55, 56 and 57

 Page 55

Rounding it up

a-     The first battle that Beowulf fights is against Grendel, in which he manages to tear Grendel’s arm off, the second one is against Grendel’s mother, and in the end, after fifty years he became king, he manages to kill the dragon that is terrorizing the country, but, due to the wounds, he dies.

b-    He embodies the heroic ideal fighting against all the monsters, without any fear and despite his age.

c-     They represent dark and threat, words of a dangerous marshes, woods, lakes and horrible creatures.

d-    In the poem can be found pagan elements like the heroic ideal which was prominent in Germanic world, and also the importance of cultural heritage and ancestry. There can also be found Christian elements, such as the Christian thoughts and motives given to the charters and other Christian values.

e-    In Belleville so we can find the three important features of Anglo-Saxon poetry like the presence caesuras and pauses, that divides into 2/2’s every line, the regularity of the line structure which creates strong rhythms and the presence of alliterations that gives a musical effect to the poem.

Before you read

I hear some strange and frightening sounds; I am afraid of what I am hearing. Then the doors of the long house open and I can see a terrible creature attacking, tearing and wounding my friends, people I know. I know I’m going to die today, but I’ll do all the possible to survive.

Page 56

Exercise 1

a-     10 – Grendel’s whole body shakes with pain because of a deep cat in his shoulder.

b-    4 – the monster kills warrior and devours him.

c-     1 – Grendel, hungry and bloodthirsty, makes his way to Herot.

d-    6 – Beowulf reacts quickly and grabs the monster’s arm in his hand.

e-    9 – Grendel’s bones and muscles break and Beowulf tears his arm off.

f-      11 – Beowulf understands he has defeated the monster.

g-     3 – Grendel looks around the hall, his eyes burning with rage.

h-    8 - Grendel is surprised to Beowulf strength.

i-      12 – Grendel escapes to his den to die.

j-      2 – Grendel breaks down the door of Hrotgar’s hall.

k-     7 – Beowulf’s grip is so strong that Grendel cannot free himself.

l-      5 – Grendel turn to Beowulf and raises his terrible claw to strike him.

Exercise 2

a)

1- Grendel is God’s enemy: l. 2 God-cursed, l.17 captain of evil.

2- he runs with long, slow steps: l. 2 came greedily loping.

3- he cannot control his anger: l. 3 his rage boiled over.

4- he is so strong then he can destroy buildings: l.3 he ripped open.

5- he makes a horrible noise when he walks: l. loathsome tread.

6- his eyes reflect his evil nature: ll. 6-7 while a baleful light, […] flared from his eyes.

7- he feeds on corpses: l.10 gorged on him in lumps.

8- he is half man and half beast: l.13, l. 15, his talon, with open claw.

b)

What do these words and phrases highlight?

-       His inhumane nature and animal instinct

Page 57

Exercise 3

a)

1. Beowulf tries to stop Grendel from killing the warrior    F    Beowulf was laying on his bad
2. He pretends he is sleeping in his bed                                  T
3. When Grendel attacks him, he is taken by surprise         T
4. He has decided to fight the monster with his sword       F    we don’t know he he decided to fight the monster
5. He is one of the strongest warriors on earth                    T
6. His victory will give him a glorious reputation                  T

b)

cleverness, courage, physical strength

Exercise 4

a)

1. God-cursed Grendel/ came greedily loping
2. The captain of evil discovered himself/ in a handgrip harder than anything
3. And the bone-lappings burst. Beowulf was granted/

the glory of winning; /Grendel was driven/ under the fen banks, / fatally hurt, /to his desolate air

b)

1. (m): moors, mist/ mouth, maddening
2. (g): god, Grendel, greedily
3. (k): cursed, came
4. (r): rage, ripped
5. (b): building, blood
6. (p): pacing, patterned
7. (l): loathsome, light
8. (f): flame, flared

c)

the kenning is bone-lapping and gives more strength to the suffering that Grendel felt at that moment

Exercise 5

1. Duel
2. Devours
3. Asleep
4. Bare
5. Pain
6. Tears
7. Wounded
8. Die
9. Clever
10. Equal

Exercise 6