It is a strange idea to think of people being openly queer in the 1800’s; not that there is anything strange about being queer, but typically these individuals are blotted out of history lessons. Even with Shakespeare’s sonnets, I was completely unaware that the majority were dedicated to a man. It is interesting to think that there have always been around the same amount of queer individuals, but they were too afraid to admit it to any one, and if they did, it was typically met with scrutiny and much worse. When I picked Robinson’s poem, I was excited to see just how the poem would be classified as queer and did a general search for it: nothing came up. In fact, the only place I could find the poem was by the link provided to a picture of an old book. After reading the poem, I can see clear queer markers, but without knowing the poet was a woman, I would not have bated an eye. However, knowing that this is a lesbian relationship that is being written about, I can better evaluate it. Starting off, the poem is dark, the narrator is calling to the night and death to come to her. She comments on the dreams that fill her “large with promise” of something lost and for death that “hope for every thrall.” She is resenting the dreams that give her hope but also longing for the death that promises everyone, even her who is a slave to love, freedom. The first time I realized she was talking about a woman was at line 5, “…to her for whom I wake and call.” Here it is clear that the lost love is in fact another woman. She then goes on to write about their “vanished love”  and how, in death, she hopes her love remembers her. For me, I assumed that the poem would be more of a lament of forbidden love rather than lost. There is a sort of stigma in the media we are fed that only features queer love when it is being torn apart of hesitantly flustering. This poem speaks about it in a real manner that makes the reader relate it to every other type of relationship. After all, Lin-Manuel Miranda did tell us that “Love is love is love,” and Robinson proves this centuries before by writing about it so realistically and nonchalantly.

Algernon Charles Swinburne’s poem “Love and Sleep” depicts both sexual desire and BDSM in such a way that intertwines the context as being sexual and aggressive.  One could note that Swinburne is “lying asleep” and could be, perhaps, dreaming of his lover “leaning over [his] sad bed” (1-2).  If it weren’t a dream, he would be lying awake.  He continues to go into detail about his lover’s features such as “smooth-skinned and dark” and “perfect coloured” (4-6).

Swinburne’s choice of vocabulary reflects BDSM in that, he states, that her neck is looks good enough to bite (4).  In this respect, he is insinuating an aggressive sexual connection with his lover.  Within this time period, it was somewhat unusual to be aggressive in bed.  Sex was supposed to be passionate and emotional, not exactly aggressive.

What suggest sexual desire is depicted throughout the poem as a whole, however, he says “[his] soul desire” in the last line (14).  It is pretty interesting how Swinburne structured this poem.  From what I have read within the other texts that were given, I often noted that the writer was homosexual but Swinburne indicates that he is heterosexual, whom his lover is a woman.  This changed my perception of queerness in a way that allows be to think of queerness as more than just LGBTQ.  It allows me to think that queerness can be aggressively sexual and to have increasing desire for a person.  I find it interesting that, after reading some of my classmate’s blog posts, that writers of this time period found it extremely difficult to express their desires; whether it’d be for someone of the opposite or same sex.  I find many similarities in those quarrels with queerness in today’s generations.  Sexual aggression can be taken as rape or harassment OR it it could be taken as something pleasant.  In the same context, I can see that it is still difficult for people to come out and express their sexual preferences in the same ways these writers have found it difficult.

Upon first reading this poem, it is written as if a declaration. The use of exclamation marks throughout the poem makes the reader assume that is should be read with gust and energy. However, when hearing the poem spoken aloud it becomes evident why the author named it “Footnote to Howl.” The speaker does emphasize the words that have exclamation marks, but in a much different way. He almost sounds like he is moaning or howling when he repeats the phrase “Holy!” (line 1).  This could be the meaning behind the title- the author is keying people in on how to read the poem. Whenever the narrator isn’t moaning holy, he voice seems thick as if he were crying. Throughout the poem he has a dragged out tone, not too fast but never pausing, the speed remains fairly consistent throughout. In fact, he sounds like a preacher giving a sermon. However, his tone does change, by line 12 when he writes “Holy the fifth international!” it almost is as if the emotion was drained from him and he begins mindlessly reciting lines until he reaches the dramatic climax of “suffering! magnanimity!” in line 14. This could be due to the fact that the fifth international is a revolutionary communism group and “magnanimity” being such as mercy or forgiveness. By placing the emphasis on the beginning of the line, which almost always start with “Holy”( lines 1, 6-15), he brings attention to the irony of the poem. Starting a sentence with Holy often implies that the preceding object would be good or praisable, but the author says things such as “Holy my mother in the insane asylum!” (line 7) and “holy the hideous human angels!” (line 6).  Overall, the performance takes an already dark poem and pushes it even further with the moaning and thick sorrowful voice of the narrator.

When reading the poem “Bagpipe Music” by Louis MacNeice, the rhythm of the poem is clear, but the performance by MacNeice makes the poem sound even more lyrical. There are many iambs, and end-rhymes that are roughly emphasized, like “rickshaw”, “pension”, and “forever” that contribute to the lyrical quality of the poem. In the performance, the beginning of the lines start at a higher pitch and end in a lower one, which may have something to do with the author’s accent, but still adds to the rhythm. For example, in the beginning of  line nine, the double stress on the words “no go” starts off high, comes down a little on “man”, and ends with a harsher “Blavatsky”. The hard emphasis on the end rhymes and especially the last line “But if you break the bloody glass you won’t hold up the weather”, reflects the distaste the speaker has towards the changing times in Scotland that MacNeice explains at the beginning of the performance. For the most part, the performance is fast-paced, with the exception of the end-stopped lines and  feminine rhymes that slow the poem down. Another thing I noticed in the performance that I did not hear in the reading, was the way MacNeice slowed down on line thirty-two and thirty-three when he says “Work your hands from day to day, the winds will blow the profit./The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall forever,”. The drawn out “day to day” and “hour by hour” emphasizes the passing of time made slow by work, and the fact that the work does not amount to anything.

I found this song watching America’s Got Talent. This little 14 year old girl did an amazing job belting out this powerful song. I was moved by not only the performance, but the meaning behind the lyrics. I immediately googled the lyrics to find the original recording and inspirational video. The video and accompanying story line add even more meaning to the already powerful lyrics. The video portrays a married couple that seems to be normal, until it is shown that the husband is severely disabled. He is unable to speak or move and the wife must help him with every little thing. As the song starts, the lyrics “you’re broken down and tired…/we gonna walk it out and/move mountains” are given meaning because, even though his weariness is evident, he digitally communicates to her that he wants to take her on a date. It is a realistic impossibility for him, but something they will accomplish through mutual difficult effort. As Day sings “I’ll rise up/I’ll do it a thousand times again/for you”, the lyrics are realised in a literal sense as the wife must physically lift the husband from their bed and bathe him for the date. Of course she would only do these things for her husband, her partner in life through trials and tribulations. As they get to the date, “We will rise” is repeated at she ignores the other conventional dates and opens the door to push the wheelchair down the ramp. They literally have to rise above everything, through each other, in order to go on appreciating and enjoying life to its fullest extent.

While the video performance gives one specific meaning to the song, it doesn’t cancel out meaning and inspiration for different circumstances. This song is relatable through the video, while listening. It takes on different meaning for different situations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwgr_IMeEgA

Although “F*** You” does not sound to be so, it is a political song. Lily Allen wrote the song in 2008 to show her disapproval of then president George W. Bush. The lyrics themselves are pretty straightforward, Allen straight-out calls him “racist,” “small minded” and even “evil.” The whole pretense of the song is that Allen is furious over how Bush is running his presidency and the anti-humanitarian ideals he holds. She becomes furious to the point that she too becomes full of hatred. The lyrics are nasty and to the point, with the majority of the chorus having the repetition of “F*** You.”

However, upon hearing the song, listeners have a very different take on it. The melody is upbeat and cheery and Lily Allen sings as though she has a smile on her face. The whole song is very ironic, she is denouncing the president but almost laughing at him as well. This is refreshing because as she sings about his life of hatred, the singer herself seems happy and unaffected by it. It is the same way parents tell their children to deal with bullies (which Allen calls Bush), just ignore them and make them think you’re happy. On a different level, the upbeat tone could also be a seen as passing the point of frustration to where all Allen can do is laugh and say “F*** You.” It sounds as if she is so astonished at the “hatred” and “evil” within him that she has passed the point of anger.

Lily Allen has successfully created a song that has two very different levels. On one hand, it is spiteful and revealing, talking about the evil that George W. Bush has brought into the world; but on the other hand it is catchy and fun to sing along to. Without the performance, this piece would be a completely different work.