1. Structuralist Analysis of
Three Poems: “Spleen”; “The Map”
“Sestina”

2. “Spleen”
Source: (Provided by Buck Lee)
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“Unlike traditional poetry that relied on the serene beauty of the natural world to convey emotions, Baudelaire felt that modern poetry must evoke the artificial and paradoxical aspects of life ”

3. “Spleen” (2) : meaning of Spleen
The result is a clear opposition between two worlds, "spleen“ and the "ideal." Spleen signifies everything that is wrong with the world: death, despair, solitude, murder, and disease. (The spleen, an organ that removes disease-causing agents from the bloodstream, was traditionally associated with malaise; "spleen" is a synonym for "ill-temper.") In contrast, the ideal represents a transcendence over the harsh reality of spleen, where love is possible and the senses are united in ecstasy.

4. “Spleen” (3): Form
By beginning the first three stanzas of "Spleen" (IV) all with the word "When," Baudelaire formally mirrors his theme of monotonous boredom and the speaker's surrender to the inexorable regularity and longevity of his spleen.

5. “The Map”
Binary opposites?
Poetic form? Poetic language?
Meaning?

6. “The Map”: Binary opposites– (land and water) vs. we; contain and cross
The land
Lies
Leans down
Tugging at --water
Sea-weeded ledges, fine tan sandy shelf
Eskimos We
Oil the land;
Stroke -- to blossom; to provide a clean cage
Names crossing boundaries; land takes water
The mapped water
Conform to land
Hare runs;
Profiles investigate;
Delicate colors.

7. “The Map” Poetic form? --1st and 3rd stanzas organized;
Poetic language? A lot of personification. Map-makers seem less important.
Meaning? While the speaker changes her perspectives from cosmic to subjective/imaginative, and then to objective/descriptive, the poem shows in the ever-changefulness of geography, two types of interactions: that in nature, and that between nature and human beings. After all, nature cannot be contained or fixed.

8. “Sestina” : What is Sestina?
“The sestina is an old fixed form of poetry, dating as far back as the twelfth century. It onsists of six six-line stanzas and a three-line concluding stanza. The ending words of the first stanza are repeated throughout each subsequent stanza in a set pattern. The same six words appear in the concluding three-line stanza, two in each line. ” (source )
house, grandmother, child, Stove, almanac (?), tears.
Meaning?

9. Sestina: variation of the 3 pairs
1. Grandmother (sender) the child (Receiver), hide the tears from her.
2. Grandmother (Subject)  Tears  equinoctial tears + rain = foretold by the almanac (Object), hidden from the child (Object); iron kettle sing
3. Child (passive; Subject)  the teakettle + tears + the house (Object); grandmother (Subject) almanac (Object).
4. Almanac (Opponent)  grandmother and child (Object); grandmother (Subject) her teacup full of dark brown tears + stove;

10. 5. Marvel Stove and the almanac (S)  limitation; the child (S)  creation (a man with buttons like tears)
6. Grandmother  stove; little moons (subject)  on the almanac; the child’s flower bed.
7. almana (S) compose oneself; grandmother sings (S)  stove; the child draws (S)  inscrutable house

11. “Sestina”
Pattern?
Meaning?