Comment 1 of 1, added on November 4th, 2009 at 11:12 AM.
law like love
- emphasises inquiry more than conclusion
- eighth stanza contains strange grammar which leads to confusion
- detached tone
- to say that law is ‘like love’ is to say that human love is as fallible as human law
-written just after ‘Sep, 1’, in 1939
-1st stanza, sun representative of the ‘laws of nature’, AABB rhyme giving lighter tone
- Gardeners follow sun because it controls growth, sun effects the daily outcomes of a gardeners work
- 2nd stanza, AABB rhyme,
-grandfather’s say their wisdom should be the law, however they are actually ‘impotent’ and ‘shrilly scold’ –not seen as the law by the ‘grandchildren’
-not ‘wisdom’ but ‘senses’- physical, sensual experiences of life
- 3rd stanza, ABAB rhyming pattern changes giving a more hymnal feel, religious overtones
-‘priest’, ‘priestly’, ‘unpriestly’, repeated emphasises their sense of self importance
- scathing irony, the people are ‘unpriestly’ not ‘ungodly’ and the law is ‘my priestly book/my pulpit and my steeply’. The priest seems to be saying that his word is law, rather than god’s.
-4th stanza, ABCACC
- judge ‘looking down his nose’ s condescending to the court
-says the law is definite and unchangeable
- ‘clearly and most severly’- internal rhyme, gives humourous effect
- syntax is convoluted and repetitive ‘law is...’ but doesn’t say what law actually is
-sounds potentially meaningful, but eventually ‘law is the law’, which is uninformative
-humorous reflection on the judicial profession
-5th stanza, AABBCCA
-‘scholars’ say that the law is not definite and beyond definition
-changes ‘places and by times’
-law is current, accepted, social conventions- ‘clothes men wear’
-sixth stanza, AABCB
- repetition at the start of the lines, gives a dismissive feel- ‘others say, others say’
-
yoyo from
Australia
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- emphasises inquiry more than conclusion
- eighth stanza contains strange grammar which leads to confusion
- detached tone
- to say that law is ‘like love’ is to say that human love is as fallible as human law
-written just after ‘Sep, 1’, in 1939
-1st stanza, sun representative of the ‘laws of nature’, AABB rhyme giving lighter tone
- Gardeners follow sun because it controls growth, sun effects the daily outcomes of a gardeners work
- 2nd stanza, AABB rhyme,
-grandfather’s say their wisdom should be the law, however they are actually ‘impotent’ and ‘shrilly scold’ –not seen as the law by the ‘grandchildren’
-not ‘wisdom’ but ‘senses’- physical, sensual experiences of life
- 3rd stanza, ABAB rhyming pattern changes giving a more hymnal feel, religious overtones
-‘priest’, ‘priestly’, ‘unpriestly’, repeated emphasises their sense of self importance
- scathing irony, the people are ‘unpriestly’ not ‘ungodly’ and the law is ‘my priestly book/my pulpit and my steeply’. The priest seems to be saying that his word is law, rather than god’s.
-4th stanza, ABCACC
- judge ‘looking down his nose’ s condescending to the court
-says the law is definite and unchangeable
- ‘clearly and most severly’- internal rhyme, gives humourous effect
- syntax is convoluted and repetitive ‘law is...’ but doesn’t say what law actually is
-sounds potentially meaningful, but eventually ‘law is the law’, which is uninformative
-humorous reflection on the judicial profession
-5th stanza, AABBCCA
-‘scholars’ say that the law is not definite and beyond definition
-changes ‘places and by times’
-law is current, accepted, social conventions- ‘clothes men wear’
-sixth stanza, AABCB
- repetition at the start of the lines, gives a dismissive feel- ‘others say, others say’
-
yoyo from Australia