Free Verse Techniques Conveying Structure An Analysis of “Spring” By Edna St. Vincent Millay Composed in free verse, the poem “Spring” by Edna St. Vincent Millay contains many poetic elements that create a feeling of structure throughout. As free verse challenges the conventions of writing, so too, does St. Vincent Millay’s interpretation of Spring challenge societies conventional beliefs associated with the season. Millay uses various different poetic elements of writing as effective alternatives to conventional methods of prose such as use of quatrain, and an adherence to metric and rhyme schemes. Elevating itself from such conventions, Millay’s poem incorporates the use of personification, thought provoking questions, repetition, …show more content…
This assumption is reinforced in the latter part of the poem, when Millay personifies “April” once more unsatisfied with the seasons return, stating “April Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.” (17-18) By again referring to the season of Spring as “April,”(1,17) as well as associating the month with human characteristics and activities such as being an “idiot,” “babbling,” and “strewing flowers,”(18) the personification of Spring becomes even more clear. From this perspective, just as Spring cannot appease Millay with beauty or prospect of flowers, one cannot truly mend a broken relationship with words and gifts alone. The actions of “babbling” and “strewing”(18) are associated with ignorance, thus one can assume Millay is annoyed with the month of Spring, as people who receive flowers are most likely doing so because they have been annoyed or hurt by their significant other. Just as Spring continually returns, creating life ignorant of death, an annoying lover returns to a damaged heart, ignorant to the absence of love. Millay uses free verse elements, more specifically thought-provoking questions, to enhance the overall poetic feeling of “Spring”. Beginning with the proposal of a question, “To what purpose, April, do you return again?”(1) Millay blatantly challenges the reason behind natural order. Millay again does this when stating, “It is
In “Spring and All”, Williams personifies spring, and the season takes on anthropological attributes, to change the dimension of the poem. When Williams brings up the season, he characterizes “spring” as “sluggish and dazed” (line 14-15). He uses these attributes to describe the season in order to personify the spring season, in order to make it more relatable to the reader. Williams’ poem is personified again, in a way that defines the cyclical nature of plant life. Williams describes plants as entering “the new world naked, cold, uncertain of all save that they enter” (line 16-18) therefore comparing plants to human babies by using the words “naked” and “uncertain”. The use of these keywords furthers his intention for the reader to relate directly with the natural realm. He spends a significant amount of detail in defining the characteristics of dead plants. This image is significant to the poem, as leads us to knowing that winter is truly exanimate and cold. In the context of the entire poem, it tells us that there has to be a death in order for a new life to
Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.
Lorna Dee Cervantes' poem, “Poema para los Californios Muertos” (“Poem for the Dead Californios”), is a commentary on what happened to the original inhabitants of California when California was still Mexico, and an address to the speaker's dead ancestors. Utilizing a unique dynamic, consistently alternating between Spanish and English, Cervantes accurately represents the fear, hatred, and humility experienced by the “Californios” through rhythm, arrangement, tone, and most importantly, through use of language.
For centuries, seasons have been understood to stand for the same set of meanings. Seasons are easily understood by the reader, and are easy for the writer to use; as Foster states, “Seasons can work magic on us, and writers can work magic with seasons” (Foster 192). The different seasons are a huge part of our lives; we live through each one every year, and we know how each of them impacts our lives. This closeness between people and nature allows us to be greatly impacted by the use of seasons in literature. In addition, Foster lays out the basic meanings of each season for us: autumn is harvest, decline, tiredness; winter is anger, hatred, cold, old age; summer is passion, love, happiness, beauty; and spring is childhood and youth. On the
Clint Smith is a writer, teacher, and doctoral candidate in Education at Harvard University with a concentration in Culture, Institutions, and Society. Smith Clint wrote a poem called “Something You should Know.” The poem is about an early job he had in a Petsmart. The poet allows the readers into his personal life, but before he had trouble opening up to people and his work. Moreover, Clint wrote an insight in the poem about relying in anything to feel safe and he says it is the most terrifying thing any person can do.
The Vacuum by Howard Nemerov talks about a widower and his late wife, and how he uses the vacuum as a symbol for her death. The poem expresses deep sorrow and sadness that derive from the loneliness of the speaker, after his other half’s passing away. Nemerov attempts to take his readers on a grief-stricken journey, by strategically employing figurative language (mainly personification, metaphor, simile, and alliteration), fractured rhyme schemes and turns in stanza breaks in the poem.
My first and best guess about what the poet was trying to get across in this section was derived from reading different biographies about the poet. Millay wrote "Renascence" when she was just nineteen years old and was her first poem to win an award. This achievement got her initial recognition in the literary community. The themes introduced at the beginning of this poem hint at the time frame when the poem might be written and the feelings about life the poet might be going through. People
Stylistically, the visual and concrete nature of the poem lends itself to modern comparison as well. The delightful accounts of the changing of the seasons are in part to indicate the passage of time, but also add mood to the whole of the piece. Present-day fantasy writer Patricia McKillip has been critically lauded for "lush imagery" and stories described as "atmospheric... and filled with rich imagery." Clearly the descriptions are an important part of the style that makes modern
Despite the flowing syntax, the poem has a clear and predictable structure to replicate the persona’s calm familiarity with experiencing and answering to “storms” in their life. It is interesting to note that even though parlous weather is on its way, there is a lack of panic, chaos, and anomalies in the structure of the poem. There continues to be seven lines in each stanza throughout the piece;
“Poems are written with the feelings and emotions, with the intuition and the instincts, that make each of us who we are” (Charters 669). Dana Gioia, the author of “Summer Storm 2000” expresses an emotional works to an event dated back 20 years ago. Gioia uses dictions such as, imagery, figures of speech, setting, tone, and ballad to help readers not only comprehend the poem but to help them envision and feel it as if they were the ones experiencing the story. Gioia uses these means as a way of expressing his feelings and thoughts while explain to readers the deeper meaning of what “Summer Storm” really entails.
Furthermore, a second poetic device used in both of these poems was personification. In “Reluctance,” Frost personified the parts of his body to explain how torn he was about losing his love: “…The heart is still aching to seek/ But the feet question ‘Whither?’…” (Frost, 17-18). The personification in this stanza made the persona’s uncertainty and pain apparent and contributed to the establishment of the mood. If the persona himself had bluntly said that he wanted to look for his loved one but didn’t know where to look, the impact would not have been nearly as dramatic. Millay also used personification in her poem, “Time Does Not Bring Relief”. Personification was used to communicate the role time played in her life during her loss: “Time does not bring relief; you all have lied/ Who told me time would ease me of my pain…” (Millay, 1-2). The lack of involvement time had in the speaker’s life during her loss made it apparent how deeply grief-stricken she was. Nevertheless, if this poetic device had not been used to convey the theme, it would have turned out less impressive, if not awkward. Millay used an additional personification in her poem which was used to personify the rain: “…I miss him in the weeping of the rain…” (Millay, 3). The
In the third stanza, the speaker praises the urn for its eternal youth and zeal. "Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu.”(lines 21-22) He admires the trees that cover the lovers for they will not loose their leaves over the changing seasons. For this he it seems is grateful and feels happy. Moreover, the use of word spring is of key importance for spring signifies the start of a new seasonal cycle of
Poetry is literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm, poems collectively or as a genre of literature. It is also a quality of beauty and intensity of emotion regarded as characteristic of poems. Poetry (poem) is something that follows a particular flow of rhythm and meter. Compare to prose, where there is no such restriction, and the content of the piece flows according to the story, a poem may or may not have a story, but definitely has structured method of writing.
At one time or another, every person has experienced the beauty of summer. In this time of the year, nature is full of life, the weather is at its finest, and the paramount joys of life can be experienced to their fullest. Then the fall comes, the trees turn lovely shades of red and yellow, and the wind offers a nice chill breeze for relief. Unfortunately, seasons change and the beauty that people once experienced vanishes. People focusing only on the material and petty aspects of life, rather than the beauty around them, will let life pass them, missing out on the true wonders of the world. In his poem “To Autumn,” John Keats utilizes imagery to express the importance of indulging in the beauties of nature, while alive, because humans are mortal beings bound by the limits of time.
Some of the poems and essays I have read during this class were relatable to me. Being away from college, I have struggled with not being at home. I have become a different person when I am at school, but when I am home, I feel like I am my normal self again. Some of these authors of the poems and essays that I have read throughout this class has struggled with being somewhere where they don’t belong and that they are someone else when they are not home. Unlike the other poems and essays we have read throughout the course. I enjoyed reading the ones about “home” because I actually understood what they are going through and that I can relate. Some of these poems and essays include “Going Home” by Maurice Kenny, Postcard from Kashmir”, by Agha Shahid Ali, “Returning” by Elias Miguel Munoz and “Hometown” by Luis Cabalquinto. All of these poems deal with duality.