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Similarities Between Wordsworth And Yeats

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Comparative Essay on Wordsworth and Yeats
In “Down by the Salley Gardens” by William Butler Yeats and “She Dwelt Among the Untrodden ways” by William Wordsworth, the poets use a theme of love while applying imagery consistently throughout the poems. Additionally, Yeats uses repetition to show the passing of time through metaphors while Wordsworth comparatively portrays his inner thoughts. Since they are giving their emotions, Yeats applies similes comparing his love for the beauty of nature whilst Wordsworth is commemorating his love, despite her disappearing from his life. “She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways” by Wordsworth expresses his emotion towards her as she lives her life only to die isolated. “Down by the Salley Gardens” by Yeats has …show more content…

For example, Wordsworth compares “She”(1) to a “violet”(5) in contrast to the “mossy stone”(5). The violet in this context can be understood as standing out, while a mossy stone has the connotation of dullness, ordinary, which is emphasized through the use of visual imagery. Another instance where he utilizes imagery is when he is comparing her standing out to him like “a star, when only one/is shining in the sky” (7-8). As stars are a part of the night sky, it represents imagery but also shows his feelings towards her. Similarly, Yeats compares the beauty of his love for the beauty of …show more content…

Repetition is utilized to reflect Yeats’ inner opinion on how he rushed to the relationship. Ultimately resulting in her leaving him. The use of repetition is dominant throughout as the phrases” little snow-white feet”(2) to “her snow-white hands”, “my love and I did meet”(1) in contrast with “my love and I did stand” showing repetition while also showing imagery of something snow-white. This is important because of how the poem has a parallel structure. Past events have already happened and cannot be changed thus he is reflecting how he regrets not listening to her. As mentioned before, another point of repetition is “take love easy” with “take life easy” which could be interpreted as her message to the narrator about learning to relax and slow down. This is supported by how he is reflecting back to when he was still “young and foolish”(8) thinking about how his life was wasted and not realizing that he is not living life to the fullest, relating back to a theme of regret. However, for Wordsworth, he utilizes metaphors to discuss his feelings. Wordsworth uses a metaphor of being “Half hidden from the eye!”(6) to visualize the obscurity of the woman. This can be interpreted as a contrast with the line above, mentioning the “violet”(5) standing out, while the eye has a connotation of omnipotent power and vision,

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