The Silken Tent
By: Robert Frost
Robert Frosts sonnet "The Silken Tent" sets up an analogy between a girl and a silken tent. Before I start to analyze the poem, I will give a brief explanation of what a sonnet is. In the book Literature and It's Writers it gives a great definition on page 750 it explains that a sonnet is short- generally fourteen lines long - and is written in a regular rhyme sequence, it is one of the richest and most durable forms of lyric poetry. The difference between a sonnet and other lyrics of poetry is the way the poet works with its theme. The Silken Tent She is as in a field a silken tent A At midday when a sunny summer breeze B Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent, A So that in guys
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Also, there is an end rhyme occurring at the end of the lines of the poem which puts it in the ABABCDCDEFEFGG form. In line nine there is a pause in the middle of the line that is called a caesura. With words such as gently, strictly, loosely, slightly shows that Robert Frost was using assonance in his poem. When reading this poem you will get a very vivid image of a warm summer morning because of the words "sunny, summer and dried the dew." A girl is in a field running carelessly with a silk dress on that sways as the breeze blows. She is tall and slender as a "cedar pole." Who has a very carefree spirit is "strictly held by none". A girl who is completely at peace because everything in her life is going well "by countless silken ties of love and thought to everything on earth the compass round." In conclusion, Robert Frost uses the form of a sonnet to express his unique visuals of a lady who just lives life for what it has to offer day by day to her best advantages. Using visual and aural imagery to make us understand just how great life can
The stanza lengths also suggest the relationship between the beloved fabrics and time, experience, and imagination. Waniek divides her poem into three stanzas of varying lengths, each stanza focusing on particular points in the speaker’s experience. Set in the past, the twelve line first stanza finds the speaker reflecting on her childhood and her experiential connection to blankets in the possession of both her “Meema” and her “Daddy.” The eight line second stanza touches briefly on the present, and the speaker’s acquisition of a quilt so beloved she’d “like to die under [it].” Longer than the first two stanzas combined, the twenty-five line final stanza finds the speaker blending past, present, and future. She imagines a future where the quilt “caress[es]” her, prompting her to visualize having “good dreams/for a hundred years.” This reverie leads immediately into the speaker contemplating a past where her grandmother, “under her [own] blanket” has dreams of a yet-to-be-bom daughter. Time and imagination shift yet again, with the speaker’s reflection on her “childhood of miracles” followed by final imaginings of her own “as yet unconceived”
Explain (tell me what image the poem brings to mind)She begins by describing the "death of winter's leaves".
Dickenson’s and Sandburg’s poem both compare sunset to women. Dickenson’s poem describes the beauty of the sun, and frames her idea by describing a housewife sewing together colorful garments. The sun rises and sets every day, so too does a diligent housewife take charge of her home all day. Sandburg’s poem also connects the beauty of the sun to the beauty of a female dancer. The poem links “Ribbon at the ears, sashes at the hips” [line 8]; to the beauty of a female dancer, as well as to the splendor of sunset. Additionally, the poem also states “And here sleep. Tosses a little with dreams;” [lines 9 -10] to show the challenging and accomplishing days of a dancer, just like the sunset. The poems both compare sunset to beautiful women, who enhance their surroundings.
Frost has a compelling way of writing the poem, in the beginnings of the poem there is a lot of metaphors and descriptions of the setting and the saw and the boy. Once the boy is injured
6. In the poem, “Now Is the Winter of Our Discount Tent”, the poet is trying to get her feeling of disgust with camping across to the reader.
Frost described the literal meaning of the sonnet through imagery. Through Frost’s description the audience was able to know the sonnet’s setting was in a windy environment near trees. Frost illustrated the setting through his description, “...tempest with a crash of wood.” Through the description of the weather and surroundings of the narrator, the audience was able to know there was a wind storm and a fallen tree in the path. Correspondly, Frost described the effect of the fallen tree. Frost illustrated the effect of the collapse of the tree, “ [The tree] throws down in front of us...” The collapse of the tree established the physical problem within the sonnet. The physical problem within the sonnet was the tree blockaded the path of the travelers. After Frost described the physical struggle within the sonnet, he described the outcome. Frost stated, “Steer straight off [the path]...” The travelers took a different path to overcome the fallen tree. Overall the literal meaning of the sonnet was described as a group of travelers built a new path, after a tree fell and blocked their trail. The literal meaning of Frost’s sonnet was described through his use of imagery.
Robert Frost’s poetic techniques serve as his own “momentary stay against confusion,” or as a buffer against mortality and meaninglessness in several different ways; in the next few examples, I intend to prove this. Firstly, however, a little information about Robert Frost and his works must be provided in order to understand some references and information given.
Emily Bronte’s “Spellbound” is a short yet awe inspiring poem with a deep meaning that may be difficult to decipher. The actual structure of the poem consists of three stanzas with four lines each. Stanzas one and three contain a abab rhyme scheme while in contrast stanza two contains a cbcb rhyme. The title “Spellbound” gives the poem both mystical and powerful qualities. In addition the poem’s title is quite fitting to the poem’s content of being trapped or spellbound within a winter storm.
Poetry is a literary medium which often resonates with the responder on a personal level, through the subject matter of the poem, and the techniques used to portray this. Robert Frost utilises many techniques to convey his respect for nature, which consequently makes much of his poetry relevant to the everyday person. The poems “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ and “The mending wall” strongly illuminate Frost’s reverence to nature and deal with such matter that allows Frost to speak to ordinary people.
The poem begins with the poet noticing the beauty around her, the fall colors as the sun sets “Their leaves and fruits seemed painted, but was true, / Of green, of red, of yellow, mixed hue;” (5-6). The poet immediately relates the effects of nature’s beauty to her own spiritual beliefs. She wonders that if nature here on Earth is so magnificent, then Heaven must be more wonderful than ever imagined. She then views a stately oak tree and
Robert Frost is the author of Out Out--, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, and Nothing Gold can Stay. His literary work communicates deep meaning through the use of metaphoric language and deception. Being raised most of his life on a farm; his works perceive the natural life of a normal person while out in nature. “Frost believes that the emphasis on everyday life allows him to communicate with his readers more clearly; they can empathize with the struggles and emotions that are expressed in his poems and come to a greater understanding of ‘Truth’ themselves” (Robert Frost: Poems Themes).
The poetic techniques were symbolism, imagery, and tone. Symbolism is the most powerfully used technique due to the fact a good number of lines located in this poem is used to signify a certain object or idea related to our life or today’s world. Imagery in the sense that you can visualize the path, the yellow wood, the undergrowth, the divergence; it is all made very vivid. Frost did this throughout; you know trying to stimulate the reader’s mood using one’s senses. In this poem, imagery permits the reader to imagine the scene that this poem takes place in resulting in an enhanced understanding of the theme. The tone Frost’s work presents is an insecure attitude which allows the theme to be brought out due to the fact the theme relates to a dilemma in one’s life. These techniques strongly aid in the revealing of this specific theme.
The sonnet, being one of the most traditional and recognized forms of poetry, has been used and altered in many time periods by writers to convey different messages to the audience. The strict constraints of the form have often been used to parallel the subject in the poem. Many times, the first three quatrains introduce the subject and build on one another, showing progression in the poem. The final couplet brings closure to the poem by bringing the main ideas together. On other occasions, the couplet makes a statement of irony or refutes the main idea with a counter statement. It leaves the reader with a last impression of what the author is trying to say.
Frost?s poem delves deeper into the being and essence of life with his second set of lines. The first line states, ?Her early leaf?s a flower.? After the budding and sprouting, which is the birth of nature, is growth into a flower. This is the moment where noon turns to evening, where childhood turns into maturity, and where spring turns into summer. At this very moment is the ripe and prime age of things. The young flower stands straight up and basks in the sun, the now mature teenager runs playfully in the light, and the day and sunlight peak before descending ever so quickly into dusk. The second line of the second set states, ?But only so an hour,? which makes clear that yet again time is passing by and that a beginning will inevitably have an end.
Frost also uses the form of the poem to establish himself as a nature poet. He encloses the subject of nature inside the traditional sonnet form, connecting himself to one of the foremost nature poets, Wordsworth. While he uses the same form and subject as Wordsworth, he creates his own rhyme scheme, breaking from the Petrarchan form used by Wordsworth and showing that the material inside the casing of this sonnet is not a traditional nature poem.