The Spiritus Mundi

One of two ways that the author’s use of dashes and unusual capitalization are used to contribute to my understanding of the theme of darkness in the poem is by having a dash after the word “dark” in the very first line of the poem it draws attention to the word, this is shown in the following excerpt “We grow accustomed to the Dark --” this is strengthened when in the second line, when the author chose to capitalize the word “when” before the phrase “…light is put away--” therefore, strengthening the theme of darkness. Another way that the author’s use of dashes and unusual capitalization are used to contribute to my understanding of the theme of darkness in the poem is by capitalizing the words “a” and “moment” they caused a sense of hesitation,

Since it does, when reading each line, there is a resilient connection that allows the reader to put together and feel for what the narrator is speaking of. As each line is metrically linked, the words are further recited in a durable voice and the poem is virtually put together, musically. In the first and second lines of the third stanza, an apostrophe, a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent person or entity, is presented, “We smile, but O great Christ, our cries to thee from tortured souls arise.”

Throughout various lines in the poem Conder chooses very specific words to use throughout the poem. In the second line of the first quatrain of the poem while describing the sky. The speaker says “The pale grey skies/ A sort of dull and dubious and lustre”(1-2). The words “dubious” and “lustre” give a connotation of doubtful and shine. The speaker is describing the sky as of having a boring and doubtful glow or shine in the grey sky. Continuing in the third and fourth line of the first quatrain the speaker says “Nature lies/ Slumbering and gazing on me in her sleep” (3-4). The word slumbering has a connotation of sleeping. So what the speaker is saying in

Many other internal rhymes are also found within the lines of the poem. In fact, the first line of the poem contains an internal rhyme “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary”. Another example is found in Line 31 which reads “Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,” The poem is rife with such examples.

Throughout the poem the tone and harmony is showing many different moods including shyness, anger and calmness. An example of shyness is at the start of the poem “softy, silently it swishes”, an example of anger is in the middle of the poem “it thumps, it sprays it rips at shores, its ozone spray”, and finally at the end of the poem calmness is shown, “it spends its strength, it sings, it sighs. The wave recedes”. One aspect of the poem I find intriguing is the alliteration and personification. For example, “it sighs, it sings, it seeks”.

The speaker refers to the night as his acquaintance. This implies that the speaker has a lot of experience with the night, but has not become friends with it. Thus, because even the night, which has been alongside the speaker in comparison to anything or anyone else, is not a companion to the speaker, the idea of loneliness is enhanced. In addition, “rain” (2) is used to symbolize the speaker’s feelings of gloom and grief, because there is continuous pouring of the rain, which is unlikely to stop. In line 3, “city light” is used to convey the emotional distance between the speaker and society. Although the speaker has walked extensively, he has not yet interacted with anyone – thus distancing himself even further from society. Moreover, the moon, in lines 11 to 12, is used as a metaphor of the speaker’s feelings. The speaker feels extremely distant from society that he feels “unearthly.” The idea of isolation and loneliness in this poem is used as the theme of the poem; and the use of the setting and metaphors underscores the idea that the speaker feels abandoned from society.

Significantly, the speaker begins the poem by saying, “A darkness was ripped from my eyes” (line 2).

In the poem, the contrast of hard negative connotations and soft sensitive words indicates his purpose of writing. Examples of soft words are “gently its touch, rouse, kind old sun, whispering, full-nerved, still warm” Examples of hard words are “snow, clays of a cold star, clay grew tall, fatuous sunbeams, break earth’s sleep at all”. The word clay reminds us that we came from clay and we return to dust. The choice of cold star probably refers to earth before it was inhabited which was also expressed in the bible “thou hast made me of clay and wilt thou bring me unto dust again”. The word fatuous shows the anger and frustration of the writer. Whispering has the feeling of anxiety and dread. The last line is an old existential question of “why are we here?” With the use of sound effects, themes, technique and language, the poem clearly shows the genuine emotions of empathy, waste and the futility of

As the narrator wakes up in the silence of the morning, a peaceful tone arises yet again until broken by the build up of unsaid words. The author uses the word “broken” specifically to demonstrate the destruction and disruption. In addition to this, the usage of words the author puts into the poem portrays a dark and serious tone. “And there is a silence of this morning / Which I have broken with my pen, / A silence that had piled up all night” (14-16). In order to reveal the tension of the overall silence, a serious and dark tone become a necessity. Readers experience the negative effects of silence on life. By using words like “broken” and “piled” it seems as if the unspoken words cause more destruction than wanted. Also, the lack of humor throughout the poem portrays that the scenarios described provoke readers to think, making the examples given come off more dark than anything. The peace at times becomes disrupted because of the involvement of such a dark and serious tone in order to emphasize clearly that the tension of these words built up over time, and left a more troublesome situation. The author also uses structural elements such as an enjambment. “The silence of the falling vase / Before it strikes the floor;” (13-14). By

‘Sleep’ uses imagery, rhyme, melancholy disillusion and elaborate language. In stanza one sleep asks the sleeper if they will give themselves to sleep fully, in the physical and non-physical state, the way children do. The sleeper effortlessly states ‘yes utterly’. This stanza is also in a soft and gentle tone the repetition of the ‘b’ sound, giving the poem and thumping feel, in the way a heartbeat would. After stanza one, stanza two continues this soft repetition and rhyming of the ‘b’ sound, Slessor uses imagery in the form of water. This is evident with the use of the word ‘estuary’ which means river mouth. This is used as water and sleep are both as necessary as each other. Slessor also uses imagery to depict the way someone would fall asleep. He

In the first part of the poem the writer shows the difficulty he is having with taking a human life. In the second stanza he says “Making night work for us the starlight scope bringing men into killing range. This dark tone helps to emphasize the struggle the author is feeling as a soldier in war. Also he shows his emotions directly. In stanza 3 he says “The river under Vi Bridge takes the heart away”. This quote shows the feeling that the author gets

. . should burn and rave at the close of day”(2). This means that old men should fight when they are dying and their age should not prevent them from resisting death. Another example of personification in the poem is “Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay”(8). This line personifies the men’s frail deeds by saying that they could have danced. This means that the potential actions of the men could have flourished and contributed greatly to their lives. The metaphor “. . . words had forked no lightning. . .”(5) is about how the men had done nothing significant with their lives. They had not achieved anything great or caused a major change. The simile “Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay” is about how even grave and serious men will fight against death for as long as they can. Another notable example of figurative language within the poem is “. . . blinding sight”(13). This oxymoron details how the men can see very well and it is very obvious to them that they will die soon, but they know that they can control how they will leave this world. There is an abundance of imagery within this poem, a few examples of which are “. . . danced in a green bay”(8), and “. . . caught and sang the sun in flight”(10) . These examples of imagery are both appealing to the sense of sight by using descriptive words such as “Green” and “danced” in the first example and words such as “caught” and “flight” among others. The second example also appeals to the sense of sound by

Because the poem is long, it won’t be quoted extensively here, but it is attached at the end of the paper for ease of reference. Instead, the paper will analyze the poetic elements in the work, stanza by stanza. First, because the poem is being read on-line, it’s not possible to say for certain that each stanza is a particular number of lines long. Each of several versions looks different on the screen; that is, there is no pattern to the number of lines in each stanza. However, the stanzas are more like paragraphs in a letter than

“That oppresses, like the Heft of Cathedral Tunes--.” It has a very heavy feeling derived from the word Heft as well as Cathedral Tunes. The Cathedral is considered sacred yet it is such as somber sound that it could easily affect a person’s mood. The use of paradoxes in the poem creates a sense of confusion about the true feelings about the revelation. “Heavenly Hurt” is both wonderful and horrible and suggests that the pain comes from the heavens. This suggestion is support in various situations throughout the poem. “Cathedral Tunes” and “Sent us of the Air” are the prime examples. It shows that this new realization may have been from a divine being therefore the reader is confused on it’s significance because it perhaps a type of gift. “Landscapes Listen Shadows—hold their breathe” is the personification used in the poem. This personification in the work shows that a divine being has arranged for this revelation to occur therefore, all of nature will halt to the being who has been selected to find this new piece of themselves. She also uses a bit of irony as well as parallel structure to set the scene in the poem. The revelation is brought out in the light of an wintery afternoon, this is the parallel yet it oppressive and dark which is ironic because the light brought with it such darkness.

There is a rhythm throughout the poem with strong rhyme, this pattern is like heavy breathing you have when you try to go to sleep it could also represent the rhythmical counting of sheep.