The tenth poem stands out after the depiction of the gradually building tension between the lovers in the previous texts as it once again, like the first and second poem, seems to describe just the scenery. The speaker waits and contemplates a beautiful flower bed, which he portrays in detailed sensual images.
The first verse outlines the situation and conveys the speaker’s calm state of mind. The verb “betracht” implies that he takes a long and close look at the flower bed, which is beautiful (“schön”) to him. The situation is rather intimate as he looks and contemplates for himself (“mir”) while waiting for someone or something. The verb “harren” conveys hope and expectation, but the greedy desire and desperate longing from the previous poems
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Purple-black thorns surround the bed. Their dark colours and the verb “umzäunt” (fenced in) underline that they protect the chalices, velvety ferns, green, round tufts and white bells that grow inside. The erotic symbol of the chalice and the rich and sensual language with seven adjectives that describe the colours, shape and consistency of the flowers hint at the consummation of the lovers’ desire. The most striking compound adjective is perhaps “sammtgefiederte” (velvet-feathered), which refers to both the shape and quality of the material and appears thus almost synaesthetic. The unusual spelling with the double m contributes to the sensuous quality of the poem’s longest word that is used to describe the perhaps tallest plants in the bed. The speaker enthuses over the magnificence of the flower bed. The climactic effect of the anaphora “Und” in the fourth to sixth verse is further enhanced by the description of an even more beautiful plant in each verse until the speaker’s gaze finally reaches the centre with the bell flowers that stand out due to their softness and pure, white
The imagery in the poem “35/10” also conveys the speaker’s wistfulness and jealousy for her daughter’s youth. The speaker describes her daughter as, “a moist/ precise flower on the tip of a cactus” (9-10) while she says, “my skin shows/ its dry pitting” (8-9). These phrases paint an image of the daughter as blooming and new, whereas the speaker is wilting and used. The word moist is associated with youthfulness and the word dry is associated with old age. The speaker’s use of the contrasting words moist and dry also allows the reader to use visual and tactile senses to picture the physical differences between the
In short, this first quatrain deals with the poet's liking for medieval romances insisting on their enchanting power. Nevertheless, the latter wishes to dismiss them from his mind. And prosopopeia is aimed at showing that he is deeply affected by his rereading of King Lear. The second stanza is going to contrast images of beauty with what Shakespeare's tragedy displays.
The memories in the poem maintain a cohesiveness and continuity of experience through repeated motifs such as the violets and the ‘whistling’. Memories also give us a recovered sense of life, as shown through the final line of the poem ‘faint scent of violets drifts in air’. This example of sensory imagery also creates a rhythmic drifting sense linked closely to the “stone-curlews call from Kedron Brook”. It echoes images of the speaker’s mind drifting into reflection and aurally creates transience between the present and the past.
The poem’s structure as a sonnet allows the speaker’s feelings of distrust and heartache to gradually manifest themselves as the poem’s plot progresses. Each quatrain develops and intensifies the speaker’s misery, giving the reader a deeper insight into his convoluted emotions. In the first quatrain, the speaker advises his former partner to not be surprised when she “see[s] him holding [his] louring head so low” (2). His refusal to look at her not only highlights his unhappiness but also establishes the gloomy tone of the poem. The speaker then uses the second and third quatrains to justify his remoteness; he explains how he feels betrayed by her and reveals how his distrust has led him
The appreciation of nature is illustrated through imagery ‘and now the country bursts open on the sea-across a calico beach unfurling’. The use of personification in the phrase ‘and the water sways’ is symbolic for life and nature, giving that water has human qualities. In contrast, ‘silver basin’ is a representation of a material creation and blends in with natural world. The poem is dominated by light and pure images of ‘sunlight rotating’ which emphasizes the emotional concept of this journey. The use of first person ‘I see from where I’m bent one of those bright crockery days that belong to so much I remember’ shapes the diverse range of imagery and mood within the poem. The poet appears to be emotional about his past considering his thoughts are stimulated by different landscapes through physical journey.
In the beginning, the narrator recounts regrets the presence of "more than a hundred dollars of [cut lilies]" (1). The purple and white flowers cover the room, and the narrator thinks of all the vases he will need for them. The poems shifts to focus on the narrator’s memories; reminiscing about the children he used to see at Sevilla's Easter, a celebration in Spain, the narrator recalls how once he ran through marshes with skunk cabbage. As night grows near and Easter ends, the room darkens and the saccharin scent
Passage one in the description of the Caddagat garden alliteration is used to describe the condition, smell and beauty of the day and the garden. ‘soothed by the scent’, ‘soft spring sunshine which streamed’, ‘revelled in rich’ and ‘lapfuls of the lovely’ all have the alliteration of a different sound, the first two quotes being the ‘s’ sound to making it more flowing and smooth is then followed by the ‘r’ sound to put more expression on the start of the words and the sentence its self. This is then finished with the ‘l’ repetition to put forth the rolling off the tongue in some form of pleasantry to the reader. The second passage then uses ‘bold, bad’ with popping of the ‘b’ to send a sense of urgency and extremity on the situation and emotions that are being expressed, this is the same with ‘don’t dare’ and the use of the alliteration in the ‘d’. (Did you like that bit Mrs.Burrows?!). This is then followed with the ‘s’ in the words ‘sex is sufficient’ putting a strong confirmation on the words and their meaning behind it. This is also continued into passage three with the ‘a peasant, a part’ and ‘flood, fire’ with the view focused on that starting letter of ‘p’ and ‘f’.
The use of symbolism and imagery is beautifully orchestrated in a magnificent dance of emotion that is resonated throughout the poem. The two main ideas that are keen to resurface are that of personal growth and freedom. Furthermore, at first glimpse this can be seen as a simple poem about a women’s struggle with her counterpart. However, this meaning can be interpreted more profoundly than just the causality of a bad relationship.
Several poems in the anthology explore the intensity of human emotion. Explore this theme, referring to these three poems in detail and by referencing at least three other poems from your wider reading.’
The 10th poem contains an aura of a solitude; all the reader can encounter along the way is nature interacting with nature. In addition, when I read this poem, I feel that I am reading the most accurate and closest version of the original poem by Wang Wei. Not that I am against other more detached creations of the poem or about other texts in general, however, since there are nineteen different ways to look at the poem, I think it is easier for me to compare poem 10th with any other.
Hardy initially uses similes to illustrate the bleak landscape, referring to the “sun [as] white” and leaves as “grey”, to emphasise his sorrowful opinion of love. Specific diction of bleak words strongly communicates his message of love being hopeless and sorrowful. He also uses personification of “starving sod”, to allude that the earth is frozen and desiring nutrients which it lacks. This creates an undesirable setting and mood of despair and sorrow expressing how he perceives love. In contrast, Browning orientates an inviting, cheerful setting through the use of similes. The scene is vibrant with “little waves that leap” and “warm sea-scented beach[es]”, allowing the reader to perceive it as joyful. This illustrates how he regards love as an uplifting experience, which brings people together. He structures his poem with no stanzas, allowing for the reader to follow the radiant journey of love. In contrast, Hardy includes stanzas allowing him to express his message though new topics. They consist of the bleak setting, his former partners eyes, her bitter smile and his message of how all love disappoints. He includes an enclosed rhyme scheme, presenting the entrapment of love, expressing no freedom and joy in relationships. In opposition, Browning uses anaphora of “and” to express how the speaker’s mind is not in the moment, looking ahead to the future where they reunite with their lover. It is evident that Hardy conveys his message of love as sorrowful and full of despair, in contrast Browning message reveals love as gracious and
The poem describes the weather and its effect on cotton flower by pointing out the dying branches and vanishing cotton. The image of insufficiency, struggle and death parallel the oppression of African American race. The beginning of the poem illustrates the struggle and suffering of the cotton flower; which represent the misery of African Americans and also gives an idea that there is no hope for them. But at the end the speaker says “brown eyes that loves without a trace of fear/ Beauty so sudden for that time of year” (lines 13-14). This shows the rise of the African American race, and their fight against racism. The author used mood, tone and
This marks a new stage in the narrator's emotions, as she is glum upon his exit. It is clearly evident that the speaker is worried about her husband's journey because of line sixteen, which states, "Through the Gorges of Ch'u-t'ang, of rock and whirling water." This line shows that the husband is travelling through dangerous terrain. Throughout the third stanza, the narrator is said to slowly transition into a depression phase, as she dearly misses her husband. In lines twenty-three to twenty-five, the narrator sees butterflies flying "two by two" in the garden, and she feels very depressed upon seeing this because the butterflies are all together with their spouses, while she isn't. In line twenty-six, the speaker uses imagery to describe her emotion. She fears that she might start to look pale because of her
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
The atmospheric conditions may represent the hardships that the couple had to go through in their relationship, and may also be used contrast the unpredictability of the outside world compared to the steady relationship that the couple have. ‘A Youth Mowing’ is also a poem about relationships, this time it is between a younger couple. The river ‘Isar’ is a symbol of freedom, it represents the way that the men’s lives are. However, this sense of liberty is broken by the ‘swish of the scythe-strokes’ as the girl takes ‘four sharp breaths.’ Sibilance is used to show that there is a sinister undertone to the freedom that the boy has which will be broken by the news that his girlfriend is bringing. She feels guilty for ‘what’s in store,’ as now the boy will have to be committed to spending the rest of his life with her, and paying the price for the fun that they had.