The Violets Gwen Harwood Analysis

The violets having triggered the persona’s memory, she recalls a similar late afternoon in her early childhood. “The thing I could not grasp or name”, in stanza 3, monosyllabic in language to show youth’s innocence and simplicity, represents time and change and “Where’s morning gone?”, the sorrowful question addressed to her mother after waking from an afternoon nap, serves as Harwood’s address to the reader about the quick passing of youth.

The poem is sectioned into six quatrains, which follow the following pattern: reality, reality, dream, dream, dream, and reality. Through use of this poetic device, the poet presents the impression to the reader that it is inevitable that reality must always be returned to, and that the children will have no escape from their labour. Though the dream may present the impression that it is a welcome escape, it only serves to further emphasise the cruel conditions of the child’s life. ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ falls into the category of a lyrical poem, which presents it to the reader as a song of sorts, almost akin to a nursery rhyme. Traditionally, nursery rhymes are sung to young children, emphasising the narrator’s naive tone. The irony in this must also be noted, as the child ought to be protected by his parents singing to him as he falls asleep; he should not be partaking in the dangerous occupation he has been forced

The poem follows the structure of a day— 'the sun does arise' in the commencement of the first verse, and 'the sun does descend' in the middle of the third stanza, and can be read as a metaphor for human life. The poem is the contrast of inculpability and experience, but withal the contrast between perception of joys and sorrows. What is transpiring on the Green will transpire again, appeared by the 'old society' who watch the kids and think back about their own youth on the Green. The whole poem is indited in six sentences with much

The introductory description of the “frail” girl and the springtime atmosphere describe the birth of a child and the joy of childhood (1). The “sticks and stones” are representative of the girl’s courage and strength, and the aspects of nature provide a source of steadfastness for the girl as well (4). The warmth and widespread presence of light express the innocence of the girl and the carefree attitude of a child; however, the diction in the second stanza describes a season of summer, the season known for exploration of hopes and dreams. In the woman’s case, summer serves as the time for illusions and temporary aspirations. The summer’s “blinding white rays of deceit” are the woman’s goals for her life, yet she soon realizes the artificial substance in her hopes which are symbolized by the clouds present in the poem (9-10). As the clouds darken and become heavier, the woman’s dreams for herself begin to grow thin, and as she becomes more aware of the “heavy burdens,” her body as well as her soul begin to emaciate (14). Her once thought to be sturdy courage becomes “twigs” rather than the sticks that once supported her (13). The diction throughout the poem expresses the woman’s progression in age and maturity through vivid imagery and descriptive connections with nature. The word choice

In the opening stanza, the poet uses four different environments to indicate the time and weather. The poet explores the weather and suggested that the environment the boy live in is in a tropical climate by the word “hot” and “heavy rain” that come after. However, it could also be a metaphor for stages of a person’s life. For example, “Morning” represents a new start of the day, which could also represent birth. Followed by “heat” which is the youth and “afternoon” meaning adulthood. By the end “Heavy rain” which suggests old. These images were taken from the boy’s perspective which could suggest that boy was looking forward to this new start of the day and wanting to grow up. From those picture, the visual images help create the setting and the flow of time in the

This lyrical poem by the author who was a pioneer of the Romantic movement, uses the earths elements and human emotions to take him back and recollect how much something had an an effect it had on him at the time.

C. Day Lewis finds that the effect of the rhythm in Remembrance is ‘extremely powerful, extremely appropriate’ and that ‘it is the slowest rhythm I know in English poetry, and the most sombre’ , effectively allowing Bronte to convey the grief of remembering.

A “woman singing.. softly” in the dusk is one of many enticing sounds used to build a sense of euphoria within the poem. This “singing woman“ and the “tinkling strings“ presented create such a peaceful scene of the speaker’s childhood that it greatly contrasts with that of the speaker’s manhood. He later applies auditory imagery once again when describing his adulthood; however, now this image isn’t so enticing. He displays a “singer bursting into clamor“ creating a ruckus, all in vain. These abrasive sounds exemplify a horrid reality that the speaker currently faces, which only spurs him to ache for the past more. Additionally, delightful visual imagery of his past is clearly shown in the “smile” of his “mother… as she sings”. Family often is revered and cherished. By having his mother, who is content nonetheless, in his memory makes his childhood that much more beautiful. He even “presses the small, poised feet of his mother“, physically touching a loved one while she smiles and sings. All of these combined elements construct an irrefutably content image. Unfortunately, this only aids in complicating his sentiments. The speaker conveys an ideal childhood; yet, he is well aware of the fact that it is eternally in the past and he has to confront the terrifying “clamor” of his

Thematically, the poem explores the idealistic nature of childhood, and the importance of waking up to reality as one grows older. The beginning of the poem is filled with a vivid passionate recollection of the seasonal picking of

The description of the Balloon man varies as the poem progresses. In line 4 he is described as “lame” this expresses the children’s point of view, they view him as old and disabled. The children see him in such a light because at this point they are still enjoying their childhood and growing old as an elder seems so far away and inconceivable to them they see the Balloon man weaker than what he actually might be. The thought of the Balloon man changes when he is described as “queer” at this point of time the children are starting to experience their awakenings and it’s weird and odd to them (line 11). In the first three stanzas happier words are used to display the children’s excitement about growing up. The description of the puddles left over by the snow are combined with lighter and positive words, “mud-luscious” and “puddle-wonderful” portrays how excited the children are at growing up—at first (lines 2-3 and 10). As the poem progresses less words are used. The progression of simpler words expresses the hesitation of the children.

This mood is supported by mentions of “happy” colors and shades, like “white” and “golden”. While daffodils’ waving points at the windy weather, Wordsworth focuses only on its pleasant sides. The author described the beauty of waving flowers and did not say anything about the discomfort the wind could cause to the narrator. He showed daffodils sank deep into the character’s heart and tried to express these feelings with the maximum accuracy. “When on my couch I lie… they flash upon that inward eye” (Wordsworth l. 19, 21), the narrator can return to this pleasant experience whenever he wants. The tone is supported by the song-like rhythm, quite short lines and combinations of sounds. For example, Wordsworth used the consonance and alliteration in phrases like “golden daffodils” or “beside the lake, beneath the trees”, where consonant sounds “d”, “b” and “th” repeat respectively. Such repetitions make it easier to read the

The background of the poem sets a scene in which, we are introduced with an itinerant passing through the snow covered forest on the darkest evening maybe it’s the month of December, as he says that it’s the darkest evening of the year. He is lonely traveler though his horse is with him. There’s a lake between the forest and his destination. The snow is falling up from the sky. That gives the idea of a serene and beautiful sight. In the end we can say that it’s a panorama of life symbolically represented in the form of this beautifully poem “Stopping by woods on a Snowy Evening”.

communing in the present with her memories. The most prominent group of poems, and the one from which Jennings has selected the largest number for Collected Poems (1986), consists of nostalgic evocations of an idealized childhood. In these poems, childhood is presented through selected aspects of it which relate the child protagonist to the adult speaker through their mutual interest in words and language, form and ritual, and through their faith in spiritual reality. In other poems, Jennings reflects on her own use of images from nature to give formal expression to personal experience, on her consciousness of the “the passion, possession and betrayal” associated with love, and on “Memories of Rome.”

Summary: This poem has Beautiful Imagery, I believe it is describing someone daydreaming, and dreaming about rolling hills of flowing flowers and sparkling stars.

Nevertheless the processes of these poems remind imaginative and mental fulfillment of or freedom from these longings. According to Felski writing which is the most isolated activity becomes the means to creation of an ideal intimacy. For Jennings the nearest to mystical release from the pains of post-Oedipal alienation is sometimes the memory’s construction of a lost paradisal freedom associated with childhood as she says in the poem “In this time”: “ We know a way to love ourselves,/Have lost the power that made us lose ourselves./ O let the wind outside blow in again/ And the dust comes and all the children’s voices./Let anything that is not us return./Myths are the memories we have rejected/And legends need the freedom of our minds” (Jennings, TCP