In Robert Herrick’s poem ‘Corinna’s going a Maying’, the male protagonist is effectively courting a young woman, and is currently trying to remove her from their bed to experience the day. In the given stanza, the speaker is focusing the attention on Corinna, asking her to look at her life and judge what is meaningful. There are stylized elements of poetic tradition in this piece, including the use of charms and riddles. A charm is similar to a lullaby; it exists to turn the mind off, while a riddle is challenging; it pushes the mind and asks us to think outside the box. The use of charms within the stanza is found through repetition, rhyme and the rhythm or sound of the stanza. Herrick uses repetition specifically with the verb “come” …show more content…
Furthermore it rounds the stanza out, concluding his point of view. Rhyming, another component of charm, can be found in the stanza at the end of each double line: “… while we are in our prime… follie of the time,” (ll. 57, 58). The stanza attains a rhyme scheme of AABCDDEEFFGGHH. The use of this scheme helps the poem to flow, causing it to be smooth to read. You are virtually able to sing along to the poem due to the predictable sound. This allows the reader to focus on the words and their meanings, instead of being lost in the rhyme scheme. It also draws focus when the scheme is broken, such as line three and four of the stanza. Here Herrick does not continue the scheme, which in turn draws your attention to the use of two words: “Die” (l. 59) and “Liberty” (l. 60). This in turn forces the reader, and Corinna, to …show more content…
Herrick uses similes’ to establish the popular pastoral nature imagery of the time. He states, “… our days run/ as fast away as do’s the Sunne” (ll. 61, 62). Since the movement of the sun technically judges our day, it’s somewhat obvious, but it highlights the connection of the passing natural world and the couples own inevitable death; their youth may escape them. He goes on to use a metaphor for the shortness of life, ‘and as a vapour, or a drop ofraine’ (l. 63): once a physical being on this earth, soon gone forever. These examples of similes and metaphors enforce the nature imagery this pastoral poem is proud to boast. However, in line sixty-five and sixty-six this imagery is flipped on its’ head. Herrick connects the natural world to that of the supernatural; “So when you or I are made… a fable, song, or fleeting shade,” (ll. 65, 66). He is stating that their physical beings will be gone, and all that will remain will be their ghosts. Soon both characters will be nothing, pulled to the world of the unknown; like a raindrop evaporating into thin air. This knowledge also comes with the loss of all earthly pleasures, of which they both thoroughly
As Wendy Martin says “the poem leaves the reader with painful impression of a woman in her mid-fifties, who having lost her domestic comforts is left to struggle with despair. Although her loss is mitigated by the promise of the greater rewards of heaven, the experience is deeply tragic.” (75)
Having said its convoluted attitude went towards desire. Rhyme is another poetic device that was mainly used in this poem. Rhyme is when the concluding sound of two or supplementary words sound alike/same. For every other stanza made in this reading it is a rhyme being used. About, in line 1-3 it was quoted “self- chosen snare” “dregs of scattered thought” then “cradle of causeless care.
The last effect of this unusual stanza is to create a turning point within the poem. The turning point starts in the final rhyming couplet of the fifth stanza where the pace is reduced by the use of alliteration and the trimetric line.
The poem’s stanza was not constructed by the number of lines, unlike other poem styles. Instead, the stanzas are based upon the thought and content. Meaning, Waniek started and ended the stanzas where she saw fit, rather than a specific format. It allowed her to have one on each thought, and which made the most sense. There was also a strong use of imagery throughout the poem.
Throughout ‘At Mornington’, Harwood uses descriptions, “night fell”, and similes, “the piece of this day will shine like light” when referring to the power of memory. During ‘The Violets’, Harwood uses imagery such as “ambiguous light” and metaphors such as “unreturning light” and “blurring darkness” to portray time’s ability to pass, and the way that you cannot regain time that is lost. During ‘The Violets’, Harwood also uses the metaphor of the “melting west” to represent a closing day, capturing the vivid colours of the natural phenomenon through the use of evocative imagery. Indeed, the second poem of the diptych of ‘Father and Child’ is ‘Nightfall’. These references to darkness, light and the closing of days can all be seen as symbolic of life, death and the transience of time, as when one day ends and night falls, the transience of that moment will be held in one’s memory regardless of the moment never being able to be relived.
The poem also uses end rhyme to add a certain rhythm to the poem as a whole. And the scheme he employs: aabbc, aabd, aabbad. End rhyme, in this poem, serves to effectively pull the reader through to the end of the poem. By pairing it with lines restricted to eight syllables. The narrator creates an almost nursery-rhyme like rhythm. In his third stanza however, his last line, cutting short of eight syllables, stands with an emphatic four syllables. Again, in the last stanza, he utilizes the same technique for the last line of the poem. The narrator’s awareness of rhyme and syllable structure provides the perfect bone structure for his poem’s rhythm.
She also presents a slight rhythm to the reading that allows for smooth reading. In keeping with her open form, there is no set scheme to the rhyme pattern. However, there is a single ending sound constantly repeated without a set pattern throughout the work. She also connects pairs of lines at random just for the sake of making connections to make that particular stanza flow. At the same time, she chose blatantly not to rhyme in certain parts to catch the reader’s attention.
The poem, “Po’ Boy Blues” uses rhyme in the fourth and sixth lines of each stanza.
The last words on each line all rhymes together, and you can tell that the author didn't just put any word down just so it can rhyme, they all made sense together.
Herrick was very successful in conveying the key elements of human nature by expressing them through the themes, grief, environmental influence and coming of age. The poetic techniques Herrick used to explore these themes are clearly shown throughout his verse
This can be seen in the poem “Brothers and Sisters” in which the literal and figurative levels of reality are joined. Wright does this through the use of pathetic fallacy, ensuring that she moves beyond simple description, to show that every aspect of the siblings’ lives is reflective of the environment that they live in. This is represented in the metaphor ‘the road turned out to be a cul-de sac, stopped like a lost intention”. Wright implies that the dead end of the street is reflective of the lack of fertility both in and outside the house, there is no movement forwards as the lives of those within it have ceased, the siblings are unmarried with no children, thus there is no new life being created. Wright has done this to ensure that that audience is aware of this process, rather than providing simple descriptions which can often be misleading. Neither the surrounding environment or the siblings are taking part in the evolutionary process of creating life, this sense of fruitless passing of time is furthered through the employment of the simile “years grew like grass and leaves” suggesting, although hindered there is an emotional connection present. By representing their lives as slow- growing and little- moving it continues to showcase the similarities between the landscape and its inhabitants, demonstrating that the environment grows old just as they do. Yet another representation of the landscape within the characters is seen in the inevitability of death, for the landscape and its inhabitants. This can be seen through the use of direct speech “There is nothing to be afraid of. Nothing at all”. This repetitive reassurance demonstrates their fear of death and the destructive nature of it, as witnessed in the landscape. The irony here is that with each
In the beginning of the short story, as Brother reflects on Doodle’s life, the author uses personification and foreshadowing to create a mood of remorse. As he gazes out of the window into his backyard, Brother states that “the graveyard flowers were blooming. ...speaking softly the names of our dead” (Hurst 1). The flowers provide flashbacks of the past, and foreshadow a loss of life. The loneliness felt by Brother causes readers to consider how they would feel if their loved one was gone. As Brother observes the seasons, it is noted that “summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born” (Hurst 1). The personifications of the seasons as stages in the cycle of life and death creates an unsure and uncertain mood. The shift between seasons creates an idea of change and uncertainty of events to come. Hurst creates a mood of remorse through
One of the first things you notice is the usage of an almost perfect rhyme scheme. Dunbar uses this frequently through the entire poem, using the AABB method. I personally think that Dunbar uses this to fit in well with other poems, so peers understand that it is, in fact, a poem.
. . 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
Rhyme is found all throughout the poem and has a huge effect on the reader. Blake used rhyme and detail to create some more wicked thoughts of the Tyger in the readers mind. Each stanza is made up of two couplets. Because these couplets keep a steady going rhyme, we