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Analysis on ode to a nightingale
Critical analysis of ode to nightingale
Critical analysis of ode to nightingale
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Percy Shelley’s To a Sky-Lark and John Keats ' Ode to a Nightingale are two poems that have applied nature, specifically birds, to convey their messages. In Shelly’s poem, the speaker refers to the skylark as ‘blithe Spirit’. The capital S in the word spirit demands extra attention to the word spirit. The speaker also states that the skylark in reality is not a bird, but something that comes ‘from heaven, or near it.’ This reference indicates that the speaker thinks of the skylark as a godly creature. This also reflects the reality that although God and angels are unseen, people still believe in them. The skylark in the poem is unseen although the speaker is aware that it is there because he can hear its ‘shrill delight.’ The message conveyed in this use of nature is that it is critical to believe in unseen phenomena like the existence of God (Enright & de Chickera, 1963). In the same respect, Keats ' Ode to a Nightingale starts with a description of his predicaments. He states, ‘My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains’ indicating that the pain is personal because he makes use of the word ‘my.’ The speaker makes conversation with the nightingale. He indicates that he is not jealous of the bird …show more content…
The writer bases his work on these elements to create intense emotions of romance. William Blake uses the concept of the exotic in “The Garden of Love” through symbolism. In the poem, the writer describes a garden he used to love and play in when he was a child, but now its beauty has been destroyed by a chapel established there. "I went to the Garden of Love….and I saw it was filled with graves, And tombstones where flowers should be" (2). The writer compares life and death using flowers and graves, the garden, as well as a chapel. Whereas we expect a church and priests to represent life, in this case, they show restriction and a form of
The tile of the poem “Bird” is simple and leads the reader smoothly into the body of the poem, which is contained in a single stanza of twenty lines. Laux immediately begins to describe a red-breasted bird trying to break into her home. She writes, “She tests a low branch, violet blossoms/swaying beside her” and it is interesting to note that Laux refers to the bird as being female (Laux 212). This is the first clue that the bird is a symbol for someone, or a group of people (women). The use of a bird in poetry often signifies freedom, and Laux’s use of the female bird implies female freedom and independence. She follows with an interesting image of the bird’s “beak and breast/held back, claws raking at the pan” and this conjures a mental picture of a bird who is flying not head first into a window, but almost holding herself back even as she flies forward (Laux 212). This makes the bird seem stubborn, and follows with the theme of the independent female.
Rowland, Beryl. Birds With Human Souls, A Guide to Bird Symbolism. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1978.
Keats’ poetry explores many issues and themes, accompanied by language and technique that clearly demonstrates the romantic era. His poems ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ and ‘Bright Star’ examine themes such as mortality and idealism of love. Mortality were common themes that were presented in these poems as Keats’ has used his imagination in order to touch each of the five senses. He also explores the idea that the nightingale’s song allows Keats to travel in a world of beauty. Keats draws from mythology and christianity to further develop these ideas. Keats’ wrote ‘Ode To A Nightingale’ as an immortal bird’s song that enabled him to escape reality and live only to admire the beauty of nature around him. ‘Bright Star’ also discusses the immortal as Keats shows a sense of yearning to be like a star in it’s steadfast abilities. The visual representation reveal these ideas as each image reflects Keats’ obsession with nature and how through this mindset he was able
The garden is the vehicle in which the narrator reveals her reluctance to leave behind the imaginary world of childhood and see the realities of the adult world. The evidence supporting this interpretation is the imagery of hiding. The narrator uses the garden to hide from reality and the changes of growing up. When she no longer can hide from reality, she tries to hide from herself, which leaves her feeling disillusioned and unsure of who she is.
The diction surrounding this alteration enhances the change in attitude from self-loath to outer-disgust, such as in lines 8 through 13, which read, “The sky/ was dramatic with great straggling V’s/ of geese streaming south, mare’s tails above them./ Their trumpeting made us look up and around./ The course sloped into salt marshes,/ and this seemed to cause the abundance of birds.” No longer does he use nature as symbolism of himself; instead he spills blame upon it and deters it from himself. The diction in the lines detailing the new birds he witnesses places nature once more outside of his correlation, as lines 14 through 18 read, “As if out of the Bible/ or science fiction,/ a cloud appeared, a cloud of dots/ like iron filings, which a magnet/ underneath the paper
Wallace Stevens is not an easy poet to understand. His work is purposely twisted and tangled so one is forced to thing-whether they want to or not. Stevens’ poetry ranges from real life situations to situations which are simply a depiction of his imagination. One thing can be concluded though, Stevens does not allow his work to have a single meaning. Why should he? This is the upmost quality that makes his stand out from his competitors in the poetic industry. An interesting theme though which Wallace truly enjoys writing about, in all seriousness, is something thought provoking- perception. The book definition of perception is “appending [something] by the means of senses or the mind” . In his poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”, Stevens offers multiple definitions of this single concept. It just depends on what the reader can decipher from thirteen parts consisting of short verses.
In ‘All the Pretty Horses’ Luis states ‘among men there was no such communion as among horses and the notion that men can be understood at all was probably an illusion’, by this he means the relationship man has with nature is totally unique, it is sacred; the relationship between men is a misapprehension. In some respects the reader may agree with the statement because it is true, man’s relationship with animals and nature is fairly simple compared to man’s relationship amongst each other which is far more complex due to conflict of opinion and other complications. John Grady Cole’s relationship with Alejandra faced much turmoil and complication, one of the biggest issues they faced was the fact Alejandra’s family condemned their relationship and forbid her to be with him. To a certain extent John’s romance with Alejandra mirrors Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in respects to their forbidden love, however their story does not end in tragedy. Wordsworth shows nature to be more of a companion for man in ‘The Solitary Reaper’. The woman reaps the crops alone in the field singing with a voice so ‘thrilling’ it resonates ‘Long after it was heard no more’. Although she is lonely, she is wholly reliant upon the sustenance she receives and the relationship she has with nature. The poet proceeds to compare her to the Cuckoo and the Nightingale stating ‘No Nightingale did ever chaunt more welcome notes to weary bands’ being compared to birds with such beautiful song surely displays her oneness with nature. Unlike the ‘maiden’ Victor tries to control and dominate nature, this resentment could stem from the fact his mother died of the fever, making him go to extreme lengths in constructing this figure from different body parts to create a cre...
The purpose of the sorrowful imagery in "The Garden of Love" was to create a negative mood and the purpose of the love-filled diction was to create a positive mood, but to take it one step further one must ask what the purpose of establishing these contrasting moods in each poem? "The Garden of Love" contains depressing images and has a gloomy mood to portray hell as the epitome of depression and negativity whereas "The Shepherd" contrasts this setting by using friendly diction to create a joyful mood to portray heaven as the quintessence of joy and peace.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (New International Version). Love, pain and sacrifice are the main themes in one of the bible’s most quoted passages found in 1 John 4:10. These three themes, are arguably the main themes of the new testament of The Bible which focuses on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for his love to the people. Love, pain and sacrifice are also among the most prominent themes in Oscar Wilde’s “The Nightingale and the Rose.” Having even the most basic knowledge of the story of Jesus Christ, it is inevitable for one to recognize the religious significance that this story offers to its readers. Throughout the story, Wilde makes various references to
In these poems and many others, Dylan Thomas expresses God’s presence and unconditional love for everyone. He has conventional spiritual views, occasionally alluding to the Bible, but his images are unique. He describes heaven with the stars and the wind, and connects God with thunder, rainbows, and gravel. Using the motion and life on the earth, Dylan Thomas facilitates these concrete ideas to describe his abstract spiritual beliefs. Nature is an ideal way to describe God because He is present everywhere on our earth. Whether it be the soul’s redemption into heaven with God and the earth or God’s great force that creates all motion on the planet, His presence is the theme that Dylan Thomas expresses best of all of his poetry.
Hopkins writes about God’s creations through nature. This poem describes his wonder and respect at the creation of such an extraordinary and ever changing course that is nature “All things counter, original, spare, strange;” Hopkins sees things as different and unique, but still sees the beauty that lies behind this. He manages to bring our senses to life, making us imagine beautiful things by showing us that all things no matter how different they are that they are still made by the one God. He doesn’t need extra words to describe something. His words are simple and create a realistic picture of what we think is beautiful. This creates a tone to the poem. When I read the poem I could see that Hopkins was awed and astounded by nature and was above all grateful for this glorious gift from God. He praises God in a very subtle manner, right until the end.
bird as the metaphor of the poem to get the message of the poem across
In the first stanza, the word choice associated with Christianity is dark and desolate, but the diction associated with nature is rife and bright. As the woman contemplates her absence from church, the responsibility of attending church every sunday is depicted as a “dark / Encroachment” and Christ’s death -- the centerpiece of Christian faith -- as an “old catastrophe” (Stevens 5-6). The darkness is then relieved quickly by the “pungent oranges,” and “bright green wings” (Stevens 8) which describes the natural beauties of the oranges on her plate and her pet cockatoo. When contrasted from the negative connotations of “dark, / Encroachments” and “catastrophe,” The lustrous vocabulary “pungent” and “bright” emphasizes the alluring natural objects to affect the audience in a way that nature’s beauty is a rightful place to find paradise and happiness in the world. Similarly, Freelance writer and English Literature teacher Laura Kryhoski analyzes Stevens’ work as an “interesting dichotomy” between the Christian faith and Nature’s ability to create religious fulfilment. Kryhoski states that choice of words used to depict Christianity invoke non-tangible concepts and connote to being “rather dreamy, haunting visions.” However, the speaker justifies paradise in nature as “more practical” and “[a source] of spiritual comfort.” While Christianity is depicted as dark, unrealistic, and
... the reader understand the meaning that is behind it, like so “the poem concludes by asking rhetorically whether its listeners now understand the truths produced by both birds and poetry” (SparkNotes Editors). Besides nature being compared from birds a deeper meaning is behind this symbol and this is “art produces soothing, truthful sounds” (SparkNotes Editors) just like the soothing sounds from a bird that anyone can enjoy.
“A Bird came down the Walk,” was written in c. 1862 by Emily Dickinson, who was born in 1830 and died in 1886. This easy to understand and timeless poem provides readers with an understanding of the author’s appreciation for nature. Although the poem continues to be read over one hundred years after it was written, there is little sense of the time period within which it was composed. The title and first line, “A Bird came down the Walk,” describes a common familiar observation, but even more so, it demonstrates how its author’s creative ability and artistic use of words are able to transform this everyday event into a picture that results in an awareness of how the beauty in nature can be found in simple observations. In a step like narrative, the poet illustrates the direct relationship between nature and humans. The verse consists of five stanzas that can be broken up into two sections. In the first section, the bird is eating a worm, takes notice of a human in close proximity and essentially becomes frightened. These three stanzas can easily be swapped around because they, for all intents and purposes, describe three events that are able to occur in any order. Dickinson uses these first three stanzas to establish the tone; the tone is established from the poet’s literal description and her interpretive expression of the bird’s actions. The second section describes the narrator feeding the bird some crumbs, the bird’s response and its departure, which Dickinson uses to elaborately illustrate the bird’s immediate escape. The last two stanzas demonstrate the effect of human interaction on nature and more specifically, this little bird, so these stanzas must remain in the specific order they are presented. Whereas most ...