“O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being” (I, 1) is the call that the speaker starts the poem with. Evidently, in the very first line of the poem the wind is addressed directly and the reader is immediately introduced to it. In addition, this address is the first typical feature of odes found in the poem. According to Abrams, odes were mostly used to show utmost appreciation of a per¬son or abstract notions (198). Furthermore, an ode is “a long lyric poem that is serious in subject and treatment, elevated in style, and elaborate in its stanzaic structure” (Abrams 198). There are specific poetic tools the poet uses that identify the poem as an ode, particularly form, style, imagery, metaphors and word choice, and these are key aspects …show more content…
Another key figure of this specific poem is the wind, since it is already mentioned in the title. In the poem, the speaker asks the wind to “[d]rive [his] dead thoughts over the universe” (V, 63) and thus spread his ideas. In order to do so, the wind has to be strong and forceful. At the same time, we have certain evidence that the speaker has a political mes¬sage to communicate. This essay will argue that the poem is, in fact, about political change and revolution.
First of all, this essay will look at the West Wind itself, whose power can be seen as the power of revolution. Throughout the poem the wind is addressed as some sort of a higher being that is worthy of praise. It is remarkable, though, that the wind is not immedi¬ately characterised as an obviously perceptible entity. Instead, the description of the wind changes throughout the poem. In the first stanza, the wind is described as invisible: “whose unseen presence” (I, 2) indicates that the wind is hidden, but still there. Simultaneously, the wind is “moving everywhere” (I, 13) and also portrayed as
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In the beginning of the poem the speaker focusses entirely on the wind, whereas towards the end he begins to identify with the West Wind. First, the wind is described as moving “the leaves dead“ (I, 2) and stirring up “[t]he blue Mediterra¬nean” (III, 30). An interpretation of these lines is that the ideas of revolution, represented by both the leaves and the Mediterranean, are lying still and unnoticed, until the revolu¬tionary spirit (the wind) awakens them. It is noteworthy that the speaker is concerned with only the wind and does not bring his wishes into the poem. Afterwards, however, the speaker wishes to accompany the wind on its ways, which is the starting point of his identi¬fication with it, even though he does not fully identify with it yet. He wants to be “a dead leaf” (IV, 43), “a swift cloud” (IV, 44) or “[a] wave” (IV, 45), because all of these are car¬ried by the wind and part of what the wind is bringing along, which means that he some¬how wants to be part of the change. In the very last stanza, the speaker asks the wind to “[m]ake [him his] lyre” (V, 57). He is thus beginning to see himself as a component of the wind, an instrument to fully communicate what the wind stands for. As Haines explains, the speaker is fully identified with the wind; the wind is a part of him and he is a part of the wind (125). We can see this relation where the
This essay is anchored on the goal of looking closer and scrutinizing the said poem. It is divided into subheadings for the discussion of the analysis of each of the poem’s stanzas.
As a way to end his last stanza, the speaker creates an image that surpasses his experiences. When the flock rises, the speaker identifies it as a lady’s gray silk scarf, which the woman has at first chosen, then rejected. As the woman carelessly tosses the scarf toward the chair the casual billow fades from view, like the birds. The last image connects nature with a last object in the poet's
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
The speaker begins the poem an ethereal tone masking the violent nature of her subject matter. The poem is set in the Elysian Fields, a paradise where the souls of the heroic and virtuous were sent (cite). Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and
The poet shows that this simple, pleasant memory and how it re-in-acts his childhood. The way in which the windmills squeaks and groans to bring water from the ground whereas during the period of rain they work in harmony, as the rain comes down. The poem is gentle and nostalgic. It seeks not only to recreate the scene for the reader, but to have the reader feel the day to day struggle of living in the hash Australian outback, the struggle of agriculture during a drought.
In various types of media, there would always be the underlying message that the creator was trying to convey. These messages established themes and were able to connect to people and reveal universal truths on human experiences. In literature, messages can be revealed in many ways such as through characters’ words and actions, through objects that act as symbols, through setting, or through irony. This was seen in the play Inherit the Wind, as many of the themes were able to reveal some of the truths that humans experience today through the words and actions of various characters, and through the objects introduced throughout the play.
..., the content and form has self-deconstructed, resulting in a meaningless reduction/manifestation of repetition. The primary focus of the poem on the death and memory of a man has been sacrificed, leaving only the skeletal membrane of any sort of focus in the poem. The “Dirge” which initially was meant to reflect on the life of the individual has been completely abstracted. The “Dirge” the reader is left with at the end of the poem is one meant for anyone and no one. Just as the internal contradictions in Kenneth Fearing’s poem have eliminated the substantial significance of each isolated concern, the reader is left without not only a resolution, but any particular tangible meaning at all. The form and content of this poem have quite effectively established a powerful modernist statement, ironically contingent on the absence and not the presence of meaning in life.
“We pluck and marvel for sheer joy. And the ones still green, sighing, leave upon the boughs…” (14-16). This emphasis on nature reflects the respect and connection to the natural world the culture was trying to convey in their poetry. The colorful and illustrative descriptions of the physical world are indicative of the mindset and focus of these poems. Namely the fact that they were concerned with the world around us and the reality we experience as opposed to that of abstract concept of god or the supernatural as seen in other historical texts. This focus on nature is important because it sets the context in which the major theme of loss and separation originate from. In this poem the poet chooses to emphasize the passing of time in the choice of comparing the two seasons. Spring, in which life begins a new, and fall, in which the leaves begin to fall off and die. The poem reads “And the ones still green, sighing, leave upon the boughs- Those are the ones I hate to lose. For me, it is the autumn hills” (15-18). This juxtaposition of these two
Can moral obligations be blinded by religious views? For some, the sense of religious pride reigns stronger than the moral belief. In the beginning, citizens of Hillsboro from the novel Inherit The Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, acknowledged religion as something far more valuable than the moral truth. As the novel continues the prosecuting attorney, Matthew Harrison Brady, enters the scene which reveals the prejudice of the courtroom regarding the case of Bertram Cates. When Brady takes on the challenge, the exposure of excessive pride and boasting of recent cases won can be seen as a certain Dramatic Personality Disorder from a medical standpoint. Throughout the novel, more symptoms of the disorder are revealed through Brady, who continuously proves to have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder or otherwise known as NPD.
On the surface the poem seems to be a meditation on past events and actions, a contemplative reflection about what has gone on before. Research into the poem informs us that the poem is written with a sense of irony
The air has a distinct sweetness as even the natural world seems to lead the couple down the road with ‘the honey breathing heather’ that lay to their left and right making it appear as though the air is thick with sweetness. While the repetition of the ‘h’ sound gives the poem an airy quality and reminds the reader of the alliteration of ‘west wind’, again drawing attention to the way the natural world appears to be encouraging the couple. ‘Her swift feet seem to float’, the soft alliteration of the ‘f ‘adds to the feeling of ease and floating while the repetition of the ‘t ‘sound at the end of each word adds to the quickness of the descent as the words are articulated cleanly and smoothly.
The wind seems to be a symbol of hope. Hope that he has entrusted in the form of nature. A hope that maybe he can trust that there is no such thing as a ghost that is lurking around tapping on his widows and chamber doors. The narrator looks for a way to make the wind the source of his problems instead of the potential cause that he is having repercussions from a broken
This poetic device aided the reader to visualize not only how silent and dead the leaves were, but also to perceive the atmosphere of the poem. In the poem “Time Does Not Bring
...t is arguable that the birds fight is also a metaphor, implying the fight exists not only between birds but also in the father’s mind. Finally, the last part confirms the transformation of the parents, from a life-weary attitude to a “moving on” one by contrasting the gloomy and harmonious letter. In addition, readers should consider this changed attitude as a preference of the poet. Within the poem, we would be able to the repetitions of word with same notion. Take the first part of the poem as example, words like death, illness
Gone With the Wind, written by Margaret Mitchell, inaccurately portrays time period during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and Reconstruction Era (1865-1877). Set in Clayton County, Georgia and Atlanta, Mitchell falsely depicts the rise of the feminism through Scarlett O’Hara, for it did not exist at the time. In addition, although she accurately maintains the historical background of the novel by providing details about the war and important figures, the portrayals of several key characters in comparison to those who lived in the actual time period are not realistic. Overall, especially because the novel is written in a biased point of view of