A Comparative Exploration of Nature and Love in "From Blossoms" and "Ithaca" Within the realm of poetry, the human experience is often depicted through the lens of nature and love, two intertwined themes that evoke profound emotions and reflections. In the case of Li-Young Lee's "From Blossoms" and Louise Glück's "Ithaca," these themes are masterfully explored, each poem offering a unique perspective on the complexities of existence. While Lee celebrates the sensory richness of nature and the fleeting beauty of life, Glück delves into the transformative power of love and its ability to shape one's perception of reality. Despite their differing approaches, both poets converge in their exploration of the human condition, inviting readers to contemplate …show more content…
Through these contrasting portrayals, both poets highlight the multifaceted nature of human experience and the intricate connections between humanity and the natural world. In "Ithaca," Glück delves into the transformative power of love through the metaphor of the loom. The beloved exists not merely as a physical entity, but as an ethereal image woven by the woman working the loom. Love transcends mortal boundaries, transforming the shroud into a symbol of union rather than separation. Through the act of weaving, Glück suggests that love can reshape our understanding of reality, blurring the lines between life and death. The poem challenges readers to confront the ephemeral nature of existence and the transformative potential of love in shaping one's perception of reality. Conversely, in "From Blossoms," Lee celebrates the sensory delights of nature and the joy found in embracing the present moment. The poem's imagery of "There are days we live / as if death were nowhere" underscores a profound appreciation for life's fleeting nature, highlighting the transformative potential of fully immersing oneself in the
Therefore, Oliver’s incorporation of imagery, setting, and mood to control the perspective of her own poem, as well as to further build the contrast she establishes through the speaker, serves a critical role in creating the lesson of the work. Oliver’s poem essentially gives the poet an ultimatum; either he can go to the “cave behind all that / jubilation” (10-11) produced by a waterfall to “drip with despair” (14) without disturbing the world with his misery, or, instead, he can mimic the thrush who sings its poetry from a “green branch” (15) on which the “passing foil of the water” (16) gently brushes its feathers. The contrast between these two images is quite pronounced, and the intention of such description is to persuade the audience by setting their mood towards the two poets to match that of the speaker. The most apparent difference between these two depictions is the gracelessness of the first versus the gracefulness of the second. Within the poem’s content, the setting has been skillfully intertwined with both imagery and mood to create an understanding of the two poets, whose surroundings characterize them. The poet stands alone in a cave “to cry aloud for [his] / mistakes” while the thrush shares its beautiful and lovely music with the world (1-2). As such, the overall function of these three elements within the poem is to portray the
Time is equated with constant decay throughout the entire poem, which is primarily shown in the speaker’s comparison of the concept of eternity to a desert. Love, and other concepts felt in life, are subject to this negative force of deconstruction over time, and are vanquished in death; this idea can be seen in the witty commentary at the end of the second stanza, “the grave’s a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace”
This duality is concealed within a character because the darkness(truth) conflicts with the light(dreams/hopes) when we hold onto our desire to unite ourselves with our true lover. The author reveals that the light of the “sunset” represents the strength, by illuminating that days are going by, but the true lover still sticks to their strength. The author portrays darkness through the “death” of the“lilacs” representing the inevitable truth that one has to face when holding onto their desire to meet their true love. Parker illustrates that one whose “eyes are deep with yearning”, will persist to their strength until their determination does not overcome the obstacles preventing one from accessing true love, embracing love as a natural and beautiful thing. “Deep” represents her strength and “yearning” is symbolic of her desire to meet her husband. “Yearning” adds a sense of beauty and “deep” illuminates a depth to her strength and how it can overpower obstacles in her life. The author blends “deep” with “yearning” to enhance and illustrate that when we hold a desire we have to deepen our strength and embrace it to achieve what we aspire. The image of “an old, old, gate” where “the lady wait[s]” emphasizes the idea that her husband’s death is “old”; it occurred many years ago, but
In romantic words, the poet expresses how much she thinks of love. She stated it was clear that she would not trade love for peace in times of anguish. Shift: after line 6 of the poem, there is a shift. In the beginning of the poem, the poet outlines the list of things that love cannot provide for the people who are willing to die. The narrator outlines the basic necessities like food, shelter, and health.
The conceit in line 8, “like an iceberg between the shoulder blades” (line 8), illustrates the briskness death emanates whilst taking the life from the warmth of your body. This ice and fire comparison coaxes the reader to pursue the unwelcoming thought of death as the adverse path to travel by. By no means does Oliver attempt to romanticize the idea of a brief and painless endeavor. Furthermore, the recurrence of cessation illustrated by the “hungry bear in autumn” (2) simile suggests the seasonal regularity death’s toll takes on the living. The presence of frequency characterizes the shift in forbearance to the acceptance of the inevitable. Oliver is caught up in reminiscent thought as she employs worldly imagery to describe life. For example, in lines 15-16 Oliver writes “and I think of each life as a flower, as common / as a field daisy.” This line stands out in the fact that it represents the first occurrence of communal thought. Describing each life as a “flower” in a “field” suggests that life is supposed to be about the people whom you surround yourself with, and less about the solidarity that stems from the notion of darkness. Oliver’s implication of poetry and down-to-earth imagery captures not only the progression of thought, but also her feelings towards the concepts of life and
...nging feeling. The longing feeling is not exclusive to the cherry blossoms, but can be subtly directed towards a person also. Spring brings beauty in the form of the cherry blossoms, but ends with a desire to see it again. Furthermore, life, whether human or natural, is not eternal. It will only go on for so long before it reaches an end. Each season only comes once a year, and everything associated with it will not return till the next year. As a result, the relatively short-lived life is regarded as a reason to appreciate every last bit of beauty in the season however minor or seemingly insignificant. Everything is taken into account and admired. Once it is gone, the only choice is to wait for it to return in a year. Throughout the seasonal sections of the Kokinshū, this connection between natural beauty and the human condition can be seen through the poetry.
A prominent theme throughout Mary Oliver's poems is the appreciation of the natural world and all of its little details. Oliver is renowned for her ability to immerse the reader in the natural world through powerful language and imagery, allowing them to truly appreciate the beauty of nature. Her close observation of nature illustrates her intimate relationship with nature and is exemplified in one her most famous poems "The Summer Day," in which she questions the origins of nature. In this poem, Oliver conveys her love of nature through the speaker, who is not only a passive observer and admirer of nature, but also an active thinker and component of nature. By choosing nature as the poem's center of attention, Oliver is able to depict nature as a beautiful and mystical place, evoking the reader's awe and fascination. This poem is so beautiful because the speaker describes to the reader the lovely little idiosyncrasies that she notices within nature, illustrating how nature is infinitely complex and that even little insects are worthy of appreciation.
The poem says that "since feeling is first" (line 1) the one who pays attention to the meaning of things will never truly embrace. The poem states that it is better to be a fool, or to live by emotions while one is young. The narrator declares that his "blood approves" (line 7) showing that his heart approves of living by feeling, and that the fate of feeling enjoyment is better than one of "wisdom" (line 9) or learning. He tells his "lady" (line 10) not to cry, showing that he is speaking to her. He believes that she can make him feel better than anything he could think of, because her "eyelids" (line 12) say that they are "for each other" (line 13). Then, after all she's said and thought, his "lady" forgets the seriousness of thought and leans into the narrator's arms because life is not a "paragraph" (line 15), meaning that life is brief. The last line in the poem is a statement which means that death is no small thi...
This poem helps us to recognize and appreciate beauty through its dream sequence and symbolism. The poem opens with the Dreamer describing this
These three metaphors exemplify beauty, but also an end to nature and life. Death is slowly creeping up to him and taking over his life as realized in this comparison of him to nature. The poem shows the need to seize the moment in life before death. The last couplet talks about the topic of love and the power of it. Love lasts through the struggles in life, and the changes of seasons. Love of life keeps us from realizing that an end will eventually come. “This thou perciev’st, which makes thy love more strong.” Encompasses the idea that although everything comes to an end, love still fuels everything within a person. He realizes everything will come to an end and death is inevitable but the passion is still
She is known for creating radical novels, which stuck discord in many of its early readers, and writing highly respected sonnets. Similar to Behn, Smith also captures the inner thoughts of not just women, but all human beings in the sonnet “Written at the Close of Spring” and juxtaposes the beauty of the annual spring with the frailty of humanity. In the first stanza of this poem, the speaker uses imagery in order to help readers connect with the beauty and delicacy of spring flowers. In the second stanza, she calls to attention the fact that the spring flowers are dying and, to experience the beauty again, one will have to wait until next spring to enjoy them. In the third stanza, the poem’s focus changes from nature to humanity and asserts that as people age and begins to take part in, “tyrant passion, and corrosive care” (Line 11), youth becomes wasted. The speaker comes to the realization that once youth vanishes, it will forever, unlike the yearly revival of spring. The major fault of this sonnet is that it can be difficult to understand and has several different messages, some of which are not as strong or enlightening as
In both, out of some onomatopoeic words for a bird song and realistic sceneries of nature, the true beauty and ugliness is doubted. While we all suppose spring to be the most beautiful fantastic global fete, the poet shows us a mocking unpleasing view out of that. Or on the other hand he shows us a delicate heartsome scene in the lifeless vapid "Winter."
In “I wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” William Wordsworth accomplishes his ideal of nature by using personification, alliteration, and simile within his poem to convey to the reader how nature’s beauty uplifts his spirits and takes him away from his boring daily routine. Wordsworth relates himself in solidarity to that of a cloud wandering alone, “I wandered lonely as a cloud” (line 1). Comparing the cloud and himself to that of a lonely human in low spirits of isolation, simultaneously the author compares the daffodils he comes across as he “floats on high o’er vales and hills” (line 2) to that of a crowd of people dancing (lines 3-6 and again in 12). Watching and admiring the dancing daffodils as he floats on by relating them to various beauties of
In “Written at the close of Spring,” Smith’s second sonnet, she focuses on the wonderful ability nature has in rejuvenating itself each year. Smith personifies Spring in the way it “nurs’d in dew” its flowers as though it was nursing its own children (“Close of Spring” 2). While it creates life, Spring is not human, because it has this ability to come back after its season has passed. Human beings grow old and die; we lose our “fairy colours” through the abrasive nature of life (“Close of Spring” 12). Smith is mournful that humans cannot be like the flowers of Spring and regain the colors of our lives after each year.
Figurative language is used by William Wordsworth to show the exchange between man and nature. The poet uses various examples of personification throughout the poem. When the poet says:”I wandered lonely as a cloud” (line 1),”when all at once I saw a crowd” (line 3), and “fluttering and dancing in the breeze” (line 6) shows the exchange between the poet and nature since the poet compares himself to a cloud, and compares the daffodils to humans. Moreover, humans connect with God through nature, so the exchange between the speaker and nature led to the connection with God. The pleasant moment of remembering the daffodils does not happen to the poet all time, but he visualizes them only in his “vacant or pensive mode”(line 20). However, the whole poem is full of metaphors describing the isolation of the speaker from society, and experiences the beauty of nature that comforts him. The meta...