Poetry Comparison on Wordsworth's Lucy and Tennyson's Dark house, by which once more I stand

Poetry Comparison on Wordsworth's Lucy and Tennyson's Dark house, by which once more I stand

Wordsworth's and Tennyson's poems are both about someone who was close

to them and is now gone. However Tennyson uses the physical

surroundings to portray his emotions as well as his own reactions

whereas Wordsworth's poem is less specific and less obvious about his

feelings, focusing his attention on the lost person.

Tennyson's poem is more about himself, "I stand, my heart, Behold me,

for I cannot sleep, I creep". Because he describes his own actions,

the poem is very self absorbed and the reader doesn't get to know

about the person that is now gone. On the other hand, Wordsworth does

focus his attention on the lost person and in fact the whole poem is

about her: only at the end does he refer back to himself, "The

difference to me!"

Both poems use metaphors and produce vivid imagery. Wordsworth

describes Lucy throughout most of the poem whereas Tennyson is focused

on his own feelings and the description of the physical surroundings

is used to mirror these emotions. Here, Wordsworth is describing Lucy

and refers to her as being shy and unique as there were none to

compare her with; the violet being a symbol for a timid personality.

"A violet by a mossy stone

Half hidden by the eye!

Fair as a star, when only one

Is shining in the sky"

Tennyson by contrast doesn't resort to metaphors to describe his

friend. All Tennyson's descriptions are emotive, "Dark house, by which

once more I stand Here in the long unlovely street…And ghastly through

the drizzling rain On the bald street breaks the blank day." he sets

the depre...

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...narrative poem and

more of a description then a sequence of actions like Tennyson's poem.

In comparison, the basic meter in Tennyson's poem is iambic tetrameter

with irregular stresses such as the two long stresses at the

beginning, "Dark house," resulting in a slower and heavy atmosphere

which portrays how he feels. He also uses enjambment rather then

pauses at the end of each line like Wordsworth, as he is narrating his

actions and again producing a gloomy effect.

To conclude, the poems have their similarities but the main difference

is how the emotions are portrayed -Tennyson's furtive behaviour as

well as the morbid surroundings and Wordsworth's subtle description of

Lucy and her life. In the end it is clear that they both feel that

they have lost someone important and it has made a difference to their

lives.