“Sestina” by Algernon Charles Swinburne’s is about how quick life goes by and how abruptly death appears. It is, of course, a Sestina which has six stanzas with six lines and ends with three lines. This Sestina has an a and b rhyme scheme, meaning that every other line’s last word rhymes. An example of the a and b rhyme scheme is “day” the last word in the first line and “way” the last word in the third line, or “Night” the last word in the second line and “light” the last of the fourth line.
The main way the poem gets its point across is with imagery. Swinburne starts his poem with imagery saying, “I saw my soul at rest upon a day / As a bird sleeping in the nest of night,” (Lines 1-2). Right away he uses Imagery and a simile to paint a
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picture of his soul as if it is a bird resting. It’s important to notice that he uses both day and night when talking about his soul it’s an important sub message in his bigger picture. The main point of the poem is made clear in the fourth stanza Swinburne says, "What place shall be for any starry light, / What part of heaven in all the wide sun's way"(Line 23-24)? This question saying if you focus all your time searching for heaven in the sun’s horizon then are you not wasting the time under the stars? He’s trying to make clear that you should live every second of life to the fullest while you still can. Throughout the whole poem, Swinburne uses his comparison that includes both day and night to inspire the reader to live life to the fullest always. The following lines from toward the end of the poem show how he keeps this up, "But be his place of pain or of delight, / There shall he dwell, beholding night as day"(Line 35-36). He is once again talking about his soul who holds the night to the same standards as most do the day. The poem itself is from the point of view of someone who does not have much more time left to live. It is a warning to the reader to take advantage of every second of life both during the day and night. Told through the imagery of both his soul and a bird. The second poem is “Rain” by Edward Thomas. This poem is a blank verse poem that has no rhyme but does have a meter. It uses a lot of repetition and the constant usage of the imagery of rain. It’s also told in the form of a first-person monolog. Making the feelings of fear and frustration clear to the reader. In this poem, the speaker is laying down and listening to the rain fall around him. He opens the poem “Rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain” (Line 1). Describing the rain storm in a simple and obvious way different than most poems that use the imagery in rain to show their sadness. None the less though the poem is still one with a sad and melancholy tone. In total rain is used eight times within the eighteen-line poem. The repetition keeps the reader constantly thinking about and picturing the rain. The constant use of rain also keeps the melancholy tone prevalent while the enjambment keeps the poem constantly flowing like the flow of the speaker and the constant downpour of rain. His next line is “On this bleak hut, and solitude, and me” (Line 2). Opening the scene of the poem to where the speaker resides the words bleak and solitude suggest an empty and sad setting and tone, where he is the center. He then reaches an epiphany that though he is safe now he too will someday die. He says this about when he does die, “And neither hear the rain nor give it thanks / For washing me cleaner than I’ve ever been” (Lines 4-5). Which is the speaker saying that death happens brusquely with no time to stop and say thanks to all the little things, or even the big things like the rain which he is using to mean ablution. Cleansing him like a blessing of sorts. He then circles back to his feelings of isolation when he talks about how the rain washes him as clean as he was at birth.
Saying he was “…born into this solitude” (Line 6). He then once again brings up the cleansing power of rain by saying those who die in it are blessed like the rain absolves them of sin.
He then says while dying in the rain would clean you of your sins, he prays no one he’s ever loved is dying tonight. He is most likely talking about soldiers at war because he goes on to say, “Like a cold water among broken reeds, / Myriads of broken reeds all still in stiff,” (Lines 13-14). He’s description the countless numbers of “broken reeds” in the water as “still in stiff” leading you to believe they are not really “reeds” on a cold water but bodies in a field.
Toward the end, he tries to show his empathy with the fallen soldiers and those who loved them. He says the rain had also “dissolved” someone he’s loved. This changing the imagery of rain from a storm that’s simply cleansing everything to a storm of destruction. It’s like the rain has changed from something he almost admired to something who stole something precious from him. With that line, he changes the rain from something romanticized, to something that matches his tone throughout the poem. Rain becomes something that dissolves one soul, happiness, and loved
ones. He says the rain has dissolved everything but his ‘love of death” (Line 16). That the rain has left him with nothing but a wish to be out of this rainy world, not actually death itself but an escape from the rain. His love is now him reaching towards “perfect” (Line 17) and since his love is that of death his definition of perfect in fact death. He ends the poem by saying this rain has given him a glimpse of this death and it’s disappointing. It’s bleak like the “cold water” (line 13) it’s without life. Yet he is ok with it because he no longer must deal with the “rain.” These poems both use imagery to get their point across more clearly. The poem “Sestina” by Swinburne’s uses imagery to personify his soul while also using the bird’s actions to highlight ideas of life. While in “Rain” by Thomas uses the imagery of the rain to convey a tone and emotion while also using its falling and cleansing actions to personify it into something much more. They both also share a theme with the subject of life and death. The first poems focus on the positives and seizing the day before it’s too late. While the second poem focuses on how life can slowly dissolve one’s self and death while bleak can be a blessing. These two poems have very different views one the same subject but both use imagery as a main tool for getting their points across.
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker starts by telling the reader the place, time and activity he is doing, stating that he saw something that he will always remember. His description of his view is explained through simile for example “Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets of their branches” (Updike), captivating the reader’s attention
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...o be correct. Hemingway uses rain as a sign of death, sadness or to give one of his characters the state of being afraid. The despair brought by rain, Frederic says „ good-bye to [Catherine], and then „[leaves] the hospital and walk[s] back to the hotel in the rain". The rain described as he walks home represents again a cleansing in which Tenente will be forced to start a whole new life now.
At the beginning of the song in the lines, “I want you as you are not as you ought to be, Won’t you lay down your guard and come to me,” Hawk Nelson relates how people should stop striving to reach perfectionism. No one existing on this earth at any point in time (except Jesus) can live without sin; rather, they can seek forgiveness from God and accept his everlasting love. “Drops in the Ocean” suggests that God always stands with his arms opened wide, waiting for His people to repent and come to Him for forgiveness, grace, and redemption, for only through repentance can anyone fully experience the greatness and power of His grace and love. Likewise, the most prominent part of the song, the chorus, reminds listeners of the greatest love ever shown and the greatest gift ever given to mankind. In addition to their stated meaning, the lines “If you could count the times I’d say you are forgiven, It’s more than the drops in the ocean…” also imply that God’s love surpasses the size of the ocean and suggest that He washes away the stains of sins like water cleansing the unclean. Within these lyrics lies a significant truth about God’s love: no matter what, it lasts forever. Hence, the infinite number of “drops in the ocean” represents the infinite number of times that God forgives—His love knows no limits. Overall, Hawk Nelson emphasizes God’s love in “Drops in the Ocean” and this theme plays
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... life and how it has been touched by death. It also resembles how it will be his time to die as well sooner or later and how he will not be afraid to accept it and not turn back. The bird leads him to believe that he is walking to his death and that the white tail feather is telling him to surrender and not turn back, but in the end he doesn’t. Robert Frost was influenced by the country side of New England where he spent most of his life. Frost loved the rural life, nature and used simple and natural patterns of speech in his poetry. The subjects of his writings were also very simple just like his life in New England. Despite the simplicity of his poems they were also a universal representations of common situations. He had perfect meters and rhyme and his poetic images were great even though the simplicity of his style which classifies him among the greatest poets.
The poem uses powerful language to achieve effect. It often makes use of imagery, exaggerated language and onomatopoeia to create an atmosphere of the English autumn, for the reader. Language such as this excerpt from the first stanza,
bird as the metaphor of the poem to get the message of the poem across
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