Read the following poem by Edwin Muir from The Faber Book of Beasts (pp.119–20). Then write a short essay of no more than 600 words explaining what the poem is about and consider whether you think the poem is more traditional or dissenting.
The first part of this essay will analyse the meaning of the poem called The Horses, written be Edwin Muir. Initially it would be useful to understand what is meant by traditional and dissenting. Traditional: of, relating, or being tradition,(E. Dictionary, 2006). Dissenting: to have a disagreement or withhold assent, (E. Dictionary, 2006).
Muir, came from an isolated place and lived around two world wars, (b. May 15, 1887, Deerness, Orkney, Scot.—.d Jan. 3, 1959, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Eng), (Encyclopedia, Britannica, 2010). It is a tempting thought that living on a lonely island and through two world wars, heavily influenced him for the poem. Edwin Muir's poem 'The Horses' tells the story of a devastating war on mankind, perhaps that of a nuclear war, that has left the world on the brink of extinction, 'Barely a twelve month after The seven days’ war that put the world to sleep,' (Assignment, Book, 2008).
Muir's poem could be seen to parallel Genesis(Old Testament),(Encyclopedia, Britannica, 2010). A good example of religious connotation of words, the seven days war, covenant, Eden and servitude, in the beginning and our father,' (Assignment, Book, 2008). When, Muir uses the word 'piled' in the sentence 'Dead bodies piled on the deck,' (Assignment, Book, 2008), One has the sensation that the poet wants to show the reader of the depth of disregard for the dead in the poem. It also clearly emphasises the chaos and destruction that the war has brought upon man and that there was no time for the simplest of burials. Muir, in being rhetorical, is showing that the survivors' need for a simpler life a purer life away from the existence of a technology driven society that caused the seven days war. The poem shows a strong sense of irony with, 'Our life is changed; their coming our beginning.' (Assignment Book, 2008).
Muir, has used alliteration and this can be seen in the repeated f in, 'far past our fathers' land,' reinforces how much man has changed and returned to a past way of life and possibly a rhyme for forefathers when reduced to 'far...fathers,' (Assignment, Book, 2008).
As the first poem in the book it sums up the primary focus of the works in its exploration of loss, grieving, and recovery. The questions posed about the nature of God become recurring themes in the following sections, especially One and Four. The symbolism includes the image of earthly possessions sprawled out like gangly dolls, a reference possibly meant to bring about a sense of nostalgia which this poem does quite well. The final lines cement the message that this is about loss and life, the idea that once something is lost, it can no longer belong to anyone anymore brings a sense...
Published in 1944, the poem itself is an elegy, addressing the melancholy and sorrow of wartime death, as indicated by the title ‘Beach Burial’. This title gives clear meaning to the sombre nature of the work, and the enigmatic nature of it holds the attention of the audience. The entirety of the poem is strewn with poetic devices, such as personification of dead sailors as “…they sway and wander in the waters far under”, the words inscribed on their crosses being choked, and the “sob and clubbing of the gunfire” (Slessor). Alliteration is used to great effect in lines such as that describing the soldiers being “bur[ied]…in burrows” and simile in the likening of the epitaph of each seaman to the blue of drowned men’s lips and onomatopoeia is shown in the “purple drips” (Slessor). The predominant mood of the work is ephemeral, with various references to the transient nature of humanity. The ethereal adjectives used to describe and characterise objects within the poem allow a more abstract interpretation of what would normally be concrete in meaning. The rhythm of this piece is markedly similar to the prevalent concept of tidal ebb and flow, with lines falling into an ABCB rhyme scheme and concepts
Justin Morgan was a living legend. Born in 1789, Justin Morgan started life as a small, rough-coated colt known as "Figure." Gradually, the local population began to talk about the feats of "the Justin Morgan horse". Justin Morgan also proved to be one of the greatest breeding horses of all time. While most breeds develop by breeding horses of similar characteristics to each other, Justin Morgan's ability to pass his characteristics to his offspring for generations to come allowed this single stallion to found an entire breed in his likeness. Today, every registered Morgan traces back to Justin Morgan through his best-known sons Bulrush, Sherman, and Woodbury.
In the poem "The Bull Calf" the stanzas go from good to bad feeling. This is the same way that the calf's life goes. This is also the way that the narrator's feelings for the calf's life go. There are also many symbols throughout the poem. Without these deeper meanings the poem is just about a calf the dies because it can't produce any milk.
Another technique used by both poets to characterize their animals is imagery. In "Hawk Ro...
Strand, Mark and Evan Boland. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. New
This gives the effect that although there is mass devastation, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, in this case for the eagle, the leftover remains of a carcass. However, as seen throughout the poem this isn’t the case for everyone and everything as the dead or dying clearly outnumber those prospering from the drought. This further adds to the miserable and discouraging mood of the poem. Other poetic devices are also used during the course of the
Examining the formal qualities of Homer Watson’s painting Horse and Rider In A Landscape was quite interesting. I chose to analyze this piece as apposed to the others because it was the piece I liked the least, therefore making me analyze it more closely and discover other aspects of the work, besides aesthetics.
An individual’s ‘Sense of Place’ is predominantly their place of belonging and acceptance in the world, may it be through a strong physical, emotional or spiritual connection. In Tim Winton’s novel ‘The Riders”, the concept of Sense of Place is explored through the desperate journey of its protagonist, Fred Scully. Scully’s elaborate search for identity throughout the novel is guided and influenced by the compulsive love he feels for his wife Jennifer and their family morals, the intensity of hope and the destruction it can cause and the nostalgic nature of Winton’s writing. Two quotes which reflect the ideals of a person’s Sense of Place are “Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him.’(Aldous Huxley) and “It is not down in any map. True places never are.” (Herman Melville). Huxley and Melville’s statements closely resemble Fred Scully’s journey and rectify some of his motivations throughout the text.
Alliteration. Alliteration is the repetition of the first sounds of words to connect the half-lines of Anglo-Saxon lyric poetry. An example of alliteration in The Wanderer is "Fettered my feelings, far from my kin." The sound of "f" is repeated four times in fettered, feelings, far, and from. The author has a change of feelings far from his family . He is no longer surrounded by them, times have changed and he no longer has them. He can not feel the same way about them as he used to when they were physically with
A metrical composition; a composition in verse written in certain measures, whether in blank verse or in rhyme, and characterized by imagination and poetic diction; contradistinguished from prose; as, the poems of Homer or of Milton. This is but one of Webster 's definitions of a poem. Using this definition of “poem,” this paper will compare and contrast three different poems written by three different poets; William Shakespeare 's Sonnets 116, George Herbert’s Easter Wings and Sir Thomas Wyatt’s Whoso List to Hunt.
In Kurt Vonnegut’s two short stories, ‘All the Kings Horses’ and ‘Manned Missiles’, he tried to reflect on the actual international backdrops of the time the stories were based on, in two different ways. While both stories reflected on the events that took place during the Cold War, the author managed to portray the actors involved the United States and Russia, in different ways in order to show the historical implications the stories had, and how it could be related back to that time period. Even though the stories had certain similarities like the actors involved and the time period it was based on, it also differed in the way the actors were portrayed and how they impacted the Cold war.
“Grass” by Carl Sanburg is a free verse poem that emphasizes war and the immortality of nature. The poem is about how grass commands humans to pile up the bodies high from the battles. As time passes and humans come and go, the speaker remains, constantly covering up the deceased. Throughout the entire poem, the speaker remains unsympathetic towards humanity and almost seems to carry a voice of irritation. The personification of grass and the allusions made to battles are used to express nature as a divine being, covering up the casualties of human intervention.
The structure is very short sentences that are packed full of strong meaningful imagery. Each stanza had at least one sentence that is repeated to give the importance of each piece of history. “Let me work”(2,6,11) is in this short poem three times to show that no matter all the horrifying things that can be buried in the soft green grass, and it will always rise about or ever through those things to give a peaceful green glow. The “pile” in the poem is a verb and not a noun because of the destruction of human life, it is an action to throw all these deceased people onto of each other until they have a large enough place to lay them to rest. This poem is constructed to be a short but powerful dagger to cut deeply into anyone who has read it.
Elegy in a Country Courtyard, by Thomas Gray, can be looked at through two different methods. First the Dialogical Approach, which covers the ability of the language of the text to address someone without the consciousness that the exchange of language between the speaker and addressee occurs. (HCAL, 349) The second method is the Formalistic Approach, which allows the reader to look at a literary piece, and critique it according to its form, point of view, style, imagery, atmosphere, theme, and word choice. The formalistic views on form, allow us to look at the essential structure of the poem.