The Mood and Image in Poetry

The Mood and Image in Poetry

“This afternoon was the colour of water falling through sunlight; the trees glittered with the tumbling of leaves; The sidewalks shone like alleys of dropped maple leaves; And the houses ran along them laughing out of square; Open windows” (Lowell 185). This quote, taken out of Amy Lowell’s poem “September 1918,” illustrates the ability of the author to be very descriptive in order to give the reader an image of where she is and what is surrounding her. Through this poem she also give's the reader a sense of being there as well. Another author that resembles Lowell is Emily Dickinson. In Dickinson’s poem "I heard a Fly buzz-when I died" she says, “I heard a Fly buzz-when I died- The Stillness in the Room Was like the stillness in the Air- Between the Heaves of Storm” (Dickinson 1202). Like Lowell, Dickinson describes what she sees surrounding her, and by saying that she was dead in her poem she provides the reader the ability to create a mental image of a person actually dead in a coffin. Also in her poem called “Because I could not Stop for Death” Dickinson says, “Because I could not stop for Death- He kindly stopped for me- The Carriage held just but Ourselves and Immortality” (Dickinson 1206). In Dickinson’s second poem, she describes how death is taking her in its carriage to immortality. Making the reader create a picture of death actually taking her to infinity.

In her first poem the mood that Dickinson sets up is one of quietness and stillness because she says that the room was so quiet and serene that she actually heard a fly buzz by. And in her second poem the mood that Dickinson sets up is one of sadness. Both Lowell and Dickinson, provide their readers with poems, which are both descriptive, making the reader's feel involved in what they are reading. Also through their poems they set up a mood to make the reader's understand what it would be like to be in that specific place and time.

In “September 1918” Lowell writes about how she felt during World War I. As she is walking through the park she describes collecting leaves as a keepsake for old memories which she wishes reminded her of good times, instead of the bad times that the war had brought. She says, “Someday there will be no war.