Regeneration is a poem written by the Welsh poet Henry Vaughan. While making poems in the seventeenth century, Vaughan would distinct his style amongst many others during the same time period as him. Regeneration is no exception as it uses imagery, vocabulary, and allegories to describe Henry Vaughan’s take on the significance of attaining purity in life through a religious and spiritual journey that he vividly describes.
The poet Henry Vaughan was born in 1621 in Brecknockshire, Wales (“Henry” 444). Vaughan would pursue many different career and life paths before he would wind up writing poetry. After partaking in a career in law and even performing service in the military, Vaughan would eventually begin writing poetry in the 1640s decade
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This work came out in his collection of poems called Silex scintillans. The theme of the poem is about the importance of becoming pure through the emotional journey of aging and repentance in a symbolical voyage with the involvement of nature. In the poem starting on line 7, Vaughan says “Blasted my infant buds, and sin Like clouds eclipsed my mind” (ln. 7-8). This quote shows the loss of innocence that Vaughan is referring to about himself. It is an interpretation that most are exposed to sin at an “infant” age and then their judgement becomes forever tainted with flawed philosophies. The poem later gives the description of “A virgin soil which no Rude feet ere trod…” (ln. 29-30). This reveals a step in the right direction that is unexposed to negative values or principles. To value this “soil” after previously being exposed to sin is a product from the spiritual journey that occurs in the …show more content…
Throughout the poem, Henry Vaughan uses many examples of imagery involving the nature that is in the United Kingdom. Lines 11 and 12 of the poem states “My walk a monstrous, mountained thing, Roughcast with rocks and snow” (ln. 11-12). This is used to be one of the descriptions towards the physical aspect of the journey that Vaughan took for his “regeneration”. It gives the reader a clear example of how the adventure is not easy and has many hardships in it already. This spreads to give the poem an intensity that would be absent without such imagery. Displayed in lines 41 through 44, it says, “The unthrift sun shot vital gold, A thousand pieces, And heaven its azure did unfold, Checkered with snowy fleeces” (ln. 41-44). This specific description gives the weather that is present during this time. Weather is an important factor that can imply the tone to a poem or even be a key factor that indicates foreshadowing of what is to come
In this poem, she shares many different images, all of which have very intense and powerful meanings. She used words such as smolder, glitter, and shining to describe the intense way snow is described. For example “the broad fields/ smolder with light” (Oliver 645, 24-25), which means the fields glisten mildly. Also “Trees/ glitter like castles” (Oliver 645, 22-23), represents how the snow reveals light like castles do showing their inhabitants.
The common factor found within these two poems were in fact, metaphors. The writers Waddington and Tennyson both apply them to accentuate crucial opinions that influence love relations. In the third stanza, line one Waddington writes, “late as last autumn…”, however in the beginning of the poem he had written, “Late as last summer”. Therefore, autumn is a metaphor for different phases of life; spring represents childhood, summer is young adulthood and in this case autumn represents the middle age as winter would be death. Metaphorically speaking, as the season changed from a blissful summer to a dry autumn, so did their relationship. And we can all agree that as long as the clock remains to tick, time can change everything, even love. In Tennyson’s poem the fourth stanza, line two it mentions, “A shinning furrow, as thy thoughts in me”. This charmingly written metaphor refers to the author and his significant other. Tennyson uses a farmer’s tractor which produces furrows on the ground to relate to his sense since this person has had furrows of her thoughts leave a shining trace in his mind.
As characters in the poem are literally snow bound, they find that the natural occurrence actually serves a relaxing and warming purpose, one that brings together family. This effect is further achieved through the use of meter throughout the work as a whole. In its simplistic yet conversational tone, the author uses meter to depict the result that nature has forced upon these humans, who are but a small sample size that actually is representative of society that that time. Due to nature, the characters can talk, represented by the conversational meter, and thus, they can bond within the family. A larger representation of this more specific example can be applied to a more general perspective of human’s relationship with the natural world. Although “Snowbound” captures what humans do as a result of nature, it can also represent a larger picture, where nature appears at the most opportune times to enhance relationships from human to human. In “snowbound,” this is symbolized by the fire, “Our warm hearth seemed blazing free” (Whittier 135). This image relays a spirited, warm, mood full of security, which is expertly used by the author to show how fire, a natural phenomena, can provide such beneficial effects on humans. This very occurrence exemplifies how such a miniscule aspect of nature can have such a profound effect on a family, leaving the reader wondering what nature and its entirety could accomplish if used as a
For each seasonal section, there is a progression from beginning to end within the season. Each season is compiled in a progressive nature with poetry describing the beginning of a season coming before poetry for the end of the season. This is clear for spring, which starts with, “fallen snow [that] lingers on” and concludes with a poet lamenting that “spring should take its leave” (McCullough 14, 39). The imagery progresses from the end of winter, with snow still lingering around to when the signs of spring are disappearing. Although each poem alone does not show much in terms of the time of the year, when put into the context of other poems a timeline emerges from one season to the next. Each poem is linked to another poem when it comes to the entire anthology. By having each poem put into the context of another, a sense of organization emerges within each section. Every poem contributes to the meaning of a group of poems. The images used are meant to evoke a specific point in each season from the snow to the blossoms to the falling of the blossoms. Since each poem stands alone and has no true plot they lack the significance than if they were put into th...
Relief,” Millay used a similar form of imagery to describe the rain that resulted in the remembrance of the persona’s love: “…I miss him in the weeping of the rain…” (Millay, 3). This description of the rain not only helped better visualize the rain itself, but also emphasized the sorrowful and desolate undertone of the poem. Another exemplification of visual imagery utilized in Millay’s poem was used to illustrate the tides: “…I want him at the shrinking of the tide…” (Millay, 4). The retreating of the tides was easily concei...
Although the title of the poem gives a positive feeling, the opening line Cloudburst and steady downpour now for days" gives the effect of a monotonous image and depressing persistance. He begins to sense weather by his skin" portrays nature and the sense of a survivor. The animal-like image continues for the rest of the first section and the rest of the second section. movement of that animal continues as the animal goes "uprooting" which gives the sense of nature being destructive. Heaney may have included this deliberately to show that nature is not as angelic as people may think.
In ‘All the Pretty Horses’ Luis states ‘among men there was no such communion as among horses and the notion that men can be understood at all was probably an illusion’, by this he means the relationship man has with nature is totally unique, it is sacred; the relationship between men is a misapprehension. In some respects the reader may agree with the statement because it is true, man’s relationship with animals and nature is fairly simple compared to man’s relationship amongst each other which is far more complex due to conflict of opinion and other complications. John Grady Cole’s relationship with Alejandra faced much turmoil and complication, one of the biggest issues they faced was the fact Alejandra’s family condemned their relationship and forbid her to be with him. To a certain extent John’s romance with Alejandra mirrors Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in respects to their forbidden love, however their story does not end in tragedy. Wordsworth shows nature to be more of a companion for man in ‘The Solitary Reaper’. The woman reaps the crops alone in the field singing with a voice so ‘thrilling’ it resonates ‘Long after it was heard no more’. Although she is lonely, she is wholly reliant upon the sustenance she receives and the relationship she has with nature. The poet proceeds to compare her to the Cuckoo and the Nightingale stating ‘No Nightingale did ever chaunt more welcome notes to weary bands’ being compared to birds with such beautiful song surely displays her oneness with nature. Unlike the ‘maiden’ Victor tries to control and dominate nature, this resentment could stem from the fact his mother died of the fever, making him go to extreme lengths in constructing this figure from different body parts to create a cre...
In the first stanza, the poet seems to be offering a conventional romanticized view of Nature:
Nature is an important theme in every frost poem. Nature usually symbolizes age or other things throughout Frost’s poems. In lines 5-10 it says, “Often you must have seen them loaded with ice a sunny winter morning after a rain. They click upon themselves as the breeze rises, and turn many-colored as the stir cracks and crazes their enamel. Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells.” This demonstrates how nature can sometimes symbolize something. Also in lines 29-33 it says, “ By riding them down over and over again until he took the stiffness out of them, and not one but hung limp, not one was left for him to conquer. He learned all there was to learn about not launching too soon.” In lines 44-48 it says, And life is too much like a pathless wood where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs broken across it, and one eye is weeping from a twig’s having lashed across it open. I’d like to get away from earth for a while.”
Stevens’ message reveals itself as the poem unravels: there is never one true understanding of a reality outside of one’s interpretation. The author suggests that one can’t help but transfer their own beliefs and ideas onto what they see; in this case, the “listener” is projecting an impression of misery onto the scenery that lies before him. For example, the first two stanzas are filled with decorative language that serves to describe the visual image of a winter landscape. Using phrases such as “crusted with snow” (3) instead of “covered” with snow provides an evocative illustration of the snow’s roughness. Other phrases such as “shagged with ice” (5) and “rough in the distant glitter/Of the January sun” (6-7) force the reader to experience the miserable portrayal of winter. These are not the descriptions of an observer who “beholds nothing that is not there” (14-15), but rather the objective, poetic appreciation for the snowy
Frost’s diction could be described as simplistic. Frost does not use large vocabulary words, but rather uses simpler everyday words that most people word use. By using a simpler vocabulary it allows the one to understand the meaning of the poem more clearly. The language used is a testament to Frost’s style of writing that he is known for. The language used is clear in this poem, such as “And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black. / Oh, I kept the first for another day!” (11-13). This type of diction helps the reader to analyze and interpret the poem more deeply. As the use of everyday language allows the poem to become more relatable and reach a more diverse audience. Diction is an important element of this poem as it adds to the poem’s
Stanza three explains what life was like at the farm he lived on, as the previous stanzas have. Line twenty describes the landscape and how beautiful it is. It describes it as Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air,” (20). Lines twenty one through twenty three use more imagery to describe the landscape. They use words such as “lovely and watery” (21) to show how pleasant it was to gaze upon the land. The word “And” is also repeated in the beginning of each of these lines which creates suspense. They also show repetition by repeating words such as “green” and it brings up the starry night again. Line twenty four talks about owls and how they are starting to come out. The day is starting to end and there is still beauty in everything. Now night has begun and all the things that made the day happy and carefree are starting to disappear. Lines twenty five through twenty seven use imagery to show that the moon is appearing and the horses and everything else is disappearing into the night. This begins to show that the youth the speaker is experiencing is starting to
Imagery is one of the most notable elements in the poem due to the fact that Frost is describing the setting and scenery for the majority of the poem. His word choice is quite specific, clearly painting a picture for readers to visualize the scene he is describing. Frost describes the paths the narrator is considering as “two roads diverged in a yellow wood…” (1). Frost later goes on to describe the path the narrator is considering by stating, “…it was grassy and wanted wear” (8). The imagery is perhaps used as a means to demonstrate the fact that the way a path may look is not entirely representative of what lies ahead. Choices in life should be made with a great deal of thought, going beyond the superficial appearances. The narrator considers both paths before making an informed decision. The outward appearance of a path is not nearly as important as knowing what is best for an individual overall. The imagery in Frost’s poem sheds light the importance of making a choice by the narrator considering both paths in great detail because he or she recognizes the lasting influence a decision can have throughout his or her
Nature and God are consistent themes throughout all three poems. Whether it is the calming tone in Wordsworth’s ,“It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free”, the abrupt tone in Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” or whether it contains ebb and flow as it does in Wordsworth’s “The World is Too Much With Us”, they all showed the connection between Nature and God.
In William Wordsworth’s poems, the role of nature plays a more reassuring and pivotal r ole within them. To Wordsworth’s poetry, interacting with nature represents the forces of the natural world. Throughout the three poems, Resolution and Independence, Tintern Abbey, and Michael, which will be discussed in this essay, nature is seen prominently as an everlasting- individual figure, which gives his audience as well as Wordsworth, himself, a sense of console. In all three poems, Wordsworth views nature and human beings as complementary elements of a sum of a whole, recognizing that humans are a sum of nature. Therefore, looking at the world as a soothing being of which he is a part of, Wordsworth looks at nature and sees the benevolence of the divinity aspects behind them. For Wordsworth, the world itself, in all its glory, can be a place of suffering, which surely occurs within the world; Wordsworth is still comforted with the belief that all things happen by the hands of the divinity and the just and divine order of nature, itself.