The Theme of Love and Loss in Poetry
Have you ever looked up the word poetry in a dictionary? Poetry is
defined as literature in its most intense, most imaginative and most
rhythmic forms. For the poet, it can be a way to relieve their stress
and just 'let go' and for the reader it can be an adventure into the
state of mind of the poet. The Romantic Era, during the late 18th and
early 19th century, was a period of time in which poets started to
express their love and lust for others through poetic forms. This
essay will be exploring the way in which poets use language, imagery
and form to express their ideas to the reader.
Sir Philip Sidney was famous as a poet, a courtier and a soldier and
he is still known as a writer of sonnets. He was a very religious man
and consequently, religion and faith affected his poetry greatly. One
of his famous works is entitled 'My True Love Hath My Heart'. It is a
deeply spiritual poem and it is essentially about the poet's love of
God. In this poem, Sidney shows how his love for God is perfect and
flawless:
?By just exchange, one for the other giv?n.
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss:
There never was a bargain better driv?n.
His heart in me, keeps me and him in one,
My heart in him, his thoughts and senses guides.
He loves my heart, for once it was his own:
I cherish his, because in me it bides.?
This is part of the opening verse of the poem and it shows us how fair
and just the love is. Unlike love between two humans, love between
Sidney and God is equal ? for everything given, something is received
and this keeps them close to each other forever. By thinking about
each other and being in each other?s minds and hearts they will never
be ap...
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...tudied describe a range of
emotions from extreme love and happiness to extreme sadness and
depression. The poets? use of words, metaphors, similes,
personification, imagery and punctuation all add to the overall
feeling of the poems and they help to convey the messages to the
readers. Sidney?s poem has a lot of spiritual and religious
symbolisms, Browning?s poem is heart-felt and emotive and Marvell?s
poem is persuasive as if Johnson?s. These four poets deal with the
theme of love in their poems and each of them convey the messages a
unique and interesting way. Lord Byron?s poem is gloomy and sad;
however, Rossetti and Wordsworth balance out their poems by mentioning
the good times and the bad. Although these poems were all written
during the Victorian era, their themes are universal and timeless
because as long as there is love, loss will accompany it.
In the poem Reunion by Carolyn Forché, she does an excellent job of including line breaks to make a meaningful impact. I noticed that the poet’s use of “half-commas” as referenced in the book helps show the reader where there’s an emphasis. For example, in the poem stanza, “later, the tongues swishing in my dress, some yours, some left by other men.” The punctuation here aids in presenting the words in an exciting way as “some left by other men” was not what I expected after the pause.
...efore people became impressed with his writing. Only when the man himself was forgotten did the people begin to appreciate his musings.
...s work was always rich and full of details, complex contradictions. He appreciated everyone in his years of life. His most favorite thing while writing books and essays and poetry was using words to force his readers to rethink their own lives and obstacles creatively. He always spent his life rethinking his past and future actions, thoughts, asking questions to get a better understanding of concepts. He loved to look to nature for greater intensity and meaning for his life.
Death is a reality that can be interpreted in many ways. Some people fear the possibility of no longer living and others welcome the opportunity for a new life in the afterlife. Many poets have been inspired by death, be it by the approaching death of loved ones or a battle for immortality. Just as each poet is inspired differently, each poem casts a different hue of light on the topic of death giving readers a unique way to look at death.
Both, the poem “Reluctance” by Robert Frost and “Time Does Not Bring Relief” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, revolved around the theme of lost love. Each poet used a similar array of poetic devices to express this theme. Visual imagery was one of the illustrative poetic devices used in the compositions. Another poetic device incorporated by both poets in order to convey the mood of the poems was personification. And by the same token, metaphors were also used to help express the gist of both poems. Ergo, similar poetic devices were used in both poems to communicate the theme of grieving the loss of a loved one.
...s so he could read classical works. Some of his greatest accomplishments were Songs of Innocence, Book of Thel, Gates of Paradise, and Songs of experience.
It is something that comes without a warning, that may come silently and suddenly. Death is a power beyond us, it is fate that can never be stopped or avoided. Expressed in the words of famous poets, such as Dylan Thomas in his poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Goodnight", Christina Rossetti in "Remember", and Chinua Achebe in "A Mother in a Refugee Camp". In Addition to more poets, like Mary Elizabeth Frye in her poem "Do Not Stand at My Grave And Weep", Edwin Arlington Robinson in his poem "A Happy Man", and finally, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem "The Cross of Snow".
Many people find it hard to imagine their death as there are so many questions to be answered-how will it happen, when, where and what comes next. The fact that our last days on Earth is unknown makes the topic of death a popular one for most poets who looks to seek out their own emotions. By them doing that it helps the reader make sense of their own emotions as well. In the two poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickenson and “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, the poets are both capturing their emotion about death and the way that they accepted it. In Dickenson’s poem her feelings towards death are more passionate whereas in Dylan’s poem the feelings
Death is one of the only true constants in the universe and is the only guarantee in life. Everyone knows of death and everyone will experience it, but to the living death is still one of life's greatest mysteries. In some cultures death is celebrated and embraced, while in others it is feared. However it is perceived, death holds different meanings for different people. Through the art of poetry a writer can give a reader many different outlooks and maybe a better understanding of life and death.
Poems reveal many inside thoughts of the speaker that can be interpreted by the reader. Death is expressed quite often in poetic work because of the simplicity to be able to express feelings. Suicide, for an example, is a form of death that may be used in poetry and is usually portrayed in a negative fashion. Surprisingly, some poems that involve death have a positive outcome. There are views found in poetry relating to suicide as a form of death that are both positive and negative. Suicide as a negative perspective is a common form of death displayed in poetry. A very good example of death brought upon by suicide is “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson. In the passage, “And he was rich-yes, richer than a king,” Robinson describes the wealth and riches in which he lived. Richard seemed to be a person without problems. Later at the end of the poem in line fifteen the speaker says, “And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head.” In one’s opinion, it may appear that money, wealth, and power is not everything. Perhaps Richard Cory was miserable because of the way people gazed at him which describes his suicide. Theoretically, the reader has to try to interpret the poem because of the lack of evidence explaining the reason of Cory’s suicide. This poem is an example of death in a negative perspective. Another poem that explains suicide as a form of death, but in a somewhat positive fashion, is “Résumé” by Dorothy Parker.
...een a favorite of poetic intellects and every day readers for decades. His triumphs and defeats are immortalized in his writings and his great accomplishment will be seen in them for as long as his poems endure.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) lived in a time of religious turbulence. During the Renaissance people began to move away from the Church. Authors began to focus on the morals of the individual and on less lofty ideals than those of the Middle Ages. Shakespeare wrote one-hundred fifty-four sonnets during his lifetime. Within these sonnets he largely explored romantic love, not the love of God. In Sonnet 29 Shakespeare uses specific word choice and rhyme to show the reader that it is easy to be hopeful when life is going well, but love is always there, for rich and poor alike, even when religion fails.
With time poems may have lost their voice, but not their importance. Up to this day, poetry is still one of the greatest forms of artistic expression; Poems speak to emotions and capture feelings. There is no right format of a poem, but yet a world of possibilities. Instead being unchangeable poems are innately open to interpretation; they should be spoken out loud in order to be “heard”, convey truth and cause impact. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot is an extremely meaningful poem; it is one of Elliot’s best-known works and without a doubt a masterpiece (Hillis). T.S. Eliot introduces the poem with a quote from Dante's Inferno (XXVII.61-66), and with that sparks our curiosity. He then makes statements and questions that perhaps everyone has done, or will do at some point in life (Li-Cheng, pp. 10-17). The poem is a legitimate work of the modernist movement, the language used is contemporary; the verses are free and the rhythm flows naturally.
to describe the funeral of a woman that no one seems very attached to. The three
Alfred Tennyson gifted the Victorian Era, and the literary world with two iconic poems. The author explored the themes of personal development and culture clash in one of his most famous poems, “Ulysses”. Tennyson also discovered and analyzed the themes of love and death through his renowned and eminent poem, “Tears Idle, Tears”. The poet was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire in 1809 in the East Lindy district of England. Tennyson experienced numerous amounts of difficulties in his childhood and growing adolescent phases that spilled into his adult life. These trials and tribulations became a foundation and source of inspiration for Tennyson, who used them as a stimulus and catalyst to aide his literary progress and ideas. Two of the most prominent poems that Tennyson wrote were “Ulysses “and “Tears Idle, Tears”. These poems defined the peak of his literary endeavor and symbolized the struggles that Tennyson had experienced in his life. Throughout time readers have been able to distinguish a direct correlation between his life journey and the poems he crafted.