Poetry Analysis †Coleridge, Tennyson, Hopkins Essay

The Romantic poet Percy Shelley once wrote, Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden watcher of the world, and throw aways familiar objects be as if they were not familiar. Both the Romantic and the Victorian tips of poetry followed Shelleys vision of poetry as they exposed their respective societal issues. Romantic period lasted from1785 to 1830, a time in which England moved from an agrarian to industrial country and overall nationalistic ideals threatened the individuality of the poets and artists. The Romantic period of poetry was therefore very reactionary.It was a reaction to enlightenment ideas, to the disregard for human life in revolutions, and to the uniform of nationalism. The decay of social values that took shopping centre in the latter part of the Victorian period spurred many writers to shift the context of their work from the Romantic natural forms to education, womens rights, and political ideologies. Though both periods produced a momentous achievements in structu re, language, and musicality of the poetic movement, the Romantic period effectuated an extreme feat in poetry in a mere l years.Samuel Coleridges The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a Romantic ballad in seven parts, with fairly regular quatrains. Its short sentence structure develops quiet movement, allowing to the readers engagement to grow as the tale progresses and the speakers message is unveiled. The tetrameter structure reveals an explanation of the title the Ancient Mariner viva voce recites his tale, teaching a universal lesson on natures value and the earths deserving of respect. Coleridge uses both dialogue and varying perspective to sp destruction a penny a credibility in his work. An omniscient narrator speaks of an instance where the bright-eyed Mariner tells his story to a wedding-guest and the effect the tale has on him a sadder and a wiser man, / He rise the morrow morn (Coleridge 624-625).Coleridge often utilizes the effect of exclamation points when the Marine r is speaking to convey his passion, as in F arwell, farewell but this I tell / To thee, one thousand Wedding-Guest / He pra neverthelessh well, who loveth well / Both man and bird and beast (610-613). By capitalizing the for the first time letter in various important words, Coleridge successfully enables to the reader to empathise a symbolic meaning behind the select terms. For instance, Albatross, though not a proper noun, is capitalized in each reference he makes to the creature hitherto when referring to the water-snakes and the sky-lark Coleridge does not capitalize the terms as they hold less symbolic value in the Mariners tale.Is this the man?By him who died on cross,With his rude bow he laid full lowThe harmless Albatross.The spirit who bideth by himselfIn the land of mist and snow,He love the bird that loved the manWho shot him with his bow.(Coleridge 397-405)The Albatross is capitalized to key out the pure white and divinity of nature and Gods creations. Further int erpretation also shows Coleridges capitalisation of the Albatross to allude to Jesus Christ.Alfred, Lord Tennysons Crossing the Bar is a comforting and uplifting Victorian Era poem about the end of lifes journey. Tennysons calm language and peaceful imagery envelop the reader in consoling compassion rather than a humiliated mourning at the thought of a loved-ones passing. He introduces the dwindling of lifes crumbdle as he opens with a allegory attractively comparing life ending and death to sunset and evening star (Tennyson 1). Hoping for the end to be as painless as the sunset Tennyson alludes to the sound of the nautical thrusting against the sandbar, And may there be no moaning of the bar, / When I put out to sea (Tennyson 3-4).Tennysons word choice end-to-end the extended fiction of this poem impels the reader to think carefully about what his meaning is, rather than take the literal sense. For instance, when Tennyson refers to turning home again his home is not meant to be the humble earthly abode in which hes carried out his years he instead is alluding to heaven (Tennyson 8). The imagery of the concluding stanza informs the reader of the wide-cut poems meaning For though from out our bourne of Time and Place / The flood may bear me far, / I hope to see my take flight face to face / When I have crossed the bar (Tennyson 13-16). Here Tennysons meaning of the bar manifests as he alludes to meeting his creator in this striking image of crossing the oceans sand bar, the boundary of life and death, into the unknown afterlife.Upon reading Gerald Manley Hopkins Spring and Fall to a young baby it sours difficult to stop oneself from creating a tune to match the beat of this musical Victorian Era poem. With an AABBCCDDDEEFFGG rhyme scheme the poem begins with three rhyming couplets, followed by a rhyming triplet, and concluded by another set of three rhyming couplets. The varying line lengths express the drama in the speakers voice ranging from the sho rt iambic triameter to the longer tetrameter exposing the speakers message. A strong biblical message is surfaced by the melodic and hymnic movement of this piece. Hopkins uses alliteration to make his point clearly understood.The repetition of the W words, in Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie / And yet you will weep and know why, is used to tell Margaret about the changes adulthood brings and the misery of knowledge (Hopkins 8-9). The alliterations used in the last rhyming couplet impart the speakers firm religious beliefs to the reader as Hopkins states It is the afflict man was born for, / It is Margaret you mourn for. Hopkins uses the B and M words to emphasize the connection between her future sins and those made by Adam and Eve. As the speaker both open and closes this short poem repeating Margarets name he creates an alpha and omega image for the reader Margaret is her beginning and her own end. ne plus ultra derived from mayhem would be an apt description of William Wo rdsworths Ode Intimations of Im fatality rate from Recollections of Early Childhood though perfection is not quite a befitting word to depict the pulchritude of this piece. This poem is both a reactionary piece, and a revelation of time, as the prefatory four stanzas were written at least two years preceding to the latter seven. Through the chaos of its structure comes the beauty of one of Wordsworths most renowned poems. Following the aberrant nature of the Romantic poets, Wordsworths Ode is placid of eleven stanzas irregular in form, length, meter, and syntax.Though subtle in nature, this piece veraciously speaks the whispers of juvenescent truths as its title would suggest. Ode Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood, implies a dedication to the indications of eternal life, which from early puerility memories are stirred.Wordsworths way of adorning a beautifully worded poem with familiar images and symbolic undertones helps this poem to outshine others of its like. Swathed in epiphanic universal tenets this Ode is all but trivial. In the first two short stanzas Wordsworth introduces his dilemma the speaker has lost touch with the celestial light which once had bedecked his corporeal life. He expresses his ability to appreciate the natural beauties of free-and-easy life but knows there hath past away a glory from the earth (Wordsworth 18). Wordsworth identifies the poignancy in lifes realization when childhood innocence is lost. Left with lingering questions of his embryonic virtues transience he concludes the first portion of his poem asking Whither is fled the visionary gleam? / Where is it now, the glory and the dreaming? (Wordsworth 56-57). With his questioning, Wordsworth obliges the readers musing on the eternal poignancy of this forsakenness.Two years time would pass before Wordsworth could conclude his enlightenment of the souls cyclic journey and the effect it has on man. He begins the fifth stanza with an intriguing met aphor our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting (Wordsworth 58). Extended throughout the poem, the idea, that the soul pulls away from the glories of heaven as man ages, is not easy for the reader to grasp thus Wordsworth explains heaven lies about us in our infancy but with age heaven and its splendor fade into the light of common day (Wordsworth 76). The paradox, between the fading light of God and the overpowering light of quotidian life, is harsh but, comprehendible. As man grows closer to the natural earth he grows apart from the virtues of the ethereal heaven.To explain the shift man weathers, Wordsworth discusses the ways sanguine children become mechanic by making plans and charts man takes pride in learning organization but in the process slights imagination. He continues on to address a child directly thou Eye among the blind, metaphorically telling the boy he provides a virtuous vision to those who have outgrown a strong adhesiveness with glory (Wordsworth 111). Though this bond is fleeting, Wordsworth finds happiness in the idea that man is always questioning he realizes O joy that in our embers / Is something that doth live, / That nature yet remembers / What was so fugitive there is a connection deep within every man that drives him to search for the truths of life (Wordsworth 129-132). His use of ABAB rhyme scheme, alternating iambs, and the metaphor of the soul to a fire that burns low and hot makes this passage stand out to the reader and bring forth Wordsworths optimism.As he guides his reader through the climax of this Ode, Wordsworth incorporates heavy imagery and a more constant rhyme scheme. He explains that man cannot go back and relive the virtues of childhood but, will always have memories to bring him back to its gloriesThough inland far we be,Our Souls have sight of that immortal seaWhich brought us hither,Can in a moment travel thither,And see the Children sport upon the shore,And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.(Wordswor th 161-167)He tells of how one is unable to experience these past memories but, can instead look back and observe the bliss of childhood as these recollections are immortal. Having recognized the joys that still are attainable he realizes his appreciation for the mortality of the somatic world. Though he no longer rolls as freely as the brook, he loves its beauty more than ever.Wordsworth imparts the value of this brief life on earth. Man must not view lifes course as a race. He reminds the reader of lifes impermanence, alluding to the Corinthians which suggest there is no great prize for first place in lifes race. Instead man should give thanks Thanks to the human sum of money by which we live, / Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears, / To me the meanest flower that blows can give / Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears (Wordsworth 200-203). Humanity blesses men with the power to cheer the meek and the ordinary, as long as man steps out of the race and stops to ad mire his surroundings.