Line Breaks

In William Carlos William’s “A Sort of a Song,” the line breaks are used as the actual metaphor. In line 11, saxifrage is Latin for “breaking rocks.” The saxifrage flower plants its roots into the rocks and the rocks are split due to the shear power of the downward force of the roots’ destination to the ground. Strategically, the line is broken after “splits” just as the flower splits the rock. The line breakage also contributes to the choice of words. They move, wait and even attack, just as the snake’s actions are in nature. The lines are incomplete, continuing over to the next line. This seems to make the poem a fast read.

Williams’ “This is Just to Say” also has a fast pace due to the line breaks. Each stanza seems to be its own sentence. But the incompleteness of each line ties it in to the following line, creating pauses that help accentuate the main message (I ate your plum, sorry). This poem is more on a personal level with a close friend. He acknowledges that the plum was not his but ate it anyway because he knew he would not be punished for his actions. He was just being courteous by leaving a note just because. The irony in his asking for forgiveness is bittersweet for his friend. The friend at least knows that he was sorry for eating what was not his but also has to throw in how delicious, sweet, and cold the plums were.

The more things change, or stay the same

In “The Mill,” Edwin Arlington Robinson shows his response to the industrialism era. He speaks of a shortage of millers. Most likely they have all moved into the city for factory jobs. Robinson’s “Miniver Cheevy” is also influenced by the industrial age. The main character’s name seems to play off of the technology of the car in today’s age - ‘mini Chevy’. Miniver talks about how he was born to late. He wanted to be born in the age before technology (in the medieval period), when every one wore mail chain armor instead of khaki attire. Robinson can relate to the Romantics because this era was also based on emotions. Robinson expresses his feelings towards the current state in the rise of technology.

These week’s poets are still using romantic traditions because to the reference to nature. A.E. Housman’s “Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now” speaks of how he treks through the woods to see the bloom-age of the cherry tree. He is also relating to the passage of time by using the season’s to tell his age. In Thomas Hardy’s “Afterwards,” there is much reference to nature. A man fond of his natural surroundings has recently passed away. His neighbors state how he “notice[s] such things” as how the May month flaps its wings and the landing of a hawk. These observations were “a familiar sight” to him. In “The Darkling Thrush,” by Thomas Hardy, the mood of the poem is changed completely from bleak to blissful just from the mentioning of a bird and the song it sings.

Emily Dickinson Poems

Emily Dickinson’s poems are surely influenced by Romanticism. It is apparent because she relates some of her poems strongly with nature, which is an important feature of the romantic period. In “Because I could not stop for Death” the speaker is describing that they can feel their last moments on earth are coming to an end; but they are taking their time to enjoy the sweet scenery of the fields of grain and the setting sun. “A Bird came down the Walk” is all about nature; it describes carefully every movement the bird makes during a simple action of finding food.

The poems are very imaginative in just the way they are explained. No detail is left untouched. The descriptions are also cleverly stated. The stanzas are used to repeat the same message in a different way. This can be seen in “A Clock stopped.” In stanza one, the clock stops working. In stanza two, the hands are hunched in pain, meaning that they are not moving. And in stanza three, the clock will not move even for the most important people.

Dickinson’s poems are also very emotional. The topic of death is brought up repeatedly, such as in “After great pain, a formal feeling comes,” “I heard a fly buzz- when I died,” and “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain.” I am not sure if these emotions of death and dying are influenced from the romanticism period. Romanticism focuses more on emotions of the past (usually childhood days relating to nature) instead of the future (death) or present state of illness. I think this is where the poems break from the tradition of romanticism.

Shelley's "England in 1819"

The speaker is bitter towards England’s social structure at the time. The speaker’s sex is most likely to be male because of the feelings being expressed through this poem and the time period in which it is written. The speaker’s acknowledgement of the surrounding environment tells the audience, which is general, that the speaker is middle aged. In the poem “England in 1819,” Shelley describes the horrible conditions of the state of England. The king is “old, mad, blind, despised, and dying.” His sons are described as low life leeches that do not see, feel, or know what happens to their country. The people are suffering with hunger and oppression. The army is corrupt and is feared. “A sealed book” describes no religion. But there is hope yet in the end because Shelley starts to use lighter words like glorious and illumine.

The diction is mixed. Shelley uses a lot of descriptive words to show how he feels towards England. He is pointing out the terrible state in which his nation has become. Shelley also uses metaphors such as how the princes are leeches that are sucking their nation dry. The rulers are selfish and do nothing to help the depressed state. The army is described as a two edged blade that has no mercy. Also, religion is not practiced because the books have not been opened. The speaker is passionate about the issue. This is an important topic that he wishes to address to the public in order to make a change.

I had to read the poem a few times. After the first time I needed to look up a few words to further understand the entire concept. I picked up a few things the first time, but the metaphors required some more time to register. I still do not understand the ending, but the language used in the last two lines makes me think that there is hope yet to come.

Romantism and nature

Romanticist writers such as Coleridge, Blake, and Wordsworth focus on imagination, freedom from rules, the past, the love of nature, and emotions. These characteristics are evident in all of their works; nature being one of the more prominent points.

These writers always write about the past. In “Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” Wordsworth starts off with where he was five years ago, in the very same spot he stood. In the past, or during his childhood days, nature was dear and close to his heart. He reminiscences about how he felt towards mother nature back then. But he has seen it all before so the “aching joys are new no more.” He still enjoys nature but with a different perspective than before. He feels this way because he used to come visit this wonderful place with his sister. All of his happy memories were made with her but now that she is gone, he registers these experiences in another manner.

In Coleridge’s “Dejection: An Ode,” nature is linked with the imagination. As he watches the clouds roll by, he sees a sky-canoe. The animation of the stars twinkling behind the moving clouds is magnified against the moonlit sky. As excitingly as he describes these scenes, he says that he no longer feels the beauty that lies with in them. His “shaping spirit of imagination” was given to him at birth.

Blake’s series of “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience” tie in with freedom from rules. He mentions how children are so naïve in “Songs of Innocence.” Their actions are compared to the beauty in nature, such as ideal weathered days and fields full of bloom-age. What they do now is not restricted from the harsh reality that they will face in the future; and that is the beauty of childhood. This restriction of freedom is now depicted in “Songs of Experience.” No longer children, man kind is restricted from the joys of childhood. The cruelty of life is now surfaced and there is no turning back.