Comparing Wordsworth's Ode to Duty and Elegiac Stanzas
A past attitude is reverted to and revised in Wordsworth's "Ode to Duty" and "Elegiac Stanzas." Employing geographic metaphors, both celestial and earth-bound, the poems climb over rocky Wordsworthian terrain that details his reconciliation between past and present and implications of the future. Though vastly different stylistically‹"Ode to Duty" utilizes an antiquated verse form and language, while "Elegiac Stanzas" is written in Wordsworth's beloved "language of men"‹and in the internal willfulness on the poet's part to change versus reaction to external stimuli, the poems parallel in their desires for resolution of a disarrayed soul via the calming sublime power of either an abstract concept or a naturalistic piece of art.
Wordsworth deviates from his course of democratic poetry in "Ode to Duty" by exercising a classical form, the ode, and manipulating the elevated language it affords the poet. Even the opening quote is from a Greek source, Seneca, which foreshadows the poem's anachronistic call to duty. The poem is divided into seven tetrameter octets, of which the final line is Alexandrine. The French origins of the Alexandrine line further confuse the poem's miscegenational heritage, and conspire with the "missing" eighth stanza (were the poem to have an orderly arrangement of eight syllables per line, eight lines per stanza, eight stanzas total) to cast an ambiguous shadow over Wordsworth's conception of duty. As suggested by the allusion to Seneca and the ode form, it is one of poetic duty without ever calling attention to the act of writing poetry.
Similarly, "Elegiac Stanzas" confronts the death of Wordsworth's brother by only slightly focusing on the a...
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...ed to mine catharsis and rebirth out of tragedy.
There was no apparent tragedy in "Ode to Duty," but perhaps Wordsworth felt mankind was on the verge of one. His feelings toward the French Revolution had soured, and he may have found the new liberation and fraternity being portioned out in unequal measures in poetry. Change is a good thing, both "Ode to Duty" and "Elegiac Stanzas" suggest, but only when adopted "in the quietness of thought"; otherwise, rash decisions only mirror the frenzied environments out of which they grew. Whether or not "Ode to Duty" or "Elegiac Stanzas" have veiled political agendas is unclear; what is ingenious is Wordsworth's ability to deliver so many comparable messages in such contrary envelopes.
Works Cited
Wordsworth, William. Poetical Works. 5 vols. E. de Selincourt and Helen Darbishire, eds. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958.
The two poems share multiple similarities, including the underlying reason behind writing the odes. Both authors look longingly to deceased men to serve as examples of progress that needed to be made in their two countries. In “London, 1802,” Wordsworth is speaking to John Milton, an English poet and political writer. He expresses his concern for 18th century England, claiming that the English have become “selfish men” and losing sight of their heritage. With Milton’s help, Wordsworth states the English would be returned their “manners, virtue, freedom, power.” In “Douglass,” Dunbar is speaking to Frederick Douglass, an American writer and abolitionist leader, explaining how strong segregation and discrimination is, ...
A metrical composition; a composition in verse written in certain measures, whether in blank verse or in rhyme, and characterized by imagination and poetic diction; contradistinguished from prose; as, the poems of Homer or of Milton. This is but one of Webster 's definitions of a poem. Using this definition of “poem,” this paper will compare and contrast three different poems written by three different poets; William Shakespeare 's Sonnets 116, George Herbert’s Easter Wings and Sir Thomas Wyatt’s Whoso List to Hunt.
“The Raven”, a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, impresses the reader of a strange and frightening setting through the description of the speaker’s thoughts. The piece introduces the content with the subject as a bereaved lover of Lenoré and the speaker’s vain attempt to hide his loss. The setting together with the monologues, which displays the speaker’s emotions, is effective to set the mood of the poem. The paper’s objective centers, whether Wordsworth’s notions of developing feelings, which give importance to the actions and situations (not vice versa) and passion-insusceptibility of characters, in addition to Coleridge’s conception of the intelligence of objects of thought and elevated language, when merge work together to amplify the brilliance of the piece.
National economics are often adversarial in nature, a global contest where countries seek to gain advantage over their neighbors, all in the name of wealth and gain. America is no stranger to the game; the U.S. has been the world’s economic leader for the better part of a century. China, however, is the leading contender for the economic top-spot (), and America continues playing directly into China’s hand. America’s current trading posture with China is drastically skewed in China’s favor; if America is going to preserve its position as the leading economic power, existing U.S.-Chinese trading agreements will need to be revised, and additional regulations must be introduced to promote balanced dealing.
Wordsworth shows the possibility of finding freedom within his poem by choosing to write within the Italian sonnet’s rules. What makes an Italian sonnet unique is the division and pattern of its rhyme scheme. It is usually structured in an ABBA, ABBA, CDE, CDE pattern, and broken into two main parts, the octave (the first eight lines) and the sestet (the final six). The meter of “Nuns” can be labeled as iambic pentameter, yet along with the meter, the poem differs from the norm in two more ways. The first difference is in the rhyme scheme. In a typical Italian sonnet, the sestet follows a CDE, CDE pattern, in “Nuns” however, it follows the pattern CDD, CCD. It’s minute, but adds emphases to the 13th line, which contains the poem’s second anomaly. All the poem’s lines have an ...
Wordsworth, William. “The Thorn.” The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Vol. 2B. Ed. David Damrosch, et al. New York: Longman, 1999. 319-325.
While China has been successful in the last few decades and has essentially made itself an economic super power using whatever means necessary, it is time for them to take a look at the rest of their future. China cannot sustain their growth using the same old methods. They must now look to address the needs of their people by introducing a more democratic society, a market that acts freely via supply and demand and actions that show responsibility for the entire world. The United States has a strong role to play in China’s future and it must do so to protect its own agendas and its status as a super power.
Stephen Gill, editor. The Oxford Authors: William Wordsworth, pp. 67-80. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns explores the plight of women in Afghanistan; the focus is put on three women Nana, Mariam and Laila. Women in Afghanistan often face difficult and unfortunate situations. In this essay we will examine some of these unfortunate situations for women.
A country’s struggle to power is much like that of two rivalling siblings. They are locked in a constant competition as they attempt to one-up the other. Countries do the same as they race against each other to produce better exports, and to attract more money into their economy. They are constantly vying against each other for the center of attention so that they are the main focal point of the international world. This competition continues until one finally relents, or blatantly falls, and allows the other to shine; much like how China is slowly managing to overtake the U.S. in terms of international influence. The success of one individual cannot remain forever, and eventually they will begin to fall. This is the current situation where the U.S. and China stand today as China is beginning to overtake the U.S. in terms of economic capability. With a superior economy, it is possible for China to overcome the challenges it faces as it moves into position as the next world power. Though, just like the pair of siblings, despite China’s recent successes, the other won’t disappear completely. The U.S. will not disappear into the background and allow China to take complete control as hegemon, or world power, and establish something akin to a uni-mulipolar system. A system where there is one main power and many already established rising powers. This uni-multipolar system allows for other countries to continuously compete for the position at the top.
“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is a poem composed by Thomas Gray over a period of ten years. Beginning shortly after the death of his close friend Richard West in 1742, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” was first published in 1751. This poem’s use of dubbal entendre may lead the intended audience away from the overall theme of death, mourning, loss, despair and sadness; however, this poem clearly uses several literary devices to convey the author’s feelings toward the death of his friend Richard West, his beloved mother, aunt and those fallen soldiers of the Civil War. This essay will discuss how Gray uses that symbolism and dubbal entendre throughout the poem to convey the inevitability of death, mourning, conflict within self, finding virtue in one’s life, dealing with one’s misfortunes and giving recognition to those who would otherwise seem insignificant.
Moreover, searching for the different mechanics in each of these poems makes it easier for the reader to analysis and interpret them. To begin, in “The World is Too Much with Us” the way the punctuation is fit into the poem is different since there are many semicolons between each line and one period suggesting that the poem is actually one long sentence. Then I believe the speaker to be someone who acknowledges that he too has lost connection with nature since he’s been preoccupied with other things in the world. This is proven throughout the whole poem since he talks in first person using the word “I.” The tone of this poem is angry, frustrated, and dissatisfied because of how the world has changed. The rhyme scheme is also another appealing mechanic here too since Wordsworth only uses fou...
The poem in brief summary allows us to experience an outsider’s view of the death of Lucy Gray and her parents’ grief. The character narrating the poem tells the story of Lucy, a girl who was sent by her father with a lantern to light the way home, for her mother in town. On her way to town a snow storm hits and Lucy is never found neither dead nor alive. The fact that a stranger is narrating the story as opposed to one of the parents telling the story, allows the reader to witness the tragedy of Lucy Gray without feeling too tangled up in the parents’ grief. By having an outsider who is in no way involved in the tragedy tell the story, the writer of the poem William Wordsworth, gives the reader an objective point of view on the tragedy as well as room to relate the reader’s own experience to the poem without feeling uncomfortable. Had the poem lacked objectivity the reader would have surely felt uncomfortable and stifled by emotions of the parents’ or a parent telling the story of their daughter’s death. As well as that, the objectiveness of the stranger narrating gives the reader almost a communal experience. It is as if the reader was in a small town one day, and a local just happened to...
Wordsworth had two simple ideas that he put into his writing of poetry. One was that “poetry was the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” The second idea was that poets should describe simple scenes of nature in the everyday words, which in turn would create an atmosphere through the use of imagination (Compton 2).
"The Poetry of William Wordsworth." SIRS Renaissance 20 May 2004: n.p. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 06 February 2010.