In the poem “Raleigh Was Right,” author William Carlos Williams portrays his viewpoint to his readers right from the beginning. Williams expresses his thoughts to explain the impracticalities of the “perfect life” lived out in the country described by the shepherd. The tone of the poem would be logical and realistic. This poem negates the general idea of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” making it a reply poem. By contradicting the words of the shepherd, he does not allow the reader to believe that there will be a safe-haven in the countryside, and finding peace surrounded by the comfort of nature will end as soon as fall and winter roll around. The general idea of “Raleigh is Right” mirrors that of “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” written …show more content…
Marlowe brings the beauty of nature to life when he says,“We will sit upon the rocks,/seeing the shepherds feed their flocks/by shallow rivers to whose falls/melodious birds sing madrigals.”(4-8). In contrast, Williams describes nature to be plain and overgrown just as Raleigh does. Raleigh writes, “When the rivers rage and rocks grow cold”(6). By using the same language he is able to directly use this as a reply poem to the original. Williams is replying to Marlowe by referencing Raleigh in his poem. Marlowe begins his poem with a hopeful and persuasive poem in stating, “Come live with me and be my love,/ and we will all the pleasures will prove” (1-2). Meanwhile, Williams begins with a pessimistic tone that many can interpret as logical or realistic for the times. He writes, “We cannot go to the country/ for the country will bring us/ no peace.”(1-3). His ideals of the country lifestyle are repeated at the beginning and then end clearly stating his feelings. Williams believes nothing ever stays as beautiful as it has been described, especially by the untruthful shepherd. Rather, he believed nature in the countryside can be dull and often times unappealing. He states this when he talks about the, “Small violets..that grow on furry stems”(4-5) and the “Long grass among lance-shaped leaves”(6-7). ***CLOSING
In dire situations, it is common for people to seek moral guidance. William Wordsworth and Paul Laurence Dunbar did this through poetry. The two poems, “London, 1802” and “Douglass,” share a similar underlying cause, sentence formation, and the conditions of their particular country, but differ drastically in tone, use of comparisons, structure, and the author’s goals.
Though this poem is only a small snapshot of what I personally thought Douglass was going through, I could never adequately understand the frustration he must have had. My hope in writing this poem was not to provide a psychoanalysis or theoretical idea structure to any audience, but rather to show that even today, a modern audience member like me, can appreciate the struggle of a fellow human and speak against injustices, specifically in Douglass’s time.
Tender emotion can be felt by the fact that this scene is described as beholden to Wordsworth. “Secluded” (6), “quiet” (8), “unripe” (12), and “green” (16) are all adjectives used to describe this serene setting thereby bringing the reader back to the ra...
In the poem, the speaker, setting, and imagery depict the style of romanticism. First, the speaker of the poem is interpreted as a Romantic poet who is intelligent and lonely, but he is able to keep himself fulfilled by simple beauty. Wordsword accentuates this by writing in the first person. Next, the setting is richly presented to demonstrate the beauty of nature. Wordsword writes, “Beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze” (Wordsword, 5-6). The setting is interpreted to be in the countryside with daylight. Through this use of words and setting, Wo...
“The power of imagination makes us infinite.” (John Muir). Both John Muir and William Wordsworth demonstrate this through their use of language as they describe nature scenes. John Muir studies nature and in his essay about locating the Calypso Borealis he uses scientific descriptions to grab his reader’s attention and to portray his excitement at finding the rare flower. William Wordsworth on the other hand shows his appreciation for the beauty of nature and its effect on a person’s emotions in the vivid visual descriptions that he gives of the daffodils in his poem ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud.’ Wordsworth with his appreciation of beauty and Muir through scientific descriptions provide an indication of the influence that nature has had on them as they capture their reader’s attention both emotionally and visually through their personal and unique use of tone, diction, syntax and vocabulary.
Since Raleigh’s poem is a direct reply to Marlowe’s poem, it is no coincidence that the two poems have identical structure: both contain six stanzas in length consisting of four lines each and nearly every line has eight syllables. Similarly, a simple rhyme scheme of couplets is incorporated into these poems. If one didn’t know the authors of the poems, he or she might think the poems were written by the same person because the structures of the poems reflect each other so precisely. This of course was Raleigh’s intent. He wished to make certain that there could be absolutely no doubt that the nymph in his poem was responding to Marlowe’s shepherd. Another association between these two authors is their use of alliteration. Both exhibit the same alliteration; however, there is a difference in the sounds. Marlowe gives his poem more of ...
“Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher” is what William Wordsworth has preached to us. We all have places that we can feel at home with. For some, it is a trip to the east coast or the Spice Islands. A place where we can be ourselves and not have to worry about anything else that is going on in our lives. My special place is in the Big Horn Mountains where tons of different species of animals roam the cliffs, plains, and forests that are scattered for miles across. In “Tintern Abbey,” William Wordsworth has returned there after five long years away. He brings his younger sister whom he wants to appreciate the beauty just as he does. Wordsworth notices how certain things have changed, but it is still the same place that he came to love. Wordsworth is a Romantic poet. He helped start the Romantic Movement around the end of the eighteenth century. In William Wordsworth poem, “Tintern Abbey,” there are three noticeable romantic elements which are, simplicity of language, expression of intensified feelings, and responses to nature that lead to awareness of self.
The entire poem is about the interaction between nature and man. Wordsworth is clearly not happy about the things that man has done to the world. He describes Nature in detail in the second and third stanzas when he personifies the periwinkle and the flowers. He is thinking about the bad things that man has done to nature and he wants the reader to sit back and think about the fact that there used to be something so beautiful and alive, and because of man's ignorance and impatience, there is not a lot left. He also wants him to go sit in his own grove and actually see what is living and breathing and whether or not he enjoys it. Wordsworth makes it seem appealing to want to go and do this through his descriptions and thoughts, so that you get a feeling of what is there and what is being lost. He makes the reader want to go and see if those things, the budding twigs, the hopping birds, and the trailing periwinkle, really do exist and if they really are as alive as he says.
Jones employs the dynamics of change to his speaker throughout the poem. From an aimless vagrant to a passionate revolutionary, Jones plots his speaker's course using specific words and structural techniques. Through these elements, we witness the evolution of a new black man--one who is not content with the passivity of his earlier spiritual leaders. We are left with a threat--a steel fist in a velvet glove of poetry--and it becomes a poem that we "have to" understand, whether we want to or not.
‘It is often suggested that the source for many of William Wordsworth’s poems lies in the pages of Dorothy Wordsworth’s journal. Quite frequently, Dorothy describes an incident in her journal, and William writes a poem about the same incident, often around two years later.’ It is a common observation that whilst Dorothy is a recorder – ‘her face was excessively brown’ – William is a transformer – ‘Her skin was of Egyptian brown’ . The intertextuality between The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals and ‘I wandered lonely as a Cloud’ allows both Dorothy and William to write about the same event, being equally as descriptive, but in very differing ways. Dorothy writes in a realist ‘log-book’ like style, whereas William writes in a romantic ballad style. This can be very misleading, as it gives William’s work more emotional attachment even though his work is drawn upon Dorothy’s diary, which in its turn is very detached, including little personal revelation. When read in conjunction with William’s poetry, Dorothy’s journal seems to be a set of notes written especially for him by her. In fact, from the very beginning of the journals Dorothy has made it quite clear that she was writing them for William’s ‘pleasure’ . This ties in with many of the diary entries in which she has described taking care of William in a physical sense. In a way this depicts the manner in which William uses his sister’s journal to acquire the subject of his poetry, which makes it seem as though Dorothy is his inspiration.
Many fundamental modern poets, both past and present, have used their work to create a revolution in the world of poetry. The modernist era has created a new standard for the general definition of the poem, changing traditional form and meaning. Through specific focus on two works by modernist and imagist poet William Carlos Williams, “This is Just to Say” and “The Red Wheelbarrow”, one observes a trend modernist poetry seems to follow which is also the most important one. Arguably, modernism’s greatest concern is changing the traditional views of the subject matter of poetry. The extraordinary nature of poetry does not necessitate the mainstream structure and content it has known for centuries, but rather whatever structure and content that the respective poet decides will properly convey the desired message. It is the modernist poet’s intent to shift the view of what poetry should be about and to broaden the horizons of what makes a poem, a poem. The examination of William Carlos Williams’ aforementioned poems will prove, through the content and form, that for a work to be considered a poem, it does not require extraordinary subject matter and profound words to portray a meaning.
In the first stanza, the poet seems to be offering a conventional romanticized view of Nature:
The “Preface” to the Lyrical Ballads defines Wordsworth’s poetic credo. Like many, Wordsworth contends that a poet must be someone with a deep understanding of the human condition. He contends that good poems have a “purpose,” and that “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” He also adds, that the object of his work “is to follow the fluxes and refluxes of the mind when agitated by the great and simple affections of our nature”(149). In his conclusion, he writes “the powers of language are not so limited… it is possible that poetry may give other enjoyments, of a purer, more lasting, and more exquisite nature”(154). Thus, by inference, the best poems should carry with them delight beyond wordplay and rhythm, that taps into a more fundamental human vein. Wordsworth attempted to succeed in his goals through his choice of subject and language.
Through the poems of Blake and Wordsworth, the meaning of nature expands far beyond the earlier century's definition of nature. "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." The passion and imagination portrayal manifest this period unquestionably, as the Romantic Era. Nature is a place of solace where the imagination is free to roam. Wordsworth contrasts the material world to the innocent beauty of nature that is easily forgotten, or overlooked due to our insensitivities by our complete devotion to the trivial world. “But yet I know, where’er I go, that there hath passed away a glory from the earth.
William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is a poem that features a persona experiencing the beauty of nature. The persona sees the beauty of nature and revels in the beauty of "A host, of golden daffodils (li. 4)." The persona perceives these flowers as possessing emotions, as the daffodils were "Tossing their heads in sprightly dance... they/ Out-did the sparkling waves in glee (li. 12-14)." In response, the persona likewise feels the flowers' happiness, saying that "A poet could not but be gay,/ In such a jocund company (li. 15-16)." The most important lines that indicate the adherence of the poem to the Romantic movement is when the persona says that "I gazed-and gazed-but little thought/ What wealth the show to me had brought (li. 17-18)." As he looked at the daffodils that brought him the emotion of joy, he was not thinking at all, but feeling. At the end of the poem, when he would feel "vacant or in pensive mood (li. ...