Surprised By Joy

There are times when we should mourn. There are times for tears and sorrow. There are times when being appropriate means giving in to grief. When the world looks to see our reaction to loss, we must turn our faces grim and prove our love for what has gone. But in those moments of appropriate sadness, does there not exist any of the things that make us happy? Does the original loss color all things gray and remove the possibility for joy? No. The world remains the same, save for the void where once was the beloved thing. And joy can creep, seep into our thoughts without our intention and suddenly the sorrow is lifted. For a moment we act inappropriately; the world sighs, " it isn't right to be happy at a time like this," and we are covered in guilt at having forgotten our loss. In Wordsworth's "Surprised By Joy", he laments that he has disrespected his daughters memory by letting himself feel joy after she has gone. He asks himself how he could ever overcome the sorrow and make happiness appropriate. Should we wrap ourselves in sadness and avoid the luxuries and pleasantries of life when something profound is lost? And can we learn to accept life's pleasantries knowing that they must exist without the one who's gone? Happiness seems to be the ultimate goal of men. We aspire to be content, to have the things we want and want nothing that we do not have But in Wordsworth's case, happiness seems to be something he must avoid for a time. Until the feelings of loss are resolved, joy remains an unwanted intruder, a destroyer of homage, a thing existing just to tempt Wordsworth from his respectful grief.

Though "Surprised By Joy" appears to follow the guidelines of the Italian sonnet in rhyme scheme, it greatly departs from the typica...

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...nging, from longing to sadness, from sadness to guilt, from guilt back to the original sadness. Throughout the poem there are a series of scattered spondees that basically encapture all of Wordsworth's main themes: "deep buried," "love, faithful," "that thought's," "worst pang," "only one," "best treasure," and finally, "no more." The conflict created within the sonnet gets resolved by the existence of the bigger conflict. Wordsworth demonstrates with this poem, that there is no cure for someone's death, no way for the living to find peace after the loss. "Surprised By Joy" is an Italian sonnet that deviates from the regular conflict- to -resolution form in order to show that resolution is, at times, a concept as abstract as time itself. With a mixture of eloquent language and carefully placed sound effects Wordsworth creates a poem whose mere sound exudes sadness.