“As I walk out one evening” Analysis
“As I walked out one evening”, is striking poem that expresses and exploits some of the restrictions time places upon man. Written during the mid-1930s, “As I walked out one evening” is one of W. H. Auden’s early works. The work indirectly illustrates times effect on man by using different speakers as well as other reference that play a variable in time. The essence of time is portrayed through Auden’s use of form, structure, language and personification to demonstrate the effect of time.
Form is critical to any piece of literature, and in “As I Walked Out One Evening” the form allows the essential tone to be set. The form used by Auden is elegiac, typically associated with morning. (Fleissner)The mournful form makes it clear it wishes to stop time. “As I walked out” is told in the first person, giving a personal feeling as if the author is talking directly to the reader. The poem is relayed by unidentified personas witnessing the events as they take place, without personally being involved in them, which places the poem in the narrative genre. (Fleissner) In order for form to have its full effect on the poem, the structure is essential.
Structure influences “As I walked out one evening” with its use of quatrains. Structure is often referred to as the framework of a literary work. It is a literary ballad written in the form of ABCB quatrains and other elements of a lyric poem. Each stanza is four lines long and is subliminally an illustration of the consistency of time. (Fleissner) Auden’s use of a masculine end rhyme conforms to the standard criteria used in literary ballads. Iambic trimeter is the most common meter used but, the meter of the different quatrains is both varied and comple...
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...cussed but, it seems that the lovers will share the night together.The lovers time together would be more meaningful if they knew the lack of time they have together. The poem ends by noting that “the deep river ran on,” suggesting a eternity or a broader history in which the lovers are just one small part. At the same time we have learned that even the river will one day be no more. Nothing is safe from the grasps of time except the memories we create during the span of life.
Time acts as an illusion to many humans. Time should not restrict our actions or feelings. As the countdown of life continues on, one must recognize that the fulfillment in life is not in the years lived but, the memories experienced. Life is about relationships and the love produced from them not by years of marriage. Life may be temporary but, memories and love live on forever in eternity.
First, I will illustrate how structure is being used in the poem and ties into the speculation. Structure of a poem is very important. The structure of a poem focuses on having a beginning, middle, and end to give a poem a clear meaning. The speaker starts the poem with “You can always start with the was of things,” trying to illustrate when writing a poem it is good to begin with jotting down the things
The timeline carries on chronologically, the intense imagery exaggerated to allow the poem to mimic childlike mannerisms. This, subjectively, lets the reader experience the adventure through the young speaker’s eyes. The personification of “sunset”, (5) “shutters”, (8) “shadows”, (19) and “lamplights” (10) makes the world appear alive and allows nothing to be a passing detail, very akin to a child’s imagination. The sunset, alive as it may seem, ordinarily depicts a euphemism for death, similar to the image of the “shutters closing like the eyelids”
First of alll, the poem is divided into nine stanzas, where each one has four lines. In addition to that, one can spot a few enjambements for instance (l.9-10). This stylistic device has the function to support the flow of the poem. Furthermore, it is crucial to take a look at the choice of words, when analysing the language.
The poet begins by describing the scene to paint a picture in the reader’s mind and elaborates on how the sky and the ground work in harmony. This is almost a story like layout with a beginning a complication and an ending. Thus the poem has a story like feel to it. At first it may not be clear why the poem is broken up into three- five line stanzas. The poet deliberately used this line stanzas as the most appropriate way to separate scenes and emotions to create a story like format.
For many people, the early hours of the morning can hold numerous possibilities from time for quiet reflections to beginning of the day observations to waking up and taking in the fresh air. In the instance of the poems “Five A.M.” and “Five Flights Up,” respective poets William Stafford and Elizabeth Bishop write of experiences similar to these. However, what lies different in their styles is the state of mind of the speakers. While Stafford’s speaker silently reflects on his walk at dawn from a philosophical view of facing the troubles that lie ahead in his day, Bishop’s speaker observes nature’s creations and their blissful well-being after the bad day had before and the impact these negative thoughts have on her psychological state in terms
one of the most significant cues about the location and nature of the action within the poem
The poem, “Field of Autumn”, by Laurie Lee exposes the languorous passage of time along with the unavoidability of closure, more precisely; death, by describing a shift of seasons. In six stanzas, with four sentences each, the author also contrasts two different branches of time; past and future. Death and slowness are the main motifs of this literary work, and are efficiently portrayed through the overall assonance of the letter “o”, which helps the reader understand the tranquility of the poem by creating an equally calmed atmosphere. This poem is to be analyzed by stanzas, one per paragraph, with the exception of the third and fourth stanzas, which will be analyzed as one for a better understanding of Lee’s poem.
The streets of London consist of various personalities and characters. Whether it is a mass of bustling high-end shops on Oxford Street, eclectic collection of music, art and food in Camden or simply hidden pathways consisting of independent coffee shops, book stores and boutiques in Soho, London is composed of multiple characters. Midnight In London was created to reflect these dynamic personalities, while demonstrating it doesn’t take much just a simple walk or turn of the corner to experience these atmospheres. However, midnight was selected for this project because time contains a powerful hold on not only how the environment changes, but also the ways in which a person experiences them. Midnight is a time I find quite enticing. It is constructed
The symbols and imagery used by Kate Chopin's in “The Story of an Hour” give the reader a sense of Mrs. Mallard’s new life appearing before her through her view of an “open window” (para. 4). Louise Mallard experiences what most individuals long for throughout their lives; freedom and happiness. By spending an hour in a “comfortable, roomy armchair” (para.4) in front of an open window, she undergoes a transformation that makes her understand the importance of her freedom. The author's use of Spring time imagery also creates a sense of renewal that captures the author's idea that Mrs. Mallard was set free after the news of her husband's death.
Writing the poem in ballad form gave a sense of mood to each paragraph. The poem starts out with an eager little girl wanting to march for freedom. The mother explains how treacherous the march could become showing her fear for her daughters life. The mood swings back and forth until finally the mother's fear overcomes the child's desire and the child is sent to church where it will be safe. The tempo seems to pick up in the last couple of paragraphs to emphasize the mothers distraught on hearing the explosion and finding her child's shoe.
Poetry is a creative art form that allows a critical thinking connection between the creator and the audience of each poem. The reader must think critically and in depth about the subject matter and meaning of what each poet is presenting with their body of work. On the other hand, the poet must be able to present their body of work with a unique writing style that encodes a deeper message than what appears on the surface. Most would say that poetry is read for its witty internal messages, but the reader must be able to accurately decipher the message the poet is presenting to fully understand the poet’s allusions. I believe that all poetry is inspired by memorable life events that have been experienced by an individual whether good or bad. If this is true, then much of the subject matter and meaning of poetry can be deciphered by identifying the key elements in each poem such as tones, moods, similes, metaphors, writing styles, and most importantly knowing the facts of the creator’s personal life experiences. In this essay, I will use the identifying techniques listed above to decipher the poem, “Out, Out-” by Robert Frost, to determine if Mr. Frost’s personal experiences with
Chaos and drudgery are common themes throughout the poem, displayed in its form; it is nearly iambic pentameter, but not every line fits the required pattern. This is significant because the poem’s imperfect formulation is Owen making a statement about formality, the poem breaks the typical form to show that everything is not functioning satisfactorily. The poem’s stanza’s also begin short, but become longer, like the speaker’s torment and his comrades movement away from the open fire. The rhyming scheme of ABABCDCD is one constant throughout the poem, but it serves to reinforce the nature of the cadence as the soldiers tread on. The war seems to drag on longer and longer for the speaker, and represents the prolonged suffering and agony of the soldier’s death that is described as the speaker dwells on this and is torn apart emotionally and distorts his impressions of what he experiences.
In relation to structure and style, the poem contains six stanzas of varying lengths. The first, second, and fourth stanzas
The construction of the poem is in regular four-line stanzas, of which the first two stanzas provide the exposition, setting the scene; the next three stanzas encompass the major action; and the final two stanzas present the poet's reflection on the meaning of her experience.
... since it deals with the growth of the mind. Therefore, the poet uses syntax and form to emphasize on the important matters that occurred in each stanza.