The poem Virtue, by George Herbert, is a wonderful work of writing that focuses on life, love, and death. George Herbert shared his knowledge through emotion, symbolism, imagery, and point of view, coming to the conclusion that everything decent the world offers must come to an end; however, a virtuous soul lives on forever.
George Herbert took the time to look at the beauty of the world and he enjoyed everything around him. He observed every intricate detail and truly appreciated the amazing nature before him. He wrote each and every word with such a positive perspective using uplifting vocabulary in the beginning of each stanza. He allowed others to observe his thoughts through literature and witness each sweet day sunrise and every sweet rose bloom.
After marveling on all of creation, Herbert writes about how everything, no matter how beautiful it is, must die. He starts of his poem with such an optimistic perspective, then following it up with a more realistic outlook on how we need to appreciate what we have before it’s gone. He made a point to share in his poem a more genuine conclusion at the end of each verse.
Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses, A box where sweets compacted lie; My music shows ye have your closes, And all must die. (Lines 9-12)
He takes two beautiful, sweet days and roses, thing the Earth has to offer and describes them with such flowing words, then without sugar coating it, Herbert breaks that news that these too must die.
The author used symbolism in his writing by describing the sweet day and the rose. He uses these two seemingly different things to help the reader see his point of view of the Earth. By reading his portrayal of a sweet day, being brought forth with a positive tone and then en...
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...ves. (Lines 13-16)
Even though the whole world must come to an end, one with high morals will live forever. Looking at his past, Herbert served as an Anglican priest for quite some time in his life and also had a hand in writing some popular hymns for the church that are still being sung today. Seeing how involved this man was in spiritual work gives the reader of his poems insight into his religious point of view he used when writing.
Each poet’s goal is to teach their readers a lesson through their writing. George Herbert shared his knowledge through his emotion, symbolism, imagery, and point of view, ending on the idea that every good thing must come to an end. Much like the short span of a sweet day or a fragrant rose, Herbert died at a young age making his death confirmation that all good things must come to an end; but his virtuous soul will live on forever.
An unknown author once wrote “Never take life too seriously; after all, no one gets out of it alive”. When reading this quote, there can almost be an immediate connection between two very good works of writing: Macbeth’s “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” speech from Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, and the poem “Out, Out --” by Robert Frost. Both allude to the idea that a single life, in its totality, denotes nothing, and eventually, everyone’s candle of life is blown out. However, each poet approaches this idea from opposite perspectives. Frost writes of a young, innocent boy whose life ends suddenly and unexpectedly. His poem is dry and lacks emotion from anyone except the young boy. Whereas the demise of Shakespeare’s character, Macbeth, an evil man, has been anticipated throughout the entire play. Through these writings, we are able gather a little more insight as to how these poets perhaps felt about dying and life itself.
The story opens by embracing the reader with a relaxed setting, giving the anticipation for an optimistic story. “…with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green (p.445).”
In the contract of life, there are numerous requirements. Every living being must be able to reproduce, practice homeostasis, consume energy, and adapt. However, there is one component of life that facilitators don’t include in their lesson plans: death. While all living organisms must have the ability to perform certain tasks in order to be considered living, all life must come to an end. Death is not a matter of if, but when. Many humans share a common fear of losing a loved one, yet authors utilize death to convey a profound meaning within their novel. In the first paragraph Bill Barich’s novel, Laughing in the Hills, he uses the inevitability of death to supply the reader with insight on the theme of his writing.
In his poem “Field of Autumn”, Laurie Lee uses an extended metaphor in order to convey the tranquility of time, as it slowly puts an end to life. Through imagery and syntax, the first two stanzas contrast with the last two ones: The first ones describing the beginning of the end, while the final ones deal with the last moments of the existence of something. Moreover, the middle stanzas work together; creating juxtaposition between past and future whilst they expose the melancholy that attachment to something confers once it's time to move on. Lee’s objective in this poem was to demonstrate the importance of enjoying the present, for the plain reason that worrying about the past and future only brings distress.
The cycle of life always ends in death, but the frightful aspect of death is not necessarily death itself, but the concept of timing. Mark Twain states that “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die anytime” which means people’s fear of dying stems from their fear of living, and this frightful emotion takes over people’s lives and prevents them from living each day like it is their last. This fear prevents many from taking action on their dreams and ambitions which inevitably is giving one’s life up too quickly. Dylan Thomas, a famous contemporary author, believes existence is taken advantage of and when one’s existence is threatened, most people are too quick to give up. In Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” the speaker of the poem confronts his deceased father about releasing one of the most valuable things in nature: life (Pattern #3).
Predominantly the poem offers a sense of comfort and wisdom, against the fear and pain associated with death. Bryant shows readers not to agonize over dying, in fact, he writes, "When thoughts of the last bitter hour come like a blight over thy spirit, and sad images of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall, and breathless darkness, and the narrow house, make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart -- go forth under the open sky, and list to Nature 's teachings." With this it eludes each person face their own death, without fright, to feel isolated and alone in death but to find peace in knowing that every person before had died and all those after will join in death (Krupat and Levine
Herrick’s examination of death and decay is without gore or sadness rather he uses positive and beautiful imagery of writing and sun and “raine” (63). The optimistic, excited tone of the poem keeps it from sounding like a lesson rather than a love charm. In lines 65-66, the speaker is romanticizing death by using the infinity of writing to preserve their love in “a fable, song” for everyone to experience (65-66). He wants his love to realize that even though they can be immortalized in words, before that time comes they need to “goe a Maying” to make their story more significant when they are older and when they are gone (70).
Although death seems to be a theme for many literary poems, it also appears to be the most difficult to express clearly. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “death” as, “A permanent cessation of all vital function: end of life.” While this definition sounds simple enough, a writer’s definition goes way beyond the literal meaning. Edwin Arlington Robinson and Robert Frost are just two examples of poetic writers who have used death successfully as the main theme of their works. Robinson, in the poem “Richard Cory,” and Frost in his poem, “Home Burial,” present death in different ways in order to invoke different feelings and emotions from their readers.
The ethical life of the poem, then, depends upon the propositions that evil. . . that is part of this life is too much for the preeminent man. . . . that after all our efforts doom is there for all of us” (48).
In literature, themes shape and characterize an author’s writing making each work unique as different points of view are expressed within a writing’s words and sentences. This is the case, for example, of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death.” Both poems focus on the same theme of death, but while Poe’s poem reflects that death is an atrocious event because of the suffering and struggle that it provokes, Dickinson’s poem reflects that death is humane and that it should not be feared as it is inevitable. The two poems have both similarities and differences, and the themes and characteristics of each poem can be explained by the author’s influences and lives.
Arthur Yvor Winters, an American poet and literary critic stated "This is a remarkably beautiful poem on the subject of daily realization of the imminence of death" it’s a poem of departure from life, an intensely conscious leave-taking. And Allen Tate, a distinguished American poet, teacher, and critic called this "An extraordinary poem".
Dickey is a mastermind at truly evoking mental images and feedback from the reader through his brilliant writing style. By the end of the poem, the reader has felt as if he or her has ridden on a roller coaster of a keen portrayal of the reality of death, the sentiment felt by those left behind by the dead, and also the power of faith. The ending line of the poem now makes sense to the reader. The son has come down from his father. He has accepted the fact that his father will die and can now be at peace with it.
...ow. George Herbert successfully redeems this fact with his writing. Even if he wants to do something else and will “freely” be allowed to follow this path, he knows there is authority over him that put his life in order of how it should be. George Herbert, a seventeenth century poet, wrote “The Collar” as a complaint, a rebellious act, but knows that he is powerless under higher authority and can only submit to their will.
A key theme found throughout the Bible is that of God being glorified through the actions of people who are full of imperfections. One such example is King David, the greatest of the Israelite kings. He sinned against God in sleeping with Bathsheeba and then having her husband killed on the battlefield. (II Samuel 11) Yet he is still commonly seen as a champion of the Jewish faith. George Herbert took this theme of God glorifying Himself through human frailty and incorporated it into his poem, "The Windows." As a metaphysical poet, Herbert puts most of the meaning of the poem into a deeper level. Herbert does this by choosing words that contain several different meanings, all of which serve to further exemplify the theme, in such areas as human imperfection, God’s love and finally, the effect upon people of God showing Himself to them through the lives of others.
Herbert seems to use personification liberally to bring his points across and flesh out his metaphors. A good example of this is in the sixth stanza, where Herbert makes the sun, stars, night, music, and light have independent thought and reason - the stars put us to bed, and music and light attend our head, much like a parental figure or caring friend. He makes them have human emotions and thought, something more poignant and clarifying to the average reader - characterization like this develops and gives more of a plot and flow to the poem, which helps the reader understand his meaning and follow his thought much