Analysis Of On Being Cautioned Against Walking On A Headland By Susan Smith

Madness is not Unnatural but Melodious

Smith in the poem “On Being Cautioned against Walking on a Headland …,” takes the style of a classical sonnet-writing in her illustration of a Medieval theme that is based on her own suffering. In the late 1700s, Smith sought partial analogies of her predicament using various types of natural phenomenon like a fading spring and a dangerous cliff and the grave of a young woman among others. The poem is one of the sonnets in which Smith uses to describe her predicaments as she utilizes mental illness to signify some form of relief. The author shows her varying perspective about the lunatic as she shifts from fearing him to envying his innate mental freedom from self-consciousness. In the poem, Smith offers

7). The section also builds the connection through the description of the solitary figure that does not project from the landscape but is pictured as native to it with the violence and rowdiness of the sea showing his deranged mind. Additionally, his hollow eyes are transformed to signify caves along the bottom of the waters while the cold bed shows the seabed. The waves that chide seems to be the proposal of an obsessed delusion, the lunatic appearing to be mentally disturbed by the surrounding. However, line 8 of the poem shows that this obsession has turned out to be a discussion where the lunatic’s ‘murmuring responses’ (l. 8) seem to amass the power to control the ‘dashing surf’ or to converse with it. From this section, the lunatic can be described as someone who has wild and hollow eyes, communicates with a hoarse voice, and can listen to nature. In addition, it is evident that imagery is seen in the use of headland, which can be viewed to represent a privileged position of visual power, which matches the social prominence ascribed to the masculine personality within the natural

The love for the lunatic arises because he does not seem to be afraid of nature or threats, nor empathize with himself because of his rationality. The speaker views the maniac as an as an individual not tied up by the societal rules of what is and is not an acceptable norm, which she associates with the feeling of self-actualization. The emotion being expressed in the sestet appear to be shallow as compared to the initial anger the poet had with the madman as depicted by the statement ‘moody sadness’ that signifies transient disappointment, a sulk (l. 9). Additionally, the poet appears to be more direct in the manner she expresses her love for the lunatic, which gives the impression of an individual emphasizing a point, a melodramatic emphasis. The section also depicts the speaker challenging and defying ‘civilised’ ideas and principles maintaining order within the society. From this work of art, it is evident that the author appears to be unable to give up urbanity entirely as depicted by the ironic and urbane tones of the inconsistent satires in parenthetical