Comparing the Two Versions of A Butterfly by William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth wrote two versions of the poem "To A Butterfly," one in March, the other in April. In reading the poems, the situation presented is obviously the same, only interpreted differently and reflected differently. As Wordsworth himself said about poetry: it is "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity: the emotion is contemplated till by a species of reaction the tranquillity gradually disappears." Both versions of the poem are about the memory that the sight of a butterfly brings back, not so much a memory but a feeling the poet gets upon seeing this butterfly.
In the first version of the poem the Wordsworth wrote, which I will call the "March" poem, the poet begs the butterfly to stay a while, and not to fly away. He is not calm, but almost desperate to have it stay. The phrasing of the first two lines of the poem seem to imply the inevitable disappearance of the creature, which to me is illustrated when he says "do not take thy flight" instead of "do not take flight" or "do not fly away." The next two lines seem to personify the butterfly, for to the poet, the butterfly tells a story from his past. He finds that the creature "talks" to him, as a "historian of [his] infancy." The butterfly revives "dead times" in him, memories past. The two lines that follow (7-8) talk about the paradox the butterfly brings, the fact that such a "gay creature" can put such a "solemn image" into his heart. The memories that the butterfly brings with it are not happy, carefree memories, but ones laden with the passage of time and all the woes that come with time. From lines 10 to 18 the p...
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...ftly sentimental last two lines about his sister. In the March poem, he gives very little detail about his current surroundings, but describes the motions of the young children and their surroundings carefully. In the April poem, however, all the detail is given to the current time and place, and no specifics at all to "summer days." In the March poem, the poem is the thoughts that the vision of the butterfly revives in the poet, in the April poem, he examines the butterfly then speaks to it in the next stanza.
I prefer the March poem, if only for the mood. I think that the April poem is less awkward in leading from one thought to the next, but it seems a bit frivolous to me, and almost forced, where the emotion of the March poem seems stronger. If poetry is "emotion recollected in tranquility," I believe the March poem does this better than the April poem.
William Stafford was at peace with himself. In the poem he knows that there are questions for him, and he is willing to answer. He just needed some time to adjust to whatever came his way. William puts himself as an example of a river and a natural force of nature; like a river and it’s current, there is a flow and it will continue for a long period of time.
For each seasonal section, there is a progression from beginning to end within the season. Each season is compiled in a progressive nature with poetry describing the beginning of a season coming before poetry for the end of the season. This is clear for spring, which starts with, “fallen snow [that] lingers on” and concludes with a poet lamenting that “spring should take its leave” (McCullough 14, 39). The imagery progresses from the end of winter, with snow still lingering around to when the signs of spring are disappearing. Although each poem alone does not show much in terms of the time of the year, when put into the context of other poems a timeline emerges from one season to the next. Each poem is linked to another poem when it comes to the entire anthology. By having each poem put into the context of another, a sense of organization emerges within each section. Every poem contributes to the meaning of a group of poems. The images used are meant to evoke a specific point in each season from the snow to the blossoms to the falling of the blossoms. Since each poem stands alone and has no true plot they lack the significance than if they were put into th...
Furthermore, Wordsworth’s assertion of feelings as the effects of an action or a situation, which means that actions should influence the emotions of the character and not the other way around, is dissimilar to The Raven’s character’s feeling of desperation in which he succumbed to his distress. However, the lesson derived from the bizarre workings of the human mind in preferring more devotion to the pain for the sake of “preserving the memory,” as “The Raven” illustrates, exposes to us how a particular person behaves towards grief. The statement thus proves in relation to Coleridge’s statement of the readers’ elicitation of the poem is more significant than the poem itself (in reference to his emphasis on the importance of the “Return”). Another variation between Wordsworth and Coleridge is that the former claims that the writer must bring the language near to the language of men, whilst the latter believes that the language of poetry should beautiful and elevated. “The Raven” in this case
Each poem describes a scene where a man learns from his experience and interaction with nature. In “The Meadow Mouse” the man instantly finds himself a father-figure to the mouse that he finds. When the mouse leaves, he thinks of the dangers of nature such as, “the turtle gasping in the dusty rubble of the highway.” From his instant love and pain of losing the mouse, he learns how he truly feels about nature. Set in a different scene, the fisherman in “The Fish,...
The way the points of views in each different poem creates a different theme for each poems using different points diction to convey meaning for each of the two poems. In the poem “Birthday” a humorous tone shows a newborn baby in a first person point of view. As opposed to the poem “The Secret Life of Books” which uses a third person point of view for a more serious tone. The two poems would change dramatically whiteout the different points of views because without the humor of the newborn baby being the narrator the poem might take a different spin on the meaning to create a more serious tone. As opposed to “The Secret Life of Books” where the poem is a big personification which if it was not in a third person point of view it might have a a humorous tome in the background. The two poems have many things that help contrast them with each other another one of these being the theme chosen to give each poem a separate identity, while “Birthday” has some background information in some of the diction it uses to World War II “The Secret Life of Books” has no need for the knowledge of background information just the curiosity of the brain
The sound patterns of these two poems are also quite different. “At the Airport in San Francisco” has a set rhyme scheme, while “To a Daughter Leaving Home,” is free verse. The rhyme scheme of Winters’ poem is A-B-A-B-A, which does not change for the entirety of the five stanzas. One interesting thing that I noticed about stanzas 1, 3, and 5 were that words that rhymed on the ‘A’ lines seemed to correlate with the progression of the speaker’s emotions. I found that these three stanzas seemed to be the places where the most emotion was
Written on the banks of the Lye, this beautiful lyric has been said by critic Robert Chinchilla to “pose the question of friendship in a way more central, more profound, than any other poem of Wordsworth’s since ‘The Aeolian Harp’ of 1799” (245). Wordsworth is writing the poem to his sister Rebecca as a way of healing their former estrangement.
He explains how nature has never betrayed his heart and that is why he has lived a life full of joy. Therefore, he wishes her sister to indulge the nature and be a part of it. That way, she will be able to enjoy and understand life and conquer the displeasure of living in a cruel human society. When she feels sad or lonely, he wants her to remember what he told her about nature because he believes that if his sister where to recall him, he will gain eternal life. The idea of “Lines composed of a few miles above Tintern Abbey” expresses Wordsworth sensational admiration for nature and feels a deep power of delight in natural things. He exclaims how at moment of sadness, he turns to the nature for peace of mind and inspiration. As he becomes serious about the nature, it gives him courage and spirit enough to stand there with a sense of delight and pleasure. He lets the reader know that even though his boyish days are gone, he doesn’t ponder on it or mourn for its loss. He has simply gained something in return; looking at nature, not in thoughtless ways but seeing its true meaning and beauty; hearing the sad music of
The first differences in these poems are the speakers. A speaker is the person that is delivering the poem (Literary
William Wordsworth is easily understood as a main author whom expresses the element of nature within his work. Wordsworth’s writings unravel the combination of the creation of beauty and sublime within the minds of man, as well as the receiver through naturalism. Wordsworth is known to be self-conscious of his immediate surroundings in the natural world, and to create his experience with it through imagination. It is common to point out Wordsworth speaking with, to, and for nature. Wordsworth had a strong sense of passion of finding ourselves as the individuals that we truly are through nature. Three poems which best agree with Wordsworth’s fascination with nature are: I Wandered as a Lonely Cloud, My Heart leaps up, and Composed upon Westminster Bridge. In I Wandered as a Lonely Cloud, Wordsworth claims that he would rather die than be without nature, because life isn’t life without it, and would be without the true happiness and pleasure nature brings to man. “So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me
There is also a standard structure in this poem, with the second and last line of each stanza shorter than the other two. It uses half-rhyme, creating an "a, b, a, b" rhyme scheme which adds speed to the entire poem. This, in turn, re-emphasises the fact that time is ticking away and we need to make the best out of our youth and regret not in the future. I find this second poem easier to grasp, mainly due to the references and comparisons to tangible things. I guess the subject matter also appeals more to me, as the subject matter in "Song" gives me an impression that from the physical love he is looking for in the girl, he is not serious about her. As for "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time", it is purer, warning readers to be more careful in what one does with his youth.
William Wordsworth rejected all the traditional assumptions about the proper style, words, and subject matter for a poem during the Romanics period. When explaining his writing Wordsworth said, “There will be found in these volumes little of what is usually called poetry diction; I have taken as much pains to avoid it as others ordinarily take to produce it.” (Marshall) Because he took such a different approach to his writing, many people criticized his poems. Literary critic Harold Bloom said, “The fear of mortality haunts much of Wordsworth’s best poetry, especially in regard to the premature mortality of the Imagination and the loss of its creative joy.” Wordsworth does in fact express fear of mortality in the poems The World is too much with us, London, 1802, The Prelude, and Lines composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.
Wordsworth and Hopkins both present the reader with a poem conveying the theme of nature. Nature in its variety be it from something as simple as streaked or multicolored skies, long fields and valleys, to things more complex like animals, are all gifts we take for granted. Some never realize the truth of what they are missing by keeping themselves indoors fixating on the loneliness and vacancy of their lives and not on what beauty currently surrounds them. Others tend to relate themselves more to the fact that these lovely gifts are from God and should be praised because of the way his gifts have uplifted our human spirit. Each writer gives us their own ideals as how to find and appreciate nature’s true gifts.
When a man becomes old and has nothing to look forward to he will always look back, back to what are called the good old days. These days were full of young innocence, and no worries. Wordsworth describes these childhood days by saying that "A single Field which I have looked upon, / Both of them speak of something that is gone: The Pansy at my feet Doth the same tale repeat: Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream?"(190) Another example of how Wordsworth uses nature as a way of dwelling on his past childhood experiences is when he writes "O joy! That in our embers / Is something that doth live, / That nature yet remembers / What was so fugitive!" (192) Here an ember represents our fading years through life and nature is remembering the childhood that has escaped over the years. As far as Wordsworth and his moods go I think he is very touched by nature. I can picture him seeing life and feeling it in every flower, ant, and piece of grass that crosses his path. The emotion he feels is strongly suggested in this line "To me the meanest flower that blows can give / Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." (193) Not only is this showi...
William Wordsworth was known as the poet of nature. He devoted his life to poetry and used his feeling for nature to express him self and how he evolved.