Poetry Comparison on Wordsworth's Lucy and Tennyson's Dark house, by which once more I stand

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Poetry Comparison on Wordsworth's Lucy and Tennyson's Dark house, by which once more I stand Wordsworth's and Tennyson's poems are both about someone who was close to them and is now gone. However Tennyson uses the physical surroundings to portray his emotions as well as his own reactions whereas Wordsworth's poem is less specific and less obvious about his feelings, focusing his attention on the lost person. Tennyson's poem is more about himself, "I stand, my heart, Behold me, for I cannot sleep, I creep". Because he describes his own actions, the poem is very self absorbed and the reader doesn't get to know about the person that is now gone. On the other hand, Wordsworth does focus his attention on the lost person and in fact the whole poem is about her: only at the end does he refer back to himself, "The difference to me!" Both poems use metaphors and produce vivid imagery. Wordsworth describes Lucy throughout most of the poem whereas Tennyson is focused on his own feelings and the description of the physical surroundings is used to mirror these emotions. Here, Wordsworth is describing Lucy and refers to her as being shy and unique as there were none to compare her with; the violet being a symbol for a timid personality. "A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden by the eye! Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky" Tennyson by contrast doesn't resort to metaphors to describe his friend. All Tennyson's descriptions are emotive, "Dark house, by which once more I stand Here in the long unlovely street…And ghastly through the drizzling rain On the bald street breaks the blank day." he sets the depre... ... middle of paper ... ...narrative poem and more of a description then a sequence of actions like Tennyson's poem. In comparison, the basic meter in Tennyson's poem is iambic tetrameter with irregular stresses such as the two long stresses at the beginning, "Dark house," resulting in a slower and heavy atmosphere which portrays how he feels. He also uses enjambment rather then pauses at the end of each line like Wordsworth, as he is narrating his actions and again producing a gloomy effect. To conclude, the poems have their similarities but the main difference is how the emotions are portrayed -Tennyson's furtive behaviour as well as the morbid surroundings and Wordsworth's subtle description of Lucy and her life. In the end it is clear that they both feel that they have lost someone important and it has made a difference to their lives.

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