Summer Dawn by William Morris

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The poem, “Summer Dawn”, by William Morris is narrated from an extensive perspective. It gives a comprehensive description about a particular transition time. The poem’s title encompasses two diverse words which depict a second in time. The title’s contradicting phrases give one a hint about the poem’s mood of uncertainty. Based on the title, the poem’s setting is in two different time frames. Dawn is a reference to a new beginning that is anxiety filled. The speaker attempts to convey a message of hope. The line “The summer night waneth, the morning light slips” appears to reference the end of summer. It describes the light fading between the leaf and the clouds which are another hint that the summer is fading into the fall. Winter is approaching quickly with darker, gloomier days ahead. The darker, gloomier days could symbolize the speakers’ sadness or depression. Also, it could express his love for the summer and his dislike of the winter. The text makes use of the anxious feeling to express a solemn, and somewhat, distressing mood all through the poem.
In reference to the first line of the poem, he opens with “Pray but one prayer for me”. He is asking for help to endure, whatever happen next. Whether, it is strength to endure the harshness of winter or just to withstand it until the return of summer. The first stanza indicates the closing of summer months and he is not pleased about the future. The second stanza begins with “That are patiently waiting there for the dawn”. This leads one to believe that summer is over and that the dawn of summer is coming. The words “patient and colorless” is speaking to the view of the leaf, as they sit motionless and drained of their green color. This could mean that he sees himself as a leaf...

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...long with the sun far out in the meadows above the young corn” these lines could represent a classroom of children reading the poem as the message awaits its discovery. “The uneasy wind rises” could be the uncertainty of the instructor whether the students find the message on their own.
The speaker is a lonely person that uses nature to cope with his loneliness. It is this connection through personification that the speaker carries throughout the poem. The mentality “if the trees can take the cold then I can too.” This connection gives the speaker hope to push through the winter. Dawn is a foreseeable event in time, a deemed necessity, that is inevitable. The negative description of the landscape, as well as the sense of necessity, expresses the text’s views. Based on this, there is doubt that the wait for whatever or whoever is coming will eventually come to pass.

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