Comparing Sea Rose By H. D And Vague Poem By Elizabeth Bishop

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The poems “Sea Rose” by H.D and “Vague Poem” by Elizabeth Bishop were both written by two women who took over the Victorian era. H.D’s works of writing were best known as experimental reflecting the themes of feminism and modernism from 1911-1961. While Bishop’s works possessed themes of longing to belong and grief. Both poems use imagery, which helps to make the poem more concrete for the reader. Using imagery helps to paint a picture with specific images, so we can understand it better and analyze it more. The poems “Sea Rose” and “Vague Poem” both use the metaphor of a rose to represent something that can harm you, even though it has beauty.

Elizabeth Bishop was a poet in the twentieth century. She was born in 1911 and lived until she …show more content…

“I think I dreamed that trip” (2) is a hyperbole because the trip she went on was so good that the narrator doesn’t even think it’s real. Within the first two lines, the reader can interpret that this poem is not an actual event that did not happen. Another hyperbole is “I almost saw it: turning into a rose without any of the intervening roots, stems, buds and so on; just earth to rose and back again” (28-31). The narrator did not see anything turning into a rose without stems and buds, she is exaggerating. “Vague Poem” is a piece of narrative poetry, because it tells a story. There are characters and a plot and a climax. While “Sea Rose” is a free verse poem, because there is no pattern in the stanzas of the poem. I believe the image of the rose is in this poem represents a person that the speaker of the poem was in love with, who did them wrong. I believe the speaker of the poem still loves this person and is puzzled with their feelings for the person that hurt them. “More precious than a wet rose, single on a stem--you are caught in the drift” (4-8) is interpreting the love that the speaker had for the person that hurt them and that they thought there was no one else like …show more content…

The narrator in “Vague Poem” is falling in love with a woman who tried to get her rock roses. The tone of this poem is romantic while Sea Rose’s tone is somber and nostalgic. They are both romantic in subject matter, but the Sea Rose is more abstract than Vague Poem. Sea Rose is sentimental in nature reflecting on a past love that did not work out. It was written in 1916 which is written in the middle of World War I. It could have been written by a now widow and they are reflecting on their past love who has died in the war. While Vague Poem seems dreamlike. There are a lot of inner thoughts that the poet has written that interrupt the story itself. “I’m not sure now, but someone tried to get me some. (And two or three students had”) (4-5). It describes the added detail that two or three students tried to get her some rose rocks. That alone gives us detail of the narrators occupation and that she has students. It makes it more specific. Another example is “Oh, she said, the dog has carried them off. (A big

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