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First, the speaker opens the poem by saying “In this country there is neither measure nor balance” (l.1). This has a negative connotation and is the initial expression of how the speaker uses diction to display negative feelings to society. Another negative connotation is when the speaker calls the clouds “man-shaming” (l.3). The speaker also refers to people as “trolls” (l.6), insinuating that people are slaves to society. These negative connotations are directed towards the mundane city life with it’s “labeled elms” (l.9) and it’s “tame tea-roses” (l.9). Another portrayal of the speaker’s mockery of society is the use of sound devices. This is important when considering the diction because the plosive sounds give the reader a subconscious understanding of how the speaker feels. For example, the word “gesture” (l.4) presents the naturalistic view on how insignificant people are in comparison to the clouds. As seen in line six, “trolls” also is used for a sound device coupled with negative connotations. Another example of coupling plosive sounds with negative connotations would be “Public Gardens” (l.7). The plosive sound devices are purposefully placed by the speaker to create a more apparent dissatisfaction in his diction. More often than not the speaker makes blatant statements towards the harsh and confining life in the city. By stating “one wearies of the Public Gardens” (l.7) the speaker is deliberately pointing to the civilization’s tedious lifestyle. In line 17 the speaker says “It is comfortable, for a change, to mean so…
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Here he answers the questions to himself why is he in such state of mind. This is the place where he has used the imagery for the purposeful communication that the thoughts of the loved one are always encircling him regardless of the place he is in. the poet has used the diction in the 2nd and third stanza as he goes long by counting out all the surrounding environments. The poetry is marvelous as all the surroundings namely “roaring traffic's boom” and also “silence of my lonely room” is used so as to make the reader aware about the inevitable love that the poet feels deep inside the heart. Many poetic expressions are visible as tick, tick, tock o clock then beat of the tom tom then drip, drip of the rain drops in summer showers are all poetry used as symbolic expression of inner love whispering…
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British poets during the nineteenth century, a period of great social, economic and environmental change, experienced an astounding shift in poetic style, in which many based their work on the ‘beauty’ of their surroundings, and how mankind affected this. Of this period, two of the leading nature poets in British literary history, Gerard Manley Hopkins and William Wordsworth became known, renowned as great figures in British literary history. Both adopted a ‘sacramental’ view of nature, that is they saw beyond the obvious features commonly associated with the natural world such as phenomenal features of the landscape. Writing during the Industrial Revolution, both poets considered the divinity and holiness at a deeper level and found that the world was imbued with spiritual influence. Not only did this event change their perception on a spiritual level, it also affected their general tone and outlook on life, which is evident in the way the poets write. In God’s Grandeur and The World Is Too Much With Us, the Petrachan sonnet form is used, a conventional style which became popular among English poets, in that they felt they could be more expressive using the Italian form, rather than the typical Shakespearean style. In this, they exploit the typical use of an octet or the first eight lines principally develop their argument or concern, while the sestet or the final six lines focus on the proposed solution offered by the poet.…
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Society seemingly gets worse and worse each year by becoming too worldly, and Wordsworth openly criticizes this situation about how mankind loses sight on how significant Mother Nature and her ways are. "The sea that bares her bosom to the moon" (line 5). With this line, the author uses personification and alliteration to set a tone of urgency to show that even the sea, whom is blatantly exposing her bosom to all, goes unnoticed and unappreciated. "The winds that will be howling at all hours, and are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;" (line 6-7). Wordsworth evaluates that even the winds that howled out its throat were striving to get humanity's attention, only to give up and rest "like sleeping flowers," in a subdued manner. With these faults of society, Wordsworth criticizes that mankind has been using the ecosystem for goods for themselves, and not for its beauty. "We have given our hearts away" (line 4), he describes that with this unjust exploit from humankind, they have only given their gentle hearts away in replace with greed for materialistic goods, and he utters about what an awful trade they have made, "a sordid boon!" (line…
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William Wordsworth's poetry is characteristic of poetry written during the Romantic period. His pantheism and development of ambiance, the thoughts and feelings expressed and the diction Wordsworth employs are all symbolic of this period's poetry. In this paper, these characteristics will be explored and their "Romantic" propensities exposed. This will be done by utilizing a wide selection of Wordsworth's poetry spanning the poet's lifetime.…
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In Romantic literature a major theme that is used by many of the authors is idealism, or living a life better than the one that people are living now. William Wordsworth uses this theme of idealism in his poems to show how much more fulfilling life would be if we were more appreciative of nature and the magnitude of importance it has in our lives. Wordsworth's poem "The World is Too Much With Us" exemplifies the theme best. He begins in line 1 telling the…
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In the third stanza, the poem refers to the “mastery of elements” (Line 2), speaking of a change in the weather, which also relates to the fact that humans are unable to change or avoid similar changes. The poet describes the fact that she can only watch the storm in the first stanza. This relates to when she talks about how humans are helpless on the inside and only able to “close the shutters” (21). The whistle of the wind, or “whine” (23) as Rich uses, cannot be stopped. The “zone of gray unrest” (4) in the first stanza is made black by the fourth stanza and readers realize that the storm’s threat is not only a physical one, but it threatens her mood. She remains calm even as the storm reaches its climax. The poet comes to realize that in certain, extreme circumstances, a storm may break glass, externally, but internally, she comes to find that storms in the mind have the ability to break as well. Though she is physically safe inside her house and protected from the storm outside, despite the dark atmosphere inside, the howling wind outside still disturbs her. This suggests that individuals do not have much power over the storms that occur and the moods they fall into, except for the ability to endure them, despite the possibly disturbing atmosphere they…
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William Wordsworth's, The World Is Too Much With Us is a poetic contribution to Romanticism's rebellion against the harsh realities of society during the nineteenth century. He is particularly concerned with the effect that the Industrial Revolution has had on people. He feels that man has lost an appreciation for the beauty of nature and now sees it as something that can be conquered for the sake of profit. He says that our preoccupation with "getting and spending" and material desires blinds us. We become immune to nature's beauty and "It moves us not" because "we are out of tune". He states that he would rather be a "pagan" than a member of this society because pagans found mystery in nature and created mythology out of it.…
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Personally the poem to me conveys the rage, desperation and sorrow of a broken and shrouded woman who’s past has engulfed her to the extent where she has no future since she can’t let go.…
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The subject of the poem is the slavery, and the emotions the speaker expressed is happiness and love because of civilization. In the poem, the poet used imagery as a technical means when he used words like muddy, golden, and dusty because it provided a visual image for the readers. In addition, beginning in line 2 when it says, “I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in…
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Throughout the poem the poet makes frequent use of the senses. Sounds are very prominent in this poem, as they bring the place to life. For example, ‘ringing shrilly’, or ‘clashed on the shore’. In the former example, at the start of the second stanza, this phrase is significant, as it effectively kills the jovial, relaxed mood from the first stanza, and creates a rather more eerie one. This mood does not last long however, and with the phrase ‘a veil of purple vapour flowed’, the jovial mood is restored. This image is one of several, along with ‘like sapphire glowed’, and ‘the saffron beach, all diamond drops’, which contain royal and rich connotations, emphasising how special this place is for the poet, that he would go as far as to compare it to expensive, valuable things like diamonds or saffron. The tranquil mood is upheld throughout by words of gentle movement such as ‘flowed’, ‘trailed’, or ‘wagged’. These all bring the place to life and give it a peaceful, tranquil atmosphere.…
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This poem is about Hayden who hears a boy being beaten, recalls his childhood when he too was subjected to the same and notices that this form of punishment has been handed down from generation to generation. He uses visual and auditory imagery together to take the reader to different moments in time, where the same event is being played over and is put in six quatrains to add emphasis. In the first quatrain, Hayden hears a woman "shouting to the neighborhood her goodness and the boy's wrongs" and Hayden knows that the boy across the way is getting beat again. This gives the image of a woman yelling so loudly that everyone in the complex can hear her tell the boy that she raised him better than his bad deed. In the second quatrain Hayden adds sound to the image when the boy "wildly crashes through the elephant ears." Besides Hayden creating the picture of the child running in fear, the racket that is made when he hits the large leaves contributes to the impact of the scene. Another image that is given in this same quatrain is the description of the woman's "crippling fat." In the third quatrain visual and sound are once again employed by Hayden. That woman "strikes and strikes the shrilly circling boy" is another vivid image with sound where one can hear and see this boy, now caught, screaming and running around the woman, who repeatedly hits him. At this point the author makes a transition to his own memory of having been whipped as a child and continues with the same type of visuals and sounds. And in the end Hayden…
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The speaker implies that the alienation of humanity from nature is like a death, because people are not driven by nature and instead preoccupied with “getting and spending” (Wordsworth). Furthermore, the speaker wishes to bring back an old religion instead and appreciate the land without feeling down and deserted. Although the author does not reference death in the sonnet, the speaker does imagine the alienation of humanity from nature as a type of death. In line 4, giving away our hearts is a metaphor to the speaker’s imagination of alienation. Line 4 also has an oxymoron when using “sordid boon” (Wordsworth) because it means the worst aspects of the humans that is selfishness and greed, while a boon is something beneficial. The main complaint that the speaker has is that nature is not appreciated anymore since most people are more interested in consumerism. A metaphor is used in line 5 when the speaker compares the sea to someone taking off their shirt, “bares her bosom” (Wordsworth), and is also an example of alliteration. Another metaphor is used in the next line when the winds are said to be howling as if it was a wolf. In line 8, a musical instrument is used as a metaphor for humanity when saying “we are out of tune” (Wordsworth). This means that humans are not tuned to…
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In the 1800s era Williams wordsworth wrote the poem “this world is too much with us”. He uses the individual reference of romanticism to describe and exaggerate on how he feels. In the first stanza Wordsworth says “The world is too much with us; late and soon Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers”. What he means is that people have lost connection to nature,they have lost the meaning to life and they lost themselves. Moving on to the second stanza Wordsworth states “Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!”.…
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One of my favorite quotes from him was” Life is divided into three terms - that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present, to live better in the future” it explains the future, past and present all together. As shown in the essay, William Wordsworth was one of the first romantic poets that brought romanticism to the world, we still now a days, use this meaningful poems to demonstrate our love to other people or express our emotions. William would always be remember as one the greatest poets from the romanticism era where he brought joy, sadness and off course affection of…
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