Poetry Assignment #3

Richard Eberhart and Emily Dickinson are some of the most celebrated poets of our time.

They both write about different aspects of life ranging from the heart’s true love to the creatures

of Mother Nature’s womb. One thing they do not do the same is their contrasting techniques.

They each develop their respective tones through the use of their techniques in their poetic

writings. This can be most contrastingly shown through the stark contrast between Eberhart’s

“For a Lamb” and Dickinson’s “Apparently with no surprise.”

Eberhart uses imagery as his main poetic elemental choice to contrast a noisome mood

with a positive and happy tone. Eberhart’s main focus in “For a Lamb” is a lamb that has

perished upon a hill, with the most peaceful stance with it resting “in the daisies” (line 8). The

problem is the image itself when taken into greater detail. Eberhart brings in strong gruesome

connotations like the fact that it is “a putrid lamb” (line 1) and the dark picture when its “guts

were out for the crows to eat” (line 4). When taken in these facts, a dark noisome mood with the

death of an adorable creature is created, setting so thickly in the air. The mood could not contrast

anymore with the tone. Eberhart’s tone is happy that the lamb is dead; he develops a positive

tone that brings to attention his idea that this is the circle of life. The lamb did not die out in

some dying piece of nature. Instead, Eberhart places him “on the slant hill…/ Propped with

daises” (lines 1-2). This shows that even though this lamb has died, life will still live around it in

gorgeous quality. Eberhart even shows nature to have reverence towards this lamb for “he’s in

the wind somewhere” (line 7), creating this impression that nature whispers its name.

On the other hand, Dickinson’s poem “Apparently with no surprise” uses symbolic action

combined with personification to create a negative and harsh tone towards the cycle of life that

contrast deeply with a happy mood set by Dickinson’s positive connotation. Throughout the
poem, negative phrases are limited. Instead Dickinson peppers the poem with positively

connotated words like “happy Flower” (line 2), “play” (line 3) and “Approving God” (line 8) to

create a positive mood. There’s nothing really going on that’s appalling when first viewed

through. On a second and more meticulous look it is perceptible that the tone of the poem is

more harsh and cold about Mother Nature. Dickinson brings in “the Frost” (line 3), an entity that

has the power to destroy. It does this so uncaringly to the “happy Flower” (line 2), and just

“passes on” (line 6) afterwards. In such a way, Dickson is poking fun at the fact that Mother

Nature doesn’t care about its creatures. It will kill without any reason in the world but to kill.

Even the “Sun proceeds unmoved” (line 6) without a care. Even God is unmoved and is still “an

Approving God” (line 8). This poem itself when viewed this so can be clearly seen to be a harsh

tone on the deracination of nature.

These two poems have effectively contrasted deeply between their moods and tones to

create a more stark difference and bring their theme more to a brighter light. Eberhart meshes a

more negative gruesome mood while also having a positive and happy tone using the power of

imagery. On the other hand, Dickinson create this positive look of a flower with a beautiful

mood that clashes with her negative tone on nature’s self-inflicting pains.

Works Cited

Eberhart, Richard. "For a Lamb." Arp, Thomas R ; Johnson, Greg. Sound and Sense: An

Introduction to Poetry. United States: Thomson, 2005. 163.

Dickinson, Emily. "Apparently with no suprise." Arp, Thomas R ; Johnson, Greg. Sound and

Sense: An Introduction to Poetry. United States: Thomson, 2005. 163.