A Short Analysis of Shakespeares

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a

summers day?
DEC 26
Posted by interestingliterature
A summary of a classic Shakespeare poem
Shall I compare thee to a summers day? is one of the most famous opening lines in
all of literature. In this post, were going to look beyond that opening line, and the
poems reputation, and attempt a short summary and analysis of Sonnet 18 in terms of
its language, meaning, and themes. The poem represents a bold and decisive step
forward in the sequence of Sonnets as we read them. For the first time, the key to the
Fair Youths immortality lies not in procreation (as it had been in the previous 17
sonnets) but in Shakespeares own verse. But what is William Shakespeares Sonnet
18 actually saying?
Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summers lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or natures changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst,
Nor shall death brag thou wanderst in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growst,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Most of the poems we write about here on Interesting Literature involve introducing
the unfamiliar: we take a poem that we think has something curious and little-known
about it, and try to highlight that feature, or interpretation. But with Shall I compare
thee to a summers day? we have almost the opposite problem: were trying to take a
very well-known poem and de-familiarise it, and try to see it as though were coming
across it for the first time. This is by no means an easy task, so well begin with a
summary.

First, then, that summary of Sonnet 18,

beginning with that opening question, which sounds almost like a dare or a challenge,
nonchalantly offered up: Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Shakespeare asks
the addressee of the sonnet who is probably the same young man, or Fair Youth, to
whom the other early sonnets are also addressed whether he should compare him to
a summery day. He goes on to remark that the young man is lovelier, and more gentle
and dependably constant. After all, in May (which, in Shakespeares time, was
considered a bona fide part of summer) rough winds often shake the beloved flowers
of the season (thus proving the Bards point that summer is less temperate than the
young man). Whats more, summer is over all too quickly: its lease a legal term
soon runs out. We all know this to be true, when September rolls round, the nights
start drawing in, and we get that sinking back to school feeling.
In lines 5-8, Shakespeare continues his analysis of the ways in which the young man
is better than a summers day: sometimes the sun (the eye of heaven) shines too
brightly (i.e. the weather is just too hot, unbearably so), and, conversely, sometimes
the sun is dimmed or hidden by clouds. And every lovely or beautiful thing (fair
here in every fair is used as a noun, i.e. every fair thing), even the summer,
sometimes drops a little below its best, either randomly or through the march of nature
(which changes and in time ages every living thing).

In lines 9-12, Shakespeare continues the Youth vs. summer motif, arguing that the
young mans eternal summer, or prime, will not fade; nor will the Youths eternal
summer lose its hold on the beauty the young man owns (owst). Nor will Death,
the Grim Reaper, be able to boast that the young man walks in the shadow of death,
not when the youth grows, not towards death (like a growing or lengthening shadow)
but towards immortality, thanks to the eternal lines of Shakespeares verse which
will guarantee that he will live forever.

In his concluding couplet, Shakespeare states that as long as the human race continues
to exist, and read poetry, Shakespeares poem (this) survives, and continues to give
life to the young man through keeping his memory alive.

Sonnet 18 is a curious poem to analyse when its set in the context of the previous
sonnets. Its the first poem that doesnt exhort the Fair Youth to marry and have
children: weve left the Procreation Sonnets behind. In the last few sonnets,
Shakespeare has begun to introduce the idea that his poetry might provide an
alternative immortality for the young man, though in those earlier sonnets
Shakespeares verse has been deemed an inferior way of securing the young mans
immortality when placed next to the idea of leaving offspring. In Sonnet 18, right
from the confident strut of Shall I compare thee to a summers day? onwards,
Shakespeare is sure that his poetry will guarantee the young man his immortality after
all.
There is an easy music to the poem, set up by that opening line: look at repetition of
summer and some, which strikes us as natural and not contrived, unlike some of
the effects Shakespeare had created in the earlier sonnets: summers day, summers
lease, Sometime too hot, sometime declines, eternal summer. This reinforces the
inferiority of the summer with its changeability but also its brevity (sometime in
Shakespeares time meant not only sometimes, suggesting variability and
inconstancy, but also once or formerly, suggesting something that is over). In
terms of imagery, the reference to Death bragging thou wanderst in his shade, as
well as calling up the words from the 23rd Psalm (Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death), also fits neatly into the poems broader use of
summer/sun imagery. As Stephen Booth points out in the detailed notes to this sonnet
in his indispensable edition Shakespeares Sonnets (Yale Nota Bene), the brightness
of that all-too-fleeting summers day has been declining ever since the poems
opening line: dimmed, declines, fade, shade.

Sonnet 18 has undoubtedly become a favourite love poem in the language because its
message and meaning are relatively easy to decipher and analyse. Its opening line has
perhaps eclipsed the rest of the poem to the degree that we have lost sight of the
precise argument Shakespeare is making in seeking to compare the Youth to a
summers day, as well as the broader context of the rest of the Sonnets and the
implications this has for our interpretation of Sonnet 18. The poem reveals a new
confidence in Shakespeares approach to the Sonnets, and in the ensuing sonnets he
will take this even further.
The poem is a Shakespearean sonnet. Its 14 lines are divided in three quatrains. The idea of the beauty
of the "fair youth" has been introduced by a comparison with the charm of a summer's day in the first
quatrain. In Britain, a day in summer is well-known for its dazzling sunshine, beauty and loveliness. The
image of the "summer's day" has been used here to indicate the brightness, beauty and charm of the
"fair youth". To the speaker, his friend first comes as radiant, mirthful and charming as day in summer.
But soon he repairs himself saying that his friend is "more lovely and more temperate".

However, there is a doubt posted in the first line: whether "a summer's day" is a benefiting comparison
to his friend. The suspicion has been logically represented in the following lines. It has been explained
through a series contrast. Several images have been used to establish the fact that the qualities of the
friend are better than those of the summer's day.

In the second quatrain, the speaker further argues logically in order to establish that his suspicion is
correct. Here the speaker used several images to prove that the qualities of his friend are better than
those of summer. The beauty of a day in summer is characteristically uncertain. Because the summer
sun suddenly becomes very hot. Sometimes, suddenly it becomes dim due to clouds in the sky. All these
imply that the beauty of the friend is not subject to destruction.

In the third quatrain the speaker passes on to the positive qualities of the "fair youth". The beauty of the
"fair youth" will never fade nor will lose it. Death will never be able to defeat him and enjoy proudly its
win because the speaker has sheltered him in the immortal lines of this poem.

This is Shakespearean sonnet and bears the traces of Elizabethan period. Shakespeare like other English
sonneteers borrowed the Petrarchan sonnet form. The praise of the beauty of the addressee is in tune
with the Petrarchan tradition. However, Shakespeare differs from Petrarchan rhyme scheme. Petrarch's
rhyme scheme is abba abba cde cde or cde dcd. But Shakespeare's rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg.
Moreover, Petrarch's sonnet lines are hendecasyballic (eleven syllabic) while Shakespeare's lines are ten
syllabic.

The words selected by Shakespeare are lucid, and easily managed to fit to the unaccented and accented
beats and to the particular rhyme scheme

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8497415

ose-cheeked Laura Short notes from the web resource.

Rose-cheeked Laura

Rose-cheeked Laura is written by Campion to illustrate his theories of versification in Observations in the
Art

of English Poesy, this song is a brilliant example of quantitative verse made musically effective in English.

____________________________________________________________________________

History of Elizabethan Writing Style.

After 1590, poets in general were beginning to think more deeply about the nature of the rhythms they
were using. The influence of Greek and Latin theories of verse was beginning to become perni-cious.
Greek and Latin poetry was measured verse, patterns of long and short syllables, since those languages
had no stressed syllables. English verse in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was normally syllabic,
mostly decasyllabic (10 syllables) in the narrative poems, and it is wrong to try to divide lines into "feet"
in poems written before the very end of the 16th century. The notion of "feet" is derived directly from
Greek metrical patterns of long and short vowels: iambic (unite, repeat), trochaic (unit, instant),
anapestic (intervene, disarray), dactylic (Wash-ington, energy), or spondaic (headline, heartfelt). English
lines almost naturally tend towards the iambic rhythm, and this can be found in medieval alliterative
poems as well as in Chaucer, but there was no concept of "feet" until the late Elizabethan age received it
from the classics.

The first step in this was for English poets to attempt to write English verse "quantatively" like Latin,
ignoring the natural pattern of stress and attending only to the length of each syllable. Sidney was an
innovator here, but others followed. The setting of quantative lines to music was perhaps made easier;
Byrd set some such poems, but it was another musician, Thomas Campion (1567 - 1620), who made
quantative verse the basis of his entire system and defended it theoreti-cally in a book, his Observations
in the Art of English Poesy. Campion wrote his own lyrics, and this one (published in 1602) is designed to
illustrate his theory of quantitative verse:

Rose-cheeked Laura, come,

Sing thou smoothly with thy beauty's

Silent music, either other

Sweetly gracing.

Lovely forms do flow

From concent divinely framed; (harmony)

Heav'n is music, and thy beauty's

Birth is heavenly.

These dull notes we sing

Discords need for helps to grace them;

Only beauty purely loving

Knows no discord,

But still moves delight,

Like clear springs renewed by flowing,

Ever perfect, ever in them-

Selves eternal.

Campion was in fact quite wrong to disparage the natural patterns of stress that characterize English
and the other modern European vernaculars, and quantitative verse had no future; instead, the native
English stress patterns took the place of the long/short vowel patterns in the classical feet (meter being
the Greek for measure) and the poetic lines received Greek names: tetrameter (4 feet), pentameter (5
feet, the most popular), hexameter (6 feet). Since most feet were iambic or trochaic (2 syllables), these
names simply correspond to octosyllabic, decasyllabic, or twelve syllable lines.

It was his skill in music, rather than his odd ideas about meter, that guided Campion in his poetry-
writing, and he is one of the finest writers of the decorative lyric that makes no claim to personal
involve-ment.

Taken from

http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/books/Ren7.htm

________________________________________________________________________________

"Rose-cheeked Laura," by Thomas Campion. Harmon's note: This lyric is one of the most successful of
the many Elizabethan experiments in basing versification on principles drawn from classical antiquity. It
contains no rhyme, the rhythm is based on quantity (length of syllable) as well as quality (accent), lines
are made up of different kinds of foot, and a word may be broken at the end of a line--a very rare
occurrence in serious poetry. (Note that: "concent" is "harmonious music-making.")

________________________________________________________________________________
Short analysis

Thomas Campions Observations in the Art of English Poetry (1602), which features the poem Rose-
Cheeked Laura as an example of English verse constructed according to the Classical pattern of quantity
rather than stress. The first stanza of poem, Rose-cheekt Lawra come/Sing thou smoothly with thy
beawties/Silent musick, either other/Sweetely are explained by Campion thus:

[it] consists of Dimeter, whose first foote may either be a Sponde or a Trochy [a spondee in this case]:
The two verses following are both of them Trochaical, and consist of foure feete, the first of either of
them being a Spondee or Trochy [spondee the second, trochaic the third in the example], the other
three only Trochyes [since thy is considered short by Campion]. The fourth and last verse is made of
two Trochyes.

Rose-cheeked Laura is so widely accepted as an example of successful quantitative verse in English

that it is noted as such in the most recent edition of The Norton Anthology of English Literature: [...]
this song is a brilliant example of quantitative verse made musically effective in English (1198 n.1).

_______________________________________________________________________________

Thomas Campion

Of all song-writers, Thomas Campion (1567-1620), inventive composer and masque-maker, wrote the
best quantitative verse. His Rose-cheeked Laura, come, in praise of an ideal woman dancing, is the
classic example. In later versions of this theme, the dancer, an emblem of Platonic harmony, sings.
Campions Laura is accompanied only by her own silent music (and his verbal intelligence):
A Short Analysis of John Donnes Death, Be Not Proud

FEB 15

Posted by interestingliterature

A brief summary and analysis of one of John Donnes classic Holy Sonnets

The sonnet Death, be not proud is one of the most famous holy sonnets written by John Donne (1572-
1631). What follows is the poem, followed by a short introduction to it, including an analysis of its more
interesting imagery and language.

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,

For, those, whom thou thinkst, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.

From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,

Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.

Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,

And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,

And better then thy stroake; why swellst thou then?

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Death is personified as a male braggart, like a soldier boasting of all the men hes slain. There is also a
suggestion of a Donne1male lover bragging about all of his conquests between the sheets: Donne liked
 the double meaning of die as both expire and orgasm, and the idea that those, whom thou thinkst,
thou dost overthrow, / Die not hides the suggestion that you may think all those women you conquer
are overcome with pleasure, but theyre faking it. (This faint suggestion of an erotic subtext is also
borne out by the line, Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow.)

Stroake, too, is ambiguous: it ostensibly refers to the stroke of an axe or a sword that ends somebodys
life, but it is also alive to the other, more tender, meaning of stroking somebody in a caress, such as in
lovemaking. Why swellst thou then? Well, quite tumescence is uncalled for, since youre not all that
as a lover, Death. Note the monosyllables of the last line, which hammer out in ten short words the
matter-of-fact declaration that the speaker will beat death through being born again in heaven.

Death, be not proud is rightly viewed as one of Donnes finest poems, and certainly one of his greatest
sonnets. Like the best of Donnes poetry it fuses religious and erotic imagery and ideas, bringing the
physical and the metaphysical together.

Continue to explore Donnes life and work with these interesting facts revealing his literary ancestry and
our discussion of the complex imagery of his classic poem The Good-Morrow.

Death, be not Proud (Holy Sonnet 10)

by John Donne
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With Death, be not Proud, the speaker affronts an enemy, Death personified. This enemy is one
most fear, but in this sonnet, the speaker essentially tells him off. The way the speaker talks to
Death reveals that he is not afraid of Death, and does not think that Death should be so sure of
himself and so proud. The confident tone of Death, be not Proud, and the direct confrontation of
Death provides an ironic sense of comfort to the readers by implicitly suggesting that Death is
not to be feared at all, but that in the end, Death will be overcome by something even greater.
Death, be not Proud (Holy Sonnet
10) Analysis
Lines 1-2
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
The speaker immediately creates a personified version of death by talking directly to him. He
paints a picture of Death as an arrogant being, and one who needs to be humbled. The speaker
assumes the position of the one who must humble this being, Death. He tells him that he ought
not to be so proud, even though for generations people have feared Death and called him
mighty and dreadful. The speaker, however, with a voice of absolute authority on the matter,
simply states, thou art not so. This poet uses the literary tactic of apostrophe to drive home
his point. Apostrophe occurs when a writer addresses a subject who cannot respond. Readers
know immediately that this sonnet will consist of one speaker who will do all of the talking and
accusing of his subject. Death, though adequately personified, cannot respond to the accusations
of the speaker.

Lines 3-4
For those whom thou thinkst thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
Here, the speaker accuses death of having illusions of grandeur. He claims that while
Death thinks that he has the power to kill, he actually does not. The speaker first humbles Death
by telling him that his idea that he has the power to overthrow lives is simply an illusion, and that
he has no such power at all. Then, to further humiliate Death, the speaker calls him Poor
Death. It sounds almost as if the speaker is making fun of Death for having lived under the
illusion that he had any sort of power over life or death. Then, he addresses Death in a more
personal manner, challenging him by saying, yet canst thou kill me. It seems dangerous for one
to threaten death in this way. However, knowledge of John Donnes background and ideologies
can give some insight into the speakers confidence here. Though everyone knows that physical
death does indeed occur, the speaker is challenging Death in a different way. He uses the
Christian theology of eternity to taunt Death by telling him, essentially, Even if you take my
physical body, you can never truly kill me.

Lines 5-6
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
With these lines, the speaker compares death to rest and sleep and even uses the word
pleasure to describe how one should feel about death. Just as a restful night of sleep brings
pleasure, so should death. The speaker implies that sleep is simply a small glimpse of Death.
Thus, there is nothing to fear in death, for death will bring something like a pleasurable sleep.

Lines 7-8
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and souls delivery.
Here, the speaker says that the best men seem to experience death the soonest. While others have
long questioned why it seems as if the best people die soonest, the speaker offers an answer here,
suggesting that the best among men deserve to experience the peaceful rest of death sooner,
without having to endure the agonies of a long life on the earth. The speaker describes Death as
rest of their bones and souls delivery. Both of these descriptions make Death seem like a
welcome friend who comes to graciously offer rest and peace and the deliverance of ones soul
from an earthly body where pain and suffering abide.

Lines 9-10
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
Here, the speaker takes on a stronger tone and begins to taunt Death with more ferocity than he
did at first. Here, he calls Death a slave to chance, kings, and desperate men. He tells Death
that he is not mighty and dreadful, but rather a poor slave who cannot even act on his own but is
driven not only by fate and chance, but also by people, rich and poor alike. He then accuses
Death of having lowly companions such as poison, war, and sickness. He has taunted Death,
telling him that he is not to be feared, but rather that he is a slave to the will of fate and men, and
that as a lowly slave, his companions are the even lowlier beings such as sickness and war. This
accusations serve to allow the readers to feel a sense of power and victory over Death. The
speaker certainly feels authority over Death, and he passes this feeling along to his readers when
he puts Death in his place by talking down to him.

Lines 11-12
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swellst thou then?
The speaker continues to taunt Death even more, saying that all he brings is a little sleep, and he
doesnt even do that as well as some other bringers of rest such as poppy or charms. This
comparison further portrays Death as something not only weak, but even pleasurable. The
speaker questions Death, asking why swellst thou then? He is asking him why he is so puffed
up with pride, when he cannot even do his job as well as others can.
Lines 13-14
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die
With these final lines, the speaker reveals exactly why he has been taunting death so relentlessly.
Although it is obvious that Death is real, and that people who experience Death do not come
back to earth, the speaker reveals his reasons for claiming that Death is weak and easily
overcome. He claims that Death is only one short sleep and that those who experience Death
with wake eternally. Then, he claims that death shall be no more. Finally, he tells Death,
thou shalt die. The speaker has not only told Death that he has no real power over anyone, but
that he will experience the end of himself when all wake in eternity and death will be no more.

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A Short Analysis of Andrew

Marvells To His Coy Mistress
OCT 13
Posted by interestingliterature
A summary of a classic poem of seduction
To His Coy Mistress is one of the most famous poems of the seventeenth century,
and probably the most famous poem Andrew Marvell (1621-78) ever wrote. Its a
classic seduction poem, which sees Marvell endeavouring to persuade his would-be
lover, or mistress, to go to bed with him. As well as being a seduction lyric, To His
Coy Mistress is also a carpe diem poem, which argues that we should seize the day
because life is short. Here is Marvells poem, followed by a brief summary and
analysis of its language and meaning.

To His Coy Mistress

Had we but world enough, and time,

This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long loves day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges side
Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable love would grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow;
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart.
For, lady, you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear

Times winged chariot hurrying near:
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found;
Nor, in thy marble vaults, shall sound
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long-preserved virginity,
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust:
The graves a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may,
And now, like amorous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour
Than languish in his slow-chapped power.
Let us roll all our strength, and all
Our sweetness, up into one ball,
And tear our pleasure with rough strife
Through the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.

First, a quick summary of To His Coy Mistress, which we can see as being divided
up into three sections, each forming a distinct stage of an argument. In the first
section, Marvell, addressing his sweetheart, says that the womans reluctance to have
sex with him would be fine, if life wasnt so short. They could take their time with
everything if they had all the time in the world, deciding at leisure how to spend each
day. They could even spend much time on different continents: Marvell in Hull,
England, complaining about his absent love as he sits by the River Humber, and his
mistress in India by the Ganges, finding rubies. Marvell would spend thousands of
years praising the womans eyes (and breasts), because she deserves such praise and
attention.
 by Unknown artist,painting,circa 1655-1660

But such a plan is a fantasy, because in reality, time is short. This brings us to the
second section of Marvells poem. What lies before Marvell and his mistress is not a
full and rich succession of days upon days of lived existence, but instead long
deserts of eternity the eternity of death, rather than an eternal life of praise and
courtship. In this future which will be upon them both all too quickly the womans
honour and virginity mean nothing and have turned to dust, while Marvells desire for
her will, like his body, be ashes. After all, people cant make love in the grave and
well be in our graves soon enough.

In the third and final section of To His Coy Mistress, Marvell says that, in light of
what hes just said, the only sensible thing to do is to enjoy themselves and go to bed
together while they still can. They should, like birds of prey, devour their time at
once, rather than languidly letting their lives slip by unused. Marvell ends his poem by
exhorting his mistress to join him in rushing headlong at the gates barring them from
full enjoyment of life, using his strength and her sweetness to create a ball, like a
cannonball, which can be used to bombard and destroy the iron gates of life. We
cannot make time stand still for us, Marvell concludes, but we will make time fly by
enjoying ourselves and making the most of life.
This much constitutes the substance of Marvells poem, in summary. Several specific
moments in To His Coy Mistress have occasioned much analysis. For example, what
does Marvell mean by referring to his vegetable love? Critics have tended to
interpret this as a reference to the slow, organic growth of vegetables in the ground:
given enough time, Marvell seems to be saying, my love would grow to be bigger
than whole empires. (Some critics have also interpreted this as a bawdy allusion to
Marvells own vegetable between his legs a marrow perhaps?) Something else
often remarked upon by critics of To His Coy Mistress is the violent and macabre
depiction of sex: does the image of tear[ing] our pleasure with rough strife /
Thorough the iron gates of life refer to breaking the hymen? The mistress, we already
know, is a virgin: if she doesnt yield to Marvells entreaties, worms will be the ones
taking her virginity (when they devour the rest of her too).
Indeed, that reference to worms makes us wonder whether Marvell, in writing To His
Coy Mistress, had Shakespeares Sonnets in mind especially the early Sonnets
which see Shakespeare trying to persuade the Fair Youth to sire an heir. Both To His
Coy Mistress and Shakespeares Procreation Sonnets have essentially the same
message: carpe diem, seize the day. The difference is that Shakespeare wants the
Youth to go to bed with someone else, whereas Andrew Marvell wants his mistress to
yield to him. Still, much of Marvells poem can be analysed in the same way as
Shakespeares early Sonnets: in Sonnet 6, for instance, Shakespeare urges the Fair
Youth not to be stubborn, because he is far too beautiful to let death win, and to end
up with the worms that feed on him in the grave as his only heir or beneficiary. A
productive discussion could be had by analysing To His Coy Mistress
alongside Shakespeares Procreation Sonnets.

Odysseus tells his mariners to have courage, assuring them that they will
soon reach the shore of their home. In the afternoon, they reach a land in
which it seemed always afternoon because of the languid and peaceful
atmosphere. The mariners sight this land of streams with its gleaming river
flowing to the sea, its three snow-capped mountaintops, and its shadowy pine
growing in the vale.
The mariners are greeted by the mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters, whose dark
faces appear pale against the rosy sunset. These Lotos-eaters come bearing the flower
and fruit of the lotos, which they offer to Odysseuss mariners. Those who eat the
lotos feel as if they have fallen into a deep sleep; they sit down upon the yellow sand
of the island and can hardly perceive their fellow mariners speaking to them, hearing
only the music of their heartbeat in their ears. Although it has been sweet to dream of
their homes in Ithaca, the lotos makes them weary of wandering, preferring to linger
here. One who has eaten of the lotos fruit proclaims that he will return no more, and
all of the mariners begin to sing about this resolution to remain in the land of the
Lotos-eaters.

The rest of the poem consists of the eight numbered stanzas of the mariners choric
song, expressing their resolution to stay forever. First, they praise the sweet and
soporific music of the land of the Lotos-eaters, comparing this music to petals, dew,
granite, and tired eyelids. In the second stanza, they question why man is the only
creature in nature who must toil. They argue that everything else in nature is able to
rest and stay still, but man is tossed from one sorrow to another. Mans inner spirit
tells him that tranquility and calmness offer the only joy, and yet he is fated to toil and
wander his whole life.

In the third stanza, the mariners declare that everything in nature is allotted a lifespan
in which to bloom and fade. As examples of other living things that die, they cite the
folded leaf, which eventually turns yellow and drifts to the earth, as well as the full-
juiced apple, which ultimately falls to the ground, and the flower, which ripens and
fades. Next, in the fourth stanza, the mariners question the purpose of a life of labor,
since nothing is cumulative and thus all our accomplishments lead nowhere. They
question what...will last, proclaiming that everything in life is fleeting and therefore
futile. The mariners also express their desire for long rest or death, either of which
will free them from a life of endless labor.
The fifth stanza echoes the first stanzas positive appeal to luxurious self-indulgence;
the mariners declare how sweet it is to live a life of continuous dreaming. They paint a
picture of what it might be like to do nothing all day except sleep, dream, eat lotos,
and watch the waves on the beach. Such an existence would enable them peacefully to
remember all those individuals they once knew who are now either buried (heaped
over with a mound of grass) or cremated (two handfuls of white dust, shut in an urn
of brass!).

In the sixth stanza, the mariners reason that their families have probably forgotten
them anyway, and their homes fallen apart, so they might as well stay in the land of
the Lotos-eaters and let what is broken so remain. Although they have fond
memories of their wives and sons, surely by now, after ten years of fighting in Troy,
their sons have inherited their property; it will merely cause unnecessary confusion
and disturbances for them to return now. Their hearts are worn out from fighting wars
and navigating the seas by means of the constellations, and thus they prefer the
relaxing death-like existence of the Land of the Lotos to the confusion that a return
home would create.

In the seventh stanza, as in the first and fifth, the mariners bask in the
pleasant sights and sounds of the island. They imagine how sweet it would be
to lie on beds of flowers while watching the river flow and listening to the
echoes in the caves. Finally, the poem closes with the mariners vow to spend
the rest of their lives relaxing and reclining in the hollow Lotos land. They
compare the life of abandon, which they will enjoy in Lotos land, to the
carefree existence of the Gods, who could not care less about the famines,
plagues, earthquakes, and other natural disasters that plague human beings
on earth. These Gods simply smile upon men, who till the earth and harvest
crops until they either suffer in hell or dwell in the Elysian valleys of heaven.
Since they have concluded that slumber is more sweet than toil, the
mariners resolve to stop wandering the seas and to settle instead in the land
of the Lotos-eaters.

Form

This poem is divided into two parts: the first is a descriptive narrative (lines 1
45), and the second is a song of eight numbered stanzas of varying length
(lines 46173). The first part of the poem is written in nine-line Spenserian
stanzas, so called because they were employed by Spenser in The Faerie
Queene . The rhyme scheme of the Spenserian stanza is a closely
interlinked ABABBCBCC, with the first eight lines in iambic pentameter and
the final line an Alexandrine (or line of six iambic feet). The choric song
follows a far looser structure: both the line-length and the rhyme scheme vary
widely among the eight stanzas

A Rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the man;
And I could wish my days to be
The poem The Rainbow also holds the alternative title My Heart Leaps
Up.Wordsworth stated in his Preface to the Lyrical Ballads that a true poet
should be enchanted by things absent, as though they were present. The symbol
of the Rainbow is emblematic of his ideology. The rainbow is a natural
phenomenon. It exists visually, however, is not present as a tangible object, or
rather materially. I came across the following in an internet article: A cube has six
sides. We live in a universe of three dimensions. Each dimension has two
 directions: front-back, right-left, up-down; yielding a total of six. The seventh is
then the middle point, a thing of zero dimensions, and untouchable. Present, but
intangible. It therefore represents the holiness that is inherent in the universe.
Wordsworths poem follows similar lines.

The rainbow embodies the seven colours that are the most basic elements of
what white light is made of. As this light, at once symbolic of life, enters the
prismatic atmosphere, it disperses into its basic seven-coloured elements.
Wordsworth always had a very colourful vision of life.

The Rainbow is the most natural paradigm of the number seven. Furthermore,
in the Book of Revelation, the number 7 is used throughout: there are 7
churches, seven spirits, seven stars, seven seals, seven dooms, and seven new
things. Seven symbolizes Spiritual Perfection.

Homework Help > The Poetry of Wordsworth

What is the theme of Wordsworth's "The Rainbow?"

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Asked on January 3, 2009 at 9:04 PM by loleta19

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lit24 | College Teacher | (Level 3) Valedictorian

Posted on January 3, 2009 at 11:51 PM
William Wordsworth was a Nature poet who worshipped Nature as his God and it was his main
source of spirtual comfort and escape from all the cares of this world. His association with life
giving and life sustaining Nature began even when he was only a child and remained with him
till his death.

In this short lyric, the 'rainbow' symbolizes the life sustaining and life nourishing goodness of
Nature. The sight of the beautiful rainbow which he saw when he was only a child is deeply
etched in his memory and the same joy that he experienced when he saw it as a child contiunes
to remain with him through his adulthood. He desires that this same childhoood joy should
continue to sustain him even in his old age. Wordsworth says that he would rather die than not
being able to experience the same joy that he experienced when he saw the rainbow when he
was a small boy after he becomes an old man.

The memory of the beautiful rainbow and its pleasant associations form the link between his
childhood, adulthood and his old age:past, present and future. Wordsworth concludes the poem
by expressing the desire that each day of his existence be linked with the next by beautiful and
simple natural sights like the rainbow.

For Wordsworth the life nourishing and life sustaining memories of beautiful natural sights
like the rainbow are very precious and he deeply desires that they link each day of his life on
this earth and remain with him till his death.

My Heart Leaps up when I Behold: William Wordsworth - Summary and

Critical Analysis

In the poem My Heart Leaps up when I Behold, the poet sees a rainbow in the
sky, he feels great joy and happiness. There was a rainbow when he was
born. There is a rainbow now when he is a grown-up man. There will be a
rainbow when he becomes old. If he does not see a rainbow now or in the
future, he wants to die.

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth
A man today was a child yesterday and a child today will be a man tomorrow.
From childhood begins manhood. The poet wishes to pass his days as a
continuous chain showing deep respect for nature. We generally suppose that
the man is the father, not the child. So this line looks like a paradox. But the
poet wants to say that from the childhood begins the manhood. Yesterdays
child is todays man and todays child is tomorrows man. Here the word
father means one from whom something begins. So from childhood begins
manhood.

The first and the second lines show the effect that watching the rainbow in the
sky makes the poet very happy. The third and the fourth lines say about the
same event in the past and the present and the fifth line presents the natural
continuation of the same event in the future. The sixth line expresses his wish
to die if the continuation of the natural event is broken. The seventh line
shows the central idea of the poem: the present is the outcome of the past, so
naturally the future will be the outcome of the present. The last two lines show
a happy mood of relaxation that is life tied with deep respect for nature, after
getting consolation from the ideas of continuity. In this poem poet uses
present, past and future tenses. He uses the present tense to express his
present happiness, his present manhood and the theme of the poem and his
wish. He uses the past tense to say that there was a rainbow in the sky when
he was born. He uses the future to talk about this old age. As natural events
are continuous, so is the time. To show the continuity of time he uses the past
tense, the present tense, and the future tense.
Saki is the pen name of the British writer Hector Hugh Munro, also known as H.
H. Munro (1870 - 1916). In "The Open Window," possibly his most famous story,
social conventions and proper etiquette provide cover for a mischievous teenager
to wreak havoc on the nerves of an unsuspecting guest.

PLOT

Framton Nuttel, seeking a "nerve cure" prescribed by his doctor, visits a rural
area where he knows no one.

His sister provides letters of introduction so he can meet people there.

He pays a visit to Mrs. Sappleton. While he waits for her, her 15-year-old niece
keeps him company in the parlor. When she realizes Nuttel has never met her
aunt and knows nothing about her, she explains that it has been three years since
Mrs. Sappleton's "great tragedy," when her husband and brothers went hunting
and never returned, presumably engulfed by a bog. Mrs. Sappleton keeps the
large French window open every day, hoping for their return.

When Mrs. Sappleton appears she is inattentive to Nuttel, talking instead about
her husband's hunting trip and how she expects him home any minute. Her
delusional manner and constant glances at the window make Nuttel uneasy.

Then the hunters appear in the distance, and Nuttel, horrified, grabs his walking
stick and exits abruptly. When the Sappletons exclaim over his sudden, rude
departure, the niece calmly explains that he was probably frightened by the
hunters' dog.

She claims that Nuttel told her he was once chased into a cemetery in India and
held at bay by a pack of aggressive dogs.

SOCIAL CONVENTIONS

The niece uses social decorum very much to her favor. First, she presents herself
as inconsequential, telling Nuttel that her aunt will be down soon, but "[i]n the
meantime, you must put up with me."

It's meant to sound like a self-effacing pleasantry, suggesting that she isn't
particularly interesting or entertaining. And it provides perfect cover for her
mischief.

Her next questions to Nuttel sound like boring small talk. She asks whether he
knows anyone in the area and whether he knows anything about her aunt. But as
the reader eventually understands, these questions are reconnaissance to see
whether Nuttel will make a suitable target for a fabricated story.

SMOOTH STORYTELLING

The niece's prank, is, of course, simply awful. But you have to admire it.

She takes the ordinary events of the day and deftly transforms them into a ghost
story. She includes all the details -- the open window, the brown spaniel, the
white coat, and even the mud of the supposed bog.

Seen through the ghostly lens of tragedy, all of the ordinary details, including the
aunt's comments and behavior, take on an eerie tone.

And the niece won't get caught because she's clearly mastered a lying lifestyle.
She immediately puts the Sappletons' confusion to rest with her explanation
about Nuttel's fear of dogs. Her calm manner and detached tone ("Enough to
make anyone lose his nerve") add an air of plausibility to her outrageous tale.

THE DUPED READER

One of the things I love best about this story is that the reader is initially duped,
too, just like Nuttel. We believe the niece's cover -- that she's just a demure, polite
girl making conversation. Like Nuttel, we're surprised and chilled when the
hunting party shows up.

But unlike Nuttel, we stick around long enough to hear how ordinary the
Sappletons' conversation is. It hardly sounds like a reunion after three years of
separation.

And we hear Mrs. Sappleton's amusingly ironic observation: "One would think he
had seen a ghost."

And finally, we hear the niece's calm, detached explanation. By the time she says,
"He told me he had a horror of dogs," we know the real sensation here is not a
ghost story, but rather a girl who effortlessly spins sinister stories.

The Open Window - Analysis

"The Open Window" is Saki's most popular short story. It was first collected in Beasts and
SuperBeasts in 1914. Saki's wit is at the height of its power in this story of a spontaneous
practical joke played upon a visiting stranger. The practical joke recurs In many of Saki's stories,
but "The Open Window" is perhaps his most successful and best known example of the type.

Saki dramatizes here the conflict between reality and imagination, demonstrating how difficult it
can be to distinguish between them. Not only does the unfortunate Mr. Nuttel fall victim to the
story's joke, but so does the reader. The reader is at first inclined to laugh at Nuttel for being so
gullible. However, the reader, too, has been taken in by Saki's story and must come to the
realization that he or she is also inclined to believe a well-told and interesting tale.

Style

The Open Window is the story of a deception, perpetrated on an unsuspecting, and

constitutionally nervous man, by a young lady whose motivations for lying remain unclear.

Structure

The most remarkable of Sakis devices in The Open Window is his construction of the storys
narrative. The structure of the story is actually that of a story-within-a-story. The larger frame
narrative is that of Mr. Nuttels arrival at Mrs. Sappletons house for the purpose of introducing
himself to her. Within this narrative frame is the second story, that told by Mrs. Sappletons
niece.

Symbolism

The most important symbol in The Open Window is the open window itself. When Mrs.
Sappletons niece tells Mr. Nuttel the story of the lost hunters, the open window comes to
symbolize Mrs. Sappletons anguish and heartbreak at the loss of her husband and younger
brother. When the truth is later revealed, the open window no longer symbolizes anguish but
the very deceit itself. Saki uses the symbol ironically by having the open window, an object one
might expect would imply honesty, as a symbol of deceit.

Narration

The Open Window is a third-person narrative, meaning that its action is presented by a
narrator who is not himself involved in the story. This allows a narrator to portray events from a
variety of points of view, conveying what all of the characters are doing and what they are
feeling or thinking. For most of the story, until he runs from the house, the reader shares Mr.
Nuttels point of view. Like Mr. Nuttel, the reader is at the mercy of

Veras story. The reader remains, however, after Mr. Nuttel has fled and thus learns that Veras
story was nothing but a tall tale.
Tall Tale

Veras story is essentially a tall tale. Tall tales are often found in folklore and legend and
describe people or events in an exaggerated manner. Good examples are the story of John
Henry and his hammer, and the story of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Vera exaggerates
the significance of the open window by making it the centerpiece of a fabricated tale of tragic
loss.

Themes

Though it is a remarkably short piece of fiction, The Open Window explores a number of
important themes. Mr. Nuttel comes to the country in an attempt to cure his nervous
condition. He pays a visit to the home of Mrs. Sappleton in order to introduce himself, and
before he gets to meet the matron of tha house, he is intercepted by her niece, who regales
him with an artful piece of fiction that, in the end, only makes his nervous condition worse.

Appearances and Reality

It is no surprise that Mrs. Sappletons niece tells a story that is easy to believe. She begins with
an object in plain view, an open window, and proceeds from there. The window is obviously
open, but for the reasons for its being open the reader is completely at the mercy of Mrs.
Sappletons niece, at least while she tells her story. The open window becomes a symbol within
this story-within-a-story, and its appearance becomes its reality. When Mr. Nuttel (and the
reader) are presented with a contrary reality at the end of the story, the result is a tension
between appearance and reality that needs to be resolved: Which is real? Can they both be
real?

Deception

Were it not for deception, this story could not happen. The action and irony of the story revolve
around the apparent deception that Mrs. Sappletons niece practices. It remains to be seen,
however, whether this deception is a harmless prank or the result of a sinister disposition. If the
nieces deception is cruel, then the reader must question the motives behind the deception
practiced by all tellers of stories, including Saki himself.

Sanity and Insanity

The Open Window shows just how fine the line can be between sanity and insanity. Mr.
Nuttels susceptibility to deceit is no different from that of the reader of the story. Yet Mr.
Nuttel is insane, and the reader, presumably, is not. In order to maintain this distinction, Saki
forces his reader to consider the nature of insanity and its causes.

Historical Context

Saki does not specify when his story takes place, but it is obvious that the story is set in
Edwardian England, the period of time early in the 20th century when King Edward VII ruled
England. During this time, England was at the peak of its colonial power and Its people enjoyed
wealth and confidence because of their nation's status in the world. The wealthy leisure class was
perhaps overly confident, not seeing that political trends in Europe, including military treaties
between the various major powers, would lead to World War I and the resulting destruction of
their comfortable way of life. It is this complacency that Saki often mocks in his stories.

Compare & Contrast

1910s: A rest in the country is often recommended for those city-dwellers suffering
from nervous disorders.
Today: Though many people take vacations to relieve stress, the rest cure is an
antiquated treatment for nerves. Commonly, doctors prescribe medication.
1910s: In polite society, letters of introduction were a common means by which to make
oneself known in a new place. Letters of this kind served to guarantee that a move to a
new home did not isolate someone from the community.
Today: Most people meet by chance in school or at work rather than through the pre-
arranged situations, although dating services and personal ads are common.
1910s: Hunting is a popular sport among the English wealthy classes in the Edwardian
Age.
Today: Hunting is a popular sport among all social classes and it is seldom used solely as
a means of obtaining food.

Author Biography

Saki, whose real name was Hector Hugh Munro, was born at the height of English Imperialism
in Akyab, Burma, on December 18, 1870, to British parents, Charles Augustus and Mary Frances
Munro. His father was a colonel in the British military. With illustrator Francis Carruthers Gould,
Saki collaborated on a successful series of political cartoons. His unusual pseudonym comes
from the name of a character in Edward Fitzgeralds translation of The Rubaiyat, a long poem
by twelfth-century Persian writer Omar Khayyam.

Saki is most widely known as a satirist of the English ruling classes, and his best known short
story is The Open Window. He is also famous for the character Reginald, who appears in a
number of his short stories. However, though he is primarily known for his short fiction,
including the volumes Reginald (1904), Reginald in Russia (1910) and Beasts and Super-Beasts
(1914), he was also a novelist and playwright and the author of two works of nonfiction,
including the historical The Rise of the Russian Empire. When World War I began, Saki joined
the British military as an enlisted man, though due to his high social rank and education, he
could have enlisted as an officer or worked for military intelligence. Indeed, he refused several
offers of commission. He died in action in France on November 14, 1916.