AP English 9-23 “I wandered lonely as a cloud” by William Wordsworth has both literal and interpretive SOAPStone’s. The literal subject on the poem is nature (field of daffodils, clouds), but the connotation of the subject is that a person should not be miserable because they have minor problems, in the quote “I wandered lonely as a cloud” (line 1) the speaker is alone but in “a poet could not be but gay” (line 15) explains that the speaker may be “lonely” but he finds/notices the positive rather than the negative. The denotative occasion in “I wandered lonely as a cloud” is romantic because of the poems connection to nature (examples of a connection to nature is the use of words such as “clouds” “vales, hills” and “daffodils”), the connotative is similar to the denotative but it also includes the comparison between people to nature. The literal audience of the poem is the general romantic crowds (mainly in the romantic era), the profound audience are people the speaker wants to notice/appreciate natures positives and beauty, most lines of the poem use personification (in this case human traits to nature within a field of daffodils) in situations that would seem undesirable if used with human figures rather than natural figures such as “daffodils … fluttering and dancing in the breeze”(lines 4-6) which give a pleasant image to the reader. The literal purpose of the poem is to inspire the reader to be outside and enjoy nature, but the deeper purpose of the poem is to encourage the reader to be more optimistic/or look at the positive, when the speaker states that he is lonely he also mentions natures beauty and clarifies “a poet could not but be gay” because of his experience with nature.
A simple poem, and seemingly short compared to the other two, it simply tells of the narrator’s views of the young lady he is admiring. Also unlike the other two, Poe uses positive words and rhythms to create an ending mental vision that illustrates Helen to be that of graceful beauty, with her placed in a window with a glowing lamp that signifies to him of the “Holy Land” or Heaven, for which he sees Helen to be the Angel of in representation. However, a poem such as “Lenore” is told in a much more saddening, although not completely depressing element. This poem exemplifies Poe’s more frequent theme of death combined with beauty is presented. Guy De Vere, however, is not completely saddened by the deathly occurrence; but he is rather outraged because he believes that everyone had “wished her dead” due to loving the wealth that she had carried but rather hating the pride that she carried along with it.
In the poems “My last Duchess” and “The River God”, the theme love is present and the poetic voices seems to appear friendly and harmless. At the beginning of “my last Duchess” the Duke admires his portrait of his Duchess as he expresses her a piece of “wonder” to the Count’s envoy. We can understand that the Duke perceives his Duchess as an delicate treasure of his, when unveils “the curtain” to the envoy, this suggest his deep intimacy toward his Duchess when he hides it in his private gallery , this further indicates that she is his most prized position and only he can cherish her beauty. Similarly in “The river god” the poetic voice falls in love with a “bold”, “beautiful lady” where he states that he will not “let her go” This indicates that he is deeply in love and feels as if he is attached and fond of her. He admires her attitude when she baths herself by “the tall black cliff where the water runs cold” he relates her attitude to his connection to power.
Evidence can be seen throughout, although particularly in the fact he bought his house ‘so that Daisy would be across the bay”. While Gatsby may have at one point loved the real Daisy, the love that survived over time is of his dream-like conception of her. The Remains of the Day is mainly concerned with loss, regret and disillusionment, making it an ideal partner text to The Great Gatsby. Beauty is represented by the colour white in the novella. It also encompasses cleanliness, the affluence and lack of it amongst some characters as well as the themes of innocence, virginity and also laziness in the novella, although white only represents laziness because of Daisy Buchanan.
This is how this piece of poetry got its name, because it captures the audience’s attention from curiosity of how the title relates to the poem. As we look at these series of similes, we find out what those affects are because, with each question the speaker offers a possibility of each negative effect. The first one “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun”: a raisin is already dry, and as a raisin, it is a good thing, useful and nutritious, but if a raisin is left in the sun to dry up, it becomes hard and impossible to eat; its value sucked out, it no longer serves its useful, nutritional purpose. If the dream does not dry up, maybe it will “fester like a sore—And then run.” The dream that festers becomes infected with the disease of restlessness and dissatisfaction that may lead to criminal activity, striking back at those who are deferring the dream.
Both poems address the idea of seizing opportunity and living life to its fullest, but from different perspectives – one positive and optimistic, one negative through pessimism. The poems are similar because they both speak of love and seizing opportunity. Herrick’s first stanza begins by stating, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may/ Old-time is still a-flying” (lines 1-2). What these lines portray is we must seize opportunity as we can because time is always moving and doesn’t slow down for anyone. Through the visual imagery of “gathering rosebuds,” the rosebuds are a symbol for purity and innocence we can draw the conclusion that the speaker is telling the virgins they are innocent and pure, but soon they will bloom and that is when life should be lived to the fullest, for example by having sex, marrying and having a family.
Any sort of confusion between dream and reality could cause the audience to spend more time unraveling the setting and less time considering the point of the dream. In The Romance of the Rose, Guillaume de Lorris clearly states when he will begin to recount his dream and his reason for doing so. He briefly sets up by stating love as the subject, and then writes, “Now I should like to recount that dream in verse, the better to delight your hearts, for Love begs and commands me to do so” (3). The setting of a dream vision is very often one of beauty, such as a secluded area of nature. It is only reasonable that the writer's mind, completely unrestricted by its dream state, would place him in such a setting.
Philip Larkin and Dannie Abse have very different and contrasting attitudes to relationships. On the whole, Larkin presents the concepts of love and marriage as very superficial and meaningless, whereas Abse appears to be less such nihilistic and more open and positive about such topics. Throughout Wild Oats, Philip Larkin uses various literary techniques, such as imagery, structure and symbolism to convey certain aspects of love and the passing of time. Larkin's poetry often relates to the social and cultural views upon love and marriage in his time. In Wild Oats It explains that a person, over the course of time, comes to realise that his greatest desires of love, are unattainable, and second best things will have to suffice.
Incidentally, he refers to Juliet’s life as “honey”, and that it was sucked from her breath. Therefore, it is not unnatural to assume that Juliet lived a good, friendly, and warm life. Love and death are a crucial part to the story as they provide a deeper meaning and understanding of it. Without images of light and dark as well as love and death, Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” would not have achieved the rightly deserved praise it has today. Consequently, the story would be dry and less lively, and some important connections and meanings could not be made.
The speaker states that his spirits were instantly uplifted when he saw the daffodils "tossing their heads in sprightly dance", and still to this day whenever the speaker feels " vacant or in pensive mood" he remembers the daffodils and he instantly is happy again. Throughout the poem we see Wordsworth use simple language devices such as similes and personification to convey his ideas about the link between man and nature. In the first line of the poem he states "I wander'd lonely as a cloud / that floats over vales and hills". Here Wordsworth compares himself to a natural object. Wordsworth also constantly personifies the daffodils throughout the poem "I saw a crowd, a host" "dancing" "tossing their heads".