In American romantic poems, as in all poems, tone plays a big part in the image that Bryant is trying to portray and the emotion he is trying to create in the reader. In the first stanza of the poem, the tone is sad, dark, and depressing. “The breathless darkness, and the narrow house, make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart” (12-13) shows that by using descriptive words like “breathless” and “narrow,” Bryant successfully creates a gloomy tone to the stanza. The second stanza continues the unpleasant tone, as described in lines 25-30, which say “Thine individual being, shalt thou go to mix forever with the elements, to be a brother to the insensible rock, and to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mold.” The description of being buried with rocks under a plowed farm and being victim to the oak’s invasive roots certainly brings an unpleasant feeling to the reader.
Discuss ways in which psychological states are presented in ‘After great pain, a formal feeling comes’. In your answer explore the effects of language, imagery and verse form. Consider how this poem relates to other Dickinson poems you have studied. In Dickinson’s ‘After great pain, a formal feeling comes’ depression is a major theme throughout the poem. When pain and suffering take place, it is likely to affect one’s psychological state of mind.
The poems of Hopkins and Dickinson both talk about the hardships of declining mental health with the theme of depression and despondency. The poems are similar in the context, however the style that each is written presents a different stage of despair and opinions I feel. The way in which the poems are similar is the fact they both describe the characters depression, in the poem by Hopkins we are introduced with the idiom ‘no worst; there is none’. This sets the tone of grief and unhappiness, as if to say that these emotions are engrained in society and things could not possibly get any worse for him. The first line uses the plosive word ‘pitch’ repeatedly in order to emphasise the ‘pangs’ that the character feels; the repetition also dramatizes the depth of his despair.
The darkness in Poe's, Melville's, Hawthorne's and Dickinson's works This essay will discuss different manifestations of darkness in works of Poe, Melville, Dickinson and Hawthorne. The term darkness is very wide and it has many faces. It can easily be described with one word, death. It can be the end of an extraordinary life or a death of a beloved person. It can be loss of reason and emotional unbalance.
The Real Analysis of “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath was a gifted but troubled poet known for disturbing style of her work. Plath wrote the poem, “Daddy,” stanzas of emotional, psychological and historical thoughts. The poem was filled with regret and over time was analyzed and critiqued differently. The best critique, “From Protean Poetic: The Poetry of Sylvia Plath,” was written by Mary Lynn Broe and emphasizes the most adequate, textual evidence of the poem, “Daddy.” Broe begins her critique by justifying that Plath creates a mock poetic exorcism of the events that happened throughout her life. Broe’s main claim points out Plath’s stupidity, progress and comedy relief of her famous poem, “Daddy.” Broe puts forth supportive, textual evidence that persuades the audience of this claim.
Siti Aisah The Ambiguity in Anne Sexton’s Poems and Her Writing Technique especially in ‘Us’ Anne Sexton is a poet and playwright. She is famous for his poetry that plays some of his personal life. She also has the same tragic fate as Sylvia Plath. Anne Sexton's poetry tells stories that are immensely significant to the mid-Twentieth-century artistic and psychic life. Sexton understood her culture's malaise through her own, and her skill enabled her to deploy metaphorical structures at once synthetic and analytic.
English Extension 1 – Related Text Romanticism Grace C, 12 Rust The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne The novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is considered ‘dark romanticism’, the subgenre of Romanticism that typically represented the more bleak or sombre aspects of Romanticism, such as isolation, psychological anguish and the decaying, mysterious side of nature. The Scarlet Letter contains elements of both mainstream Romanticism and dark Romanticism. The novel centres on the heroine, Hester Prynne, who represents many aspects of the typical Romantic protagonist – isolated, unconventional, flawed and often acting on primal instincts. She is depicted as a lone ‘natural’ figure in an unnatural world which is implied by Hawthorne through the image of a wild rosebush outside the town prison. The prison represents the Puritan society, defined by strict social and moral codes of conduct, while the rose bush symbolises the individual, standing defiantly on their own and rebelling against social conventions.
It is comprised of simple, four-lined stanzas – couplets; beneath the apparently simple form however, lies an intricate web comprised of many layers. On one hand, the poem is a parable about love and “the howling storm” of repressed sexuality and the consequential effects of such repression. Therefore, ‘The Sick Rose’ can be read as both a symbolic as well as literal poem about the destruction of innocence. Phallic symbols like the “invisible worm” and yonic imagery like the “bed/ Of crimson joy” used throughout the poem support this. On the other hand, the poem could be read as a metaphorical criticism of the industrial revolution.
EKAM-DICK MORGAN ENGLISH COMMENTARY KH The Fall of the House of Usher, E.A POE As a precursor of romanticism and an earliest devotee of the American movement, Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories are known to make the reader shudder. By exploring the wild and irrational through aesthetics, he conveys a sense of death and decay with Gothic elements such as inclement weather, barren landscape and a skillful use of suspense. The text under study, entitled the Fall of the House of Usher and written in 1839, tells the story of Mr Roderick Usher who resides in a depressing mansion and invites the narrator in the hope he would help him with his troubles. Indeed Mr Usher is borne out of his fear of death which is showed by his decaying sensibilities and sensitivity. Through Mr Usher’s madness, the narrator experiences the horror of a haunted mansion, pervaded by a sense of claustrophobia.
Sexton is a confessional poet with remarkable writing techniques, which intrigues me. Some of her writing techniques are the use of language, imagery, tone, and form. Sexton uses heartfelt expressions and words to attest her idea about suicide. In the first stanza, she chooses the word ‘lust’ to show the reader how suicide is important and instinctive. Then she justifies her idea by saying “suicide have a special language.” Suicide has other characteristics “like a carpenter, his craft, his magic, thoughtful, warmer” which Sexton wants the reader to know how skillful suicide is at work.