One of the 20th century’s most important and influential modernist poets was Hilda Doolittle, more commonly known as H.D. While other artists struggled to find a new mode of expression, H.D. found imagism and created intense poems delving into very specific depictions. In “Sheltered Garden,” H.D. employs intense imagery using nature in order to put forth an opinion or viewpoint, which is also highlighted by another poem titled, “Sea Rose.” By analyzing these two poems, one can more fully comprehend the modernist movement/mentality and how H.D. shaped her own form of poetry. In “Sheltered Garden,” the poet uses the image of a garden to not only push against society’s constraint of women, but also its imposed ideas of beauty, creating tension between the natural and the unnatural. H.D. uses images of fruit to symbolize women in order to highlight the confining character of 20th century London society. To establish the connection between women and fruit the speaker poses the question, “Have you seen fruit under cover / that wanted light—?” (Doolittle, lines 18-19). Although it may appear that the speaker is, indeed, talking about fruit, the following lines use such diction as, “wadded,” “protected,” and “smothered,” which evoke images of confinement and a guarded life (lines 20-21, 23). Since “Sheltered Garden” was published in a collection of poems in 1916, it is reasonable to make the connection that the language used calls forth the rather restricted and constrained life of
Spring is the season of growth, revival and beginnings. In the poems “Spring and All” by William Carlos Williams and “For Jane Meyers” by Louise Gluck, the poets talk about this very season. In fact, the two poems are contradictory, in that, Williams writes about the bleakness of winter and the awakening of spring. On the other hand, Gluck’s romantic poetry associates the natural renewal of spring with bereavement and death. Both poets use abundant imagery, symbolism, metaphors, different tones, and similes, to affirm their contending attitudes towards the season. Consequently, although the poems are about the same subject, the demeanor of the poets are varied.
The confessional mode of poetry delves into the inner struggles of the persona as she seeks creative independence, free from the constraints of her role as mother and daughter. The juxtaposition between the two settings, “the lit house and the town,” symbolises the persona’s desire for isolation as she contemplates her filial responsibilities relative to an innate desire for solitude, “wanting to be myself alone.” Dobson’s biblical allusion to Peter’s betrayal of Jesus in “Three times I took that lonely stretch,/ Three times the dark trees closed me round” utilises anaphora to indicate her prolonged attempts to embrace her creative potential. Writing in a period of social and gender re-evaluation during the 1960s, Dobson gives us insight into the way women were struggling to balance career against the patriarchal expectations of motherhood. The night, free from daily pressures metaphorically “absolves me of my bonds” creating a lighter sense of being, which is reinforced in the synecdoche “only my footsteps held the ground.” However, the use of conduplicatio in “One life behind and one before” represents her feeling of entrapment, as he remains in a conflicted state. The emotive language in “cut off… from love that grows about the bone” captures the confronting nature of her discovery by examining the
Poetic techniques displayed through the ideas, poetic features and style of the poet, reveal concepts which transcend time and place. In Gwen Harwood’s poem “the violets” her ability to interweave past and present emphasises the importance of memory in preserving ones journey though the universal experiences of growth, maturity and mortality. Similarly the poem “Mother who gave me life” demonstrates the memory of motherhood as a timeless quintessential part of the human condition. And lastly In Harwood’s “father and Child”, the connection between the father and son/daughter highlights that transformation throughout childhood is inevitable. Through the content and the language, the ways in which human experiences reveal concepts which
The image presented is a visual representation of Gwen Harwood’s poem ‘The Violets’. The poem creates the imagery of an adult reflecting on the days they were a child; expressing their yearn to be a child again and their distress at how quickly time goes. Youth, passing of time, memory, life, and death are recurring themes of this poem which are presented through the narrator’s reminiscence of their childhood, and through the motif of a violet. Harwood uses a range of poetry techniques in her poems, and these techniques help convey the different themes and concepts of the poem. The images incorporated in the visual representation were purposely selected to help depict these different themes and concepts. The visual representation works to display Harwood’s poetry style and context through the representation of her poem ‘The Violets.’
Good Evening my fellow neighbors. Most of you know me and for the ones who do not, I am Mabel Dodge. I am the daughter from a family in Buffalo and had what was considered the best education for girls in the nineteenth- century. Instead of going to college, I got married, became a mother and soon, a widow. Later, I traveled abroad and soon married a Boston architect, Edwin Dodge who I later realized the passion I had was no more- so I divorced him. I became bored and began to crave art, the beauty and inspiration! A “salon” in Florence, Italy that I created for the purpose of attracting the most up- and- coming artists in Europe, had me become well known and even a muse for one of Gertrude Stein’s image poems. I reluctantly joined Edwin my husband at the time, who was eager to come back to the United States. I settled in an apartment on the lower Fifth Avenue which most of you have been in for my “evenings” of controversial debates.
Understanding a poet’s context can greatly shape a person’s understanding of their poetry. Australian poet Gwen Harwood (1920-1995) was born into a self-sufficient family full of music, philosophy and language. Harwood can be seen to draw inspiration from her lifelong influences, primarily music and her childhood, to shape her poems. The gentle meditation, The Violets, is an exploration of the existential concerns of the poet regarding the innocence and experience of childhood. The _____ Four Impromptus conveys ideas of the power of music and the human experience. Both poems display the personal themes of music, childhood innocence, human development and romanticism, reflecting these dominant experiences in Harwood’s personal life. By
In the romantic era, British authors and poets focused on nature and its influence. Two of those poets, Charlotte Smith and William Wordsworth, wrote many pieces on the beauty of nature and their personal experiences with the beaches of England. In “Far on the sands” and “It is a beauteous evening,” Smith and Wordsworth describe their respective experiences on the shore at sunset. Both authors use structure, theme, allusions, and imagery to effectively convey their perceptions of nature. While the sonnets share a setting and the topics of nature and tranquility, Smith’s has a focus on introspection and Wordsworth’s is centered around religion. These have different focuses which achieve different effects on the reader.
Daniel Ridgway Knight was an odd American artist who loved to paint relaxed French peasants in luscious landscapes. Ironically, he lived during a stressful time when the Industrial Revolution displaced numerous farmers and polluted the environment. He seemed to ignore the harsh truth and shut himself in his imaginary serene world. For instance, In the Premier Chagrin, translated as The First Grief, Knight paints two healthy girls conversing on a stone wall in front of gorgeous fields. At first, it appears as merely a pretty painting that is nicely contrasted to show depth and realism. Yet, with a closer look, this contrast in the colors and lines of the landscape and the figures creates tension to suggest the painter’s conflict between longing for serene freedom and feeling trapped within the stiff society.
Imagine reading a poem and believing it means one thing, but the underlying message is something completely different. Authors like to use different literary techniques to make a valid point, to make the reader feel a certain emotion, or even to share a distinct memory with their reader. Poetry has helped authors focus their readers on their work by achieving themes that may portrayed in several pieces of their work. In May Swenson’s case, she used a variety of techniques to create different emotions for the reader, while expressing certain periods of her life. May Swenson uses nature in her poetry to personify sexuality and make it into a repetitive theme in her work. Many of Swenson’s critics can agree
However, this oppressive description heavily juxtaposes with the “delicious garden” that surrounds the building. As Gilman has used repressive and harsh language to describe the nursery, whilst using positive and descriptive language for the nature outside, it could be argued that she is expressing her love for nature and all things natural, and her dislike towards materialistic and man-made things. The narrator continually describes the external nature, which she observes through the “windows” of the building. The rich and feminine description of the “roses” and “long-grape covered arbors” create a somewhat romantic and delicate feel, alluding to feminine qualities. The juxtaposition between the two settings, not only creates a conflict between the private and public sphere; deviating from Millett’s criticism, but also creates a conflict between the masculine male dominance of the nursery; and the elusive, feminine surroundings. This conflict between male versus female stands in line with many radical feminists’ views, including that of Mary Daly, who advocated a reversal of socio-political power between the sexes. [2] The fact the narrator is viewing this external nature through a window strengthens the divide between the ‘public realm’ and the ‘private sphere’. However, one can also look at one’s reflection; suggesting the narrator’s constant observations through her window are instead reflections of
The turn of the 20th Century marks a substantial evolution for the pursuit of English Literature responding to the larger socio-political developments berthed by the rapid onset of industrialization. The Modern Tradition of English literature, as literary critics refer to the period today, transforms our understanding of english literary mechanics in that both poets and authors examined the repercussions of industrial society on urbanites and rural peoples alike through experimental prose and verse styles, forever changing the English Language. In particular, the poetry of T.S Eliot in his breakout poem, “The LoveSong of J. Alfred Prufrock” written in 1915, and “Not Waving but Drowning” written by poetess Steve Smith in 1953, reflect a particular sentiment spanning an entire generation of both poetic and public society in which the burdens of modern living within a capitalist society complicate man and women’s ability to express their individuality, much less understand their place among the vastness of the cosmos. By reading Steve Smith’s “Not Waving but Drowning” as it relates to themes such as misunderstanding helplessness in the face of doom which T.S Eliot employs in, “The LoveSong of J. Alfred Prufrock”, one finds that Smith’s drowning man compounds our understanding of Prufrock’s suffering; two individuals who fail to discover themselves, nor any meaningful purpose and life; and offers an response to despair through the voice of the drowned man’s friends that
In 1855 when the first edition of Leaves of Grass was published, the first Women’s Convention had already taken place in Seneca Falls. According to Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass is a women’s book. In the epigraph of Sherry Ceniza’s Walt Whitman and 19th-century women reformers she quotes him having said “Leaves of Grass I essentially a woman’s book: the women do it know it, but every now and then a woman shows that she knows it” (Ceniza). The implication here combined with the text in Song of Myself suggest a phenomenon that is all too common. Whitman is seen as and sees himself as a poet beyond racial and gender distinctions but like many in a position of privilege, their appropriation of the pain felt by these opposed groups serves only
The actual turning point in The Sparrow was when the Utra-Light crashed. However, it was of little interest. The importance of the novel lied within the gardens that were built. The garden the Jesuit mission planted served as the catalyst to the future demise of the group, and especially Emilio. Emilio not only had his body destroyed, but also his soul. The gardens caused a slaughter, an imprisonment, an eventual destruction of the survivor's hands, another death, a rape, and a long period of despair for the only survivor of the overall mission.
Poets use many ways when they want to communicate something using poems. Poems are used as a means of passing ideas, information and expression of feelings. This has made the poets to use the natural things and images that people can relate with so that they can make these poems understandable. The most common forms of writing that are used by the poets are the figurative language for example imagery and metaphors. In addition, the poets use the natural landscape in their attempt to explore the philosophical questions. Therefore, this essay will explore the forms that have been used by the poets in writing poems using the natural landscape. The essay will be based on poems such as ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ by
The illnesses in society are often attributed to societal and political upheavals, as well as the various hardships of daily life. The discomfort in life is often what people desire most to escape from. This was no less true for Wordsworth. Born in England in 1770, he paid attention to the French revolution, and other important events of his day. In “I wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, the metaphor of the cloud speaks to the floating quality of disconnection from the world, longing to escape rather than engage -- the feeling of despondency. The simple observation of the daffodils in the opening stanza immediately serve to tie the cloud down to earth, and not let it float away. But that is not all; It is not simply daffodils that Wordsworth observes, but also what they are doing, dancing, which charges the moment of connection in a world of dis-unifying forces, and elevates his prescription of nature to a prescription of art as well.