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1 | 'had i not been awake' | seamus heaney | https://poemanalysis.com/seamus-heaney/had-i-not-been-awake/ | 0 | Stanza One | Had I not been awake I would have missed it,
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A wind that rose and whirled until the roof
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Pattered with quick leaves off the sycamore | The opening line foreshadows the poem’s central theme, which is that of humanity’s relationship with the world around them, which they too often ignore. Whilst it is perfectly possible to read this line literally, it can also be a metaphor for the poet’s life if one interprets “awake” to mean alive. As an agnostic, Heaney did not believe in an afterlife, and the line, therefore, represents his acknowledgment that, if his life had ended, so would his ability to witness the beauty of the world.The subsequent description of the wind, with all its speed and power, reminds the narrator that there is an energy that surrounds us all. It is this display of that energy that inspires the narrator to press on as the poem progresses. The onomatopoeic verbs “whirled” and “pattered” emphasize the narrator’s close proximity to the natural world.
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1 | 'had i not been awake' | seamus heaney | https://poemanalysis.com/seamus-heaney/had-i-not-been-awake/ | 1 | Stanza Two | And got me up, the whole of me a-patter,
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(…)
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Had I not been awake I would have missed it, | The second stanza of ‘Had I not been awake‘ focuses on the narrator’s reaction to the wind, typified by the simile in the second line, which describes how he began “ticking like an electric fence.” This demonstrates how energized he was by the wind’s display of power. Furthermore, the use of the onomatopoeic verb “ticking” is crucial as, this time, it is applied to the narrator, which suggests a direct link between him and the natural world. The stanza ends with a refrain, which rounds off the first two stanzas, creating a degree of symmetry, potentially mirroring a complete electrical circuit. |
1 | 'had i not been awake' | seamus heaney | https://poemanalysis.com/seamus-heaney/had-i-not-been-awake/ | 2 | Stanza Three | It came and went so unexpectedly
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(…)
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Returning like an animal to the house |
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This stanza once again refers to the mysterious “it” and details how fleetingly the moment passed. The unnamed object of Heaney’s interest could refer to the mysterious beauty of nature, which one can bear witness to and even engage with but never master or contain. It is this quality that inspired Heaney to keep living and to keep writing.The use of the simile is significant as it likens nature to an animal but does not specify what kind. The fact it returns to the house implies a level of domestication, but this is juxtaposed by the adverb “dangerously” which suggests the animal is wild. This ambiguity could be a deliberate attempt to indicate that the ephemeral spark of inspiration is most likely to occur in the peripheral space between the human and natural worlds.
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1 | 'had i not been awake' | seamus heaney | https://poemanalysis.com/seamus-heaney/had-i-not-been-awake/ | 3 | Stanza Four | A courier blast that there and then
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(…)
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After. And not now. | These final lines of ‘Had I not been awake‘ evoke the brevity of the wind’s impact, which quickly “lapsed” but still left its mark on the narrator. The use of caesura disrupts the pace of the stanza, just as Heaney’s life was interjected by setbacks after his stroke. The caesura also functions as a microcosmic representation of Heaney’s life after the stroke, as they are moments that resemble endings, yet the poem continues like Heaney continued living. Just as the wind’s gust was not “ever after,” Heaney knows he cannot live on in perpetuity. Whilst this may appear bleak, the stanza is actually intended to be affirming; the wind left a huge mark on the narrator but didn’t last forever. Heaney, therefore, challenges the readers’ perception of value and its relationship to permanence by implying that, while his remaining time on earth was finite, he was still capable of creating art and inspiring others.
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2 | 'poem' | william carlos williams | https://poemanalysis.com/william-carlos-williams/poem/ | 0 | Stanzas One and Two | As the cat
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climbed over
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(…)
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forefoot | In the first stanza of ‘Poem,’ the speaker begins by describing the movements of a cat. This is the main focus of the entire, concise poem, but each line brings attention to a new and noteworthy feature. The three-line first stanza notes how the cat “climbed over” the top of… something. The third line of the stanza is enjambed, meaning that the reader has to go down to the first line of the second stanza to find out what the speaker will say next. This is one of the best examples of enjambment because there is truly something to find out at the beginning of the next line.
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The second stanza is the same length as the first. It starts by describing what the cat was climbing over the top. It’s “jamcloset.” The following lines focus on briefly on the “right/forefoot.” Because each line is so short, with one entire line devoted to “forefoot,” it was likely that Williams wanted the reader to focus on the movements and appreciate them.
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2 | 'poem' | william carlos williams | https://poemanalysis.com/william-carlos-williams/poem/ | 1 | Stanzas Three and Four | carefully
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then the hind
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(…)
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flowerpot | In the third stanza of ‘Poem,’ the speaker uses the word ‘carefully,” seemingly confirming that Williams was purposefully taking his time with these lines, wanting the reader to appreciate everything that was happening. Although the scene he’s describing is simple, it’s quite beautiful when one takes the time to imagine it.
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The forefront stepped down and then the “hind.” In the fourth stanza, the cat is revealed to be climbing down into “the pit / of / the empty / flowerpot.” The use of the word “the” before “empty flowerpot” suggests that the speaker was thinking of one specific flowerpot and perhaps even one specific moment in time rather than one that was totally fabricated. The poem ends without any punctuation, allowing the image to linger in the reader’s mind.
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3 | 'twas the old — road — through pain— | emily dickinson | https://poemanalysis.com/emily-dickinson/twas-the-old-road-through-pain/ | 0 | Stanza One |
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‘Twas the old — road — through pain —
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That unfrequented — one —
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With many a turn — and thorn —
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That stops — at Heaven —
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| In the first part of the poem, the speaker begins by describing life as a road. This is an example of an extended metaphor that runs throughout much of the poem. The road is “unfrequented” that goes to “Heaven.” This suggests that the speaker believes that far more people end up in hell, having lived poor lives than they do, having lived good ones and going to Heaven.
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The repetitive use of dashes in this first stanza is indicative of the way Dickinson wanted the reader to move through the lines. Readers are forced to pause in the middle of lines (sometimes multiple times), and there is empty space at the end of almost all of the lines as well, creating a unique form of caesura and enjambment. It’s also possible that Dickinson envisioned the dashes as a way of alluding to the woman’s steps through life. Each block of words is one step on the road to death/Heaven.
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3 | 'twas the old — road — through pain— | emily dickinson | https://poemanalysis.com/emily-dickinson/twas-the-old-road-through-pain/ | 1 | Stanza Two |
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This — was the Town — she passed —
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There — where she — rested — last —
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Then — stepped more fast —
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The little tracks — close prest —
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Then — not so swift —
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Slow — slow — as feet did weary — grow —
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Then — stopped — no other track!
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| In the second stanza, the speaker describes parts of life’s journey. The main subject of the poem, a female character, lived in a specific town and died in a specific house. It was where she “rested — last.”
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The speaker uses images associated with walking and movement, sometimes swift and sometimes not so swift, to describe the woman’s progress through life. She moved quickly at first, as a young woman, but as she aged, her feet “did weary — grow” and then “stopped — no other track!” The path she’d been walking throughout her life ran out.
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3 | 'twas the old — road — through pain— | emily dickinson | https://poemanalysis.com/emily-dickinson/twas-the-old-road-through-pain/ | 2 | Stanza Three |
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Wait! Look! Her little Book —
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The leaf — at love — turned back —
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Her very Hat —
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And this worn shoe just fits the track —
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Herself — though — fled!
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| The speaker’s tone in the third stanza shifts significantly. Here, the speaker expresses wonder and amazement from the perspective of the mourners watching on as the woman passes away. They find her “little Book” and one specific page turned down at the corner. That specific page was about “love.” The word “Book” is capitalized in the stanza, indicating that Dickinson was likely alluding to the Bible and any of a few biblical passages that speak on love.
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The morn also expressed amazement at the various items representing the woman’s life. These are scattered around her and include a hat and a show that “fits the track” she walked during her life. It is symbolic of who she was and what she did during her lifetime.
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3 | 'twas the old — road — through pain— | emily dickinson | https://poemanalysis.com/emily-dickinson/twas-the-old-road-through-pain/ | 3 | Stanza Four |
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Another bed — a short one —
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Women make — tonight —
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In Chambers bright —
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Too out of sight — though —
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For our hoarse Good Night —
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To touch her Head!
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| The poem’s final stanza is six lines long, making it a sestet. In the stanza, the poet describes the woman in Heaven. In “Another bed,” where heavenly hands prepare her for her next life.
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She’s so distant from the physical world and from the mourners who are still at this moment marveling over her possessions, to hear their testament to her life, demonstrated through the poet’s line “our hoarse Good Night.”
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4 | 'yes, holy be thy resting place' poem | emily brontë | https://poemanalysis.com/emily-bronte/yes-holy-be-thy-resting-place/ | 0 | Stanza One |
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Yes, holy be thy resting place
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Wherever thou may’st lie;
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The sweetest winds breathe on thy face,
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The softest of the sky.
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The first verse reads as a eulogy does, introducing a grieving narrator who appears to be mourning someone who had been very close to them. This verse relies strongly on the alliteration of the letter “s” (“sweetest,” “softest of the sky,” as well as the words “yes,” “resting,” and “may’st”) to sound gentle and soft. Words like “thy” and “may’st” also give the verse a somewhat romantic quality to it, and makes each word sound as though it has been specifically chosen by a tender heart. Imageries such as the soft sky are efficient at creating a natural calm, as though the speaker is using their words as a reminder that death is a natural event. That they consider the grave of the deceased to be holy suggests that the person was very important to them, or else lived a very good life that will make them worth visiting after they have been buried — though the second line implies that there may be some distance between the speaker and the deceased that prevents them from doing this.
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4 | 'yes, holy be thy resting place' poem | emily brontë | https://poemanalysis.com/emily-bronte/yes-holy-be-thy-resting-place/ | 1 | Stanza Two |
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And will not guardian Angels send
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Kind dreams and thoughts of love,
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Though I no more may watchful bend
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Thy longed repose above?
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The next verse seems to confirm a romantic attachment between the speaker and the deceased, as they hope that their guardian angel will be capable of relaying their feelings into the afterlife. They suggest they will be dreaming and thinking of the person, and is only saddened that they will never receive a reply. The final line, and the use of the word “above” suggests an image of Heaven, one that demonstrates the spirituality of the speaker, and their last connection to their love in life: the idea that they can still communicate, albeit one-sidedly, and will see each other again after each are finished with life.
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4 | 'yes, holy be thy resting place' poem | emily brontë | https://poemanalysis.com/emily-bronte/yes-holy-be-thy-resting-place/ | 2 | Stanza Three |
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And will not heaven itself bestow
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A beam of glory there
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That summer’s grass more green may grow,
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And summer’s flowers more fair?
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| The third verse of ‘Yes, Holy Be Thy Resting Place’ works off of the idea introduced in the “title” of the work, that the grave of the person itself can be a holy place. This verse imagines a “beam of glory” enveloping the resting place and making the grass a stronger shade of green, and the flowers more beautiful in its light. It is clear that the speaker had a great deal of respect and admiration for the deceased, particularly in a religious way. They suggest here that Heaven itself would take an interest in marking the place where an important person died, and make it a place of life, rather than of death. All of the imagery in this verse is of a bright summer’s day, a notable contrast from the fact that the poem is written as a eulogy for the dead.
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4 | 'yes, holy be thy resting place' poem | emily brontë | https://poemanalysis.com/emily-bronte/yes-holy-be-thy-resting-place/ | 3 | Stanza Four |
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Farewell, farewell, ’tis hard to part
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Yet, loved one, it must be:
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I would not rend another heart
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Not even by blessing thee.
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| The mourning narrator must say “farewell” twice — this repetition shows a weakness, an understandable difficulty accepting what they are saying, and they justify that difficult choice by saying that “blessing” the deceased, a possible synonym for visiting them, assuming that they are in fact distant from the grave, would only serve to break their heart a second time. Now that they are more alone in the world, they must be able to keep their own heart intact and survive their grief.
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4 | 'yes, holy be thy resting place' poem | emily brontë | https://poemanalysis.com/emily-bronte/yes-holy-be-thy-resting-place/ | 4 | Stanza Five |
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Go! We must break affection’s chain,
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Forget the hopes of years:
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Nay, grieve not – willest thou remain
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To waken wilder tears
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| This following verse is very much like the one that precedes it, going so far as to name their love a chain of affection, to be broken, suggesting that it holds the speaker back. Brontë uses an alliterative device here, with “willest” and “waken wilder,” and it seems in this verse the speaker is trying to encourage their own act of moving on. They imagine their memories as being able to bring on tears, and imagines their loved one “remaining,” in a sense, in their memories, if not in their hopes any longer.
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4 | 'yes, holy be thy resting place' poem | emily brontë | https://poemanalysis.com/emily-bronte/yes-holy-be-thy-resting-place/ | 5 | Stanza Six |
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This herald breeze with thee and me,
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Roved in the dawning day:
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And thou shouldest be where it shall be
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Ere evening, far away.
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The final verse of ‘Yes, Holy Be Thy Resting Place’ is its most abstract, and represents a change in the speaker’s thoughts from rational and sentimental in the first verse, to abstract philosophizing in the last one. The “herald breeze” is a metaphor for coming change; wind moves forwards and heralds changes in weather. Likewise, the speaker thinks of their life and their lover’s death as being something of a wind that heralds change. The metaphor is further complicated by envisioning the speaker as the dawn of day and their lover as the evening. Despite their implied age — ‘Yes, Holy Be Thy Resting Place’ is written with a mature, intelligent narrator who is likely to be reasonably old to feel such deep affection for another — they see themselves as a dawn, a beginning day, with many hours of sunlight to pass before its end, while death has already taken their love, who is now a day ended, with no light left in the world.
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The idea of self-preservation is evident here, as the speaker rationalizes breaking their “chain of affection” in an attempt to live out their life and not simply fall over and die — figuratively — because their love is gone. And yet, the loving tone of the piece does convey genuine sadness over a passing. This complicated emotion that includes a desire to move on and a need to hold dear the departed is best expressed through metaphor and imagery, as Brontë has done here. Whether ‘Yes, Holy Be Thy Resting Place’ is written for a lover or a family member, as may be likely given the author’s personal history, it is clear that she understood her feelings on the matter extremely well, and was able to convey them in a truly touching poem for those who followed her works.
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5 | "take me anywhere" (from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/take-me-anywhere/ | 0 | Stanza One |
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Take me anywhere, anywhere;
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I walk into you,
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Doge—Venice—
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| As in the rest of Hermetic Definition, the poet is the speaker.
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She opens the poem by asking an unnamed lover to take her anywhere. Instead of being in that place, Doolittle will be in the lover’s mind.
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She mentions the Doge’s Palace in Venice, a medieval Venetian palace, in allusion to two things.
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Firstly, while Doolittle was writing this poem, her ex-husband Richard Aldington lived in Venice. The two had also toured Florence and Venice early in their courtship in 1912, 48 years earlier.
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Secondly, Doolittle refers to Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, where, in Act 1, Scene one, Antonio speaks:
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“My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, / Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate” (44-45)
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In this quote, Antonio asserts that he has many investments in many places, so his finances are safe. If one fails, the others will make up for the loss.
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Thus, by mentioning Venice, Doolittle refers to specific lovers from her life while expressing that love is the only thing she has invested herself in. This love, however, has failed her, and she is left a beggar.
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With the emotive repetition of “anywhere, anywhere,” Doolittle pleads to her lover to take her somewhere where they, at one point, were still in love.
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5 | "take me anywhere" (from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/take-me-anywhere/ | 1 | Stanza Two |
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you are my whole estate;
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…
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as a child hides in an attic,
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| In stanza two of “Take me anywhere, anywhere;” the speaker expresses to the lover that he is her everything. She tells him that, no matter where he takes her, she would hide away in his mind “as a child hides in an attic.”
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This stanza positions the poet as a submissive child, crawling into her lover’s mind to hide away from the world.
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While, at face value, this metaphor seems innocent enough, it is yet another allusion. While under the analysis of Sigmund Freud, Freud stated that Doolittle was suffering from a maternal fixation, always seeking the comforting embrace or “womb” of a mother.
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By illustrating herself as a child walking into her lover’s mind, Doolittle recognizes that she sees her lover as someone to be crawled into or a guardian who will care for her.
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However, by stating, “I would hide in your mind,” Doolittle evolves from her ‘maternal fixation’ a bit, recognizing that what she wants in a lover is an intellectual “womb” and an academic parent.
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5 | "take me anywhere" (from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/take-me-anywhere/ | 2 | Stanza Three |
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what would I find there?
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…
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one or the other? together, matched,
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By stanza three, the poet guesses what she will find inside her lover’s mind. Her only and best guess, though, is religion and “majic.”
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The spelling of majic, again, creates an allusion, this time to Hilda Doolittle’s unpublished book, The Majic Ring, written in the 1940s. Doolittle recorded her spiritual experiences, including her mystical visions, in this book.
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However, in the context of this poem, she divides religion and majic to make a clear point about spirituality and love.
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Here, majic and religion are related in the same way a child is related to a parent and in the same way she is related to her lovers. As suggested by the question “one or the other?” the poet and her lover are not mutually exclusive. While each can exist separately, they are of the same essence.
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Immediately following her questions, though, the poet seems to have answered herself, listing the adjectives “together” and “matched.”
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The last line of stanza three and the first line of stanza four are excellent examples of enjambment. This division creates a rift between “matched” and “mated,” further explaining that, although the poet may be apart from her lover, they are a pair.
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5 | "take me anywhere" (from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/take-me-anywhere/ | 3 | Stanza Four |
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mated, exactly the same,
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…
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your eyes’ amber.
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| Finally, in stanza four, the poet lists more adjectives to describe her relationship with her lovers. They are equal in power, even though, in stanza two, Doolittle paints herself as a little child hiding in her lover’s mind.
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The statements “exactly the same, / equal in power, together yet separate,” then illustrate the complicated relationship that Doolittle has experienced in her romantic life. While she may believe that she is the more submissive “child” in the relationship, she is still “equal in power” to her lovers. Without her, the relationship could not be fulfilled.
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Finally, the poet closes with the line, “your eyes’ amber.” This is an allusion to amber formations. Like an insect or piece of debris caught inside a drop of amber, Doolittle is a part of her lover’s mind and sight, “together yet separate.”
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In Greek myth, there are many stories about gods and spirits, such as the sisters of Meleager and the Hesperides, weeping tears of amber after the death of a young man. In these myths, the young man is usually related to the sun, regarded as a masculine force.
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Thus, in the poem, the amber of the lover’s eyes may be due to their loss of masculinity in their relationship with Doolittle.
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6 | "venice — venus?" (#5 from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/venice-venus/ | 0 | Stanza One |
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Venice — Venus?
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this must be my stance,
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my station: though you brushed aside
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| In the poem’s opening, Doolittle equates Venice with Venus, using long dashes to connect her thoughts and create a pause in the poem. This first line is not just a comparison. Instead, it is an invocation to Venus and to Venice, the place where she first fell in love with her ex-husband.
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Thus, in this short first line, Doolittle emphasizes that she will focus on the themes of love and desire in this poem.
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The poet then assumes that her role as a poet is as a romantic, tasked with the writing of love affairs, desire, and lust as if it were her “station” or job. She places herself as a feminine force, thus equating her poetry with femininity.
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In the last line of the stanza, Doolittle uses a colon to create a natural pause, or caesura, within the line. Then, “though you brushed aside” marks the end of the stanza, crafting a lingering enjambment that stresses how forcefully the “you” figure brushes aside Doolittle’s verse.
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6 | "venice — venus?" (#5 from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/venice-venus/ | 1 | Stanza Two |
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my verse,
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…
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I’ve tried to;
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In stanza two, the poet begins to explain why she writes about love so frequently, explaining that no matter what she does, she cannot avoid it.
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In line three, she also explains that she has tried to “get away” from writing romantic poetry. This line creates a slightly desperate tone, as it seems clear that the poet can’t do anything other than write love poems despite wanting to do something else.
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6 | "venice — venus?" (#5 from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/venice-venus/ | 2 | Stanza Three |
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true, it was “fascinating…
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…
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you wrote of what I wrote;
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| In stanza three of “Venice — Venus?” the poet introduces the person she is addressing, the “you” figure. Based on the context of this poem, it is clear that she is addressing Lionel Durand, the young man whom she wrote ‘Red Rose and a Beggar’ about.
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Durand is quoted as saying that Doolittle’s poetry was “fascinating… / if you can stand its preciousness.” With this quote, the poet stresses that many of the people dearest to her “brushed aside” her poems as overly refined, slightly intolerable, and fascinating.
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6 | "venice — venus?" (#5 from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/venice-venus/ | 3 | Stanza Four |
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why must I write?
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…
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but She draws the veil aside,
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| In stanza four, the poem turns as the poet asks herself, “why must I write?” She explains that the addressee of her poem, her archetypical lover, would not like her explanation, but she continues to explain it anyway.
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The poet says, “She draws the veil aside,” capitalizing the word “She” to clarify that Doolittle is again referring to Venus. In this line, Doolittle explains that she is a conduit of Venus and that Venus reveals hidden, or veiled, mysteries to her.
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This stanza is critical to the poem and the rest of the Hermetic Definition, as it places Doolittle as the prophet-poet who speaks divinely inspired words. Her muse is the hyper-feminine Venus, and her subject will, almost always, be love and relationships.
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6 | "venice — venus?" (#5 from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/venice-venus/ | 4 | Stanza Five |
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unbinds my eyes,
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commands,
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write, write or die.
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| The poet continues describing why she “must” write in stanza five. According to the poet, Venus “unbinds” the poet’s eyes, allowing her to see things through divine inspiration.
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Then, Venus “commands” Doolittle to “write, write or die.”
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These final two lines, in their shortness, are sharp-sounding and harsh. According to the poet, if she does not write, she will die.
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This stanza reveals that Doolittle feels like she can attain life through her persona as a writer, but without her work to speak for her, she may as well not exist. Her writing, inspired by her past lovers, is all she has, so she must continue writing. Otherwise, she does not have a place in the world.
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Additionally, from another angle, Doolittle is most interested in eternal life through her poetry, as indicated by her position as a prophet of Venus. She has achieved what she set out to do in many ways, as we are still discussing and analyzing her poetry more than 60 years after her death.
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7 | "why did you come" (#1 from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/why-did-you-come/ | 0 | Stanza One |
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Why did you come
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to trouble my decline?
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| The speaker of the poem, presumably Hilda Doolittle, questions an unnamed person in the first stanza.
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She asks the other person why they have come to see her, even though she is old and struggling with her elderly age. However, she also says, “I was old until you came,” which implies that the speaker feels younger with the arrival of this visitor.
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Beginning in this stanza, the poet divides the text using parenthesis. The parenthetical statements, such as “(I was old until you came)” in line three, create both an internal and external dialogue in the poem, representing the speaker’s thoughts alongside the words she says to the other person.
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Additionally, this stanza is the only one that contains a complete sentence:
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The rest of the poem is one long run-on sentence, only held together by semicolons, commas, and parenthetical statements. This structure adds speed and breath to the poem, a feature of imagist poetry.
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Imagists used punctuation and breath to create rhythm in their work and rarely used rigid poetic meters.
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Additionally, as seen in the abbreviated form, “till” for until, Imagists rejected overly complicated language. Instead, they used the shortest, most concise words to make their point. |
7 | "why did you come" (#1 from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/why-did-you-come/ | 1 | Stanza Two |
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the reddest rose unfolds,
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…
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in this time, this place,
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| In stanza two, the speaker introduces the main symbol and metaphor of the poem: “the reddest rose.” This flower, made to sound harsh with the hard alliteration of r’s, introduces the theme of love and lust.
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In line one, the rose “unfolds,” indicating that the speaker’s love is blooming, expanding, and opening up. This dynamic movement implies that the speaker is becoming vulnerable, exposing her love for her visitor and opening her heart to the possibility of a relationship.
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However, after this vivid imagery, the speaker begins to judge herself for feeling affection and letting her guard down.
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In her parenthetical statement in lines two and three, she calls her love “ridiculous,” especially considering her age, the time, and the place. The tone of this statement is also harsh, emphasizing the voice’s criticism and judgment.
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Thus, stanza two creates an internal and external conflict between the speaker’s affection and her judgemental, logical, and self-conscious mind. |
7 | "why did you come" (#1 from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/why-did-you-come/ | 2 | Stanza Three |
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unseemly, impossible,
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…
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the reddest rose unfolds;
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|
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In stanza three, the speaker continues criticizing her blooming affection for her visitor, calling it “unseemly, impossible,” and “slightly scandalous.”
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However, this self-critical internal dialogue is complete by line three, when, again, “the reddest rose unfolds.”
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By sandwiching the speaker’s internal dialogue between two iterations of “the reddest rose unfolds,” Hilda Doolittle emphasizes that the affection she feels is undeniable.
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No matter how much she debates with herself and criticizes her affection, she can’t stop it from growing. It will always grow back, much as a rose does. |
7 | "why did you come" (#1 from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/why-did-you-come/ | 3 | Stanza Four |
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(nobody can stop that,
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…
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not even the weather,
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|
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In stanza four of “Why did you come” Hilda Doolittle again stresses that nothing can stop her from developing affection and love for her visitor.
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In line two, Doolittle writes that “no immanent threat” can stop her from loving again. Interestingly, here, the poet intentionally misspells the word imminent, suggesting that her emotional, feminine nature can overcome any masculine force or ideas that threaten her feelings.
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In the parenthetical statements of stanza four, the speaker briefly stops judging herself and admits that nothing can stop her love from blooming. She is coming to terms with her love or lust, and she is beginning to accept it.
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|
7 | "why did you come" (#1 from hermetic definition: 'red rose and a beggar') | hilda doolittle | https://poemanalysis.com/hilda-doolittle/why-did-you-come/ | 4 | Stanza Five |
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(they’ve got to take that into account).
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|
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The break between stanzas four and five creates a notable enjambment between the lines “not even the weather” and “blighting out summer fruit).” This break shows a shift of perspective from external forces, such as the “air” and “weather,” back to the speaker.
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Here, in stanza four, the speaker refers to her old age. Again, she uses a metaphor, indicating that she is in the autumn of her life, and the fruits of her younger years have all decayed. Additionally, she is no longer fertile, which is why the fruits are “blighted” or diseased.
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However, despite her maturity, she admits that no matter how old she is, nothing will stop her love from blooming.
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Thus, again, she states that “the reddest rose unfolds,” underscoring that, no matter what she thinks or does, the rose keeps unfolding, and her love keeps growing.
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In the last line of the poem, though, the speaker’s judgemental inner voice returns with one final statement:
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In closing the poem this way, the speaker reveals that she still fears the judgment of others. Though she admits she is powerless over her love for her visitor, her intrusive thoughts and fear of vulnerability still get the last word.
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Thus, there is no resolution for the speaker, and she will continue developing an unwanted and forbidden affection for the visitor in the poem. Additionally, the speaker is just as powerless over the criticism she offers herself and the criticism of others as she is over her blossoming affections.
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|
8 | “?” poem | robert service | https://poemanalysis.com/robert-service/question-mark/ | 0 | Stanza One | If you had the choice of two women to wed,
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(Though of course the idea is quite
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absurd
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)
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(…)
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And yet in the past (I grieve to state),
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She never had been exactly “straight”. | For this poem, which can be read in full here, Service utilizes a simple and straightforward verse structure; most lines are eleven syllables long, and this only deviates on occasion to alter the tome of a particular line. Each verse is six lines long, following an ABABCC rhyming pattern (save for the last verse, which omits the final two lines entirely. These simple conventions make the poem easy to follow and give it a consistent beat, and a light atmosphere as well.
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The actual content of the poem poses a simple question to the reader — and, amusingly, the second line acknowledges the unrealistic nature of the question, as though Robert Service is saying “it is just a poem, after all.” The question asks the reader their opinion on the possibility of spending their life with one of two women. The first is described in this verse as being utterly and completely charming. Her head is “dainty,” and she is notably wearing high heeled shoes. While the speaker describes everything about her as being seemingly perfect, they note, with a hint of regret in the last two lines, that in the past, she had not been “straight,” complete with quotation marks. The precise meaning of “straight” is unclear, but it seems likely that this indicates an unenviable past or an experience of “crooked” or an otherwise negative personality. From this verse, it seems that the speaker is cautioning thatcher is not everything to desire in a woman and cautions the reader accordingly.
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Service’s use of parenthesis to add in comments with a slightly different tone is a clever narrative choice that keeps the mood of the poem light. The second line, for instance, reads very differently from the first one because of the brackets, and because of word choice like “absurd” to describe the idea of the poem itself. Additions like this give “?” a unique voice that persists throughout the entire piece.
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|
8 | “?” poem | robert service | https://poemanalysis.com/robert-service/question-mark/ | 1 | Stanza Two | And the second — she was beyond all cavil,
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A model of virtue, I must confess;
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(…)
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Though what she was lacking in
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wit
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and beauty,
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She more than made up for in “sense of duty”. |
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The second woman is introduced in the second verse and is described as being rather the opposite of the woman described in the first verse. “A model of virtue” who is “beyond all cavil” (which means that she was not one to make objections over trivial matters), this time the woman is described as being dutiful, sensible, and virtuous while having nearly no sense of style or personality (a “dowd” is a way to describe a person with a dull appearance). Still, her virtue and her “sense of duty” are unparalleled. “Sense of duty” is a little less vague than “straight” from the first verse, and suggests that this woman would fit the description of the dutiful wife who puts the needs of her family above her own.
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|
8 | “?” poem | robert service | https://poemanalysis.com/robert-service/question-mark/ | 2 | Stanza Three |
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Now, suppose you must wed, and make no
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blunder
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,
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(…)
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The stolid saint or the sparkling sinner?
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| In the last two verses, two women were described — one who was charming and attractive, and another who was virtuous and dutiful. The first woman is also described as being somewhat crooked and possibly mischievous, while the second is described as being boring and unattractive. This final verse simplifies these roles with simple language and effective alliterating — one is a “sparkling sinner” and the other is a “stolid saint.” The question begun in the first verse is finally posed to the reader. In this scenario, both women are attracted enough to the reader to marry and remain with for life, and all the reader has to do is choose between them.
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In an ideal world, of course, a person’s perfect partner might be best described as having most of the qualities shared by the two women described here — a charming, attractive, virtuous, and dutiful woman might be considered perfect to most. The strength in this poem is more in what isn’t said over what is — the question posed offers the reader two extremes to choose from, a saint or a sinner, commenting on the positive and negative aspects of both of their characters and acknowledging that those negative characteristics exist. In a sense, the poem is saying that the reader may well be unhappy no matter what their choice is.
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The opposite is also potentially true, which further obscures the point Service is trying to make. Perhaps it is simply that too much of a bad thing or a good thing has its problems, and that neither woman would be the perfect match for the average reader. Or maybe there is no especially cryptic meaning and Service wants nothing more than to make the reader think a little about what kind of person they are and what they’re looking to find out of life. For what it is, “?” manages to be a well-written and fairly thought-provoking piece about self-assessment and understanding the full breadth of possibility that exists between two very distinct walks of life.
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|
9 | “if thou must love me…” (sonnet 14) | elizabeth barrett browning | https://poemanalysis.com/elizabeth-barrett-browning/sonnet-14-if-thou-must-love-me/ | 0 | Lines 1-5 | If thou must love me, let it be for nought
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Except for love’s sake only. Do not say,
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“I love her for her smile—her look—her way
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Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
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That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
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|
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Browning begins this sonnet by making the request that will make up the basis of this poem. She asks of her potential lover, if you are going to love me, don’t let it be for any reason other than the fact that you love me. She does not wish this unnamed lover to care for her for any reason that could be called trite or physical. She wants love for love’s sake and no other.
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The speaker goes on to list the ways in which she does not want her lover to justify his love for her. “Do not say,” the speaker says, that you love me for my smile or how I look. Or even, she states, “[my] way / Of speaking gently.” These are all traditional reasons a man, especially one living during the early 1800s, as Elizabeth Barrett Browning was, might state for feeling “love.” She does not care for them. Her speaker sees them as being cliché, common, and stereotyped. The speaker does not want to be defined by her looks or female charm.
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She concludes this stanza by stating that she does not want to be loved for any of these reasons, or just because of their thoughts, “[fall] in well” together. It is not a reason to be loved, simply because one’s thoughts are similar to another. She adds to this statement as she transitions into the next line. |
9 | “if thou must love me…” (sonnet 14) | elizabeth barrett browning | https://poemanalysis.com/elizabeth-barrett-browning/sonnet-14-if-thou-must-love-me/ | 1 | Lines 5-9 | A sense of pleasant ease on such a day”—
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For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may
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Be changed, or change for thee—and love, so wrought,
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May be unwrought so. Neither love me for | The similarity of their thoughts, even though they, “certes brought / A sense of pleasant ease,” or more simply, assuredly or certainly brought pleasure to their time together, is still not a reason to be loved as, she continues, they may change. Not only may their thoughts change, but so too might his opinion of her smile, look, or “way / Of speaking gently.” These are mutable factors of her life and she knows they are no basis on which to build a relationship.
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The speaker continues on to say that even if she changed for him, “changed for thee” and worked hard for their love, “love, so wrought,” it still may be “unwrought” with the passage of time. If the two lovers do not find reasons to love one another rather than present-day surface-level pleasantries, then their love may be liable to change over time. The speaker would rather not be loved than risk this in the future. |
9 | “if thou must love me…” (sonnet 14) | elizabeth barrett browning | https://poemanalysis.com/elizabeth-barrett-browning/sonnet-14-if-thou-must-love-me/ | 2 | Lines 9-14 | Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry:
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A creature might forget to weep, who bore
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Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
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But love me for love’s sake, that evermore
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Thou mayst love on, through love’s eternity. |
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The last lines of this sonnet conclude the speaker’s ideas about love and restate her initial request. She also voices another reason she does not wish to be loved, for pity’s sake. Due to the fact that he has given her comfort in the past and she has heartily appreciated it, she knows that over time she might come to take that comfort for granted and forget the love it once engendered in her. This loss of recognition might make her lose his love for good.
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The last lines of the piece are a reiteration of her entire request. She wishes for her lover to love her for love’s sake only, not anything else. This will ensure that “Thou mayst love on” throughout all eternity.”
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She believes that if only they can come to a place in which their love is based on love alone and not dependent on any physical or mental predilections, then it will last forever.
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|
10 | “let the world’s sharpness…” sonnets from the portuguese (xxiv) | elizabeth barrett browning | https://poemanalysis.com/elizabeth-barrett-browning/sonnet-24-let-the-worlds-sharpness/ | 0 | Lines 1-5 | Let the world’s sharpness, like a clasping knife,
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Shut in upon itself and do no harm
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In this close hand of Love, now soft and warm,
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And let us hear no sound of human strife |
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Browning begins this piece by having her speaker declare a new state for the world. All of the world’s sharpness, it’s strife, hate, and violence is to be closed up and put away. She compares this closing to that of a “clasping knife” which is shut so that it may “do no harm.”
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The speaker hopes to find a solution to every “sharp” problem that the planet is facing and close them all up in “this…hand of Love.” The speaker believes that it is “Love,” and the positive sway it can have over a population, that is going to change the world. Love will be able to take the negative aspects of existence, “Shut [them] in upon [themselves],” and put them away.
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The “hand of Love” is said to be “soft and warm.” It is a place of safety and happiness in which all can exist peacefully.
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Once love has taken over all aspects of life, “we” will no longer hear any sound of “human strife.” The door to negativity will be shut and forever closed with a “click” of the “clasping knife.”
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|
10 | “let the world’s sharpness…” sonnets from the portuguese (xxiv) | elizabeth barrett browning | https://poemanalysis.com/elizabeth-barrett-browning/sonnet-24-let-the-worlds-sharpness/ | 1 | Lines 5-9 | After the click of the shutting. Life to life –
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I lean upon thee, Dear, without alarm,
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And feel as safe as guarded by a charm
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Against the stab of worldlings, who if rife | The sonnet continues into the next quartet of lines. The speaker turns to a listener to whom the rest of the poem is directed towards. She speaks to her companion saying that all throughout time, “Life to life” she has depended on this unknown person. She or he has always been there for her to “lean upon” when she is in need and she is never fearful of being dropped. She is, “without alarm,” feeling as if she is guarded by some kind of protective charm when she is around this person.
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This listener clearly has a great impact on the speaker. His or her, “charm” is said to ward against “the stab of worldings.” This word, “wordling” refers to all those that exist for worldly pleasures alone. These types have no regard to spiritual or emotional pleasure, and presumably, take what they want when they want. The “worldings” are those that the speaker believes have caused all the strife and horror that exists in the world. If these people are “rife,” meaning in this context, “unchecked” they will without impunity, injure those around them. They are “weak” and give in to violence easily.”
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It is exactly this attitude and way of life that the speaker is depending on “Love” to take away.
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|
10 | “let the world’s sharpness…” sonnets from the portuguese (xxiv) | elizabeth barrett browning | https://poemanalysis.com/elizabeth-barrett-browning/sonnet-24-let-the-worlds-sharpness/ | 2 | Lines 9-14 | Are weak to injure. Very whitely still
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The lilies of our lives may reassure
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Their blossoms from their roots, accessible
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Alone to heavenly dews that drop not fewer,
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Growing straight, out of man’s reach, on the hill.
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God only, who made us rich, can make us poor. |
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The sonnet concludes in the next few lines as the speaker reassures herself and those listening that it is God only who can “make us poor.” No matter what goes on in the rest of the worlds, there will be Love and that love is God who is in control and watching over everything that one does. It is most likely that the listener in the second sestet of lines in God. Although it is not made clear, and the speaker refers to him as, “Dear,” this person seems to serve a similar purpose.
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The speaker is inspired to these thoughts of God’s strength through the image of a lily flower. Although lilies are often used as symbols of death and mourning, they are also pure white. They are, as the speaker says, “Very whitely still…” even though there is strife in the world. In this piece, the lily is representative of the connection between life and death. They are part of both worlds but also “out of man’s reach.” The speaker wants to make clear that it will be Love, through God, that saves the planet, not any single act by man. The human race is connected through our equal relationship with life and death, something in which all may come together and celebrate— with God leading the way.
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|
11 | [a] talisman | marianne moore | https://poemanalysis.com/marianne-moore/talisman/ | 0 | Stanza One | Under a splintered mast,
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(…)
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Near her hull, |
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In the first lines of ‘Talisman,’ Moore takes the reader right to the heart of a scene. The poem begins in medias res, or right in the middle of the action. The reader finds themselves investigating what’s beneath “a splintered mast / torn from ship”. These first two lines allude to what happened before the poem began. They suggest that there was some terrible accident, perhaps brought on by a storm. A ship was torn to piece and toss onto land. Its mast came off and was “cast / near her hull”. The mast should be regarded as one of the most important parts of the vessel, without it, it can’t operate. So, the removal of this piece of wood, especially violently, suggests a severing of ability and agency.
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Here, Moore sticks to the ship-naming convention and refers to the vessel as a woman. This is a form of personification that is meant to trigger a reader’s emotions. It’s more likely a reader will relate to the ship, its damage, and therefore the plight of those on the ship.
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|
11 | [a] talisman | marianne moore | https://poemanalysis.com/marianne-moore/talisman/ | 1 | Stanza Two | A stumbling shepherd found
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(…)
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A seagull | The next three lines are quite alliterative with the “s” consonant sound appearing throughout. The tragedy of the wrecked ship the sublime grandeur this scene would evoke is juxtaposed with a “stumbling shepherd”. This hapless man came upon the scene by chance. He certainly was not called there, nor was he seeking it out. It appears to be an accidental discovery. Since this poem is os short, consideration should be given to every work.
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Why did Moore choose to make this man shepherd? What, one might think, does this symbolize? traditionally, the shepherd represents goodness, and a life lived close to nature. In the Bible, the idea of the shepherd represents benevolence. This is another interesting contrast to the devastation of the ship. One might also consider the implications of a shepherd’s job, caring for the ship, and the impossibility that anything can be done to save the ship as it is devoid of its mast.
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The most important symbol in ‘Talisman’ is discovered “in the ground”. It is, as the next stanzas explain, a jeweled seagull.
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|
11 | [a] talisman | marianne moore | https://poemanalysis.com/marianne-moore/talisman/ | 2 | Stanza Three | Of lapis lazuli,
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(…)
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With wings spread— |
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The next three lines state that the seagull was made of “lapis lazuli” and expensive blue gemstone. It is compared, through a metaphor, to “a scarab,” a symbol in Egypt of immortality and resurrection. The seagull as its “wings spread,” another symbol, this time of freedom. In tandem with all of these intricate layers, a reader should consider the title “Talisman,” and its original title before Moore revised it “A Talisman”.
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|
11 | [a] talisman | marianne moore | https://poemanalysis.com/marianne-moore/talisman/ | 3 | Stanza Four | Curling its coral feet,
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(…)
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Men long dead. | The pome concludes on a solemn, introspective note. The seagull has “coral feet” and its beak is open as if “to greet / men long dead”. These lines are mysterious and conclude a poem that is in itself quite complex. They suggest something of the seagull’s history. It’s possible that it was made a long time ago in order to “greet” the newly dead. Now though, those men are “long dead”. Its greetings go unheard. But now perhaps through its resurfacing in the hands of the shepherd, that is going to change.
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Traditionally, a talisman is thought to have a power of some kind, usually a positive one. This could relate back to the symbolism of the scarab, or speak to its actual lack of meaning. It did nothing to save the ship under which it was found. |
12 | [buffalo bill 's] | e. e. cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/buffalo-bills/ | 0 | Lines 1-6 | Buffalo Bill ’s
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(…)
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and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat |
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E. E. Cummings’ poem ‘[Buffalo Bill ’s]’ begins with an allusion to Buffalo Bill, popular for his Wild West shows across Europe. He was one of the important historical figures from the Civil War period. He is depicted as a hero of the American West. According to the speaker, Bill is defunct. He is no longer as famous as he was at the beginning of the 20th-century. He used to ride his silver stallion on his hunts. Cummings uses the compound word “watersmooth-silver” in order to create a comparison between the stallion’s color and that of the water.
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While Bill was out on hunts, he easily killed several pigeons in no time. Cummings again uses the compound word “onetwothreefourfive” to describe the number of fowl he hunted. It seems as if taking down five pigeons was a cakewalk for Bill. The following term “pigeonsjustlikethat” is used to hint at his hunting abilities.
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|
12 | [buffalo bill 's] | e. e. cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/buffalo-bills/ | 1 | Lines 7-11 | Jesus
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(…)
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Mister Death | In the last few lines of the poem, the speaker alludes to Christ. It is interesting to note the placement of Christ alongside Buffalo Bill. This fusion of the worldly and spiritual spheres creates a shocking effect on readers. The speaker says Jesus was a handsome man. All he wants to know is how he liked the “blue-eyed boy,” Mr. Death. The capitalization of the letter “D” is used to personify the abstract idea. On top of that, the salutation “Mister” incorporates civility with the idea.
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The last two lines make it clear why Cummings refers to Bill and Christ. He tries to convey that both were once at their mortal glory. Bill won hearts for his heroism. Christ did the same by bravely accepting the cross. The irony lies in the fact that both were mortal beings. They had to die. Through the epithet “blue-eyed,” Cummings depicts the coldness in death’s eyes. He is indifferent to both Christ and Bill. Thus, mockingly the poet thinks about what Christ might have thought about “Death.”
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|
13 | [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] | e.e cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/i-carry-your-heart-with-me/ | 0 | Stanza One | i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
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my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
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i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
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by only me is your doing,my darling) |
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The first stanza is written as one long, run-on sentence. It contains four lines, with the first line of the poem repeating the title, ‘i carry your heart with me(i carry it in’, before quickly moving into the second half of that line, “(i carry it in my heart).” The second part of the first line perfectly exhibits the unique freedom Cummings often takes in his poetry. It is worth noting here that Cummings frequently uses the pronoun I in this poem and each time it appears, it is lower case (In fact, Cummings does not capitalize a single letter in this poem). There are all sorts of theories as to why Cummings would not capitalize the pronoun, but one reason could be because he wanted to be on the same level as his beloved. Perhaps he thought capitalizing I would somehow elevate the speaker over his lover.
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It is also interesting to note the parenthesis that surrounds the second half of this line, almost as if the speaker is trying to protect his lover’s heart by encapsulating it within the parenthesis. The speaker, who is talking directly to his beloved, goes on to tell her that he is never without her heart. In fact, he emphasizes this by again employing parentheses. He writes, “(anywhere i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling).” The lack of punctuation in the stanza supports the unity between the speaker and his lover, and he again seems to be cradling her heart carefully in between the parentheses. The speaker is also revealing to his darling that she is the reason behind all that he does. In essence, he does everything for her, and because of her.
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|
13 | [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] | e.e cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/i-carry-your-heart-with-me/ | 1 | Stanza Two | i fear
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no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
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no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
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and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
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and whatever a sun will always sing is you | The second stanza of ‘i carry your heart with me(i carry it in’ is a continuation of the first, with the speaker waxing on about how much he is in love. The first line simply says, “I fear,” which is directly contradicted with the next line; the first half reads “no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet).” This provides a surprise to the reader, who assumed the speaker would begin to discuss all that he fears about his love. On the contrary, the speaker confesses there is nothing he fears.
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Cummings again writes in a long, run-on sentence, continuing that line with another set of parentheses: “for beautiful you are my world, my true).” The sentence keeps going for the remainder of the stanza: “and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant/and whatever a sun will always sing is you.” This last section of the stanza contains beautiful imagery: the speaker is telling his lover that whatever the moon means, it has always been for her, and the sun’s song is sung for her, as well. Note Cummings’ use of personification with the sun, who is singing his song to the speaker’s beloved.
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The speaker seems to be telling his lover that all that is good and beautiful in the world has been made for her and her alone. He also confesses that there is fears nothing and wants nothing because she is his everything. Cummings’ syntax is also worth examining in this stanza. Normally, using a word such as “whatever” in any creative piece is frowned upon. However, it works perfectly in conjunction with the rest of Cummings’ poetic style. |
13 | [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] | e.e cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/i-carry-your-heart-with-me/ | 2 | Stanza Three | here is the deepest secret nobody knows
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(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
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and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
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higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
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and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart | The third stanza of the poem is drastically different from the first two, with Cummings utilizing repetition throughout the entire five-line stanza. He starts off almost tantalizing his reader: “here is the deepest secret nobody knows.” The other lines of the stanza, however, are fairly ambiguous, leaving the reader to wonder just what this deepest secret is.
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Perhaps the first two stanzas represent the secret to which the speaker refers in the third stanza. Perhaps the speaker’s love is this secret, which is also replicated in nature. The speaker refers to a tree called life, which grows higher than the soul can hope of the mind can hide. So high, too, is the love of the speaker. Just as life and nature go on for infinity, so does his love. Whatever the immeasurable thing is in nature that keeps things growing and living, that keeps the stars apart from each other, it is the same as what lies in the heart of our speaker.
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|
13 | [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in] | e.e cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/i-carry-your-heart-with-me/ | 3 | Stanza Four | i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) | The poem ends almost the same way it begins: “i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart),” which brings the work back full circle and simplifies all that was just discussed in the third stanza. The speaker waxes on about nature and the universe, but in the end, all that matters is the simple idea that he is in love and he carries his beloved with him wherever he goes.
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|
14 | [london, my beautiful] | f.s. flint | https://poemanalysis.com/f-s-flint/london-my-beautiful/ | 0 | Stanza One | London, my beautiful,
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it is not the sunset
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nor the pale green sky
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shimmering through the curtain
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(…)
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upon the lawn,
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nor the darkness
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stealing over all things
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that moves me. |
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In the first stanza of ‘[London, my beautiful]’, the speaker begins by addressing the city he loves, London. This place will be both the setting and the main subject of the poem. He feels a type of dedication to the city which will be elaborated on in the following stanzas.
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He first describes the city as being his “beautiful.” It is a place he feels a great, and somewhat complicated, love for. The next lines state the things about the city which do not herald his love. It is not “the sunset” which he cares for, nor is it the “pale green sky.” He does admit that these things are beautiful though. The sunset is remarkable when it “shimmers through the curtain / of the silver birch.” These things are not what makes London special to him though.
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In the next lines, he continues on this same path, listing out other parts of the city that are beautiful but not important. He mentions the “hopping…birds” which dance on the “lawn” and the “darkness” which covers all of the city at night. All of these elements are mentioned in an effort to show how spectacular the city is and build the reader up for something even greater to come.
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|
14 | [london, my beautiful] | f.s. flint | https://poemanalysis.com/f-s-flint/london-my-beautiful/ | 1 | Stanza Two | But as the moon creeps slowly
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over the tree-tops
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(…)
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and the glow her passing
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sheds on the men. | The next two stanzas are much shorter than the one which preceded them. They make up twelve lines total and provide the second half of the story. It is through their descriptions that a reader will have to come to an understanding of what it is about the city that is so alluring.
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This section begins with the speaker stating that a special moment occurs every night in London. It is at the time when the “moon creeps slowly” into the sky and surfaces “over the tree-tops.” This is the rising action of the narrative. The climax, which contains the moment the speaker relishes most in the city, soon follows.
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The movement of the moon over the city is deeply moving to the speaker. He cannot help but “think of her” and how her “glow” impacts those who pass her. This description can apply to both the moon surfacing over the city, and the city itself. The speaker believes that “men” who pass through London are bettered by the greatness of the city. They are improved in some integral way.
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|
14 | [london, my beautiful] | f.s. flint | https://poemanalysis.com/f-s-flint/london-my-beautiful/ | 2 | Stanza Three | London, my beautiful,
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I will climb
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(…)
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that my blood may be cooled
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by the wind. | In the last six lines of the poem, the speaker concludes his descriptions of the city and reaches the climax of his story. In an effort to better reach the moon, and the light it shines upon the city, the speaker “will climb / into the branches” of the trees. He will ascend till he reaches the “moonlit tree-tops.”
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The speaker describes this action as something he is sure of. He knows that if he makes the effort to complete this action his “blood may be cooled / by the wind.” He will experience the pentacle of the city’s beauty and be able to find peace in the top of the trees. From there he can look out over the land he loves and admires it in the light of the moon. |
15 | [love is more thicker than forget] | e.e. cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/love-is-more-thicker-than-forget/ | 0 | Stanza One |
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love is more thicker than forget
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more thinner than recall
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more seldom than a wave is wet
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more frequent than to fail
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| In the first few lines of this unique Cummings poem, the poet’s speaker begins by saying that “love is more thicker than forget.” He is describing the nature of love in a way that can, at times, be hard to understand. Cummings suggests that love is quarter,” or stronger than the ease with which one forgets everyday occurrences.
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He again speaks to love’s nature by saying that it is “more frequent than to fail.” Here, he is playing on the idea that failure comes very frequently in one’s life and that if one is looking for it, love is even more frequent. This is an optimistic message that is conveyed throughout the entirety of the four-stanza poem.
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He also uses more conflicting and confusing descriptions of love in this stanza, saying that it is “more seldom than a wave is wet” and “more thinner than recall.” The former implies that love is “seldom” or less common than wet waves. The inference here is that waves are always wet, so love must be extraordinarily present in life. |
15 | [love is more thicker than forget] | e.e. cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/love-is-more-thicker-than-forget/ | 1 | Stanza Two |
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it is most mad and moonly
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(…)
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is deeper than the sea
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| In the second stanza, Cummings hints at the emotional nature of love and how, at times, it can be tough to be in love or love someone who is struggling. Love is “most mad” and “moonly.” The latter is a coined word that Cummings’ used in this text likely to imply that its nature changes like the cycles of the moon.
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He adds in the next lines that love is deeper than the sea and always will be. It will never “unbe” what it is (which is no less than the sea), “which is only / deeper than the sea.” |
15 | [love is more thicker than forget] | e.e. cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/love-is-more-thicker-than-forget/ | 2 | Stanza Three |
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love is less always than to win
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(…)
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less littler than forgive
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| In the third stanza, the poet uses several examples of anaphora and alliteration. He repeats the “L” sound numerous times within the single stanza, including the first three words, “love is less.” It continues on, seemingly complicating while broadening the potential of love itself. The limitlessness of his language clearly alludes to the unbound nature of love and the waves it manifests in everyday life.
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Love is alive, it’s dead, it’s everything, and it’s nothing, Cummings implies in these lines. |
15 | [love is more thicker than forget] | e.e. cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/love-is-more-thicker-than-forget/ | 3 | Stanza Four |
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it is most sane and sunly
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(…)
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is higher than the sky
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| The final stanza of the poem says that love is “most sane and sunly.” Readers should immediately be reminded of Cummings’ other coins word in this poem, “moonly.” Here, he is juxtaposing the various elements of love and what it is capable of representing and being to different people around the world and throughout time. He ends the poem by saying that love is “more” because it cannot die, and it is as high, vast, and grand as the sky, which is “only… Higher than the sky.”
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Here, he suggests that if love is like the sky, and nothing is higher than the sky, then nothing is higher/grander than love. |
16 | [o sweet spontaneous] | e.e. cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/o-sweet-spontaneous/ | 0 | Lines 1-8 | O sweet spontaneous
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earth how often have
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(…)
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prurient philosophers pinched
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and
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poked | In the first lines of ‘[O sweet spontaneous],’ the speaker begins by comparing the “sweet spontaneous earth” to the analytical ways it’s been described. Both philosophers and scientists have poked and prodded at the earth with “doting fingers” or “naughty thumb” in order to figure out what the earth is about. This is a way of alluding to the physical nature of the earth as well as the purpose of life. More spiritual investigations are included.
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Cummings uses the word “prurient” in the first set of lines, an unusual word that’s defined as “having an excessive interest in sexual matters.” Y using it, the speaker is in a way suggesting that the philosopher’s methods and intentions are less than pure. There was always something they were trying to get out of their investigations. The use of this word also works well with Cummings use of “fingers” and “thumb” (not to mention “naughty”). |
16 | [o sweet spontaneous] | e.e. cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/o-sweet-spontaneous/ | 1 | Lines 9-16 | thee
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,has the naughty thumb
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(…)
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thee upon their scraggy knees
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squeezing and | In the next lines, the speaker goes on to describe how religions have used the art as well. They’ve gotten down on their “scraggy knees” and used the earth as they saw fit. It’s a source of interest for all parts of humanity and everyone is abusing it differently. Everyone is seeking meaning from nature and moments of life.
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|
16 | [o sweet spontaneous] | e.e. cummings | https://poemanalysis.com/ee-cummings/o-sweet-spontaneous/ | 2 | Lines 17-27 | buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive
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gods
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(…)
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lover
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thou answerest
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them only with
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spring) | In the next few lines of ‘[O sweet spontaneous]‘ the speaker adds that the religious would get on their knees and squeeze the earth as though if they just tried hard enough, they would force the earth to “conceive / gods.” This is an interesting way of suggesting that through their praying and force of meaning, they are attempting to find a god in the natural elements of the earth. They’re attempting to force that specific meaning of it just as scientists and philosophers have their own goals.
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Rather than answer with clear information about the purpose of life, gods, and any other meaning that one might be seeking, the earth answers with “spring,” Cummings concludes. Cummings uses an example of personification in these lines, comparing the earth to a lover, completing the references to touching, sex, and love that began in the first lines. |
17 | 1861 | walt whitman | https://poemanalysis.com/walt-whitman/1861/ | 0 | Lines 1-11 | Arm’d year! year of the struggle!
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No dainty rhymes or sentimental love verses for you,
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terrible year!
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Not you as some pale poetling, seated at a desk, lisp-
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ing cadenzas piano;
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But as a strong man, erect, clothed in blue clothes,
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advancing, carrying a rifle on your shoulder,
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With well-gristled body and sunburnt face and hands—
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with a knife in the belt at your side,
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As I heard you shouting loud—your sonorous voice
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ringing across the continent; |
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In the first lines of this poem, the poet makes use of examples of allusion. He refers to the year 1861 as a “year of the struggle” and “Arm’d year.” This is a reference to the events of the American Civil War. The speaker, a Union soldier in that war, is expressing his experience. When the word “blue” is used in the first section of the poem, readers know for sure they are on the side of the North.
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The speaker addresses the year, an example of an apostrophe. He tells the year that there are no “sentimental love verses” written about it. It is a dark and terrible year.
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While describing a soldier, the speaker works in reference to the year. If the speaker is indeed a soldier, as it seems likely, they are using their experiences to define the year as they experienced it. For example, they are referring to it as carrying a rifle and wearing blue.
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|
17 | 1861 | walt whitman | https://poemanalysis.com/walt-whitman/1861/ | 1 | Lines 12-19 | Your masculine voice, O year, as rising amid the great
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cities,
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Amid the men of Manhattan I saw you, as one of the
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workmen, the dwellers in Manhattan;
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Or with large steps crossing the prairies out of Illinois
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and Indiana,
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Rapidly crossing the West with springy gait, and de-
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scending the Alleghanies; | The speaker’s unique address and description of the year continue into the next lines. He brings in the phrase “O year” as a way of ensuring readers are aware he’s still talking to and about the year 1861. He personifies the year, describing it as one of the “workmen, the dwellers in Manhattan.” He saw the year in the form of men across the country, “Rapidly crossing the West” and on the “prairies out of Illinois / and Indiana.”
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He’s casting his own experience across the country, likely thinking about all the other men who have suffered as he has. The year was terrible for him, but he knows that he’s not the only one who experienced it in this way. |
17 | 1861 | walt whitman | https://poemanalysis.com/walt-whitman/1861/ | 2 | Lines 20-30 | Or down from the great lakes, or in Pennsylvania, or on
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deck along the Ohio river;
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Or southward along the Tennessee or Cumberland rivers,
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or at Chattanooga on the mountain top,
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Saw I your gait and saw I your sinewy limbs, clothed
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in blue, bearing weapons, robust year;
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Heard your determin’d voice, launch’d forth again and
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again;
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Year that suddenly sang by the mouths of the round
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lipp’d cannon,
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I repeat you, hurrying, crashing, sad, distracted year. |
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His address to the rest of the country continues into the next lines. He mentions the “great lakes” and “Ohio river.” He also takes the reader down to the “Tennessee or Cumberland rivers.” The poet uses examples of repetition in the following lines as he again describes the year/his/other soldier’s appearances. In the end, he compares the year and his suffering to the repeated blasts of a cannon. They are “hurrying, crashing, sad, distracted.” The poem ends on this solemn note, without a hint of optimism for the future. |
18 | 1953 | liz lochhead | https://poemanalysis.com/liz-lochhead/1953-poem/ | 0 | Stanza One | null | Stanza one begins in a conversational style, as she almost addresses her father directly. There is a pun on the phrase ‘Stepped on it” which echoes the action of digging and their collective eagerness to complete their task well with their “brand new spades”. The enjambment in the five lines that follow create a sense of the hard work involved as they “slice and turn/clay”. The repetition of “clay” and “clod” along with the word “wet” help the reader imagine the heaviness of the water-saturated earth, another reference to rainy Scotland where Lochhead grew up. The use of the words “stank” and “worms and rubble” conjure up scenes of carnage from the battlefields, which many of these men may still vividly recall. The choice of the adjective “marbled” could even refer to headstones. There is a sense of childish pride in the line: “You set paths straight/with paves it took two men to list.” The image of “setting paths straight” could also refer to the restoration of order after the chaos of war, and the rightful place of soldiers returning to their families at last.
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As the stanza continues so too does the toil of the men with the active verbs “Tipped” and “Sowed”. The one-word sentence “Riddled” could suggest the time-consuming nature of this task, but also has the sinister connotations of being riddled with bullets. These men who carried out the heavy work were also capable of the more delicate tasks of sowing seeds and stretching over the “paper bowties” to frighten the birds. The reference to “Long English lawns/ striped green like marrows” is an interesting choice of simile, since this scene is set on a small council estate in Lanarkshire, in contrast to a sizeable stretch of land further south.
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|
18 | 1953 | liz lochhead | https://poemanalysis.com/liz-lochhead/1953-poem/ | 1 | Stanza Two | null | Stanza two takes us indoors, where now it is the women’s turn to toil. Again the speaker uses the more familiar “Mums” in favor of “mothers”, perhaps to show the closeness of families on the estate and the sense of community spirit. Again the active verbs of “stripping” and “treadling” convey the energy as they work. The hyperbole of “ran rivers of curtain material” conveys a sense of joy and extravagance; after the hardship and rationing in the war years, this is an event worth celebrating in style. The tone shifts in the next four lines to indicate the hopes and happy expectations evoked by the scent of newness in the surroundings.
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Lochhead uses juxtaposition in the concluding part of ‘1953’, to show the illusion of time as it passes. “In no time at all/In a neat estate a long time later”. The internal rhyme in the words “dawn”, “drawn” and “lawn” adds a sense of poignancy as we learn of the very recent death of a loved one, perhaps a parent. It is the Speaker who watches now, through the eyes of an adult, not the excited child of 1953. In contrast to the newly dug gardens and freshly sown seeds, the borders are now “late”, the roses are “mature”. The final image of the undertaker arriving with a pint of milk confirms that yes, a death has occurred, but the speaker softens this news with the reference to the milk since his bringing it suggests a neighborly act of kindness. The estate is still “neat” which suggests that the toil of the families working together has infiltrated down to the next generation, who still take pride in their homes and locality. The overall tone of ‘1953′ is therefore one of hope. While it acknowledges the inexorable passage of time and the inevitability of death, it remains uplifting because of the community’s indomitable spirit.
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19 | 2 mothers in an hdb playground | arthur yap | https://poemanalysis.com/arthur-yap/2-mothers-in-an-hdb-playground/ | 0 | Lines 1-2 | null | From the off of the poem, 2 Mothers in an HDB Playground, which can be read in full here, the narrator creates an element of tension by creating doubt as to the validity of their own words. They describe the child, Beng, as being so smart but then give the reason for this as the fact that they watch TV. It is generally accepted that watching a lot of TV does not make you smart. In fact, some people describe a television as the “idiot box”
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|
19 | 2 mothers in an hdb playground | arthur yap | https://poemanalysis.com/arthur-yap/2-mothers-in-an-hdb-playground/ | 1 | Lines 3-4 | null | Here the narrator turns their attention to the other character’s child describing him as being “quite smart” this could be construed as being a little condescending and paints a picture of this character as being somebody who is full of self-importance.
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|
19 | 2 mothers in an hdb playground | arthur yap | https://poemanalysis.com/arthur-yap/2-mothers-in-an-hdb-playground/ | 2 | Lines 5-8 | null | Once again the “gossipy” nature of the narrator comes to the fore. This time as she complains about the playground in which they have met. She complains about the traffic surrounding it. The idea of exams is once again bought to the fore. What is this saying? Is it a commentary on the importance of exams on a child’s cerebral development? Judging by the poet’s own extensive education this may well be the case.
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20 | 29 april 1989 | sujata bhatt | https://poemanalysis.com/sujata-bhatt/29-april-1989/ | 0 | Lines 1-6 | She’s three-months-old now,
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(…)
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with endless Bremen-Spring drizzle. |
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The title of Sujata Bhatt’s lyrical piece ‘29 April 1989’ has nothing special to offer to readers. It is just a date in the calendar that is like any other date. After reading the poem, readers can realize what makes the day, especially the date, so special that Bhatt uses it as the title. Firstly, she talks about her daughter, who was three-month-old at the time of writing the poem. This personal poem is about one drizzling afternoon of spring. The use of present tense signifies that the poem was written right after the poet felt like penning down her thoughts regarding the afternoon.
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In the poem, readers can find that the poet’s infant daughter has gone to sleep only for the afternoon. It means she can wake up at any moment and would cry if she finds her mother is not at her side. While she sleeps, she manages to get some time for herself apart from her daily chores. Being a mother of an infant is not easy. One has to remain invested in her care. So, the speaker finds it quite difficult to figure out what she should do when she gets some free time.
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While the speaker cannot make sense of how to make most of her available time, everything outside keeps going at its own pace. For instance, the trees change their attire in the incessant spring drizzle. The poet takes special note of the springtime rain in Bremen, Germany, where she resides. |
20 | 29 april 1989 | sujata bhatt | https://poemanalysis.com/sujata-bhatt/29-april-1989/ | 1 | Lines 7-11 | I make a large pot of Assam tea
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(…)
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just touching my favourite books. | Not knowing what to do, the speaker somehow feels like having a cup of tea to spend the afternoon. She prepares a large pot of Assam tea, one of the aromatic tea varieties exported from India. Like Darjeeling tea, Assam tea is also famous for its aroma and flavor. After making tea, she searches through her books. She does not know what she is trying to find. Somehow, she tries to get rid of this sense of pointlessness. This is why she continues to look through her papers.
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At last, she admits that she is not looking for anything important. To be true to her audience, she confesses that she is just touching the books she loves to read. In this way, she tries to find a purpose to spend her afternoon. Besides, she remains alert as her daughter can get up at any moment. She does not explicitly state it, but readers can figure out that her mind is seeking an escape or a momentary relief. At the same time, she is thinking about her daughter. |
20 | 29 april 1989 | sujata bhatt | https://poemanalysis.com/sujata-bhatt/29-april-1989/ | 2 | Lines 12-17 | I don’t even know what I’m thinking,
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(…)
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particularly energetic. |
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In the last lines of ‘29 April 1989,’ the poetic persona taps on to her real feelings. She states how even in her momentary pointlessness, she finds a sort of solace and relief brought about by nature. She creates contrast by describing how her mind is devoid of thoughts and the air is pregnant with pleasing moisture. The “rich round fullness” is also a metaphor for a ripe, round fruit ready to be plucked and eaten. This fullness in the air fills her heart with priceless pleasure.
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She resorts to Beethoven’s melodious piano compositions in order to describe the atmosphere. The musicality of nature encapsulates her soul in a manner that she feels like she is part of some divine composition. Furthermore, she feels like her mind is inside Beethoven’s piano. It is part of the melody the maestro created on a day he was at his best. Besides, the lethargic mood of the overall poem, the last line instills energy and happiness in readers’ hearts. |
21 | 3 november 1984 | sujata bhatt | https://poemanalysis.com/sujata-bhatt/3-november-1984/ | 0 | Stanza One | I won’t buy
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The New York Times
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today.
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(…)
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of dead men and women
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I know I’ve seen alive. |
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The first stanza of Bhatt’s journal-like poem ‘3 November 1984’ begins with a tone of rejection and withdrawal on the speaker’s part. Bhatt’s persona appears to be detached and touched at the same time. She prefers to be an onlooker and not corrupt her memories of communal unity by recent bloody developments. Writing in the present tense, the speaker describes how she preferred not to buy The New York Times of 3 November 1984. When she walked into the bookstore, she could not believe her eyes after seeing the photographs of dead men and women on the front page of the newspaper. The visual details made her freeze for a moment. Alongside that, Bhatt uses enjambment in lines four through eight in order to describe how quickly she was moved by the article.
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|
21 | 3 november 1984 | sujata bhatt | https://poemanalysis.com/sujata-bhatt/3-november-1984/ | 1 | Stanzas Two and Three | Today I don’t want to think
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of Hindus cutting open
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(…)
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of Amrit and Arun and Gunwant Singh,
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nor of Falguni and Kalyan. | She could not help but think of the four-day-long incident. No matter how hard she tried to get rid of the details, they stuck in her mind. However, she manages to move beyond the killings and remember something constructive. The way things went even made her let go of her cherished past. She refrains from thinking about her dear relatives and friends who could have been killed in the massacre. In the third stanza, she recalls the names of some acquaintances from both religions (Hinduism and Sikhism). She spent her childhood with them. Not only the poet, but most Hindus lived in a closely-knit community with Sikhs, Muslims, and people from different religions.
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|
21 | 3 november 1984 | sujata bhatt | https://poemanalysis.com/sujata-bhatt/3-november-1984/ | 2 | Stanza Four | I’ve made up my mind: today I’ll write
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in peacock-greenish-sea-green ink I’ll write
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(…)
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I won’t think of haemorrhageing trains
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I’ll get my homework done. | In the fourth stanza, Bhatt describes how she made up her mind in order to write poems about everything else except the massacre. She did not want to fuel the already tense situation with her words. So, she preferred to write in words that could inspire. She talks about writing in “peacock-green-sea-green ink,” which is a symbolic reference to inspirational, positive poetry.
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She alludes to the recent feat of a group of all-women American mountaineers. In 1978, five women first ascended the peak of Annapurna mountain located in Nepal. They did it without a Sherpa leading them to the peak. The Sherpa is an ethnic group adept in mountaineering and living in tough Himalayan conditions. Sherpas generally lead expeditions.
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In the last two lines, Bhatt alludes to the massacre once again. It was tough for her to forget the incident. Therefore, she describes how she tried hard not to remember the incident: “I’ll get my homework done.” |
21 | 3 november 1984 | sujata bhatt | https://poemanalysis.com/sujata-bhatt/3-november-1984/ | 3 | Stanza Five | Now instead of completing this poem
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(…)
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I’m thinking of Amrit. |
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In the last stanza of ‘3 November 1984,’ the poet describes her difficulty in writing the poem after being aware of the chain of events occurring after 31 October 1984. Even though she had already written a considerable portion of this poem, she got distracted. She started doodling tamarind leaves (“imlee fronds”) all over the page. She tried to find an escape from the present to the past. She remembers how she and Amrit, one of her Sikh friends, spent time beneath the imlee tree. After bathing, their mothers would tell them to go outside and dry their hair. Amrit’s hair was as long as hers. As she thought about Amrit, she brooded over what would have happened to him during the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots.
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|
22 | 35/10 | sharon olds | https://poemanalysis.com/sharon-olds/35-10/ | 0 | Lines 1-4 | Brushing out my daughter’s dark
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(…)
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the silver-haired servant behind her. Why is it | In the first lines of ’35/10,’ the speaker begins by describing how she was spending time brushing her daughter’s hair. She contrasts it with her own. This isn’t a hard juxtaposition to create, nor is it difficult to imagine. The difference is quite clear. Her hair is “gray gleaming,” and hers is “dark / silken.” She can see in her daughter the person she used to be while at the same time imagining the changes her daughter is eventually going to go through.
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The speaker also envisions herself as lesser than her daughter, as a “servant behind her.” This is all part of the following image, her leaving as her daughter arrives.
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|
22 | 35/10 | sharon olds | https://poemanalysis.com/sharon-olds/35-10/ | 1 | Lines 5-10 | just as we begin to go
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(…)
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its dry pitting, she opens like a small
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pale flower on the tip of a cactus; | In the next lines, the speaker goes on to say that “we begin to go” when “they being to arrive.” This is a way of depicting how children come into their own as independent people at the same time as their parents start to depart, leaving their lives behind. The speaker’s wrinkles and folds are more prominent when the “fine bones of her / hips sharpen.” The daughter is ten, and the speaker is thirty-five, and each is going through a different series of changes.
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She’s opening up like a flower “on the tip of a cactus” while the speaker is “dry pitting.” The speaker sees herself doing nothing else but aging, becoming less, while her daughter becomes more.
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|
22 | 35/10 | sharon olds | https://poemanalysis.com/sharon-olds/35-10/ | 2 | Lines 11-18 | as my last chances to bear a child
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are falling through my body, the duds among them,
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(…)
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the story of replacement. | In the final lines of ’35/10,’ the speaker notes that her possibilities of having children are falling and closing while her daughter is just getting to the age where this is about to be a possibility for her. She’s becoming a woman while this central tenant of womanhood (as some see it) is fading from the speaker’s life.
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The poem ends with the speaker noting that this is an age-old story. It’s the “oldest we have on our planet.” It’s the “story of replacement.” Her daughter is taking over her role in the world.
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|
23 | 50-50 | langston hughes | https://poemanalysis.com/langston-hughes/50-50/ | 0 | Stanza One | I’m all alone in this world, she said,
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Ain’t got nobody to share my bed,
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(…)
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I ain’t got no man. | In the first lines of ’50-50,’ the speaker, a woman, begins by describing the main issue in her mind. She’s “all alone in this world.” She’s talking, it seems, to no one in particular but someone, “Big Boy,” answers in the second stanza. She’s worried because she’s alone with no one to share her bed or hold her hand. She doesn’t have a man, and at this moment, she only considers the negatives of this state of being.
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|
23 | 50-50 | langston hughes | https://poemanalysis.com/langston-hughes/50-50/ | 1 | Stanza Two | Big Boy opened his mouth and said,
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Trouble with you is
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(…)
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You could have
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me
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with you
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All the time. | In the second stanza of ’50-50,’ the female speaker gets a response. Big Boy, someone who heard her words, responds and tells her that the reason she’s alone is that she “ain’t got no head.” This line is an example of a specific dialect that helps readers place the speaker in a place and time. Dialect can also reveal information about someone’s culture and identity. Through the gruffness of his words, readers are likely to be immediately put off by Big Boy. His words are demanding and overly sure of themselves.
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He tells the previous speaker that she could have him with her all the time if she only used her mind. His rudeness makes it immediately apparent that he’s someone that most people probably wouldn’t want to have in their lives. |
23 | 50-50 | langston hughes | https://poemanalysis.com/langston-hughes/50-50/ | 2 | Stanzas Three and Four | She answered, Babe, what must I do?
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(…)
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And your money, too. | She calls him “Babe” in the third stanza. This suggests that maybe she is interested in hearing him out and figuring out what she has to do to find a life partner. He answers her in the fourth stanza. He tells her that if she wants him in her bed and as a companion, she has to share her bed as well as her money.
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It’s at this point that the nature of this possible relationship is revealed in full. The male speaker wants to share, 50-50 (or very likely more), of what the woman has. She is going to have to, in his mind, be okay with this if she’s ever going to find a partner. |
24 | 90 north | randall jarrell | https://poemanalysis.com/randall-jarrell/90-north/ | 0 | Stanza One | At home, in my flannel gown, like a bear to its floe,
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(…)
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My furs and my dogs, I stood at the northern pole. | In the first stanza of the poem, the poet uses examples of figurative language, like metaphors, imagery, and similes, to describe how, as a child, he was filled with dreams for the future.
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The poet compares his youthful bed to the “globe” and his dreams to a ship that allowed him to “sail…all night” on the sea. As a child, he saw himself as a great explorer. Someone with a “black beard,” furs, and dogs. He traveled to the “northern pole,” accomplishing a fantastic and brave feat.
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Throughout this piece, success, and happiness as related back to this mythical achievement. Doing everything one wants in life and being successful is like reaching the North Pole, the poet suggests. |
24 | 90 north | randall jarrell | https://poemanalysis.com/randall-jarrell/90-north/ | 1 | Stanza Two | There in the childish night my companions lay frozen,
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(…)
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Were they really my end? In the darkness I turned to my rest. | In the second stanza, the speaker describes his nighttime adventures as “childish.” This is a striking juxtaposition against the actual images he’s imagining. He sees, in his dream-time vision, his companions, frozen and dead in the cold wilderness. His clothes are “stiff” at his “starveling throat,” and he’s close to meeting his death there, in his dreams, having achieved a great and praise-worthy feat.
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This stanza contains two great examples of caesura, seen through the intentional pause in the middle of lines three and four. |
24 | 90 north | randall jarrell | https://poemanalysis.com/randall-jarrell/90-north/ | 2 | Stanza Three | —Here, the flag snaps in the glare and silence
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(…)
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At the North Pole . . .
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And now what? Why, go back. | The third stanza is the only one of the eight that contains five lines. The poet cut off line four, bringing the second half down to the next visual line and indenting it halfway across the page.
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He describes, still in his dream world, how in that moment of horror, death, and incredible success, he’s on “unbroken ice” that is “silent” except for his country’s flag, which he’s planted at the North Pole, snapping as it moves.
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The poet uses simple language in these lines, depicting himself clearly and ideally. As a child, “The dogs bark, my beard is black, and I stare / At the North Pole” are the defining characteristics of success and happiness. They are incredibly symbolic and suggest a childish idealism one grows out of as one ages.
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The speaker asks a question in the extra fifth line, “Why go back?” He ponders, what is there for him in the world he came from? Why return to reality, the waking world, and the truth of everyday existence when this dream world, despite its horrors, is so much more satisfying? |
24 | 90 north | randall jarrell | https://poemanalysis.com/randall-jarrell/90-north/ | 3 | Stanza Four | Turn as I please, my step is to the south.
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(…
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End in this whirlpool I at last discover. |
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The poem transitions to a new state of disappointment and sadness in the fourth stanza. All his “step[s]” the speaker notes (in reality) are “to the south.” No matter what he does or where he “Turn[s],” he’s headed south. That is, away from the success and prideful joy of conquering the symbolic North Pole.
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His world, he discovers, is one of “cold and wretchedness” and not in the way he hoped as he dreamed of standing at the North Pole. Everything ends in this “whirlpool” of disappointment, the speaker realizes. |
24 | 90 north | randall jarrell | https://poemanalysis.com/randall-jarrell/90-north/ | 4 | Stanza Five | And it is meaningless. In the child’s bed
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(…)
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That crowns the pain—in that Cloud-Cuckoo-Land |
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Life, he notes in the fifth stanza, is meaningless. No matter what he’s done or achieved, the real world is filled with suffering and is devoid of the wonders of a “night’s voyage” in a child’s bed.
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The warmth of the real world (as contrasted with the joyful, freezing symbolic North Pole) is a “Cloud-Cuckoo-Land.” It’s a place of absurdity where people labor for success, sometimes find it (and sometimes don’t) but still end up wretched and having lived meaningless lives.
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|
24 | 90 north | randall jarrell | https://poemanalysis.com/randall-jarrell/90-north/ | 5 | Stanza Six | I reached my North and it had meaning.
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(…)
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Where I die or live by accident alone— | The speaker recalls how in the dream world, he reached his “North,” or the pinnacle of success in his life. It had, at the moment, “meaning.” But, in the “actual pole of [his] existence,” everything he’s done is “meaningless.”
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He lives and dies by accident (a suggestion of the world’s random order and lack of meaning). |
24 | 90 north | randall jarrell | https://poemanalysis.com/randall-jarrell/90-north/ | 6 | Stanza Seven | Where, living or dying, I am still alone;
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(…)
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I see at last that all the knowledge | No matter whether he does meet his death or continues living, he is “still alone.” In the darkness of his revelation, something that he compares to a “berg,” or iceberg, of “death,” he learns that life has no meaning. His dreams were ignorant and misplaced. Life has taught him the true lessons of existence. |
24 | 90 north | randall jarrell | https://poemanalysis.com/randall-jarrell/90-north/ | 7 | Stanza Eight | I wrung from the darkness—that the darkness flung me—
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(…)
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And we call it wisdom. It is pain. |
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The final stanza is the only other five-line section of the poem. Here, he uses repetition (seen through the use of “darkness” multiple times) to describe that everything he’s achieved is “worthless as ignorance” and that from the nothingness of his dreams and existence, nothing can be achieved.
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Only darkness and pain come from darkness. It’s that pain that people equate to wisdom, but, in reality, it’s only suffering. The poem ends on this depressing note without revealing any redeeming features about life, success, or dreams. The speaker of ’90 North’ learns there is no purpose to life.
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|
25 | a bag of tools | r. l. sharpe | https://poemanalysis.com/robert-lee-sharpe/a-bag-of-tools/ | 0 | Stanza One | Isn’t it strange
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That princes and kings,
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(…)
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Like you and me
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Are builders for eternity? |
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In the first stanza of ‘A Bag of Tools,’ the speaker begins with an enjambed line that sets the mood for the rest of the poem. There is something “strange,” yet completely normal, in the commonalities between all people on earth. Sharpe uses juxtaposition to place “princes and kings” alongside “clowns” and “common people”.
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There is a skillful use of alliteration in the third line when she depicts “clowns,” or foolish people that “caper” or run quickly and without intent from place to place. A listener, who represents all people on earth is addressed in the sixth line. The speaker questions the listener, asking them, isn’t “strange” that all of humankind is part of a group they refer to as “builders for eternity”.
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|
25 | a bag of tools | r. l. sharpe | https://poemanalysis.com/robert-lee-sharpe/a-bag-of-tools/ | 1 | Stanza Two | Each is given a bag of tools,
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A shapeless mass,
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(…)
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A stumbling block
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Or a stepping stone. |
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The role of “builder” is expanded in the next lines of ‘A Bag of Tools’. Everyone has a “bag of tools,” a symbol for the agency each person has in life to create a world for themselves. Every person has this set of tools and a “shapeless mass” that they can mold. There is also a “book of rules” that accompany each life. These are the rules of society and those by which each person must shape their mass.
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All this shaping must be done before “life is flown,” or, before one has to confront death and their time runs out. The “mass” can be for the person shaping it a “stumbling block / Or a stepping stone”. This is the difficulty and danger inherent in moving through life and making decisions. There is always the chance that one’s choices turn out poorly, the tools don’t work as one predicted or the results fail to satisfy the builder. |
26 | a ballad of two knights | sara teasdale | https://poemanalysis.com/sarah-teasdale/a-ballad-of-two-knights/ | 0 | Stanza One | Two knights rode forth at early dawn
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-----
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A-seeking maids to wed,
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-----
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Said one, “My lady must be fair,
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-----
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With gold hair on her head.” | In the first stanza of ‘A Ballad of Two Knights’ the speaker begins simply. She states that there were knights and they “rode forth” in the early morning. They were not seeking adventure or glory, but instead “maids to wed”. A reader should consider the use of the word “maids” here. It does not refer, as it does in contemporary English, to a housekeeper. Instead, the word is in reference to an unmarried, “pure,” meaning virginal, woman.
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In the next two lines, Teasdale makes use of internal rhyme between “fair” and “hair”. With the use of extra rhymes in the text, Teasdale increases the rhythmic nature of the poem, and it’s song-like qualities, an important feature of a ballad.
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The first knight has two features specifically he is looking for in a woman. She must be “fair,” meaning beautiful. Plus, she must have “gold hair on her head,” she has to be blonde. These are very simple requirements and contrast with those described by the second knight in the second stanza.
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|
26 | a ballad of two knights | sara teasdale | https://poemanalysis.com/sarah-teasdale/a-ballad-of-two-knights/ | 1 | Stanza Two | Then spake the other knight-at-arms:
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-----
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“I care not for her face,
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-----
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But she I love must be a dove
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-----
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For purity and grace.” |
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In the second stanza of the ‘A Ballad of Two Knights’ the second knight who is described as “at- arms,” or caring weapons, says that hair and facial features do not matter to him. He is more interested in her moral compass. He uses a metaphor to compare his ideal love to a dove. She must be as pure and graceful as this animal. The dove is a very important image and relates most immediately to Christianity. It is a furthering of the knight’s preferences. Goodness and wholesome values are very important to him. There is another moment of internal rhyme within these lines with the use of the word “she” in line three and “purity” in line four.
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|
26 | a ballad of two knights | sara teasdale | https://poemanalysis.com/sarah-teasdale/a-ballad-of-two-knights/ | 2 | Stanza Three | And each knight blew upon his horn
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-----
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And went his separate way,
-----
-----
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And each knight found a lady-love
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-----
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Before the fall of day. |
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In the third stanza, Teasdale makes use of anaphora with the use and reuse of the word “And” at the beginning of the first three lines. By doing so, she creates a list of actions. Again, they are very simple. The knights blew their horns, went their separate ways, and each found a “lady-love.” It did not even take the whole day for them to complete this task.
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A reader can interpret this as they will. Perhaps, the countryside is filled with possible wives, or the knights are just extraordinarily lucky. Either way the outlandish nature of the venture fits in perfectly with the narrative ballad form.
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|
26 | a ballad of two knights | sara teasdale | https://poemanalysis.com/sarah-teasdale/a-ballad-of-two-knights/ | 3 | Stanza Four | But she was brown who should have had
-----
-----
-----
The shining yellow hair —
-----
-----
-----
I ween the knights forgot their words
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-----
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Or else they ceased to care. |
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The story continues in the fourth stanza of ‘A Ballad of Two Knights’ when the speaker states that the first knight, who wanted the woman with the yellow hair, ended up with someone who had brown. The knights do not have any more dialogue, but the speaker interprets their actions. She states that she thinks, or “weens,” that the knights “forgot their words”. Or, alternatively, they “ceased to care” about their previous requirements. When they saw the women, the things they had dreamed about seemed much less important when faced with a better reality.
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|
26 | a ballad of two knights | sara teasdale | https://poemanalysis.com/sarah-teasdale/a-ballad-of-two-knights/ | 4 | Stanza Five | For he who wanted purity
-----
-----
-----
Brought home a wanton wild,
-----
-----
-----
And when each saw the other knight
-----
-----
-----
I ween that each knight smiled.
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|
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The same can be said of the second knight, who in the fifth stanza is described as bringing home a “wanton wild” woman. A reader should take note of how Teasdale uses alliteration with the words “wanted,” “wanton” and “wild”.
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In the last two lines of ‘A Ballad of Two Knights’ the knights looked at one another, the speaker thinks and smiled. They recognized the strangeness of their current situations, and at the same time were more than willing to accept the unexpected change in their circumstances. They were less picky than they thought they’d be and in the end, much more relatable characters than they seemed.
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|
27 | a bard's epitaph | robert burns | https://poemanalysis.com/robert-burns/a-bards-epitaph/ | 0 | Stanza One | Is there a whim-inspired fool,
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Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule,
-----
-----
Owre blate to seek, owre proud to snool,
-----
-----
Let him draw near;
-----
-----
And owre this grassy heap sing dool,
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-----
And drap a tear. |
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‘A Bard’s Epitaph’ by Robert Burns begins with a humorous tone. The poet metaphorically calls himself a “whim-inspired fool”. It means the fanciful thoughts of the poet. Moreover, he says he was too fast to think and too hot-headed to accept rules. For his shyness, he restrained himself from seeking and his pride blocked his mind from stooping to someone for insight. Thereafter, the poet requests the readers to come near to his grave and think about his poetic contributions. Burns thinks his death might cause one to drop a tear. However, the mood of the last line becomes emotional in comparison to that of the first line.
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|
27 | a bard's epitaph | robert burns | https://poemanalysis.com/robert-burns/a-bards-epitaph/ | 1 | Stanza Two | Is there a
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bard
-----
of rustic song,
-----
-----
Who, noteless, steals the crowds among,
-----
-----
That weekly this area throng,
-----
-----
O, pass not by!
-----
-----
But, with a frater-feeling strong,
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-----
Here, heave a sigh. | ‘A Bard’s Epitaph’ by Robert Burns highlights the quality of the poet’s compositions and how his countrymen feel about him. Burns was popular for his “rustic” poetry that has the essence of rural Scotland. Moreover, the poet says his grave steals the crowds from the other poet’s grave, and the crowd throngs around his grave weekly. By using a litote, the poet says they don’t pass by. Rather, people feel sad about the loss of one of their brothers. With a strong brotherly feeling, they heave a sigh to think about the dead poet.
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|
27 | a bard's epitaph | robert burns | https://poemanalysis.com/robert-burns/a-bards-epitaph/ | 2 | Stanza Three | Is there a man, whose judgment clear
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-----
Can others teach the course to steer,
-----
-----
Yet runs, himself, life’s mad career,
-----
-----
Wild as the wave,
-----
-----
Here pause-and, thro’ the starting tear,
-----
-----
Survey this grave. | The third stanza of ‘A Bard’s Epitaph’ by Robert Burns refers to a specific man standing among the crowd. He appears to be wide and judgemental. The poet thinks he can teach others how to live life wisely. But, he is also busy in his career like the poet. His professional life controls him like a boat floating on the wild sea. The person is as restless as the poet was in his life. Such a person can understand the poet’s state of mind better. That’s why he surveys the grave and tear trickles down.
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|
27 | a bard's epitaph | robert burns | https://poemanalysis.com/robert-burns/a-bards-epitaph/ | 3 | Stanza Four | The poor inhabitant below
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-----
Was quick to learn the wise to know,
-----
-----
And keenly felt the friendly glow,
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-----
And softer flame;
-----
-----
But thoughtless follies laid him low,
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-----
And stain’d his name! | The fourth stanza of ‘A Bard’s Epitaph’ by Robert Burns anticipates what might have tarnished the poet’s name. According to Burns, he was quick to learn something new and he was wise. Moreover, the poet says once he had many friends and felt the “softer flame” of friendship and brotherhood. The feeling of camaraderie is like a “flame” that ignites one’s soul unlike the flames of passion that burn the heart. At last, the poet says the “thoughtless follies” stained his “name”. He doesn’t shy away from accepting his flaws.
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|
27 | a bard's epitaph | robert burns | https://poemanalysis.com/robert-burns/a-bards-epitaph/ | 4 | Stanza Five | Reader, attend! whether thy soul
-----
-----
Soars fancy’s flights beyond the pole,
-----
-----
Or darkling grubs this earthly hole,
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-----
In low pursuit:
-----
-----
Know, prudent, cautious, self-control
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-----
Is wisdom’s root. | The last stanza of ‘A Bard’s Epitaph’ by Robert Burns, using an apostrophe, alerts the readers. The poet specifically draws the attention of those who soar in fanciful thoughts leaping over the limits. And, he refers to those who pursue lowly dreams. The poet advises them to know the value of prudence, awareness, and self-control. These three qualities form the foundation of a wise person.
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|
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Dataset Card for "poetry-detailed-analysis"
This dataset contains scraped per-stanza analyses. Poems in this dataset also appear in isaacrehg/poetry-summary.
Each row contains the following data:
- _id: ID of the poem (for reference in isaacrehg/poetry-summary)
- title: The title of the poem
- author: The poem's author
- url: URL scraped from analysis content where the full poem can be found (may be missing or incorrect)
- stanza_index: index for the section of the poem that this record pertains to
- stanza_header: natural language description of the pertinant stanza (ie. "Stanza One" or "Lines 10-16")
- content: poem content for this stanza (may be missing or partially ommited, ie. "Curling its coral feet, (…) Men long dead.")
- analysis: analysis of this stanza
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