Achievement – Google search

So I decided to just type ‘Analysis of nothing gold can stay’ in Google search, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised! My post is the first on Google! Isn’t that awesome?!

Haha, okay, yes I do get a bit hyper on small things, but to me it’s still a big deal, and besides it is advised to find happiness in the small things, so I have to say I’m very happy 🙂 And I have to say that this wouldn’t have been possible without all you amazing bloggers out there! You have motivated me and helped me so much in this journey, so I’d just like to thank all of you and all the people who searched for the analysis of the poem and found mine to be helpful! Thank you so much!

Analysis of Dulce est Decorum est

The title ‘Dulce est Decorum est’ means, ‘How sweet and fitting it is to die’, so merely by just looking at the title it tells is that this is a poem about death. The title is written in Latin which makes the poem sound very old but powerful at the same time as Latin is a powerful language till today.

The poem is very powerful and it conveys the same message throughout, ‘War is devastating’, and this gives the readers the exact feeling that the poet wanted us to have. The poet uses powerful devices like similes, metaphors and most of all very strong imagery to convey the sense of hopelessness and loss. The 1st line grabs and pulls the reader in the poem. The poet uses simile in the first line ‘like old beggars under sack’ which shows that the soldiers had been fighting so much that they had become like beggars who hadn’t slept for days. The strong use of figurative language shows a clear image of the poet’s emotions. In line two, when he says, ‘Coughing like hags…’ it shows us that poet was very angry, frustrated but at the same time sad and depressed because his heart went out to the soldiers. The word ‘trudge’ in line four shows us how tired and hungry the soldiers were as they weren’t running but trudging as though they were using up all the time they had and walking really slowly because they knew that once they entered the war, there would be no turning back. ‘Men marched asleep…’ these three words create a very powerful image in our mind and gives rise to very intense emotions. The line, ‘Drunk with fatigue, deaf even to the hoots’, tells us that the soldiers had been fighting for so long that they were so tired and had no idea what was going on, They were fighting just for the sake of it. They also had heard so much noise that they were so used to it they couldn’t even hear the hoots.

The poet describes the droppings of gas-shells as ‘softly’ which tells us that here was no way of surviving from them as you wouldn’t even hear them coming. In line 7, he says ‘deaf even to the hoots’ but in line 8 he says ‘Gas! Gas! Quick boys!’ and then he says there was an ‘ecstasy of fumbling’ which tells us how disturbingly the soldiers had got up from their sleep and were fumbling to put on their masks, in order to save themselves from the gas. The phrase ‘ecstasy of fumbling’ is also an oxymoron as it shows us the intense fumbling that the soldiers were doing as if they were still very young and in ecstasy, but here it portrayed the opposite. The author uses ‘floundering like a man in fire…’ which shows how much the soldiers were confused and just dragging themselves in hopes that the war would get over soon. The poet shows us that they didn’t have time when he says ‘the wagon we flung him in’ which tells us that there wasn’t a single moment to lose as they didn’t even have time to put their fellow soldier’s body properly and had to just fling it in.

The use of words such as ‘guttering’, ‘choking’, ‘drowning’ arise such ghastly images in our mind that it is painful to even think about it. The description of the face of the man is very vivid, ‘white eyes withering in his face’ and ‘his face like a devil’s sick of sin’ which shows how bad the war was and dying was not at all sweet and fitting. The phrase ‘of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues’ tells us how the wounds made by the war, mentally not physically were so ugly that they were incurable and these innocent people did not need to see all of this.

In the third last line he addresses the reader himself almost as if saying very sadly and giving us advice that the ‘Old lie – How sweet and fitting it is to die for our country’ is nothing but an old lie which only brings more and more deaths to the country. The whole poem also emphasizes the stark contrast of the poem with the title, as it is not at all sweet to die in such a way.
All in all this poem gives us a very realistic idea of what war is and describes it very clearly stating that war brings devastation, frustration and sadness for many years to come, and that this bruise can never be cured no matter what you do.

Analysis of Song: Tears, Idle Tears

The poem, “Song: tears, Idle Tears” was part of a longer poem, and it was written as a song, as the title clearly states. Alfred lord Tennyson was British and was born in 1809 and he died in 1892.

Th title of the poem is the same as the fist few words of the poem and this suggests that it is a continuation from the title, perhaps like a narrative.

“Tears, idle ears, I know not what they mean”, this probably means that his tears have been flowing for so long tat he doesn’t even remember why he is crying. The repetition on tears emphasizes that he was crying a lot. “tears from the depth of some divine despair…”, despair was considered a sin, so ‘divine despair’ is an oxymoron as divine is something good and despair is not. This probably shows that Lord Tennyson; a) Didn’t believe in religion and its teachings or b) he considered despair as something great. He may have used the word divine to show the d=greatness of his despair.

“Rise in the heart and gathers to the eyes,” here, enjambment from the previous line helps in continuing the rhyme scheme as well as the narrative story. He describes his tears as rising in the ‘heart’, which tells us that his tears were genuine and thy were not fake as they came from his heart. He flashes back to the memories of ‘Autumn-Fields’ and laments on them, “thinking of the days that are no more.”.

“Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail..that brings our friends up from the underworld.” This creates imagery of a ‘sail’ first coming into view. This perhaps means that he is hoping his ‘friends’ come back from the dead. These two lines are a contrast as he says that the first beam was fresh, but the people from the underworld will not be fresh as they are buried underground. “Sad as the last which reddens over one…below the verge.” This creates reversed image of the first two lines of the stanza 2, as in the first two lines, it shows how they emerge while in this one it shows how it sinks. This probably shows the cycle of life and the dipping and rising of the sail creates a moving image int he readers mind. He says “sinks with all we love…”, this may probably mean that his love was also buried which shows that his lover also died. The word ‘all’ may suggest that he has lost a lot in life. “So sad, so fresh, the days that are more more…” this probably is a sort of lament and the reader can almost hear the ‘sigh’ in his voice. He says the sad days are still fresh which may mean that it was something recent, but this then contrasts wit the first statement, “Tears, Idle tears…” as this tells us that he has been crying for so long that he forgot what his tears were for but when he says ‘s fresh’, it means that the memory is still fresh in his head and that’s why he’s crying. This suggests that he is subconsciously revisiting the old memories and crying.

The third stanza of the poem is probably showing that last few moments of the dying person; “To dying ears, when unto dying eyes…grows a glimmering square,”. Dying ears and dying eyes suggests that it is the last few moments before death and his/her eyes are slowly closing. This contrasts with “Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns…the earliest pipe of half awakened birds…” as these lines describe the beginning of the day while the next two lines describes the last minutes before death. This may probably mean that the lover died at a young age as just when the world was about to start living, he/she was dying. Lord Tennyson, repeats the last line of the second stanza in the third stanza to re-emphasize.

The last stanza shows regret of loving his lover as he says, “…sweet as those by hopeless fancy feinged, on lips that are for others,” maybe his lover cheated on him and yet the narrator loved him/her and this makes it much more difficult for him. He says his love for his lover was ‘deep as first love’ and ‘wild with all regret’. which suggests that perhaps his lover had hurt him.

The last stanza may perhaps change the perspective of the reader as it might be that the poem was a metaphor for the ‘death of love’, not ‘death of lover’, for the narrator as his lover cheated on him as he says ‘O death in life’ which means that his emotions were dead even though he was alive.

There is no consistent rhyme scheme as it is a blank verse, yet the internal rhyme and the narrative pace of the poem helps give it a rhyme. The tone of the poem is filled with regret and lament, it is slow and steady and this probably means that the narrator is having a flashback to these memories quite often, A lot of descriptive imagery is used to create a picture in the reader’s mind to express the narrator’s despair more vividly.

The poem is written to describe the narrator’s love for his lover and how devastated he is and Lord Tennyson successfully achieves this by using a simplistic yet descriptive way of writing the poem which makes it very easy for the reader to understand and sympathize with the narrator.

 

Poem Analysis – Amends

The title of the poem is very simple and straightforward which might mean that making amends is a very easy thing to do but also because it stands alone, it means that you have to take the decision yourself and not let others decide for you.

“Nights like this”, the opening line of the poem emphasizes on the point ‘this’ which means that this is a special night (probably a full moon) and not just any normal night.

“On the cold apple bough…out of the bark.”, here these lines that describe the apple tree, reflect the sky at night as it says words like ‘cold’ which could define the night sky as cold, distant and alone. Nonetheless, at the same time, poem says, “a white star…exploding” meaning even in the distant, alone sky there is a star of hope and if you keep looking then there will be more, “then another…”

The poem then starts mentioning the job of the moon; “moonlight picking at small stones”, here, small stones shows that the moon not only amends the bigger the things in life, but also the small things, which we take for granted at times. The poet starts with ‘small stones’ which tells us that we should begin by amending the small things in life before we move onto the bigger things, just like the moon who “…picks at greater stones…”

The moonlight starts with amending all things of nature first, ‘surf’, ‘stones’, ‘ledge’. “Lays its cheek for moments…”, ‘moments’, emphasizes that the moon is very busy and it cannot afford to use more than a few moments and because of this, its movements are very quick, ‘licks’, ‘flicks’, ‘flows’. As the moon starts to move away from nature and towards mankind and man-made objects, its work becomes harder. Now the moon has to use more effort, ‘pours’, instead of ‘flick’, ‘leans’, instead of ‘flows’ and soaks instead of ‘lick’. This is because human mistakes are harder to amend as the human mind is very stubborn and mostly it takes years for man-kind to forgive, forget and move on. “Unavailingly pours into the gash…” it means the moon is very determined to try to heal the gash but is unsuccessful as it is a very deep gash, but the moon has to more on.

“Soaks through cracks…with sleep…”, ‘soaks’ personifies the trailers as a sponge which absorbs the moonlight. “Tremulous with sleep” shows that each trailer is filled as if it’s being washed clean by the moonlight and because of that it seems as if they were quivering. “Dwells”, shows that the moonlight couldn’t just “lay its cheek for moments” as humans needed the most attention and care over a whole night to make amends.

Finally, from the 5^th to 15^th line, repletion occurs as it confirms the moon is making amends; “as it”, but in the last and final line of the poem, the poet writes, ‘as if”, telling us that every human wishes and fantasizes about the moon (aka someone) solving their problems, but in reality it is they who have to do it. While the moon doesn’t make amends, it motivates them by shining brightly in the dark, cold sky as a glimmer of hope.

The poet uses highly effective descriptive imagery and figurative language by using many describing words and phrases like, “exploding out of the bark” and ‘flicks the broken ledge”. I think she uses that to show that at night there are many beautiful sights to enjoy.

She personifies the moon to make it sound like a loving elderly person (probably a mother) that heals everyone. “Licks the broken ledge”, here ‘licks’ makes it sound like the moon was like a cat, licking its kittens wounds. It creates a very beautiful and caring image in a readers mind.

She also uses a lot of repetition, “as it” to show that it is a pattern and the moon travels ‘round the whole earth while making amends. She uses lots of onomatopoeic words as well to show movement and constancy of the moonlight, Words like ‘licks, ‘flicks’, ‘flows’, ‘rises’, create a sense of fast movement while words like ‘pours’, ‘leans’, ‘soaks’, create a more slow movement. Sibilance is used in line 4, ‘small stones’, to show that making small amends can be very smooth while assonance is used in line 12, “though…the trailers” gives a harder, rougher edge to the stanza because the trailers are manmade.

The rhyme and meter are quiet fast but smooth in the first 2 stanzas as the moon moves at a quick pace there, but when it reaches the last 2 stanzas, it’s more of an effort and that slows the moon down and with it the rhyme and meter as well.

Finally, I think the poet has beautifully compared and contrasted between the amends that are needed to be made by nature and humans, It clearly shows that mankind has to work a lot harder in order to make amends as they have done more harm to nature than nature itself, “…pours into the gash..” while nature only has “the broken ledge…” but instead of criticizing them, she tells them to work for the one ‘exploding white star…” exploding out of the bark and then she tells us that we will find the other automatically.  She also tells us to work first at the smaller things in life and then continue to amend the greater and bigger things.

 

Analysis of “Nothing gold can stay”

The title of the poem is metaphorical and gold represents value and wealth so when it says nothing gold can stay it means that nothing that is precious or of great value in the materialistic way can stay forever. As gold symbolises materialism it wont last for long and it will give us “fake happiness” and another thing is that gold and other things which are money based can take years to accumulate but can be washed away in a millisecond.  On the other hand, things having emotion and sentimental values cannot be bought with money and therefore will remain with us throughout our life.

 The poet personifies nature with a commonly used term as ‘mother nature’ and I think the hidden meaning behind this is that the poem he has written carries the same message that has been preached for years, yet no one bothers to follow or listen to it.

 The poet says “nature’s first green is gold” he compares the colour of nature ‘green’ with something that can be bought i.e. gold. Maybe he is trying to say that nature’s first baby is green that is just as valuable as gold but the he says “her hardest hue to hold” which might mean that green was her hardest hue to hold as it was the most valuable just like gold and it would be taken away from her.

 “…a flower” flower symbolises purity, beauty and nature just like a new born baby, and when the poet says “her early leaf’s…” it proves that he is talking about something just born or created. However, he then says, “but only so an hour.” which makes evident that the beauty and innocence will only stay for an hour and then fade away. “Eden sank to grief”, the Garden of Eden has always been symbolic of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit, so the poet probably wants to say that nature’s first flower, i.e. Adam and Eve were innocent and pure but after a certain time, they too were tempted by the fruit and they had to come down to earth and that’s why Eden was angst. “…dawn goes down to day” just like dawn has to finally depart and the day has to end even gold has to take its leave.

 The poem is written in a couplets e.g. “…gold…hold…” etc, and this might indicate that every happiness comes with sorrow or vice-versa. So when nature receives its first gold, she has already accepted that she can’t hold on to it and she says that it will last “…so an hour…”

 The poet has used lots of figurative and pastoral language to create vivid imagery, “nature’s first green is gold”, here imagery and alliteration are both used to create a very vibrant opening line that will appeal to the reader. The poet also uses alliteration throughout the poem mostly “S’s” to give a soft and harmonious tone to the poem.  The poet uses strong and deep language to express the sadness felt by nature by using words like “grief” and “subsides” instead of not strongly emotive words like unhappiness etc.

 All in all I think the poet has successfully conveyed a very meaningful and significant massage through the excellent use of vibrant and lush imagery.