Analysis of Spenser, Shakespeare, Eliot, and Wordsworth
Analysis of Poetry by Spenser, Shakespeare, Eliot, and Wordsworth
75 Spenser is one of the great English poets. He wanted to create poetry that was strictly English, and he had Chaucer as his inspiration and reference. With this poem, Spenser is trying to make his loved one immortal. It is formed by 3 quatrains and a couplet and is written in iambic pentameter.
Spenser: Amoretti 75
Main themes: immortality and love. The waves wash the name away. The action of the waves symbolizes how time will destroy all man-made things. The second quatrain describes a dialogue between the author and his loved one. She says that his attempts are in vain, as she can’t live forever. She emphasizes her mortal nature and the cruelty of time and nature. The 3rd quatrain is the author’s response to what she said. The tone of the poem changes because there is a volta. The poet tells that the baser things will disappear, but she will live on in his poems. The final couplet summarizes the message: their love will survive even though everything comes to an end.
55 Shakespeare. The theme of immortality and the ravages of time are common in Shakespeare’s sonnets. There are 2 differences between this poem and Spenser’s one (Amoretti 75) although both immortalize the beauty of their lovers through their verses. Spenser’s tone is more colloquial; there appears a dialogue; and Shakespeare’s tone is rhetorical; it’s a kind of discourse. The idea of the poem is clear; there’s no space for doubting. Shakespeare is more direct than Spenser. The style is different too: Spenser is more musical and delicate; Shakespeare is more grandiloquent. This poem is a poem of praise, preserving the memory of the beloved’s beauty.
Shakespeare: Sonnet Analysis
4 quartets – east coker (T.S. Eliot) Repetition is used to express the fugacity of life and to point out more this concept. Also, it’s used to open the eyes of the reader. The speaker is teaching the reader the way to be closer to God. I think it’s effective because it gives the poem a rhythm that provides a sensation of speed at some points as if there wasn’t enough time. The use of repetition is fantastic to treat this theme because it makes the poem more convincing and gives a sensation of urgency. Parallelism is used for better memorization.
T.S. Eliot: Four Quartets Analysis
Historical Context Taking his context into account is important to know that Eliot wrote this work in the pre-Elizabethan England and that he transported himself back to the 16th century because he had an idealized idea of that century. Also, it’s relevant to know that Eliot became interested in religion in the later 1920s and converted to Anglicanism. That’s the reason why he started to do some controversial cultural criticism. 4 Quartets combines a Christian sensibility with a profound uncertainty resulting from the war’s devastation of Europe.
Different Religions The religion that stands out the most is the Catholic, as the author reflects the sense of life and the possibility of salvation in Christ. Some verses talk about Christ (wounded surgeon), the Virgin, and Good Friday. Also, there are mentions of Buddhism. The author wants us to fight in order to achieve a deepest union with nature.
Optimism It’s true that at the beginning of the poem, it’s a bit pessimistic: it’s not pleasant, there’s death and darkness. At the end, it’s a bit optimistic because Eliot wants to transmit us the meaning of hope. Although the time passes, while we get old and things change, maturity helps us to be intelligent and humble or modest (if we don’t know the answer to some things, we must continue living without worrying). God is the only one that can save us. Also, it’s important to know that the end of the poem is not as dark as the beginning.
Personal Past It’s a really intimate poem because he’s exposing his own spirituality. Each reader has his personal past and can contrast it with the author’s past, being an universal poem this way. The more you know about the poet’s past, the better you understand the message. He connects with the audience because he’s telling his own story.
Style East Coker It’s traditional, influenced by Spanish mysticism and the oral tradition of the Bible. It’s very musical because there are lots of parallelisms. He invented his own style of writing, although the structure in this poem is very fixed in terms of rhythm, he plays with the number and length of verses. There are several paradoxes: for example, our health is the disease, in my beginning is my end. They’re used to destroy our daily thinking.
Religion or Biography It’s a religious poem because Eliot wrote it to help us to look for new and hopeful answers to life’s big questions. The poet shows the man’s relationship with time, the universe, and the divine blending his Anglo-Catholicism with mysticism and philosophy. In the poem, science is viewed as unable to save mankind from its flaws. Humanity needs to become humble in order to escape from the cycle of destruction. To be saved, people must recognize Christ as their savior as well as their need for redemption. For Eliot, religion is the only solution.
Rural England Idealised vision of England as a symbol of a life connected to nature, purity, and humility.
Central Christian Theme Necessity of reconnection with the humility that Christ showed when he offered himself to die for all of humanity’s sins.
Wordsworth: Ode: Intimations of Immortality
Ode (Wordsworth) 1 2 3 4 stanza: description / 5 6 7 8 analysis / 9 10 11 resolution / In the first stanza, he says that there was a time when nature seemed divine. But now this feeling has gone, things have changed: ‘the things which I have..’ / In the second stanza Wordsworth says that he can still see the nature (mentions the rose, moon, rainbow). He’s describing all the nature, all the beauty. But there’s an anti-climax, something that blocks his mind / In the 3rd stanza the poet feels sad because of the birds singing & the lambs jumping. He’s surrounded by nature but he feels isolated from it (he feels that he doesn’t form part of that world). There’s like a wall between him & nature. However, he thinks that is better to not be depressed if he wants to enjoy the beauty of the season / In the 4th stanza he feels that something is wrong when he sees a tree, a field & a pansy at his feet. He asks to himself ‘where is it now, the glory’ / In the 5th stanza, he stops describing the nature & starts to theorize. For Wordsworth, innocence is the connection with a lost divinity. He says that when we’re little children, we have memories of heaven, but when we grow up, we finally lose that connection / In the 6th stanza, the poet says that when we are born, we forget the place we came from: heaven (imperial palace) / In the 7th stanza Wordsworth talks about a 6-year-old boy who will spend a lot of effort on imitating. His life will be an ‘endless imitation’. Children are like sponges & soak up experiences for the rest of their lives. It’s important to know that we have to educate the kids to be in society / In the 8th stanza the poet talks to the child directly, & he says that he’s the best philosopher. Wordsworth can’t understand why the kids, who are so close to heaven, would rush to grow into adults. The poet tells the boy that years will bring him something inevitable. The time will come for him to be an artificial actor that uses encoded discourses / In the 9th stanza the poet realizes that through MEMORY he’s able to connect to his childhood, & through his childhood to nature / In the 10th stanza Wordsworth returns to the beginning of the poem. He’s happy because he knows that he can rely on his memory, he can recover through the memory of his childhood / In the final stanza he says that nature is everything to him, thanks to it he believes that soul is immortal.
Summary He’s sad because of what humanity has lost, that’s the reason why he suffers a meditative process in which he examines his natural surroundings. Humanity doesn’t recognize the importance of nature: as we grow up, we become more distanced from nature.