On the Move by Thom Gunn short analysis

 

On the Move
Thom Gunn

v English  poet who was praised for his early verses. He was associated with the movement, looser, free verse style

v His verse became increasingly bold in its exploration of drugs, homosexuality and poetic form

v His verse is known for its adroit, terse language and counterculture themes.

v Bohemian lifestyle in San Francisco

v Interested in syllabics and free verse

v The movement was term coined by JD Scott, literary editor of The Spectator,  to describe a group of writers including Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis, Donald Davie, D J Enright, John Wain, Elizabeth Jennings, Thom Gunn and Robert Conquest

v To these poets poetry meant simple sensuous traditional and dignified form, Two anthologies of The movement poets :

v Poets of 1950s, New Lines

Poetry collection

•       The sense of movement

•       My sad captain

•       Touch

•       Moly

•       Jack Straw’s castle

•       The passage of joy

POEM

The blue jay scuffling in the bushes follows

Some hidden purpose, and the gust of birds

That spurts across the field, the wheeling swallows,

Has nested in the trees and undergrowth.

Seeking their instinct, or their poise, or both,

One moves with an uncertain violence

Under the dust thrown by a baffled sense

Or the dull thunder of approximate words.

•       Thomas Gunn in this stanza compares human beings particularly gangs with the birds. The blue jay which scuffles in the bushes has some hidden need in doing so. The group of birds those are flying across the fields has some intention. The swallows have their nests in trees and low level bushes. Every bird has been guided by instinct or according to their need and purpose. Now he brings these gangs into the poem saying 'One moves with an uncertain violence' which means one is going very fast on bike raging violence as it may lead to accidents. The motorist is driving crazily Like this first stanza provides contrasting nature of human beings with the birds and the craziness for speed are described.

On motorcycles, up the road, they come:

Small, black, as flies hanging in heat, the Boys,

Until the distance throws them forth, their hum

Bulges to thunder held by calf and thigh.

In goggles, donned impersonality,

In gleaming jackets trophied with the dust,

They strap in doubt – by hiding it, robust –

And almost hear a meaning in their noise.

In this stanza, Thomas Gunn wants to project a picture of long shot to close shot of motorcycle gangs coming from a long and top of the road to nearer. He describes as if he is closely monitoring them. He sees gangs coming. He compares them to flies. When he sees them in a long distance they appear as small creatures like flies in black color as they have worn the black jackets hanging in heat. This is what he assumes when he see gangs in distance. Then the distance throws them to come further, (means as they come near) the distance sound of humming turns into thunder sound with the razing sounds emanated from vehicles. He says they are driving them 'held by calf and thigh'. They wear goggles not be disturbed by the dust emanated from their vehicles. He calls them impersonalities. The shining jackets are turned into dusty and he is saying that the jackets are trophied with the dust. Their sound is unbearable but they can hear meaning in the created noise.

Exact conclusion of their hardiness

Has no shape yet, but from known whereabouts

They ride, direction where the tyres press.

They scare a flight of birds across the field:

Much that is natural, to the will must yield.

Men manufacture both machine and soul,

And use what they imperfectly control

To dare a future from the taken routes.

•       In this stanza, Thomas Gunn explains how they are disturbing and the repercussions of the scientific inventions. He says that there is no fatigue affecting them in their journeys. They do not know where they are going. They do not know where they will stay. The swallows have nests but these motorists do not have shelter at least like them. They travel in the way. They travel in ways where their vehicles can go. They travel without purpose and at the same time they fear the birds which are flying across the fields. These birds follow their instincts and needs but these gangs are against it. Their destination is not known to them. Thomas Gunn is referring scientific inventions especially machines. He says that men made machines as well as their personalities. He says men are using what they cannot use perfectly and they control it imperfectly. They only consider their present, leaving the future to the fate.

It is a part solution, after all.

One is not necessarily discord

On earth; or damned because, half animal,

One lacks direct instinct, because one wakes

Afloat on movement that divides and breaks.

One joins the movement in a valueless world,

Choosing it, till, both hurler and the hurled,

One moves as well, always toward, toward.

•       Thomas Gunn is referring the state of the bike men. He uses the word 'half animal'. He says that they lack the instinct and without any purpose they move on without any destination and target. They only love present going speed. It is violent speed disturbs the flight of birds and the human beings who are with destination. The speed attracts accidents and a loss respectively. He says that no one sleep as he is saying ' one wakes afloat on movement'. One(Motorbike gang) lives in this world without values. There is no need of destination for them. It is always travelling towards.

A minute holds them, who have come to go:

The self-defined, astride the created will

They burst away; the towns they travel through

Are home for neither bird nor holiness,

For birds and saints complete their purposes.

At worst, one is in motion; and at best,

Reaching no absolute, in which to rest,

One is always nearer by not keeping still.

 

•       Thomas Gunn is explaining how these bike men travel and where they would leave to. They sit astride and speed up their vehicles to unknown destiny. He used 'self denied' in this stanza to refer the gangs. They travel through towns where there no nests for birds and homes of holiness. It is because saints and birds have purposes. They travel in that direction. But, these speedy motor gangs do not have purpose, Hence they are travelling away from them. They say they should be on the move always. They want to enjoy the speed without any intention. They are marred with dust. These do not bother them. They are at their worst while they are on the move. They are in continuous motion. Thus they are always nearer to the final rest (death).

ANALYSIS

•       A celebration of black jacketed motorcyclists

•       Subtitle : “on the move man, you gotta go”

•       This is the intended words to describe the lifestyle of motorcycle gangs of 1950s who are by products of altering civilization and inventions spurted in the given periods.

•       Thom Gunn in his poems describes the lifestyle of these gangs and provides a message through this attempt.

 

 

This is a photograph of me by Margaret Atwood critical analysis

 

This is a photograph of me

It was taken some time ago.
At first it seems to be
a smeared
print: blurred lines and grey flecks
blended with the paper;

then, as you scan
it, you see in the left-hand corner
a thing that is like a branch: part of a tree
(balsam or spruce) emerging
and, to the right, halfway up
what ought to be a gentle
slope, a small frame house.

In the background there is a lake,
and beyond that, some low hills.

(The photograph was taken
the day after I drowned.

I am in the lake, in the center
of the picture, just under the surface.

It is difficult to say where
precisely, or to say
how large or small I am:
the effect of water
on light is a distortion

but if you look long enough,
eventually
you will be able to see me.)

From The Circle Game by Margaret Atwood. 

 

Margaret Atwood

The Canadian writer Margaret Atwood (born 1939) is best known as novelist, as the author of books such as Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake

·      The poem opens The Circle Game, Atwood’s 1964 collection of poetry

·      Free Verse

·      Describes a blurry photo to the audience, the image implications  continuously transforms

·      Means of exploring the malleability of history and truth, especially suppression of marginalized voices

·      Sets stage for The Circle Game which centres female perspectives and experiences that have long been subsumed under male-dominated histories

·      The form of the poem mirrors ever changing nature of history

Summary

·      The speaker describes an old photograph from many years ago

·      Upon the first glance, the image appears blurry with all of its fuzzy shapes mingling on the photo paper

·      The poet first points out a fragment f an evergreen tree that creeps into the frame from one of its left corners

·      To its right is an incline, halfway up the incline is a little house whose weight is supported by a wooden frame

·      Background of the image is a lake, behind which sits the short hills

·      The speaker clams in a parenthetical statement to have drowned the day before the photo was taken

·      The speaker takes the reader’s attention towards the centre of the lake, where the speaker lies lifeless beneath its surface

·      The speaker explains it is hard to make out the corpse’s form, its size and position

·      The speaker maintains that if the audience contemplates the photo for a while, they will be able to spot the speaker in the photo.

Themes

History and Erasure

·      Initially the photo has  a blurry image then various detail and quaint landscape emerge

·      Halfway through the poem the speaker’s corpse is pictured

·      Narrative is dark and complex

·      Soft language “ gentle slope” “small frame house” “low hills”

·      Corpse is submerged within the lake denotes that the speaker’s experience has been obscured

·      One could figure out the corpse only after immense observation means that complicated realities of the past are harder to discern

·      Reflection of light ff the lake – a distortion denotes that suffering of marginalized people can be easily left out

·      Speaker’s form is at the center of the photo just under the lake’s surface denotes that such obscured stories are central to understanding the past and can be accessed.

The Subjectivity of truth

Throughout the poem, the speaker provides commentary on the photo and calls attention to particular details, shifting reader’s understanding of what the photo represents. One’s concept of truth is based on perception. Truth is unfixed and easily manipulated.

History

Atwood’s “this is a Photograph of me” is based on a shocking story of  a drowned child. As the title suggest the collection revolves around children’s circle game. The tone of the poem reveals many tensions and dualities.

Poem itself is the Photograph

The poem itself is the photograph that the poet wants to show, scansion is the jargon for analyzing poetic metre, the poet wishes the audience to scan the poem.

·      26 lines

·      14 lines describe thee photo

·      Remaining 12 lines depicts poet’s intention in writing this poem.

 

 

Sonnet 19: On my Blindness/ When I consider how my light is spent BY JOHN MILTON

Sonnet 19: On my Blindness/

When I consider how my light is spent

BY John milton

When I consider how my light is spent,

   Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,

   And that one Talent which is death to hide

   Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

   My true account, lest he returning chide;

   “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”

   I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need

   Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best

   Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed

   And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:

   They also serve who only stand and wait.”

 

Sonnet 19/ On his Blindness/ “When I consider how my light is spent”

·      Best known sonnet by John Milton

·      “ they also serve who only stand and wait”

·      published in Milton’s 1673 poems

·      Petrarchan form- ABBA ABBA CDE CDE

·      LIGHT ( Metaphor/ conceit) refers to

i)    Speaker’s life span

ii)  Sight

iii)         Intellectual illumination

·      Autobiographical sonnet- meditates on his loss of sight

·      Concerns the universal desire to discover and develop one’s talents

·      The poet suggests that each of us is given one or several talents which one is obliged to identify utilize and develop throughout our lives or else experience disappointment failure or frustration

·      Some people simply need to serve him by waiting

·      It is acceptable to wait for divine inspiration

Ø The poet explores his experience with blindness and religious faith

Ø Usually Petrarchan sonnets focus on love and romance but Milton subverts this in order to explore his relationship with God

Ø Milton fears that his blindness will prevent him from doing God’s wok

SUMMARY

v Milton opens the sonnet with “when” a subordinat clause that introduces the main idea

v The speaker feels that his light is spent in seveal senses of the word light

v Milton refers to “one talent” which is writing . Milton fears that he too will be condemned for failing to use his talent

v The 3^rd line refers the Biblical parable of the talents (Mathew 25: 14-30) which speaks of bad servant neglects his master’s talent instead of using it, is cast into darkness. The line denotes Milton’s talent as a writer

v 4-6: the poet feels that he is useless now that he is losing his eyesight. It is frustrating to want to serve God with his writing but he feels sad to feel that his talent will be wasted as he becomes blind

v 7-8: Milton uses grumbling tone to show his attitude as foolish. He asks if God wants just day work or smaller lesser tasks since Milton’s blindness denies him his light

v 9-10: “bear his mild yoke” refers to people who are most obedient to God’s will. The image of Yoke is also Biblical. A yoke was a kind of harness put on oxen but in Mathew 11: 29-30 it is an image for God’s will

v “His state is kingly” At God’s bidding thousands of people and by angelic messengers work all rough the world all the time. This line implies a sort of constant worldwide motion of service to God’s commands

v There is more than one way of serving God and patience tells the poet that even his waiting / apparent inaction caused by blindness is a kind of service

BIBLCAL IMAGES

LIGHT

     Gospel of John(John 9: 1-7)- Jesus miraculously cures a beggar’s blindness

WORK

     “I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day, the night cometh when no man can work”

DUTY

     The parable of the talents from the Gospel f Mathew

Volta takes place in line 9- where patience replies to the poet’s queries

     Milton is known as one of the very greatest and most influential English poets ranking with Chaucer ad Shakespeare. He wrote poetry and prose. His most influential work is Paradise Lost. Lord Macauley in Critical Historical and Miscellaneous Essays “ traces of peculiar characters of Milton may be found in all is work but t is most strongly displayed in the sonnets.

QUESTIONS

1)  How does Milton hope to serve God?

2)  What is the central idea of the poem

3)  What does “they also serve who only stand and wait” mean?

4)  Why does the poet call the talent useless in the sonnet?

5)  What is the cause of Milton’s lament in his sonnet?

6)  Explain day-labour, mild yoke and stand and wait

7)  How does the poet justify the ways of God too men in the sonnet?

8)  What moral does the sonnet convey?

9)  What is the murmur that patience prevents Milton from making in the poem?

10)      Who gave the poem the title “On his Blindness”?

Answer: Thomas Newton, an eighteenth century cleric

Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking BY WALT WHITMAN detailed summary and critical analysis

 

Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking
BY WALT WHITMAN

Walt Whitman 1819-1892

Ò American poet, essayist and journalist

Ò He was a part of transition between transcendentalism and realism

Ò His poetry collection The Leaves of Grass was described as obscene for its overt sensuality

Ò Two of his very famous poems are “O Captain! My Captain” and “When Lilacs last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”

Poetic theory

Ò Whitman wrote the preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass “the proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it”

Ò He believed that there was a vital symbiotic relationship between the poet and society. This connection was emphasized in “Song of myself "by using an all powerful  first person narration

Works

Ò Franklin Evans 1842

Ò The Half Breed- A Tale of the Western Frontier

Ò Life and adventure of Jack Eagle

Ò Drum Taps

Ò Democratic Vistas

Ò Leaves of Grass

Ò 1855: twelve untitled poems and a preface

Ò 1856: 32 poems, a letter from Emerson and a long open letter by Whitman

The leaves of grass (1855, 1891-92)

Ò He celebrated democracy, nature, love, friendship.

Ò This monumental work chanced praises to the body as well as to the soul and found beauty and reassurance even in death

Ò Emerson “the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed”

POEM

Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,

Out of the mocking-bird’s throat, the musical shuttle,

Out of the Ninth-month midnight,

Over the sterile sands and the fields beyond, where the child leaving his bed wander’d alone, bareheaded, barefoot,

Down from the shower’d halo,

Up from the mystic play of shadows twining and twisting as if they were alive,

Out from the patches of briers and blackberries,

From the memories of the bird that chanted to me,

From your memories sad brother, from the fitful risings and fallings I heard,

From under that yellow half-moon late-risen and swollen as if with tears,

From those beginning notes of yearning and love there in the mist,

Out of the mocking-bird’s throat, the musical shuttle,

Out of the Ninth-month midnight,

Over the sterile sands and the fields beyond, where the child leaving his bed wander’d alone, bareheaded, barefoot,

Down from the shower’d halo,

Up from the mystic play of shadows twining and twisting as if they were alive,

Out from the patches of briers and blackberries,

From the memories of the bird that chanted to me,

From your memories sad brother, from the fitful risings and fallings I heard,

From under that yellow half-moon late-risen and swollen as if with tears,

From those beginning notes of yearning and love there in the mist,

From the thousand responses of my heart never to cease,

From the myriad thence-arous’d words,

From the word stronger and more delicious than any,

From such as now they start the scene revisiting,

As a flock, twittering, rising, or overhead passing,

Borne hither, ere all eludes me, hurriedly,

A man, yet by these tears a little boy again,

Throwing myself on the sand, confronting the waves,

I, chanter of pains and joys, uniter of here and hereafter,

Taking all hints to use them, but swiftly leaping beyond them,

A reminiscence sing.

Once Paumanok,

When the lilac-scent was in the air and Fifth-month grass was growing,

Up this seashore in some briers,

Two feather’d guests from Alabama, two together,

And their nest, and four light-green eggs spotted with brown,

And every day the he-bird to and fro near at hand,

And every day the she-bird crouch’d on her nest, silent, with bright eyes,

And every day I, a curious boy, never too close, never disturbing them,

Cautiously peering, absorbing, translating.

Shine! shine! shine!

Pour down your warmth, great sun!

While we bask, we two together.

 

Two together!

Winds blow south, or winds blow north,

Day come white, or night come black,

Home, or rivers and mountains from home,

Singing all time, minding no time,

While we two keep together.

Yes, when the stars glisten’d,

All night long on the prong of a moss-scallop’d stake,

Down almost amid the slapping waves,

Sat the lone singer wonderful causing tears.

 

He call’d on his mate,

He pour’d forth the meanings which I of all men know.

 

Yes my brother I know,

The rest might not, but I have treasur’d every note,

For more than once dimly down to the beach gliding,

Silent, avoiding the moonbeams, blending myself with the shadows,

Recalling now the obscure shapes, the echoes, the sounds and sights after their sorts,

The white arms out in the breakers tirelessly tossing,

I, with bare feet, a child, the wind wafting my hair,

Listen’d long and long.

 

Listen’d to keep, to sing, now translating the notes,

Following you my brother.

Soothe! soothe! soothe!

Close on its wave soothes the wave behind,

And again another behind embracing and lapping, every one close,

But my love soothes not me, not me.

 

Low hangs the moon, it rose late,

It is lagging—O I think it is heavy with love, with love.

 

O madly the sea pushes upon the land,

With love, with love.

 

O night! do I not see my love fluttering out among the breakers?

What is that little black thing I see there in the white?

Loud! loud! loud!

Loud I call to you, my love!

 

High and clear I shoot my voice over the waves,

Surely you must know who is here, is here,

You must know who I am, my love.

 

Low-hanging moon!

What is that dusky spot in your brown yellow?

O it is the shape, the shape of my mate!

O moon do not keep her from me any longer.

 

Land! land! O land!

Whichever way I turn, O I think you could give me my mate back again if you only would,

For I am almost sure I see her dimly whichever way I look.

 

O rising stars!

Perhaps the one I want so much will rise, will rise with some of you.

 

O throat! O trembling throat!

Sound clearer through the atmosphere!

Pierce the woods, the earth,

Somewhere listening to catch you must be the one I want.

Shake out carols!

Solitary here, the night’s carols!

Carols of lonesome love! death’s carols!

Carols under that lagging, yellow, waning moon!

O under that moon where she droops almost down into the sea!

O reckless despairing carols.

 

But soft! sink low!

Soft! let me just murmur,

And do you wait a moment you husky-nois’d sea,

For somewhere I believe I heard my mate responding to me,

So faint, I must be still, be still to listen,

But not altogether still, for then she might not come immediately to me.

 

Hither my love!

Here I am! here!

With this just-sustain’d note I announce myself to you,

This gentle call is for you my love, for you.

Do not be decoy’d elsewhere,

That is the whistle of the wind, it is not my voice,

That is the fluttering, the fluttering of the spray,

Those are the shadows of leaves.

 

O darkness! O in vain!

O I am very sick and sorrowful.

 

O brown halo in the sky near the moon, drooping upon the sea!

O troubled reflection in the sea!

O throat! O throbbing heart!

And I singing uselessly, uselessly all the night.

 

O past! O happy life! O songs of joy!

In the air, in the woods, over fields,

Loved! loved! loved! loved! loved!

But my mate no more, no more with me!

We two together no more.

The aria sinking,

All else continuing, the stars shining,

The winds blowing, the notes of the bird continuous echoing,

With angry moans the fierce old mother incessantly moaning,

On the sands of Paumanok’s shore gray and rustling,

The yellow half-moon enlarged, sagging down, drooping, the face of the sea almost touching,

The boy ecstatic, with his bare feet the waves, with his hair the atmosphere dallying,

The love in the heart long pent, now loose, now at last tumultuously bursting,

The aria’s meaning, the ears, the soul, swiftly depositing,

The strange tears down the cheeks coursing,

The colloquy there, the trio, each uttering,

The undertone, the savage old mother incessantly crying,

To the boy’s soul’s questions sullenly timing, some drown’d secret hissing,

To the outsetting bard.

Demon or bird! (said the boy’s soul,)

Is it indeed toward your mate you sing? or is it really to me?

For I, that was a child, my tongue’s use sleeping, now I have heard you,

Now in a moment I know what I am for, I awake,

And already a thousand singers, a thousand songs, clearer, louder and more sorrowful than yours,

A thousand warbling echoes have started to life within me, never to die.

 

O you singer solitary, singing by yourself, projecting me,

O solitary me listening, never more shall I cease perpetuating you,

Never more shall I escape, never more the reverberations,

Never more the cries of unsatisfied love be absent from me,

Never again leave me to be the peaceful child I was before what there in the night,

By the sea under the yellow and sagging moon,

The messenger there arous’d, the fire, the sweet hell within,

The unknown want, the destiny of me.

O give me the clew! (it lurks in the night here somewhere,)

O if I am to have so much, let me have more!

 

A word then, (for I will conquer it,)

The word final, superior to all,

Subtle, sent up—what is it?—I listen;

Are you whispering it, and have been all the time, you sea-waves?

Is that it from your liquid rims and wet sands?

 

Whereto answering, the sea,

Delaying not, hurrying not,

Whisper’d me through the night, and very plainly before day-break,

 

Lisp’d to me the low and delicious word death,

And again death, death, death, death,

Hissing melodious, neither like the bird nor like my arous’d child’s heart,

But edging near as privately for me rustling at my feet,

Creeping thence steadily up to my ears and laving me softly all over,

Death, death, death, death, death.

 

Which I do not forget,

But fuse the song of my dusky demon and brother,

That he sang to me in the moonlight on Paumanok’s gray beach,

With the thousand responsive songs at random,

My own songs awaked from that hour,

And with them the key, the word up from the waves,

The word of the sweetest song and all songs,

That strong and delicious word which, creeping to my feet,

(Or like some old crone rocking the cradle, swathed in sweet garments, bending aside,)

The sea whisper’d me.

EXPLANATION

Ò Out of the endlessly rocking cradle of the sea waves, a memory comes back to the poet. He recalls that as a child, he left his bed and wandered alone bareheaded barefoot in search of the mystery of life and death. He is a man now “by these tears a little boy again” and he throws himself on the shore “confronting the waves”

Ò He is a chanter of pains and joys “uniter of here and hereafter” and he uses all his experiences but goes beyond them.

Ò The experience he now recalls is that on the Paumanok seashore one may, when lilacs were in bloom.

Ò He observed two mocking birds, “feathered guests from Alabama”

Ò The female crouched on her nest, silent and the male went “to and fro near at hand.” the bird sang their love, the words two summed together summed up their existence.

Ò One day female disappeared “may be killed, unknown to her mate”. The male anxiously awaited her. He addressed the wind “I wait nd I wait till you blow my mate to me.”

Ò His song penetrated the heart of the curious boy who treasured every note for he curiously understood the meaning of the bird, whom he called his brother

Ò The bird’s lament or aria affected the boy deeply. Every shadow seemed to the bird the hoped for shape of his mate reappearing. He had loved, but now “we two are together no more”

Ò The notes of the bird were echoed by the moaning sea “ the fierce old mother. ”To the boy who became the poet “to the out setting bard.”

Ò The sea hinted the secrets

Ò  the boy eagerly asked the sea to let him know the ultimate meaning “the world final superior to all.” Before daybreak the sea whispered to the poet the “delicious word death death death”

Ò In this experience the boy attempted to fuse the vision of the sea with that of the bird this knowledge marked the beginning of the poet in him.

Ò The bird, the solitary singer was a projection of the boy’s conscious. The sea, like the “old crane rocking the cradle” whispered the key words in his ears.

Ò This poem was first published under the title “A Child’s Reminisce (1859)” was later called “A word out of the sea” and the present highly symbolic title was given it in 1871. the present title suggests “a word from the sea” the word is death which is the second phase in the process of birth death rebirth

Ò The poem, an elegy is thought to be based on an intensely personal experience of the poet. The word “Death is delicious ” because it is a prerequisite for rebirth.

Ò It is Whitman’s complex and successfully integrated poems. One of the use of images like bird, boy and sea. The influence of music is seen in the form of opera form. Some critics have taken the poem to be an elegy mourning the death of someone near him

Ò Theme: relationship between suffering and art

Ò It shows how a boy mature into poet through the experience of love and death

Ò Art is a sublimation of frustrations and death is a release from the stress and strains caused by such frustrations

Ò The opening of the poem is a tour de force of poetic suspense- a single sentence, 22 lines of sustained anaphora and parallelism, of gliding prepositional phrases and arousing half allusions culminating in the simple bardic verb sing

Ò Dramatizes an archetypal experience of loss and reaches a familiar outcome verse

Ò This poetic psychodrama has led other scholars to interpret the love loss poem in psych biographical terms

Ò The birth of the poet a genre was of particular importance to Wordsworth whose massive prelude details his artistic coming of age in detail.