Lesson 36

Song:

1. What is the occasion of the poem? What literary device does the poet employ? Describe what you know of the speaker, the listener, and the “she” referred to in the poem.

- The occasion of the poem is a man talking to a beautiful woman. The man says, “How sweet and fair she seems to be” (5), and “Tell her that’s young” (6).. Of course, each of these things shows what the reader knows about the “she” in the poem. The “she” is young and beautiful, fair, and sweet. The listener’s name is Rose as the first line says, “Go lovely Rose.” But, this could also be a flower/rose being sent to the “she,” not an actual person. The listener is only a messenger that must deliver the message from the speaker to the beautiful lady. The speaker is, I’m assuming, a man that is in love with the “she” in the poem. I can’t really find where there would be much evidence for an exact characterization. All I know is that he refers to her as if he is in love with her. The literary device that the poet employs is personification.

2. Paraphrase each of the four stanzas.

- Go, beautiful flower Tell her that she wastes her time, and mine

As now she knows,

When I resemble her to you (the rose)

How sweet and fair she seems to be.

- Tell her that she is young

And is shy, in order to show her grace

That you have sprung

In deserts where no men live

You must have not accepted to die.

- Small is the value

Of beauty from the light that has gone

Tell her to come forward

Ache herself to be wanted

And not blush when she is admired

- Then die, that she

The normal fate of everything uncommon

May I see in you

How little time you are together

That it is wondrous, sweet, and fair.

3. Describe the prosody, including stanza form, rhyme, meter, and notable metrical substitutions (spondees), as well as the structure of the poem. How do these choices help to reinforce the poem’s content?

- There are four stanzas with five lines in each stanza. The rhyme scheme is ababb, cdcdd, efeff, and bhbhh respectively. Because I cannot tell the meter of this poem, the back of the book says, “In each, line length alternates dimeter with tetrameter lines, concluding with an extra tetrameter line (2-4-2-4-4).” The spondees in the poem can be found in lines 1, 2, 6, 13, 14 and 16. Each spondee is found at the beginning of a line. “Go love,” “Tell her,” “Tell her,” “Bid her,” and “Suffer her…” and “Then die,” are all of the spondees respectively. The last spondee helps to reinforce the poem’s content because it starts with a rose, an alive rose, that at the end, is told to just die. The structure of the poem helps to reinforce the poem’s content. Each stanza is a sentence that shows a new, slightly different idea. But, the last stanza has a slightly different feeling, reinforcing the fact that the speaker wants the person/rose to die as that is fate.

Virtue:

1. Consider first Herbert’s use of metaphor and personification. In each case, what two unlike things are being compared, and what do they have in common?

- The first use of metaphor can be found in line 2 with “The bridal of the earth and sky.” A marriage is being compared to the earth and the sky. Herbert’s first use of personification is found in line 3 when the narrator says, “The dew shall weep thy fall tonight.” This personification is of the dew as if it is crying (like a person). Each of these two figures of speech has something in common. Both the metaphor and personification make nature seem like a person.

2. How is the poem structured, and how does this structure support its meaning? Consider parallelism, order, and the turn in the poem.

- There are four stanzas with 4 lines in each stanza. Parallelism is found at the start of each stanza, introducing a new object every time. The first line is “Sweet day” (1). The second stanza starts with “Sweet rose” (5). The third stanza starts with “Sweet spring” (9), and the last stanza starts with “Only a sweet and virtuous soul” (13). Parallelism is also found in the last line of each stanza. In the first stanza, the narrator says, “For thou must die” (4). In the second it is, “And thou must die” (8), and in the third, “And all must die.” But, the last line is different when the narrator says, “Then chiefly lives” (16). The order of the poem is significant because in each stanza, the thing that is mentioned, is supposed to die. But, the last stanza breaks this chain, with the soul living as nature dies. This supports the meaning of the poem because the last stanza is so different from the others, it sticks out and gets the point across. The turning point of the poem is in line 15 when the narrator says, “But though the whole world turn to coal…” At this point, the defining conclusion is made and the meaning of the life of a virtuous soul is supported.

3. How does the prosody reinforce the poem’s meaning?

- Prosody reinforces the poem’s meaning because there are four stanzas, four lines each. This is significant as each stanza brings up a new idea, and except for the last stanza, finishes with the same idea as before. For the first stanza, the rhyme scheme is abab. The second one is cbcb. The third is dbdb and the last one is efef. The “b” rhyme is repeated in three of the stanzas, while the last stanza is totally different. The meter is primarily iambic pentameter except for the last line in each stanza, which throws the meter off. Prosody reinforces the poem’s meaning because the third stanza is so different from the other two that the last stanza is pronounced as it introduces a different idea.

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