Reflection: "Dover Beach" and "How do I Love Thee"

"Dover Beach" uses natural scenes to convey the emotions felt by the poet. The entire poem seems to be the words of one person directly to another. It starts out describing a beach scene at night. It is beautiful yet it conjures up feelings of heartache for the poet and all who hear it. He uses the recessing tide as a metaphor for the recessing faith of humanity. With Darwin and the Industrial Revolution the changes brought forth to the world not long before his time caused people lose their old faith in god. The first stanzas are filled with sadness but the final stanza takes a turn to a slightly cheerier side. The words seem to say that you should never mind the troubles of the world. The world in itself is simply a space to occupy. It is what you make of it, if you let it cause you grief that is because you let it. The events of the world do not actually have some sort of emotion attatched to them-- it is only with in your mind that you associate emotions with them. In "How do I Love Thee?" Elizabeth  Browning writes of the love she posesses for her husband. She lists off all of the ways she loves him. Her love is completely pure. It is so strong that they will continue to be in love even after death.

Vincar

I am in control of my own soul

Although not the world around

I cannot control the outside forces

That will someday bring me down

Some things are beyond my control

It is they that set my fate

There are simply things I'll never be

Things I'll never do

Not planned out by some mythic being

Life determined in advanced

There are simply too many outside forces

of chance and circumstance

Reflection: "Jabberwocky" and "The Walrus and the Carpenter"

Both poems by Lewis Carroll are more or less nonsense peoms. "The Jabberwocky" tells the story of a boy slaying the Jabberwocky and happiness returning to the land thereafter. It features a number of made up words that can really have any meaning the reader wants to give them. Despite being made up it still follows the general rules of poetry making it sound nice. It has rhyme and rhythm."The Walrus and the Carpenter" at least uses real words but the story, events, and characters are strange. It tells of the two characters from the title walking on the beach where they meet a group of oysters. They manage to get some of them to follow them and then proceed to eat them. It is hard to say if either of these peoms really had any greater meaning. There have been various different interpretations of each, many of which make sense, but probably none of them were what the author intended.They could very well be just silly poems with no real reason or meaning.

Reflection: "Spring and Fall" and "The Harlot's House"

Wilde's poem " The Harlot's House" is very interesting. It uses words to beautifully create an image of these haunting beings dancing. His words actually feel like they are twirling around as if dancing. I think the poem is about lust and how he dislikes it. The couples dancing are not really in love, it is lust that brings them together. He describes the dancers as evil creatures showing how evil he sees their actions. I had a hard time interpreting "Spring and Fall." I think it is using of spring as a metaphor for life and fall for death. It is about teaching a young child about those two things and how they can be difficult to understand. The girl is crying because she knows she will one day die too just like the trees and all living things.

Reflection: "Meeting at Night" "Parting at Morning" and "The Woodspurge"

Browning's "Meeting at Night" creates an image of scenery and visuals to create a romantic mood for his poem. It is a love poem telling of a journey of one lover traveling on a beautiful night to meet his loved one. The scenery in itself creates a romantic tone. "Parting at Morning" accompanies the previous poem, picking up the story the morning after the romantic evening. Again it uses scenery to create a mood and fitting to the events that take place in the poem. It is bright and cheerful despite it being a "parting." The sun beckons him to return to "a world of men," presumably his work life. It almost seems like this romantic meeting was in secret because of the dark setting of the first and what it says in the second. "The Woodspurge" is a much sadder poem. It focuses on someone walking through the woods aimlessly in grief with his head to the ground. He sees woodspurge plants. I think he is trying to get his mind off the cause of his sadness by focusing on the flowers. Thats something a lot of people try to do when they are sad, look for something to keep your mind off of it.

Reflection: "Invictus"

This poem is yet another example of English stoicism. The poet seems to be injured and dying but he is not sad or scared. He keeps going unafraid of his inevitable death. He does not express the pain and suffering he has endured. Through all of the challenges he has faced he has overcome them. He is in charge of his own fate. It is a dark poem yet at the same time shows the strengths of man.

Reflection: "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and "Flower in the Crannied Wall"

These two poems of Tennyson. "The Charge of the Light Brigade" tells the story of a group of soliders who are directed to charge into battle. They ride in and fight but many are killed. They had died honorable deaths. The bigger message of this poem is that war is bad. Soldiers are asked to fight and die just because that is what they are asked to do. One line reads "Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die." Soldiers are supposed to obey their command, not to stop or think about what they are being asked to do.The second poem "Flowers in the Crannied Wall" is a bit more difficult to interpret. I think maybe its showing how the relationship between this flower and man is like man and god. The flower was able to come to life out of nothing, a cranny in a wall. I guess that like how life was created out of nothing. Then man is able to kill the flower just by plucking it out of the wall. God is said to have the same power in the life of man. In that way, understanding the relationship between himself and the flower the poet is able to somewhat understand man's relationship with god.