Critical Analysis of the Poem: Introduction: “An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” was published in 1751. It brought Gray into lime light and his genius was recognized. Its success was instantaneous and overwhelming. A dignified elegy in classical diction celebrating the graves of humble and unknown villagers was, in itself, such a novelty that … Read more
Wordsworth, A Seer and Mystic: Wordsworth is unanimously acknowledged as a mystic. Mysticism involves the perception of a divine unity behind the ordinary physical world. The mystic sees a divine unifying life in all lives and considers all things in the visible world as manifestations of the one divine life. In the words of Spurgeon, … Read more
Introduction: To Wordsworth, Nature appears as a formative influence superior to any other, the educator of senses and mind alike, the sower in our hearts of the deep laden seeds of our feelings and beliefs. It speaks to the child in the fleeting emotions of early years and stirs the young poet to an ecstasy, … Read more
Introduction of the Poem: Tintern Abbey was composed in the second week of July, 1789 during Wordsworth’s second visit to the banks of river Wye. The very title of the poem, i.e., Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting the Banks at the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798,’ gives the … Read more
The three stages of Wordsworth’s love of Nature: Wordsworth’s love of Nature passed through a gradual development. It can be studied in three stages. First Stage: In his first stage, his attachment to Nature was that of a boy who took delight in carefree pleasures and open – air joys. At first Nature was but … Read more
The problem of choice is one of the major themes in Frost’s poetry: In the poem The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost enables the reader to see the choice that has made that impacts his life. The metaphor, the descriptive imagery, and the poem’s structure shows that the road the poet has chosen made all … Read more
Introduction of the Poem: The poem “After Apple – Picking” concerns itself with the daily work of gaining a livelihood or rather with the sensation of fatigue and fulfilment after the day’s work is over. It is basically a pastoral poem and it appeared in Frost’s volume of poems called North of Boston. Of the … Read more
Personal Experience of the Poet: Frost claims that he wrote this poem about his friend Edward Thomas, with whom he had walked many times in the woods near London. Frost has said that while walking they would come to different paths and after choosing one, Thomas would always fret wondering what they might have missed … Read more
Introduction of the Poem: “The Road Not Taken” is one of the finest and the most popular lyrics of Robert Frost. It was collected by Frost in the volume of verses entitled Mountain Interval in 1916. It was first published in the August 1915 issue of the Atlantic Monthly. Here the poet tells us that … Read more
Themes of the Poem: Theme of Mortality: Mortality is probably the major theme in this poem. It’s all about the speaker’s attitude towards her death and what the actual day of her death was like. Dickinson paints a picture of the day that does not seem too far from ordinary. The poetess is not scared … Read more