V5+ Poetry To Autumn, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vmbo lwoo, vwo
• Leerjaar 5

literarydevices.net

Poem - meaning & literary devices

Difficult words?

Romantic period poem (1798-1837)

An ode to autumn (ode = poem of praise)

Lyric poem (expresses poet's feelings/emotions)

Three stanzas - mirror the day/season of fall/human life

Imagery appeals to the senses (sight/hearing/sound/taste/touch)

Personification 

Simile

Assonance

Consonance

Alliteration

Euphony (soft sounds/elongated vowels)

V5+ lesson week 5 - To Autumn; Your poems

Romantic period 1798-1837

Literary movement in reaction to Enlightenment/Rationalism/Industrialization (17th/18th century - after scientific revolution in 16th/17th centuries)

Romantic period focused on:

• personal emotion/feelings
• sensory experience to appeal to emotions
• individualism
• nature
• comman man/children
• simple language
• imagination

Romantic period 1798-1837

Literary movement in reaction to Enlightenment/Rationalism/Industrialization (17th/18th century - after scientific revolution in 16th/17th centuries)

Romantic period focused on:

• personal emotion/feelings
• sensory experience to appeal to emotions
• individualism
• nature
• comman man/children
• simple language
• imagination

literarydevices.net

I wandered Lonely As a Cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

Copyright Credit: n/a

I wandered Lonely As a Cloud

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Copyright Credit: n/a

I wandered Lonely As a Cloud

Meaning

Romantic period characteristics

Literary devices:

Personification (a non-human thing is attributed human characteristics)

Alliteration (repetition of the initial stressed consonant sound)

Assonance (repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words)

Consonance (repetition of consonant sounds in nearby words)

Sibilance (repetition of /s/ sounds -> s, z, tsj - in nearby words)

Simile (a comparison with as/like)

Enjambment (the continuation of a sentence from one line of a poem into the start of the next line)

Symbol (one thing stands for another thing/idea with a deeper meaning)

"Brimming with joy, curiosity and excitement...". Sounds of nature that take your breath away

(Shmoop)

open.spotify.com

poemanalysis.com

To a Skylark - rhyme and rhythm

21 stanzas / 5 lines per stanza

Rhyme = the repetition of similar sounds in one or two words (Slant rhyme: only some parts of the ending sounds match)

Rhyme scheme ABABB

Rhythm: pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (this creates a beat, nice sound) This Rhythm To a Skylark: 

Lines 1-4:

trochaic trimeter (trochaic = stressed + unstressed), 

trimeter =  3 x stressed followed by unstressed syllable (three beats of stressed/unstressed 

(6 syllables in total)

Line 5:

iambic hexameter:

Iambic = unstressed + stressed syllable 

hexameter = 6 x unstressed followed  by a stressed syllable (six beats of unstressed/stressed)

(12 syllables in total)

To a Skylark - meaning

 Observations of the skylark's song

• An ode to the skylark
• Calling out to the bird in reverence (Hail ...), saying how much the poet loves its singing
• Describes how the bird shoots up into the sky at dusk, into the purple evening.
• Comparing the bird to different things: a star, Venus, a maiden, a worm, a rose
• Stating that human creations cannot compare to the bird's song of pure joy
• Dreaming to be able to sing with just as much joy and freedom as the skylark

To a Skylark - meaning

Stanza 1: anaphora, calling out to the bird in reverence (Hail ..)

Stanza 2: observation of bird ascending high in the sky while keep up its singing

Stanza 3: bird ascending to the golden sun (sunk = setting sun), bird's unbridled happiness has just begun

Stanza 4: bird becomes obscured in the purple sky (even = evening), sun setting, bird is like star always present but cannot be seen with the bare eye

Stanza 5: bird is compared to the moon (beauty of nature; during the day when we don't see it, we still know/feel it is there)

To a Skylark - meaning

Stanza 6: the earth's atmosphere (what people feel) is greater with the bird's voice

Stanza 7: the bird is more than just a creature, it represents/is the essence of happiness

Stanza 8: the bird is compared to a poet (those who hear it it learn sympathy, are morally improved)

Stanza 9: the bird is compared to a maiden in high tower, soothing voice, voice filled with love

Stanza 10: the bird is compared to a glowing worm in the valley in the dew

Stanza 11:  the bird is compared to a rose (the sight, sound, feeling of the bird), protected by its own petals

To a Skylark - meaning

Stanza 12: (vernal = spring) The bird's song surpasses everything that was considered beautiful and fresh (metaphor here!)

Stanza 13: (sprite = magic creature) Again addressing the bird directly, asking what the bird is thinking

Stanza 14: the bird's song is compared to a hymn by a chorus, a triumphal chant/song; anything that would even attempt to compete with the bird would be “an empty vaunt” or a baseless boast. Other songs would clearly be missing something, an element that is impossible to name but clearly not there. 

Stanza 15: the speaker addresses the bird again to ask what it is thinking, which visions inspire its beautiful song

To a Skylark - meaning

Stanza 16:  the speaker does not believe that someone who has ever felt pain, the “Shadow of annoyance,” or “Languor,” could produce this song of “keen joyance.”; the bird has experienced the wonders of love without “love’s sad satiety” or disappointing conclusions. 

Stanza 17: the bird is producing such a clear sound that is must know a lot more about life and death than human beings (mortals)

Stanza 18:the speaker compares the way humans view death to the way the skylark must. 

“We” are only able to view death as “before and after” while “pin[ing]” for what we don’t have. We are incapable of enjoying anything without remembering our own pain. This is clearest through our “sweetest songs,” which are not as pure as the skylark’s unbridled happiness. 

To a Skylark - meaning

Stanza 19: the human race doesn't come near the feeling of joy which a skylark does, even if we shake off all human characteristics

Stanza 20: the speaker says that the skylark's ability to sing and experience happiness is worth more to him than books/poems/songs (all “treasures / That in books are found.” It is better “than all measures” of other “delightful sounds.” )

Stanza 21: the speaker wants to learn happiness and joy from the skylark, so that people would listen to the joyful sound of the poet as they would to a skylark

Literary devices

Imagery: descriptive language that appeals to the senses (sight/hearing/touch/taste/smell). 

-> “Like a cloud of fire; / The blue deep thou wingest.” Also, imagery of heaven and sky

Apostrophe: addressing something or someone who either can’t hear or can’t respond

 -> the speaker/poet addressing the skylark as "blithe Spirit 

Alliteration: repetition of the initial, same consonant sound 

Assonance: repetition of similar vowel sounds (e.g. a, e, i, u, o)

Consonance: repetition of similar consonant sounds (e.g. t, p, s)

Simile: comparison with as/like (explicit comparison)

Metaphor: comparison without as/like (implicit comparison) -> stanza 5 and stanza 12

Personification: giving human qualities to a thing or animal -> line 4 "Pourest thy full heart"

Task

In groups of 3-4 analyse and present in PPT slides end of next week/after the February break:

1. Nothing gold can stay - Robert Frost (next week)
2. There is another sky - Emily Dickinson (next week)
3. A red, red, rose - Robert Burns (next week)
4. It is a Beauteous Evening Calm and Free - William Wordsworth (after Feb. break)
5. La Belle Dame Sans Merci - John Keats (after Feb. break)

Analyse for:

• Overall meaning and meaning per stanza/important lines
• Literary devices (metaphor, simile, alliteration etc.)
• Rhyme (repetition of the same sounds in words) and rhythm (pattern of stressed/unstressed syllables)

Use:

shmoop/sparknotes/litchart/cliffsnotes/gradesaver (do cross reference!)

Your PPT's will be uploaded in studiewijzer

Life doesn't frighten me at all - Maya Angelou

poemanalysis.com

Life doesn't frighten me at all

Poet: Maya Angelou

Published in 1993 with illustrations

Written from a child's perspective: frightening things happening to the child: shadows, dragons, tough kids. She overcomes them by using magic power and chanting to herself she isn't afraid

The child (girl) tries to convince herself more than the world by repeating lines

Repetition of phrases -> Reads like a chant -> overcoming fear by believing in oneself

Resembles nursery rhyme (simple language, repetition, catchy rhythm)

Powerful message = overcoming fear through strength/confidence in oneself;  fear only has power if you let

Life doesn't frighten me at all

Mood (emotional atomosphere evoked through word choice/imagery): optimistic; 

Tone (author's/poet's attitude): determined

Literary devices:

Repetition

Alliteration

Enjambment: the continuation of a sentence across a line break (sentence carries on from one line to the next)

Anaphora: the repetition of a specific word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines.

Parallelism: parts of a sentence/sentences are grammatically similar or identical in structure, sound, meaning, or meter