Living Through Memories (continued)

The concept of using memories is highly significant in showing the two different stages which the couple went through during the course of their relationship. In “The Walk”, the first and second stanza are divided in such a way that it is noted that in the first stanza Hardy reflects back to the times when he went for walks to a particular place and was not accompanied by Emma as she was unwell. He reflects on how he used to be alone and she used to stay at home, yet he mentions he did not mind being alone. However, he continues in the second stanza and comes back into present time when he is again at the same place for a walk and is alone again. Only, this time he feels her loss and complete loneliness asshe does not await his arrival at home, in their room. This technique of showing the reader the contrast between the situations in their relationship at past and present is achieved through the use of memories. The memory is significant as it enables Hardy to finally realize the worth of his wife, Emma, but it happens too late as now she is no more. When he reflects back, he longs again for her presence and wishes to be in her company.

In “the Voice”, it is seen that Hardy tries to constantly remind himself of Emma’s beauty, grace and the moments they shared together. He remembers the time of their early courtship when Emma would await the arrival of Hardy at their doorstep. He creates an image of her wearing an “air-blue gown”. This memory is significant as it emphasizes on the depth of their love for each other as she waits for him to come home and he looks forward to returning. This action or behavior of theirs is in contrast to Hardy’s attitude towards her at later times.  He ignored her greatly and although the two lovers were together till the end, the spark between them had seemed to fade away. Thus, this memory is a reminder to Hardy of the time when the spark between them was alive and it hurts him to think of her, now gone.

Similar instances of memory follow in his other poems. “At Castle Boterel” primarily concentrates on a particular memory of the two lovers at a certain road at Cornwall near Emma’s previous dwelling. The entire poem focuses on the fact that when they were together there, what they did did not matter so much as the fact that at that particular moment in time they were together and nothing else mattered. Hardy always looks at the past when he is at a particular place in the present which holds some memory or the other with Emma. The memory in this particular poem is significant as we see the importance or attention that Hardy provides his relationship. He says that many couples had been at that mountain and many of them had had special moments, but the moments shared between him and his wife were not comparable to any of them. He considers hi s love for her as unique and unconditional. The importance he gives to himself and Emma is significant in relation to the memory as the reader realizes that Hardy did truly care and love for Emma despite his mistakes of ignoring her.

Living Through Memories

Thomas Hardy’s poems during the period of World War 1 (1914-1918) were predominantly, Emma poems. That is, they were poems written in remembrance of his beloved wife, Emma, who died due to illness. In these poems he is seen to try to come to terms with her death and we note that he is grief stricken. He makes great use of memories to establish the change in relationship between him and his wife during the later part of her life; to remind himself of the happy times they had had together, to remind himself of her beauty and grace which he fell in love with, or rather come to terms with her death by trying to overcome his feelings of extreme guilt, pain and grief. Through his poems, Hardy takes the reader back to the times when he and Emma were young lovers and did not have a care in the world. The significance of the memories is such that it allows the reader to gain an insight to the stages that Emma and Hardy had to go through in their relationship. The memories create a bittersweet and nostalgic feeling as the reader feels sympathetic towards Hardy for the loss of happy times.

Some of the poems which highlight or refer to certain moments or memories are, “The Walk”, “At Castle Boterel”, “The Voice” and “The Haunter”. These poems creat an image of Emma of being young and beautiful and shows the reader the depth of love which the two had for each other, yet was unfortunately lost later on.

Tyres (continued)

The image of the girl, Cecile, just hundred yards apart from the boy conveys the helpless situation that the two had been stuck in. When her bicycle was put in the luggage locker, the boy thinks to himself that she is somehow being forced into doing this act. The officer with which Cecile was having a talk with is described as “a little black snake’s tongue”. A snake is a creature usually associated with negativity and danger. And the colour black creates and image of darkness and helplessness. Thus, the narrator is trying to convey that the girl may be in danger and she is helpless. The image of the car “dwindling to a dot” hints at the gradual disappearance of the girl. She is at a point very near or close to him and gradually she dwindles to a dot or is taken away from him.

The event which heightens the moment is when there is a “distant bang and clatter, as of heavy pots and pans falling off a shelf”. At this point, the narrator seems to lose his love completely. The tone changes to that of grief and gloom. There is no life in the narrator anymore; everything is just passing by him. The sorrow of the narrator is reflected when he says that for him it was the beginning of winter. Winter is associated with sadness and gloom. In the last paragraph, the language, tone and imagery facilitate the emptiness and gloom the narrator feels. The writer conveys this emptiness and sense of loss by giving himself no sense of ambition or want of progress in life. His love for life has been lost with the death of Cecile. Flowers have no meaning and he uses plastic ones.

Therefore, the language, tone and imagery were used by the writer to describe in detail the inner thoughts and feelings of the narrator. Everything was judged by him through the existence of Cecile and thus the passage revolves around this significance he places to her presence.     

Tyres

The following extract has been taken from the short story “Tyres” written by Adam Thorpe. The passage involves the narration of a sudden death of a young girl, Cecile. The story is written in such a way that the narrator is made to be the boy who was seemingly in love with the girl who dies. The story is written from his point of view and thus even gives the reader an insight to his thoughts and feelings. The writer makes use of tone, language and imagery to convey the narrator’s point of view. This is done by using the technique of simple and not rigid language. The tone changes to accommodate the change in the narrator’s thoughts or feelings and thus, is able to convey his point of view successfully. Also, use of imagery has been made in such a way that the readers are able to create vivid pictures in their minds of the situation which occurs, thus reinforcing the point of view of the narrator.

The narration is from the point of view of a young boy who spends his time working in his father’s tyre shop. The tone in the passage goes through a gradual change, with the passage starting off with an irritated tone by the narrator at a French customer. It continues towards an element of mysterious suspicion when the boy hears, “the tickling of a bicycle”. He does not think it is the sound of Cecile’s bicycle. However, the tone can be said to be lighter at the beginning of the passage as the narrator is spending time with the girl he loves and is helping her by fixing the chain of her bicycle. A sense of restriction does seem to be created, however, because of the presence of a German customer. This reflects the time period of the Second World War and tells the reader that the French areas had been occupied by German. As the passage progresses it seems to adopt a more serious tone as the events that foillow are of great intensity and suspicion. As the girl pedals away, the tone finally becomes focused and the narrator’s worry of her safety is reflected in the tone adopted. The language used, facilitates the serious tone. The “banging of doors” signals a sense of urgency in the situation and makes the narrator aware of the fact that something was not right. When the narrator starts running after the girl, with his father calling out to him, and image of panic and worry is created. The narrator says, “an ominous sense of doom came over me: a kind of terrible chill”. This clearly conveys his fear for the girl’s safety and well-being.

Innocent Realisation

http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/ted-hughes/full-moon-and-little-frieda/

The imagery in the poem, “Full Moon and Little Frieda” is very interesting and deep. The imagery is quite delicate and expresses balance. The phrase, “a spider’s web tense for the dews touch” is important in terms of imagery because it implies that a delicate thing as a spider web is so vulnerable that even a dew’s touch can vibrateor shake it. The importance of this is that of the spider’s strength. The spider’s strength is weakened or lessened by the dew’s touch.

“A pail lifted, still and brimming- mirror

To tempt a first star to a tremor.”

This phrase shows the fact that the water is filled to the absolute top and can spill. The reflection of the star, in the water, tremors slightly when the water moves. The importance of this is that the poet tries to create dramatic effect by giving a description of how the bucket is almost full of water and how there is danger of it spilling. He uses star, water and tremor to create extended effect upon the reader.

Further in the poem the poet creates an image in our minds of cows going towards their home, giving out “warm wreaths of breath”. This shows that the cows are referred to as boulders and this is very interesting. Boulders are rugged and curved and the cows are balancing milk. The milk can fall as boulders are not very steady and balanced. This is very fine imagery as it shows us the delicacy and softness of the cows carrying the milk which is not spilled. The imagery till this part of the poem is all very delicate and balanced. The importance of the imagery until now is that it creates a very peaceful and subtle atmosphere. The reader feels comforted by the soft words and the poem imposes the fact that Little Frieda is observing and listening to all this. She is feeling the calmness around her and it shows that a human child who is so young is showing an interest to Nature. She is observing everything intently.

Suddenly, all the balance is disturbed/ finished when Little Frieda spots the moon and cries out, “Moon!” The word “moon” is repeated by the writer thrice, every time with an exclamation mark. This is done so that the word is drilled and stunned into the readers mind. The moon is noticed by Frieda for the very first time in this sense. A young child like her is amazed at its power and its wonder.  It is the beginning of awareness and knowledge for her. Never before, has she looked at the moon from this angle. It is almost like the amazement a parent feels at the first words of their child. Frieda is looking at the moon with feelings of joy, excitement and exuberance.

Also, the moon is amazed. The moon is amazed at the miracle of the sudden awareness of the child. The moon is amazed at the wonder of the child. The Moon, I feel, has been around for so many years and suddenly this gesture of appreciation and realization by a child of its existence amazes the moon.

The poem’s title emphasizes on different sizes. The adjectives “full” and “little” are used to describe the Moon and Frieda. Even though both (the moon and Frieda) are different in size, they are deeply connected. In my opinion, it is an implication that the moon is whole and Frieda is only a small part of this moon. The moon is the power over Little Frieda and she is the miracle of the power of the moon. Frieda gives the moon a sense of living.

Sonnet 29 (Analysis)

http://englishlanguageliterature.com/2011/02/17/sonnet-29-edna-st-vincent-millay/

In Sonnet 29, the loss of love and the bitter feelings of pain are emphasized. The one phrase which is repeated throughout the poem as a refrain is, “pity me not”. These words are repeated so many times that the reader is compelled to think if they are actually being said in their true meaning. It is almost as if the poet wants to be pitied and is only making use of bitter sarcasm by saying, “pity me not”. The poet writes:

“Pity me not because the light of the day at the end of the day, no longer walks the sky”

The significance of this line is the fact that the poet emphasizes on the fading of light and not the shining of the light. The negative side of the story is picked, suggesting that the poet is a pessimist. Therefore, the poet also perceives the emotion of love with pessimism and negativity because she compares it to images of loss, such as the “waning of the moon”, the destruction of a beautiful flower by the wind, the wreckage of ships bought onto the beach by the tide and fading away of light. The fact that she compares her love to a beautiful flower destroyed, suggests that she once did have a positive energy towards love and was happy. It shows that her heart has still not accepted the reality of pain and loss in love, although the heart knows that love always comes to an end.

The poem suggests that the poet is so deeply saddened and depressed at the possible loss of her love that she cannot bear to move on. She is stuck at the same point and it is destroying her and making her even more miserable than she was when she lost her love. The Sonnet portrays a negative and dark picture of love and at some point even disheartens the reader as he/she gets such a bitter feeling from it.

Throughout the poem, the poet does not admit that before her present bitterness, she was happy and content with the emotion of love. It is almost as if she is against the concept of love and does not fully believe in the existence of love in its purest and deepest form.

Sonnet 43 (Analysis)

http://poetry.about.com/library/weekly/blbrowninglove.htm

The poems, Sonnet 43 and Sonnet 29, are in a way two varied approaches taken by individuals towards the theme and feeling of love. In Sonnet 43, the love of the poet is intense and passionate. The poem is a positive one and the reader gets feelings of hope, energy and happiness after reading the poem. The poet emphasizes on the phrase “I love thee” by starting every statement with these words, throughout the poem. The theme of love is expressed in Sonnet 43 freely, compassionately and positively. The poet writes, “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.” This shows the extent of the poet’s love.  The poet loves another individual to the full capacity that her soul can reach. This gives a feeling of love in its deepest and most eternal form.

The poet tells the reader the many ways in which she loves her lover. She says:

“I love thee with the ends of Being and Ideal Grace”

“I love thee freely, as men strive for Right”

“I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise”

These lines encompass the amount of freedom the poet enjoys in loving. She gives her lover an exalted position by saying that when the feeling of peace and God’s love is beyond her, he takes that place. This shows that she loves him to such an extent that she relies on him for peace of mind and body. Also, these lines convey that she is willing to die for her love, just as men die fighting for rights of freedom of expression and liberty. Her love extends to the point where she is willing to sacrifice or give up all her needs or desires for her lover. Also, it tells us that she is not judgmental about her love, instead, she is understanding, tolerant and patient because she accepts the reality of their love for each other and knows that to make the relationship better, sacrifice has to be made. The poet loves with privacy and does not bother of what others think. This shows how deep she has gotten into this emotion of hers and is oblivious to other people’s views or opinions.

She mentions that she loves with her childhood’s faith, which implies that her love is as unwavering, complete and innocent as a child’s beliefs. Therefore, this means that she is not distracted in her love and she loves and will always only love one person and will give the beloved her complete attention. Nothing that happens can affect the way she feels, suggesting her love to be strong and brave.

The poem only has two physical images, “candlelight” and “sun”. The poet does not restrict the poem to images, as then the poem would become something which is a part of the material world and thus can be destroyed or hurt. She expresses abstract ideals of liberty, freedom, mathematical space (depth, breadth, and height), faith, god and soul, all of which cannot be expressed through metaphors, personification or imagery. This shows the poet’s want of her love to be eternal and deep. All these ideas are not subject to time or change. Therefore, the emotion of love in this poem is also not subject to time and change and is strong as death.