The Harbor Of A Restless Mind

Before having read “Spring” by Gerard Manley Hopkins, I assumed the poem would be based around a pleasing description of the season of spring. In his poem, Hopkins glorifies every aspect of spring as a fragment of Eden from the weeds to the “glassy pear-tree leaves” (Hopkins, 6). Spring could be a poem focused around the religious argument about the beauty of God being reflected in that of his creation: nature. It may also be interpreted as a poem about the purity of creation before it was soured with sin.

Through his poem “Spring,” Gerard Manley Hopkins teaches one to appreciate the minute miracles present in the natural world. He portrays even a common weed as a beautiful characteristic of the springtime by categorizing them in the same subset that, the more favorable, “pear tree leaves and blooms” belong to(Hopkins, 6). Hopkins portrays nature as an object of purity and mankind as beings capable of both purity and of corruption through “sour[ing] with sin”(Hopkins, 12). This provides as a warning for people to turn away from corruption and observe a lifestyle of innocence like nature. 

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Robert Browning’s “Parting at Morning” is an implied continuation of his  poem “Meeting at Night”. A reader can interpret that the poet is providing the alternate perspective of the romantic relationship at hand. Browning implies that the rising of the sun signifies that it is time for the pair to part from the bliss they find in each other, in order to return to the real world. This is reflected in the image of the speaker’s companion being carried off by a path of sunlight, as the speaker comes to terms with his/her own worldly duties. 

Robert Browning set his poem, “Parting in Morning,” around the real event of two lovers parting when the morning arrives in order to return to their worldly tasks. This idea is portrayed using metaphysical elements. The speaker refers to time as “the sea,” that tuned “round the cape”(Browning, 1845). This makes it appear as though time ambushed  the couple to cut their meeting short. The sun is described as “[looking] over the mountain’s rim,” as it made a “straight path” for the speaker’s company to leave through (Browning, 1845). The sun is symbolic of the worldly duties interrupting the couple’s bliss. 

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In his poem “Meeting at Night,” Robert Browning uses personification to exaggerate the romantic mood of his poem. By mentioning the “startled little waves” and their “fiery ringlets,” he projects the speaker’s excitement about his situation onto the setting of the poem (Browning, 1845). The “grey sea” and the “long black sand” that stand in the subject’s way are assigned bleaker colors, as opposed by the “yellow…moon” that provide the subject with light (Browning, 1845). This color gradient also increases in heat as the speaker reaches his/her beloved, the grey sea being chilly and the blue region of a flame being its hottest part.

By describing the taps on the window panes as a “sharp scratch,” Browning is incorporating auditory imagery and alliteration to create a sense of haste (Browning, 1845). Alliteration is further used when mentioning the two voices that spoke “less loud” to emphasize the pair’s failed attempt to conceal their animation, or when speaking of the subject who would “push and prow,” rather than simply hard work,  to emphasize the effort he puts into meeting his companion (Browning, 1845). The beach is “Sea-scented,” a detail that further romanticizes the environment and creates the auditory image of the sound of the spraying seawater with the repetition of the letter “s”(Browning, 1845). The poet uses onomatopoeia in describing the sand as “slushy”- a feature that further emphasizes the resisting nature of the environment surrounding the subject- and mentions the blue “spurt” of the match to imply the subject struck it with haste (Browning, 1845).

The poem’s conclusion with the two hearts that beat each to each is a hyperbole that exaggerates the nature of the love between the subject and their partner (Browning, 1845). Browning uses anaphora in starting two consecutive lines with the word “And” in both the first and second stanza to expresses the adrenaline rush the subject is feeling that allows him to absorb the minute details of the world around him (Browning, 1845). The poem follows an ABCCBA rhyme scheme. Its symmetrical pattern is yet another beautiful feature that highlights the romantic mood the poet sets. The poem’s animated nature is further emphasized by the poet’s use of an exclamation mark in the conclusion of the poem.

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In her poem “Spring in the Classroom,” Mary Oliver utilizes a variety of imagery to juxtapose nature with the dry academic environment. The mention of “pulsing initials” being carved into the desks is an example of organic imagery. The idea of one’s initials going through the pains of being carved exaggerates the pain of wasting away in a classroom in which the students feel they have been carved into. This kinesthetic image of the classroom, being presented as the final destination for “pulsing” beings, is further supported by Oliver’s description of the aging teacher. Oliver allows one to place themselves in the position of an elderly woman who has been wasting away while sitting on a chair for so long that her legs swell up- perhaps because her “pulsing” has slowed down. The idea of being suffocated by the oppressive atmosphere of the academic environment is further emphasized using olfactory imagery when Oliver speaks of the “chalky air” the students are forced to breath. 

The poem speaks of the mundane nature of the academic environment that robs children of their patience. Over the course of the poem, the tone of the narrator- a former child- changes from longing “to catch glimpses…of the greening…” to restlessness as the children “carve their pulsing initials  into the desks” to downright vengefulness as they “[plotted] mutiny” against their teacher, who they perceived to be their insentient oppressor. Mary Oliver used exaggeration to emphasize the detrimental effects of captivity on the mind of an individual. The restrictive academic environment had similar corrosive effects on the well-being of the teacher. This is emphasized by the juxtaposition of her having “stony” eyes while she is inside the classroom and “blooming…in the art teacher’s arms” once the limitations of the school day cease to apply to her.  

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Through her poem “Accounting,” Natasha Trethewey  teaches one to appreciate the mundane tasks that one has the opportunity to do with their loved one. The act of accounting was glorified in the poem using the actions of the female companion of the poet. The poet described her simple actions of “crowding the card table with coin banks…” with carefully analysed detail, making the reader consider it to as a significant action. 

The poem also teaches one that the way one perceives a situation can affect the reality of that situation. One can see accounting as a tedious, time consuming  necessity or as a tranquil pastime on a hot summer night.  The poet describes the minute elements of spending time with someone during the  process of accounting to portray it as a proper activity to be doing on a “[night] too warm for TV”.

The concluding line states that the “foundation” of their house is “packed solid” with jars of coins collected during their accounting sessions. This implies that the time the two spend accounting is intimate to them as it acts as a foundation for their relationship. This may also subliminally imply that the foundation of a home is on money.

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The reader may interpret, 35/10 by Sharon Olds, as a poem about a mother longingly admiring the youthfulness of her daughter’s body. The mother does not long to possess such a body once more, rather to share the experience of creating life alongside her daughter. She realizes that as her daughter comes of age to procreate, her own ability to do so will deteriorate. 

Olds portrays the fear of the disposability of human beings. As a newer, younger and fresher generation of people “[open] like a… flower” the potential and possibilities that the old once possessed “[falls] through [their] body”. The daughter will one day assume the role of “mother” to her own child. Consequently, nature would no longer require the mother to play the role of “mother”. 

The primes  poem is based on the poet’s fantasy as Sharon Olds’ only child was her son. The ideas discussed were based on the reality that as her child comes of age, her own time is running out. The title of the poem- being 35/10- implies that the poet is a 35 year old mother tending for her 10 year old daughter. If the poet were presenting her 35 year old self in the poem, the details of her aging described- such as being “silver haired”, “pit skinned” and facing her “last chances to bear a child”- are heavily exaggerated. 

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In her poem “Ethics,” Linda Pastan used tactile and visual imagery. The poem begins by setting the scene in a classroom in which restless children are sitting on hard chairs as their ethics teacher asks them questions. Both restlessness and hard chairs are elements of childhood that can help one place themselves in the position of the poet as a child. The hard chairs is a specific example of tactile imagery that the poet uses. 

The poet used visual imagery in saying that the old woman borrowed her grandmother’s face. This gives the abstract idea of an old woman a concrete identity. The reader is invited to place their own grandmother in the place of the old woman. This form of imagery allows a reader to view the situation from the perspective of the child once again. 

The poet then places herself in the place of the old woman in the burning building, inviting the reader to do the same, to provide the reader with an alternate perspective. This is done to contradict the idea presented in the beginning of the poem- where the life of a Rembrandt is more valuable as it might ultimately outlast the old lady- by comparing the value of the reader’s life with that of the Rembrandt. 

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Before reading the poem, I assumed that the poem “Mirror,” by Sylvia Plath, discussed matters related to reflection- whether it be in the literal sense or as introspection. The title gives an indication as to who the speaker is in the poem. One can understand why this poem, which teaches about the value of an unbiased perspective that seeks the whole truth, is centered around the perspective of an object that plainly reflects all that it is presented with. Having read the poem, I realized that the poem speaks more about perceiving matters in an unfiltered manner than about reflection on what one perceives. 

The poem, “Mirror” by Silvia Plath, teaches one to absorb the details that surround him or her in its raw and unfiltered form. Like a mirror, one must reject “love [and] dislike”, to have the ability to see without bias. The second stanza of the poem teaches that one must not settle on artificial alternatives to the truth. The moon and candles cannot provide their own light just as a lie cannot provide satisfaction. Both stanzas warn against allowing an external or internal factor to take over one’s existence. The mirror and the woman, being focused on the pink wall and sadness respectively,  lost themselves to the object of their focus.  

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A possible intention that Thomas Hardy had in writing his poem, “The Man He Killed,” is discussing the absurdity of war. The poet reflects upon having shot someone who could have been his friend had their respective countries not assigned the pair as foes. A potential interpretation of this poem is that the poet is a war survivor who advocates against war. The poet humanizes his enemy- whom the war dehumanized- by imagining that he enlisted in the army for the same reason that the poet did: out of desperate need for money. 

The poem diminishes the glory associated with being a war survivor. It exposes war for attempting to justify murder in the name of a country. Hardy does this using the perspective of a war survivor who lives with the regret of having shot a stranger. The poem also teaches that the people that a soldier kills in war are not really his enemies. This is heavily emphasized with the idea of buying this supposed foe a drink in an alternate circumstance. One would be inclined to support the antiwar agenda after having read this poem.  

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