ok, i have to do an essay on this poem. i am awful at analizing poetry so ANY input would be sooo appreciated. i just get out of it that her sad spirit is lifted because she discovers God. but i have a feeling i'm missing something.
oh yeah and any topic ideas for the essay would be a bonus too!
thanks!


In Memory of a Happy Day in February
By Anne Bronte



lessed be Thou for all the joy
My soul has felt today!
O let it's memory stay with me
And never pass away!

I was alone, for those I loved
Were far away from me,
The sun shone on the withered grass,
The wind blew fresh and free.

Was it the smile of early spring
That made my bosom glow?
'Twas sweet, but neither sun nor wind
Could raise my spirit so.

Was it some feeling of delight,
All vague and undefined?
No, 'twas a rapture deep and strong,
Expanding in the mind!

Was it a sanguine view of life
And all it's transient bliss-
A hope of bright prosperity?
O no, it was not this!

It was a glimpse of truth divine
Unto my spirit given
Illumined by a ray of light
That shone direct from heaven!

I felt there was a God on high
By whom all things were made.
I saw His wisdom and His power
In all His works displayed.

But most throughout the moral world
I saw His glory shine;
I saw His wisdom infinite,
His mercy all divine.

Deep secrets of His providence
In darkness long concealed
Unto the vision of my soul
Were graciously revealed.

But while I wondered and adored
His wisdom so divine,
I did not tremble at His power,
I felt that God was mine.

I knew that my Redeemer lived,
I did not fear to die;
Full sure that I should rise again
To immortality.

I longed to view that bliss divine
Which eye hath never seen,
Like Moses, I would see His face
Without the veil between.

Magdalena, for many Christians the idea of the rapture from the Bible brings meaning, purpose, and joy to their lives.

Ideas for an essay on this poem might include the following topics:

1. Meter/rhyme scheme

2. Language

3. Meaning

4. Purpose of the author

5. Reaction to the poem


If you are not familiar with the idea of the Christian concept of rapture, here is a link which may help you:

[en.wikipedia.org]


Les

thank you Les!

but is she lookinig back on a certain day? and where is she now? what happened to her that day?
if that makes sense...
please help!

Magdalena

She's reflecting back on the day in which she realized that her belief in God would bring her eternal life.

Les

thank you so much. it totally makes sense to me now.

magdalena

to Analize the poem, you have to take it line by line. Single out one of one of these element for attention and explain. Your poem is too long for analizing so it will have more than a 1000 words

Line 1. what does the metaphore seed grass hay mean?
Line 2. what motion or motions is he talking about?
Line 3. how does this question relate to the previous lines?
line 4. why a white shadow?
line 5. what's the implied answer to that question?
Line 6. why old bones? what does wanton mean in that context?
Line 7. what does this line mean?

Please help me with this i need it ASAP. thank you

Probably should be on a thread by itself, but here's the poem (assuming foethke is a rather amusing typo for Roethke):


I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;
Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:
The shapes a bright container can contain!
Of her choice virtues only gods should speak,
Or English poets who grew up on Greek
(I'd have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek.)

How well her wishes went! She stroked my chin,
She taught me Turn, and Counter-turn, and stand;
She taught me Touch, that undulant white skin:
I nibbled meekly from her proffered hand;
She was the sickle; I, poor I, the rake,
Coming behind her for her pretty sake
(But what prodigious mowing did we make.)

Love likes a gander, and adores a goose:
Her full lips pursed, the errant note to seize;
She played it quick, she played it light and loose;
My eyes, they dazzled at her flowing knees;
Her several parts could keep a pure repose,
Or one hip quiver with a mobile nose
(She moved in circles, and those circles moved.)

-----------------------------------------------

Let seed be grass, and grass turn into hay:
I'm martyr to a motion not my own;
What's freedom for? To know eternity.
I swear she cast a shadow white as stone.
But who would count eternity in days?
These old bones live to learn her wanton ways:
(I measure time by how a body sways.)

-----------------------------------------------------


Personally, I see many sexual innuendoes in this one, but let that go. Surely seed to grass to hay means the passage of time, no? A martyr is one who suffers, yes? So, I suffer for a motion not my own? Casting a white shadow would seem to indicate either purity or a lack of substance? Old bones means she is much younger than the poem's speaker?

Clearly, this is an exact copy of an instructor's quiz, so I am hesitant to answer more directly, but those are some things that occur to me in reading the poem. You have to create your own actual responses.

I am analyzing the song "The Dangling Conversation" by Simon and Garfunkel, and I am having trouble with line eight, "You can hear the ocean roar".

1. It's a still life water color,
2. Of a now late afternoon,
3. As the sun shines through the curtained lace
4. And shadows wash the room.
5. And we sit and drink our coffee
6. Couched in our indifference,
7. Like shells upon the shore
8. You can hear the ocean roar
9. In the dangling conversation
10. And the superficial sighs,
11. Are the borders of our lives.

12. And you read your Emily Dickinson,
13. And I my Robert Frost,
14. And we note our place with bookmarkers
15. That measure what we've lost.
16. Like a poem poorly written
17. We are verses out of rhythm,
18. Couplets out of rhyme,
19. In syncopated time
20. Lost in the dangling conversation
21. And the superficial sighs,
22. Are the borders of our lives.

23. Yes, we speak of things that matter,
24. With words that must be said,
25. "Can analysis be worthwhile?"
26. "Is the theater really dead?"
27. And how the room is softly faded
28. And I only kiss your shadow,
29. I cannot feel your hand,
30. You're a stranger now unto me
31. Lost in the dangling conversation.
32. And the superficial sighs,
33. In the borders of our lives.

Thanks,
Chloe'

Dear Chloe
If you can get an address to write to eith paul simon or art garfunkel I'm sure that they would take the time to let you know what they mean by 'you can hear the ocean roar' or sometimes if you can get a book where they talk about their music, there usually is an explanation of how a certain song came together.
good luck
veronica