Can anybody please explain the imageries in the poem "The Listeners" by Walter de la Mare?
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The Listeners\n\n'Is there anybody there?' said the Traveller,\nKnocking on the moonlit door;\nAnd his horse in the silence champed the grasses\nOf the forest's ferny floor:\nAnd a bird flew up out of the turret,\nAbove the Traveller's head\nAnd he smote upon the door again a second time;\n'Is there anybody there?' he said.\nBut no one descended to the Traveller;\nNo head from the leaf-fringed sill\nLeaned over and looked into his grey eyes,\nWhere he stood perplexed and still.\nBut only a host of phantom listeners\nThat dwelt in the lone house then\nStood listening in the quiet of the moonlight\nTo that voice from the world of men:\nStood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,\nThat goes down to the empty hall,\nHearkening in an air stirred and shaken\nBy the lonely Traveller's call.\nAnd he felt in his heart their strangeness,\nTheir stillness answering his cry,\nWhile his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,\n'Neath the starred and leafy sky;\nFor he suddenly smote on the door, even\nLouder, and lifted his head:-\n'Tell them I came, and no one answered,\nThat I kept my word,' he said.\nNever the least stir made the listeners,\nThough every word he spake\nFell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house\nFrom the one man left awake:\nAy, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,\nAnd the sound of iron on stone,\nAnd how the silence surged softly backward,\nWhen the plunging hoofs were gone.\n\nAs far as the imagery goes in this poem, I would say that the poem serves to portray a live man's encounter with the spirit world. The very first image I would see shows an immediate contrast between the horse - alive and eating grass, and the "leaf-fringed" sill (the next reference to something alive, green, and growing, like the grass) which remains undisturbed by any human hands or head, as the line says. The imagery of a bird flying out of the turret seems to indicate that the bird is the only thing living in the house now, and if it was easily startled by a human voice it means it hadn't been around noisy humans for a while as well. The lines "But only a host of phantom listeners/That dwelt in the lone house then/Stood listening in the quiet of moonlight/To that voice from the world of men" explains the entire point of the poem. The house is filled with spirits, but the reader is left wondering who the spirits are. One can assume that they were spirits of those who had lived before on the earth, as the line "from the one man left awake" seems to indicate they are not the ones alive and "awake." Whoever had lived in the house before has apparently died and lies "asleep" in the grave. One website I read indicated a reader particularly liked the last reference to the "silence surged softly backward" after the Traveller left, as if it were a curtain coming between the live man and the spirits. From a Mormon point of view, I believe that there is something called a "veil" between this life and the next, but at times it gets pretty thin, almost transparent, and we come into contact with spirits more often than we think. However, for the majority of us - including that Traveller (who may represent Everyman or any one of us) the veil comes back into place so that we do not "cross over" into a world we are not prepared to understand fully just yet. If it helps to have a Bible reference, try reading 1 Corinthians 13:12: "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."  The Traveller in this poem seems to know his purpose, as he had an appointment of some kind to visit the house where these spirits lived. This particular poem dwells on the eerie and supernatural silence, but the overall tone is softened by the repetition of "s" words such as "still," "stillness," "starred,&quot
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The language is catalan, spoken in Cataluña, the region located in north-east Spain and bordering France, thus this language derives mainly from Spanish and French, though it also borrows words from italian, latin, arabic and arcaic (old) spanish.The poem you refer to is the last part of "L'Empordá ", a Sardana- a Catalan folk son/gpoem by Joan Maragall. It is the story of the love betwen a shepherd from the pyrenees and a mermaid in the sea. Their encounter produced a son: the Empordà     ( that beautiful region in Catalunya where the mountain meets the sea.. )The poem describes this landscape poetically  and how deeply embedded in the catalan culture are both the sea and the mountain. I cannot speak catalan, but from what i understand : The mermaid went from the sea to encounter the sheperd, and the shepherd from the mountains untill they met one beautiful night, from their love a seeed was planted... it is l'Empordá
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I've given you two poems by Wilfred Owen (famous World War 1 poet).  He always picks up on the sounds in his descriptions of events.  In the second poem (Anthem for Doomed Youth), there is a particularly famous bit "rifles' rapid rattle" ... teachers go mad for it!\n\n____________________________________________________________\n\nThe Calls\nBy Wilfred Owen (famous World War 1 poet)\n\nA dismal fog-hoarse siren howls at dawn.\nI watch the man it calls for, pushed and drawn\nBackwards and forwards, helpless as a pawn.\nBut I'm lazy, and his work's crazy.\n\n\nQuick treble bells begin at nine o'clock,\nScuttling the schoolboy pulling up his sock,\nScaring the late girl in the inky frock.\nI must be crazy; I learn from the daisy.\n\n\nStern bells annoy the rooks and doves at ten.\nI watch the verger close the doors, and when\nI hear the organ moan the first amen,\nSing my religion's-same as pigeons'.\n\n\nA blatant bugle tears my afternoons.\nOut clump the clumsy Tommies by platoons,\nTrying to keep in step with rag-time tunes,\nBut I sit still; I've done my drill.\n\n\nGongs hum and buzz like saucepan-lids at dusk,\nI see a food-hog whet his gold-filled tusk\nTo eat less bread, and more luxurious rusk.\n\n\nThen sometimes late at night my window bumps\nFrom gunnery-practice, till my small heart thumps\nAnd listens for the shell-shrieks and the crumps,\nBut that's not all.\n\n\nFor leaning out last midnight on my sill\nI heard the sighs of men, that have no skill\nTo speak of their distress, no, nor the will!\nA voice I know. And this time I must go.\n\n____________________________________________________________\n\nAnthem for Doomed Youth\nBy Wilfred Owen (famous World War 1 poet)\n\nWhat passing-bells for these who die as cattle?\n-Only the monstrous anger of the guns.\nOnly the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle\nCan patter out their hasty orisons.\nNo mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;\nNor any voice of mourning save the choirs,-\nThe shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;\nAnd bugles calling for them from sad shires.\n\n\nWhat candles may be held to speed them all?\nNot in the hands of boys but in their eyes\nShall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.\nThe pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;\nTheir flowers the tenderness of patient minds,\nAnd each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
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"When I have fears that I may cease to be" is essentially a sonnet;i.e a poem of 14 lines,normally in iambic pentameter,divided into an octave(8 lines) and a sestet(6 lines),and generally concerned with a single thought or feeling;this is virtually in 2 paragraphs on the same subject, divisions of thought as well as rhyme.\nThe form of this sonnet, and the way in which the form structures the argument, is Shakespearean and it expresses Keats's perennial concern with love, death and his poetic destiny.\nHope this helps u understand and enjoy this masterpiece of Keats!
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It's an expression of the whole thesis of the poem -- "Thou still-unravished bride of quietness," etc.  Throughout the "Ode," Keats asserts that it's the imagination, not our expression of it, that is the most powerful.  (And of course, the irony is that this is one of the greatest expressions of imagination ever put to words.)\n\nThe idea is that a "heard melody" -- that is, music you hear -- may be sweet, but an "unheard melody" -- music you only imagine -- can be as sweet as your imagination wills it to be.  Keats took the notion from the paintings on a piece of Greek pottery, the figure of a man playing a syrinx (pipes of Pan) to a woman; because it's just an image of someone playing music, you can't hear what he was playing, but you can IMAGINE it to be as beautiful as you wish.\n\nThe middle and later portion of the "Ode" deals with another classical theme, that life is short and art endures -- the figures on the urn are "forever panting and forever young," while passion among the living leaves one with a heart "high-sorrowful and cloyed."  (To cloy, if it's an unfamiliar word, means to consume too much of something sweet, and by extension to have too much of any pleasure.)\n\nOne other phrase that gives modern readers fits:\n\n"O Attic shape! Fair attitude! With brede\nOf marble men and maidens overwrought..."\n\nIn this case, "Attic" is an ancient name for Greece; "attitude" doesn't refer to copping a 'tude, but to the angle and posture of the urn itself; "brede" is an old word for an embroidered pattern such as one might see on a tapestry; and "overwrought" in this case doesn't mean emotionally overwrought, but rather that the urn itself has been overlaid with a pattern, like a tapestry, of marble men and maidens.  \n\nFor my money, the key line in the poem, though, is:\n\n"...in midst of other woe/Than ours..."\n\nThat captures the ability shared by all great art -- music, literature, drama, sculpture, painting -- to pull me out of whatever funk I'm in at the moment, whatever piddling, temporary example of the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to that I am suffering, and remind me, as Keats says, that\n\n"Beauty is truth, truth beauty: that is all\nYe know on earth, and all ye need to know."\n\nThanks for asking. :-)
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Love\nThen said Almitra, speak to us of Love.\nAnd he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said: \nWhen love beckons to you , follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. \nAnd when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.\nAnd when he speaks to you believe in him,\nThough his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.\nFor even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. \nEven as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.\n\nLike sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.\nHe threshes you to make you naked. He sifts you to free you from your husks.\nHe grinds you to whiteness. \nHe kneads you until you are pliant; \nAnd then he assign you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.\nAll these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become fragment of Life’s heart.\n\nBut if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure, \nThen it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,\nInto the seasonless world there you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your treas.\nLove gives naught but itself and take naught but from itself.\nLove possesses not nor would it be possessed;\nFor love is sufficient unto love.\nWhen you love you should not say God is in my heart\nAnd think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.\nLove has not other desire but to fulfil itself.\nBut if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:\nTo melt and belike a running brook that sings its melody to the night.\nTo know the pain of too much tenderness.\nAnd to bleed willingly and joyfully .\nTo wake at dawn with a winged heard and give thanks for another day of loving;\nTo rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;\nTo return home at eventide with gratitude;\nAnd then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.\n\nFrom book THE PROPHET BY KAHLIL GIBRAN
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The problem with Nostradamus and his 'Predictions' is that they have been translated and 'interpreted' by so many different people. Each has his/her own explanations of the quatrains and you can read into each what you will. His 'prediction's came in the form of quatrains, four line poems, in groups of 'hundreds' or 'centuries'. The seventh 'century' was not completed and consists of only 42 quatrains and it is thought that Nostradamus intended adding an 11th and 12th but never did so.Some, which are too obscure to translate, are deemed to be for events that have not yet happened, a convenient way to explain their vagueness.\n\nHowever let's look at a couple and see if you agree with their translation. Century III, quatrain 32 says:-\n\nFirstly in French:\n\nLe grand sepulchre du peuple Aquitainique\nS'approchera aupres de la Toscane\nQuand Mars sera pres du coing Germanique\nEt au terroir de la gent Mantuane\n\nThe huge grave for the French people will approach from the direction of Italy.When war is near the German corner and in the hands of the Italian people. (grammar is Nostradmus')\n\nThis, supposedly predicts the Second World War because of Nostradamus' insistence in the involvement of Italy and Germany in a war that would kill many Frenchmen. The poem, written in French, contains the word Aquitaine which, translated, means 'France' and the words 'Toscane' and 'Mantuane' mean Italy. Personally I cannot see it.\n\nHere is Century IV, quatrain 54\n\nDu nom qui onques ne fut au Roy Galois\nJamais ne fut un fouldre si craintif\nTremblant l'Italie, l'Espaigne et Les Anglais\nDe femme estrangiers grandement attentif\n\nOf a name never held by a French king, never was there so fearful a thunderbolt. Italy, Spain and the English tremble: he will be greatly attentive to foreign women.\n\nThis, apparently, fascinating quatrain is meant to depict Napoleon, who brought the name of Bonaparte to the line of French kings, for most kings had shared the same names, i.e, Louis (6), Henri (2), Charles (2), Francis (1), since Nostradamus' time. Napoleon's was the great reshaping of the map of Europe and he was very enamoured of his two foreign wives, Josephine, the Creole, Marie Louise the Austrian and possibly refers to his Polish mistress, Marie Walewska. The reference to his name being compared to a thunderbolt with IV, 82, where Nostradamus calls him the Destroyer.\n\nYou ask 'which is the 'next' prediction'. Well there are many but an eerie one is Century I, quatrain 87 which is:-\n\nEnnosigee feu du centre de terre\nFera trembler au tour de cite neufue\nDeux grands rochiers long temps feront la guerre\nPuis Arethuse rougira nouveau fleuve\n\n(Ennosigge is Greek, earth shaking, referring to Neptune. Arethusa was a Greek nymph who in  one legend changed into a stream.)\nTranslation:\nEarthshaking fire from the centre of the earth will cause tremors around the New City.Two great rocks will war for a long time then Arethusa will redden a new river.\n\nIf I were cynical I could go with the accepted meaning which is:\nAn explosion in the centre of the city of New York making the land tremble, or 'tour' could mean towers or skyscrapers. The two great rocks are the immutable great powers who will eventually open war. Ingenious commentators interpret Arethusa as coming from Ares, God of War, and USA. The new river is, presumably blood.\n\nHowever, bearing in mind events since these translations were written could this quatrain refer to the attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Just think'\nEarthshaking fire from the centre of the earth : Aviation fuel?\nTremors around the new city (or towers).\nTwo great rocks will war for a long time : USA and Terrorism (Al Quaida?)\nArathusa will redden a new river : All the blood lost from the thousands of victims?\n\nNostradamus wrote in a mixture of French, P
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SONNET 29 PARAPHRASE \nWhen, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, When I've run out of luck and people look down on me, \nI all alone beweep my outcast state All alone I lament my fate as an outcast* \nAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries And pray to heaven but my cries go unheard \nAnd look upon myself and curse my fate, And look at myself, cursing my fate, \nWishing me like to one more rich in hope, Wishing I were like one* who had more hope in life \nFeatured like him, like him with friends possess'd, Wishing I looked like him; wishing I were surrounded by friends, \nDesiring this man's art and that man's scope, I desire this man's art and that man's range*, \nWith what I most enjoy contented least; I am least contented with what I used to enjoy most. \nYet in these thoughts myself almost despising, But in this mood almost despising myself, \nHaply I think on thee, and then my state, I think of you and then my state of sadness \nLike to the lark at break of day arising Like the lark at the break of day, rises \nFrom sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate; From the gloomy earth and I sing hyms to heaven; \nFor thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings For thinking of your love brings such happiness to mind \nThat then I scorn to change my state with kings. That then I would not change my state with kings. \nANALYSIS\n\n\n[Line 2]* - The poet's 'outcast state' is possibly a reference to his lack of work as a player due to the closing of the theatres in 1592. It also could be a reference to the attack on Shakespeare at the hands of Robert Greene (see below). \n\n[Line 5]* - Sometimes editors report that, in lines 5 and 6, the poet is referring to his friend, likely the Earl of Southampton. However, if lines 13 and 14 are addressed to the friend, then the previous reference to the friend in lines 5 and 6 seems out of place and illogical. It makes more sense to assume that lines 5 and 6 are not addressed to one person in particular, in keeping with the later references to "this man's art" and "that man's scope". \n\n[Line 7]* - "range" = "range of opportunity". \n\nSonnet 29 shows us the poet at his most insecure and troubled. He feels himself unlucky, disgraced, and jealous of those around him. What is causing the poet's anguish one can only guess, but an examination of the circumstances surrounding his life at the time he wrote sonnet 29 could help us to understand his depression. In 1592, the London theatres closed due to a severe outbreak of the plague. Although it is possible that Shakespeare toured the outlying areas of London with acting companies like Pembroke's Men or Lord Strange's Men, it seems more likely that he left the theatre entirely during this time, possibly to work on his non-dramatic poetry. The closing of the playhouses made it hard for Shakespeare and other actors of the day to earn a living. With plague and poverty threatening his life, it is only natural that he felt "in disgrace with fortune". Moreover, in 1592 there came a scathing attack on Shakespeare by dramatist Robert Greene, who wrote in a deathbed diary: "There is an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers heart wrapt in a Players hide supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you; and, being an absolute Johannes Factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country." Shakespeare was deeply disturbed by this assault, feeling disgraced in "men's eyes" as well as fortune's.\n\nThe poet is so forlorn that even the passion for his profession as an actor seems to have died (8). But the sonnet ends with a positive affirmation that all is not lost -- that the poet's dear friend can compensate for the grief he feels. See the analysis of Sonnet 30 for more information.
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the poem or the phrase?  Please explain in more detail.
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That poem rocks.  I know that it is controversial.  I would be interested to see what people thought of a choice line or two from the poem.
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the mood is one of satisfaction. the writer is saying that when you have a fence dividing you, it does not "divide" but it prevents.the tone, i guess would be the same. Why exactly are you reading this poem? i had to for a school project.
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In his poem “Charge of the Light Brigade” Tennyson describes the valiant charge of the light brigade into the “jaws of death.” He makes use of repetition, allusion, and personification to paint a vivid picture of the charge, and, at the same time, he gives the reader a glimpse into the psyche of the valiant soldiers.\n\nThe literary device Tennyson most commonly employs in this poem is repetition, but he also makes use of allusion and personification. In the first stanza he repeats the phrase “half a league” three times in order to convey the arduousness of the charge. It relates the fact that each league gained was a separate feat for the brigade. In the fist stanza he also begins the repetition of “rode the six hundred,” a phrase which emphasizes the small number of valiant soldiers riding against the “mouth of hell” itself. Tennyson also includes the first reference to the “valley of Death” in the first stanza. This reference is continued throughout the poem. It functions as an allusion to the “valley of the shadow of death” in the twenty-third Psalm of the Bible and describes the charge. The allusion to the twenty-third Psalm serves to instil in the reader the sense of fearlessness that the brigade has because the psalm speaks of how evil in not to be feared, not even in the shadow of death itself. The reference to the valley also paints in the reader’s mind an image of being enclosed by greater things on all sides, a feeling no doubt shared by the soldiers. “Canon to the right of them,/ Cannon to the left of them,/ Cannon in front of them” is another repeated phrase in the poem that is found in the third and fifth stanzas of the poem. The repetition of the phrase serves to add to the claustrophobic feeling in the reader that began with the mention of the charge into the valley. It also reminds the reader that the cannon of the enemy are all that can be seen no matter where the valiant soldiers look. Death also becomes personified in the third stanza when Tennyson gives it jaws. The personification of death is meant to shift the poem’s tone to a more carnal tone. The brigade is now pitted against the ultimate beast that threatens devour them. They must now kill or be killed. The “jaws of death” and “mouth of hell” are also repeated images in the poem. They paint a picture of soldiers starring into a black abyss that is about to consume them.\n\nIn his poem Tennyson also provides the reader with some insight into the psyche of the men of the brigade. The first glimpse of the soldiers’ state of mind given in the poem comes in the form of the valley of death. The reader is told that the soldiers face certain death, but the phrase, through its biblical allusion, demonstrates to the reader that the evil is face without fear. Tennyson also gives a more direct insight into the psyche of the brigade when he writes that the soldiers knew “Some one had blunder’d,” and that they knew their place was not to question orders but “to do and die.” The reader then knows that these men are blindly motivated by loyalty and a sense of duty. “Cannon to the right of them,/ Cannon to the left of them,/ Cannon in front of them” is another description Tennyson uses to take the reader in to minds of soldiers. This description allows the reader to see the battle as the soldier saw it. No matter where you looked, all that could be seen was certain death. No safety could be found. After being taken into the psyche of the brigade and seeing a vivid picture of the valiant charge the reader cannot hope to do anything but admire the valour of the soldiers and “Honour the Light Brigade.”\n\nTennyson’s use of literary devices to paint a mental picture of a heroic charge and the insight he gives the reader into the minds of the valiant men who made it make his “Charge of the Light Brigade” a powerful poem. It is a fitting tribute to the soldiers who fought the war that elicited the world
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Imagery is a really simple concept (it's just the describing of concrete, touchable things with words) and it's all over this poem. Examples? "the new grass flames", "The plumtree is white today / with masses of flowers", "in the meadows, &#92; at the edge of the heavy woods &#92; in the distance, he saw &#92; trees of white flowers." There's lots more there, but this will get you started.
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Edgar Allen Poe's Lenore:\n\nLenore\n\n   Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!\n   Let the bell toll!- a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river;\n   And, Guy de Vere, hast thou no tear?- weep now or nevermore!\n   See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore!\n   Come! let the burial rite be read- the funeral song be sung!-\n   An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young-\n   A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.\n\n   "Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride,\n   And when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her- that she died!\n   How shall the ritual, then, be read?- the requiem how be sung\n   By you- by yours, the evil eye,- by yours, the slanderous tongue\n   That did to death the innocence that died, and died so young?"\n\n   Peccavimus; but rave not thus! and let a Sabbath song\n   Go up to God so solemnly the dead may feel no wrong.\n   The sweet Lenore hath "gone before," with Hope, that flew beside,\n   Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thy\n        bride.\n   For her, the fair and debonair, that now so lowly lies,\n   The life upon her yellow hair but not within her eyes\n   The life still there, upon her hair- the death upon her eyes.\n\n   "Avaunt! avaunt! from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven-\n   From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven-\n   From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of\n        Heaven!\n   Let no bell toll, then,- lest her soul, amid its hallowed mirth,\n   Should catch the note as it doth float up from the damned Earth!\n   And I!- to-night my heart is light!- no dirge will I upraise,\n   But waft the angel on her flight with a Paean of old days!"
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An interesting and sometimes-lovely poem. It's an acknowledgment of where and how the writer connects to his origins.\nPoetry doesn't need to make sense.  Like religion, it is often irrational.
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Good use of symbols. I like how line 2 fits with the last two lines, it brings unity to the poem. Towards the end I think I got a little bit of a glimpse of what the poem might be about, but ultimately I feel like the message is hidden from me. It seems the third- and fourth-to-last lines are the culmination of the poem; is it possible to reword some of the earlier lines so as the reader can share what you're feeling when they reach the end?\n\nRegarding parenthesis: as long as you know what they mean then they're fine.
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the poet is obviously reminded of his childhood, and wishes himself back into his childhood; \n\n"betrays me back" - because he doesn't want to be reminded of his  childhood, yet he can do nothing against it as the song takes him back to it\n\n"insidious mastery of song" - same as before (see "insidious" =  adjective; (of something unpleasant or dangerous) gradually and secretly causing harm) --> because he doesn't realize it, and then, as he does, it's already too late, and the painful feelings of having to remember about it all are already there\n\ntheme = longing for happiness of childhood, yearning for times long gone, regret .... \n\nfeelings: regret, sorrow, longing