The Romantic Period 1789-1850)The Romantic era was a period of great change and emancipation. While the Classical era had strict laws of balance and restraint, the Romantic era moved away from that by allowing artistic freedom, experimentation, and creativity. The music of this time period was very expressive, and melody became the dominant feature. Composers even used this expressive means to display nationalism. This became a driving force in the late Romantic period, as composers used elements
of folk music to express their cultural identity. |
The Victorian Period (1850-1900)
Big Ideas British optimism and the belief in progress Britain power and wealth encouraged optimism ideal of family life was central to victorial culture moral values and a desire to do good marked the Victorian outlook the emergence of literary realism efforts to improve Victorian society accurate illustrations of social problems such as poverty sufferings of poor children were often the subject of real fiction disillusionment and darker visions an outgrowth of realism called naturalism darwins theory of evolution influenced naturalism belief that human life was controlled by random events pessimistic view of life randomness |
An Analysis of George Gordon’s “She Walks In Beauty”
Poems in English literature, particularly those from the Romantic Age, contain a variety of heavily-used rhetorical devices in order to convey the meaning intended by the author. In Gordon’s “She Walks In Beauty,” for instance, the reader finds a number of devices that aid in conveying the tone and, ultimately, the theme of this poem. Concepts such as beauty, darkness, and shade pervade the poem in the poet’s attempt to convey the theme that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To begin to understand a poem, one must deal with the basics. These involve knowing general information about the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, and subject. The speaker of “She Walks In Beauty” reveals himself (or herself) to be a man watching a woman “walk in beauty”. The occasion is winter, and the time is nightfall. The speaker’s audience is himself and his/her purpose involves an unknown woman. The woman, an innocent spirit who’s “best of dark and bright/meet in her aspect and her eyes” acts as the subject of the poem. To paraphrase the events of the poem, one might say that an observer in the starry night shares the beauty of a woman whose shade is as beautiful as, “cloudless climes and starry skies”. In terms of tone, the poem begins with a Sweet “Where thoughts serenely sweet express/How pure, how dear their dwelling-place” (Gordon), mood or atmosphere but ends up innocent. Some diction that suggests this involves the speaker first using the words “bright,” “tender,” “pure,” and “calm,” but then later in the poem by employing words like “grace,” “gaudy,” “sweet,” “eloquent,” and innocent, the speaker reveals a more sweet tone by the end. This suggests that the woman’s contrast can be compared to stars in a night sky. The speaker’s attitude also becomes apparent in the poem. The speaker’s tone first reveals a lovely attitude with the use of the word “beauty,” but his/her attitude becomes uplifting with the use of diction like “pure” and “innocent.” The three most significant rhetorical devices that the poet uses to convey the theme in the poem involve the use of metaphor, paradox, and imagery. The poet uses paradox to help the reader understand the fairness, yet darkness combined in her beauty with words and phrases like “raven tress” and “shade and ray.” S/he also uses personification as a way of giving human qualities heaven itself, specifically with phrases like “which heaven to gaudy denies.” Finally, the poet uses symbolism to give deeper meaning to the poem by having her smile, and glow represent her inner beauty. Thus, the devices used by the author give the reader the idea that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, particularly in love, and innocence. Essentially, this poem is about to tell of her pure beauty. To create this meaning, the author uses numerous devices of rhetoric the effects of tone to create an atmosphere that changes from loving to uplifting. As a result, we can see how the use of rhetorical devices and tone give meaning to poetry and other forms of literature. |
II. Analytical Essay
She Walks in Beauty BY LORD BYRON (GEORGE GORDON) She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes; Thus mellowed to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies. One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o’er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet express, How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. And on that cheek, and o’er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent! |
III. FINAL PROJECT:
The Original Poem
Endless Love
It's just an old beat up truck,
theres no telling how it runs
some say that I should trade up
now that i got some jangle in my pocket.
But what they dont understand,
is its the miles that make a man.
I wouldn't trade that thing in for a rocket. MY POEM COMPOSED
what they dont know
is my dad and me
we drove her out to tennessee
on a matte day like the glare off her headlights
and she’s still here and now hes gone.
J. Lopez (2014)
The Original Poem
Endless Love
It's just an old beat up truck,
theres no telling how it runs
some say that I should trade up
now that i got some jangle in my pocket.
But what they dont understand,
is its the miles that make a man.
I wouldn't trade that thing in for a rocket. MY POEM COMPOSED
what they dont know
is my dad and me
we drove her out to tennessee
on a matte day like the glare off her headlights
and she’s still here and now hes gone.
J. Lopez (2014)