CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF MODEL POEMS

   CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF MODEL POEMS

MODEL POEM 1

The world is too much with us : late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers ;

Little we see in Nature that is ours ;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon !

This sea that bares her bosom to the moon ;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers :

For this, for everything, we are out of tune ;

It moves us not. - Great God ! I'd rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed out worn ;

So might I standing on this pleasant lea.

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn ;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea :

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn

The subject of this poem is very clearly expressed in the opening words : 'The world is too much with us". In the first eight lines, the poet says we are never alone; our minds are so occupied with the business of earning money and spending it that we have no time to look around us and enjoy the beauty of the world. We are "out of tune" with Nature. We have given away our heritage. The last six lines strike the note of revolt. Rather anything than this ! Better be an old Greek or Roman if through that pagan mythology, we can glimpse something of the ecstatic life that runs through Nature.

In this poem the subject in eminently suited to verse. Poets are naturally indignant about the encroaching of modern conditions on the old free life of the spirit; there is the possibility of making a good contrast; between the mechanical way of living and the life that is open to nature. And here the poet seizes it skillfully. It is a subject that one comes across here and there in poetry; Arnold's Dover Beach is another example.

As for the treatment of the subject, we can say that the sonnet begins with statement (in the octet), but mingles this evocative nature images so as to produce a nostalgia for the lost beauty of the world. The sestet abandons statement for exclamations, desires and imaginations of the past. But the poem is so skillfully constructed that we are convinced of the sincerity of the writer and sympathize with his point of view.

The situation in this poem has been expressed in the first eight lines and the revolt in the last six. This means it is a Petrarchan sonnet, made up of Octet and Sestet. How well the sonnet form is suited to the expression of a passing mood of revolt like this.

It is a short poem, so the writer cannot expatiate at length on his philosophy. He has to convey his meaning by swift images and vivid expressions. The poet uses the form with great skill varying the iambic beat with trochees (as in Lines 2 and 3), so that we receive a natural conversational impression : We seem to hear the poet speaking, and this gives the feeling of sincerity. The rhythm, too,  is supple and varied, with enjambment and frequent changes in the position of the caesura. Thus with the aid of a skillfully placed exclamation, the poet gets the feeling of indignation into his verse.

There is a kind of rhetoric, but it does not seem out of place or clash with the manifest simplicity of the poem's emotions. The personification of the sea (baring her bosom to the moon) and the beautiful simile (like sleeping flowers) applied to the winds, adds considerably to the evocative power of the poem. The vocabulary is simple apart from the ornamental touch at the end.

MODEL POEM 2

When I consider how my light is spent (a)
 Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, (b)
 And that one talent which is death to hide, (b)
 Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent (a)
To serve therewith my Maker, and present (a)
 My true account, lest he returning chide; (b)
 "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" (b)
 I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent (a)
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need (c)
 Either man's work or his own gifts; who best (d)
 Bear his mile yoke, they serve him best. His state (e)
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed (c)
 And post o'er land and ocean without rest; (d)
 They also serve who only stand and wait." (e)

The subject of this poem is the poet's blindness, and it tells how patience and faith can overcome this affliction. The poet expresses his quiet resignation to the will of God. The verse form used is that of the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet, the sestet riming cdecde. There is no division marked between the octave and the sestet, the sense running on : 'But Patience, to prevent/That murmur, soon replies?

In the first line the word 'consider’ strikes a key note, that of reflection. There is a process of calm thought leading to the conclusion stated in the last line. Though the poem is subjective, it makes contact with a wider world in the word 'light’ something universal, making his loss greater. The use of the word 'sight’ would be personal and limited. This breadth is seen in the word 'talent' with its play upon words : the talent for poetry and the talent of the parable in the Bible. The expression of his religious feeling now pervades the poem. The affliction of blindness only makes the poet more eager to serve his Maker.

Biblical memories are strirred up by the expressions "present my true account and in the next line 'day-labour'. The question : ‘Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?’ is somewhat querulous: the murmur is checked, and the answer is given by Patience, fittingly personified. From this point to the end. the mood is one of serenity and quiet assurance; the yoke is mild. God is good More than that He is kingly, and the poet is proud to acknowledge His sovereignty. Dignity of expression (to suit the change of mood) is achieved by the balance of 'Either man s work, or His own gifts’ and of 'who best Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best'. There is a fine contrast between 'Thousands at His bidding speed' and the last line 'They also serve who stand and wait : a contrast which serves to emphasize the sincere humility of the poet.

The movement of the verse is dignified yet varied. The caesura constantly shifts, falling after days, talent, useless, Maker, account: a variety which never becomes looseness but always suits the flow of the sense.

The total effect is one of quiet dignity. The sonnet form contains the thought completely: there is the question and the answer, and the final acceptance through faith expressed in the quietness of the last line.

The subject that of his own blindness, makes the poem easy to place as the work of Milton Other indications which should be considered are the lofty tone, the harmony and emphasis of the verse, the religious feeling, the intense sincerity. Significant expressions are "dark world and wide” the Latin construction 'light denied” the inversion 'who best Hear His mild yoke, they serve Him hest”and finally, there is the characteristic movement of the first seven and a half lines.