Poet Explication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Poet Explication - Essay Example Mariana is a women character deserted by her lover originated from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure written in 1830.The Autobiographical element in Tennyson’s life enhances deeper understanding of the poem and conveys why the suffering depicted in the poem is intentionally infectious and has a haunting nature. There are references that Tennyson himself suffered from mental illness as did his other members of immediate family which equipped him to travel inside the mind of Mariana and expressed it in the most telling manner. The poem is written in definite syllabic pattern iambic pentameter. The long lines render peculiar movement pattern with a slow sad and depressing note matching the unending uncertainty. Repetition of the chorus at the end of each stanza serves as an echo of the suffering and contributes to the haunting nature of the poem. Each stanza is divided into 3 to 4 line with rhyme units ABAB CDDC EFEF .The EF lines are maintained repetitively in each stanza to give an effect of a chant for the return of her lover and her unending predicament. The mind of Mariana, every object in her household and even nature the dawn, dusk and the night, all are alike entrapped in melancholy. This mutually intensifies the agony depicted in the poem .This is the poetic device of pathetic fallacy adopted in 19th century English poetry. It is a technique of attributing the feelings of the subject to external objects or nature to create a desirable effect. In the first stanza with the blackest moss crusted on the flower pots in the opening line, the poet draws us in to the dark mood followed by a thick cluster of strong images. The rusted nails holding the pear to the wall fall from the knots. This suggestive of the futile passage of time and how memories have become lifeless disjointed and dead. The broken sheds symbolize her state of mind and serpentine hissing sound ingrained in the words â€Å"sad and strange â€Å"evoke ideas of sinister