Poem Analysis

Ask me no more:

In the poem "Ask me no more" by Alfred Lord Tennyson the theme is that it is difficult to express feelings also adding that they can be expressed by means of other forms and not just verbally. In the poem we see that someone is asking him to show his feelings by saying so. To this he gives various replies relating to the way in which certain phenomenons occur but he nor the other person can explain it using words and he cannot explain or show his feelings by this method either. In the first stanza he asks the person to witch he is talking to stop asking about his feelings and give the comparison with the phenomenons that occur but cannot be explain verbally. In the second stanza we see that he continues with his problem of answering the question but he gives evidence of his feelings saying that he does not want the other person to die and tries this get the person stop asking, sort of like giving a half answer. In the last stanza he sort of says that they will both die and that anything they say or do will not matter because it will not exist and he has failed to stop them from being able to die as a sort showing over of his feelings and with he finishes his answer to the question.

The poem has stanzas of 5 verses, each of these stanzas has the rhyme pattern of first with forth and second with third. This pattern links these lines and opens and closes the stanza. There is lots of repetition with the line "Ask me no more" repeated at the beginning and end of each stanza and the first one is always followed by a question which gets the reader thinking and sets the theme for the stanza. This repetition fixes these points in the readers mind sort of brainwashing them with point of not asking again. The tone is one of a person bothered by someone and they are trying to get them to go away so it contains a little bit of anger but not much and is more of an exhausted tone,
"But O too fond, when have I answer'd thee? 
Ask me no more."
Here we can see this tone as he uses words of comfort but still there is the felling of an underlying groaning with the repetition of "Ask me no more".

The imagery in the poem is quite easy to find and there is lots used to help the person get across the ideas and the themes of the poem. In first stanza we find this,
"the moon may draw the sea; 
The cloud may stoop from heaven and take the shape, 
With fold to fold, of mountain or of cape"

In the quote we see the description of some natural events that at the time were little understood. The first verse paints the picture of the sea and the tide which is caused by the moon pulling the water with its gravitational force. After this we have the weather and how the clouds cover the land, the valleys and mountains in mysterious ways that were not understood. These images are used to create the feeling that not all can be known, some things remain mystery.

The Kraken:

In "The Kraken" Tennyson uses the image of sea monster that has been written about through history. He uses this image as a metaphor for a mans life, saying that at the begging nobody takes any notice of him and he must fend for him self but later, only at the end of his life, they notice him and then he dies. In most of the poem he says that the beast is sleeping but at the end the beast awakes and this I believe this represents a persons potential in life and how they are noticed by other people. during the first part of their life they are not noticed but as they get to the end of their life they have many friends and people who may admire them, then at the end of life they go past this phase and see the light before they find the meaning of life and then die.

In the poem it is set out in just one stanza of 15 verses. The rhyme in the first 4 verses is alternative but from verse 5 to 8 its first with fourth, second with third. After this the rhyme 9-11-15, 10-14 and 12-13.  In this poem the author uses the story of the life of a sea monster known as the Kraken as a metaphor for life and mankind journey. The tone used is one of mystery shown in this quote,
"Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep".
This shows us the beginning of the journey that the author describes using the introductory description about this sea monster in the deep and dark depths sleeping. Also here is reflected the tone of the poem as the author uses adjectives that describe a mysterious place like "upper deep", "abysmal sea" and then the last line talking about a "dreamless uninvaded sleep". From these descriptions it gives the feeling of  mysterious place in the sea.

There is lots of imagery used in the poem to capture the readers attention and help transmit the message of the poet. He describes this sea monster in the deep, using it as one big metaphor for the life of a man. He not only describes the kraken but also the surrounding and it s home,
"About his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,"

Here the is some imagery that uses different senses, for example in the first verse the word swell stimulates the sense of feeling like when you are in the sea it picks you up moves you around and swells around you. Then it describes the place, saying there is "Huge sponges" and that they are old and tall. Finally it talks of the light calling it sickly. All these images create a feeling that the author uses to get the setting of the poem, It creates the feeling of a place that is dark, cold and lonely which the poet then uses as his metaphor for life.

The poem itself is one big metaphor of the life of man, that he sets of in the depths a lonely lost person but as his life goes on it becomes brighter. As it goes on one day people start to notice him and start to love him but by now it is to late and he dies as he breaks the waters surface.




Flower in the Crannied Wall:

In the poem Tennyson tries to show us the significance of even the smallest of objects in a world that wasdomonated by the industrial revolution, in this case taking a flower in a wall which most people would see as a weed but he questions its importance and says that understanding the flower is key to understanding the world and the creation of the world.

In the first stanza he gives the flower its location in a crainned wall which gives the image of a forgoten insignificant place that has been left and fallen into disrepair. Then in the next stanza he starts by taking the flower from the wall killing it but after this he asks that the flower may seem insignifgicant but if he could understand what it is he would understand God and man. Here he gives the idea tha although the flower may seem like an object that means nothing it is in fact import to understand life and mankind. so the purpose of the poem is to reflect on how we look at the world and comes to the conclusion that all objects are of equal importance.

The poem has one stanza with six verses with a rhyme pattern of 1-5 and 3-4 leaving the last line on its own as such like a finishing statement for the reader to think about. The tone of the poem is one of reflection about the world this is shown mostly at the end of the poem.
"What you are, root and all, all in all, 
I should know what God and man is."

Here we see the last line which leaves the reader with a reflection, saying if he knew all about the flower, although its so small, he would know what God and man is. This being the main theme of the poem the rhyme pattern leaves this line by its self giving it more emphasis. Here also we can see the tone with lots of comas for pauses and the person thinks.

In the poem the image of this insignificant flower is created and its surrounding being all decayed and forgotten.

" Flower in the crannied wall, 
I pluck you out of the crannies, "

Here we see this as the poet says that the wall is full of cracks and holes, then this lonley flower there he plucks it out killing it but its only a flower you may think. After this the author the reflects that no, in fact it is as important as any other object on the earth.


Crossing the Bar:

In the poem the theme is the journey from life to death and the bar symbolizes the barrier separating the 2. When he leaves in his boat that will take him to the other side, setting out on the sea, The tide drags him to the bar. From this he sees that there is no return and asks that there be not sadness when he dies. At the end of the poem he hope to see the creator face to face when he dies.

In the first stanza he sees that the time is right for him to pass from this life this is shown by the sunset which marks the end of the day so he sets out to sea which symbolizes the journey to death. He also asks that it be an easy journey and that the bar is not moaning so  as to make it difficult. In the next stanza the tide is drawing his towards the bar and the is no hope of return so he is on his to death and there is nothing he can do. After this his marks the passing form day to night showing that his passing is getting closer and asks that there be no sadness when he dies after embarking on his journey. Finally he says good bye to the world and hope that he will meet his maker when he has crossed the bar or in other words in the afterlife.

The poem is in 4 stanzas and each stanza contains 4 verses. The rhyme pattern is alternative for all the stanzas with a tone of the telling of a story and reflection.
"Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;"
In the quote we can see the rhyme pattern and tone. The tone is shown by the series of events the author talks about, also they reflect about the future shown in the last few lines of the quote.

Imagery is used by the poet to set the scene and describe the journey that he is expecting to take at the end of his life.

" For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar."

Here is the imagery at the end of the poem where by the author creates the image of two people face to face where he says he hopes to see his pilot and again the image of sailing across the bar which is one of the main images of the poem representing the barrier between life and death.

The poem is the story of the journey across the bar in a boat which the poet has used as a metaphor for the journey from life to death that will happen to us all. The bar represents some sort of barrier that we must cross to get to the other side, or in other words, death. As in the quote before the 2 last verses tells us that he hopes to see his pilots face after he crosses the bar. The pilot is God the person that create him and after he dies he hopes to see him and this helps us say that the bar is crossing to death.

Duet:

The theme of the poem is about love and how love comes from deep down in a person. It has the structure of question answer at the begging but by the end of the poem it is a conversation between 2 people. These to people I believe to represent the same person having thoughts in his head about love and what he should do about it.

In the question of the first half of the person they ask what the noise is that they can hear saying it may be the wind in the trees but the the other half of the person replies that it is in fact the sea smashing against the cliff. This noise is something that this person feels inside and they are trying to discover what it is possibly the think, love. This could be compared to the times you have "butterflies in your tummy" when a person feels odd because of emotion or an experience. Now the first half again asks a question, if there is a voice coming from the deep like the love rising to the surface they add that it is coming up happy and colourful. The reply is that it is love born in the deep and that it is rising coming with the sunning. this symbolises the warmth that is received with love and the person is feeling this coming. The what seems to be more timid side of the person asks if it is the type of love that came make or break a person saying that love can be good or bad. The more optimistic side reassures the other saying that they, or the person, should embrace this love and use it to live again but the other is not quite sure and says they should banish it from inside. At the end the optimistic side wins saying they should let the love in and repeats the line from above referring to the love as bringing the sun in. Here the author uses the debate of one persons mind to reflect on love and how it manifests its self in a person, saying that the best love is one the brews from deep within the person, reflecting on the good, the bad and unknown.

The poem is one stanza of 20 verses split between 2 speakers which take it in turns to speak. There is no continues rhyme pattern but some of the verses do rhyme with each other. The tone of the poem is a discussion between 2 people or objects.
"1. Is it the wind of the dawn that I hear
in the pine overhead?
2. No; but the voice of the deep as it hollows
the cliffs of the land."

Here we can see this as the first speaker asks a question and the second answers with a different possibility or point of view. This shows the discussion between them and allows for the possibility for it to be a persons  conscious talking inside them about the theme of the poem.

Imagery is important in the poem but not to visualise a seen more to compare with an abstract object such as the theme of the poem, love.
"2. Love that is born of the deep coming
up with the sun from the sea.
1. Love that can shape or can shatter a 
life till the life shall have fled? "

Here the second speaker says that the love is born from the deep coming up with the sun, saying that its warm and helping to describe it using this image of the sun. After this the first speaker asks if it is love that can shape or shatter a life and here the word shatter creates the image of an item breaking into many pieces, possibly a glass or other object that is easy to break. They finish off this with asking if it shatters till the life has fled from the person giving the reader the image of a person from which the life has gone a shell if you like, so the imagery is very powerful in the poem.


In Memoriam 3:

In the poem the idea related to the reader is that fellowship is a servant or worshipper of death which lies. He reflects on his fellowship someone and its effect on him over the years, but now this person has died and the fellowship is cruel. Asking at the end of the poem whether to forget his fellowship or embrace it although it is now cruel as death has taken one half. The poem has stanzas of 4 verses , it also has rhyme which is with the first verse of each stanza and the last the other rhyme being with the 2 middle verses of the stanza. This rhyming creates a sort link between these lines as opposed to each line with the next.

In the first stanza he introduces death as a priestess in the vaults of death this presents some sort of link between the 2 where by fellowship worships death and does it bidding. At the end of the stanza he says that fellowship lies to him where is next stanza her words are that the stars blindly run where the stars are memories that fellowship has given the person and they are now rolling over and over in his mind. After this a call comes from a waste place, somewhere in the mind that is forgotten, a call of a dying star. The dying star is a memory that is becoming more and more lost in his mind, it says that nature is like a ghost that controls everything as she wants and that nature is linked to the memory and is hollow showing that she doesn't care about people or their feelings, she does what she wants. In the final stanza there is a reflection as to whether to let these memories, that are painful to think about, be free in his mind or defy nature and death there delight at seeing him suffer and crush them before they enter his mind.

The poem has 4 stanzas each with 4 verses and the rhyme pattern, as it says above, is 1-4 and 2-3. The tone of the poem is one of sadness and anger towards fellowship that has been hurting the speaker.
"O Sorrow, cruel fellowship,
O Priestess in the vaults of Death,
O sweet and bitter in a breath,
What whispers from thy lying lip? "

In the quote we this tone of sadness with the use of words and punctuation that makes it long and drawn out.  There is also and underlying sense of anger in the tone or well that the way I read it and I'm not sure why, I think its because of the use of language and diction.

We see in the quote above that the author makes fellowship into a person describing them as a "Priestess in the vaults of Death" and also asks "What whispers from thy lying lip?" as if it could speak. This way of expressing fellowship allows people to think about it in a different why to before, allowing them to imagine it as a person as opposed to something abstract. Also in the quote we see that the author uses metaphors to express fellowships parts and methods, for example, where is talks about fellowship as being a follower of death creating a link between the 2 and makes fellowship death's follower.