Analysis of poetry from Songs of Ourselves: Section 1 Copyright: PWIndustries, 2013

Sonnet 11
Summary: The poet is appealing to her torments and grief to let her go. She wants to be free of the pain she is feeling. She realises that Love can save her, and she is pleading for help to be relieved, before it is too late. Theme: Pain caused by love. Examples of... a) It is written in the first person (my rest my grief me to say) and it seems to be the voice of the poet. b) This is a one-sided conversation. We hear of her pain and her anguish alone. No specifics are mentioned. a) Complex/inverted syntax (You endless torments...delight in my sad pain) and formalised language (honoured title Love b) Language is pleading (now stay, Let me once see... Give not just cause... etc.) c) Exclamations included (Alas O) d) Tone is melancholy and desperate (do not long debate/My needful aid etc.) Effect This poem is intensely personal. The poet is in a dark place, but there is some kind of hope for a better future. This evokes sympathy for her in the reader. We are left to imagine what has caused her troubles, and our human nature leads us to imagine the worst. This gives us the impression that she is speaking to someone of importance, someone powerful and deserving of respect. She is at the mercy of Love. She has lost control and has no hand in her fate. Highlights the emotional aspect and desperation of the voice. Poet cannot live with the pain/rage that has been caused by her experiences of love. She needs release and help. These are more than just emotions to her. They are almost beings, nearly godlike in the way that they are toying with her life. Highlights the tragic situation she finds herself in.

Point of View

Language and Tone

Imagery

a) Personification of her emotions throughout (torments...oppress, feed not my heart, disgrace the honoured title of your godhead Love, etc.)

Analysis of poetry from Songs of Ourselves: Section 1 Copyright: PWIndustries, 2013

Analysis of poetry from Songs of Ourselves: Section 1 Copyright: PWIndustries, 2013

b) Antithesis (delight in my pain, heart with sharp distress) and oxymoron (cruel fortunes)

She knows that love has the power to heal, to make life wonderful, but its not doing so at the moment. Highlights the dual nature of love.

Shape and Pattern

a) Form of a sonnet but the traditional rhyme scheme has been altered (ABAB BABA CDCD EE). The second quatrain reverses the rhyme scheme of the first instead of starting a new set of rhymes. After this, the poem maintains the traditional rhyming structure. b) Syntax: first quatrain is all questions, whereas the remainder of the poem is pleading statements.

The first quatrain is expressing her problem clearly, whereas reminder of the poem is dealing with the solution. Reflects that she can move forward and progress if help is provided.

It sets the reader up from the start. Will she find relief to her problems?

c) Sibilance throughout the poem Lends an uncomfortable air to the (endless torments that my rest poem. Lots of hissing sounds oppress, Shall I still live...distain, amplifies her pain and discomfort. Give not just cause for me to say a place, etc.) d) Enjambment occurs in the last quatrain and couplet. (...cruelty disgrace/the honoured title..., ...say a place/is found for rage...) It breaks up the steady end rhyme that is characteristic of sonnets and is generally adhered to in this poem. She is building to a serious point in the couplet, and does not want the reader to be distracted by the way the words are rhyming. The point outweighs the format. There are two ways for this to end: either she gets help and Love heals her, or she dies in pain and grief.

e) Stark ending. Suggestive of death, possibly suicide (lest help do come too late.)

Analysis of poetry from Songs of Ourselves: Section 1 Copyright: PWIndustries, 2013