How do poets celebrate life? Two poems that discuss moments or situations where life can be celebrated are Thomas Hardys Beeny Cliff and After reading in a letter proposals for building a cottage (Cottage) by John Clare.

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How do poets celebrate life?

Two poems that discuss moments or situations where life can be celebrated are Thomas Hardy’s “Beeny Cliff” and “After reading in a letter proposals for building a cottage” (“Cottage”) by John Clare. The poets particularly discuss the beauty of life with regards to the natural world around them and their thoughts on interaction with other people.  

Nature and features of animals and plants play a large role in these poems displaying their love of life. In the first stanza of Cottage it is mentioned that “grass plats grace the door”. The use of the word “grace” is of significance here as this suggests that he feels that his home has been blessed with the presence of nature; or that at least he welcomes it.  The positive impact of nature is also evident in the first stanza of Beeny Cliff as he describes the “opal and the sapphire of that wandering western sea”. The sea being described with the appearance of precious and beautiful gemstones shows he is impressed by it, as well the alliteration and personification of “wandering western” which rolls off the tongue paints an affectionate picture of the ocean. There are many other positive natural references with John Clare describing his small enclosed garden, “flowers that blossom sweet” and the “sweeping swallows”; while Thomas Hardy mentions the “clear- sunned March day” and how the “sun bursts out again”. All of these natural events are ones that the poets obviously enjoy and they have both included them to show the positive image of the times they are writing about.

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The relationship between the poets and other people has great significance and shows great difference in the way that they enjoy life.  From the poems we can deduced that Thomas Hardy’s time on Beeny Cliff was much better because of the presence of the woman; while John Clare seems to enjoy his time spent alone without much in the way of company. There are several points in the poem where this is suggested. From the first line of Cottage the shed is described as “my shed”. If this was shared with a partner or companion it would read “our shed” ...

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