On the other hand, the Wordsworth poem is more joyful. It has an overall feeling of happiness which is seen from the word ‘dance’. This word is repeated in every stanza of the poem to continually remind the reader of the joyous feeling throughout the poem. The poem also comes across as carefree which can be seen by the description of the jubilant mood the author is in:
‘…on my couch I lie in a vacant or in pensive mood’
Wordsworth writes that he ‘lies’ on his couch it immediately shows the calm and peaceful state he is in. There is then confirmation on his carefree state of mind when he describes himself in a ‘vacant or in pensive mood’.
The authors of the two poems cleverly use language and literacy devices in the poems to convey the emotive feelings. Hopkins uses the syllabic rhythm of his sentences to deliver his feelings of anger as well as stressing emotive words. In the poem ‘Binsey Poplars’ Hopkins is enraged by the removal of the trees which can be observed by the over emphasis of in his poetic sentences.
‘All felled, felled, are all felled’
The stressed words in this sentence convey his immediate outrage at the destruction of his trees. The word ‘felled’ is very powerful and suitably describes the pain Hopkins feels for his trees. The repetition of the word act like mighty blows to Hopkins’ feelings as his loss quickly sinks into his mind. The surprise Hopkins felt is also illustrated by the stressed word ‘All’ that begins the sentence. The immediate force from the sudden stressed word acts as a linguistic shock to show the surprise Hopkins suffered.
This technique is also used by Hopkins again to further magnify his anger.
‘Not spared, not one’
The feeling of anger is emphasised from the repetition of the word ‘not’. The clear and harsh sound of the word depicts his convinced feelings of outrage and the repetition of the word accentuates the confidence and fury in Hopkins. Additionally, the first part of the sentence has one stressed syllable while the second part has two stressed syllables. This shows his rapidly multiplying fury at the demolition of his beloved trees.
Hopkins also uses alliteration to convey the blunt and hostile manner that the poplars were cut down.
‘Hack and rack the growing green!’
The sharp sounds from the ‘ack’ mirrors the sound made from an axe as it repetitively strikes the trunk of the tree. The repetition the accentuated words illustrate the blows the tree would have received when it was being cut down.
Wordsworth also uses literacy techniques to convey meanings in his poem. A good example of this can be seen at the end of the first stanza.
‘Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
The alliteration on the double ‘e’ lengthens the word to show the continuing beauty of nature. Furthermore, the rhyme here magnifies this to illustrate a picturesque scene of plant wavering in the breeze.
Wordsworth also uses the language of his poem to depict the large numbers of daffodils that he is so fond of.
‘A host, of golden daffodils’
The word ‘host’ shows the considerable numbers of daffodils. This also reflects on the nature in the poem because the weather has to be good to support the extensive growth of the daffodils. The vast number of daffodils is further magnified with the use of run-on-lines.
‘They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay’
The run on line here further exaggerates the number of plants as well as the fact that the daffodils are ‘…stretched in never-ending line…’
The ‘Binsey Poplars’ poem contains a lot of anger and rage, this reflects on the author, Hopkins. So, from this poem we can see that the character of Hopkins can be very hot-tempered and vengeful. However, the fact that he acted in this outraged fashion means that he cared for the trees very much and therefore we see a loving and caring side to Hopkins. On the other hand, Wordsworth does not show any anger in his poem but only positive feelings such as happiness and elation.
In conclusion, we can see that the two poems differ greatly in the feelings they project through mood and literacy devices. However, the poems do have one thing in common in that they both portray the same sentient of concern over plants that the authors clearly care a lot about.
