And miles to go before I sleep,’
This indicates the pressure he seems to be under. He doesn’t actually let us know what is bothering him though. He emphasise the sheer burden that this brings him.
Although both poets are alone this does not hinder their engagement with Nature. Both poets are content to be in the presence of Nature. For Wordsworth as he associates with the daffodils he realises the wealth and compassion of Nature, the over whelming power it has over man’s affections and feelings. Frost on the other hand doesn’t quite feel the awe of Nature. He realises its beauty and power to relax and calm man, but he doesn’t address it quite as enthusiastically as Wordsworth. This adds to the feeling of discomfort that he has to leave unwillingly. His use of language really adds to this, words such as ‘frozen’, ‘darkest’, ‘dark’, ‘deep’, these words are solemn, dim and dull. As for Wordsworth, his language is the complete opposite. Words such as ‘golden’, ‘dancing’, ‘twinkle’, ‘sprightly’, ‘gay’, ‘jocund’, ‘bliss’, ‘pleasure’ all indicate his happiness and joy with the daffodils
I find it amazing how such a simple little flower can uplift someone so much. It really shows the appreciation the poet has for the scene/Nature. When Wordsworth was writing it was unusual for a poet to write about such a simple subject, many poets preferred to write about kings or queens or love etc. Wordsworth sees Nature in a way that has nothing wrong with it. It’s perfect to him, but as we both know this is not always the case. In some ways the scene that he encountered is a little too perfect to be true which leads to the question, ‘has the poet exaggerated the scene?’ well to my way of thinking he has, although it is completely possible for him to have felt so overwhelmed. Frost on the other hand, focuses on a simple subject also although he doesn’t get as excited and enthused by it. Frost lived in Vermont, New England, America and there he was a school master and Farmhand by choice of his own. In both these roles he had the chance to build and cherish a relationship with Nature. He had the ability to transform a common scene into something of magical beauty with a homely feel. His poem ‘stopping by Woods’ is no exception. The line ‘He will not see me stopping here’ gives a common feel to the poem. It’s and everyday thought for many people. In Vermont his surroundings where very plain although to him where fascinating.
The language in both poems shows an appreciation for Nature. In Wordsworth's poem ‘daffodils’ the language seems to be happy and full of life. There are some old fashioned words such as ‘jocund’, ‘oft’, ‘o’er’, ‘inward eye’, but these do not take away from the pleasure expressed through the poem and even in the readers’ enjoyment reading the poem. His language is of a colloquial nature and adds some charm and a ‘human touch’ to the poem. This type of language fits in well with the subject matter being a daffodil. In general his language is very bright and cheery, ‘sprightly’, ‘they outdid the sparkling waves with glee’, ‘flash upon……’, ‘golden’, these all have a bright happy feel to them. His rich emotional and enthusiastic language really does transform the simple daffodil into something of magical beauty. This style of writing is common of a lyrical poet. In Frosts poem ‘stopping by woods’ the language is also appreciative of Nature but not just so lively and enthusiastic. Frost suttely tells us of his encounter with Nature. He describes the scene (woods) as ‘lovely, dark and deep’ this isn’t as vibrant or ‘in your face’ as Wordsworth. Frost in some senses seems to be a lot more laid back and relaxed in his environment; he almost gives this wonderful sight a solemn feel. We know that Frost sees his time in the woods as a piece of heaven, and he feels when he dies he could escape to peaceful tranquillity similar what he is seeing in front of him, but he also realises that he has responsibilities to maintain and doesn’t want to let people down so this puts a ‘downer’ on the ‘happy’ feel to the poem. After all it is easy to put ourselves in the situation, we’ve all been there. Not nessacerily to the extent of feeling in heaven but most certainly the urge to stay somewhere but you have to leave against your will. For the short time that Frost was in the woods all his worries, duties and obligation where left being in the outskirts. That to me would be complete bliss. Frost emphasises his hesitation to leave when he says ‘But have promises to keep.’ He emphasises even more when he repeats his last line twice.
‘And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.’
The language in ‘stopping by woods’ is of colloquial language which again gives it a homely, warm easy read feel. Again this backs up my point of it being common for a lyrical poet to practise this style of writing. In some ways it is sad to think that someone of such talent and skill to write text such as ‘stopping by woods’ would feel so let down by life and depressed. He states in his poem that it’s the darkest evening of the year,-how could somebody feel so down and out so close to Christmas? Unfortunately there are people in today’s society that do feel that way and are not able to feel or experience the peace or relaxation that Frost expressed in his poem.
Wordsworth is really taken back by the impact the daffodils have on him. We see this when he says ‘……………I saw a crowd, A host,’ another sign of his ‘shock’ is when he shows how extensive the show of daffodils are ‘A host…………beside the lake, beneath the trees,’. Frost has a more laid back approach towards how he describes the woods. ‘Lovely, dark and deep,’ as you can see his language to my view isn’t quite as “colourful or energetic”. Although Frost is overwhelmed by the scene of the woods filling with snow, he doesn’t ‘go overboard’ in how he describes it. Simple sentences like ‘Of easy wind and downy flake.’ give us a picture of what he saw. He tends to be more down to the hard lines and fact, where as Wordsworth is ‘head over heels’ into how the daffodils are so extensive and bright.(not to say Wordsworth isn’t fact) This view is understandable although the contrast between the way both poets see Nature is interesting to me. Frost’s tone is very casual and one-to-one. Where as Wordsworth is telling us a lot more enthusiastically. Frost doesn’t go into detail on some points quite as much as Wordsworth does, such as ‘the owner of the woods’ and ‘his horse’. Wordsworth goes into a lot more detail of the scene he encountered. Wordsworth tells us exactly how he saw it, w2hich in some ways could be false as had we have been there we most defiantly would have seen it differently. Both poets make their work easy to read with their use of casual language.
Wordsworth and Frost use a lot of imagery. Wordsworth describes the daffodils as a ‘host’, this emphasises the number of daffodils and also links to heavenly, angelic beings or heaven itself. ‘Floating lonely as a cloud’ this conveys how remote he feels, how distant, isolated he is. He feels lost in his own thoughts. ‘Continuous as the stars that shine’ conveys their shape as stars and their colour like twinkling stars in the sky. ‘Milky way’ conveys the sheer aray of the daffodils. These similes are quite simple and prosaic – typical of a romantic poet. Again the word ‘milky way’ is use of symbolism. Frost uses symbolism to his dilemma of wanting to stay but having to move on to fulfil his responsibilities ‘between the woods and frozen lake’. These all help to bring the view he saw into perspective.
The poetic devices in each poem are very well thought out and used. Frost brings a sense of unease into his poem in the second stanza by introducing his ‘little horse’. This is a prime example of personification. His horse could be his mind or his soul telling him it’s strange to be in the woods ‘My little horse might think it queer to stop without a farmhouse near’. Moving on into stanza three his ‘little horse’ questions him on the situation of being so removed. ‘He gives his harness bells a shake to ask if there is some mistake.’ Wordsworth brings his subject, the daffodils to life using personification too. ‘Tossing their heads in a sprightly dance.’ You picture the daffodils as humans with energy to joyfully dance and celebrate life. The fact he was lonely explains his use of words here ‘jocund company’ we see a sense of communion here. The use of onomatopoeia makes both poems more homely. ‘Fluttering’ the delicate movement of the flower. ‘Gazed’ long sound to emphasise his movement. ‘Glance’ a swift sound to indicate a quick look. ‘Sprightly’ energetic and lively sounding. ‘Bliss’ relaxing sounding. In ‘stopping by woods’ Frost uses the word ‘sweep’ to give the soft feeling of how the snow drifts through the trees. ‘Downy’ indicates again how the flakes slowly drifted down. The word ‘down’ could refer to the movement of duck down as it falls to the ground. The phrase ‘sounds the sweep’ make me think of how the wind whispered through the trees carrying the snow. ‘sounds the sweep’ is also a perfect example of assonance and soft alliteration.
There are a few more points I would like to add to this essay after the first draft has been marked.
