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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This is a 3 page analysis of a poem by C Day Lewis. Poetic devices such as symbolism and metaphor are examined. Bibliography lists 0 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KW60_KFlit041.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
of humanity and aging. While aging and death are topics frequently covered in poetry, the highly adept manner with which C Day Lewis handles the issue sets this particular poem
apart as being worthy of analysis. This is because, rather than focusing purely on the melancholy aspects of growing older, he casts the transition as something of a humanistic triumph,
or a reason for celebration. The deft balance of joy and melancholy within the poem is key to its power; it is by embracing both aspects of aging that Lewis
manages to create a poetic statement that is truly universal. The poet opens his work with a direct statement, ostensibly to the "lover" hell explicitly address later, that one should
"not expect again a phoenix hour". Even in this first line, Lewis has begun to invoke classical poetic devices with the usage of the mythological bird of fire, whose fiery
qualities provide sensory information about the sundown being described, but which also invokes a sense of the same eternal recurrence and rebirth associated with the cycle of sundown and sunrise.
However, the poet is telling his lover "not [to] expect" this to occur again; the tension between using a symbol of recurrence and an admonishment not to expect recurrence immediately
draws the reader in. The poet them goes on to describe "the triple-towered sky, the dove complaining", other invocations of elements of the natural scene which add a great deal
of sensory depth to the poem. The gentility of the image of the dove, however, rather than some more severe or dark bird lends the sundown a character of peace
rather than its typical foreboding. This is also accomplished in the following lines: "sudden the rain of gold and hearts first ease / tranced under trees by the eldritch light
...