![]() ![]() The second stanza constitutes a sonnet-like ‘turn’ (the volta which marks a change in direction, pace or tone) as the poet stands in front of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. The form of this poem – the continuous present of the verb in the first stanza (especially line 4) the flow of one line into the next (enjambment) – reflects and simultaneously reinforces the reverie-like state of the poet. The poem masquerades as something conversational and so technically it is free verse (although there is a detectable, if lackadaisical, rhythm and rhyme scheme). ![]() It is as if the reader has stumbled upon Auden’s train of thought or that he has deliberately stopped us in our tracks with his musings. ![]() ‘About suffering they were never wrong,/The Old Masters,’ is the arresting opening to Auden’s poem. Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on. Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, Water, and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen Quite leisurely from the disaster the ploughman mayīut for him it was not an important failure the sun shoneĪs it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green In Breughel’s Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer’s horse That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waitingįor the miraculous birth, there always must beĬhildren who did not specially want it to happen, skating While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along The old Masters: how well they understood ‘life is a walking shadow’) to expand our visualisation and understanding of a scene or a situation? ‘my love is like a red, red rose’) or metaphor (where one thing is actually substituted for another e.g. What about the figurative language of poetry and its impact on the reader? Does the poet use simile (an image in which one thing is likened to another e.g. If consonants are repeated (alliteration) or vowel sounds are repeated (assonance), and if there is only occasional rhyming or slant rhyme (similar sounding words but not quite a perfect match), what kind of effect does this have? (This is also enhanced by the sense carrying over from line to line – called enjambment.) What type of language characterises the poem – archaic, specialised or colloquial – and are there any vivid, emotive or surprising choices of words? If there is no identifiable rhyme scheme or regular rhythm it could have quite a conversational feel. ![]() The technical skills employed by a poet are actually his or her artistry (and armoury) of expression. The Auden poem you are about to read is composed in free verse and this can be a challenging form to analyse in purely ‘technical’ terms, but the following general guidelines should help you work out how the poet conveys his feelings on viewing the Brueghel painting.Ī first relatively (or deceptively) straightforward question to ask is ‘what is the poem about?’ Is it descriptive, reflective, a message of some sort or an outpouring of emotion? Is anyone specifically addressed? Does it work on more than one level of meaning and are we encouraged to read between its lines? ![]()
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