Close Reading Poetry Essays

William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 50: How heavy do I journey on the way” vs. Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake

            Throughout William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 50: How heavy do I journey on the way”, he employs diction that has negative connotations, enjambment, and synesthesia all to emphasis the grief and hardship that accompanies isolation. Shakespeare’s negative diction portrays a sense of overwhelming exhaustion and weariness while the enjambment of different words emphasizes the man’s struggle and the synesthesia works to depict the reaching effect that grief can have.

            The weariness brought on the journeyman is made clear through the tired diction in the sonnet. The words “heavy” and “groan” are used multiple times in these fourteen lines which show that the journeyman has some sort of burden he must bear, some weariness or misery he cannot overcome (“Sonnet 50”). When it is said that “what I seek, me weary travel’s end”, it becomes clear that the source of his misery is in fact the isolation caused by his journey (“Sonnet 50”). But the most importance appearance of negative diction in this sonnet occurs in the couplet at the end. When Shakespeare writes, “my grief lies onward”, he erases any doubt that the traveler might end his isolation (“Sonnet 50”). He confirms that only grief awaits him.

            This grief is, in part, due to the physical struggles along the journey itself—which are made harder still by the emotional weariness from isolation. Shakespeare demonstrates these struggles through his use of enjammed lines. While the enjambment helps to quicken the pace of the second and third quatrains, the lethargic and weary diction creates an ironic effect and emphasizes the struggle of the traveler. Although he may try, he “cannot provoke” haste (“Sonnet 50”).  When he “thrusts into [the animal’s] hide” which would normally encourage speed, he is answered with a heavy groan instead (“Sonnet 50”). All efforts to escape his isolation are failing and his misery just increases.

            One line truly embodies this grief and represents the reaching effects of the grief of isolation. In order to create such a strong effect, Shakespeare used synesthesia. By employing such a device, the implication is that the effects of grief spread across all the senses and completely overwhelm a person. As here the traveler tries to end his isolation by moving forward on his beast, but “heavily he answers with a groan” and it is the weight of this desperate sound which is the most convincing line of the burden of his grief (“Sonnet 50”). It truly represents the hardship of isolation.

            It is that same message which Shakespeare so cleverly develops in just fourteen lines that Margaret Atwood’s novel embodies. In William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 50”, the language works to create a tale of overwhelming exhaustion and isolation from others. This is similar to the isolation and the weariness that can be found in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake. In “Sonnet 50”, all of the diction has a negative connotation which depicts exhaustion and hardship as the themes of the sonnet. As the words “wretch” and “woe” appear in lines 5 and 7 of this poem, similar diction also continuously appears in Oryx and Crake (“Sonnet 50”). In the novel, the main character, Snowman, uses phrases such as “everything is so empty” and that things are only “fragments of the past” to express the sadness in his life (Atwood 11). By using comparable diction, both poems are able to convey a sense of longing and emptiness in the journey that each is going on. The journey itself is another shared aspect between the two texts as Snowman ventures out to the remnants of the cities—alone—as this traveler also journeys unaccompanied. Shakespeare’s traveler seeks his “weary travel’s end” without anyone to seek comfort in, just as Snowman hopes to find new resources for survival with “nobody to hear him” (“Sonnet 50”, Atwood 11).

 

John Clare’s “What is Life?” vs. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale

            Throughout John Clare’s “What is Life?”, he employs rhetorical questions and strong metaphors to convey his themes about the pointlessness of life and the absence of hope. Clare uses rhetorical questions to introduce new aspects of his subject as well as emphasize each discussion point. He incorporates metaphors to paint a picture of life’s hypocrisy and the fading nature of hope.

            In using rhetorical questions, Clare is able to emphasize his purpose of questioning the purpose of life. In fact, the first rhetorical question that is asked is “what is Life?”, which serves as an introduction to the questioning nature of this poem and gets his point across that the purpose of life is in question (“What is Life?”). Another appearance of a rhetorical question is “what is Hope?” where the subject matter changes, yet the same sort of discussion is had; is there true hope (“What is Life?”)? Or is it just a fleeting emotion? Though Clare maintains that it is merely “cobweb, hiding disappointment’s thorn”, without the rhetorical question, the metaphor would not be as effective (“What is Life?”).  The use of the rhetorical questions throughout the poem serves to strengthen the metaphors, and therefore, emphasize the discussion of the purpose of life and the role of hope.

            The metaphors in Clare’s poem paint a picture of the negativity and insignificance of life in order to emphasize the lack of purpose and the absence of hope which accompany those ideas. When Clare says, “A mist retreating from the morning sun” while talking about what life is, the metaphor implies that the purpose of life disappears over time (“What is Life?”). This speaks directly to the purpose of Clare’s poem of calling life’s purpose into question. Clare calls happiness “a bubble on the stream” and if happiness should be so rare, what is the point of life (“What is Life?”)? This metaphor sets up the latter question perfectly and furthers Clare’s purpose in writing this poem. As Hope is referred to as “The puffing gale of morn” which “dies” shortly after, the author implies that hope is fleeting and can actually be harmful (“What is Life?”). Overall, the metaphors work to imply a negative view on the purpose of life, and coupled with the elements of hypocrisy and vanity, demonstrate emptiness in life. A lack of purpose.

In both texts, the meaning of life is discussed in detail. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the main character, who has lost her given name for one assigned to her in her new life, had to rediscover herself throughout the journey. While her status in society demands that she be kept only for child-bearing purposes in the new world order, she begins to question her true purpose in life. She ends up going from a life of numbness to one which, though against the orders of authority, bring greater purpose and meaning to her life. She eventually realizes the vanity of the society she is part of and the hypocrisy of all those around her (Atwood). This same idea can be found in “What is Life” as the title itself brings into question life and its purpose. The poem also implies the hypocrisy of many aspects of life as it claims that “when stripped of its disguise”, life is not as good as it is thought to be (“What is Life?”). The poem also discusses the vanity of those around as there is “proof sufficient of its vanity” in the “foolish eyes” of the people (“What is Life?”). There are very few escapes from this hypocrisy and vanity. While purpose is discovered in The Handmaid’s Tale giving the main character her escape from the corrupt authority, none is found in the poem by John Clare and death is found to be the only escape.

            Another similar aspect is the discussion of hope within the both John Clare’s “What is Life?” and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. While the poem asks: “what is Hope?”, the novel explores the necessity of hope. In the book, the main character remains numb in her life until she discovers hope and hope becomes her salvation. It turns from a small gale of the morning and turns into a grasp on the future. In the poem however, the Hope goes from a “gale of morn” to something which dies before it has had the chance to do good (“What is Life?”). Though this contrast exists between the two, the fact that the discussion of hope is contained in both texts is a strong thematic connection, especially when discussed at the same time as the purpose of life and vanity.