Lesson 36
Song
1. What is the occasion of the poem? What literary device does the poet employ? Describe what you know of the speaker, the listener, and the “she” referred to in the poem.
The occasion of the poem is a man confessing his love for a woman. Right? The line “Tell her that wastes her time and me,/ That now she knows,/ When I resemble her to thee…”(lines 2-4) the man is comparing the rose to the woman. Which, although it is corny, is something someone would do only if they were in love.
2. Paraphrase each of the four stanzas.
I send this rose, to tell her not to live wondering anymore, she can now know that when I compare this rose’s beauty to her beauty she will know I am the one in love with her. Tell her rose, not to hide anymore. She has hid herself from men, now she can come forward. Beauty is minor to the amount I love her; it makes me blush to talk about her. You may die roes, but the love between her an I will remain. That is what is wonderful and fair. (Something to that effect)
3. Describe the prosody, including stanza form, rhyme, meter, and notable metrical substitutions (spondees), as well as the structure of the poem. How do these choices help to reinforce the poem’s content?
The poem is structured into four stanzas, which each follow the same rhyme scheme, which is ababb. The stanza are also each constructed the same way, as far as line length. Lines the first and third lines of each stanza contains four syllables. The second, fourth and fifth lines of each stanza contain seven syllables.
Virtue
1. Consider first Herbert’s use of metaphor and personification. In each case, what two unlike things are being compared, and what do they have in common?
In the first stanza, the metaphor comparing a marriage between the ground and the sky, “The bridal of the earth and sky…” Next, in the second stanza the poet personifies the rose, “whose hue angry and brave/ Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye…” The poet is referring to the rose as though the rose were a creature, capable of becoming angry or evoking an emotion. The next metaphor is “Only a sweet and virtuous soul, like season’d timber, never gives…” (Lines 13-14) Despite the fact that I thought that would be considered a simile. Which George Hebert is comparing the soul of a man, as unforgiving and stubborn, much the same as an old and large piece of lumber.
2. How is the poem structured, and how does this structure support its meaning? Consider parallelism, order, and the turn in the poem.
The poem is structured into four stanzas, which each consist of four lines; the first three lines consisting of eight syllables, and the last line of each stanza containing merely four stanzas. Which the last lines of each stanza each consist of some form of dying or living. “For thou must die,” “And thou must die,” “And all must die,” “Then chiefly lives.”
3. How does the prosody reinforce the poem’s meaning?
In the last portion of my response to question two I began to mention it. The last lines in each stanza play a vital role in the significance and meaning of the entire poem. The first three stanzas talk about how everyone must eventually die. The last lines of those three stanzas state, “For thou must die,” “And thou must die,” and “And all must die.” However, the last stanza speaks on how, although we die in physicality our souls will continue to live. The last line of the poem states, “Then chiefly lives.”
