PDA

View Full Version : Metaphor in Wordsworth



raindrops4u
02-08-2009, 01:55 PM
I'm writing an essay about this poem and I've so far managd to get hold of a lot of technical features, but one thing I haven't been able to figure out is the use of metaphor. I think that in a way, the whole sonnett is a metaphor, but the only true method of comparison i can find is a simile, not metaphor, in line 7. I'd like your opinions on whether the poem has metaphors or not, and if so what they are. I think I might be confusing some things in my head. Thanks :)

(PS: If anyone is really interested, I can send you my essay when I'm done ^^)

1 The world is too much with us; late and soon, a
2 Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: b
3 Little we see in Nature that is ours; b
4 We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! a
5 This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; a
6 The winds that will be howling at all hours, b
7 And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; b
8 For this, for everything, we are out of tune; a
9 It moves us not. -Great God! I'd rather be c
10 A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn d
11 So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, c
12 Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; d
13 Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; c
14 Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn. d


(just in case it wasn't clear, the poem was written by william wordsworth)

JBI
02-08-2009, 02:55 PM
There are several metaphors in the first 4 lines.

LitNetIsGreat
02-08-2009, 02:57 PM
...and some more in the rest.

raindrops4u
02-08-2009, 04:44 PM
okay well my problem is that we're meant to analyze them.... with, what's it called in english? vehicle, tertium comparationis, and something else? and i was thinking of, for example, the giving hearts away as a metaphor, but i can't make out the the vehicle and the tertium comparationis.
the pagan suckled in a creed outworn is something i've mentioned several times in my essay, so i don'T think it's necessary to repeat that ... well really the sestet i'Ve over-analyzed.
would you count getting and spending we lay waste our powers as a metaphor, for example?