Through standing at her window and describing the sketches of nature that she sees, Lowell communicates her feelings of loneliness and struggle of feeling like an outsider. In similar fashion, MacNeice also stands presumably before his window, but instead of personifying the moon, he observes the rain falling and the sound of the rain on the London city streets which inspires him to go on "an imagined journey across the roof-tops of London as religious, moral and metaphysical questions are considered." (Herron, 139)
London Rain was written in 1939. A time of turmoil as the Second world war was just starting and military action was just taking place in Europe. The use of describing London rain brings out the poet's struggle regarding the allusion …show more content…
"London Rain" is no different and can be seen as an "existential poem, a private confrontation with the void" (Mahon, 70) where MacNeice wrestles with thoughts about God as he gazes out at London at night while rain falls. Religion, a consistent theme in his poems is due to his father was a Protestant minister who later rose to be a bishop of the Anglican Church of Ireland. Although raised Christian, MacNeice "abandoned his Christian faith when he was just a teenager." (Tsuji, 11). He did however accept and recognize his father's creed later in life. MacNeice advocated impure poetry, which is "poetry conditioned by the poet's life and the world around him" (MacNeice 1938: preface), therefore it can be assumed that "the belief or attitude the narrator shows in the poem at least reflects the poets belief." (Tsuji, 11).
Similar to "A London Thoroughfare. 2 AM" where the tone of the poem is bleak and depressing, "London Rain" also starts off dreary where in the second stanza his "wishes turn to violent// Horses black as coal-// The randy mares of fancy, // The stallions of the soul- // Eager to take the fences// That fence about my soul." This stanza uses a lot of horse racing imagery where the poet seems to want to break free. This implies a sense of dissatisfaction on where he is in life, and how much he wants to break free. This could be seen as spiritual …show more content…
As O'Neill states, "MacNeice shares, in his individual way, the impulse to rejoice despite the evidence of 'misery and bewilderment and frustration'. MacNeice can be the darkest, most melancholy of poets, and yet his work seems always to be buoyed by an unsentimental, formally adroit insouciance. Indeed, the sadder the subject, the more bravura the formal response, the more flamboyant the airing of a rare lyrical inventiveness." (O'Neill,
London Rain was written in 1939. A time of turmoil as the Second world war was just starting and military action was just taking place in Europe. The use of describing London rain brings out the poet's struggle regarding the allusion …show more content…
"London Rain" is no different and can be seen as an "existential poem, a private confrontation with the void" (Mahon, 70) where MacNeice wrestles with thoughts about God as he gazes out at London at night while rain falls. Religion, a consistent theme in his poems is due to his father was a Protestant minister who later rose to be a bishop of the Anglican Church of Ireland. Although raised Christian, MacNeice "abandoned his Christian faith when he was just a teenager." (Tsuji, 11). He did however accept and recognize his father's creed later in life. MacNeice advocated impure poetry, which is "poetry conditioned by the poet's life and the world around him" (MacNeice 1938: preface), therefore it can be assumed that "the belief or attitude the narrator shows in the poem at least reflects the poets belief." (Tsuji, 11).
Similar to "A London Thoroughfare. 2 AM" where the tone of the poem is bleak and depressing, "London Rain" also starts off dreary where in the second stanza his "wishes turn to violent// Horses black as coal-// The randy mares of fancy, // The stallions of the soul- // Eager to take the fences// That fence about my soul." This stanza uses a lot of horse racing imagery where the poet seems to want to break free. This implies a sense of dissatisfaction on where he is in life, and how much he wants to break free. This could be seen as spiritual …show more content…
As O'Neill states, "MacNeice shares, in his individual way, the impulse to rejoice despite the evidence of 'misery and bewilderment and frustration'. MacNeice can be the darkest, most melancholy of poets, and yet his work seems always to be buoyed by an unsentimental, formally adroit insouciance. Indeed, the sadder the subject, the more bravura the formal response, the more flamboyant the airing of a rare lyrical inventiveness." (O'Neill,