According to Furniss & Bath, ‘literacy criticism in the Twentieth Century has come to regard ambiguity in poetry as one of its most characteristic and valuable features’, as shown in Michael Drayton’s sonnet ‘The Parting’, Lord Byron’s poem ‘When we two parted’ and Letitia Elizabeth Landon’s poem ‘Love’s Last Lesson’ (Furniss & Bath, 1996: 207). The symbolism used in these poems portray the ambiguous representation of love/death elegies, love symbolizing hope and death symbolizing loss. Ambiguity, like its definition, can have different meanings: ‘either that it is obscure in meaning or that it seems to have two or more meanings. […] Ambiguity as a poetic device, then, has nothing to do with obscurity of doubtful meaning. In fact, there is
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With the word ‘Passion’ Drayton depicts that he is suffering very much and he does not know what do with his feelings. He uses the oxymoron ‘pulse failing’ to symbolize life and death (Drayton, 1593). Indirectly that could symbolize hope, as he is hoping that his long-lost love is still alive. The last two stanzas are a heroic couplet, a couplet or rhyming iambic pentameters forming a rhythmical unit. The significance of the two extra words, ‘over’ and ‘recover’, emphasize that the relationship is over, but he still has hope that his love will recover from death. The words ‘over’ and ‘recover’ are therefore an example of juxtaposition. Drayton shifts the tone from sad and bitter to …show more content…
The title of this poem is ‘The Parting’ which could be defined as a breakup, but it could also illustrate the final words before someone gets married ‘’till death do us apart’’. This could mean that Drayton was married to someone, and the person passed away. The shaking hands symbolize strength, protection and can transmit spiritual and physical energy. The poet knows that he must stay strong and that he has someone looking over him to protect him. Similarly, Lord Byron’s poem, ‘When we two parted’, uses elegiac features. Byron describes the death of his loved one, ‘Pale grew they cheek and cold’ (Byron, 1815). A cold cheek symbolizes a lifeless cold body. In stanza 3 the word knell is used, ‘a knell to mine ear’ (Byron, 1815). Knell is the soberly sound of a bell rung during a funeral or for a death. He uses hyperbolic language and personification to express his feelings. Byron uses the words ‘Pale grew’ to portray the deceased body (Byron,
With the word ‘Passion’ Drayton depicts that he is suffering very much and he does not know what do with his feelings. He uses the oxymoron ‘pulse failing’ to symbolize life and death (Drayton, 1593). Indirectly that could symbolize hope, as he is hoping that his long-lost love is still alive. The last two stanzas are a heroic couplet, a couplet or rhyming iambic pentameters forming a rhythmical unit. The significance of the two extra words, ‘over’ and ‘recover’, emphasize that the relationship is over, but he still has hope that his love will recover from death. The words ‘over’ and ‘recover’ are therefore an example of juxtaposition. Drayton shifts the tone from sad and bitter to …show more content…
The title of this poem is ‘The Parting’ which could be defined as a breakup, but it could also illustrate the final words before someone gets married ‘’till death do us apart’’. This could mean that Drayton was married to someone, and the person passed away. The shaking hands symbolize strength, protection and can transmit spiritual and physical energy. The poet knows that he must stay strong and that he has someone looking over him to protect him. Similarly, Lord Byron’s poem, ‘When we two parted’, uses elegiac features. Byron describes the death of his loved one, ‘Pale grew they cheek and cold’ (Byron, 1815). A cold cheek symbolizes a lifeless cold body. In stanza 3 the word knell is used, ‘a knell to mine ear’ (Byron, 1815). Knell is the soberly sound of a bell rung during a funeral or for a death. He uses hyperbolic language and personification to express his feelings. Byron uses the words ‘Pale grew’ to portray the deceased body (Byron,