Susana Arenas

Lilia Malav

Caracas, february 2015

 Poems Overall Structure

11 stanzas.

Most of them formed by 1 quatrain + 1 couplet (sestet)

Stanzas 4, 8, 10, and 11 are simple octains.

Different number of metric syllables.

Alfred Tennyson, c. 1840

 Poetic Elements
Narrative Poem: It tells the story and evolution of an affaire.

Sound Patterns:

Rhyme scheme: ABAB Not free verse! Thus, this is a

conventional poem.

Stanza 6, verses 4 and 5:

For I heard your rivulet fall Iambic/Anapestic rhythm

(octometer)

from the lake to the meadow and on to the wood Anapestic

 Poetic Elements
Word Sounds:
Repetition:

Forever and ever, mine

(stanza 5, 5th and 6th verse)

Alliteration:

But mine, but mine, so I sware to the

rose (stanza 5, 5th verse)
 Poetic Figures
1. Simile:
In violets blue as your eyes (stanza 7, 4th verse)

1. Metaphor:
He sets the jewel-print of your feet (stanza 7, 3th verse)
Queen rose of the rosebud garden of girls (stanza 9, 1st verse)

1. Synecdoche: Type of metaphor (Lexiconic), one part signifies a

whole (e.g. hands for labour)

As music clashed in the Hall Music for party.

1. Metonymy:
In babble and revel and wine (s. 5, 2th verse) Elements of
party!
 Poetic Figures
1. Humanization/Personification:

As the soul of the rose went into my blood (stanza 5, 2nd verse)

Flower artwork. Source: Houzz.com

 The Hidden Messages
Connotations:

What is the author suggesting here?

I said to the rose, "The brief night goes

In babble and revel and wine.
O young lord-lover, what sighs are those,
For one that will never be thine
But mine, but mine," so I sware to the rose,
"Forever and ever, mine."
 The Hidden Messages
According to Dickson Colleges Ashton Nichols: Whatever
consolations nature offers in Tennyson are almost always
overshadowed by a sense that nature does not care about human
beings or that nature swallows up petty human concerns in its
vastness and impersonal timelessness. (Nichols,n.d.)

The red rose cries, "She is near, she is near;"

And the white rose weeps, "She is late;"
The larkspur listens, "I hear, I hear;"
And the lily whispers, "I wait."
 The Hidden Messages
While analyzing the last quatrain, we can see that:

He links external nature with the depiction of his feelings and state of
mind.
Nature devours his inner wishes of her beloved being near.
Maybe the narrator is unsure about whether he should wait for his
beloved in the garden.

Stanza 9, 4th and 5th verse:

Queen rose of the rosebud garden of girls,

Come hither, the dances are done,
In gloss of satin and glimmer of pearls,
Queen lily and rose in one; What do these represent?
Shine out, little head, sunning over with curls,
To the flowers and be their sun
 The Hidden Messages
The growth of consciousness, and the relationship between the self
and the world beyond, are fundamental concerns of romantic poetry
and poetic theory.
The aesthetic implications of this self-realization are seen in the
characteristically symbolic modes of Romantic poetry:
Sensuous imagery, which embodies states of feeling
rather than being purely descriptive
Subjective use of mythological fable
Adoption of dramatic persona
Tennyson employs each of these self-expressions. (StudyMode,
2004)
 The Hidden Messages

8th Stanza, 5th and 6th verses:

But the rose was awake all night for your sake,
Knowing your promise to me.

Possible Deductions:

The author is trying to embody his current state through the

personification of the rose. (maybe he stayed awake all night
watching her sleep)

There can also be a more raw connotation of this verse, which

can be translated into male sexual arousement (a boner)
 Bibliographic References
Nichols, A. (s.f.). Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Obtenido de Dickens College's
Blogs: http://blogs.dickinson.edu/romnat/2011/06/07/alfred-lord-
tennyson/.

Open School Notes. (s.f.). Elements Of Poetry. Obtenido de Open

School Notes: http://learn.lexiconic.net/elementsofpoetry.htm.

StudyMode. (6 de June de 2004). To what extent Tennyson is a

romantic poet? Obtenido de StudyMode:
http://www.studymode.com/essays/Extent-Tennyson-Romantic-Poet-
65022298.html.