Summary:
The poems "Afterwards" by Thomas Hardy and "The Wild Swans at Coole" by W.B. Yeats both use vivid nature imagery to enhance their central natural ideas and contrast it to humanity. Both poets paint obvious pictures to convey their fascination of nature; although, Yeats and Hardy portray their fascinations and lust for nature from 2 different points of view.
The poems "Afterwards" by Thomas Hardy and "The Wild Swans at Coole" by W.B. Yeats both use vivid nature imagery to enhance their central natural ideas and contrast it to humanity. Both poets paint obvious pictures to convey their fascination of nature; although, Yeats and Hardy portray their fascinations and lust for nature from 2 different points of view. The poets' images and meanings are delivered to us via a unique selection of diction and certain phrases, structured especially to expose nature's beauty.
Yeats distinguishes nature as 2 different parts - animals/creatures part of nature, and the atmospherically wholesome portion of nature. He describes the trees as beauties in "trees in their autumn beauty", and woodlands as being "dry", stable and secure while he seems overtaken by the sun's beautiful preset "under the October twilight." We can easily visualize this striking sun-halfway-in-the-sky scene, which makes this image vivid and sticking, letting us know that nature is fixed in his mind and it's the dominant feature of his world. He reinforces this image of the stunning natural atmosphere in "water mirrors a still sky", showing that the sky is clear; there's no wind (which could symbolize nuisance) and everything is tranquil, serene and peaceful; almost surreal. Comparing to this scene, Hardy sets a rather mysterious, quiet and slow one. "In the dusk" and "eyelid's soundless blink" both express his appreciation of nature as a dark, mysterious environment, silent and discrete. "A crossing breeze cuts a pause in its outrollings" communicates a thought from the poet - that tell us that he notices nature as a powerful competitor of man, and it pauses everything in its way; in other words it destroys everything in its way, leaving sadness and "gloom" behind.
Hardy tries to reach a bright side to his vision of nature, here: "the dewfall-hawk comes crossing the shades" suggesting that he's trying to cross his own borders of thought and change his view upon nature, yet he fails and remains lurking in darkness, shown in this quote from Hardy's "Afterwards": "if I pass during some nocturnal blackness, mothy and warm." This line confirms that he's giving up on lighting upon nature and he's living in its shadows, expecting to die in its darkest parts. The words "mothy" and "warm" are unhurried, heavy words reflecting upon Hardy's slow, heavy feel of nature. This provided me with an image of Hardy breathing-heavily in a 'mothy' jungle-like environment. Yeats on the other hand, opposing Hardy completely, continues an exciting chain of images of nature and what it occupies. "Nineteenth Autumn" demonstrates his appreciation and admiration of nature as he suggested 19 "autumns" instead of the plain 19 years. His repetition of "twilight" reveals that he appreciates the sky and atmosphere at a deeper level, unlike animals and "creatures" in nature, which is the second part of nature he sees. "Companionable streams" portrays nature as a loving individual, full of affection and companionship; and love in flowing everywhere like "companionable streams." "Climb the air" conveys the thought that the poet's so merged with nature mentally, he feels that he could walk on air, like they're one being.
"Afterwards" uses several aspects of nature to emphasize the grandeur of ordinary things and how the poet noticed such things but questioned if people would remember him for this after his death. Hardy, again, contrasts his previous images of nature, and gives the poem a new view and persona by describing the season of Spring as being "delicate-filmed as new spun silk" giving a precise description of the beauty of spring by comparing it to a shiny new fabric, with connotations of value and exquisiteness. This shows that a part of Hardy always appreciated nature as a beautiful sunny environment ----but it was too weak and intimidated by darkness and death to escape- yet, he's managed to deliver it to us through a vivid, deep image which we could visualize, which made it easier to understand. By comparing spring to the soft touch of new silk, which feels 'so good', Hardy contrasts a previous image where I visualized him breathing heavily in a jungle-like atmosphere. While Hardy is starting to appreciate nature and its contents, Yeats is well ahead of him, reinforcing images he has already created with more images, such as "still water, mysterious, beautiful." This is an image associated with an enjambment. This purpose of this effect is to illustrate that no matter how much Yeats mentions nature's magnificence and exquisiteness, it's not enough and he can easily keep going on and on, re-emphasizing the splendor and peaceful nature of nature.
Thomas Hardy and W.B. Yeats are both strong believers [and fans] of nature - with 1 difference - they each look at it from a different prospective. Hardy finds it hard to appreciate the beauty of nature, although he manages to, after sometime; while Yeats is surrounded by the thought that nature is dominant, like no other thing in the world. These images and ideas are portrayed through vivid images, sometimes physically imaginable, and some poetic techniques along with the exorbitant aid of precise diction.
This is the complete article, containing 848 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
