Summary:
An analysis of the poem "Mariana" by Tennyson, about a lonely woman waiting in vain for her lover. The analysis covers the poem's main theme, emotions, techniques, and overall impact.
Mariana
Subject Matter
The poem is featured around a lady named Mariana who throughout the poem is shown waiting for her lover, a man called Angelo. Her mood throughout the poem is shown by the poet's use of pathetic fallacy examples of this are "Lonely moated grange; stanza 1, thickest dark; stanza 2.
Theme
The main theme in the poem "Mariana" is loneliness. Although this is the main theme of the poem there are other smaller themes to it such as, the feelings of Hope and lost hope and the consequences of acting or not acting on you emotions. The character Mariana chose not to act and through this course of inaction she found herself lonely and eventually losing hope.
Emotions
The poem Mariana shows us many emotions; the overall feeling behind the poem is very negative and depressing. Although the feeling of hope is shown frequently it's not felt by the reader, she feels hope but we know it's misplaced. The feeling of hope she feels is finally lost in the last stanza and is shown by the text changing in the refrain from "he cometh not" to "He will not come." This realization by Mariana douses whatever feeling of hope she feels and replaces them with negative emotions. In the last stanza the lines "O God, that I were dead!" she invites god to kill her, which shows an ultimate feeling of desperation and depression and elevates the feelings of sadness.
Techniques
The poet uses a variety of techniques throughout the poem. The poet uses pathetic fallacy to express Marianas emotion throughout the poem with lines like "The broken sheds look'd sad" and "glooming flats."
Tennyson's use of the technique refrain is very effective, at the end of each stanza the same lines are repeated with the exception of the final stanza where Mariana makes the realization that her lover will not come for her.
The use refrain in this poem was make the reader relate to Marianas feeling of "boredom" and "depression" by reading the same lines at the end of every line the reader feels what she is feeling.
The use of Personification in this poem also worked well for the poet, almost all objects described in this poem were described as not functional or broken, obviously reflecting the emotions and state of mind of the main character Mariana. "The broken sheds" [first Stanza] "Weeded and worn the ancient thatch" [First Stanza] "blacken'd waters" [Forth Stanza].
Another Technique Tennyson used in this poem is the use of Phallic Symbol in the fifth stanza. Tennyson wrote about the Poplar tree, which symbolizes fertility and love. The poet writes "The shadow of the poplar fell Upon her bed, across her brow" then is followed by the Refrain. The poplar tree mocks her emotional state of mind, showing her in symbolic terms what she cannot have.
Summary
The poem did have an impact on me as I formed an opinion about it almost immediately after reading it, although the poem did not make me feel for Mariana I could clearly see the feeling behind the message of the poem was there. I felt the character Mariana to be over dramatized and over emotional. She waits for a man who clearly never wanted her and was only after her family's fortune.
But the way it was written was the genius behind the poem not the topic. Tennyson's use of a variety of poetic techniques especially his use of personification and refrain makes up for my lack of feeling towards the character.
This is the complete article, containing 583 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
