Once did I see a slip of earth,When I first pictured it, I imagined standing on a beach, and seeing a log float in and out with the waves. No one ever really knows how the log ended up in the ocean, but there it is, and sometime soon it will be washed up on the shore.
By throbbing waves long undermined,
Loosed from its hold; -- how no one knew
But all might see it float, obedient to the wind.
Might see it, from the mossy shore
Dissevered float upon the Lake,
Float, with its crest of trees adorned
On which the warbling birds their pastime take.
When I read it again I got something completely different. I thought of what it's like when you're a little kid, pretending different things. I though about seeing a small piece of land floating in a river or a lake. And as a little kid, imagining that it was my own private island, and all the adventures I would have.
This poem invokes imagination. One reader to the next may see something completely different when reading it. It may make someone feel happy and nostalgic, while someone else feels saddened by it.
Even in my own reading of it, I was able to imagine two completely different pictures from it. How very interesting such few lines can do for ones imagination.
good start -- looking for something a little more in-depth/specific with regards to the relationship between the poem and the elements of Romanticism.
ReplyDeleteI have a soft spot for romantic poetry. I love how it is beautiful to read, and how it causes our imaginations to create images that match.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think there is more to this poem than just its beauty. The author is trying to convey the sublime power of nature through the description of an island. This poem is just flooded with romantic elements.