Tuesday 19 October 2010
The winged images in Romantic Poetry
The images of birds are recurrent in Literature. In fact, the symbolism associated to wings and birds is ancient and throught the history of literature new different meanings have been added, attaching new meanings to the words. In Romantic Poetry, birds usually elevate the lyric speaker and take him/her to another world - A Platonic world of pure ideas where the ethereal trascends the earthly world of mortality and decay.
Compare and contrast the images of the raven and the nightingale in the poems by Edgard Allan Poe and John Keats, What symbolism has tradition attached to these two birds? And how do these two romantic poets recreate and give new meaning to these images?
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According to Romantic Poetry, Nature and Animals are the most recurrent images and symbolism of this field during that period. As a brief explanation, poets at that time wanted to go back to the seeds of human kind in order to restore what was left—simplicity, feelings, God, and nature in general. It is important to mention that some poets took into account those ideals into their narrations. This is the case of Poe and Keats in their respective pieces of work.
ReplyDeleteIn ode to a Nightingale and The Raven, animals play an important part in the development of each poem. These birds have a special meaning depending on the context in which they are evaluated. On the one hand, the raven is associated with death, pain, suffering, and loneliness—these interpretations come from the idea that this bird is dark, eat people, and it is always present in cemeteries. On the other hand, the nightingale is considered as a poet because of the melody that this bird produces which can inspire the human poet, and it is also considered as a bird of love because of the melody connections with young couples.
However, these two birds have other connotations in the poems. The raven reflects an image of self-torture because it represents the sin that the speaker wants to portray, and it also represents the melancholy of the speaker—the lost of the beloved love. Another symbolism of the raven in the poem is wisdom—it is impossible to find an animal that speaks and makes someone feel very sad just with the presence—no hope of eternal life. The nightingale reflects the contrast between the human mortality and the immortality of the art—the song that nightingales sing can transport readers into another world. So, it gives the possibility that through songs people can reach the eternal life because mortality is no more than that.
Finally, Birds represent what the author wants to achieve in readers. Everyone can identify their own interpretations of symbols related to nature.
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ReplyDeleteThe images of birds are repeated in Literature as well as in Music. As birds sing, they have been a great inspiration for singers, and composers who have included this animal in their lyrics. For example, the songs “Three Little birds” by Bob Marley, Songbird by Oasis, “Blackbird”, and “Free as a bird” by The Beatles.
ReplyDeleteAccording to scholars, “birds” represent freedom and nature. In relation to this, other sources, for instance the bible, says birds were given the will rule the air (Genesis 1:26 – King James); “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” (Matthew 6:26 – King James) Therefore, birds are very much connected to nature. In addition, birds usually elevate the lyric speaker to another world, an idealistic world of genuine ideas and freedom; another place that differs to the world we live nowadays.
There is a noticeable use of symbolism associated to birds that comes from earliest periods, even before the Romantic period, such as the Victorian Age. Thus through history there has been a development and a progress that have added new meanings to the words. The writers of those times were connected to nature and also Melancholic. The freedom that birds inspire has a lot to do with the choosing of this animal and the meaning that birds carry out.
In the beginning of “Ode on a Nightingale” poem, a bird is presented as a real bird, but as the poem progresses, the bird becomes a symbol. The bird might symbolize more than one thing according to scholars. The music of nature (birds sing) and the idealistic among others. I personally believe that because of the attributes of Nightingale, Keats uses a bird in order to be in touch with nature even in his writings.
While on “The Raven” poem, the bird is a black bird. Some people might associate the adjective black, and the color with evil forces as in the example of Darth Wader (Star Wars film) Furthermore, in “The Raven” poem the raven (bird) is identified as the devil; an evil creature that is able to talk by saying “never more” most of the time; “And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,” (Edgar A. Poe). Therefore, the use of symbolism associated to birds is noticeable but they can have different meanings depending on the context.
Both, the raven and the nightingale are birds, which are symbols of nature and freedom,. Writers admire the birds capacity to sing in whatever occasion that might appear, and that is why they write poems about them, because it is a source of inspiration, they want to be just like them to be free to write and to have the inspiration to write those poems.
ReplyDeleteAs a contrast between these two birds and their meaning in "Ode to a Nightingale" and "The Raven", well, they contrast each other.
The raven is an image of E.A.Poe himself , because it is a dark bird, which mostly appears at night, a lonely bird, and a bird that gives us the feeling of not wanting to get near it. The raven represents the mood of Poe at a personal level as much as a labor level. His wife has died as well as his daughter, and in his story the love one of the protagonist is also dead. As the protagonist speaks with the raven, we could think that actually he is speaking with himself, he is the raven , he found this bird which represents him perfectly because he is feeling dark and blue as well.
Regarding the nightingale, is a bird considered as a poet and gives a different image rather than the raven, even though both are night birds. The nightingale is admired and represented into this poem because of its beautiful song which resembles inspiration and faith.
It is a usefl comment.
ReplyDeleteVery useful & clear comment
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