To A Snow Drop by William Wordsworth - English Lit A/L - Poetry 1

 

          To A Snow Drop by William Wordsworth

Lone Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,
Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay
The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend
Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May
Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!

Themes

• Beauty of nature
• The Simplicity of nature
• Resilience
• Determination to survive
• Along with the reflection on nature the idea of  the shortness of human life
• The inequalities of the society
• The difference between the privilege and non-privilege
• The gap between the rich and the poor, the power and the humanity
• Modesty
• Spiritual strength

Techniques                                                                                                           

·        Foreshadowing

·        Metaphors

·        Simile

·        Personification

·        Alliteration

·        Tone of the poem

·        Visual and auditory images

·        Rhyme scheme

·        Petrarchan sonnet & Iambic pentameter

 

                                      

References:

AL resource book provided by NIE, www.poemanalysis.com, www.owlcation.com