Imagery and the Poems Presented

Having read the poems by Wordsworth, Keats, Donne, Burns, and Shakespeare, I have to say that the techniques used to create imagery were insanely breathtaking. During the period of Romanticism, imagery, personification, and relating nature to value of life were constantly experimented with. One poem that really stuck to me was John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn". I admire Keats' work immensely and this poem, I feel, explains the type poet that he was. At one point, I only focused on the word choice and I noticed that the use of certain words, which normally would be complete opposites in meaning and feel, come together to describe the ancient feel of the grecian urn with the delicate feel of Keats meaning and style. In the first stanza, there is the line " Sylvan historian, who canst thus express a flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme". The words "Sylvan historian" hints at somethings that is solid, ancient, an old myth that stands the tests of time. Also the words" flowery tale" and "sweetly" hint at not only the design on the urn but also the flow and feel of the poem as a whole.

In a very romanticist way, Keats changes from describing the urn to talking about youth and life. There is a shift in the middle of the first and second stanza because he ends with questioning what scene is being described on the Grecian urn. What song is being played on the pipes for these ancient dieties? This leads to the pondering of silent pipes filled with unheard "melodies" or sensations of being young and in love.

The imagery is incredible in this poem, as it is with the others as well. Personification and metaphor is greatly used to create a mental picture so the reader can understand the meaning being conveyed within the poem. Shakespeare's "My Mistress' Eyes" is filled with metaphorical references comparing the beauty of his mistress to the more radiant beauty of the Earth. Also in John Donne's "Death be not Proud", Death is given human qualities-representing this mighty being who every one must answer to, but if only death could die itself. After reading and analying these poems, I find myself more aware of imagery and how I can use it in my own poems.