Sonnet 44

           Charlotte Smith was a poet and sonnet writer in the time of the Romantic period of writers. She wrote Sonnet 44 while she was in a churchyard at Middleton in Sussex. She wrote her feelings and emotions about the experiences she perceived as she thought about the visuals of this seascape while she walked the area. It is hard to know if she was emoting and writing down ideas she was truly personally experiencing or if she was writing about the "mythology" or tales told about people who lived in the area and had experienced its secrets. Charlotte speaks about the moon and its creation of the science of tides and how these tides wear away at the seashore of this area in England. She states how powerful the tides are and how they have caused the erosion of the shore. She talks about how the power of the ocean timelessly wears away the shore. She talks about the huge breakers and the breaking waves in this geological area and refers to the "caves". Next she begins to talk about the graveyard and how the power of nature eats away at the graveyard. She states the shoreline is not typical by stating shells and sea weed mingled...bones whiten in the frequent wave"...clearly bones do not belong whitening in an ocean on a sea shore. Therefore she reveals the bad secret of this area , that the graveyard was built too close to the raging waves of the ocean and the graves are being revealed and uprooted by the ocean and the bones decimated.
           Although Charlotte seems sad about this lack of appropriate rest for the bodies of the dead, she personalizes the plight of the dead as she experiences her own personal depression and chooses to engage her thoughts upon the serenity of the dead who lie on the moor. She states a wish that "gaze with envy, on their gloomy rest...." Charlotte Smith lived a sad life and had a very unhappy marriage so perhaps, according to her biographers, her sad demise caused her to wish for an early death where she could escape her life and lie in repose with the other graves on the seashore. Being a romantic poet and writer of sonnets in this time period, nature would have had a strong meaning and significance and reference to her mentality. Romanticists were drawn to the serenity and symbolism of nature and the ultimate reunited of man with nature in death as well as life.

Charlotte Smith- Sonnet I

           Charlotte Smith uses nature to explain a lot of her feelings and to express emotion. She uses nature to portray different ideas and feeling in her Sonnets.  Nautre is used when speaking of both pain and pleasure. A Sonnet is a poem in which it expresses a single complete thought or sentiment. Her poetry and Sonnets are elegiac and express sorrow and lamentations. Charlotte Smith laments and expresses the feelings she has in this way, by using nature. She uses specific words to show the feelings she has. “Smil'd on the rugged path I'm doom'd to tread...” (line 2). She is on this “path” which could mean what she does for a living, her being a poet, writing these Sonnets and expressing all of her feelings to those who read her poetry. But this path that she is on she is “doom'd to tread” which could be the feeling she has while being on the path as she takes each step. It could be that she doesn't feel that it is the right path for her but she still expresses her inspirational writing and poetry. The word nature is expressed in the poem as pain and pleasure. As in line 3, “...and still with sportive hand...wild flowers”. Where she  explains sportive and what fate could do with us and “play” with us and using "rose" to express love and emotion. Whereas in line 8, “Reserves the thorn...” she uses nature in a negative aspect and that it festers in the heart and rots in side of you. Emotions are very strong feelings a person has and it sometimes could “eat you up inside”. It is very evident to see that Charlotte Smith may be missing something and that she had a very hard life, while in debt was put in debtors prison. It is clear to see that she expresses emotions through this art of poetry and writing to express all that she feels inside. But to inspire people as well as express what she had gone through, feels and emotions themselves.

From a Discourse Upon the Origin and Foundation of The Inequality Among Mankind

Why is there inequality among mankind. Rousseau tries to answer this by looking back on the history of mankind and explaining that before societies developed, people were much more compassionate and human to one another. As society developed inequalities developed and were imposed upon mankind. People needed to survive and instead of merely strength and compassion allowing people survival of the fittest,societal norms and prejudices developed. The state of nature that Rousseau could hypothesize about in the primitive island cultures he studied gave way to a society were wealth, and privilege took precedence over compassion and self expression. Society as it became so called civilized actually felt victim to more than self preservation. People saw and evaluated themselves and were measured and evaluated by other people and their imposed real and artificial standards. Being rich gave prestige and power, not being kind and compassionate. These traits can even be inherited and not earned by compassion for one fellow human. Wealth was the measure of inequality in society now, not survival of the fittest or the most kind or compassionate leader of men. This measurement of value in the eyes of others unevaluated the true nature of man for humanitarian survival and imposed different standards of value in society. Self importance became more based on societies perceptions than natures innate demands for an humanitarian and kind, existence of compassionate caring society. Instead artificial values and measurements based on pride and self preservation based on societal norms and wealth and power became the motivation of people in contemporary society.

The Last of the Flock

               Wordsworth's poem "The Last of the Flock" is a good representation of Wordsworth's ability to illustrate an emotional scene taking place in a rural context. The pain and powerful sadness of the flock's owner is palpable in his description of the flock which he once loved and then dwindled to nothingness. Wordsworth communicates the suddenness and depth of his pain with artful literary constructions, using similes such as "It was a vein that never stopped-- Like blood-drops from my heart they dropped." (Vll) The farmer is representational of all people experiencing pain that they cannot control, seeking help from those who will not assist and ultimately falling into despair and recognition of what they have lost. The pain of loss could be so traumatic. When losing someone you love so dearly the pain is incredibly sad. The sadness sometimes will take over your body and thoughts. In the beginning of the semester I experienced a loss of my first cousin Robby, 31 sometimes a person doesn't realize what they really have until its no longer with them. I loved hanging out with my cousin and his two beautiful children of ages two and three. It becomes hard to imagine never being with him again and having those great times we would have. When you lose someone you love so dearly you have to be strong and realize that there is a time and place for everything. However, sometimes the sad emotions take over and you have to learn to defeat these thoughts and emotions and continue to be strong, experience and love life.

We Are Seven

Wordsworth's "We Are Seven" is written in simplistic stanzas that almost mimic a children's nursery rhyme. This stylistic choice contributes to the overwhelming feeling that either the characters know something simple enough for a child to realize or that the views expressed by the little girl are oversimplified. Wordsworth is decriptive about the entire scene of himself meeting a little country girl who refuses to back down when she states that she is one of seven siblings, even though two are dead and buried. It is important to consider the meaning of this statement "We Are Seven." The main points that seemed relevant were that high infant and child mortality rates meant that women were having more children, and the entire faily had to deal with losses and take them in stride. Just as the little woodland girl seems utterly undaunted at the thought of her siblings dead and buried in the churchyard, so too all families need to bury children and continue to lead their lives. Another interesting point is that there is the religious reference to having huge families and living right near the church, almost percieving her dead siblings as being present there in the churchyard where they are buried. This references a very simplistic understanding of religion, a hearty and personal way of percieving the otherworldly in life, which may be attributable to her youth and the more clear understanding of the ways of the world that children often have.

The Nightingale

Coleridge's poem "The Nightengale" is an excellent example of using words to build imagery for the reader. Initially, the poem introduces a serene setting with an old bridge nestled in the darkness of a dimly lit night. Out of this picturesque quiet setting we meet the subject of the poem, the 'melancholy' Nightingale. Though the author introduces the Nightingale as melancholy, this passage also initiates an interesting discussion of the sentiments of nature. The author challenges whether anything in nature can be melancholy, or whether this is perhaps just a projection of man's own feelings and sorrows. He then proceeds to characterize the Nightingale's song as a lover's call. He uses beautiful language and tons of adjectives to give the reader a diversely worded, grammatically complex composition. "That crowds, and hurries, and precipitates / With fast thick warble his delicious notes" (45)  With a line like this, the author has given us a sense of abruptness and urgency, as well as the consistency and liquidity of the Nightingale's song. With characterizations like this the author makes the Nightingale a conduit of the musical mysticism of nature. Another beautiful word choice, "like tipsy Joy that reels with tossing head,"(86) clearly indicates that the author wants the reader and future generations to venerate and value the Nightengale and the musicality of nature's creatures.

The Tale of the Ancyent Marinere

          The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere tells the story of an old seaman who had a supernatural experience while sailing around the world. The central action of the poem is when the Marinere kills the white Albatross, which had brought good luck to his journey. There is a lot of Christian symbolism related to the white Albatross and everything that happens after he is killed. In his poem, Coleridge tries to teach some lessons about how mankind should treat Gods creations, including humans and animals.

           The poem begins with the Marinere stopping three people about to enter a wedding. "His glittering eye" pulls one of the guests in. The Marinere then proceeds to tell the guest the story of his ship that was going south. The ship is driven by a storm, and there is a lot of ice. The ship became stuck in ice, and was surrounded by fog and mist.

            They then see a “white moon-shine Albatross” once the ship's crew sees the Albatross everything starts going better for the journey. The Albatross is a good omen for the Marinere and the ship's crew. They feel that the bird is always saving them. They are then able to go north. The Marinere is hypnotized by the Albatross. The Albatross says “God saved the Ancyent Marinere (line 77)... Why look'dt thou so?"(line 81).Then the Marinere shoots the Albatross with his cross bow.

            The pure white of the Albatross represents the purity of the goodness of the Christian soul, which was always there saving them; and it was as if the Marinere had killed a good person who was trying to save the ship. First the crew is angry at him for killing the bird, and then they come to agree he did the right thing. However, after the Albatross is killed everything starts going bad on the ship. The sun beats down, there is no water to drink and they go from calmness to hell. “Water water, every where, Ne any drop to drink.”( lines 121,122) They threw the dead Albatross around the Marinere's neck to have him feel the guilt and burden of killing the bird. The Marinere says, the Albatross was hung “instead of the cross”. (line 141) This represents the burden of guilt the Marinere has for killing the Albatross, because he could not handle the pure goodness the Albatross represents.

            The rest of the Marineres journey is very supernatural. He encounters a ship of death with two strange creatures, and the entire crew except for him dies. This is the crews punishment for agreeing that is was okay to kill the Albatross. The Marinere gives examples about how things in nature are completely out of sync because the world is not right. Once the Albatross has been killed nothing is right with the world. As each crew member on the ship dies they pass by the Marinere “like the whizz of my cross bow”. (Line 223) The cross bow he used to kill the Albatross comes back to haunt him.

              The moon then starts watching over the Marinere on his ship. The Albatross is called “moon-shine” and the moon represents the goodness in the world. By the light of the moon the Marinere starts blessing Gods creatures “and I blessed them unaware.” (Line 285) When he blesses the creatures the dead Albatross falls off his neck and he finally gains some peace. Then it begins to rain, and the Marinere is no longer thirsty. The rain is like a baptism of renewal for him. The poem ends with another bad experience for the Marinere. His boat eventually sinks but his life is saved by another supernatural spirit, the Hermit. The Marinere returns to his homeland, but his eternal punishment for killing the goodness the Albatross represents, is to continually retell the tale of what happened on his journey, and to try to teach anyone that he can, like the wedding-guest, to be kind to all of Gods creatures and to love everything in Nature that God created.