To Marguerite (M. Arnold)

TO MARGUERITE
by: Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)
YES: in the sea of life enisled,
With echoing straits between us thrown.
Dotting the shoreless watery wild,
We mortal millions live alone.
The islands feel the enclasping flow,
And then their endless bounds they know.

But when the moon their hollow lights,
And they are swept by balms of spring,
And in their glens, on starry nights,
The nightingales divinely sing;
And lovely notes, from shore to shore,
Across the sounds and channels pour;

O then a longing like despair
Is to their farthest caverns sent!
For surely once, they feel, we were
Parts of a single continent.
Now round us spreads the watery plain--
O might our marges meet again!

Who order'd that their longing's fire
Should be, as soon as kindled, cool'd?
Who renders vain their deep desire?--
A God, a God their severence ruled;
And bade betwixt their shores to be
The unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea.

(http://www.poetry-archive.com/a/to_marguerite.html)

Linda Arellano
Srygley, Cheryl
AP Literature &
Comp.
09 January 2012
To Marguerite
1.
Reaction to Poem: In the opening lines of To Marguerite the reader is immediately
greeted with the author’s portrayal of loneliness and isolation as if stranded
on a deserted island. Immediately when life is compared to something as vast as
the sea, one can only imagine how truly lonely our lives can be, segregated
from other people by concentrating mainly on our realities and isolating
everyone else’s. Initially I felt there was a feeling of loneliness, despair, and
isolation; however I did sense a feeling of hope and expectation that one is
truly alone.
2.
Paraphrased poem:
a.
Yes, in the ocean, were life is isolated
b.
the silence allows for a sort of inner peace
c.
marking the limitless untamed sea
d.
Are we (humans) truly ever accompanied
e.
The islands feel the constant current
f.
One does not know the bounds there are until we
have reached them

g.
When the light reveals the flaws
h.
And these people begins to
i.
And in the narrow valleys on skies filled with
stars
j.
The birds sing beautifully
k.
And beautiful notes are heard from one end to
the other
l.
The music flows all around as if it were a
waterfall

m.
A hopeless desire
n.
Is sent to the darkest chambers
o.
Certainly it was once known that they were
p.
United
q.
Currently they are surrounded/separated by a
body of water
r.
Yet one can only hope to be reunited once again

s.
Who commanded that their desire’s passion
t.
Would be terminated and lost its fire
u.
Who delivers their deepest wishes in vain
v.
A God decided to terminate the relationship
w.
And commanded their destinies to be neither one
nor the other
x.
The mysterious salt of an unaffectionate sea
3.
Syntax: The poem begins with a rather catchy and
attention grabbing opening line; “YES, in the sea of life enisled”. Line 1, verse 1, the word ‘enisled’ is key in
the portrayal of the isolation the author feels, which also carries out through
the first verse with comparisons such as “we mortal millions live alone”. Verse
two is more of an expository verse in which the author reveals the certain
characteristics such as “hollows” which are lit by moonlight and “balms” from
spring which provide a soothing feeling. In the third verse, the author returns
to the sorrowful and mourning theme of the poem; the key words “longing” and “despair”
clearly remark so. The concluding word choice portrays the author as if he was
asking ‘why me’; the syntax of this last verse uses “Who order’d that their
longing’s fire/ should be, as soon as kindled, cool’d”.
4.
Imagery: Just like an artist paints a canvas,
the word choice used by the author acts as paint used by a painter creating
vivid images in the reader’s mind. In verse one of this poem, the author begins
with the comparison of sea and life. Immediately the reader pictures the sea
and can see him/herself isolated (enisled) and surrounded by nothing but water.
I believe the second verse in particular is filled of imagery being rich in
comparisons the reader can quickly relate to. For example, the reader can
easily picture caves (hollows) that are lit by the moonlight, and then quickly
change images when picturing the ‘balms of spring’ which can be comforting. The
divine songs of the nightingales can nearly be heard as the beautiful song of a
bird. As the poem continues one can also imagine the unity of a continent when
the author says “parts of a single continent”. These are just some of the
several examples of imagery used by Matthew Arnold.
5.
Figurative language: Figurative language serves
a great purpose in creating the imagery. Some of the examples used in this poem
can be found in the very first line of verse 1. “YES, in the sea of life…” life
is quickly compared to the sea which, as we later understand, is used to give
the reader an image of the comparison between the two. Another great example of
figurative language is on the third verse of the poem. “O then the longing like
despair is to their farthest caverns sent”. Their despair and lack of hope is
so great it is sent to the ‘farthest of caverns’. Lastly in the concluding verse, the author
mentions the lovers hope which burns so vividly to be “kindled, cool’d.” This
is perfect usage of figurative language since one can not quantify hope,
however we can imagine it being like a flame and soon become extinguished (cool’d).
6.
Tone: Due to the syntax/word choice, usage of
imagery and figurative language one can come to the conclusion that the author is
rather hopeless and feeling isolated. He seems to have a frustrated love that
can’t be realized or made a reality and is soon becoming extinct. The overall
mood the author gives away with words like longing, which is used frequently in
the poem; give the feeling of hopelessness and gloom.
7.
Theme: In this particular piece of literature,
the theme is about a lost hope on love. The author feels the lonesomeness of
the loss of a love which seemed to unify the meaning of his existence. Yet again
the hope that “our marges meet again” still remains; giving the reader an idea
that deep within he does not lose his expectation that love will come again to
knock at his door.
8.
Conclusion: My impression of the poem didn’t
change too drastically after analyzing this poem more in detail. I did notice I
didn’t mention anything about his love for the one we can assume is Marguerite,
which is stated in the title. Other than that, I still believe that the poem
focused greatly on his loneliness and isolation due to the loss of Marguerite.