Years essay aims to analyse ‘A Sonnet of

Years ago, books were not common, unlike themodern society we live in now. Nevertheless, people used to tell stories butnot in the same manner as the novels we read nowadays. Thoughts and feelingswere expressed in the form of poetry. This essay aims to analyse ‘A Sonnet ofthe Moon’ by Charles Best (1608) and Sad Steps’ by Philip Larkin (1974).

Thiswork will portray the deeper meaning and tone of each poem focusing on thecrucial aspects of formal features and language used in poetry. Furthermore,the first paragraph will focus more on the poem by Best (1608), followed by thesecond paragraph which will focus on the poem by Larkin (1974). Finally, thethird paragraph will compare and contrast the two poems followed by aconclusion.

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  The first poem to discuss is ‘A Sonnet of theMoon’ by Charles Best. This type of poem is called a sonnet, which is a kind ofpoem that conveys ideas and thoughts  made up of 14 lines. A sonnet has a particularrhyme scheme and a specific turn (Abrams,1993). This poem by Best (1608) ispainting the connection between the moon and the ocean even though at the endof this poem, this relationship seems to have changed to some degree. At thestart of the poem the writer describes the link between the moon and ocean, yetcloses contrasting this relationship to that faced by two lovers who areseparated. The line “so as you come and as you do depart, joys ebb and flowwithin my tender heart’ is a good illustration of the connection andrelationship of separated lovers just like the moon and ocean because when themoon disappears during daylight, this is similar to when lovers disappear fromeach other in the course of their relationship(Abrams,1993).

The  language used in the poem seems to bedescriptive as well as having some personification, this is illustrated by the waythe feeling was described as well as the use of images. An example of thisexpression is “when you return their tide my heart doth fill.” The image use ofimages in the poem was used when he referred to the moon or ocean. This isevident in the way he described the tides of the water and crystal waves andadditionally as the “pale queen” or the moon.

The use of some personificationis evident in the use of terms like e.g. “silent night” and “crystal waves.

The poem made it difficult toestablish the use of metaphors for example “the pale queen of the silentnight.” It is not clear if this is a comparison or not. Furthermore, there wasone simile in the line “as long as she is in his sight (Furniss and Bath,1996).To sum it up the writer compared the relationship found in nature to that ofthe relationships found in life.The poem ‘Sad Steps’ by Philip Larkin (1974)explores the poet’s perception of losing his youth. The first line of the poemprovides a different meaning to this title. The ‘sad steps’ seem to be veryinformal  and  more like everyday language. The openingsentence is vulgar, and seems as if the poet had intentions of making it knownto the reader that the subject of his poem was in bad taste.

It seems as if Larkinwrote this poem for the average regular person than people from the upperclass. The use of ‘taking a piss’ is not the typical language that is used inpoetry, and this can be construed to be in bad taste in the literary circles.The word ‘groping’ can also be construed to be in bad taste and gives a feelingof murkiness (Larkin, 2006). The crudeness of the language used in the poem candisabuse the reader of any simple interpretation of how beautiful the moon andhow it mirror’s the writer’s sorrow. Larkin portrays that the moon was strikinghim in the night sky, this was something most poets in that period weregenerally attracted to. However, he avoided the age-old reactions to the moonand highlighted this in overstated language by utilising exclamation marks insuggesting that they lost their earnestness and now appear to be excessivelypulled back from people’s mentalities to the moon as a symbol of romance. Atthe end of line 12, the use of a blunt ‘No’, the poet replaces thesesentimental dreams of the moon’s importance with a more grounded reaction,because the dull colours of the moon mirror’s his lost youth and how sad hefeels about it. This sonnet is created form this youthful perspective, yet froma maturing and older person the moon’s paleness reminds him that thestrongly-felt emotions of youth have blurred (Furniss and Bath,1996).

This poemprovides insight into the poet’s capacity to scrutinise his feelings in plainlanguage and additionally using highly poetic language and a sophisticatedrhyme scheme. Furthermore, this essay would like toreintroduce the relationship between the two poems: “Sad Steps” and “A Sonnetof the moon. The common element present in both poems is sadness over the lossof youth and passion of being in love with a woman who keeps leaving. Bothpoems also have a commonness of themes that involves passion and sadness formboth ends of the scale. In comparison, there is a difference between the twopoems in the rhymes, the metaphors used, language, and the punctuation. In SadSteps, the language is colloquial words and vulgar and controversial language(with the use of ‘groping back to bed after a piss’).

The poet creates an ambiguousmeaning of this poem leaving the reader to his/her interpretation of the poem.In comparison, ‘A sonnet of the moon ‘uses formal and literary language. Thepoem was written in 1608, it was a different period in time compared to 1974when Larkin wrote his poem, hence the difference in the language and tone.  Also, the difference between the two poems isthat ‘A Sonnet of the moon is an original sonnet whereas ‘Sad Steps’ is areference of another sonnet by Sir Philip Sidney so in other words this poem isspeaking to another poem.Thus, it appears as if there is a presence of an echo of another voicebehind the poem.

Larkin’s poem is divided into six stanzas, with three lines ineach stanza. The rhyme in the poem is abc bba cdc edc efe ffe. Of mostimportant is the language of this poem, which is accessible, and can be said tobe informal as provided in the first verse where he used the word “piss and thesonnet goes on to change gradually to a formal language.

Larkin uses remarkableliterary devices such as metaphors to refer to the moon. He uses exaggerations suchas “Medallion of Art!’ The use of the exclamation marks gives intensity to thesonnet and gives the poet the chance to emphasise the feeling that he wants tocommunicate with some verses. Finally, brackets and colons have also been usedby the poet to give a better understanding of his emotions.

On the other hand,best (1608) uses formal and figurative language by noting the interconnectionof the moon and the ocean and contrasting it to the relationship between himand the woman he is in love with. The poem appears to be dedicated to a lovedone. The rhyme in the poem is a b c e d d f g f g h h. In this poem, the rhymescheme is important in light of the fact that it separates the poem into threesections which serve as a construction of suspension towards the finishing ofthe poem, suggesting to the reader that the moon is not as good as romanticsportrays it. This poem is not written in vulgar and controversial language ascompared to Larkin’s poem (Furniss and Bath,1996). In conclusion, the two poems give an insightof conflicting emotions using different figurative language. This asserts thevital role that poetry plays in our everyday lives, and it gives us a deeperunderstanding of the English language, a language most people think they knowand understand yet suddenly the words change and appears not to make sensethrough the use of poetic language.

The use of poetry can serve many differentpositive purposes on society as no one poem can be read in the same manner. 

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