Poetical Elements (Whitman and the Fireside Poets)

Poetic Devices

Understanding poetic devices is vital to decoding poetry and to finding a poem's meaning and purpose. You have already worked with several of these devices in this module, but take a moment to refresh your memory of the most important ones. In this interactivity, click on each of the spinning dots to review poetic devices. Click the player button to begin.

View a printable version of the interactivity.

 

Poetry of Romanticism

One major theme of Romanticism is escape from the corruption of city life to the purity of the country. This idea coincided with manifest destiny, or westward expansion. After the Revolutionary War ended, Americans sought new opportunity and exploration of the vast land they had just won. As cities became more established, many people left the corruption of the city for a simpler, more vital existence in rural settings. These attitudes were reflected in the poetry and many of the nonfiction essays. The poetry of Romanticism uses imagery from nature to teach lessons about life.

Thomas Arp, editor for Perrine's Sound and Sense, states, "Poetry is the non-painter's canvas. People who love words can paint with them to create their portrait." Just as the artist uses shapes, images, and shadowing to convey an image, the poet uses words and literary devices to express himself. A poem can convey an emotion or feeling, or it can be a narrative that tells a story. The meaning can be grand or humble depending on the purpose the author intends.

As you read the poetry of the Fireside Poets and Whitman, use the following points to make understanding the poems easier.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Use the points above to analyze and examine a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the Fireside Poets. His poetry was translated into two dozen languages and read by millions. He was a professor at Bowdoin College and Harvard University where he translated and taught poetry, sometimes even writing his own textbooks. Longfellow was criticized for writing optimistic, sentimental poetry, but it was this tone that made his poetry so popular. His poetry soothed and encouraged readers, and this popularity made him one of the most beloved poets of his time.

This poem contains many examples of language and sound devices, but it is more than just the sum of its technical and literary elements. This poem exemplifies the themes and characteristics of Romanticism. "The Tide Rise, the Tide Falls" is about nature and how nature and life go on despite the mortality of humans. In this poem, Longfellow expresses the rising and falling of the tides in the repetition of that line and also in the sound of the words. Say it out loud: the tide rises, the tide falls. That line is used to mimic the action of tides while a traveler arrives in town and dies. The struggle of life is played out in this poem with all of the beautiful images and sounds created by the poet's words.

Look at the analysis of the poem below. Did you find similar devices and themes when you analyzed the poem?

Steps to Reading and Understanding Poetry: "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls"

• Step One: Read the poem once to listen to its sound, and then read it a second time for meaning.
  • Notice that it has a definite meter or beat, and it also has obvious rhyme.
• Step Two: Summarize the poem and study its structure (take it one stanza at a time, rewriting in simple language), and then define any new or unfamiliar vocabulary.
  • Notice that the lines are short and the word choice is clear. The poem is divided into three stanzas.
  • The first stanza describes the tide as twilight falls and a traveler hurries to town.
  • The second stanza describes darkness falling while the tide still comes and goes.
  • The third stanza describes the break of dawn, the tide, and the absences of the traveler.
  • curlew - a large, brownish shorebird with long legs
  • efface - to wipe out or erase
  • hostler - a person who takes care of horses
• Step Three: Determine the purpose and/or occasion for the poem.
  • The poet's purpose is to demonstrate the ephemeral nature of an individual life in comparison to the continual cycle of nature.
• Step Four: Identify the speaker of the poem. Remember, the poet is not always the speaker.
  • The speaker is a narrator who observes something to which he or she is not really connected.
• Step Five: Study what the title of the poem emphasizes.
  • The title of the poem emphasizes the cyclical characteristic of nature in the ebb and flow of the tide.
• Step Six: Identify the tone of the poem. Study the use of imagery and its effect on you as you read.
  • The tone of the poem is one of acceptance. The image of the waves erasing the footprints in the sand may give the reader a sense of melancholy or loss.
• Step Seven: Notate examples of figurative language and sound devices used in the poem.

Take a moment to analyze the poetic devices that Longfellow uses in his poem "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls." This poem is an extended metaphor in that the entire poem talks about tides in comparison with life and death. In this interactivity, click on each of the tabs to examine the many poetic devices in Longfellow's poem. Click on the player button to begin.

View a printable version of the interactivity.

 

• Step Eight: Formulate a theme.
  • The theme of the poem is that nature continues regardless of humanity's life or death.
• Step Nine (for this topic): Consider how the poem demonstrates Romanticism.
  • This poem demonstrates Romanticism because it is based on nature and its use of imagery.

 

The Fireside Poets

Certainly the fact that these men were contemporaries of each other influenced their tones. They also closely copied popular European Romantic poets. Though not vastly unique, they represented the first generation of internationally recognized American poets. It was a time when families sat around their parlors in the evening reading poems, when the public debated poetry in salons and coffee shops, and when school children memorized entire poems. These men were the literary masters of their day.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Oliver Wendell Holmes was a descendant of a 17th century poet, Anne Bradstreet, and the father of a U.S. Supreme Court justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. He was a medical doctor by profession and taught medicine at Harvard University. While teaching, he wrote poetry and co-founded The Atlantic Monthly, a literary magazine that is still hugely popular and now mainly prints liberal nonfiction pieces. Holmes is renowned for his use of exaggeration, vivid turns of phrase, and memorable statements.

James Russell Lowell

James Russell Lowell has been considered the most talented of the group, but due to personal tragedies (such as the deaths of his wife and three of his children), he only published four major collections in the 1840s. Later in life, he wrote editorials supporting abolition and co-founded The Atlantic Monthly.

John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier most represents the American Dream of any of the four poets. He was a Quaker who grew up poor on a farm in Massachusetts, but he involved himself in politics from a young age. Whittier was elected to the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1835. He also spent a quarter of a century working for the abolition of slavery. Whittier did not fully focus on his poetry until the end of the Civil War, reaching the height of his literary career in the late 1860s.

Walt Whitman

Perhaps one of the most prolific poets of the time, Walt Whitman became the voice of a burgeoning nation with poetry that was as direct, unique, and imbued with patriotism as was the country that produced him. Born on Long Island in 1819, Whitman grew up in the 19th century boomtown atmosphere of Brooklyn where he held a number of jobs including office clerk, printer, schoolteacher, and reporter. After a while, Whitman uprooted himself to travel across the new country, quietly observing and putting together a collection of poems that would later have a tremendous influence and lasting effect on American literature.

In 1855, Whitman paid for the publication of his masterpiece, Leaves of Grass. While its initial publication received very little notice by the public, Whitman was undeterred. Leaves of Grass would eventually earn high praise and undergo nine different expansions and editions, ending only with his death in 1891.

 

Poetic Devices Review

Now that you have explored poetic devices used in Romantic poetry, review your knowledge in this non-graded activity. Read each definition and use the drop-down menu to select the poetic device that matches the definition. Click on the player button to get started.