Essay on "Husband's Message Portrays a Feeling of Loss"

Essay 6 pages (1917 words) Sources: 0

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Husband's Message" portrays a feeling of loss, while also depicting a hopeful even optimistic mood. In the poem, the lord recognizes his pain for having to leave his wife and abandon their marriage, yet he is hopeful now that he possesses the wealth that he did not possess before. He is optimistic that his wife will join him and that together they could be the happy couple they once were.

A poetic device that adds meaning and purpose to this poem is the unique point-of-view. The story in this poem is being told from a first person perspective, however the main character (the lord) speaks of himself in the third person (in terms of the piece of wood). He does this to separate the person who had to tragically leave his wife behind, form the person who loves her still and wants her to join him, "And this time I have come especially / to sow assurance in your mind / About my lord's great love for you. / I swear that you will find in him / Great faith to you, great loyalty." This develops the mood of both loss and optimism by treating them as two separate entities. Both points-of-view are achieved through the personification of the wood onto which the lord is carving his message to his lady. By making the wood a speaker of the lord's feelings, it adds on to the poem's mood.

The imagery in this poem depicts the sense of loss that the main character feels for not having his wife with him. When describing his departure, the reader can almost see and feel just as the main character did when he had to leave, "Forced by the feud to launch his boat from here, / He went over the waves alone in his youth, / Set forth on the way of the flood, eager to / Depart and divide the quiet waters." Having the carved piece of wood also serve as a symbol of their love and possible endurance, makes this poem one full of poetic mechanisms.

2.)

Although the poem "The Husband's Message" encompasses a great deal of the characteristics of an epic poem, this poem itself is not an epic poem. There is no real hero in this poem. The main character, the lord, is a conventional hero in the sense that he did go out to war and he did what he had to do for his side, but nothing about him made him any more special than any of the other participants in the war. He did not stop the war himself, and he is not going back to his home as a hero. Instead, he wants to stay where he is and he wants his wife to come to him. A true epic hero is depicted as almost godly and mythical, both which lack in the lord of this poem.

War can make the description of events seem epic, but in reality, the aspect of war is void in this poem. War is not mentioned as a series of events leading to a specific outcome, it is instead referenced as being the cause of the barrier between the lord and his wife. Although the poem does state the different settings, which makes one think of his traveling around to different parts of the world, it is not the traveling that is the main focus of this poem. Again, it comes back to the love between the lord and the lady. An epic poem would put much more emphasis on the description of the war and it would make the character into a much bigger portion of the poem's events; this poem however, does not do that.

An epic poem needs to encompass content that makes the story being told seem almost magical. It is supposed to make one question myth from reality and allows for the exaggeration of events in order to fulfill a certain characteristic within the poem. As previously stated, "The Husband's Message" fails to do so and therefore does not encompass an epic poem's qualifications.

3.)

Based on "Sonnet 57" Shakespeare's view of love is of being a wonderful feeling that should not be taken too lightly as it does have great power over the individual. He compares being in love to being a slave. He states, "But like a sad slave, stay and think of nought," he describes the attachment of an individual to his former lover as being one that borders with insecurity. Instead of letting go and genuinely wishing the other a good life, love makes him a slave to his former lover and forces him to think about his lover constantly. Shakespeare believes that we fall victim to our emotions and can let them master our true selves.

Shakespeare furthers demonstrates this point in another poem of his, "Sonnet 29." In this Sonnet, he depicts falling victim to emotions of self-pity and self-hatred and how those two things can lead to a person's downfall. Shakespeare feels strongly about how much emotions can rule one's thoughts, and he portrays this with the lines, "Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope / With what I enjoy most contented least / Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising..." However, another strong emotion, love, also has such great powers over an individual that it allows him to dismiss those self-hating feelings for love, "For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings / That then I scorn to change my state with kings."

In Sonnet 30, Shakespeare furthers demonstrates the power that he believes emotions have over an individual. Sorrow is an emotion felt by all, and even though at times it may seem like the end of the world, love can come and change that perspective. Shakespeare writes, "But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, / All losses are restored and losses end." Again, the power that emotions have can alter an individual's perspective and that can be seen throughout Shakespeare's poems.

4.)

The sense of irony is apparent in the sarcastic mode that the poem takes on. "Sonnet 57" speaks about the pain that love can bring upon those who feel this emotion and how they tend to dwell on all the negative. However, the irony of the poem comes at the very end, which makes one think twice about the rest of the poem. The last two lines are both examples of the sarcasm with which this poem was actually written.

In the line, "So true a fool is love...," the author realizes that although love is indeed a great emotion, one that has him staying up at night and thinking during the day about the whereabouts of his lover, he realizes how much of a fool this really makes him out to be. He realizes that his actions and his thoughts are completely irrational, adding on to the sense of sarcasm that one can understand once re-reading the poem. His desire to constantly think about his lover, and frequently envy his actions may come forth as being a "slave" to love, when in reality he acknowledges his foolery.

The last line of "Sonnet 57" also allows the reader to recognize the irony and sarcasm with which this poem was meant to be understood, "Though you do anything, he thinks no ill." Again, the author is recognizing the irony of the lovers being in love. The main character repeatedly states how in love he is with his lover and how much he gets "jealous" or envious of what the other is doing, but in the end, it is not going to matter. No matter how many things the lover may do, he will always take the lover back. The irony in this line adds a sense of reality to the poem. Although it seals the fact that the poem is meant to be sarcastic, it also details how ironic love can be. Feelings of sadness and jealousy are sometimes felt in relationships, however, no matter how negative the feelings are, they will always be replaced by the fact that one person loves the other, and nothing else really ends up mattering.

5.)

The rights of women have changed dramatically with the passage of time. Women went from being seen as property to having a better voice when it came to their concerns. However, that did not completely eradicate inequality toward women. Throughout the different time periods women have begun to be more expressive with their ideas and louder about their issues toward men. Men still continue to be seen as superior beings to women and they still hold all the power. Governmental, political, and social upholding still belongs to men at this point. Despite women's attempts at being treated equally and with more respect, it will take a long time for that to come into effect.

The Middle Ages were a time of great difficulty when it came to women's equal rights. They were always seen… READ MORE

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