"Stanzas Written in Dejection"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines Shelly's poem and explains that it is two-toned, focusing first on nature and then the emotions experienced by the poet himself dramatized through the use of the iambic form. The contrast created by the poet is through the different themes used in the divisions of the stanzas.

From the Paper:

"Many critics have attempted to analyze "Stanzas Written in Dejection" which is considered one of the greatest poems of all time. The fascination critics have with this poem is the eerie parallel of Shelley's life to the events that take place in the poem itself. Consider one such criticism "The Pursuit of Death" (Kurtz', 1933). Kurtz emphasizes the emotional words used by Shelley to expose his emotional and physical turmoil. Kurtz asserts that Shelley, was overwrought due to his wife, Harriet's suicide and then he became greatly depressed over the death of his little daughter, Clara. This emotional turmoil caused him to have a greater understanding of the natural world such that his own condition became a contrast to the peace around him. Consider the contrast used in his poem where in the first two stanzas he describes the calm and cool nature around him giving a sense of peace to the reader, "The sun is warm, the sky is clear...The waves are dancing fast and bright" and then in the third stanza he suddenly introduces his own self in the poem as he writes of his pain with the words "...Alas! I have nor hope nor health...Nor peace within nor calm around" "

More papers on "Stanzas Written in Dejection":

• Analytical Essay # 4570 : "Loss of Imagination in Dejection: An Ode"
• Poem Review # 43419 : "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"
• Analytical Essay # 10826 : "Mont Blanc: Lines Written in the Vale of Chamouni"

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