Wild Geese by Oliver and Dover Beach by Arnold
Compare and contrast of Wild Geese by Oliver and Dover Beach by Arnold
This paper exhibits a critical analysis of the exemplary poetic works of award winning poets. To begin with Mary Oliver who has been in the limelight over several of her poems, her prowess in compiling figurative literature such as the Wild Geese has earned her the National Books Awards as well as the Pulitzer Prize. This is because her poem Wild Geese which is based on a figurative story narrated about the freedom enjoyed by the geese and how it compares to human life. The poem is breathe taking as it captures the readers and takes them with the mood illustrated throughout the poem. On the other hand, there us the poem by Matthew Arnold – Dover Beach. Despite its being an elegiac piece of writing, Arnold, (1979) manages to capture the attention of the readers as they ride the wavy currents of poetry towards the strait of Dover along the French Coastline; this is the setting for the poem where Arnold pours his heartfelt feelings to her bridegroom as they enjoy their honeymoon in a calm and cold night on the Dover Beach. These two illustrations emphasize the need for analyzing these two poetic works because as much as they embrace varied poetic style, the poems seem to have some commonalities as it will be discussed in the paper.
Beginning with a deeper look into Wild Geese by Oliver, the dominant characteristic embodied in most of her poems is their shortness. In this specific poem, Oliver compares and contrasts the behavioral aspects of the wild birds to the life of human beings. According to her, the geese enjoy their wild lives because they free their minds and should from any burdens. The geese do not go about regretting for what they do or for who they are but they embrace each day like it is their last. Apparently this poem correlates to the biblical verse where God encouraged human beings to be as free as the birds of the air but trust in his potential to provide. Accordingly figuratively correlating this biblical verse with the poem emphasizes the simplistic message brought out by Oliver (McNew, 1989). She if aimed at enlightening human beings to free their minds, bodies and souls from self-imposed bondage caused by relationships, love, worries or fears of the unknown. As she continues with the first stanza, her tone sounds incisive as she taunts people to move on with life and avoid kneeling on their knees begging for other human beings to forgive them. This statement is illustrated in the second line which says ‘…you do not have to walk on your knees’ (Graham, 2009).
This statement further implies that human beings should do what they love and not to be coerced into doing things that do not add value to their short lives on earth. This part of the poem is emphasized as Oliver talks about the world constantly being motion which brings about dawn and dusk. As the evening approaches the geese is forced to walks past beautiful sceneries as it goes back to its nest. Up to this point, the poem seems to figuratively correlate the lives of human beings to the unrestricted lives of the geese who face all kinds of turmoil but still pursue their goals as she says ‘…the world offers itself to your imagination…calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting’ (Graham, 2009). This also means that both the human beings and the geese have a place on this world but their lives are limited by the reality that they will die one day. Oliver goes ahead to insinuate that living organisms have a soft animal within them, this place figuratively refers to the heart after which she suggests that we should let this soft animal do whatever it loves ‘…let the soft animal of your body love what it loves’.
The poet uses description as she compares the human calling to that of the geese ‘…over and over announcing your place in the family of things’ (Graham, 2009). This statement implies that the world has opportunities for both the birds and the human beings. Even though the conditions might get unbearably harsh at times, there are also exciting moments to counter the ups and downs making life worth appreciating again. Up to this point, I personally feel that the poet is referring to the human need for love and the ups and downs that come with it. This is because Oliver encourages human beings to embrace their imaginations whichever their current situations. ‘…whoever you are…no matter how lonely…the world…calls to you like the wild geese’. She also states that human beings should learn to share their problems as a way of attaining a peaceful mind but all in all life has to go on. ‘…tell me about despair, I will tell you mine…the world goes on’ (Graham, 2009).
As compared to Wild Geese, The poem by Arnold – Dover Beach is rather a hard nut to crack even though upon reading it several times, the gist of the poem stands out that it is a metaphor. The poet embraces the use of description in bringing out the naturalistic setting along the French Coastline beach where he seems to be communicating to a fiancé or a newlywed bridegroom. ‘The sea is calm tonight…tide is dull, moon lies fair…upon the strait on the French coast’ (Arnold, 1979). The nightscape adds romance to the poem which becomes split between balancing romantic feelings and personal emotions. The use of imagery also dominates a good part of the poem as Arnold makes attempts to engage the readers mind into simulating a realistic situation that correlates to his deep emotional thoughts. ‘…listen, you hear the grating roar…the beach however is clear with only hint of humanity in a light that gleams’ (Arnold, 1979).
Personally, I have a feeling that Arnold’s mind is engrossed into two scenes, the first being a soundscape as shown in the first line of the second stanza. ‘Retreating action of the tide…the eternal note of sadness…it brought into mind turbid ebb and flow of human misery’. The second scene points out on the use of imagery which is a literal allegory of the sound scape where the poet attempts to figuratively relates the sounds caused by the rising ebbs of tides to human suffering. ‘…the retreating action of the tide…and flow of human misery’ (Arnold, 1979). Being that the poem is written during the industrial age when capitalism was being blamed for most of the problems facing humanity, Arnold might have been making attempts to balance between his romantic feelings towards his lover while at the same time, he felt disturbed by the thought of despair among human beings who were quickly losing faith in modernity and rule of law. Either way these two poems compare in the choice of themes but their advice to humanity differs. Whereas Arnold seems to worry about the misery engulfing majority of human beings, Oliver seems to be resentful with life to the extent of encouraging the audiences not to care so much for the future but live their lives with allot of appreciation and freedom. Certainly Wild Geese provide the answer to the scenes of metaphorical scene elucidated in Dover Beach.
Furthermore just like the poem begins with a celebratory mood and appreciation for nature, the poet suddenly develops feelings of indebtedness towards humanity as a whole thus he slowly retreats into narrating human misery. ‘…now I hear its melancholy…long, withdrawing roar’ (Arnold, 1979). The second part of this excerpt identifies the poet with optimism that the raging storms and ebbs of misery facing humanity will one day withdraw in a fading roar. The third stanza retreats to the previous state of joyousness as it was in the beginning stanza which described the beauty of the Dover beach and all the romantic pleasantries that awaited the newlyweds. ‘…the sea of faith…retreats to the breath’. Even as the final stanza begins, it is more appealing for the two lovers as the poet takes his stance regarding the place of human beings on earth. He even states that he has sanguinity for the broken hearted as he‘…stands against a world of broken faith’ and seemingly, Arnold anticipates for a better future for everybody living in this world that has become ‘…a maze of confusion’ (Arnold, 1979).
The poem by Arnold ends with promises aimed at satisfying the lovely feelings felt by the persona who states that ‘love, let us be true, to one another for the world which seems, to lie before us like a land of dreams, so various, beautiful and new’. ‘Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; and we are here on a darkling plain…swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, where ignorant armies clash by night’ (Arnold, 1979). From this conclusive stanza, it stands out that the main themes presented in the Dover Beach poem represent a symbolic shift from present to archaic life and then back to reality. This is because the auditory imagery created as the reader sails along with the poet as he is didactic, mimetic and dramatic in his narration of events that defined human life (Clugston, 2012). The scene resembles Wild Geese where Oliver uses the geese to allocate the movement of time as she describes the passage of day into the night fall as the geese returns to its nest. Evidently at some point the poem by Oliver seems to provide an answer to the problems facing humanity as highlighted by Arnold in his allegoric poem.
In comparison also is the reality that the content presented in both poems attempt to describe the human mood and the way it changes with the passage of time. As Arnold starts the poem, his mind seems to be oblivious of the fact that human race is suffering from both self-imposed and forced slavery. This case is similar to that narrated by Oliver in her figurative poem. Arnold is keen at exploring the calmness of the seam while enjoying the night scene which according to medieval psychology represents a perfect setting for romance. The romantic feeling becomes shadowed by reality as Arnold presents a persona who is torn between self-identity and care for humanity. This is the reason why the poem shifts embracing the glee of love into enchanting exigencies brought about by historical occurrences dating back to the industrial age and then the focus shifts back into presenting the nexus of lovers and the opportunities that marriage bestows upon them. The same case scenario is presented by Oliver as she states that human beings can tell each other about their despair but people should never go down on their knees seeking for forgiveness. Arnold adds that faithfulness puts lovers into a precarious situation because even though love represents peace of mind, the modern society has corrupted the real meaning of fidelity. But again love makes life worth living because a Arnold notes that a world devoid of affection becomes a maze of confusion filled with people eager to retreat their faith in humanity.
Critically analyzing the form exhibited in the two poems, Wild Geese is a simple short poem with a continuous story depicted by the narrator’s continuity of thought and sequence. The poem which begins at day break ends with the setting sun symbolizing the precision with which the poem is written. In contrast is Dover Beach which presents a long poem with disjointed thoughts that sway from modernistic romantic feeling to medieval feeling of solitude and misery then sway back to a promising and optimistic finish. Whereas the first form is easier to read, figure out and correlate the intended mean to a real life situation, the second poem is a hard nut to crack. It demands a deeper understanding of literal works in poetry so as to identify the meaning among free verses. In contrast also is the realization that the poets were targeting different audiences which is equally related to the simplicity and complexity of the two poems respectively.
The style exhibited by the two poets has a lot in common. Just like most poets the use of metaphor is almost inevitable. Mary Oliver continuously uses a figurative language but gives a clue on the last line of the final stanza. Drawing from her poem, Oliver also uses similes when she says that the world offers itself to the imagination of a human being or the geese. There is the use of repetition when the poet uses the word ‘you’ in several lines of the first stanza. The use of repetition seems to have been hinted at the need by the poet to emphasize the figurative images that are used to create an incisive mood in the readers or the audience. Oliver uses descriptive language to support the imagery that is evident when she writes ‘…meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air’. The choice of words in the Wild Geese is exquisitely brought out over and done with the use of a firm tone supported by sorrowful words such as despair to create a melancholic mood which stands out in the poem. The creative use of figurative language, description, imagery, repetition and choice of words is a chief ingredient with which Oliver cooks her food making it appetizing and irresistibly alluring to the final consumer; the audience (Gagné, Wager, Golas and Keller, 2009).
Comparing Wild Geese to Dover Beach intimates the use of imagery which is implicit in both poems. But looking deeper into the later, Arnold seems to be keen on combining both visual and auditory imagery which makes Dover Beach a more descriptive poem as compared to Wild Geese. This is evidenced with the use of words like listen, grating roar and eternal note of sadness. Arnold further uses rhyming words which are devoid of in Oliver’s poem. The use of rhyme scheme provides the lyrical energy which propels the reader towards igniting their emotional state of mind. For example the sea is calm to-night…lies fair….coast the light….sweet in the night-air’ (Dwight, 1966). Arnold also has a good selection of words that tantalizes the senses into creating the mood and metaphors required in understanding the poem. Finally Arnold uses the principle of duality to create a twist and pun which knits the story into a tale of romanticism and human suffering.
In conclusion, the selection of these two poems is supported by the juxtaposition of the literal content which is inherent all through the poems. The poems are further made interesting by the fact that they embrace different forms of appearance where one is short while the other is long depending on the intent of the writer and the target audience or readers. Several artistic styles are introduced into the poems to make them not only captivating but also uniquely suited to attract the readers, steal their imagination and virtualize their mood into understanding the deeper meaning presented in the poems (Clugston, 2012).
References
Arnold, M. (1979). The Poems of Matthew Arnold. Edited by Kenneth Allott, (2nd Ed.). London: Longman.
Clugston, W. (2012). Journey into Literature. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Dwight, C. (1966). Imaginative Reason: The Poetry of Matthew Arnold. New Haven: Yale University Press
Gagné, P., Wager, W., Golas, K., & Keller, J. (2009). Principles of Instructional Design. Cengage Learning: University of California.
Graham, V. (2009). Into the Body of Another: Mary Oliver and the Poetics of Becoming Other”. Papers on Language and Literature, 30:4, pp. 352–353, pp. 366–368. Retrieved from the Ashford Online Library
McNew, J. (1989). Mary Oliver and the tradition of romantic nature poetry. Contemporary Literature. Retrieved from the Ashford Online Library
