An Analysis of Poem "The Flight"
The poem "The Flight" written by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933) is a meditative poem, which succinctly presents a deep and sincere feeling of love. In this particular poem, the figurative language is used frequently, and this paper will show that the poem is vivified with succinct language in relation to the use of imagery.The first thing that strikes the audience about this poem is the concise language. There are only two stanzas and 17 lines total (9 lines in first stanza and 8 lines in second). The lines may be of any length, and there is no specific metre in this poem and five words at most in each line, but the poem is fluent and consistent. In the first stanza "wind" is rhymed with "thinned", and "goes" is rhymed with "close" in t
Accordingly, "eagles" in this poem is not only a symbol of love, but also is served as a foil to human love. The second thing that strikes us is the transition between the first stanza and the second: the poet expresses a favorable feeling of two lovers being together in the beginning of the poem, and then she contrasts it unexpectedly with a deep gloom in the end. By means of contrast, the poet explores her perspective of love - love is engraved in people's hearts, everlasting and unswerving. Also, there is no flowery language in the poem, but it describes a wonderful scene of two eagles flying in the sky, enjoying and adventuring in this splendid world together. Moreover, although the poet likens lovers to eagles again in line 10, which is simile and coordinate with line 1, she represents another attitude in the following lines: "When one of us goes/ let the other follow" (lines 13&14), from which it can be seen that the love between the two eagles is not all she desires. Thus, it can be seen that the writing style in this poem is compendious and precise, leaving much space for the audience to imagine and picture in mind. The construction is plain but well-turned and the tropes are used strikingly and appropriately, and both the two key elements deepen the meaning of love and beautify the poem. In lines 1 and 2, "We are two eagles/ flying together," the poet uses a metaphor to liken a pair of lovers to two eagles; in lines 6-8, the poet personifies "sunlight" and "snow" as well as makes the most of metonymies: "sunlight" is the symbol of those who encourage the lovers and "blind snow" refers to the hindrance; in the same way, in lines 15-17, the "flight", "fire" and "book" all refer to love, implying that they can not see the brightness of life without the other one; and therefore, the flight of love is ended, the fire of passion is blackened, and the book of love-story is closed. She longs for much further and particular in the inner-world. Overall, this poem unfolds an impressive vision and conveys a belief of love that people in love should be sincere, and the beloved one is in the other's heart always.
Common topics in this essay:
Sara Teasdale,
,
lovers eagles,
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