Name: Caleb Anderson
Journal Assignment #7
William Cullen Bryant’s “To a Waterfowl” (p.151) and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (p.181)
Read the selections and write a detailed response to the following:
1. Compare/contrast the different views of nature that are being presented in the poems. Refer to the list of classical and romantic characteristics and provide specific examples from the poems to support your analysis.
The different characteristics and writing styles of the poems, “To a Waterfowl” and “The Raven”, seems to make them very different, but they in fact share some similar views of nature too. In the poem “To a Waterfowl” the neo-classical style is prevalent as seen in the view and way that nature is portrayed, and “The Raven” similarly shows its romantic style in its view on nature.
The tone of the poem, “To a Waterfowl”, brings a calm and peacefulness to the poem. As characterized in the neo-classical writing style the poem is harmonious, rational, balanced, and it has a structured order about it. These adjectives that describe the writing style of the poem mirror the average state of nature. There are instances that nature is unpredictable and unbalanced, but when nature is viewed in the way it was meant to be it becomes the paradise of Eden. “While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue” (Line 2-3). These two lines illustrate the tone that is expressed throughout the rest of the poem. The setting is expressed in the second line of the poem. The author is portraying a sunset scene, which is synonymous with harmony, and perfect worldly balance.
The tone and setting the Poe uses in his “The Raven” poem is the opposite of what is used in “To a Waterfowl”. Where William Cullen Bryant’s poem is peaceful and rosy, “The Raven” is gloomy and ghastly. In the romantic style of writing emotions, spontaneity, imagination and the irrational are used. When the raven flies into the speaker house the irrational and imaginative begin to become prevalent in the poem. The speaker talks to the raven and he believe that the raven responds to him always saying “nevermore”. “Once upon a midnight dreary… it was in the bleak December” (Line 1-7). These two lines represent the overall tone of the rest of the poem. They also reveal the setting of the poem. The speaker in this poem is shut up in his house, basically shut way from nature. This is unlike the author in “To a Waterfowl” who is out and about walking and living in nature. The only connection that the speaker in “The Raven” has to nature is when the raven flies into his house.
Even though there are many obvious differences between the gloomy and negative view of nature as portrayed in “The Raven” and the peaceful positive view of nature as in the “To a Waterfowl” there are also many compatible views on nature. The massages of both poems are the opposite but they share the same purpose. In both poems the speakers equate their respective bird to have meaning in their lives. In both poem guidance is being sought after by the speakers. They are hoping to find God’s guidance to lead them to the path that they need to take in their lives. By observing the nature the speakers can find their path in life.
In both poems the authors represent their views on nature. The different writing styles lead to different views on nature, but the authors also end up conveying the same purpose in each poem.
