Poetry & Analysis
Selected Poems
Sad PoemsThere Will Come Soft Rains
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum-trees in tremulous white,
Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
Overview Short Summary
This poem is a quiet but haunting response to human fear, war, and worry. Nature continues beautifully, while human conflict appears temporary and tragically small.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- War and worry: Human violence is placed against nature’s indifference.
- Nature: The natural world remains full of sound, color, and renewal.
- Human fragility: The poem suggests that the earth may continue without us.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is calm and haunting, while the mood is beautiful but unsettling.
Craft Literary Devices
- Irony: The peaceful natural images contrast with the implied destruction of war.
- Personification: Spring wakes at dawn, unaware of human absence.
I Am!
I am—yet what I am none cares or knows;
My friends forsake me like a memory lost:
I am the self-consumer of my woes—
They rise and vanish in oblivious host,
Like shadows in love’s frenzied stifled throes
And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed
Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life or joys,
But the vast shipwreck of my life’s esteems;
Even the dearest, that I loved the best
Are strange—nay, rather, stranger than the rest.
I long for scenes where man has never trod;
A place where woman never smiled or wept;
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept:
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie;
The grass below—above the vaulted sky.
Overview Short Summary
Clare’s poem is a powerful expression of isolation, inner pain, and the wish for peace. It fits searches around anxiety poems, poems about worry, and poems about feeling alone.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Isolation: The speaker feels unknown and forsaken.
- Inner suffering: Woes consume the self from within.
- Longing for peace: The final stanza imagines a place beyond trouble.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is anguished and lonely, while the mood is deeply sorrowful.
Craft Literary Devices
- Metaphor: The speaker’s life becomes a shipwreck and a sea of waking dreams.
- Contrast: The restless present contrasts with the desired childhood-like sleep.
Crossing the Bar
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.
Overview Short Summary
Tennyson’s poem gives a calm answer to the fear of death. It transforms the unknown journey into a peaceful sea crossing and replaces worry with trust.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Fear of death: The poem faces death without panic.
- Peace: The speaker asks for no moaning or sadness.
- Faith: The Pilot represents guidance beyond the visible world.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is serene and trusting, while the mood is peaceful and solemn.
Craft Literary Devices
- Extended metaphor: Death is imagined as crossing a sandbar and going out to sea.
- Symbolism: The Pilot symbolizes divine guidance or final meeting.
Loveliest of Trees
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
Overview Short Summary
This short poem turns the worry of limited time into a reason to pay attention. It is useful for readers seeking poems about worry, time, life, and the choice to notice beauty now.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Time: The speaker realizes that life is limited.
- Mindfulness: Worry about time becomes a reason to see beauty.
- Nature: The cherry tree offers a present moment worth keeping.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is clear and wistful, while the mood is quietly urgent.
Craft Literary Devices
- Seasonal imagery: The cherry blossoms make time visible.
- Arithmetic structure: The calculation of years makes mortality concrete.
Fear No More the Heat o’ the Sun
Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,
Nor the furious winter’s rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages:
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
Fear no more the frown o’ the great;
Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke;
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.
Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan:
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.
No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renownèd be thy grave!
Overview Short Summary
This lyric comforts the dead by declaring that worldly fear, hunger, power, weather, slander, and sorrow are over. It fits the worry cluster because it repeats “fear no more” as a release from human care.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Freedom from fear: The poem removes one fear after another.
- Mortality: All ranks and ages come to the same end.
- Peace: The ending wishes quiet rest and safety.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is ceremonial and consoling, while the mood is solemn but peaceful.
Craft Literary Devices
- Refrain: The repeated “Fear no more” creates a calming ritual.
- Contrast: Golden youth and chimney-sweepers share the same mortal fate.
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