Literary Response #4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Literary Response 4 - Essay ExampleAs the poem develops the speaker units emotional state takes on a more somber and forlorn t wiz. Millay writes, but the rain/ Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and take a breath/ Upon the glass and listen for reply/ And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain/ For unremembered lads that not again/ Will turn to me at midnight with a cry (Millay, 3-8). In these lines Millay uses the cooking stove of the ghosts in the rain to symbolize the speakers past lovers. One can envision the speaker looking show up at the rain and attempting to recollect these past individuals. Upon realizing that the speaker will never again share a moment of love and intimacy with these past lovers the speakers emotional state is punctuated by a quiet pain. The image of the rain as the ghosts of past lovers is highly effective as rain has an immediate visceral effect of creating the emotion of sadness and slight depression when coupled with the image of past lovers that th e speaker will never again be fitting to spend time with, it is not difficult for the viewer to not only understand, but also feel this somber emotional state.As the poem advances and at long last concludes the speakers emotional state is explored in greater depth, with more complex images. Millay writes, Thus in the winter stands a lonely tree,/ Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,/ Yet know its boughs more silent than before/ I cannot say what loves have come and gone/ I only know that spend sang in me/ A little while, that in me sings no more (Millay 9-14). In referring to the lonely tree, the speaker is actually referencing herself. The image of winter conveys both the overtaking of time, as well the coldness that accompanies the speakers loneliness. While previously the speakers emotional state was perceived as slightly somber, this image of winter is starkly dark and despondent. This despondency is advanced in the following image of birds that once frequented the tree