Lesson 36: Meditations on Beauty
Song
1) Occasion of poem? Literary device employed? What do you know?
The occasion of the poem is a man giving the rose a pep-talk before he gives it to his love. His love is shy though, so he uses personification to tell the flower to give his message.
2) Paraphrase each stanza.
Go forth beautiful Rose, tell that young woman that wastes our times that when I compare her to you, she realizes how lovely she is to me. Tell her that she is young and doesn’t want to be seen, but if she were to have come up in a desert with no men around, she would die without ever receiving a compliment. Beauty that is not shown in the light is not worth much. Tell her to show herself and allow herself to be desired and not blush when she is admired. Die, so that she can see the fate of all rare things, and may see in you how little time all the wondrous sweet and things have.
3) Describe the prosody and structure. How do these reinforce the content?
There are four five-line stanzas that have the same rhyme scheme of ababb. Lines 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, and 18 all are half the length of the others. The short lines are the b rhymes and the long lines are the a rhymes. Lines 1, 2, 6, 13, 14, and 16 are began by spondees. “Then die” is arguable the most important one because its very powerful. Because the structure is so intense, each stanza is a complete thought. The rose to deliver four messages and then die.
Virtue
1) What two unlike things are being compared and what do they have in common?.
The first unlike thing that is being compared is the day time being a melding of the earth and the sky because they are being brought together by light. The dew is personified as a person weeping the “death” of the day. The rose is being personified, and it is described as being so bright that it brings tears to those who look at it. Sort of like the sun. The last two things that are being compared are is that the soul of a virtuous person is like seasoned wood, which does not bend like new wood does.
2) How is the poem structured? Structure supports meaning?
The structure is four stanzas with three of them with a separate personified object. All of the things in this are called “sweet” at some point. The back of the book reveals that each of these things lasts progressively longer. The turn is in the final stanza, because everything eventually dies except for the virtuous soul.
3) How does prosody reinforce the poem’s meaning?
The first three stanzas are each a complete thought giving examples of finite things. It ends with something that will last for an eternity.
