The concept of love has long been the preferred topic of conversation among prominent male poets. Towards the closing of the sixteenth century, however, the emerging of the female poet took place. With the introduction of Queen Elizabeth, an initial path was now cleared for future women poets to share their views on the acclaimed topic of love. Due to this clashing of ideas, the conflicting views of two exceedingly different sexes could manifest itself. Who better to discuss the topic of love then Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who expresses her ideas with intelligence comparable to the best male poets, and Emerson, world renowned for his poignant opinions? In accordance with the long history of conflict between males and females, both Emerson’s “Give All to Love” and Browning’s “Sonnet 43” convey the pleasure love brings, but while Emerson’s poem urges the retention of individualism in a relationship, Browning pleads for a complete surrender to love.
Ralph Waldo Emerson has a strong history of aggressive, “masculine” behavior. “We hear his grand, assuring words, feel his powerful charm…he is impenetrable” (Whicher 39). Emerson felt that it was necessary to retain his self-dependence at all times, never swaying from his personal choices. “He taught self-reliance and felt self distrust, worshipped reality and knew illusion, proclaimed freedom and submitted to fate” (Whicher 40). Although Emerson’s confidence in his self may have reflected some sort of macho-ism or frigidness, this attitude is simply Emerson demonstrating his cool and relaxed charma: “Emerson is teaching his tested secret of insulation from calamity: ‘Live in the soul’” (Whic…
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…iscarded on a whim. Rather, it is something that will accompany you far beyond your years on this earth and through all of time. It is truly a gift and should not be treated in any other regards.
Works Cited
Magill, Frank. “Biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.” Critical Survey of Poetry 1 (1992): 394-396.
Mermin, Dorthy. “Sonnets from the Portuguese.” World Literature Criticism 1 (1992): 360-365.
Patmore, Coventry. “Mrs. Browning’s Poems.” North British Review 26 (1857): 446-447.
Perry, Bliss. “Emerson Today.” Princeton University Press (1931): 84-86.
Radley, Virginia. “Elizabeth Barrett Browning.” Exploring Poetry-Gale Research (1972): pg. #5.
Whicher, Stephan E. “Emerson’s Tragic Sense.” Emerson, a Collection of Critical Essays (1962): 39-45.
Yannella, David. “Artful Thunder.” Poetry Criticisms 18 (1982): 69-96.
A Comparison of Thomas Gray’s Elegy (Eulogy) Written in a Country Churchyard and Bryant’s Thanatopsis
A Comparison of Thomas Gray’s Elegy (Eulogy) Written in a Country Churchyard and Bryant’s Thanatopsis
Thomas Gray and William Cullen Bryant both chose to write about nature and death being intertwined. Since Thomas Gray lived in a time of social injustice, he chose to use death to illustrate the problems inherent in a socially stratified society. William Cullen Bryant, on the other hand, lived in a rapidly expanding young nation that cherished the vast amounts of untouched nature and he used death to illustrate how man fits into the universal truth of the earth. However, both men believed that death rendered all men equal in that all went to their final resting place in Mother Nature’s bosom. While Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” comes across as a social commentary on the English peasants and Bryant’s “Thanatopsis” serves as a catalog of American Romantic beliefs, both believe that one must listen to nature, that death makes all men equal, and that man returns to nature after death.
To compare how the poems minor themes are similar, one must first understand their major themes’ differences. “Elegy” differs so greatly from “Thanatopsis” because they came from vastly different times and countries. Gray wrote “Elegy” in eighteenth century England after the death of one of his friends. Influenced by the English Romantics like Gray, Bryant, who spent much of his time out in the wild, wrote “Thanatopsis” in praise of nature’s splendor. “Elegy” appears at first to be solely about death but emerges as a social commentary on the plight of the poor. Gray first explains how the commoners delight in the simple life of working in the fields and enjoying their families while “Chill Penury” held them back from gr…
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Brady, Frank. “Structure and Meaning in Gray’s Elegy” Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a
Country Churchyard. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 7-17.
Carper, Thomas. “Gray’s Personal Elegy” Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.
New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 39-50.
Lonsdale, Roger. “Poetry of Thomas Gray: Versions of the Self” Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in
a Country Churchyard. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 19-38.
McLean, Albert. William Cullen Bryant. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc, 1964. 65-81.
Smith, Eric. “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country
Churchyard. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 51-67.
Peckham, Harry Houston. Gotham Yankee. New York: Russell and Russell, 1971. 31-35.