A Supermarket in California by Allen Ginsberg | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Allen Ginsberg was known for his confessional poems in free verse with a Jazz & blues influence. He often explored the themes of identity, mortality, love, nature, and politics in his poems. He was deeply influenced by English early Romantic poet William Blake and the other poet he revered and admired was Walt Whitman.

‘A Supermarket in California’ is a prose poem by Ginsberg that he wrote as a tribute to Whitman in the centennial year of the first edition of Leaves of Grass. The poem was published in Howl and Other Poems in 1956.

A Prose Poem is a literary work that combines elements of poetry and prose. It doesn't follow traditional poetry structures, such as rhyme or meter, but instead uses prose's fluidity to explore poetic themes and imagery. Some common techniques used in prose poems are stream-of-consciousness writing style, fragmented narrative, dreamlike sequences, metaphors, symbolism, imagery, and other figures of speech. In ‘A Supermarket in California’, Ginsberg imagines finding Federico García Lorca and Walt Whitman shopping.

Structure of A Supermarket in California:

Being a prose poem, there is no definite meter or rhyme. The lines are written in free verse with allusion, symbolism, imagery, apostrophe, enjambment, metonymy, alliteration, consonance, and assonance. The poem is divided into three stanzas, and each is longer than the last. The stanzas and lines are of varying lengths. The poet assumes that the reader is familiar with Greek mythology, history, and poetry. The allusion to “Charon” and “Lethe” at the end of the poem brings the archaic mood. In Greek mythology, Charon was the ferryman who carried the dead into the underworld, across the river Styx. The River Lethe was a different river in the underworld, which caused those who drank its waters to experience complete forgetfulness. The shades of the dead were required to drink the waters of the Lethe to forget their earthly life.

Themes of A Supermarket in California:

The poem is an ode to Ginsberg’s poetic hero and major influence, Walt Whitman. Ginsberg also pays homage to Federico Garcia Lorca, who was an influential Spanish poet in the early 20th century. Lorca was killed at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War by the right-wing Spanish Nationalists for his own leftist political views. Thus, one of the themes of the poem is Ginsberg’s political leanings to the left. The poet creates a dream-like sequence in the poem and imagines invoking the spirits of Walt Whitman and Garcia Lorca. He talks with them and walks side-by-side while remaining so vibrantly alive in his dream that he never loses touch with reality while describing his night at the supermarket. The poet criticizes the consumerism and capitalism sprawling in postwar America and imagines Walt Whitman mourning the “lost America of love.” Walt Whitman stood for a kind of celebration of the common man, the nobility of labor, and people’s individuality. However, modern America appears just the opposite, it is marred with consumerist culture, suffering the idea of the American Dream that equates money and happiness. The poem is set in California, the home of Hollywood and the rich and famous, a place where lives are ostensibly filled with artificial sunshine and joy, where there is no place for the natural beauty of life. The poet also criticizes the conformity that society forces on individuals. Society tells people that buying things will bring them happiness, and then teaches people to want to buy all the same things—the same "blue automobiles" and "fancy" artichokes. The poet says that in such a consumerist environment, individuals too become products. That's why there are "Aisles full of husbands." The poet suggests that husbands, "Wives," and "babies" are more things to be desired to project the image of a perfect American life. Homoeroticism or homosexuality is also a significant theme of the poem. The poet, his muse Walt Whitman, and Federico Garcia Lorca, to whom he pays homage, all were believed to be homosexuals.

Summary of A Supermarket in California:

Stanza 1 Lines 1-2

“What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.
         In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!”

The poem begins with an Apostrophe, as the speaker directly addresses Walt Whitman, a long-dead poet, and greets him as if he is standing aside. The poet says that he was thinking of Walt Whitman as he walked down the street. He was suffering a mild headache and was a bit nervous, and self-conscious, and the only thing in his mind was Walt Whitman who was standing now in front of him in a supermarket in California. The poet suggests that he is lost in the glamorous supermarket of California and feeling dizzy with a headache, and he seeks guidance from Walt Whitman. Whitman lived in the 1800’s while Ginsberg was in the 20^th century. Thus, it is improbable that Whitman could have given any direction to Ginsberg who was apparently more modern. The poet alludes to Dante’s Inferno in which the ancient Roman poet Virgil appears to guide him. Same way, Whitman appears to guide Ginsberg. The speaker says that he felt hungry and tired, and entered the supermarket to shop some images. He entered the ‘neon fruit supermarket’ thinking of ‘your’ or Whitman’s enumeration. The hungry and tired speaker didn’t seek food or fruits but images. Which suggests that he used a metaphor to express his spiritual and intellectual longing.

Enumeration means a list, here enumeration suggests Whitman’s works, poetry. The poet creates imagery of bright lights and catchy products in the reader’s mind while using metonymy to contrast the supermarket with the simplicity of Leaves of Grass. The poet is seeking guidance from Whitman to quench his spiritual and intellectual hunger that can’t be fulfilled by the sparkling fruits stashed in the ‘neon fruit supermarket.’ The speaker hoped the supermarket would hold a glimpse of the world Whitman spoke of in his poetry.

Line 3

“What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?”

In the second part of the first stanza, the poet brings contrast. While he was lonely as he walked down the street, the supermarket was full of activities. He sees peaches, with some dark spots or shrouds (penumbras). The speaker suggests that behind all these flashlights, there are dark secrets, while the glamour of the supermarket hides the dark reality. There are so many families around the supermarket. The husbands are in the aisles while the wives are in the avocados and the babies are in the tomatoes. While it seems they are all buying things, the poet also alludes that they are products too, husbands can be brought in aisles, while wives are available in the avocados and the children can be brought with the tomatoes. The poet alludes to the darkness of industrialized society that demanded the illusion of the perfect nuclear family while he says that this glorious show has its own penumbras, the families are dysfunctional.

Then the speaker uses an apostrophe again and addresses Garcia Lorca, the Spanish poet who was executed at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.

Stanza 2 Lines 4-7

 “I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.
         I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?
         I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective.
         We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.”

The speaker begins with Apostrophe again and addresses Whitman, saying that he saw Whitman testing the meatballs kept in the refrigerator of the supermarket. “poking among the meats” is also a double entendre, a crude term for male/anal intercourse.

He addresses Whitman as a ‘childless, lonely old grubber’ and mentions he saw him ‘eyeing the grocery boys.’ Walt Whitman is usually described as either homosexual or bisexual. Garcia Lorca and Ginsberg too were homosexuals. Thus, the poet brings the theme of sexual freedom in this stanza. The poet says that he eavesdropped Walt Whitman who was asking questions to the grocery boys, ‘Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?” The speaker creates a camaraderie with Whitman, suggesting that he noticed him flirting with young grocery boys at the supermarket.

Whitman’s question ‘Are you my Angel,?’ also suggests that he might be seeking salvation from this miserable place, the supermarket, a consumerist society detached from nature and a humanity that lost its individuality. In Whitman’s age, it was common for a buyer to know how the meat he was buying was procured, whether was it safe, or not. However, Whitman could not get an answer to that question in a supermarket. Whitman and the speaker strode down the open corridor of the supermarket, tasting various delicacies without paying or facing the cashier. The speaker alludes to the symbol of the natural, without having to pay for its pleasures. This ‘natural’ is directly opposite to the consumerism of the supermarket which demands profit and payment.

Stanza 3 Lines 8-12

“Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in an hour. Which way does your beard point tonight?
         (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.)
         Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we'll both be lonely.
         Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?
         Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?”
The third stanza again begins with an apostrophe and it brings a tone of gloom. The speaker questions Whitman ‘Where are we going,?’ and reminds him that the supermarket is about to close. The speaker admits that the vision he is having cannot last. Whitman’s glorification of the natural world cannot stand in the face of economic modernity where everything is for sale and everything has a price. The consumerism of the real world is about grasping and devouring the freedom and naturalness of his dream. The speaker confesses that finding a book of Whitman in the supermarket made him dream of his odyssey with Whitman, but now it feels absurd. He says that seeking the aesthetic beauty of nature in a supermarket is absurd, supermarkets are known for false glamour, artificial beauty, and hiding dark secrets. He further contemplates where he can go with Whitman to find someplace where Whitman’s pure vision of the natural society and the natural man can be realized, but finds that there is no such place in modern America which used to be the home of Whitman. They may continue to search for such a natural place of their dream in the solitary streets but they will find nothing but loneliness.

Ginsberg ends the poem with an allusion to the Greek mythology. He asks Whitman what America he imagined when Charon was taking his ferry through the river Styx to Hades, but America was leading towards River Lethe. Whitman got out on a smoking bank of the river Lethe and watched America going down. In Greek mythology, River Lethe would cause complete forgetfulness for those who drank from its waters. The modern American society suffers the same fate. Instead of reaching the natural heaven of Hades, the American society drank the water of Lethe and forgot its past and what is natural. The peach and the ‘pork-chops’ in the supermarket have no relation for those that buy it to the natural world from which it came. Its past has been forgotten. This is the state of the world that capitalism and modernity have brought. And thus, Whitman is lonely, a forgotten hero, and so is the speaker.

This is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The God of Small Things is the first novel by Arundhati Roy which was published in 1997. The novel won the Booker’s Prize in 1997. The novel is based on the themes of illusive love, social restrictions, caste and class-based struggles, and grotesque randomness of life. The novel stresses that caste-based discrimination exists even in Christian, Muslim, and even communist circles of India. Another important theme is the contrast between the small things, incidences, or feelings often neglected or sacrificed by people while they ardently protect the bigger issues like caste, politics, religion, and others. The novel is set in Ayemenem, Kerala, India, the birthplace of Arundhati Roy.

The novel is a semi-autobiographical literary fiction, a family drama presented in a disjointed non-sequential narrative style. One of the main characters is based on the author’s mother’s life. The story is nonlinear and meanders between past and present, flipping back and forth between childhood and adulthood perspectives shifting between 1969 and 1993. To represent the perspective and viewpoint of children, the novelist used the technique of Capitalization of certain words and phrases to give them significance. The story is about a Syrian-Christian family living in India.

Characters of The God of Small Things:

Estha is the protagonist of the novel. He is Rahel's fraternal twin, the female protagonist. She is 18 minutes younger than Estha. Estha is a serious, contemplative, intelligent, and shy child. As a child he is molested by a man and that trauma further increases his nervousness.

Rahel is outspoken and impulsive. She often feels that she is considered lesser than her brother. Past incidents push her away from society and she becomes a drifter. In her adulthood, she experiences a failed relationship with an American man that further pushes her away from society. She is training as an architectural draftsman. Chacko is Rahel and Estha's maternal uncle. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He is a Communist. He took over Paradise Pickles & Preserves from Mammachi. Chacko's marriage to Margaret Kochamma crumbled after she could no longer stand his flabby, lazy nature. After divorcing Chacko, Margaret married Joe who raised Sophie as her stepfather. Joe died of illness and Margaret returned to Aymenem with Sophie. Chacko loves and cares for Margaret and Sophie though he remains idle and sluggish while promoting communist ideology.

Sophie Mol is another child, the daughter of Chacko and Margaret Kochamma. After her stepfather Joe dies, she visits Ayemenem with her mother. She befriends Estha and Rahel, her cousins. Circumstances lead to her death which is a pivotal incident in the novel.

Ammu is Estha and Rahel’s mother. She is a sister of Chacko. She married Babu, a tea plantation worker in Assam. But her husband was alcoholic and abusive. When her husband forces her to sleep with his boss, she leaves him and returns to Ayemenem with Rahel and Estha. Later, she falls in love with Velutha, a man of a lower caste considered untouchable. Her love creates a scandal and she is banished from her house. She dies at the age of 31 during a business trip. Mammachi (Soshamma Ipe) is Ammu and Chacko’s mother. She is a hard-working, strict, and reserved woman who started Paradise Pickles & Preserves, a pickle factory all by herself. Like Ammu, she suffered domestic violence. Her husband and Ammu’s father Pappachi (Benaan John Ipe) used to beat her until their son Chacko became big enough to intervene and stop him. Velutha is a lower caste (Paravan) who serves as a handyman to Ammu. He is a skilled carpenter at the Ipe family's pickle factory. He is deeply involved in the local Communist movement, has a forbidden affair with Ammu, and faces brutal punishment. Kuttapen is his paralyzed brother. Velutha appears to be the titular character, the God of small things in the story. He develops an intimate relationship with small kids Rahel, Esha, and Sophie who admire him deeply. Unlike other adults, who keenly observe religious, caste-based, and class-based discrimination, he remains free of such prejudices, spending most of his time in little pleasures of life that often remain untouched by others. Vellya Pappen is his father, a former acquaintance of Mammachi. When he comes to know about Velutha’s affair with Ammu, he informs Pappachi and offers to strangle Velutha to death by his own hands. Baby Kochamma is Pappachi’s younger sister, Rahel, and Estha’s grandaunt. She remained unmarried because of her unrequited love for Father Mulligan. Father Mulligan never accepted her love and rejected the church to be a devoted worshiper of Vishnu. Because of this rejection, Baby Kochamma turns frustrated and embittered. Mr. Hollick is Babu’s boss in Assam who threatens him that if he doesn’t force Ammu to sleep with him, Babu will lose his job. Comrade Pillai is the local leader of communist groups. Despite being a communist, he is highly bigoted and declines to help Velutha because of his lower caste. Inspector Thomas Mathew is the local inspector who ignores his constable’s unreasonable atrocities against the lower caste members of Ayemenem. Orangedrink Lemondrink man is a vendor at the Abhilask talkies where Ammu goes with Estha and Rahel to watch a movie (The Sound of Music). He sexually molests Estha in the lobby Rahel witnesses.

Summary of The God of Small Things:

Rahel is a 31-year-old single woman returning to Ayemenem after learning that her estranged fraternal brother Estha is returning home too. She remembers how several years ago, they were together but were forced to separate. She remembers the funeral of her cousin Sophie Mol when the twins were seven years old. At the funeral, Rahel that the painter of the cathedral’s ceiling has fallen to the floor and his head is spilling blood out “like a secret.” She also felt that Sophie Mol was alive and calling out as she was being lowered into the earth in her coffin. She curiously spoke of it but nobody noticed her. Those fearful memories still haunt her. She remembers her mother Ammu while returning from the funeral of Sophie could not say anything but kept muttering, the words “He’s dead . . . I’ve killed him.” After the funeral, Estha was sent to Assam to live with his estranged father Babu.

Presently, Rahel looks out on the family's former factory, Paradise Pickles & Preserves, and wonders about all the difficulties their family faces after Sophie's death. When she reaches Ayemenem, she accidentally meets Comrade Pillai who shows her an old photo of her and Estha with Sophie.

Rahel remembers she was nervous when she heard that her aunt Margaret and cousin Sophie were coming back to live with them. Sophie was the child of Margarate and Chacko, Rahel’s uncle. After she was born, Margaret divorced Chacko because of his laziness and unwillingness to do anything. Later on, she married Joe who carefully raised Sophie as his stepdaughter. When Sophie was nine years old, Joe died, and then Margaret and Sophie decided to return to Ayemenem.

Rahel worried that Ammu would have less time for her. However, Sophie soon befriended her and Estha and the three made a good team under the guidance of Velutha whom all the three admired. She then remembers her mother once took her and Estha to Kochin to watch a movie The Sound of Music at Abhilask Talkies. Estha loved the movie and began singing along. As others were disturbed by his singing, he was sent back to the lobby. Rahel kept an eye on him and she noticed that something awfully wrong was happening to him. The vendor whom the kids called the Orandedrink Lemondrink Man sexually found the kid alone and sexually molested him. Rahel couldn’t understand what was going on but noticed something strange and abruptly snapped at Ammu to inform. Ammu scolds her and says that those who hurt others are loved less. Rahel shuts up as she fears Ammu will love Estha more. Estha becomes nauseated and the trauma forces him to remain shut and nervous. Ammu never realizes that her son was raped by the vendor. Later, Rahel asks Ammu whom she loves more, and Ammu playfully answers that she loves Estha a little more (considering he is ill and frightened). However, Rahel takes it seriously and struggles with it.

Ammu and Estha were happy while visiting Kochin with Ammu to receive Sophie Mol and her mother, Margaret Kochamma, upon their arrival from England. On their way, they see their servant, Velutha, marching with a group of Communists. At home, Rahel keeps repeating that she saw Velutha with the communists, and Baby Kochamma, her strict grandaunt notices this. Rahel observes that everyone is trying to impress Sophie and Margaret Kochamma with new clothing, English sayings, and forced upbeat attitudes. She feels a bit jealous but soon Sophie befriends her and Estha.

Rahel remembers the day when Ammu died. She was banished from her house and the factory and was forced to seek a job. During a travel for a job interview, she died. Rahel saw her body being pushed into the cremation oven. Estha was not there as he was already sent back to Assam to live with his father and nobody considered it important to inform him about his mother’s death.

She then remembers the welcoming ceremony of Sophie and Margaret. The whole family sang songs and ate cake. However, Rahel felt lonely. Velutha, the handyman of Ammu noticed it and entertained Rahel by playing with the kid. Ammu noticed how gleefully Velutha took care of her daughter and felt a certain love for him for the first time.

Rahel remembers when Estha and Rahel decided to visit Velutha at History House where he lived with his paralyzed brother and old father. Estha and Rahel pushed an old broken boat into the river and somehow crossed it. When Velutha notices them, he promises to fix the boat for them. Velutha was trying to suppress his feelings for Ammu though he earnestly loved her. His constant touch with Rahel and Estha further escalates his feelings for her. Rahel and Estha once insisted that Ammu should accompany them to the river bank to play. Velutha also visited the bank that evening where he and Ammu accepted their love for each other as he embraced Ammu in his arms. The two deeply fell in love but kept their affair a secret. Rahel and Estha were too young to notice anything though Rahel saw Velutha making love with Ammu in her room in the house.

While thinking all this, Rahel reaches the temple where he sees Estha after so many years. They silently greet each other and decide to watch Kathakali dancers act out a violent story of retribution all night.

Baby Kochamma was already infuriated against Velutha when she learned that he was standing with the Communist protesters. One day, Vellya Pappen visits their house to inform Pappachi about the affair of Velutha and Ammu. Vellya had seen them embracing each other at the river bank in the dark of evening. Vellya apologizes for his son's sin and offers to kill Velutha with his bare hands for having an affair with Ammu, a woman of a higher caste. Pappachi, who often remains angry and frustrated, tries to ignore the scandal but Baby Kochamma becomes infuriated. She locks Ammu in her room and makes a false police complaint that Velutha raped Ammu. Mammachi summons Velutha and fires him from her factory. She bans him from entering any of her properties. While doing so, she feels very much troubled because she knows Velutha is a good man who could have taken good care of Ammu and her kids. As Velutha goes away, Mammachi suffers a heart attack and dies.

Knowing that he has been falsely blamed for raping Ammu, Velutha goes to Comrade Pillai to ask for help. Comrade Pillai insults him and tells him that he doesn't wish to have any relationship with a low-caste Paravan. Velutha tells him that caste discrimination has no place in communism but Comrade Pillai ignores his appeal.

Meanwhile, Ammu blames Rahel and Estha for the wrongs done to her and Velutha and terribly insults them. Pained by her words, Rahel and Estha go to Velutha at History House. Sophie too joins them as she doesn’t want to remain away from them. When they try to cross the river in the same old boat, it capsizes in the river flow and Sophie drowns in the river. Rahel and Estha somehow reach the other side and go to the History House.

The police constables couldn’t digest that a man of a lower caste could touch and rape a woman of a higher caste. They go in search of Velutha. Rahel and Estha were sleeping when the police came to arrest Velutha. They saw the policemen brutally beating him. The police then brought Velutha and the kids to the station. Inspector Thomas Mathew notices that Velutha has been brutally beaten and he may not survive. He summons Baby Kochamma and threatens her of making a false complaint against Velutha. When Baby Kochamma sees Rahel and Estha at the police station and learns about Sophie’s death, she convinces them to accuse Velutha of kidnapping them. She threatens them that if they won’t do so, Estha will be jailed for the death of Sophie. She also says that if the kids follow her order, she will ascertain that Ammu is safe. Frightened, the kids do as were told. This allows Inspector Mathew a valid reason to arrest Velutha who soon dies out of the brutal injuries he suffered.

Back at home, Chacko and Margaret are shocked after learning about the death of Sophie. Baby Kochamma blames Estha for her death and coerces Chacko to evict Ammu from his house. Infuriated Chacko does so and sends Estha back to Assam to live with his estranged father. Ammu couldn’t take care of both the kids now when she had no home or job. As Estha leaves for Assam, Rahel cries as if a part of her is leaving her. She could feel the pain even in the present, though now Estha was sitting beside her as they both watched the Kathakali dance.

After returning home, they feel uneasy as the past memories keep haunting them. They visit the room where Ammu used to live. Rahel and Estha feel a sudden rush of grief, guilt, and sin and embrace each other while remembering Ammu and Velutha. They do sex not out of love but out of their guilt, frustration, pain, and helplessness. While in the love act, Estha and Rahel remember how Velutha and Ammu used to meet secretly and make love, and every time Velutha used to ask if she would meet him again ‘Tomorrow,’? He used to insist until Ammu would answer him affirmatively. They remember how Velutha compelled Ammu to say ‘Tomorrow’ the last time they met before his arrest and ultimate death.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey’ often abbreviated as Tintern Abbey is a long blank verse poem by William Wordsworth that was written in 1798 and was published in the poetic collection Lyrical Ballads during the same year. Lyrical Ballads was a joint project of William Wordsworth and his friend and colleague Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The poem consists of 162 lines and it is set on the banks of the Wye River which William Wordsworth revisited on July 13, 1798. He had visited the Wye Valley earlier some five years ago and at that time he was alone, and a troubled person. In 1798, he was much more mature and was working with Coleridge for the publication of Lyrical Ballads. He revisited the site with his sister Dorothy Williams whom he addresses in the poem as ‘friend.’ “Tintern Abbey” was included as the final poem in Lyrical Ballads, first edition in 1798. While the poem is popular by the title ‘Tintern Abbey’, that building is not mentioned anywhere in the poem (except for the title). 

Structure of Tintern Abbey:

The poem consists of 162 lines set in five stanzas. The first stanza is 22 lines long. The second stanza comprises lines 23-50 (28 lines). The third stanza is from lines 50-59 (9 lines). The fourth stanza has 54 lines (60-113). The last stanza has 49 lines (114-162). These lines are written in Blank verse, in unrhymed iambic pentameter. There are five sets of beats per line. The first beat is unstressed, followed by one stressed. Though there is no rhyming scheme to the poem, the poet used slant rhymes and the regular use of assonance and consonance also offers the poem a lyrical quality.

The poet also used symbolism, imagery, alliteration, analogy, personification, allusion, apostrophe, simile, litote, and juxtaposition in the poem.

The blank verse for the poem allowed the speaker to offer it as a conversational poem as he addresses his ‘friend’ (sister) in the final stanza. However, in the previous stanza, the speaker uses the blank verse to offer the poem as a dramatic monologue. In addition, the speaker begins the poem with elements of an ode. Thus, the blank verse allows the poet to present this poem as an ode, a dramatic monologue, and a conversational poem. While the speaker of the poem remains unnamed, it is safe to assume that the speaker is Wordsworth himself, and he addresses his sister Dorothy in the final stanza who visited the Wye River valley with Wordsworth. The speaker tells of the power of nature to guide one’s life and morality.

There are some variations of meter in the poem.  Stanzas 1, 2, and 4 all end with a line that is metrically incomplete in its pentameter; the pentameter is then "completed" in the following line and the following stanza.

Summary of Tintern Abbey

Stanza 1 Lines 1-8

“Five years have past; five summers, with the length

Of five long winters! and again I hear

These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs

With a soft inland murmur.—Once again

Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,

That on a wild secluded scene impress

Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect

The landscape with the quiet of the sky.”

The full title of the poem is “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798,” which establishes that the poem is set on a specific landscape, a few miles away from the building Tintern Abbey. The title also establishes that the speaker or the poet is revisiting the site after some time. The title also establishes the date of writing of the poem as July 13, 1798.

In the first line, the speaker specifies that he is revisiting the site after five years. After long five years, he cherishes the beautiful landscape in the valley of River Wye again. The poet used Anaphora and repetition of ‘Five’ to stress that he visited the site before and deeply missed it. Enjambment has been used in line 4, ( -- Once again), to stress that he is revisiting the site.

The poet uses Imagery and romanticizes the sound of flowing water as if it is coming from somewhere farther, away and appears as a “soft inland murmur.” The peaceful environment and the natural ‘soft inland murmurs’ appear perfect for the speaker to cherish the ‘deep seclusion’ as if to meditate and become a part of nature itself. The speaker creates an auditory image of the River Wye as a quiet, constant accompaniment to the visually stimulating scenery around him. The alliteration of the “s” sound (“steep,” “secluded scene,” “seclusion,” and “sky”) is used to evoke a sense of whispering and murmuring.

Lines 9-18

“The day is come when I again repose

Here, under this dark sycamore, and view

These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,

Which at this season, with their unripe fruits,

Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves'

Mid groves and copses. Once again I see

These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines

Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms,

Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke

Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!”

In these lines, the poet further describes the scenic beauty of the place that he is cherishing after five years. He says that while he was away, he waited to revisit here and finally, the day has come when he is again witnessing the green, peaceful, scene of the landscape. He mentions the dark sycamore, a huge Eurasian maple tree under which he used to rest in the past. He is again there, observing the large plots of land around it. There are cottages and orchards. It is a period when the fruits in the orchard are unripe and green. Everything appears green though some clouds of smoke appear coming out from deep in the forest trees.

Lines 19-22

“With some uncertain notice, as might seem

Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods,

Or of some Hermit's cave, where by his fire

The Hermit sits alone.”

The speaker wonders who is burning the fire in the wood, from where the smoke is coming. He imagines, through two metaphors, that the smoke rises from the fire of “vagrant dwellers” and the fire of a “hermit’s cave.”

Now when he visited the place again after five years, there are some factors he is not sure about. Some things have changed. He further guesses that it might be some Hermit’s cave from where the smoke is coming out. The homeless vagrant or the hermit is sitting alone in seclusion and the speaker envies him for his pleasure. By imagining the hermit’s cave, the speaker suggests that even the smoke rises from a sacred, natural source. The first stanza ends with an aberration as Line 22 is metrically incomplete. The poet completes the iambic pentameter in the first line of the second stanza.

Stanza 2

Lines 23-31

“These beauteous forms,

Through a long absence, have not been to me

As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:

But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din

Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,

In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,

Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;

And passing even into my purer mind

With tranquil restoration:—feelings too”

The speaker mentions that though he has not been here in the valley of Wye River, he actually never forgot the tranquility and refreshing effect of nature of the landscape. He spent these five years away from the valley in various towns and bigger cities where whenever he was alone, tired, and perplexed in his room, he remembered the sweet memories of this place and it offered him a ‘sweet sensation.’ Here Wordsworth mentions the same theme he explained in another poem ‘Daffodils’ and says that even when he was away, he realized the importance and worth of the memories of the refreshing scenic nature of the landscape and it helped him in his sad and lonely moments.

He uses a Simile to say that his ‘long absence’ from the valley have not been to him “As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye.” The speaker has not completely forgotten it or been blinded to it. 

Lines 32-50

“Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,

As have no slight or trivial influence

On that best portion of a good man's life,

His little, nameless, unremembered, acts

Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust,

To them I may have owed another gift,

Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,

In which the burthen of the mystery,

In which the heavy and the weary weight

Of all this unintelligible world,

Is lightened:—that serene and blessed mood,

In which the affections gently lead us on,—

Until, the breath of this corporeal frame

And even the motion of our human blood

Almost suspended, we are laid asleep

In body, and become a living soul:

While with an eye made quiet by the power

Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,

We see into the life of things.”

Here the poet uses Litote, an understatement of the affirmative which uses the negative of the contrary. The speaker says, “no trivial influence,” which means that, to the contrary, nature had a significant influence during his time in the city. The speaker also says that his the best parts of his life were not moments of great heroism, but they were the small, seemingly insignificant actions barely remembered, characterized by “kindness and of love.” He says that these memories helped him in becoming a good man. These memories inspired him to be kind, helpful, and gentle. These memories improve him as a good human. The speaker addresses nature and says that the ‘beauteous nature’ offered him a greater gift of ‘blessed mood’ that not only unburdens his troubled mind during his tough periods in the city, but also helps to alleviate the weight of the world. Juxtaposition has been used to suggest that a ‘blessed mood’ can achieve calmness and alleviate “burthen,” “heavy and weary weight,” and “unintelligible,” situations.

Stanza 3 Lines 51-59

“If this

Be but a vain belief, yet, oh! how oft—

In darkness and amid the many shapes

Of joyless daylight; when the fretful stir

Unprofitable, and the fever of the world,

Have hung upon the beatings of my heart—

How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee,

O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro' the woods,

How often has my spirit turned to thee!”

In the third stanza, the speaker mentions that all his belief in the beauty and strength of nature of the Wye River valley could be a false idea, “but a vain belief.” However, he offers the counterpoint that if it had been the case, if his belief is wrong, then why in his toughest times, when in “darkness” and surrounded by “joyless daylight,” or days that bring the speaker no joy even though they should, he has “turned to thee /  O sylvan Wye!” ‘Sylvan’ means wooded. The speaker personifies the river as a “wanderer” of the woods and thanks it for all the times the thought of it has provided a sort of refuge for the speaker. The repetition of ‘how oft’ and its variant ‘how often’ emphasizes how frequently the speaker has turned to nature for refreshment and consolation to revitalize himself and face the burdens of city life.

Stanza 4 Lines 60-68

“And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought,

With many recognitions dim and faint,

And somewhat of a sad perplexity,

The picture of the mind revives again:

While here I stand, not only with the sense

Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts

That in this moment there is life and food

For future years. And so I dare to hope,”

The speaker begins the fourth stanza reminiscing about the past when he was in Wye River Valley five years ago. He mentions his past was perplexed, sad, and vigorless but now he is mature, better, improved, and pleased. He also says that now when he is here again, he envisions and hopes that the future will also be pleasant. He says that this visit will again provide him with sweet invigorating memories that will help him face the tough dull moments of loneliness and frustration. He says that by visiting the landscape, his mind is reviving again.

Lines 69-78

“Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first

I came among these hills; when like a roe

I bounded o'er the mountains, by the sides

Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams,

Wherever nature led: more like a man

Flying from something that he dreads, than one

Who sought the thing he loved. For nature then

(The coarser pleasures of my boyish days

And their glad animal movements all gone by)

To me was all in all.—I cannot paint”

In these lines, the speaker romanticizes his childhood memories and suggests how he felt when he was here during his childhood in the landscape. He uses Simile to suggest he was like a ‘roe’ a small deer, “bounded” through the mountains and rivers with relentless, youthful energy. He says that the decisions he took five years ago were not like those of a free spirit deeply in love with nature. But he rather felt more like a man escaping from something “he dreads.” His priorities were different and he was seeking to solve his troubles. He says that he cannot exactly describe how he was back then.

Lines 79-88

“What then I was. The sounding cataract

Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,

The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,

Their colours and their forms, were then to me

An appetite; a feeling and a love,

That had no need of a remoter charm,

By thought supplied, nor any interest

Unborrowed from the eye.—That time is past,

And all its aching joys are now no more,

And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this”

The speaker continues to explain how he felt five years ago when he was a troubled youth daring to face the challenges of life. He uses metaphors and romanticized language to express the anguish he felt at that time.  As a child, nature was awe-inspiring for the speaker—the cataract, the mountains, and the woods “haunted [him] like a passion.” Cataract means a large, strong waterfall.

The overwhelming colors and shapes were like “a feeling and a love,” suggesting that he and nature were connected on an instinctive level. He exactly knew the source of the cataract, the colors and forms of the mountain, and ‘the deep and gloomy wood,’ and he didn’t add any myth or fairytale to it. He was wholly in love with nature. He remembers the joys, and how it created in him a “dizzy rapture.” That time is sadly, “past.” The speaker can look back on his passionate, emotional connection with nature and how sad he was when he had to leave the landscape. However, he does not yearn to return to that stage in his life. His previous relationship with nature was chaotic and passionate but it is more mature now.

Lines 89-98

“Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts

Have followed; for such loss, I would believe,

Abundant recompense. For I have learned

To look on nature, not as in the hour

Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes

The still sad music of humanity,

Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power

To chasten and subdue.—And I have felt

A presence that disturbs me with the joy

Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime”
The speaker remembers how he felt as a child when he witnessed the grandeur of nature. He enjoyed those days but he doesn’t wish to return to the same phase or ‘mourn’ and complaint about the passing of that phase.

He is in the same landscape now and though he doesn’t feel the same of nature as he did in his ‘thoughtless youth,’ but now he can understand the deeper meaning of the greater gifts of nature that he discerns now when he is wiser, and mature. Unlike in the past, his relationship with nature is no more chaotic and passionate, rather it appears more sensible, sublime, and intricate. He now has ‘ample power’ to ‘chasten’ and ‘subdue’ his passion for nature.

He feels the divinity of Nature in the world that surrounds him. The narrator can take the memory of this “presence” and carry it within him. 

Lines 99-108

“Of something far more deeply interfused,

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,

And the round ocean and the living air,

And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:

A motion and a spirit, that impels

All thinking things, all objects of all thought,

And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still

A lover of the meadows and the woods

And mountains; and of all that we behold

From this green earth; of all the mighty world”

In these lines, the speaker further elaborates on the divinity of nature that he feels in the valley of River Wye. He says that this new feeling about nature is far more powerful and superior to what he had during his passionate childhood. He is mature now. The divine “presence” that he feels is like “the light of setting suns” and as powerful as “the round ocean,” air, and sky to the “mind of a man.” It is beyond comprehension and therefore, unfading and undeterred by modernity. The speaker says that though his feelings and understanding of the mountains, meadows, and woods have changed now, he still is a lover of nature. His tone is now reverential towards nature as if nature is God. The speaker mentions that now when he is mature enough, he can feel and understand something he failed to recognize in his youth: a presence that pervades all of nature. With this more philosophical understanding of nature, the speaker imagines that this seemingly divine force inhabits and passes through the ocean, the air, the sky, and “the mind of man.”

Lines 109-114

“Of eye, and ear,—both what they half create,

And what perceive; well pleased to recognise

In nature and the language of the sense

The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,

The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul

Of all my moral being.”

In these lines, the speaker uses Metaphors to liken nature to an ‘anchor,’ ‘nurse,’ ‘guide,’ and ‘guardian’ of his heart, soul, and moral being. The nature serves the purpose of helping the speaker understand the difference between right and wrong. The speaker is thrilled to feel that now when he is mature, he can recognize how nature guides him toward the betterment of his conscious. In all the above four stanzas, the speaker continued his speech, presenting the poem as a dramatic monologue.

Stanza 5 Lines 115-124

“Nor perchance,

If I were not thus taught, should I the more

Suffer my genial spirits to decay:

For thou art with me here upon the banks

Of this fair river; thou my dearest Friend,

My dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch

The language of my former heart, and read

My former pleasures in the shooting lights

Of thy wild eyes. Oh! yet a little while

May I behold in thee what I was once,”

In the fifth stanza, it becomes clear that the speaker is not alone. Nor is the poem his monologue, rather he is in conversation with someone whom he addresses as ‘My dear friend.’ It also becomes clear that the speaker is Wordsworth himself and he is in conversation with his sister. She is to him as close as another person can be and he felt the need to explain to her how he has come to be the way that he is. As she speaks to him, he says that in her voice, he sees how he used to be and remembers his “former pleasures” as he looks into her “wild eyes.” He feels as if his sister is feeling the same grandeur of nature that he used to feel when he was younger. Now he is mature.

Lines 125-138

“My dear, dear Sister! and this prayer I make,

Knowing that Nature never did betray

The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege,

Through all the years of this our life, to lead

From joy to joy: for she can so inform

The mind that is within us, so impress

With quietness and beauty, and so feed

With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,

Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,

Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all

The dreary intercourse of daily life,

Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb

Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold

Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon”

In these lines, the speaker addresses his companion as ‘dear Sister,’ making it clear she is Dorothy Wordsworth. He observes the same passionate love for nature in her eyes and he cherishes it nostalgically, as he remembers how he felt five years ago. However, he wishes to offer the same mature insight to his sister too, and thus utters a prayer hoping she may also find the same sense of tranquility, divinity, and serenity in nature as he does. He denounces the modern, urban culture that gives rise to selfish, skeptical men. He claims that nature will “prevail” against the “dreary intercourse of daily life.” He hopes that nature will guide her too to understand the good and bad. The poet used alliteration of hissing ‘s’ sound ‘Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,’ to denounce the modern selfish men. He further encourages his sister to let her heart and soul be guarded by nature as it is without risk. It cannot break her heart or shatter her faith. Nature will, through the years of one's life, lead a devotee from “joy to joy” and “impress” upon one “quietness and beauty.” Her life, he states, will be full of “lofty thoughts” that carry one above the “sneers” of the modern world.

Lines 39-150

“Shine on thee in thy solitary walk;

And let the misty mountain-winds be free

To blow against thee: and, in after years,

When these wild ecstasies shall be matured

Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind

Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,

Thy memory be as a dwelling-place

For all sweet sounds and harmonies; oh! Then,

If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief,

Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts

Of tender joy wilt thou remember me,

And these my exhortations! Nor, perchance—“

In these lines, the speaker addresses his sister and suggests that if she wishes to experience the same divine connection with nature that he feels, she should not resist the charm of nature. He encourages her to enjoy the moonshine and let the mountain wind enthrall her. He says that though she is experiencing similar ‘wild ecstasies’ he used to feel as a child, these will change into ‘sober pleasure,’ when she is mature enough. He asks her to capture the memories of this ‘sober pleasure’ of being this close to nature in her mind. This will help her handle the solitude, fear, pain, or grief if she faces such things in the future. These memories and his exhortation, his appeal to cherish nature keep the memories safe will help her future struggles.

Lines 151-158

“If I should be where I no more can hear

Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams

Of past existence—wilt thou then forget

That on the banks of this delightful stream

We stood together; and that I, so long

A worshipper of Nature, hither came

Unwearied in that service: rather say

With warmer love—oh! with far deeper zeal”

In these lines, the speaker considers a time in the future when he will be no longer close to his sister. He says that in the future if he dies or moves somewhere where “I no more can hear / Thy voice,” then also she will remember that she once stood on the banks of Wye River with her brother. He says that this place and these memories are important because he came here as an ardent worshiper of nature. In the future, if her sister ever needs guidance, refreshment, protection, against the dreary daily life, this place will embrace her with ‘warmer love’ and guide her with ‘deeper zeal’ towards the goodness of life and nature.

Lines 159-164

“Of holier love. Nor wilt thou then forget,

That after many wanderings, many years

Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs,

And this green pastoral landscape, were to me

More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake!”

The speaker ends the poem as he contemplates his experience on the River Wye with his sister. He understands that with time, she will mature and her youthful passions will diminish. Nevertheless, he prays that she may fondly recall this moment together and draw inspiration from nature’s capacity to physically, emotionally, and mentally enliven and uplift her.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!