Comparative Essay: the Elegy

The poems In Memoriam, by Alfred passkey Tennyson and The Unk straightn Citizen, by W. H. Auden are opposite in their general antenna and poetic structure and effectively leave different impressions on the reader. with Tennysons lyrical and expressive approach, In Memoriam draws our attention to the pain and acceptance of human loss. However, The Unknown Citizen, with its non-traditional poetic form and unusual perspective, makes us regard active the ways in which we define human importance in modern baseball club. apiece of the two poems habits different poetic devices to legislate their messages.Tennysons stanzas are written in quatrains following the verse line pattern of ABBA. Each stanza resolves itself, making it unnatural for the reader to easily move on to the nigh verse. Through this construction the reader experiences Tennysons struggle to move on with life after the resolution of his loss. This resilience is embodied in the indication of the poem ascribable t o its great length as a compiling of 131 poems. In contrast, The Unknown Citizen follows a sporadic yet witty rhyme pattern throughout its brief 29 lines, including patterns such(prenominal) as ABAB, AA, BB, and ABBCCA which makes it less(prenominal) lyrical.The rhymes in this poem happen seamlessly yet do not purloin the reader from the main informative focus of each line. Tennysons use of repetition and every last(predicate)iteration within stanzas in poems 8 and 115 communicate the personal and emotional qualities of the poem He saddens, alto motorher the magic lighten Dies off at once from bower and hall And the place is dark, and all The Chambers emptied of delight Now rings the woodland loud and farseeing The distance takes a lovelier hue And drowned in yonder living blue-blooded The Lark becomes a sightless song (Tennyson, 8, 115)As displayed in these verses, the mood of In Memoriam shifts from sadness early on in section 8 towards joy much later in section 115. The repetition of the word all in relation to the absence of light and people in the customary places similar the bower (garden) and hallways, leaves the reader with an emptied feeling and a sense of tote up loss. Later on, alliteration is used to emphasize words with positive connotations such as loud long lovelier and living. The loud and long distances of the woodland now seem vibrant and full of hope for the future.Through these lyrical verses, the reader enjoys the hit in natures sights and sounds. In The Unknown Citizen, Auden uses a simpler much than neutral approach omitting devices such as alliteration and repetition, which makes his lamentation more of a report than an expressive or celebratory reflection like that of Tennysons. By Audens straightforward approach, the reader immediately gets an understanding from the startle two lines about who is reporting on the death and what was thought about the unknown citizen.There is no presentation or development of emotional topics associated with melancholy He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be One against whom on that point was no official complaint, (Auden, 1-2) Throughout the rest of the poem Auden simply quantifies and qualifies the payoffs worldly belongings and accomplishments He was fully sensible to the advantages of the installing Plan And had everything necessary to the Modern Man, A phonograph, a radio, a railcar and a Frigidaire. Auden, 19-21) In Memoriam follows a natural emotional sour that is attribute of the elegy and reminds the reader of elements of Kubler Rosss five stages of grief denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The Unknown Citizen uses the elegy in an unconventional way not to mourn the death of a real person, but to intellectually address the notion of an idealized citizen. This reminds the reader of Sigmund Freuds theory of grief where a loss can be that of an abstraction rather than a specific person. The poem acknowledges the citizens l ifelong achievements which appear adequate but mundane.It is not until the ending couplet that we get a sense of what Auden is communicating when he introduces the notion of an emotional theme for the first time Was he free? Was he happy? The distrust is absurd Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard. (Auden, 28-29) It appears that Auden is asking the reader to contemplate the process by which we evaluate a persons life. Although the bureaucracy of society might be content with our conduct, we should be aware of how statistics and research overlook our quality of life as unique individuals.In comparison, each elegy communicates a different experience of mourning and is deliberate in what it impresses on the reader. When practice Tennysons poem, I feel as though I am participating in a genuine process of human mourning through a real life perspective and lyrical poetic structure. When reading Audens poem I feel detached from the subject, due to his hypothetical poi nt of view and lack of expressive poetry. The two elegies contact the reader in different ways they are both exceedingly effective in their objectives.