Dirge in Woods By: George Meredith Rebecca Lappin

The Kiss By Robert Graves 1895–1985 Robert Graves Are you shaken, are you stirredRobert Graves By a whisper of love, Spellbound to a word Does Time cease to move, Till her calm grey eye Expands to a sky And the clouds of her hair Like storms go by? Then the lips that you have kissed Turn to frost and fire, And a white-steaming mist Obscures desire: So back to their birth Fade water, air, earth, And the First Power moves Over void and dearth. Is that Love? no, but Death, A passion, a shout, The deep in-breath, The breath roaring out, And once that is flown, You must lie alone, Without hope, without life, Poor flesh, sad bone.

Biological Information During the period of time when Meredith wrote the poem “Dirge In The Woods,” England and other countries were beginning the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution brought social and economic growth and the promise of a better life. Death of many things were to come

Structure of poem Meredith uses a single stanza and 15 lines for this poem. He has elements of personification, metaphors and similes. Personification- “Not a breath of wild air;” Simile- “They are quiet, as under the sea.” Metaphor- “Rushes life in a race.” (there are more examples, but this is just to name a few) These elements help the reader better understand what the speaker is doing and thinks about nature.

The speaker of the poem The speaker of the poem seems to be in nature observing it and how the trees drop their cones, and needle-shaped leaves onto the mossy ground. This shows that the speaker likes nature. But it also shows that technology is coming into the world and taking over the beautiful things like nature.

Imagery This poem contains many examples on imagery. Almost all of the poem is imagery. Imagery makes you imagine a picture in your head of what a line/word says. Ex. “A wind sways the pines…”

Literary elements This poems includes similes, metaphors, personification, imagery, and is a lyrical poem.

Imagery- The whole poem contains details that make the reader picture what is happening. Simile-Two unlike things are compared using a word such as like, as, than, or resembles. Personification- A type of metaphor, human qualities are given to something that is not human. Metaphor- A compassion of two unlike things in which one thing is said to be another. Lyric/dirge poem- the whole poem is based off of death and new lives coming into the world.

Literal meaning The poem Dirge in Woods is based off of nature

Figurative meaning This poem talks about how the fruits of the trees get old and drop to the ground, as like old people get old and die. Also, how new people come.

Authors purpose Meredith’s purpose to this poem was to explain life in a different way. The way that he uses is less harsh to the mind and adds a softer feeling. Meredith uses objects such as trees and fruit in this poem, causing it to have the gentle feeling that it gives off.

Theme: Death is blessing in disguise…