Imagination and Poetry: An Analysis of Three Lyrical Creations - Essay Example

This paper will focus on three lyrical creations: "The Three Ravens" --an anonymous traditional English ballad--, Margaret Atwood's "Siren Song", and "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnolds. It will deal with how the concepts of war, love, and power are addressed individually on each of them, in order to come to general conclusions about how those themes are intertwined and the role that imagination plays in this creative process. War, a sustained conflict between two or more parts, is so inherent to mankind that it has been an endless source of inspiration for many authors throughout history.

Human emotions are pushed to the limit in combat stories and poets do not hesitate to get the most out of them. The narrator in Matthew Arnolds' "Dover Beach", for example, hopes that he can --at least in his mind-- escape from war, for it constantly lurks on happiness, creating a world that has "neither joy, () / nor peace, nor help for pain" (lines30,31). There are bad things on this planet that make the author melancholic, because he knows that the place where he is at has a peace that will be disrupted once a new battle takes place there, like it has happened before.

In "The Three Ravens", the listener can deduct that medieval war has had an effect on the dead character in the ground, for it is clearly stated that "There lies a knight slain under his shield" (line 13). Once again, though not the central theme, armed conflict has a clear effect on the story that is being told in the ballad. The result of a terrible confrontation is displayed as birds that feed on carrion describe grassland that the listener cannot help but relate to a battle field and all its characteristics, such as death, blood, and agonizing survivors.

The dead man left by the war becomes an unreachable food for the three ravens as the sadness of a mistress that has to deal with the burial of a loved one turns into an obstacle for their search of nourishment.Love is perhaps one of the most addressed topics in poetry. The ups and downs of this inexplicable feeling generate stories of heroism, achievement, and joy, as well as sadness. In Arnolds' poem, "Dover Beach", love serves as the refuge that will save the author and his partner from the wrongs of real life.

The abstract idea of love can overcome any discomfort, with its elements of madness. "The Three Ravens" shows another side of love; one that survives the death of one of the partners, but ultimately kills the half that goes on living: "She buried him before the prime () / She was dead herself ere evensong time" (32, 34). Love turns into seduction in Margaret Atwood's "Siren Song", as the entire work can be compared to the process through which a woman makes a man her own. There are situations that make men more prone to amorous emotional stimulus; specially those that have to do with near death experiences.

It is difficult to define power; it has to do with being in control. The means by which that power is attained range from admiration to manipulation. In "Siren Song", the character that sings the song --the siren-- hates her fate and what she does: "I don't enjoy it here / squatting on this island/ looking picturesque and mythical" (Atwood, lines 13-15), but even so she is empowered by the