Alfred Lord Tennysons Mariana - Essay Example

Mariana-Explication Jeynu 16 October 2011 Mariana-Explication Introduction Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Mariana is a disturbing portrayal of a mind agonized by love hopelessly waiting for the departed dear who will not return. Every line in the poem is very moving, powerfully capturing the unmoving state of affairs and the unchanging prospects in the waiting agony. The mind as well as every object in the household Mariana is on its way to death in eerie abandonment. It is as if life has got struck and nailed to frustration giving way to extinction in a pathetic and painful strain. It is a lonely journey of groping in the dark without moving in any direction. Mariana is a women character deserted by her lover originated from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure written in 1830.The Autobiographical element in Tennyson’s life enhances deeper understanding of the poem and conveys why the suffering depicted in the poem is intentionally infectious and has a haunting nature. There are references that Tennyson himself suffered from mental illness as did his other members of immediate family which equipped him to travel inside the mind of Mariana and expressed it in the most telling manner. Explication Hopelessness and abandonment speak in an emotive and eerie language echoing the depressed melancholic. Tennyson uses more auditory images than visual to convey the mood of the poem. The poem is written in definite syllabic pattern iambic pentameter. The long lines render peculiar movement pattern with a slow sad and depressing note matching the unending uncertainty. Repetition of the chorus at the end of each stanza serves as an echo of the suffering and contributes to the haunting nature of the poem. Each stanza is divided into 3 to 4 line with rhyme units ABAB CDDC EFEF .The EF lines are maintained repetitively in each stanza to give an effect of a chant for the return of her lover and her unending predicament. The mind of Mariana, every object in her household and even nature the dawn, dusk and the night, all are alike entrapped in melancholy. This mutually intensifies the agony depicted in the poem .This is the poetic device of pathetic fallacy adopted in 19th century English poetry. It is a technique of attributing the feelings of the subject to external objects or nature to create a desirable effect. Stanza One In the first stanza with the blackest moss crusted on the flower pots in the opening line, the poet draws us in to the dark mood followed by a thick cluster of strong images. The rusted nails holding the pear to the wall fall from the knots. This suggestive of the futile passage of time and how memories have become lifeless disjointed and dead. The broken sheds symbolize her state of mind and serpentine hissing sound ingrained in the words “sad and strange “evoke ideas of sinister design in Mariana’s unfortunate life. The unlifted clinking latch and the weeded worn out thatch underline the abandoned condition of everything. The refrain with rhyming words dreary and weary and the repetition of she said aptly convey her feeling of suffocation. The closing line, I would that I were dead conveys how everything is a life in death experience. Stanza Two Second stanza opens with tears tickling from Mariana’s eyes and drops of dews in the forlorn space. The burning desire to meet her lover consumes her being and tears tickle down and dry nonstop competing with the dews. There is no intention even for prayers or for looking up to heaven for change in mood or course of life. The flitting of bats march the advent of night in the thickest dark enveloping the sky as well as Mariana’s mind like a trance. She draws her casement curtain in the middle of night when everyone else would be already asleep. Her mind is vague, restless thoughtless. She shuts herself away from the rest of the world because her mind is elsewhere. The dreary murmur in her heart is focused again in the refrain .Life in death continues with a waking pain in sleep. Stanza Three The noise of the night fowl crow wakes her up in the middle of the night. The bleak and blurred state of things makes us wonder whether the night fowl crows from outside or from Mariana’s mind. The cock sings out before light and she hears the oxen low in the odd hours. There is no hope of change. The forlorn spirit wanders endlessly without sleep till the cold winds wake up the grey eyed morning. This personification points out the twilight zone in which Mariana is caught up. Dreariness and Weariness marks the order of the day in alternating patterns devoid of orderly sequences. Stanza Four In the stanza four, the opening line describes sluice with blackened water sleeping and the clustered marish mosses creeping. This would be a metaphor to convey that she is physically and emotionally trapped. This stanza also uses softer hissing sounds of sibilance to make it sound sinister. Lord Tennyson uses phallic symbols for the first time “Hard by a poplar shook always .The poplar tree is meant to represent her lost love. Throughout the poem, figurative language is used. Stanza Five In stanza five, the moon is low, with the shrill winds up and away..Swaying the white curtain to and fro. Gusty Shadows of the poplar falls upon her bed. This again may be interpreted as a phallic symbol suggesting her sexual deprivation. “Wild wind bound within their cell”-This quote again is an example for personification and pathetic fallacy. The use of poplar tree as a phallic symbol is an indicative of the female psyche and how Mariana has kept all her feelings bottled up without sharing with anybody. Stanza Six The sixth stanza describes Mariana’s abode as a dreamy house with the hinges of the doors creaking all the day. Does it echo the language of her rusted mind affected by deprivation of any human company and deteriorating conditions day after day.?.Life has become surrealistic for her. Mosses peer about and shriek from the crevices of her mind. Appearance of old faces through the doors, toddling of old footsteps in the upper floor and haunting old voices drive Mariana mad. She could helplessly repeat that life is dreary and she is aweary. Stanza Seven The last stanza starts with the sparrows chirp upon the roof and the slow clock ticking. The wind woes with the poplar and makes all her senses confound. Mariana becomes tensed up. Repetition of each day in abandonment and hopelessness make her hate the existence. Tennyson characteristically uses a depressed tone .He uses negative words like “gusty, shadow” and contracted words like “Shrieked” in order to confide within the strict pattern of syllables he has set for himself. Conclusion Mariana is a poem that rebels against normal poems of the time. In the time when all the poets were writing romantic, Tennyson preferred to write this anti romantic poem. The refrain in the closing lines sums up the tragic predicament of Mariana is beyond redemption. References Analysis of Mariana, 04 June.2006.Web.16 Oct.2011. < http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2006/4/11/233644/865/> Read More