The two poems that I chose to analyze were "Flowers-de-Luce Hawthorn" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and "Sun and Shadow" by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Both of the poems were very good examples of the romanticism writing style, even though they were written by different people. I learned as I read through them that their meanings are both related to nature. Nature is a big part of the romanticism writing.
In "Flowers-de-Luce Hawthorn," the quote "The lovely town was white with apple-blooms, and the great elms o'erhead dark shadows wove on their aerial looms shot through with golden tread," shows me a great deal of detail in just a couple of lines. I can see apple trees all over the place and tall elm trees that cast shadows on the town with the golden sunlight just seeping through. Henry Longfellow was know for using emotion is his poems. His poem really appeals to my senses and my emotions because there is a lot of thought behind his words. I can tell that he is bringing back his memories when he sees these certain things through town and that they have an impact on him. Another quote that I liked from the poem was "Across the meadows, by the old gray manse, the historic river flowed; I was as one who wanders in a trance, unconscious of his road" because I found it very powerful and meaningful. He trusts himself a lot to be able to say that. I think he was trying to get the point across that he does not know where he is going, but he takes it one step at a time, draws everything in, and even though he may be distracted sometime, he does not always have to worry about the road he is on. I just found the quote really inspiring that he trusts his own intuition so much.
In the second poem, "Sun and Shadow" was a more humorous poem to me. It was all about nature and the different things that you see out at see. There was a pretty good message to it I think. I took away from the poem that people are still going to see you whether you are in the sun or in the shadows. In his poem he talks about this from the aspect of the sea, and seeing the captain on the boat, but when I think about it, I tend to compare it to life and how people are going to see me if I am in the spotlight or if I conform with others. The nature descriptions in this poem are very vivid. For example, the quote "As I look from the isle, o'er its billows of green, to the billows of foam-crested blue, yon bark that afar in the distance is seen, half dreaming my eyes will pursue: Now dark in the shadows, she scatters the spray" is a really vivid quote to me because he used so many characteristics like color and objects to describe the view that was being seen.
I could not find a criticism over these two poems, but when I compared them I found many similarities and differences. I find Oliver's poem to be funnier than Longfellow's. They both do a really good job of matching romanticism characteristics. I find that both of them were easy to read and understand because the messages were really clear. I think that they were both very good poems, based on nature aspects.
Holmes, Oliver W. "Sun and Shadow." PoemHunter.com. Web. 9 Dec. 2011. <http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/oliver_wendell_holmes_2004_9.pdf>
Longfellow, Henry W. "Flowers-de-Luce Hawthorn." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: A Maine Historical Society Web Site. Miane. Web. 09 Dec. 2011. <http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=309>.
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