The specific poem I chose by Herbert A. Asquith has to deal with the Greek Mythological God of War, Ares. Reading the entire poem, its use of terminology was in old British English. This poem gave me very deep vivid images that brought projections of a great battle into my mind. Doing a lot of research on the author of this poem, I found out that I had gotten him mixed up with his father, Herbert H. Asquith who held the titles of Prime Minister and the 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith. I strongly believe that this poem has a deep connection to World War I (The Great War), which lasted from 1914-1918. Herbert A. Asquith, the author of this poem, is the second son of Herbert H. Asquith. He was a poet, novelist, and a lawyer; he married his wife Cynthia Asquith in 1910 and she too was also a writer. He served in France during World War 1. The stories of Ancient Greece have existed throughout many generations out of history and fun. Many of the great stories are concerned with the Greek gods on Mt. Olympus, mythical creatures and monsters, the titans, and heroes such as: Achilles, Perseus, Odysseus, and Hercules.
The tone in any poem has to deal with the mood, attitude, or emotion that triggers the reader’s thoughts and feelings. The tone in this particular poem “Ares, God of War” expresses peace, sadness, and fear. The mood of the poem can be in one way interpreted as being sad and then happy that the dawn or light of a new day will eventually overcome the struggle and bring an end to war. Wars and battles usually don’t end in happy endings and the aftermaths of a war can lead a person to having trauma and the feeling of despair. These men in the poem are engaged in war (a great war) and Ares being the god of war steps in this great battle to have leaders of great nations fall before him.
Symbolism in poetry is something that can represent itself or have a powerful hidden message. There are many uses of symbolism in this poem such as the flowers, the earth, moon, divine, wine, light, iron crown, and the morning star. For example: "Then may he weary of his burning wine, and rest forever in the arms divine... of Aphrodite passionate and pale-" (Herbert A. Asquith). The wine symbolism in this poem represents the fluid of life and in most cases considered as having powers of intoxication. Symbols for the term divine are symbols such as white which represents innocence, purity, or purification. The morning star represents the presence of divinity or a divine being. Aphrodite in this case is easing the fallen man's pain before his death by relieving him with a warm embrace that is being compared to that of wine. In this poem only two greek gods are mentioned: Aphrodite and Ares. Ares symbolizes the cruelty of war and Aphrodite symbolizes the warm passion of love.
The lesson of this poem implies that death is actually a gift given by the gods in that serving Ares favors brave men with courage and valor. The goddess Aphrodite would grant the fallen men an “eternal anodyne” in which a man does not have to bear the pain until his death.
Sources on the info on greek mythology and biography on author are on blog 2.
New source used for the meaning of symbolisms: http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/
Link: http://www.auldfarran.com/bookmem.asp?subid=2338
You're off to a nice start, I think you can add more your blog. You should more examples of tone and symbolism of the poem, into your blog.
ReplyDeleteLiked the essay...interesting picture lol but give a little bit more detail for symbolism.
ReplyDeletethis essay seems ok but I saw 1 or 2 grammatical errors so revise and edit. Also you should go more in to detail of what the symbols in the poem actually mean. furthermore, you didnt use any outside sources and didnt provide any sources.
ReplyDeletethis esay isgood so far, however you should give more details for symbolism.
ReplyDeletei also chose greek mythology which i love to read ! i liked how you compared the story to the Great War. i think this essay would be perfect if you add more in third paragraph about symbolism( how symbols like flowers, moon, and earth have powerful hidden meanings) nice job :-)
ReplyDeleteCool essay. I think you can add more details with symbolism.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this Blog. I like how you gave your readers a little background of the author of the poem you chose in the opening paragraph. However, your thesis is unclear. You mentioned the title of the poem and its tone and mood in the second paragraph instead of the first. You went on to discuss the symbolism and the lesson that the poem implies and yet in the opening paragraph the focus seemed to be about Greek mythology and the author and not focused on the essential and interesting statements that make up the body of your essay. Even though your essay is well developed and you explained your points clearly giving examples, adding a more defined thesis in your opening paragraph would greatly benefit your resulting grade.
ReplyDeleteLet me begin by acknowledging that this was a very interesting read. It gave me some insight to a poet I wasn't familiar with, and reminded me of the mystery and wonder related to Greek mythology. However, I find that in your opening paragraph you seemed to take the route of research on the author rather than the terms the assignment asked you to focus on. Why do I feel like I know more about the author than I do about why you chose the poem? Not to reiterate, but a clear thesis statement is also very helpful for the essay to flow. It allows for a smoother transition from the introduction to the body. You were very clear with examples of symbolism, but your paragraph on tone could use a bit more detail (why is the tone sad at first? examples.) You're detail in the examples you used for symbolism were magnificent, but what are the flowers, the earth, the moon, and the iron crown symbolizing? Your conclusion was an awesome clincher, and really brought everything together. You were also very organized in presentation, which is very important. You make very interesting points, I would just like to hear a bit more info pertaining to the poem
ReplyDelete