I'm going to analyse the poem “Come down, O maid” made by Lord Alfred Tennyson, he was British and Poet Laureate. He wrote during Queen Victoria's reign. Lord Tennyson was called the poet of the ear, because the sounds are very important in his poems. The main themes of his works are in the lines of war and love.
This poem, “Come down, O maid”, it's about two persons, a woman (that's called maid) and a shepherd. The speaker appear as a “third character”, he is observing how the shepherd is calling the maid to come down the mountain, where she is, after that the speaker start telling her to go down and find love with the shepherd.
In terms of structure the poem has one stanza that can be divided in three parts, the first one when the shepherd sang to the maid (first two verses), the second when the speaker is telling the maid to come down to find the shepherd (verse 3 to 27) and the last one when the identity of the speaker is revealed, this one being a shepherd pipe (from verse 27 to the end of the poem).
Other important characteristic of the structure is that it presents ten syllables in each verse, but it has no rhyme pattern. This is very significant, because this depicts the situation that the speaker is showing. For one part the maid is the lack of the rhyming patter, she is with out love in a risky place, the mountain,(as I'm going to explain it more in detail later), she's not in a calm, she is in a “chaos” and not in peaceful state. While the shepherd is in a valley, in a calm place, so he is in a “constant” and “structure” place, representing the ten syllables per verse.
The structure of the poem presents and represent the tone and theme of the poem. For one part, the tone is a romantic one, the speaker is calling the maid in order to make her go to the valley and find peace and love with the shepherd (the peace/”chaos”). For the other part, the theme is “The calling to the maid to find love”, this is completely related with the way the tone of the speaker and the way he conveys the idea of peace and “chaos”, because they are displayed trough nature and the way each place is shown adds to this over all idea of calling the maid to find love in this peaceful place.
As I said, nature is present throughout all the poem, is a very important element of it and is essential to understand how the theme is presented, as well there are some poetic devices that need to be taken account, as I'm going to explain ahead.
As a starting place, the two first verses of this poem are said by the shepherd. It starts with the word “COME” in capital letters, this is a way of emphasizing the calling that the shepherd (and later in the poem, the speaker) are doing to the maid in order to make her go down the place where she is, a mountain. As well, the shepherd questions the maid about what are the pleasures of the heights, in the third verse speaker does the same thing questioning about “splendour of the hills” and he says “in height and cold”, in this part is where nature starts to appear and have importance, because they start questioning the place where she is and saying that it's not a peaceful warm place it's on it contrast a cold place. The construction of the safe versus risky and having love versus not having love ideas starts in this part of the poem.
Then in verse 6 says the following “to sit a star upon the sparkling spire”, in this verse are present the following devices onomatopoeia, euphony and alliteration, in other words the use of sounds is used (one of the most remarkable characteristics of Lord Tennyson). In this verse the use of the vocal “s” is repeated (alliteration) in order to get a smooth and pleasant sound (euphony), as well the repetition of the “s” sound resembles of the sound that sparkling does(in sparkling wine, for example. This being onomatopoeia).
In the next two verses (7 and 8) the phrase “come, for Love is of the valley” is repeated twice, this part portrays the idea that the valley has Love, it belongs to him (giving to it the characteristics of possession, in other words personification). Also in this case Love has the “L” in capital letter, so “he” is treated like a person, but not any person Love is the shepherd. In this part is where is very powerful the calling that the speaker those to the maid to find love, he is calling her to come for Love, for him. This is reinforced in the end of the eight and all verse nine, where it says “come thou down. And find him; by the happy threshold,he,” in this verse the speaker is calling her to come down and find Love (the shepherd) and adding the previous idea if she does not come down to the valley she will not find love, because it belongs to the valley.
Later, on the final part of the verse 12 and verses 13 to 15, there are two important ideas. The first one is that he doesn't “cares to walk. With Death and Morning on the silver horns,” the meaning of this is that since the shepherd is in a safe place like the valley, he has not problem of walking with Death because he is not in a dangerous place, on the contrary the mountain where the maid is the opposite of the valley, this is also saying that Love is safe, since “love is of the valley” and the shepherd is love. The second idea is in relationship with the fist one, in verses 14 and 15 the following appears “Nor wilt thou snare him in the white ravine, Nor find him dropt upon the firths of ice,”, with this it's said that every dangerous thing that can break the peace or love of the shepherd is not going to affect him, so in the overall the peace is going to continue.
The verses 17 to 19 are very important, because the speaker tell her a way to go down the mountain by saying that she has to follow a torrent. There are two important figures that are essential to understanding the meaning of the poem. The first one is the following “To roll the torrent out of dusky doors:”, the speaker is telling the maid that she has to go out of dusky doors, this is de vivid representation of the mountain being a risky and not safe place, because “dusk” presents the idea of the “colour black” and the connotation that this colour has is a bad one, it represents the bad things and situations. For the other part the second important part is the use of onomatopoeia in “But follow; let the torrent dance thee down.”, the alliteration of the letter “t” and “d” simulates the sound that the torrent does, with this creating the idea of the water flowing, it's not still it's moving.
The next part I want to remark are the verses 27 and 28 when the speaker revels himself (“and I thy shepherd pipe”), this is a big revelation for various things. The first one, the hole poem is told by the personification of the shepherd pipe. For the second part, this tell us that the poem is tell in first person, so the poem is told from the subjectiveness and perspective of one character (he is not saying only what is happening, he is mixing what he thinks and see). That lead to the next idea, the speaker is the shepherd pipe, in other words he is going to tell the things in order to convince the maid and make her go to the valley. And finally, he is “thy shepherd pipe”, in other words he is the shepherd pipe of the maid. That is not a literal thing since the speaker said “come”, but what this mean is that since he is the shepherd pipe and the shepherd wants to be with the maid, he also belongs to her so if she wants to hear him she has to come down.
The last thing I want to explain are verses 28 and 29 an onomatopoeia and euphony are presented with the letter “s” (“...sweet is every sound,. Sweeter thy voice, but every sound is sweet;”), with this the sound of the pipe is made in order to make a relax and calm felling, this making allusion of the safety that the shepherd and the valley has.
In conclusion, this poem made by Lord Alfred Tennyson is presenting the idea of love being a peaceful thing, this being represented by the shepherd and the valley, while being with out love is depict by the place where the maid is, the mountain. Also, in this poem, Lord Tennyson shows one of the most characteristic features of his poetry, the use of sound, in this case for the representation of the peacefulness that the valley and the shepherd represent.
This poem, “Come down, O maid”, it's about two persons, a woman (that's called maid) and a shepherd. The speaker appear as a “third character”, he is observing how the shepherd is calling the maid to come down the mountain, where she is, after that the speaker start telling her to go down and find love with the shepherd.
In terms of structure the poem has one stanza that can be divided in three parts, the first one when the shepherd sang to the maid (first two verses), the second when the speaker is telling the maid to come down to find the shepherd (verse 3 to 27) and the last one when the identity of the speaker is revealed, this one being a shepherd pipe (from verse 27 to the end of the poem).
Other important characteristic of the structure is that it presents ten syllables in each verse, but it has no rhyme pattern. This is very significant, because this depicts the situation that the speaker is showing. For one part the maid is the lack of the rhyming patter, she is with out love in a risky place, the mountain,(as I'm going to explain it more in detail later), she's not in a calm, she is in a “chaos” and not in peaceful state. While the shepherd is in a valley, in a calm place, so he is in a “constant” and “structure” place, representing the ten syllables per verse.
The structure of the poem presents and represent the tone and theme of the poem. For one part, the tone is a romantic one, the speaker is calling the maid in order to make her go to the valley and find peace and love with the shepherd (the peace/”chaos”). For the other part, the theme is “The calling to the maid to find love”, this is completely related with the way the tone of the speaker and the way he conveys the idea of peace and “chaos”, because they are displayed trough nature and the way each place is shown adds to this over all idea of calling the maid to find love in this peaceful place.
As I said, nature is present throughout all the poem, is a very important element of it and is essential to understand how the theme is presented, as well there are some poetic devices that need to be taken account, as I'm going to explain ahead.
As a starting place, the two first verses of this poem are said by the shepherd. It starts with the word “COME” in capital letters, this is a way of emphasizing the calling that the shepherd (and later in the poem, the speaker) are doing to the maid in order to make her go down the place where she is, a mountain. As well, the shepherd questions the maid about what are the pleasures of the heights, in the third verse speaker does the same thing questioning about “splendour of the hills” and he says “in height and cold”, in this part is where nature starts to appear and have importance, because they start questioning the place where she is and saying that it's not a peaceful warm place it's on it contrast a cold place. The construction of the safe versus risky and having love versus not having love ideas starts in this part of the poem.
Then in verse 6 says the following “to sit a star upon the sparkling spire”, in this verse are present the following devices onomatopoeia, euphony and alliteration, in other words the use of sounds is used (one of the most remarkable characteristics of Lord Tennyson). In this verse the use of the vocal “s” is repeated (alliteration) in order to get a smooth and pleasant sound (euphony), as well the repetition of the “s” sound resembles of the sound that sparkling does(in sparkling wine, for example. This being onomatopoeia).
In the next two verses (7 and 8) the phrase “come, for Love is of the valley” is repeated twice, this part portrays the idea that the valley has Love, it belongs to him (giving to it the characteristics of possession, in other words personification). Also in this case Love has the “L” in capital letter, so “he” is treated like a person, but not any person Love is the shepherd. In this part is where is very powerful the calling that the speaker those to the maid to find love, he is calling her to come for Love, for him. This is reinforced in the end of the eight and all verse nine, where it says “come thou down. And find him; by the happy threshold,he,” in this verse the speaker is calling her to come down and find Love (the shepherd) and adding the previous idea if she does not come down to the valley she will not find love, because it belongs to the valley.
Later, on the final part of the verse 12 and verses 13 to 15, there are two important ideas. The first one is that he doesn't “cares to walk. With Death and Morning on the silver horns,” the meaning of this is that since the shepherd is in a safe place like the valley, he has not problem of walking with Death because he is not in a dangerous place, on the contrary the mountain where the maid is the opposite of the valley, this is also saying that Love is safe, since “love is of the valley” and the shepherd is love. The second idea is in relationship with the fist one, in verses 14 and 15 the following appears “Nor wilt thou snare him in the white ravine, Nor find him dropt upon the firths of ice,”, with this it's said that every dangerous thing that can break the peace or love of the shepherd is not going to affect him, so in the overall the peace is going to continue.
The verses 17 to 19 are very important, because the speaker tell her a way to go down the mountain by saying that she has to follow a torrent. There are two important figures that are essential to understanding the meaning of the poem. The first one is the following “To roll the torrent out of dusky doors:”, the speaker is telling the maid that she has to go out of dusky doors, this is de vivid representation of the mountain being a risky and not safe place, because “dusk” presents the idea of the “colour black” and the connotation that this colour has is a bad one, it represents the bad things and situations. For the other part the second important part is the use of onomatopoeia in “But follow; let the torrent dance thee down.”, the alliteration of the letter “t” and “d” simulates the sound that the torrent does, with this creating the idea of the water flowing, it's not still it's moving.
The next part I want to remark are the verses 27 and 28 when the speaker revels himself (“and I thy shepherd pipe”), this is a big revelation for various things. The first one, the hole poem is told by the personification of the shepherd pipe. For the second part, this tell us that the poem is tell in first person, so the poem is told from the subjectiveness and perspective of one character (he is not saying only what is happening, he is mixing what he thinks and see). That lead to the next idea, the speaker is the shepherd pipe, in other words he is going to tell the things in order to convince the maid and make her go to the valley. And finally, he is “thy shepherd pipe”, in other words he is the shepherd pipe of the maid. That is not a literal thing since the speaker said “come”, but what this mean is that since he is the shepherd pipe and the shepherd wants to be with the maid, he also belongs to her so if she wants to hear him she has to come down.
The last thing I want to explain are verses 28 and 29 an onomatopoeia and euphony are presented with the letter “s” (“...sweet is every sound,. Sweeter thy voice, but every sound is sweet;”), with this the sound of the pipe is made in order to make a relax and calm felling, this making allusion of the safety that the shepherd and the valley has.
In conclusion, this poem made by Lord Alfred Tennyson is presenting the idea of love being a peaceful thing, this being represented by the shepherd and the valley, while being with out love is depict by the place where the maid is, the mountain. Also, in this poem, Lord Tennyson shows one of the most characteristic features of his poetry, the use of sound, in this case for the representation of the peacefulness that the valley and the shepherd represent.
