Write the critical appreciation of the poem entitled A Lament.

Ans.

Introduction

The poem entitled A Lament was composed possibly in 1821 and was published in 1824. It is a short musical expression of despair and dejection of the poet. It is a lyric of lost time, lost youth, and lost opportunity. In the poem there is something that everyone has the change to relate to at some stage in life. In the poem, the poet laments at the loss of self confidence and optimism. The poem is expresses intensely personal emotions of sadness. The poet laments the loss of his capacity to be happy.

Thought-content

The poet laments that his world is without joy, his life is without delight, and his time is without pleasure for him. He has come on the last steps of his life. He had been firm and strong one but now he is trembling with weakness. The poet feels that he will never get back the lost joys of his youthfulness. He feels joy neither in a day nor in the night. Joy has left him altogether. Fresh seasons of spring, summer and snowy winter come and leave but give him no delight. The poet has nothing else but grief in his weak heart.

Moral of the poem

The poem echoes with mixed feelings of joy and sadness, delight and disappointment, and loss and achievement. It reminds us that nothing in this materialistic world is permanent. Everything begins, develops, grows old and then decays. The relationship between life and the world is conditioned and controlled by the passage of time. As night and day are two natural phases of time, so are life and death. Spring, summer and winter are the three seasons of the annual cycle in the geographic world.

Style and Language

The poem is lyric in the form. It is one of the most subjective lyrics. The poet lays bare his own personal emotions and sentiments. It may seem a little dramatic, but it is thought that it seems to have gone completely out of style. It is also thought by reading and re connecting with classic works of poetry we can bring back an appreciation of expressive and emotional words, because we are becoming numb and we need to find ways to communicate with each other again about the essential emotions that constitute our being.

Each stanza in the poem consists of five lines. The rhyming scheme of each stanza is : abcac, aabab. The poet has employed an Apostrophe:

“O world! O Life! O Time!”

“No more-Oh, never more!”