Write the substance and explanation of the poem entitled A Lament.

Ans.

Substance of the Poem

The poet is highly dejected at the emptiness of his life. The joy of the world, life and time has deserted him forever. He feels he would not survive in this world for long. The poet feels sorrow when he finds that the world in which he is living does not provide him with any kind of joy. He is living a life without delight. The present time does not bring him any kind of pleasure. He has come on the last stage of his life. In his youth, he had been firm and strong but now he has grown utterly weak and helpless. He has lost all his strength and capacity. He feels that he will never again get back the lost joys of his prime age. Neither day nor night brings him any kind of joy. Joy has left him altogether. Beautiful and fresh seasons of spring, summer and snowy winter come and go but give him no delight. Grief has made its permanent abode in his heart. He knows that joy will never return to his life.

Explanations

(1) O world! O Life! O Time !

On whose last steps I climb,

Trembling at that where I had stood before;

When will return the glory of your prime ?

Reference to the Context: These lines based on the poet’s personal sentiments and emotions, have been extracted from the subjective lyric entitled A Lament, written by P. B. Shelley.

Here the poet lays bare his own personal sentiments and emotions. The poet has lost his prime age of vigourness and enthusiasm. He has grown weak at the loss of his strength and capacity.

Explanation: The poet has lost the prime time ( youth) of his life. Now he is utterly a grown up person. He feels that after losing the period of youth, his life has been filled with sorrow, dejection, frustration and disappointment. When he was young, he was energetic, enthusiastic, optimistic and full of confidence. But now he feels himself utterly weak and nervous. In declining years, he has been deprived of all kinds of joys and pleasures. He does not feel even a ray of delight in his life. He is spending the rest days of his life with great burden of sorrow and dejection. He feels that he has come to the last steps of his life. He recalls that once he had been firm and strong, but now he is shaking with weakness. In his youth he was able to do any work with great enthusiasm and energy and he could make great achievement. Now he is completely broken in everything. He longs to get back those happy days, but it is impossible. He knows that he will never get back those lost days of his prime age.

Critical Comments: The poet is presenting his own personal sentiments and emotions in his declining years.

(2) Out of the day and night

A joy has taken flight:

Fresh spring, and summer, and winter hoar

Move my faint heart with grief, but with delight

No more-oh! never more.

Reference to the Context: As above. Having lost his prime age, the poet finds his life surrounded with dejection, failure and sorrow. He feels that his life is completely joyless. The changing seasons bring him no delight and pleasures.

Explanation: The poet is greatly burdened with sorrows, dejections and failures. Now no ray of happiness and joy is seen in his life. No achievement or opportunity comes to him. There was a time when with the approach of new sun, he was filled with a kind of joy and happiness and waited for new opportunity. Even he drove joy in the moments of night. But now, he feels joy neither in the day nor in the night. Joy has left him altogether, Fresh seasons of spring, summer and snowy winter come every year and go but it seems that his senses have become numb and he feels himself unable to drive joy from these seasons. He has nothing else but grief in his weak heart. He has lost his joy forever. Now he cannot expect that it would ever return to his life. He feels that the shadow of gloominess would never leave him.

Critical Comments: 1. No more… more!: An Apostrophe.

2. Other comments as above.