Poetic skills Tennyson Essay

To finally come to a conclusion on this question we will be referring to 3 narrative poems which are, ‘The Lady of Shalott’, ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘Mariana. ‘ A narrative poem is a poem that tells a story such as ‘Mariana’ which tells us a story of a girl who is waiting for her lover who would not return to her. The poetic skills that can be used in such poems are techniques such as description, use of mood and atmosphere, use of words, structure (stanzas, rhythm, rhyme scheme) and style (repetition, imagery, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, metaphor, contrast, simile), also narrative skills, e. g. suspense and tension (created within the story). In ‘The Lady of Shalott’, Tennyson divides the poem into 4 parts. The first part (part 1) sets the scene and consists of 4 stanzas. The second part (part 2) also consists of 4 stanzas. In this part we are inside the tower and we meet the lady, we also learn the she has a curse on her and that she must not look out of the window. In part 3 there are 5 stanzas. Here Sir Lancelot is introduced riding and singing on his way to Camelot. The lady can not resist and goes to look at him. The curse is broken and it is upon her, â€Å"‘The curse is come upon me,’ cried The lady of Shalott† (part 3 stanza 5 lines 8-9) Part 4 is the climax to the story and the poem. This part consists of 6 stanzas. Here she leaves the castle, goes out into the storm and finds a boat. The river takes her far. She sings her last song and dies. She is now seen by the people and Sir Lancelot for the first time. The second poem ‘Mariana’ is made up of 7 stanzas. At the start of each stanza there is a narrative voice and Mariana’s voice at the end. Each stanza describes a different area of her life. In the first stanza we see everything falling apart, â€Å"The rusted nails fell from the knots† (Stanza 1 line 3) This is a comparison to how her life is falling apart. At the end of each of the first six stanzas there are three lines which are always the same, â€Å"He cometh not, she said,’ she said; She said, ‘I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead! ‘ † (stanza 1 2 3 4 5 6 lines 10-11-12) The effect could be that we start to feel sorry for this poor, wretched woman as she always says that she wants to be dead. These three lines show that Mariana is waiting for someone but he never arrives. She wishes she was dead. The whole poem is about a woman alone in her house with everything falling apart.