POETRY PROJECT By: Leah DisbennettEnglish 9: Period 2

ENVY

By: Mary Lamb

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATIONBackground:

Mary Lamb was born December 3, 1764 in London, Untied Kingdom. She had a brother named Charles Lamb who was also a poet and was Mary’s caretaker. Mary suffered from a bipolar disorder. This illness had caused her to kill her mother with a kitchen knife in 1796. After this was when Charles was put in charge of taking care of her. They developed a writing relationship with each other, and published many books together. They also adopted an orphan who later went off to be married. Soon after this, Charles died and Mary was then looked after by some family members and a nurse. She was placed in many asylums before dying in 1847

Achievements:Mary Lamb is probably most known for her works with the Tales of Shakespear which she wrote with Charles. She wasn’t really exposed to the public as much as Charles Lamb was (her brother), this might contribute to the fact that she lacks in literary achievements. Despite this lack, Mary and Charles did have a specific writing styles. Many of their books, or poems featured the idea of moral instruction and social awareness. Some of their poems may have been written based on their childhood experiences and feelings since they wanted to appeal to the audience of children.

ENVYThis rose tree is not made to bear

The violet blue, nor lily fair,

Nor the sweet mignonette:

And if this tree were discontent,

Or wished to change its natural bent,

It all in vain would it fret.

And should it fret, you would suppose

It ne’er had seen its own red rose,

Nor after gentle shower

Had even smelled its rose’s scent,

Or it could ne’er be discontent

With its own pretty flower.

Like such a blind and senseless

tree

As I’ve imagined this to be,

All envious persons are:

With care and culture all may find

Some pretty flower in their own

mind,

Some talent that is rare.

LITERARY/POETIC ELEMENTS

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

This rose tree is not made to bear

The violet blue, nor lily fair,

Nor the sweet mignonette:

And if this tree were discontent,

Or wished to change its natural bent,

It all in vain would it fret.

And should it fret, you would suppose

It ne’er had seen its own red rose,

Nor after gentle shower

Had ever smelled its rose’s scent,

Or it could ne’er be discontent

With its own pretty flower.

Like such a blind and senseless treeAs I’ve imagined this to be,

All envious persons are:With care and culture all may find

Some pretty flower in

their own mind, Some talent that is rare.

Poem’s Structure

• This poem contains:3 stanzas18 lines6 lines per stanza

It was structured this way to convey the ideas of a lyric poem. Each stanza expresses a different idea that contributes to the idea of his main feeling, which was envy.This is a lyric poems that conveys the authors feelings

SPEAKER This rose tree is not made to bear

The violet blue, nor lily fair,

Nor the sweet mignonette:

And if this tree were discontent,

Or wished to change its natural bent,

It all in vain would it fret.

And should it fret, you would suppose

It ne’er had seen its own red rose,

Nor after gentle shower

Had ever smelled its rose’s scent,

Or it could ne’er be discontent

With its own pretty flower.

Like such a blind and senseless treeAs I’ve imagined this to be,All envious persons are:With care and culture all may findSome pretty flower in their own mind, Some talent that is rare.

Poem’s SpeakerThe speaker of this poem is perhaps Mary Lamb herself. She is conveying her feelings about how one shouldn’t be envious.

The speaker’s feelings may have had something to do with Mary Lamb’s disorder and her experiences she faced with having to learn to discover her own talents despite her disabilities.

The speaker is referring to herself as the “tree” in this poem, senseless and blind to their magnificent talents, and how she was envious.

RHYME SCHEME & END RHYME This rose tree is not made to bear

The violet blue, nor lily fair,

Nor the sweet mignonette:

And if this tree were discontent,

Or wished to change its natural bent,

It all in vain would it fret.

And should it fret, you would suppose

It ne’er had seen its own red rose,

Nor after gentle shower

Had ever smelled its rose’s scent,

Or it could ne’er be discontent

With its own pretty flower.

Like such a blind and senseless tree

As I’ve imagined this to be,

All envious persons are:

With care and culture all may

find

Some pretty flower in their

own mind,

Some talent that is rare.

Literary Elements

This poem contains end rhyme which contributes to the rhythm of the poem

This rhyme scheme also continues to maintain a steady beat.

This poem also consists of personification, simile, implied metaphor, alliteration, approximate rhyme, and imagery

A

A

BC

C

B

D

D

EF

F

E

G

G

H

I

I

H

As well as end rhyme, this poem also gives an example of internal rhyme, found in the 2nd stanza. “ever” and ne’er” rhymes together. This also contributes to the steady rhythm of the poem.

STANZA 1 This rose tree is not made to bear

The violet blue, nor lily fair,

Nor the sweet mignonette:

And if this tree were discontent,

Or wished to change its natural bent,

It all in vain would it fret.

Imagery: The lines 2&3 express imagery. It puts the image of certain flowers in our mind and what they look like, “blue”, “fair”, and “sweet”. The author put this imagery in the poem to get them to see that these flowers were of great competition or beauty, since a rose tree would be envying it.

Envy leads to ruin

Comparison to what others have Ex: violet vs. rose

How they were made

Personification:The lines 4&5 express personification. It shows a comparison between a tree and the human qualities of wishing and feeling discontent. The author added these personifying lines to introduce or give a hint that the tree is not just a tree, it’s rather a human instead since it possesses human qualities. Trees cannot feel discontent for they have no feelings, nor can they wish for change.

5

STANZA 2 And should it fret, you would suppose

It ne’er had seen its own red rose,

Nor after gentle shower

Had ever smelled its rose’s scent,

Or it could ne’er be discontent

With its own pretty flower.

Imagery:This makes you imagine what this rose must look like and how pretty and sweet it would smell. It appeals to our smell sense, hearing senses, and vision senses.

10Personification:In the lines 8,10&11 it describes the rose tree as having human qualities to smell, see, and feel discontent. This is significant because it is trying to help the reader see that the tree is being compared to a human.

Pretty flower is describing some rare talents people have (implied metaphor)

STANZA 3

Like such a blind and senseless tree

As I’ve imagined this to be,

All envious persons are:

With care and culture all may find

Some pretty flower in their own mind,

Some talent that is rare.

Simile:Though it’s hard to tell, when the poem says the word “like” it’s comparing the senseless tree to envious persons. This was put in the poem to show the overall main comparison.

15

Imagery:In line 17 it creates an image of pretty flowers being in the mind (at least for me).

Explanation of line18. This is also an implied metaphor. It’s implies that a pretty flower is rare talent

Approximate Rhyme:“are vs. rare’’ they aren’t rhyming words but just have the same ending and similar ending sounds.

= Alliteration (care and culture) this makes the poem more fun to read and contributes to the rhythm

IMAGERY “The violet blue, nor lily fair, nor the sweet mignonette,” this is providing an image a specific flower that a rose tree would not produce.

“nor after gentle shower,” gives an image of a rose tree in the rain.

“Some pretty flower in their own mind,” gives an image of an actual flower in their brain.

LITERARY ANALYSIS

LITERAL MEANING This poem’s literal meaning was to state that a rose tree CANNOT bear anything else but a rose. It describes how this rose tree could not bear a violet, a lily, nor a mignonette. It also states that a rose tree should not be discontent. Overall the literal meaning to this poem is simply the disorder that a rose tree will only forever be able to produce the rare rose.

FIGURATIVE MEANING If you look past the literal meaning, there is another meaning that is of much deeper significance. This is called the figurative meaning. The deeper meaning of this poem is that we people are like the tree, not seeing what we have but just envying other’s talents. If we, like the tree, envy what others have we will “fret” or live a life of ungratefulness.

AUTHOR’S PURPOSE Mary Lamb wanted to inform her audience that when people are envious they will fret in life. She was writing to let people know how special and rare they are. People should find what good talents they have, rather than be envious of things others have that you don’t. Use the talents you have and be content with that.

THEME Just like the author’s purpose, the theme also conveys that envy is no good. The message of this poem is that everyone has their own talents that are rare and we should all be content with those talents we were given, than be discontent and want what others have.

THE MESSAGE!

WEBSITES USED www.poetryfoundation.orgwww.colourbox.com www.gopixpic.com www.Deborah-weber.comhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Lambwww.studymore.org.uk

THE END