Songs Of Ourselves

Brittany Le

Procession Of Seasons

The Flowers That On The Banks And Walks Did Grow

Spring, The Sweet Spring

Reasons for choosing these three poems:

o Content oFigurative DevicesoTheme

A Procession of SeasonsDescribes the four seasons of life and compares it to

the human life cycle.

The Flowers That on The Banks And Walks Did Grow

Flowers and trees mourn for the absence of a woman (Margaret). It

is more likely that she is a snowbird rather than dead.

Spring, the Sweet SpringCelebrating spring! Poem portrays spring as joyous and pleasant; a time of

rebirth and love.

Summary of Content

Content

Procession of Seasons

• Cycles of Life mirror Cycles of Human Life

• Seasons Personified

The Flowers That Did Grow…

• Seasons/nature portray absence of woman

• Seasons Personified

Spring, The Sweet Spring

• Addresses two ages of loves

• Celebrates Spring

• Seasons Personified

Figurative LanguageAll three poems employ personification.Each poem personifies natureto show the fragility of human life. Certain stages of life reflect different emotionsand ages that humans experience.

Fi g u r a t i v e L a n g u a g e : Pe r s o n i fi c a t i o n .Procession of Seasons“…Lusty spring, all dight in leaves of flowers . . and in his hand a javelin he did bear...”

“…Winter clothed all in frieze, chattering his teeth for cold that did him chill…”

“Then came the jolly summer… he … had hunted the late leopard or the boar…”

Fi g u r a t i v e L a n g u a g e : Pe r s o n i fi c a t i o n .The Flowers That On The Banks And Walks Did Grow“The flowers that on the banks and walks did growCrept in the ground, the grass did weep for woe;”

“And those sweet brooks that ran so fair and clear,With grief and trouble wrinkled did appear.”

Fi g u r a t i v e L a n g u a g e : Pe r s o n i fi c a t i o n .Spring, the Sweet Spring

“The fields breathe sweet…”

“… the daisies kiss our feet...”

T H E M E

Nature and Life

Procession• Spring:

Young Lover• Summer:

Hunter• Autumn:

Farmer• Winter:

Elder

The Flowers That..

•Nature suffers alone

• Nature saddened by absence of a person – just as people are saddened in

the absence of loved ones

Spring…• Spring celebrated

• Young lovers and Old lovers enjoy spring –

shows that spring is

enjoyed by all ages

Personal Interpretation

In the poem “Spring, the Sweet Spring” I wonder if Autumn and Winter are looked down upon because of the era in one’s life these seasons would apply to (later years). This ties into the poem “The Flowers That On The Banks And Walks Did Grow” because nature transitions into autumn and winter when a woman leaves. Both seasons represent a time of loss, just as autumn is the introduction to winters loss of leaves on a tree. The woman eventually returns in poem 2, alluding that she's a snowbird. But metaphorically, she is spring; she is summer. She’s apart t of the “Procession of Seasons” which represents a life cycle. She’s “reborn” so to say.