Analyzing John Greenleaf Whittier's A Dream Of Summer
English 3 Honors
Poetry Analysis Paper
Jenna Krakos
December 20, 2013
“A Dream of Summer”
By: John Greenleaf Whittier
Have you ever noticed that your mood tends to change with the seasons throughout the course of the year? In John Greenleaf Whittier’s “A Dream of Summer”, this very question has been shown to be true. From what I understand, “He loved nature, and was a strong believer that God controlled the extreme climates and temperatures in certain places on Planet Earth.” Mr. Whittier was also a Quaker, who like most Quakers placed an emphasis on a simple, happy life. In this poem we see how strongly he feels as if he is cold, barren, and lifeless if you will, in the winter. Yet as spring comes into play, he is awakened …show more content…
Personification can either be giving animals, ideas, or inorganic objects human characteristics. Yet in this poem, most of the personification had to do with Mr. Whittier capitalizing a word in which he wanted to be personified. Nonetheless personification completely held the mood for me. In almost every stanza personification is used, and expressed in some sort of way. The first example of personification that I found is, “Bland as the morning breath of June.” In this personified line, Mr. Whittier is expressing that June is bland, and peaceful but in the winter season he just experienced everything was chaotic and busy. In the winter Mr. Whittier feels as if all craziness breaks loose and he the calm months of summer and spring, people, moods, and everything around him is peaceful, calm, and bland. Another example of personification that I have found in this poem is in line 21. Line 21: “Reviving Hope and Faith, they show….” Like I said, Mr. Whittier feels as if he is reborn in the spring, almost as if the winter killed the poor man. In this line, the author is saying that whenever the seasons change and spring comes in, Hope and Faith are revived or brought back to life. He is almost referring to Hope and Faith as individuals or people that he cares deeply for and needs. It’s like they are being brought back from where the winter season has hidden them, and together they bring back all the Hope and Faith that people need. The last examples of personification that I have found are in lines 25 and 26. Lines 25-26: “The Night is mother of the Day, The Winter of the spring.” Mr. Whittier uses these two lines to reveal some of his past as well as personify this saying. His mother did die in the winter so; I believe that’s why he has said what he did with these two lines. But, night is usually associated with darkness and lifelessness as so is winter in this poem, as
Poetry Analysis Paper
Jenna Krakos
December 20, 2013
“A Dream of Summer”
By: John Greenleaf Whittier
Have you ever noticed that your mood tends to change with the seasons throughout the course of the year? In John Greenleaf Whittier’s “A Dream of Summer”, this very question has been shown to be true. From what I understand, “He loved nature, and was a strong believer that God controlled the extreme climates and temperatures in certain places on Planet Earth.” Mr. Whittier was also a Quaker, who like most Quakers placed an emphasis on a simple, happy life. In this poem we see how strongly he feels as if he is cold, barren, and lifeless if you will, in the winter. Yet as spring comes into play, he is awakened …show more content…
Personification can either be giving animals, ideas, or inorganic objects human characteristics. Yet in this poem, most of the personification had to do with Mr. Whittier capitalizing a word in which he wanted to be personified. Nonetheless personification completely held the mood for me. In almost every stanza personification is used, and expressed in some sort of way. The first example of personification that I found is, “Bland as the morning breath of June.” In this personified line, Mr. Whittier is expressing that June is bland, and peaceful but in the winter season he just experienced everything was chaotic and busy. In the winter Mr. Whittier feels as if all craziness breaks loose and he the calm months of summer and spring, people, moods, and everything around him is peaceful, calm, and bland. Another example of personification that I have found in this poem is in line 21. Line 21: “Reviving Hope and Faith, they show….” Like I said, Mr. Whittier feels as if he is reborn in the spring, almost as if the winter killed the poor man. In this line, the author is saying that whenever the seasons change and spring comes in, Hope and Faith are revived or brought back to life. He is almost referring to Hope and Faith as individuals or people that he cares deeply for and needs. It’s like they are being brought back from where the winter season has hidden them, and together they bring back all the Hope and Faith that people need. The last examples of personification that I have found are in lines 25 and 26. Lines 25-26: “The Night is mother of the Day, The Winter of the spring.” Mr. Whittier uses these two lines to reveal some of his past as well as personify this saying. His mother did die in the winter so; I believe that’s why he has said what he did with these two lines. But, night is usually associated with darkness and lifelessness as so is winter in this poem, as