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Diction In The Mower's Song

806 Words4 Pages

Phillips Madison
Mrs.Houck
AP Literature
11 February 2023
“The Mower's Song”: A Lover Leading to Loss
The effects of a past loved one hurting one's mind may cause contradicting stages of a mental state; the idea is shown in “The Mower's Song” by Andrew Marvell. The speaker has multiple shifts in tone throughout many lines in every stanza yet, the effects that the speaker's past lover has on the speaker are greatly emphasized. In the metaphysical poem, Marvell uses a conceit, imagery, contradicting diction, and the use of a refrain to convey the speaker's shift of attitude from nostalgic to bitter to vengeful.
In the first two stanzas of Marvell’s metaphysical poem, Marvell establishes the speaker's nostalgic tone for longing towards the …show more content…

The speaker in the beginning lines deeming the meadows to be “unthankful” and questions how the meadows would allow a “fellowship so true” to be so unaffected by the speaker's negative state of mind. The bitterness of the speaker is shown through the negative diction that Marvel uses, conveying the speaker’s bitterness towards the “unthankful” flourishing meadow. Furthermore, towards the end of the third stanza, the speaker highlights the meadow's flashy “May-games'' while Marvell establishes the speaker “lay trodden under feet.” The image of the meadows “May- games” and the use of negative diction “trodden” further emphasizes the deep hate and bitterness the speaker now has toward the meadows still flourishing …show more content…

While the speaker's mind becomes more dismissed as time progresses, Marvell creates the speaker becoming increasingly more agitated as the meadow grows. The speaker in the first lines now wanting “revenge” towards the meadow and wanting together for “ruin [to] fall” The images and descriptions Marvell conveys create the vengefulness inside of the speaker's attitude towards the fields. Continuing, into the final stanza the speaker remembers of the “companions'' and when the speakers ‘thoughts [were] greener.” Marvell once again mentions the speaker's a once positive and content mental state through the comparison of the meadow. The imagery highlights the speaker's new vengeful attitude through the speaker's disapproval of the growing meadow. The closing lines of the stanza create a sense of death when the speaker will “adorn [in the speaker's] tomb.” Marvell conveys that the vengeful attitude the speaker contains through the speaker's revenge ultimately leads to his death. Finally, the last couplet of the stanza emphasizes what “Juliana” has done to the speaker's mind but, in the end, “Juliana comes,” Marvell closing the poem with one word changed in the author's refrain “comes” creates the negative effects that “Juliana” had on the speaker's mind, ultimately causes the speaker to be vengeful and causing his

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