Within the poetry of Clare's, I noticed that there was a heavy flow of "flowery" or "stereotypical" poetic terms. In truth, I find it more fun and enjoyable to read poems like this at times. Even if the poem is depressing or even appears to be "fake" or "trying to hard", I just find myself enjoying them a bit more. It feels more like a poem to me.
Clare seemed to enjoy to use adjectives. And these descriptions were done very well. I'll be the first to admit, I can be a sucker for a lot of adjectives. I like how he brings these different words in and how he weaves them into the poetry. It feels personal and very pretty to me. Clare appears to be very strong with sweet-talking.
Despite talking about nature, and even some of the natural nasty aspects of it, it is just written in such a way that one might have to re-read something because they didn't believe they read something about "to heave her rotten faggot up"in the midst of other lines like "sweet it was to feel the breeze Blowing cool without the sun".
Taking the poem Recollections after a Ramble, I noticed there were times terms were used multiple times.
Certain terms "sweet" or "sweetness" was used seven times. And the term "honey" (which I also associated with the term sweet) was used about three times. This seems like a very important or personal term to Clare.
He also really seems to embrace and cater to the senses.
It was nice to have some adjectives. It almost made the poem seem almost like a children's story because it was so descriptive!
ReplyDeleteRather than Clare's vocabulary seeming forced or cliche, I saw it as more of the "Stereotypical Romantic Poem" more than anything. For a lot of people, if I tell them that I'm studying literature, I'll hear the reply, "Why? It's so boring/hard to read" or "I can't get past all of the language. Why can't people just say what they want to say?!"
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy his use of adjectives, though it tends to add on to the general feel of his poetry to me, which can often be over-stimulating or very "bright."
I enjoyed his descriptiveness too!
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