The clod and The Pebble
The poem that I will develop is called ¨The Clod and the Pebble¨ by William Blake, an english poet unrecognized during his life time. Although now he is considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry. This poem presents two opposite ideas of love, love is selfish and love is selfless.
At the beginning of this poetry, love is presented as a positive thing, as something that we all need in our lives and it is described selfless. ‘Love seeketh not itself to please’ In this phrase we are able to see that love is described selfless and really honorable. There is an expression in the poem that shows the goodness of love. This is ‘And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair’. What this metaphor samples us is that even though you are in a bad moment, love is capable of making you feel better. Additionally, it shows us that it is always there when you need it. The Clod is the one that is in favor of love. Ironically the clod is a really soft rock representing the sensitive of people that agree in love.
On the other hand, in the last stanza of the poem. Love is presented in a really negative was, as something immoral in life that takes your time away, makes you suffer as well as it is selfish. ‘Joys in another’s loss of ease’. Here we may see how love is described as a wrong thing. What this communicates is that love enjoys seeing how the other suffers for him. ‘Love seeketh only self to please’. In this methapor, we can see the selfish way in which the author describes love. What this is trying to tell us is that love just looks to please it own self and that it searches for it self confort. The Pebble is the one who says this negative points about love. This is a really strong rock and it is not a coincidence that the Pebble is the one that says the negative things about love and not the Clod, as usually people that have strong feelings are not so open to love.
As a conclusion I would say that I’m a Clod as I really believe that love is something necessary in our lives, any type of love. The love of someone of your family, a friend or the one of your boyfriend or girlfriend. This poems makes me think about how people have huge opposite ideas about a same topic. More than that it makes me consider that we have to respect the different views that we all have about a same thing and respect it as well as the others should regard ours.
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Este comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
ResponderEliminarGreat work Cami: your essay is clearly written and well organised. You mix quotations, explanations and a personal interpretation: all a literary essay requires. You´ve got a good vocabulary range and your conclusion shows your personal views on the main theme and the poem.
ResponderEliminarThat being said, some corrections:
- You are not supposed to include background information about the poet in the introduction. It doesn´t add to your interpretation of the poem whether Blake was a recognized figure or not, so there´s no need to mention it here.
- Body: It´s interesting that you think the use of a clod is ironic, but it´s not clear in your essay why you think irony is involved. Please expand on this idea.
Also, are you sure the line "Love seeketh only self to please" is a metaphor? Why?
Be careful about what you mean with the phrase "Strong feelings", I think you mean "Strong personalities". It sounds like a contradiction to say that "usually people that have strong feelings are not so open to love". Do you see what I mean?
Again, Great work! Congratulations!
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