Puritan Sonnet

Elinor Wylie

Down to the Puritan Marrow of my bones

There's something in this richness that I hate.

I love the look, austere, immaculate,

Of landscapes drawn in pearly monotones.

There's something in my very blood that owns

Bare hills, cold silver on a sky of slate,

A thread of water, churned to milky spate¹

^{Streaming through slanted pastures fenced with stones.}

^{I love those skies, thin blue or snowy gray,}

^{Those fields sparse-planted, rendering meager sheaves;}

^{That spring, briefer than apple blossom's breath,}

^{Summer, so much too beautiful to stay,}

^{Swift autumn, like a bonfire of leaves,}

^{And sleepy winter, like the sleep of death.}

^{1. spate: sudden downpour}

2. Complete a scansion on 3 lines of the poem. (Identify line length and meter--like the example from "Shall I Compare thee to a Summer's Day).

6. Identify four sound devices in the poem (assonance, alliteration, consonance)

8. What view of life does the poem present?

ANSWERS:

1. The rhyme scheme of the poem is:

ABBAABBA = 1st 8 lines are called an octave.

CDECDE = next 6 lines are called a sestet. (A poet may use any variation of these last 6 rhymes, so they may use CDCDEE, or CCDDEE, etc.)

The octave (1st 8 line of the poem) normally presents a situation or a problem.

The sestet (next 6 lines of the poem) presents a solution or a reaction to the situation.

3. (return) Five images in the poem are: A thread of water, churned to milky spate, ^{like a bonfire of leaves,} Bare hills, cold silver on a sky of slate, ^{Streaming through slanted pastures fenced with stones,  and I love those skies, thin blue or snowy gray.}

4. (return) The problem of the sonnet is that the speaker loves the scenery but he hates how the weather is always so nice and beautiful. He hates how there a sense of serenity. (return) The solution of the sonnet is

5. (return) Immaculate: clean, spotless, free from blemish; Sheaves: A bundle of cut stalks of grains or similar plants bound with straw or time; Austere: Strict or severe discipline, severe or stern in appearance.

6. (return) Four sound devices in the poem are alliteration, ballad, couplet, and rhyme. 

7. The speaker's attitude towards the New England's landscape is happy and calm. He describes the scenery so gracefully and really shows love for nature and it's surroundings. He thinks the landscape is so nice, but he hates the weather.

8. The view of life that the poem represents is perfectionism and the speaker thinks that everything created by nature is perfect in all it is. Although, even though they are perfect.....no one comes without flaws.