The poem, From the Hazel Bough by Earle Birney presents Celtic themes and images. At first reading, one may be misled to think that the poem talks only about love, but if the reader reads between the lines and unlocks the meaning of images used, Celtic ideas will unravel. The symbols and tenets the poem presents have references in Celtic literature. In order to perceive the overall theme, one needs to analyze the features and unlock the meanings of the presented symbols.
The language of the poem suggests a male persona. The first line, “I met a lady” points to the counterpart of the term used, and “but no man sees…” further suggests the perspective of the poem. The addressee could be anyone as the poem relates a short story of the persona’s encounter with “the lady”. As he describes the encounter, the persona presents metaphor and simile which help to bring about the theme of the poem. Metaphor is presented in the second stanza, in the line, “eyes were trees”.
Here, the persona compares the eyes of the lady to trees. In doing so, readers may perceive the connection of the eyes to hazel trees. Simile is likewise used specifically in the fourth stanza, in the lines, “she was plump as a finch” and “live as a salmon, gay as silk and proud as Brahmin. ” In Celtic Literature, hazel trees are considered a tree of wisdom, and eating its nuts or “salmon” represents attaining wisdom (Freeman 1997).
If we delve closely, we may see that the lady being described here is not a female counterpart, but wisdom itself as she is compared directly to a Brahmin or wise people. The use of terms like “boys” and “gay” represent themes of youth. In Celtic literature, sitting by the hazel tree represents a young person experiencing wisdom and art at the same time. Art in this respect is poetry in that according to Celtic tradition poets eat the “Salmon of Wisdom” and receive “divine illumination” by doing so (Freeman 1997).
The Essay on Confusion and Anxiety in Robert Frost’s Poems
During his lifetime, Robert Frost wrote poems that relate the confusion, anxiety, and struggles of the human mind. In his poems, he depicts how people’s minds may be imbued by confusion and anxiety as they experience pain and explore life’s possibilities. Particularly, in “The Road Not Taken” and “Acquainted with the Night,” the poet illustrates how thee two themes can lead a person to attempt to ...
In this regard, we may say that the whole poem is a personification in that it personifies wisdom and treats it like a lady with “hazel eyes”, “plush feet”, breasts and fingers. In the fifth stanza, the persona describes the encounter he had, in which both of them had a good time. He expresses that his encounter with wisdom brings him much happiness and there was no time for sadness. While the whole poem is focused on the gaily experience of encountering wisdom, the last stanza shifts in tone by giving a message that no one encounters the same experience anymore.
The lines “no man sees where the trout lies now” presents disappointment of the persona because for him, the youth may have dwelt on other things of the world, and do not see anymore what “leans out from the hazel bough”. This interpretation leads us to believe that the poem truly depicts Celtic tradition. The depth and literary value it has lead us to realize why the late author considered this as his best poem (Latham n. d. )
Works Cited
Freeman, May. “Eating the Salmon of Wisdom. ” 1997. Chalice Centre. 12 February 2008 <http://www. chalicecentre. net/salmon. htm>. “The Hazel. ” n. d. Image Descriptions. 12 February 2008 <http://www. novareinna. com/constellation/description. html#9>. Kamat, Jyotsna. “Who is a Brahmin? ” 2007. Kamat’s Potpourri. 11 February 2008. <http://www. kamat. com/kalranga/people/brahmins/brahmin. htm>. Latham, David. “From the Hazel Bough of Yeats: Birney’s Masterpiece. ” n. d. 12 February 2008 <http://www. uwo. ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol21/latham. htm>.
