The name is absent



Whittier’s Critical Creed         47

resulting horror and shock of the loss. Only then is the
reader aware of the skillful manipulation of theme, as the
careful development of the attractiveness and assurance of
external nature hides the inevitable destruction of human
beauty and earthly love. The ironic contrast of the boy’s trust
and expectation with the true situation offers a psychological
insight into the problem of death,18 As a whole the poem
succeeds because of the utter simplicity of its prose-like
phrasing and ballad meter, and because of its firm structural
unity created by the progression from assurance to fear and
then surprise. The Styhstic devices are few: some repetitions
in the use of the adjective “same” and similar physical detail;
some parallelisms, like the balance in “heave and slow,” “for-
ward and back”; some alliteration as the
“s” sounds in the last
stanzas; and a restatement of detail with a changed signifi-
cance when the warm sun is transformed into a chilling snow
and the happy song of tire brook is altered into the dreary
chant of death. The poem’s artlessness shows Whittier’s mas-
tery of simple narration, his truth of style; while its theme
employs a rural situation and local environment to empha-
size an underlying problem of human existence. The beauty
of the commonplace here is one of wonder and surprise that
causes reflection in the reader’s mind.

The best of Whittier’s genre pieces and his ballads illus-
trate the essential truth which he had first recognized in
Burns’ poetry: that underneath the most commonplace ob-
jects lay beauty, rich treasures of life’s tragedy and comedy.
His regional works reveal the inner love of a man for the
environment that moulded him, the tradition that inspired
him, and the people that loved him. Acting on his belief in
the beauty of the commonplace and the truth of style, Whit-
tier worked these materials of the home and affections into



More intriguing information

1. AN ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF COTTON AND PEANUT RESEARCH IN SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES
2. Barriers and Limitations in the Development of Industrial Innovation in the Region
3. Impacts of Tourism and Fiscal Expenditure on Remote Islands in Japan: A Panel Data Analysis
4. Short report "About a rare cause of primary hyperparathyroidism"
5. Ultrametric Distance in Syntax
6. Urban Green Space Policies: Performance and Success Conditions in European Cities
7. CGE modelling of the resources boom in Indonesia and Australia using TERM
8. Rent Dissipation in Chartered Recreational Fishing: Inside the Black Box
9. Banking Supervision in Integrated Financial Markets: Implications for the EU
10. The name is absent
11. Inflation Targeting and Nonlinear Policy Rules: The Case of Asymmetric Preferences (new title: The Fed's monetary policy rule and U.S. inflation: The case of asymmetric preferences)
12. If our brains were simple, we would be too simple to understand them.
13. Antidote Stocking at Hospitals in North Palestine
14. From Aurora Borealis to Carpathians. Searching the Road to Regional and Rural Development
15. THE WELFARE EFFECTS OF CONSUMING A CANCER PREVENTION DIET
16. What Contribution Can Residential Field Courses Make to the Education of 11-14 Year-olds?
17. How we might be able to understand the brain
18. EU Preferential Partners in Search of New Policy Strategies for Agriculture: The Case of Citrus Sector in Trinidad and Tobago
19. The name is absent
20. Concerns for Equity and the Optimal Co-Payments for Publicly Provided Health Care