Responding to Poetry

A quick look at BBC Bitesize will tell you what you need to know about how to respond to poetry. If you need things broken down further for you, that's what this is here for!
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One rather important thing to remember when responding to poetry is that while your opinion is important, you also need to include a critical analysis of the poem. Often times, students will do one or the other, usually with the focus on how the poem makes them feel.

You know you are going to be asked to compare two poems for your GCSE. There's no way of getting around that. By mixing your personal response and your critical analysis, you can be sure to hit your AOs.

But first, what is your personal response? 
Your personal response goes beyond "I like this poem. It is a good poem." While it's fine and dandy that you like this poem, this doesn't really say anything of substance. I like cats. That means nothing to you, right? But if I said, "I like cats because they have the cutest little paws. You can never tell what they're thinking or if they are planning your murder. Plus, you can give cat's catnip and watch them go psycho for a while." In your mind, you're either going "Miss is right! Cats are the cutest!" or "Miss has no idea what she's talking about. Dogs are the best." Either way, you've formed an opinion off of what I said. You're either agreeing with my personal response or disagreeing to it.
Let's look at an example from BBC Bitesize.

Dusting the Phone by Jackie Kay

I am spending my time imagining the worst that could happen.
I know this is not a good idea, that being in love, I could be
spending my time going over the best thing that has been happening. 

Sample response:
We can see that the speaker is 'in love' and she imagines 'the worst that could happen'. This is striking because we imagine being in love as being something that makes people happy. However, the first stanza shows that this isn't always the case and that love can make someone anxious and worried.

What do you notice?
The response uses the pronoun 'we'. This is because the response writer is referring to themselves as part of the collective "reader". Not once has the response writer used "we know this because". That is implied information. This personal response is built around textual references and opinions that we can make based off the text. The response writer forms an opinion and backs it up with references from the text.

When forming your response or opinion to the poem, here are some questions to keep in mind.
- how does the poem make me feel?
- are there particular parts of the poem that stand out to me? why?
- what is the poet saying or how is the poet expressing themselves to make me feel this way?
- are there other ways someone might interpret the poem?
- what are the details that might support another interpretation?

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So you have your personal response, but now what? You need to think more in detail about the effect on the reader and what the poet is doing to get this effect. 
Questions to consider:
- is it clear what the poem is about?
- could the poem be about different things? why do you think this?
- are there key lines or phrases that stand out to you?
- are there clues in the title or start/end of the poem?

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Structuring a Comparative Essay
There is no way to effectively write this essay without planning it first. Writing without planning is only setting yourself up for failure. It takes 5 minutes to make a plan. Do it.

There are two common structures for comparing poetry. The first is simple but it doesn't allow for much critical analysis. This is:
- Introduction
- Poem A
- Poem B
- Conclusion
While this structure allows you to speak on both poems separately, it was by comparing poetry on different aspects (theme, language, etc) that shows higher thinking.

This is why I suggest using structure B.
- Introduction
- Poems A + B Themes
- Poems A + B Structure
- Poems A + B Language
- Conclusion
The topics of each paragraph can be changed. For example, you can change out Themes with Context.

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The last thing of note is to remember to see your ideas through. The most common mistake made in your mock exams was that your ideas were there, but they weren't sufficient. Really good ideas were mentioned in passing, as if you weren't sure if they were good enough, but then never mentioned again. Be confident in how you approach the poetry, the language, structure, themes, attitudes, contexts. You've got this!

Links Between Poems

In an effort to go paperless, I'm adding this resource online for you to have and revise with. This has information about the links between all of the poems we are going to study. This is a found resource meaning the work is not mine.
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Ozymandias
Thematic or contextual links:
"My Last Duchess" also presents ideas about social control: both Ozymandias and the Duke proudly protect their power.
Voice or formal/structural links:
"Ozymandias" uses a distanced third person speaker, while "My Last Duchess" is a dramatic monologue providing the Duke's voice first hand.

London
Thematic or contextual links:
Like "Checking Out Me History", "London" shows awareness of the oppression of different social groups, but is from the eighteenth century, while "Checking Out Me History" is contemporary.
Voice or formal/structural links:
"London" uses a very measured and regular rhythm and rhyme scheme; "Checking Out Me History" uses two different stanza layouts to present the different social groups it features.

Extract from "The Prelude"
Thematic or contextual links:
Like "Remains", this extract explores the effects of one moment on the mind, but "The Prelude" is strongly influenced by its context of Romanticism.
Voice or formal/structural links:
Both use a first person viewpoint, but the voice in "Remains" is more modern and colloquial.

My Last Duchess
Thematic or contextual links:
"London" also criticizes the structures and system of social class.
Voice or formal/structural links:
"London" openly criticizes the class system using an outsider viewpoint; the Duke's voice relies on the reader to infer Browning's criticism.

The Charge of the Light Brigade
Thematic or contextual links:
Like "Exposure", this poem explores the catastrophic effects of war upon individual soldiers.
Voice or formal/structural links:
Both make strong use of repetition and sound patterning.

Exposure
Thematic or contextual links:
"Bayonet Charge" also presents a soldier's First World War experience, but was written later and not from personal experience.
Voice or formal/structural links:
"Exposure" uses a more formal stanza structure; the more modern "Bayonet Charge" employs more enjambment and less repetition and rhyme.

Storm on the Island
Thematic or contextual links:
The extract from "The Prelude" also explores the power of nature.
Voice or formal/structural links:
Both use a first person voice; neither are broken into stanzas.

Bayonet Charge
Thematic or contextual links:
Like "Kamikaze", this focuses on one moment in wartime, but "Bayonet Charge" describes what happens around that moment whereas "Kamikaze" explores the impact of that moment on the rest of the pilot's life.
Voice or formal/structural links:
Both poems use a third person viewpoint, but "Kamikaze" uses words and phrases that create a storytelling atmosphere while "Bayonet Charge" has a more condensed style, using harsher sound techniques as well as imagery to create its effects.

Remains
Thematic or contextual links:
"War Photographer" also explores the effects of conflict, but while "Remains" focuses on the devastating effects on the soldier, "War Photographer" focuses on the lack of effect on the public, and how the photographer feels about this.
Voice or formal/structural links:
"Remains" uses enjambment between stanzas; "War Photographer" uses end-stopping.

Poppies
Thematic or contextual links:
Like "Exposure", this explores ideas about family and home in the context of conflict. While "Poppies" presents a mother's thoughts on her son's departure for war, "Exposure" features the soldiers' yearning for home.
Voice or formal/structural links:
While both have a first person speaker, "Poppies" uses direct address to include the son.

War Photographer
Thematic or contextual links:
Like "The Charge of the Light Brigade", this is concerned with how the public reacts to conflict.
Voice or formal/structural links:
Both use a third person viewpoint, but in "The Charge of the Light Brigade" the tone is celebratory while in "War Photographer" it is resigned.

Tissue
Thematic or contextual links:
"Poppies" is also about memory, but "Tissues" explores this in terms of records.
Voice or formal/structural links:
Both use imagery related to texture and layering.

The Emigree
Thematic or contextual links:
Like "Checking Out Me History", this explores ideas about resisting the abuse of power.
Voice or formal/structural links:
"Checking Out Me History" uses distinct stanza layouts and dialect; "The Emigree" uses vivid imagery.

Checking Out Me History
Thematic or contextual links:
Like "Ozymandias", this shows a decline of power, but this is explicit in "Ozymandias" while "Checking Out Me History" describes how power is reclaimed.
Voice or formal/structural links:
Both poems use form to highlight meaning: "Ozymandias" is a sonnet which deviates from traditional forms; "Checking Out Me History" uses two different stanza layouts to separate British and Caribbean culture.

Kamikaze
Thematic or contextual links:
Like "Remains", this shows the impact of one moment on a person's like, although in "Remains" this event is in the recent past.
Voice or formal/structural links:
"Remains" uses a strong first person voice, while "Kamikaze" mostly uses a third person speaker to evoke a story-like tone.

Analysis of Ozymandias

About the Author

Percy Bysshe Shelley was a romantic poet. This was a type of poetry that had more to do with abstract ideas and concepts, usually based around nature. He came from a wealthy family and went to Oxford University. He was kicked out for writing about atheism (the belief that there is no God). He was a pacifist, someone who believed in peaceful protests but he lived under the reign of George the Third (who fought wars, waged wars, and wanted a big empire). Percy was the husband of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. 

Analysis

"I met a traveller from an antique land/Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone/Stand in the desert"

This cluster of lines set the scene. The poet says he met a traveler that came across two vast and trunkless legs of stone. Vast means huge, trunkless means there was no body that was attached to these legs. These legs of stone were barely upright. They were eaten away by time and the desert. This shows the futile struggle to survive when no one cares about your upkeep. 

"Near them on the sand,/Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown/And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command"

The poet uses "half sunk" to show that this statue is nearly gone. A visage is a face. A shattered visage would then mean an unrecognizable face. It has no purpose. It's broken and useless. The word wrinkled shows that it's old but wise, however this can also display weakness. The poet uses negative words like "sneer" and "cold command" which gives the poem an aggressive sound. It shows that this leader was powerful but arrogant. He could give commands but didn't care about his people. 

"Tell that its sculptor well those passions read/Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,/The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;"

The last line of this cluster has a double meaning. The hand is both making and laughing. It's a pun, people!
"And on the pedestal these words appear:/'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:/Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'"
Ah yes, the turning point. This is where we hear the words of the ruler, mighty king Ozymandias (if you can't detect sarcasm through your screen, this is my helpful hint). This sign is a warning point to all other rulers. It shows that he thinks he is the best and the others don't stand a chance of being better. The exclamation point in this line gives off a strong and authoritative vibe which is ironic because no one is listening! (Was my exclamation mark ironic because no one is listening? Yikes). His sign also has references to religion. He is seeing himself and presenting himself as godly.
"Nothing beside remains. Round the decay/Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,/The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Colossal --> a metaphor for this guy's big ego. "Boundless and bare" refers to a message of loneliness. There is nothing around. It's a vast, empty wasteland with no one around. "Lone and level" sands outlast the structure. This is juxtaposed to the power and ego of the statue. Sand is symbolic of time (think the sand in the hourglass).

Even more analysis:
Lines 4-7 is the sculptor capturing the essence of this man.
Line 11 vs Line 12 = Juxtaposition! It shows his strength will fall. He is temporary. Art is forever.
There is also a possible link to Shakespearean sonnets here. They are both 14 lines, about love (well, love of power really, love of yourself?).

Annotations:

Happy revising, kiddos :) 

Analysis of War Photographer

Before we begin, there was a method for not posting this until the night before class. I was hoping you would take the onus unto yourselves and begin revising and annotating without my help. After all, we have done some annotating as a class, I had assumed that you would have been prepared to do it on your own. That said, it appears we have more work to do with annotating! Keep in mind, you are comparing War Photographer and Remains. There are some obvious connections between the two poems (war, duh), but try to spot the smaller details, things that would take a more critical and insightful view to realise (aka how to get a better mark 😊).
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"In his darkroom he is finally alone/with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows"
Ahh, the stanza we have visited as a class what must be close to a thousand times. I think I repeated this line at least ten times (if your GCSE is on this poem and this quote is not in your memory, I will have failed you). You will notice that for this stanza, my annotations are different from the ones we did in class (I lost my book, definitely a good role model here). Anyways! We have established that a darkroom is where a photographer goes to develop their photos. The presence of light ruins the photograph. There is a lot to be said about this. Perhaps the art of being a war photographer means you need to see the darkness, that having an optimistic and light personality will not allow you to see the full realities of war. Being alone allows the photographer to reflect on what he has seen and photographed. In the second line, we spent loads of time talking about the alliteration but we did not spend time on "ordered rows". With these words, the photographer is trivialising the suffering. The suffering of the victims in his photographs are not important. "Ordered rows" also refers to military graves.
"The only light is red and softly glows,/as though this were a church and he/a priest preparing to intone a Mass."
The fact that the light is red can be a symbol of a few different things. The first being obvious. Thinking about our conversation on connotations, we realise that red is a symbol of blood. When we think of blood we think of war. The photographer refers to himself as a priest. The priest is the person in charge of Christian religious ceremonies and church services. He is considered the "voice of God". Intone here means to recite in song, monotone. Think ritualistic chanting. (Remember our conversation of the religious undertones present in this poem??)
"Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass."
That last sentence is perhaps my favourite within this poem. We'll get there though.
The poet uses the rule of three here to draw effect to the names of places of war. It also has the aggressive sounds that we associate with war. "All flesh is grass." This is a quote from the Bible. Does grass stay forever? Does a single blade of grass withstand nature's course and survive the harsh winters? No. Life, much like grass, is temporary.
"He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays/beneath his hands, which did not tremble then/though seem to now. Rural England. Home again" 
The first few sentences of this stanza are monosyllabic. This means the majority of the words contain one syllable. This monosyllabic sound shows that the photographer is detached from human emotions. This is heavily juxtaposed with the first stanza. It's as if the photographer is not recognizing the human behind the photos. When we get to "Rural England" and such, we see the breaking of the sentences. Short, snappy sentences to get your attention but to also show the sort of state of mind the photographer is in. When someone is talking in short sentences, their mind is usually frantic with all of their ideas trying to escape at once. They have so much to say but perhaps only a short period. Hmmmm..................................
"to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel,/to fields which don't explode beneath the feet/of running children in nightmare heat."
The poet is also trying to draw our attention to the fact that the problems we face here are not real problems. They are so small (#firstworldproblems) compared to the hardships faced in war. The poet is again using juxtaposition to compare home to war. She is also linking the soldiers to the children, but children are a symbol of innocence. What does this mean?
"Something is happening. A stranger's features/faintly start to twist before his eyes,/a half-formed ghost. He remembers the cries" 
Within these lines, the reader is zooming in on one person. The features starting to twist could suggest pain or perhaps the image is becoming clearer. The poet uses "half-formed ghost" to be ambiguous. As a photo clears, people can look like ghosts. However, this could also be referencing the dead man in the photograph. The photographer is remembering the memory.
"of this man's wife, how he sought approval/without words to do what someone must/and how the blood stained into foreign dust."
To recall a memory so vividly, it must have affected the photographer very strongly. By seeking approval without words, we can assume that maybe they don't speak the same language. However, the photographer could also be using body language to say what words are failing to do. To photograph someone in their last moments is a sensitive subject. At what point does this become wrong? How do you photograph a person dying only to be told by your editor that the photo is not emotional enough to be put in the paper? (These are the questions that keep me up at night.)
"A hundred agonies in black-and-white/from which his editor will pick out five or six/for Sunday's supplement. The reader's eyeballs prick"
The public is only seeing what the editor deems worthy. This raises the question: who is in control of the media? Why are we letting someone else decide what we can and cannot see? If the images are too brutal for the public to handle, does that not mean war is too brutal? If that's the case, why have war in the first place? I have a lot of questions...
"with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers./From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where/he earns his living and they do not care."
The start of the last line is an echo of line 7. Remember? "He has a job to do"? He is earning his living as if this were a chore for him to do.
Who is they?

SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!!

As promised, here are the annotations. I took the photos with my iPad, so hopefully it's not as blurry as usual. Nah, it's just as blurry. Turns out I have shaky hands.

Happy revising, kiddos :) 

Analysis of Remains

Analysis

"On another occasion, we get sent out/ to tackle looters raiding a bank."

"On another occasion" could mean that this was not the first time they had sent out or perhaps not the first unpleasant encounter. the inclusive pronoun "we" suggests a sense of belonging. As this is a power and conflict poem about war, we can assume it is a sense of belonging felt between comrades. 

"And one of them legs it up the road,/ probably armed, possibly not."

Here we see the author using colloquial (slang) language. Some possible reasons for this is to make the poem feel more realistic as if it were a story your uncle or brother or father were telling you. The last line of the stanza presents a sense of discomfort. It is as if the poet is asking himself "did I do the right thing?"

"Well myself and somebody else and somebody else/ are all of the same mind,"

The first line of the stanza holds great significance. Did the poet not want to remember the details? It seems as if he is trying to make the point that there is no set identity between soldiers; they are just a number. This could suggest a lost identity. The next line solidifies that -- "all of the same mind" means a hive mind; group thought. This means their individual thought has been stolen from them. They are only following orders. 

"so all three of us open fire./ Three of a kind all letting fly, and I swear"

This shows that the poet wasn't alone in his actions. "I swear" is as if he is trying to validate his actions. He is trying to justify what he had done. 

"I see every round as it rips through his life --/ I see broad daylight on the other side."

"rips through his life" is graphic hyperbole. For those of you unsure, hyperbole is an exaggerated statement that usually isn't true (think "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse!"). The poet is using very graphic imagery in these two lines, but he is also stating the events as a matter of fact as if he is devoid of emotion. In some ways, it's as if he is dehumanizing the man he shot. 

"So we've hit this looter a dozen times/ and he's there on the ground, sort of inside out."

The first question that should go through your mind while reading these lines is "why so many shots?" That's a hard question to answer. It could be because the events reminded the poet of being at war and suddenly he wasn't thinking clearly and he only saw an enemy. It could be because the poet is malicious or a serial killer with massive rage issues that enjoys killing, but alas, we will never know. The use of the term "looter" here, instead of man, is the poet dehumanizing the guy again. He is trying to validate his actions by focusing on the actions of the man. If the man was just a looter, a bad guy caught in the wrong actions at the wrong time, then the poet is justified in his actions. Again, using terms and phrases like "sort of" make this seem more like a personal conversation rather than a poem. 

"pain itself, the image of agony./ One of my mates goes by/ and tosses his guts back into his body./ Then he's carted off in the back of a lorry."

The first line of this stanza shows the emotive language the poet is using which is ironic given the next few lines. Tossing some guy's gut's back inside of him and chucking him in the back of a lorry is showcasing the poet's disregard for human life. It could also show how the poet is dealing with the situation. By removing as much emotion as he can from the experience (by downplaying the scene) he is able to remove his own emotions as well. All of this is again only dehumanizing the fact that they killed a man for looting (stealing essentially, just more..messy? Think of the people the break windows and steal things during riots). 

"End of story, except not really./ His blood-shadow stays on the street, and out on patrol/ I walk right over it week after week./ Then I'm home on leave. But I blink"

The first line of this stanza is showing the reader the reality of the situation. It's explaining that even after the gun is fired and the body is carted off, there is still a memory, a glimpse of what had once happened. "blood-shadow" is an interesting word choice for the poet to use. On one hand, it means a bloodstain, a constant visual reminder of what had happened. On the other, a shadow is something that follows you everywhere (anyone else get the visual of Peter Pan's shadow?? just me?? cool....). So not only is this experience visually haunting the poet, but it's metaphorically following the guy around (please don't use guy, I'm being a bad example). "home" has connotations of being safe. But "blink" is showing that these memories are vivid, they come back quickly. 

"and he bursts again through the doors of the bank./ Sleep, and he's probably armed, possibly not./ Dream, and he's torn apart by a dozen rounds./And the drink and the drugs won't flush him out--"

"probably armed, possibly not" is a repeated line. This could be representing how the memory repeats itself and replays for the man. It could be that these are the questions that plague him still. "the drink and the drugs" show that the poet is trying to self-medicate which could mean that he is alone in this struggle even though he was not the only one to shoot at the looter. 

"he's here in my head when I close my eyes,/ dug in behind enemy lines,/ not left for dead in some distant, sun-stunned, sand-smothered land/ or six-feet-under in desert sand,"

It's the last two lines of this stanza that are crucial. In the first two lines, the poet is saying that the looter is/was the enemy. He's saying the looter was (or could possibly be) shooting at him too as if the looter was a threat and the poet's actions were justified as self-defense. But we know from the previous lines that the shooters didn't know if the man was armed or not, so it was difficult to assess the threat level. The last two lines are vivid with imagery; you can imagine the burning sun on your back, the sand hot under your feet. But they are bringing your attention to the question of "is there a difference?" Is there a difference between the enemy lines or a man in the street that may or may not have a gun? Is he not still the enemy? 

"but near to the knuckle, here and now,/ his bloody life in my bloody hands."

If you are familiar with Macbeth, the last three lines should scream "LADY MACBETH!!!!" for you. If you are not familiar, Lady Macbeth killed the king so that her husband would take over as king, but then is so guilt-ridden, she begins seeing things and she gets really psychotic (AO3-context if you mention this 😉). Like Lady Macbeth, the poet must live with his guilt. Today, we would call this Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The haunting images of war and conflict that soldiers face and that they are unable to forget can be triggering. 

There are several questions that you can answer to get you thinking more in-depth about this poem. 

1. Was the soldier simply doing what he was told? 

2. Should he be held accountable for his actions? Why or why not?

3. Paper 1 Question 2 - How does the poet use language to present guilt (or conflict??)?

Annotations

(You're welcome)

Happy revising, kiddos! 

Analysis of Extract from The Prelude

About the Author

William Woodsworth was a well-known poet born in 1770. He was a poet Lauriet, meaning he wrote for the king/queen. He was a Romantic poet. That means he didn't write about love so much (or the lack of love, or his broken heart, or how his girlfriend left him). He instead wrote about abstract things and used nature as a vehicle of this. The Prelude was an epic poem that was published after Woodworth's death. An "epic" is a poem that is novel-length. An "epic" usually has a hero. It's like an autobiography within a poem. The structure of this poem is also called a "blank" poem as there is no structure!

Analysis

On the surface level, this is a poem about a man stealing a boat and being terrified of the huge mountains. However, we know that there is often more to a poem than what meets the eye. Let's begin with the first line: 

"One summer evening (led by her) I found"

Already, we have the scene set for us. We know that the poem takes place on a summer's evening. If we wanted to analyze this further, the four stages of our life are most represented through the seasons. Spring, being new growth, summer being adulthood, autumn being elderly, and winter being a time of death. If we were to use this understanding of how our life is represented, we could understand that this poem takes place in the adulthood of a man's life. Looking at (led by her), we can assume that the poet has personified nature, labeling it "her". We know nature is leading this man to something, that nature is showing him something.

"A little boat tied to a willow tree/Within a rocky cove, its usual home."

In this poem, the boat represents man's influence. The poet comes across a boat, a man-made vehicle used to transport things over water, something used to control an element that we previously had no control over. The willow tree is again a symbol of nature. The poet says the boat was tied to a willow tree and we know that if the boat represents man's influence, we can assume this means that man's influence was tied to nature, that we worked closely with nature. 

"Straight I unloosed her chain, and stepping in/Pushed from the shore. It was an act of stealth"

In these lines, the poet has personified the boat. This could have done because he was alone. "Unloosing her chain" could also signify how the poet views mankind stepping on its own -- away from nature. He uses the word "stealth" which means to do something sneaky or subtly. This says that he stole the boat. This could be a metaphor for stolen youth. 

"And troubled pleasure, nor without the voice/Of mountain-echoes did my boat move on;"

Focusing on "without the voice/of mountain-echoes". This shows that the poet is again personifying nature by giving it a voice. This line gives an unsettling feeling. Before this, it was calm and a sort of narrative, but why would a mountain echo? How would a mountain-echo? 

"Leaving behind her still, on either side,/Small circles glittering idly in the moon,/Until they melted all into one track/Of sparkling light"

The highlighted sections are describing the lake and the moon reflecting. This displays a peaceful scene and a sort of romantic description. The image that is put in our mind is one of peaceful reflection. Of a man on a boat, gently gliding on the water, not rowing, just enjoying being in the presence of nature. 

"But now, like one who rows,/Proud of his skill, to reach a chosen point/With an unswerving line, I fixed my view/Upon the summit of a craggy ridge," 

This section of lines shows a mood change. The poet went from the romantic description of the water and the moon to how he became focused and more set in a direction. He began rowing like an experienced rower. He saw the summit (top of a mountain). "I fixed my view" shows that he knew where he wanted to go. 

"The horizon's utmost boundary; far above/Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky."

The word "boundary" draws our attention here. When we think of the word "boundary", we think of words like limit. Suddenly, nature has gone from being peaceful to being something that limits or hinders our progress. He mentions "the stars and grey sky" again to paint an image of there being nothing more than that in the sky. No heavens, no gods, just the stars. 

"She was an elfin pinnace; lustily/I dipped my oars into the silent lake"

With the first word of this line, the poet is again personifying nature, in this case, the mountain. Elfin refers to elves that are delicate and supernatural. They are the symbols of nature. A pinnace is a small boat. In this line, we are again seeing the poet paint the picture of a peaceful scene, perhaps showing that when we are in awe and working with nature, we are at peace. 

"And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boat/Went heaving through the water like a swan;"

The poet uses a simile here, comparing his boat to a swan. A swan is graceful so the author is saying his boat was gracefully heaving through the water. This comparison to an animal also shows that we mimic nature but fail to be as graceful or as perfect as a swan landing upon the water. 

"When, from behind that craggy steep till then/The horizon's bound, a huge peak, black and huge"

This line is very simple. The poet is saying the closer he got to the mountain, the bigger it appeared. He uses a bit of repetition here ("huge") only to ensure the reader understands how large the mountain really is.  

"As if with voluntary instinct,/Upreared its head. I struck and struck again/And growing up still in stature the grim shape"

From this line on, the language starts to shift. The author shifts from peaceful language, acknowledging the beauty of nature to being intimidated by the huge mountain. 

"Towered up between me and the stars, and still,/For so it seemed, with purpose of its own"

Again, the poet mentions the stars. He could be mentioning the stars to compare the large mountain to the large emptiness of the sky and the wondrous stars. "with purpose of its own" shows the mountain as aggressive. This is showing nature as becoming aggressive and powerful. 

"And measured motion like a living thing,/Strode after me. With trembling oars I turned"

The poet uses another simile in this line. He compares the mountain to a living thing, saying that the mountain was coming after him. He was intimidated by the mountain. He felt vulnerable, fearful. It was overwhelming him. 

"And through the silent water stole my way/Back to the covert of the willow tree;"

The poet was like a wounded animal, hurrying its way back to safety. He was frantically trying to find his way back as the enormous mountain was too much for him to handle. He returns to the willow tree which signifies man's return to nature. 

"There in her mooring-place I left my bark,/And through the meadows homeward went, in grave"

The use of juxtaposition here shows the contrast between the meadow and the mountain. A meadow is a place of peacefulness and joy. The differences are shown here to show how fast nature can change. This line also signifies another mood change. We started the poem feeling peace, then fear, and now a sense of graveness or seriousness. The poet uses "grave" to show the poet is conscious of his own mortality, that he will not live forever. 

"And serious mood; but after I had seen/That spectacle, for many days, my brain/Worked with a dim and undetermined sense"
This section of lines shows that the poet is feeling small after seeing such a huge mountain. He is feeling grave and serious. This sight and these thoughts have been on his mind for many days; he can't stop thinking about it.
"Of unknown modes of being; o'er my thoughts/There hung a darkness, call it solitude/Or blank desertion. No familiar shapes/Remained, no pleasant images of trees,"
The "unknown modes of bein"g referred to not knowing where we belong. It's unknowable. This feeling he has is ineffable, it can't be put into words. He is feeling like the world has left him. He is feeling dark, sinister, morbid, and melancholic. He feels alone in this world.
"Of sea or sky, no colours of green fields;/But huge and mighty forms, that do not live/Like living men, moved slowly through the mind/By day, and were a trouble to my dreams."
The poet uses juxtaposition here again to show how the poet is reflecting on the peaceful side of nature but also the harsh extremes. This experience has ruined his view of the world, nothing is the same. He can't fathom or understand. He refers to nature as like a living man but something that is not of this world. These thoughts stayed with him, they were constantly being reflected upon. The power that nature has is causing him to rethink his place in the world. It's showing that we can try to control nature but nature will always be more powerful. 

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