Mother Earth - Literary Devices

Mother Earth
by Henry van Dyke

Mother of all the high-strung poets and singers departed,
Mother of all the grass that weaves over their graves the respect of the subject,
Mother of all the manifold types of existence, deep-bosomed, patient, impassive,
Silent brooder and nurse of lyrical joys and sorrows!
Out of thee, yea, sincerely out of the fertile depth underneath thy breast,
Issued in some bizarre way, thou lying motionless, voiceless,
All those songs of nature, rhythmical, passionate, yearning,
Coming in tune from earth, but no longer unto earth returning.

Dust are the blood-red hearts that beat in time to these measures,
Thou hast taken them back to thyself, secretly, irresistibly
Drawing the purple currents of lifestyles down, down, down
Deep into thy bosom again, as a river is lost in the sand.
But the souls of the singers have entered into the songs that found out them, —
Passionate songs, immortal songs of pleasure and grief and love and longing:
Floating from coronary heart to heart of thy children, they echo above thee:
Do they no longer utter thy coronary heart, the voices of these that love thee?

Long hadst thou lain like a queen converted by way of a few vintage enchantment
Into an alien shape, mysterious, stunning, speechless,
Knowing no longer who thou wert, till the contact of thy Lord and Lover
Working inside thee woke up the man-infant to respire thy secret.
All of thy plant life and birds and forests and flowing waters
Are however enchanted bureaucracy to encompass the life of the spirit;
Thou thyself, earth-mom, in mountain and meadow and ocean,
Holdest the poem of God, eternal idea and emotion.

Literary Analysis
The poem “Mother Earth” is a beautiful description of the earth as a mom of everything, including all the gadgets inside the world as well as human beings. The main idea of the poem is love of nature, and the position of the earth in being part of nature’s beauty.

The poem is ready in an open field with beautiful meadows, forests, oceans, and mountains. The title “Mother Earth” refers to the significance of the earth as a mother, which sustains the whole thing with its richness and fertility. The tone is a bit bit sad inside the beginning, but turns tremendous within the 2d stanza, and culminates inside the praise of the Creator inside the 0.33 stanza.

The speaker is the poet himself, who gets notion from nature. The poet starts the poem by means of throwing light on the function of the earth in boosting human inventive talents. The earth is sort of a mom who keeps each person secure, and treats every body equally. It has given start to exquisite people, singers, poets, and artists, as it is the “Mother of all the high-strung poets and singers departed.” Therefore, it “weaves over their graves the honour of the field.”

However,a tinge of disappointment permeates the poem at the stop of the first stanza in that all the songs and tones come out from the earth, but “now not unto earth returning.” The poet describes all of the attributes of the earth like that of an excellent mother: “Silent brooder and nurse of lyrical joys and sorrows!” He then references its fertility saying, “All these songs of nature, rhythmical / Coming in music from earth.” The metaphorical language of the second one stanza such as, “Dust are the blood-pink hearts that beat in time to these measures,” makes the tone a piece gloomy, because the poem is going directly to kingdom that the earth is “drawing the purple currents of lifestyles down, down, down.” However, the tone all over again turns constructive in that “the souls of the singers have entered into the songs that found out them.” It states that the poets and singers have died, however their songs and poems are nevertheless alive.

In the very last stanza, the poet uses a simile “Long hadst thou lain like a queen converted by some antique enchantment” to clarify his point. Mother Earth is stunning and mendacity speechless “until the touch of thy Lord and Lover.” It is due to the fact the Lord has commanded it so, and “All of thy flora and birds and forests and flowing waters” are demonstrations of life it begets. All this stuff sing the praises in their Creator as “Holdest the poem of God, eternal notion and emotion.” The poem as a consequence ends on a high-quality note.

Structural Analysis
The poem is written in lyrical form, with 3 long stanzas. Each stanza consists of eight traces. There is no strict sample of meter and rhythm in any of the stanzas. The rhyme scheme of this poem is unusual, though it's far steady throughout the 3 stanzas. In every stanza handiest the final lines rhymes. Thus, for each eight-line stanza the rhyme scheme is ABCDEFGG. We can see an instance of this rhyme in the very last two lines of the poem: “Thou thyself, earth-mom, in mountain and meadow and ocean / Holdest the poem of God, eternal idea and emotion.”

The metrical pattern alternates and changes form from line to line, however the dominating one is trochaic such as, “Dust are the blood-crimson hearts that beat in time to those measures, / Thou hast taken them lower back to thyself, secretly, irresistibly.” The diction is connotative and filled with images, similes, and personifications. Internal rhyme may be seen in few strains, such as in the 2nd stanza: “secretly/irresistibly.” Anaphora is also within the first stanza: “Mother of all the high-strung poets and singers departed, / Mother of all of the grass that weaves over their graves the dignity of the subject.” This repetition is used to heighten the function of the earth as mother of the entirety. Another example of repetition has been aptly used to present emphasis to the finality of dying in, “Drawing the purple currents of life down, down, down.”

Guidance for Usage of Quotes
This poem may be used as a dedication to moms. The poet has compared the mom earth to other mothers. The earth has a number of comparable characteristics to a human mother. The poet indicates us the fertility of its soil, likens its dirt to the purple heart of a mom, and discusses gadgets of nature as its children. Thus, that is a notable poem to commit to moms on Mother’s Day to express love. The traces underneath can be used as a quote:

“All of thy plants and birds and forests and flowing waters
Are however enchanted paperwork to embody the existence of the spirit;
Thou thyself, earth-mother, in mountain and meadow and ocean,
Holdest the poem of God, eternal idea and emotion.”