Mild the Mist Upon the Hill Flashcards
Who is the poet?
Emily Bronte
When was it written?
1839
Context:
- Romantic poem (main themes are to do with the power of nature)
- The Sublime is an overwhelming feeling of awe, wonder and fear, often to do with nature
Language, form and structure:
- Lyrical ballad (rhythmic poem in praise of something)
- Alternating rhyme
Assonance
Sustained assonance in ‘mild’ and ‘mist’ gives poem a lyrical quality
Alliteration and sibilance
‘Spent its store of silent sorrow’
- Slows poem down, shows the world taking a break from sadness
Pathetic Fallacy and personification
‘The day has wept its fill’
- Pathetic Fallacy depicts power of natural world as it mimics speakers feelings, showing it to be complex
Oxymoron
‘Summer pall’
- Summer is often associated with new life and happiness whilst a pall is the covering of a coffin
Semantic field
‘Cloudy evening fall’
‘Summer pall’
- Creates a semantic field of death, creating a sombre and melancholy tone
Techniques used:
Personification
Pathetic Fallacy
Sibilance
Assonance
Semantic field
Oxymoron
Alliteration
‘The horizons..’
‘The horizons mountain chain’
- ‘Chain’ suggests a connection to the place, but also a chain between the past and present
- This could suggest that the mountain is the same as when she was a child, serving as a link between her current self and childhood
- Reinforces power of nature and the sublime
‘The damp..’
‘The damp strands in the long, green grass’
- Each strand of grass represents a potential path for the future to take the child
‘Mild the..’
‘Mild the mist upon the hill’
- ‘Mild’ is often used in a positive context, giving it a seemingly optimistic tone, further reinforced by alliteration in ‘mild’ and ‘mist’
- Hopeful tone reflects how speaker fids peace and solace in the world, although mist can also be foreboding
Poems for comparison:
I remember, I remember
Clear and gentle stream
