Analysis

Stanza 1:

The first line in the poem is: “O, gather me the rose, the rose.” I beleive that this line means “Go look for the beautiful things in life and obtain them.” I beleive this because the rose represents beautiful things in life. The fact that the rose is being “gathered” means that the beautiful thing, which is the rose, is being obtained. The second line in the stanza is: “While yet in flower we find it.”I beleive that this line means “And you will find the beautiful things.” Since the “roses” in the previous line represent beautiful things, and in this line, the roses are being found, I can conclude that in this line, the beautiful things in life are being found. The third line in the poem is:“For summer smiles, but summer goes, And winter waits behind it!” In this line, there are many pieces of figurative language. This includes the simile “summer smiles,” which means that summer is beautiful, as well as the personification involved in that same phrase. Symbolism is also included in this phrase because the summer, which represents the prime time of the rose, and thus the prime time of good fortune and beautiful things in life due to the symbolism of good fortune by roses, is represented in this line. However, this line shows that the summer comes to an end. This signifies that the beautiful things in life do not last forever.

 

Stanza 2:

The first line in this stanza is: “For with the dream foregone, foregone.” There is no figurative language in this text. However, the word “foregone” means unachieved. So, this line can be rewritten as “For with the unachieved, unpursued dream.” This basically means that sometimes, dreams cannot be achieved or pursued. Due to the lack of symbolism in this line, this is the simplest perception of the line. The next line is“The deed forborne for ever.” Due to the lack of symbolism and figurative language in this line, the simplest perception of this line is: “Once you have missed your chance to pursue the dream, you will never be able to accomplish it, since the word forborne means given up, and the dream is forborne. The next line in the poem is: “The worm, regret, will canker on, And time will turn him never.” In this line, the worm represents the bad things in life which cause destruction, which is described as “canker” in the line.  The fact that “time will never turn him” means that time will never stop him. In other words, he cannot be stopped. Due to the symbolism between the worm and bad events in life, this line means that nothing can stop bad events from occurring.

 

Stanza 3:

The first line of this stanza is: “So well it were to love, my love,” In this line, the narrator expresses his love for someone, and describes how great the love is. Due to the lack of figurative language in this line, the simplest perception of this line is “Love is great.”The next line of the poem is: “And cheat of any laughter” In this line, the narrator expressed that he has cheated someone of laughter. Since the last line includes him talking to his love, I think that this line means that he has cheated his love of laughter. The last line of this stanza is “The death beneath us and above, The dark before and after.” I think that this line means that death is always close, and that it is just a matter of time before it gets to you. Both the moments before and after death are dark. This line does not include any figurative language.

The first line of this stanza is “The myrtle and the rose, the rose.” Due to too symbolism between the rose and beautiful things in life, I think that the myrtle may also represent something beautiful in life. For this reason, I think that the main meaning of this line is: “Beautiful things can be seen and gathered.”The next line is: “The sunshine and the swallow.” This line, like the above line, includes symbolism. Since the line above shows things that represent beautiful things in life, and this line is much like that one, I can infer that the sunshine and the swallow symbolize beautiful things in life as well. The final line of the stanza is: “The dream that comes, the wish that goes, the memories that follow!” I think that this line is very literal, due to the lack of figurative language in the line. The fact that the dream comes then goes, then leave you with memories signifies that your dreams and wishes can come and go,  and you will never forget them.

 

Figurative Language:

Personification: "For summer smiles but summer goes and winter waits behind it."

This is an example of personification because the summer is being given the human-like quality of smiling, and winter is being given the human-like quality of waiting. This example of figurative language in the text is being used to show that good things do not last for long, and bad things often follow. 

Personification: "The death beneath us and above."

This is an example of personification because the human-like quality of surrounding is being given to an idea. In this poem, This example of personification is being used to show that death is always lurking nearby, and that life is always on the line. 

 

Tone:

In this text, the tone is intense, yet encouraging, since many quote in the text reflect this. These quotes include: "O, gather me the rose, the rose," "For summer smile, but summer goes and winter waits behind it," "For with the deed, foregone, foregone, the deed forborne for ever," "The death beneath us and above," "The dark before and after" and "The dream that comes, the wish that goes, the memories that follow!"

 

Mood:

In this text, the mood is encouraged, but the poem provokes a feeling of intensity. I beleive this to be true becuase when I read this poem, I felt a sense of intensity, but I felt encouraged the use the time in my life better. Also, many quotes in the text prove this to be trust. These quotes include: "O, gather me the rose, the rose," "For summer smile, but summer goes and winter waits behind it," "For with the deed, foregone, foregone, the deed forborne for ever," "The death beneath us and above," "The dark before and after" and "The dream that comes, the wish that goes, the memories that follow!"