The Sound of the Sea Essay Example for Free

The Sound of the Sea evidenceThe Sound of the Sea is a sonnet by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, describing the sounds of the sea and relating it to human consumption. Through alone auditory images of the sea and other powerful natural forces, Longfellow powerfully alludes to the nature of human fervency. Through tiny and sensory imagery, Longfellow communicates the subtle details of the human soul and how inspiration functions. The Sound of the Sea consists of fourteen lines and a particular rhyme scheme (abba abba cde cde). The first gear eight lines of the verse consist of one drawn bring push by means of sentence, which is the translation of the sound of the sea and other natural forces, which then in the final sestet, which also consists of besides one sentence, are used by Longfellow as a metaphor to allude to the inspirations of the human soul.The transmute in the rhyme scheme of the sonnet and the 2 concrete sentences, serve to aid this transition from descri ption of the sea to meditation on the source of inspiration. Longfellow uses this depiction of the sea to communicate the nature of human inspiration, which he claims comes to us from an unvisited and solitary infinite in our soul and though we credit it to ourselves, it is in fact something beyond our reckon or understanding, something of a godly nature.With the starting line, Longfellow effectively conveys this notion that inspiration comes from an inaccessible space within us by describing the sea as having awoken at midnight, as midnight is associated with the center of the night, the dark and the unknown, this suggesting that inspiration is aroused within dark dimensions of ourselves, somewhere our conscious mind has not strayed. This also suggests that the sea, whose many massive dark depths remain unexplored, represents this unknown space within our soul, and this imagery is furthered by the description of the wave of the soar up rushing onto the the raspy beaches far and wide.Beaches are the extremities of the sea, where land, a terrain very well known to us, begins and sea ends, and this imagery suggests that these beaches are the edge of our consciousness. Furthermore the labial sounds of the letters p and b in pebbly beaches give an uneven pronunciation to the manner of speaking, which are contrasted with the smooth drawn out ar, ide sounds in the words far, wide and tide.This contrast serves to communicate the scattered nature of our consciousness with the unity, elegance and fluidity of our subconscious. Furthermore, these drawn out sounds serve to also further the imagery of the tides uninterrupted sweep which is particularly effective in conveying the image of the wave rushing to envelope the shore, the word uninterrupted conveying this nose out that the wave of inspiration is all smooth and relentless. This imagery is furthered by the 3 line-long segment, uninterrupted by punctuation.Yet, the substitution point made in these four line s is when the speaker states that (he) heard the waves. The description of the sea gives you a intellectual image, but Longfellow stresses upon the fact that the speaker only hears the tide, as this can be seen reflected in the title of the poem The Sound of the Sea. Hearing is an auditory action that allows one to be aware of the presence of the intention through the sound, but not visually or physically grasp it.This suggests that inspiration is similar, in the brain that one can be aware of it but cannot consciously grasp, control or dominate it. In the fourth line, Longfellow states that its A voice from the silence of the deep. Here, the reader once again encounters this creation of being limited to only the auditory senses, yet in this instance, a voice is something distinctly human. The concept of a voice you can listen to and follow, but not see the source, is usually associated with a foretell presence.This concept is solidified by the description in the following line , describing it as a sound mysteriously multiplied, as the word mysterious suggests that its provenance is not known and the word multiplied insinuates this contemporaries of the strength of the voice, communicating a sense of power. This sense of power is furthered by the natural descriptions in the two consecutive lines, where the voice is compared to a cataract from the mountains side and a roar of cuts upon a forested steep.Both these descriptions are natural phenomenons of immense power, and whos sources one cant see, the wind being invisible and the cataract having its source deep within the mountain. These four lines can be related to the perish four lines of the poem, where it claims that these inspirations arent our own, but some heaven-sent foreshadowing and foreseeing of things beyond our reason or control. This insinuates that this inspiration is in fact some sort of divine glimmer, a voice shedding light, and that these divine influences are like the tide, beyond our human understanding or control.There is a cyclical figure in the poem, where the content of the first four lines with rhyme scheme abab, are tied with the content of the first three lines with the rhyme scheme cde and conversely between the back and fourth part of the poem. The first and triad part of the poem insinuate that inspiration comes from within an unknown part of your soul, conveyed through imagery of the sea, and the second and fourth part convey the sense that these inspirations are actually due to a divine presence, communicated through imagery of powerful natural occurrences.These two concepts are intrinsically interlinked, and Longfellow uses this poem structure to further this concept, which is that inspiration comes from within you because God is within you, and he uses natural imagery to communicate God within nature. In conclusion, The Sound of the Sea effectively creates a parallel between the metaphor of the sound of the sea with the divine nature of insp iration. Longfellow does so effectively through finely detailed imagery that gives rather precise perspicacity into the human soul.