William Cullen Bryant’s “To a Waterfowl” (p.151) and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (p.181)
Read the selections and write a detailed response to the following:
- Compare/contrast the different views of nature that are being presented in the poems. Refer to the list of classical and romantic characteristics and provide specific examples from the poems to support your analysis.
“To a Waterfowl” and “The Raven” are two very different poems but have some small similarities. One key difference just found in the title is the difference of the articles. “To a Waterfowl” as the article “a” and “The Raven” has the article “the”. This shows one key difference. The bird found in the waterfowl poem is a normal and common bird that he believes to be following and outside power, but overall, it is a normal bird. “The Raven” has “the” in the title to show that it is unique in its nature. Also, each poem has a different outlook on nature. Waterfowl has a hopeful tone and its outlook on nature is positive in that if you follow this power it will lead you to safety. On the other hand, “The Raven” has a dark and hopeless tone and deals heavily with emotion. “The Raven” and “To a Waterfowl” also have very different settings. “The Raven” occurs on a bleak winter night at midnight, but the waterfowl is at dusk. A similarity between the two poems is that they are both written in an ornate style of writing instead of a plain form of writing because of the way the poems are set up. Another key difference is the speaker’s point of view and outlook on life. The speaker in the waterfowl poem is at peace with nature and with himself where the speaker in the raven is disturbed and he is having an internal conflict after the loss of his wife. Overall, these two poems have very large differences, despite the small similarities.
