FREE ESSAY ON ROMANTICISM: ENTRANCE TO A WOOD

ROMANTICISM: ENTRANCE TO A WOOD

Essay-Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood
Romanticism is a revolt against rationalism. The poets and authors of this time wrote
about God, religion, and Beauty in nature. The romantics held a conviction that
imagination and emotion are superior to reason. One such author is William Cullen Bryant,
he wrote the poem Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood. This poem uses many literary
devices, and has a strong message to portray to the reader.
The poem Inscription for the Entrance to a Woods is to show how nature is the answer.
Nature will help solve your problems. An example of this is at the end of the poem when
it says how the cool wind shall come to thee and give its light embrace. Bryant calls out
to "stranger", meaning everybody. In addition, telling us that the world is a miserable
place filled with crimes, and by looking to nature; the woods, you can escape the
realities. In this poem, there is a conflict. It is between man and himself. The thing
that can solve the conflict is the woods. The woods are the answer to his problems.
This poem is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It is blank verse. Although it
doesn't rhyme, each line relates to the one before it. The tone of the poet changes
throughout he poem. At first it is sad. Bryant uses words such as guilt, misery, sorrow,
and crimes to explain the world. Than when he begins explaining how the woods are the
answer to your problems, the tone becomes happy. In the middle of the poem, Bryant talks
about birds singing, breezes, and happy, soft, nice things that can happen if one uses
the woods as a playground, and finds comfort in them.
Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood, uses many literary devices. The most common used
throughout is imagery. Using guilt and sorrows to describe the world draws you a picture
of what the author feels like. There is also a simile, where it compares the "cool wind"
to "one that loves thee nor will let thee pass unrejected." The metaphor in the poem is
using the "pale tormenter" to describe misery. One of the other literary devices the poet
uses is literary allusion. It discusses the "Primal Curse," referring back to the first
sin, The sin of Adam and Eve when they ate the apple in the Garden of Eden. It contrasts
it with the "Unsinning Earth," meaning that us, humans are sinful and guilty, but the
earth; nature, is clean and "Unsinning."
In closing, the poem Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood, by William Cullen Bryant, is
a great example of American Romanticism. It uses many literary devices. This poem
portrays the beauty of nature, and its healing powers to man. This is a topic widely used
with the romantic poets. It is very important to pay close attention to the tone, format,
conflict and literary devices used, so the reader can have a better understanding of the
poem, an enjoy it.
Bibliography
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