LIFE by charlotte bronte
line by line explanation or summary of the poem
Answers
The meaning of this poem is pretty simple. The poet says bad things are only ephemeral and good things invariably follow them. [Roses bloom, the day becomes pleasant after a little morning rain]. She encourages us to enjoy the ‘sunny’ things as they last. In the last stanza, she says that even in the moments of greatest adversity [like death of a loved one], hope will rescue us i.e. we should be hopeful. I would like to point three things, which can be missed in the larger scheme of things.
1. The poem starts with ‘life is not a dream so dark’. Notice that the poet denies that it is very dark dream, but she does not deny it is a dream. Life can be a complete illusion, a mirage of sorts –continuously running towards an inexistent pleasure/relief.....
2. She compares the problems to ‘clouds of gloom’. It serves two purposes. It says the problem is not inside us [we need not agree with the poet]. Secondly, she builds on this analogy and says roses [we] bloom after the shower. In other words, times of grief and melancholy make us stronger and brighter. [Gold shines best when put in hearth.]...
3. In the last stanza, she compares hope to ‘buoyant golden wings’. She indirectly compares the problems with a sea.
The poet says bad things are only ephemeral and good things invariably follow them. [Roses bloom, the day becomes pleasant after a little morning rain]. She encourages us to enjoy the ‘sunny’ things as they last. In the last stanza, she says that even in the moments of greatest adversity [like death of a loved one], hope will rescue us i.e. we should be hopeful. I would like to point three things, which can be missed in the larger scheme of things.
The poem starts with ‘life is not a dream so dark’. Notice that the poet denies that it is very dark dream, but she does not deny it is a dream. Life can be a complete illusion, a mirage of sorts –continuously running towards an inexistent pleasure/relief. She compares the problems to ‘clouds of gloom’. It serves two purposes. It says the problem is not inside us [we need not agree with the poet]. Secondly, she builds on this analogy and says roses [we] bloom after the shower. In other words, times of grief and melancholy make us stronger and brighter. [Gold shines best when put in hearth.].In the last stanza, she compares hope to ‘buoyant golden wings’. She indirectly compares the problems with a sea.