Alfred lord tennyson the lotos eaters. The Lotos 2022-10-11
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Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lotos-Eaters" is a rich and evocative work that explores the theme of escapism and the allure of a life of ease and pleasure. The poem takes its name from the ancient Greek myth of the Lotos-Eaters, a group of sailors who landed on an island where the lotos plant grew. The plant was known for its intoxicating and addictive qualities, and those who ate its fruit became so enamored with the easy, carefree life on the island that they never wanted to leave.
In Tennyson's poem, the narrator and his companions are also sailors who have landed on an island, and they too are tempted by the sweet, seductive fruit of the lotos. They are drawn in by the promise of a life free from pain, suffering, and the demands of the outside world. They feel a sense of peace and contentment that they have never known before, and they are hesitant to leave this paradise.
However, the narrator is also aware that this life of leisure and ease is not sustainable. He recognizes that the lotos-eaters are "idle" and "faint," and that they have lost their sense of purpose and ambition. He realizes that they have become "sluggish" and "indolent," and that they are in danger of losing their will to live.
Despite this, the narrator is also tempted by the allure of the lotos fruit. He recognizes that it would be easy to succumb to its charms and give in to a life of idleness and pleasure. But he also knows that this would ultimately lead to a life of emptiness and despair. He struggles with the decision to stay on the island or return to the demands of the outside world.
In the end, the narrator decides to leave the island and return to the demands of the real world. He recognizes that while the life of the lotos-eaters may be easy and pleasurable, it is also shallow and meaningless. He chooses to embrace the challenges and hardships of the outside world, knowing that it is through facing and overcoming these challenges that we find true meaning and purpose in life.
In conclusion, "The Lotos-Eaters" is a powerful and thought-provoking poem that explores the theme of escapism and the allure of a life of ease and pleasure. Through the narrator's struggle to choose between the demands of the outside world and the temptations of the lotos fruit, Tennyson suggests that it is only through facing and overcoming challenges that we can truly find meaning and purpose in life.
The Lotus
And round about the keel with faces pale, Dark faces pale against that rosy flame, The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came. To dream and dream, like yonder amber light, Which will not leave the myrrh-bush on the height; To hear each other's whisper'd speech: Eating the Lotos day by day, To watch the crisping ripples on the beach, And tender curving lines of creamy spray; To lend our hearts and spirits wholly To the influence of mild-minded melancholy; To muse and brood and live again in memory, With those old faces of our infancy Heap'd over with a mound of grass, Two handfuls of white dust, shut in an urn of brass! But you get the point, though. In the first part of the poem stanzas 1-5 , all the stanzas were the same length nine lines now they are all different lengths. Again, be sure to notice the focus on words relating to tiredness and sleep here e. Perfect rest and perfect silence until they die. The frame is like "The Hesperides" as it connects two different types of reality, one of separation and one of being connected to the world.
In a way, this poem is a dream about death without fear. That plant made them sleepy, lazy, and unable to leave the island. Surely, surely, slumber is more sweet than toil, the shore Than labour in the deep mid-ocean, wind and wave and oar; O, rest ye, brother mariners, we will not wander more. When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of my company to see what manner of men the people of the place might be, and they had a third man under them. Only to hear and see the far-off sparkling brine, Only to hear were sweet, stretch'd out beneath the pine. Apparently these guys have wound up in a valley, with a full moon above them. Seems like these sailors have found a shortcut to Elysium which was reserved for great heroes.
Then some one said, "We will return no more"; And all at once they sang, "Our island home Is far beyond the wave; we will no longer roam". We also connect it with emptiness, falseness, superficiality. Here are cool mosses deep, And thro' the moss the ivies creep, And in the stream the long-leaved flowers weep, And from the craggy ledge the poppy hangs in sleep. Thus in this poem Tennyson forces us to consider the ambiguous appeal of a life without toil: although all of us share the longing for a carefree and relaxed existence, few people could truly be happy without any challenges to overcome, without the fire of aspiration and the struggle to make the world a better place. Line 27 The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came.
The Lotos Eaters by Alfred Tennyson Summary & Analysis
Maybe they feel just a little bad about it, though. Odysseus must drag his men away so that they can resume their journey home. That sounds like a pretty happy little leaf if you ask us. Could also just be people they used to know. They imagine how sweet it would be to lie on beds of flowers while watching the river flow and listening to the echoes in the caves. This new land is beautiful, but also a little spooky.
They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the Lotus-eaters without thinking further of their return; nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back to the ships and made them fast under the benches. It describes it as a place where nothing seems to change. What pleasure can we have To war with evil? They have rest on the Mount Olympus, drinking nectar and watching indifferently the miserable plight of mankind. Is there any peace In ever climbing up the climbing wave? Apparently, the plant grows everywhere on this island, both up in the mountains and down by the creeks. On the one hand, it sounds a little like an oxymoron, with the way it mixes old and young.
Everything, the sea, and the wandering foam seemed to them weary. They imagine that their souls are telling them to be calm, to rest, to relax. For they lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurl'd Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curl'd Round their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world: Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands, Blight and famine, plague and earthquake, roaring deeps and fiery sands, Clanging fights, and flaming towns, and sinking ships and praying hands. Some of them go down to hell, and there suffering goes right on. They do a great job of calling up an image of waves on the beach, and how nice it can be to sit quietly and watch the water spray in the air. They imagine that sleep would be a cure for all their misery. Choric Song 1 There is sweet music here that softer falls Than petals from blown roses on the grass, Or night-dews on still waters between walls Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass; Music that gentlier on the spirit lies, Than tir'd eyelids upon tir'd eyes; Music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies.
Line 155 On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind. Their feet are coming down, and the tents are going up. If we were on a tropical beach with magical fruit to eat, we might not be that psyched about getting up and doing a bunch of rowing either. Lines 3-4 In the afternoon they came unto a land In which it seemed always afternoon. Then, why should the men who are the roof and crown of all things, never fold their wings and have rest.
What they want is to be stuck forever in the sleepy world between being asleep and being awake. Maybe the other sailors? We get some killer alliteration there, by the way. They imagine they will have finally escaped from all the hard work of life. The reader is able to return to being sympathetic with the mariners when they seek to be united with the world. Now there are many speakers all the sailors who ate the Lotos plant speaking at the same time. This image of cutting into the ground makes even working for a living seem hard and violent.
