So much of great art and music is inspired by the wonders of the wilderness around us. In his legendary poem, “Blow, Bugle, Blow”, Alfred Tennyson reflects upon the beauty of nature and man’s duty to stand in awe of it, responding to one another through music as echoes pan throughout the vale. Through a consistent rhyme scheme, repetition of an emphatic phrase, and frequent metaphors, Tennyson creates a form of music in response to bucolic beauty that continues to resonate to this day—and he encourages us to do the same with our fellow man.
In the first stanza, the beauty of nature is clearly exemplified, as Tennyson uses an ABABCC rhyme scheme. For example, “walls”, and “lakes”, “story” and “glory”, “flying” and “dying” are the rhyming phrases that are the most obvious in the first stanza of this poem. In the first stanza, the purpose of the consistent rhyme scheme is to help in the transference of the message that nature is beautiful. We can see the image in our minds much more clearly that echoes travel all over nature. In the second stanza, Tennyson implies that the echo echoes itself, and we can only hear a faint sound—he asks us to replenish the sound by responding through music. In this stanza, Tennyson also uses the afore stated rhyme scheme ABABCC. As the rhyme scheme flows, the sound of the bugle makes readers feel like they, too, hear the echo and want to fly away like him. The message of the third stanza is that not only does the sound echo from location to location, but also from person to person. Thus, the rhyme scheme allows the poem to run fluidly, that the reader may take it in just like the echoes of beauty throughout nature.
Like the rhyme scheme, there is quite a bit of repetition in this poem. In all three stanzas, the phrase, “dying, dying, dying” helps readers to understand the stanza more clearly. Dying, dying, dying makes the poem much more enjoyable so that it is able to make us happier. By repeating these words like music, the reader might think or imagine about what death attempts to show and we can guess what might happen in this stanza. At the same time, it can help the reader to fall in and flow with the atmosphere that Tennyson paints.
Possibly the most robust device involved with this poem is vivid metaphor which often incorporates imagery. In lines 3 and 4 of the poem, the sun starts to shift over the lake, and the word “shakes” actively describes the rays of sun as they move in a wave-like motion above the clear waters. Later, there is another detail about the scenery: there is a waterfall that produces a cacophony of noise as its water falls, and Tennyson describes its behavior as "wild". The word "leaps" seems strange, and when it is combined with the word "wild," it sounds like the waterfall is some kind of savage beast, "jumping" down the mountainside. In the last stanza, specifically lines 13 and 14, Tennyson utilizes metaphorical personification by saying that the echo fades away in "hill" and "river" by including the words "die" and "faint”. Then, in lines 15 and 16, Tennyson makes some changes to the “echoes” with the first-person plural, as he describes the hope that the “echoes” don't “die” like the “echoes” of the horn, but that the “echoes” keep growing “forever and forever”. All these previous examples are metaphors that aid Tennyson in his theme of nearly worshiping nature, as they exaggerate the attributes of the wilderness in an attempt to elicit awe from the reader. A powerful beast of nature is much more majestic than merely a waterfall with rushing water—and the death of an echo evokes a more robust emotional response than merely a fading sound.
In this poem, the myriad techniques Tennyson uses help the reader to join in the enjoyment of nature and its beauty. The atmosphere of the poem flows smoothly and our imagination and thoughts still move together with it. The devices he used such as rhyme scheme, repetition, and copious metaphors allow readers to understand the poem and, at the same time, experience deeper pleasure as they read. The inherent exaggeration and fluid phrases make the poem much like a painting, nearly representing nature’s glory visually. As you read the poem, may it lead you in wonder of all creation.
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