Nature has long been a muse for poets, inspiring them to reflect on the beauty, mystery, and transcendence found in the natural world. One way poets convey the depth of nature’s power is through the use of figures of speech—literary devices such as metaphors, similes, personification, and symbolism. These devices enhance the emotional resonance of their work, allowing the reader to see nature not just as a physical environment, but as a rich source of meaning and connection. This article examines 16 famous poems about nature that effectively use figures of speech to deepen their thematic exploration.
1. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth (1807)
Excerpts:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Analysis: Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is rich in both metaphor and personification. The opening line employs a simile, comparing the poet’s solitude to a cloud drifting aimlessly through the sky. The daffodils are personified, being described as “fluttering and dancing,” suggesting that the flowers possess life and joy. This personification elevates the daffodils from mere plants to symbols of vibrancy and life, bringing a deeper emotional connection to nature. The poem’s use of figures of speech serves to evoke the beauty of nature and the emotional comfort that it provides.
2. “The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry (1968)
Excerpts:
When despair for the world grows in me
And I wake in the night at the least sound
In fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
Rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
Analysis: In this poem, Berry uses imagery and personification to express the peace that nature brings in times of despair. The “wood drake” and the “great heron” are not only creatures but symbols of calm and natural harmony. The peace of nature contrasts sharply with the poet’s inner turmoil. The figures of speech in the poem convey a sense of solace, with nature serving as a healing force for the human soul.
3. “To Autumn” by John Keats (1819)
Excerpts:
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
Analysis: Keats uses personification extensively in “To Autumn.” He refers to autumn as a “close bosom-friend” of the sun, suggesting an intimate, nurturing relationship between the two. Autumn is also portrayed as a conspirator, working alongside the sun to bring the harvest. These figures of speech imbue autumn with human-like qualities, emphasizing the harmonious and productive forces of nature.
4. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost (1916)
Excerpts:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Analysis: Though this poem is not solely about nature, Frost’s use of nature to reflect on human choices is key. The roads in the “yellow wood” symbolize the paths of life, and the natural setting acts as a metaphor for decision-making. The “yellow wood” itself is a figure of speech, evoking the changing of seasons and the inevitability of time. The poem’s use of nature as a metaphor for life’s choices is one of the most well-known uses of nature in modern poetry.
5. “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe (1845)
Excerpts:
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not an instant stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—
Analysis: While “The Raven” is a dark and gothic poem, the use of nature, particularly the raven, is a form of symbolism. The raven’s dark feathers and eerie behavior reflect themes of death, loss, and the supernatural. The raven is not merely a bird but a harbinger of doom, its presence and actions imbued with symbolic significance. Poe’s use of the raven as a figure of speech illustrates nature’s connection to human emotion and fate.
6. “Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1819)
Excerpts:
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
Analysis: Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” is a passionate plea to the powerful wind of autumn, depicted as both a force of destruction and rebirth. The wind is personified, with the ability to drive the dead leaves “like ghosts.” The wind’s “chariot” carries seeds to their “dark wintry bed,” a metaphor for the cycle of life and death in nature. The figure of the wind captures both the destructive and creative powers of nature, emphasizing the interconnectedness of the natural world and human life.
7. “The Tyger” by William Blake (1794)
Excerpts:
Tyger Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Analysis: In “The Tyger,” Blake uses vivid imagery and symbolism to explore the dual nature of creation. The tiger is portrayed as both beautiful and terrifying, a powerful symbol of nature’s awe-inspiring forces. The imagery of the “burning bright” tiger in the “forests of the night” suggests both light and darkness, good and evil. The question of who could “frame” such a creature is an inquiry into the origins of beauty and danger, using the figure of the tiger to symbolize the complexities of creation.
8. “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop (1946)
Excerpts:
He didn’t fight.
He hadn’t fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely.
Analysis: Bishop’s “The Fish” is a meditation on the natural world through the figure of a fish caught by the speaker. The fish is personified, described as “venerable” and “homely,” suggesting both age and wisdom. The descriptions of the fish’s physical state also symbolize endurance and survival. Through these figures of speech, the fish becomes a metaphor for resilience, an embodiment of the rough beauty found in nature.
9. “A Noiseless Patient Spider” by Walt Whitman (1867)
Excerpts:
A noiseless patient spider,
I marked where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
Analysis: Whitman’s “A Noiseless Patient Spider” uses the figure of the spider as a metaphor for the soul’s quest for meaning and connection. The spider’s “filament” represents the poet’s efforts to make sense of the world and form connections. The poem captures the tireless nature of both the spider and the human spirit, both engaged in an endless search for purpose. The metaphor of the spider’s web as a link to the world highlights the themes of isolation and the need for connection.
10. “The Garden” by Andrew Marvell (1681)
Excerpts:
How vainly men themselves amaze
To win the palm, the oak, or bays,
And their uncessant labors see
Crown’d from some single herb or tree,
Whose short and narrow vergon’s reach
Yields a far more pleasant speech.
Analysis: Marvell’s “The Garden” contrasts the vanity of human pursuits with the tranquility found in nature. The metaphor of the “single herb or tree” represents simplicity and peace, in contrast to the complexity of human ambition. The “palm, the oak, or bays” are symbols of human glory, but they are shown to be less enduring than the quiet beauty of nature. The poem suggests that nature’s unpretentiousness offers a deeper, more lasting fulfillment.
11. “Spring” by Christina Rossetti (1866)
Excerpts:
There is no time like Spring, when life’s alive in everything,
Before new nestlings sing, before the early bees have flown.
The trees are in their bloom, and the flowers in their glory.
Analysis: Rossetti’s “Spring” uses personification to bring nature to life, describing the season as a time when “life’s alive in everything.” Spring is personified as a time of awakening, when the trees are “in their bloom” and flowers “in their glory.” This imagery emphasizes the rejuvenating power of nature and its capacity to renew life.
12. “The Snow Man” by Wallace Stevens (1921)
Excerpts:
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
Analysis: Stevens’ “The Snow Man” employs a paradox to explore perception and the nature of reality. The “nothing that is not there” is a figure of speech that challenges the reader to think about the relationship between the observer and the natural world. The snow man symbolizes an empty, neutral perspective, suggesting that nature exists independently of human interpretation.
13. “After Apple-Picking” by Robert Frost (1914)
Excerpts:
My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.
Analysis: Frost’s “After Apple-Picking” uses the metaphor of apple-picking to explore themes of labor, satisfaction, and mortality. The ladder “sticking through a tree” toward heaven is a metaphor for aspiration and the tension between the physical world and spiritual transcendence. The poem suggests that the process of living is never complete, and that there will always be more left undone.
14. “A Bird Came Down the Walk” by Emily Dickinson (1862)
Excerpts:
A Bird came down the Walk –
He did not know I saw –
He bit an Angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.
Analysis: In this poem, Dickinson uses the figure of the bird to symbolize the natural world’s indifference to human observation. The bird’s actions—biting an “Angleworm in halves” and eating it “raw”—are portrayed with stark, vivid imagery, suggesting nature’s impartiality and the rawness of existence. The bird is a figure of speech for the brutal, unromantic side of nature.
15. “The Sound of the Trees” by Robert Frost (1916)
Excerpts:
I wonder about the trees.
Why do they choose to stand?
And why do they stand so still?
Their murmurs of the wind.
Analysis: In this poem, Frost uses personification and metaphor to explore the inner lives of trees. The trees are depicted as “standing still,” yet their “murmurs” suggest a hidden voice, a language that is not immediately apparent. This use of personification emphasizes the mystery of nature and the idea that the natural world communicates in ways that humans may not always understand.
16. “Fern Hill” by Dylan Thomas (1945)
Excerpts:
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honored among wagons I was prince of the apple towns.
Analysis: Thomas’s “Fern Hill” uses vivid imagery and personification to evoke the innocence and joy of childhood. The “apple boughs” are symbolic of youth, while the night is “starry,” full of promise. The poem’s use of figures of speech conveys the enchantment and fleeting nature of time, with the speaker nostalgically reflecting on the days when he was “prince of the apple towns.”
Conclusion
The 16 poems examined in this article demonstrate the power of figures of speech in creating a rich, multifaceted relationship between the human experience and the natural world. By using personification, metaphors, similes, and other figures of speech, these poets transform nature from a mere backdrop into a vibrant, expressive force. Whether exploring solitude, joy, mortality, or mystery, these poems use language to deepen our connection to the world around us, illustrating the profound impact that nature continues to have on the human imagination.
