Eleanor Rigby/ Other poem

  • Normal is the Watchword
    17 years ago

    I never ask for help when it comes to understanding poetry but this time I could really use it. I'm just having a hard time figuring out exactly what it is I'm looking for. I'll be thankful if you can help me.

    The first one is Eleanor Rigby which is a song.

    Ah, look at all the lonely people!
    Ah, look at all the lonely people!

    Eleanor Rigby
    Picks up therice in the church where a wedding has been,
    lives in a dream
    waits at the window
    wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
    Who is it for

    All the lonely people
    Where do they all come from
    All the lonely people
    Where do they all belong

    Father McKenzue
    Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
    no one comes near
    look at him working
    darning his sicks in the night when there's nobody there.
    What does he care

    All the lonely people
    Where do they all come from
    All the lonely people
    Where do they all belong

    Eleanor Rigby
    died in the church and was buried along with her name
    nobody came
    Father Mckenzie
    wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
    No one was saved

    All the lonely people
    Where do they all come from
    All the lonely people
    Where do they all belong

    Ah, look at all the lonely people!
    Ah, look at all the lonely people!

    [For this poem I need the purpose/structure/shift/speaker.diction/tone/ and theme. 've picke dupa few things but not much]

    The second one is this poem:

    Take wise King Solomon of long ago;
    We hear he had a thousand wives or so.
    And would to God it were allowed to me
    To be refreshed, aye, half as much as he!
    He must have a gift of God for wives,
    No one to match him in a world of lives!
    This noble king, one may as well admit,
    On the first night threw many a merry fit
    With each of them, he was so much alive/
    Blessed be God that I have wedded five!
    Welcome the sixth, whenever he appears
    I can't keep continent for years and years.
    No sooner than one husband's dead and gone
    Some other Christian man shall take me on,
    For then, so says the Apostle, I am free
    To wed, o' God's name, where it pleases me.
    Wedding's no sin, so far as I can learn.
    Better it is to marry than to burn.
    Virginity is perfect, unfrsaken,
    Continence too, devoutly undertaken.
    But Christ, who perfection is the Well,
    Bade not that everyone should go and sell
    All that he had and give it to the poor
    To follow in His footsteps, that is sure.
    He spoke to those that would live perfectly,
    And be your leave, my lords, that's not for me.
    I will bestow the flower of life, the honey,
    Upon the acts and fruit of matrimony.

    I need to find the literary devices used in this point of view such as diction, tone and wordchoice and analyze it but I've never been too good at picking up things here and there.

  • Normal is the Watchword
    17 years ago

    Ha I know I just needed some hints is all. I just started learning about diction and things like that. I can get the overall tone and feeling of them, especially the first one, but it's going more in depth I can't get the hang on. I'd like just tips on how to look at a poem from that kind of point of view.