Stylistical analysis of W.H Davies' "leisure"

Leisure

                       By William Henry Davies

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare. 

Theme:

The poem "Leisure" has been composed by an American poet William Davies. As the title of the poem suggests, it is about the availability of time for enjoying various delights oflife. These may range from the most ordinary every day pleasure to the extraordinary events. The poet is expressing over the rush and hurried manner in which we spend our lives. We deprive ourselves ofthe richness and diversity of life. The poet believes that life must be enjoyed in a casual leisurely manner. He thinks that we should spend our free time enjoying and appreciating the beauty of nature. We should find time to stand under the trees and look at beautiful objects of nature as sheep and cows do. While passing through the woods, we must pause to see the squirrels busy in hiding their nuts in the grass. We should also stop by streams of clear water glittering like skies at night. We must also find time to see the beautiful glance of a maiden and admire the skill of her dancing feet. We should not miss the beautiful smile playing at her face. In this way we can fill our lives with happiness. The poet expresses his grief at the fact that modern rush of life has deprived us of many commonplace pleasures. We run around after our material pursuits, so crazily that we get no time to spend in a relaxed manner. He warns us if our life remains full of worries and problems with no opportunity to enjoy its simple pleasures, it will be very miserable life.

Phonological features:

Rhyme scheme in the poem:

End rhyme in the first couplet is “aa”

End rhyme in the second couplet is “bb”

End rhyme in the third couplet is “cc”

End rhyme in the fourth couplet is “dd”

End rhyme in the fifth couplet is “ee”

End rhyme in the sixth couplet is “ff”

End rhyme in the seventh couplet is “aa”

Rhyme scheme in the poem is as follows:

1.      care, stare

2.      boughs, cows

3.      pass, grass

4.      daylight, night

5.      glance, dance

6.      can, began

7.      care, stare

Alliteration:

Stand, stare in line “2”

Beneath, boughs in line “3”

Stare, sheep in line “4”

When, woods, we in line “5”

Streams, stars, skies in line “8”

Her, how in line “10”

Enrich, eyes in line “12”

Repetition:

In this poem, the poet repeats “no time to” 7 times in the whole poem. This repetition has shown that poet is strongly criticizing new generation that they have no time to enjoy the beauty of life, nature and usual phenomenon of daily routine.

Graphology: Graphology refers to the whole writing system: punctuation and paragraphing as well as spacing.

Graphological Feature: In this poem poet uses full stop (.) seven times at the end of all couplets. Poet uses comas (,) 10times and also uses apostrophe (‘) in fifth couplet.

Language and Style:

Personification:

In this poem we see that the word 'Beauty' is written using a capital 'B' - this means that there is more to it. Here the abstract concept- beauty of nature is almost given almost human-like qualities. When such an abstract idea like nature is given human qualities it is referred to as 'personification'. In this poem we can see the beauty of nature in many forms - i.e. you can see the "mouth", the smile in her eyes, and can "watch" her feet and see them "dance".

Imagery:

When the poet uses language to describe something that touches our five senses we call it imagery. In this poem we see a lot of examples of visual imagery.

Example:

Someone standing beneath the bough (line 1, couplet 2)

cows and sheep grazing and enjoying the beauty of nature around them (line 2, couplet 2)

Squirrels running around in the woods hiding their nuts in the grass (couplet 3)

Semantic features:

Simile:

Poet uses simile in the 4^th line of the poem (And stare as long as sheep or cows.)

And in the 8^th line as well (Streams full of stars, like skies at night.)

Lexical features:

Nouns	Verbs	Adverbs	Adjectives
Life	Care	Beneath	Full
Time	Stand	When	broad
boughs	Stare	Where	Poor
Sheep	See
Cows	Pass
Woods	Hide
Squirrels	Turn
Nuts	Glance
Grass	Watch
Stream	Dance
Stars	Wait
Skies	Enrich
Night	Smile
Feet
Mouth
Eyes

Findings of poem:

William Henry Davies uses very simple language in his poem. That’s why it is easily understandable to everyone. With the use of rhyme scheme, alliteration and repetition, he makes his poem straightforwardly logical. He raises a very good point and also criticize us that we have no time for our own self and the problems of our life makes our life much difficult. That’s why we are unable to enjoy the beauty of life.

Conclusion:The choice of words by the writer or the poet plays a very important role in meaning making. It helps the reader to understand the message the poet is trying to pass on. Stylistics, by this analysis has shown that there is a distinction between poetic and non- poetic language as a means of defining literature.