How does Tennyson create the mood in Marianna Essay Example

How does Tennyson create the mood in Marianna Essay Example How does Tennyson create the mood in Marianna Paper How does Tennyson create the mood in Marianna Paper The mood in Tennyson’s poem is reflective of the state of mind of Mariana. Mariana, taken from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, is despondently isolated as she waits and waits for her lover, Angelo, to arrive. But he never does, hence the abandoned and derelict tone. In Marianna, Tennyson represents Mariana’s state of mind through using objective correlatives – the surrounding objects around Marianna symbolise Mariana’s internal state – and in particular, by using pathetic fallacy, these surrounding inanimate objects are given human feelings, signifying Mariana’s feelings. In the first stanza, the â€Å"broken sheds look’d sad and strange. † The fact that even these inactive objects are given negative feelings creates a negative mood. A depressing mood is also created in the first stanza as the details are exaggerated. The â€Å"blackest moss† creates a deathly and depressing mood, and the superlative exaggerates this. But also the internal rhyme between â€Å"thickly crusted,† (which describes how the flowerpots were covered with moss) and the â€Å"rusted† nails draws attention to the derelict and desolate landscape. The fact that moss and the rust only emerge after a long period of neglect highlights the severity of the neglect that Mariana has gone through, making the mood even more sorrowful. A sense of tiredness from waiting for her lover is emphasised through the form of the poem. The repetition of a quatrain at the end of each stanza, with only slight variation, where Mariana continually called out and expressed her grief, emphasises the length of time Mariana is secluded in the grange, and indeed the length of time that she has been waiting for Angelo to return. Thus, a sorrowful mood is created. 9 She only said, ‘My life us dreary, He cometh not,’ she said; She said, ‘I am aweary, aweary, 11 I would that I were dead! ’ In the refrain, the elongated words, â€Å"dreary† and â€Å"aweary† symbolise Mariana’s longing and desperation for her lover to arrive. They also slow down the line, as extra weak syllables are added onto the end of the iambs, namely the â€Å"-y† of each word. But also, the lack of hard consonants makes Mariana sound tired as she says these words. Also, the feminine rhyme in the refrain, where weary and dreary rhyme, but the second syllable is a weak vowel, reiterates the tired tone with which Marianna speaks. The stationary and solitary mood is created in Marianna even in the first line of the poem. Mariana is described as â€Å"in the moated grange. † Just as this epigraph lacks any kind of movement, as it lacks even a verb, the rest of the poem lacks any narrative movement as well. Therefore the rest of the poem merely elongates this image of a melancholic loneliness. The helplessness of Mariana’s situation in the poem is signalled in the third stanza. The idea of the â€Å"moated† grange, which is repeated from the epigraph, reinforces the sense of entrapment – Mariana is surrounded by water, and alone. The fact that there is â€Å"a sluice with blacken’d waters† proves this stagnation of the water, and how everything is in a state of slowing, as Marianna is. The caesura before â€Å"without hope of change† emphasises this further, as not only is she physically trapped as she is surrounded, but also that she is trapped in the repetitive nature which her life seems to be leading, and at last, she has given up hope that something will change from this norm. The lack of change in tone with the change in the time of the day emphasises Mariana’s stagnating life. In terms of the plot, nothing actually changes – Marianna is still in the same place at the end as she was at the beginning. In contrast, the changing of time from â€Å"morn to eventide† shows how life continues around her. Marianna is herself not quite living: she is in a dreamlike state, as she is so tired, where â€Å"in sleep she seem’d to walk forlorn. † The word forlorn is very emotive and gives the stanza a melancholy tone, which is emphasised by the long vowel sounds in ‘gray-eyed morn’. The adjective ‘morn’ is also homophonous with ‘mourn’, furthering the idea of Mariana’s severe depression, as if mourning for her life. Tennyson also begins to suggest the reason for her depression in the latter half of the poem, by introducing the symbol of the ‘poplar’ tree. He writes that ‘the shadow of the poplar fell/Upon her bed’, which perhaps symbolises her sexual desire for Angelo, and frustration at his absence, as she waits for him to ‘come’. The enjambment between ‘fell’ and ‘upon’ emphasises Mariana’s desperation in waiting for Angelo to arrive. It is also quite an ominous image, as shadows have connotations with death and darkness, which emphasises the hopelessness of her situation in her reiterated sigh ‘He cometh not’. In the poem, there is a overcast theme of death. â€Å"Dead† is repeated in the last line of every stanza, which emphasises the travesty that Mariana is going through. In the last stanza Tennyson writes ‘†¦; but most she loathed the hour When the thick-moted sunbeam lay Athwart the chambers’. The phrase is emphasised by the caesura directly before it, and the comparatively long time without a break for punctuation. This image of dust in the sunlight, (from thick moted) has connotations of decay and death. In particular, the words ‘thick’ and ‘lay’ make it seem very oppressive and heavy, which emphasises the slowing down of Marianna’s life. This idea is furthered as the image is one of the day drawing to a close; ‘And the day Was sloping toward his western bower’. This suggests that the sun is moving away from Mariana and setting, and moving towards Angelo. In particular, light has connotations of live and vitality – and so the lack of light creates a drained mood – reflective of Mariana’s mood. In the last stanza the refrain is different to the rest of the poem, which changes the tone entirely. Mariana appears to accept her fate, as she says ‘He will not come’, rather than ‘He cometh not’ which means her only sense of purpose, to wait for him, has been destroyed. Rather than ‘I were that I were dead! ’, which is repeated in the rest of the poem, the last line is ‘Oh God, that I were dead! ’ This line has the added impact of the intensifier ‘Oh God’, which creates a mood of desperation far more poignant than in the rest of the poem. It is as though, as the poem draws to a close, Mariana’s life does too.

How to Write a Book Blurb that Sells (with Examples)

How to Write a Book Blurb that Sells (with Examples) How to Write a Book Blurb: A Guide for Novelists Last updated: 09/12/2018Creating a book blurb, while still technically writing, is closer to a science than an art. The blurb that appears on the back cover of your book, and on your Amazon page, will either:Work by convincing readers to take a chance on it, orFail to engage your target readers.In that sense, a good blurb is anything but subjective. In this post, three publishing editors have shared their secret behind writing the best blurb for your novel.What is a blurb?A blurb is a short description of a book that is written for promotional purposes. Traditionally, it would be found on the inside back cover of a hardback. As paperback publishing developed, readers began seeing the blurb appearing on the back cover. Generally, 150-200 words are more than enough for a full blurb.In the modern publishing landscape, where more books are being purchased online than in bricks and mortar stores, you are more likely to encounter blurbs on the product page of Amazon or any other digital re tailer. Sometimes, you will hear them referred to as ‘book descriptions.’ So now that we have our basic definition out of the way, let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.How to write a book blurb in 4 stepsâ€Å"The opening of your blurb has to be incredibly precise and dynamic,† says editor Rebecca Heyman. â€Å"For a lot of first-time authors, I think there's an instinct to make sure readers understand everything that happened in the book’s universe before the beginning of the actual story. That's generally a mistake.†So if it shouldn’t set the stage for a reader who’s about to dive into your book, what should your blurb do?Without further ado, here's how to write a blurb in 4 steps. Read this: "How to write a novel's blurb in 4 steps" 1. Introduce your main character(s)At its core, novels are a storytelling medium, and that means your blurb has to be about characters. Consciously or not, readers check out the synopsis to see whether they want to spend time with your main characters. They don’t need to know their entire backstory, though - just enough to understand how they figure into the story’s primary conflict...2. Set the stage for your primary conflictThe primary conflict is what drives your story. It’s Harry Potter doing battle against Voldemort and his minions, FBI Agent Clarice Starling negotiating with Hannibal Lecter, or Captain Ahab’s obsessive vendetta against a whale. Without a real-world conflict, you don’t have a story readers can sink their teeth into. This blurb is a lot shorter than the previous examples. It’s a perfect introduction to the hard-boiled, no-nonsense narration style of the books. The short sentences and sardonic interjections (â€Å"Not much of a welcome† and â€Å"not a chance in hell†) might read like clichà ©s, but they capture a traditional hero in the Bogart mold.Also, the blurb gives us a sense of the setting. There’s no reason the reader should be aware of Margrave, but its repetition and context let us know that this is not a friendly town. Without having to spell it out, we can tell that Jack Reacher is about to encounter some small-minded locals.Of course, there are plenty of books to draw inspiration from. Just reach up on to your bookshelf and pull down your favorite book - see how they go about establishing characters, stakes, and conflict.As you’ve hopefully seen, your blurb is one of your book's biggest sales influencers, and it demands as much, if not more, attent ion than any other part of your marketing plan. The time and effort you put into refining and testing your blurb is money in the bank.What are some of the best book blurbs you’ve seen on an Amazon page or on a back cover? Share them in the comments below and tell us why you like them.