Joseph Jerris Lit 2000 Prof.

McGriff 3/20/14 Poetry Explication Essay

The two poems Spring by William Shakespeare and Mr. Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan are both very great poems that are a part of music and there are many similarities and differences between the two pieces. Among these Similarities and differences the ones that will be discussed in this paper are the form of the works, the tone of the works, and the Speaker and point of view in these works. To begin with, the poem Spring by Shakespeare has a specific form and rhyming scheme in the work which can be seen in the work for example Shakespeare states When daisies pied and violets blue and ladysmocks all silver-white and cuckoobuds of yellow hue do paint the meadows with delight. (1-4) This is one of the two patterns that is seen throughout the poem and it is a simple A, B, A, B scheme with the last words of the A lines rhyming and the last words of the B lines rhyming respectively. The other pattern that is used in this poem can be seen as written by Shakespeare

The cuckoo then, on every tree, Mocks married men; for thus sings he, Cuckoo; Cuckoo, cuckoo; oh word of fear, Unpleasing to a married ear! (5-9)

This pattern is an A, A, B, B pattern again with the last words of the A lines and the last words of the B lines rhyming. These lines are also the only lines that are repeated in the poem suggesting that it could be some sort of chorus for the poem. In contrast, the form of the poem Mr. Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan is very much different from that of Spring. Unlike Shakespeares work Bob Dylans piece has a form that doesnt rhyme the ends of lines as much for example in Mr. Tambourine Man Dylan wrote Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin ship, My senses have been stripped, my hands cant feel to grip, My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels To be wanderin. (15-18) In this section the first two lines have a rhyme at the last word but the last two lines do not use any form of rhyme at the end. This is a major difference to Shakespeare who had rhymes for all of his lines in Spring. This non-Rhyming scheme continues for most of the poem but there is one exception and that is these lines in which Dylan writes

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, Im not sleepy and there is no place Im going to. Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me, In the jingle jangle morning Ill come followin you. (1-4) These lines are an example of where the two poems are similar in some way. Like in Spring these lines in the poem are the only ones that are repeated throughout the entire piece and in this case these lines are repeated multiple times suggesting that just like in Shakespeares work this poem also has some sort of a chorus to it. In Addition, the tone of the two works is another point that can set the two apart from each other. In Spring the tone that is set with the use of wording and the setting described kind of gives the poem a more relaxed and laid back feel. This can be seen in the poem when Shakespeare mentions When daisies pied and violets blue/Do paint the meadows with delight (1, 4). These lines brings about imagery of spring time with the beautiful colorful flowers and fields which in turn can bring a relaxed tone to the poem itself. Another example of this relaxed tone can be seen in lines 10 and 11 when Shakespeare says When shepherd pipe on oaten straws/ and merry larks are plowmens clocks. This brings about the relaxed feeling with imagery of a simple sheep herder tending to his livestock in the field and farmers waking up by the means of animals instead of the noisy alarm clocks we use today. In contrast, the tone and feeling of Bob Dylans piece is a little bit different from the quiet relaxed tone that is given of in Spring. In this poem Dylan has more of a get up and go type of feel or a more energetic tone than that of Shakespeares. some good examples of this are when Dylan states Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin ship (15) or when he says Im

ready to go anywhere, Im ready for to fade/ into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way/ I promise to go under it (19-21). These lines show an eager excitement to get up and go somewhere and to dance and move and this tone is shown in many more lines throughout the poem it speaks about following this Mr. Tambourine Man no matter where he goes which is a major difference from the easy going poem Spring. Furthermore, the speakers and points of view of the two poems is another point to compare and contrast between these two poems. In the poem Spring the speaker in the poem is also the author of the poem William Shakespeare. In this poem Shakespeare speaks from a third person point of view which can be seen by the use of the word he and the absence of words such as I or me in the poem. The use of the third person point of view could be due to the fact that Shakespeare is trying to give a more vivid picture of the story and using the third person could have helped him accomplish that. In comparison, just like Shakespeares poem Bob Dylans poem is told from the perspective of the author of the poem itself. Although the speaker of the poem is a similarity between the two that is as deep as it goes because Dylans poem is in the first person point of view. This can be seen by his use of the words me, Im, and you. This use of the first person could be for multiple reasons for example Dylan could be retelling a story that had happened in his own life at one point but there could be many other reasons for why the first person was chosen for that particular piece. In conclusion, Shakespeares poem Spring and Bob Dylans poem Mr. Tambourine Man have many similarities but just as many differences as well. These differences can be seen in many aspects of the two poems but there are three major aspects for showing these

differences. Those three aspects are: the form of the poems, the tone of the poems, and the speakers and point of view of the two poems.

Works cited Dylan, Bob. Mr. Tambourine Man. Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: Norton. 2010. Shakespeare, William. Spring. Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: Norton. 2010.