Puritan Sonnet

Elinor Wylie

Down to the Puritan Marrow of my bones

There's something in this richness that I hate.

I love the look, austere, immaculate,

Of landscapes drawn in pearly monotones.

There's something in my very blood that owns

Bare hills, cold silver on a sky of slate,

A thread of water, churned to milky spate1

Streaming through slanted pastures fenced with stones.

I love those skies, thin blue or snowy gray,

Those fields sparse-planted, rendering meager sheaves;

That spring, briefer than apple blossom's breath,

Summer, so much too beautiful to stay,

Swift autumn, like a bonfire of leaves,

And sleepy winter, like the sleep of death.

1. The rhyme scheme of the poem goes ABBAABBA then CDECDE then CDCDEE

2. That spring/, briefer/ than apple/ blossom's/ breath, Summer/, so much/ too beaut/iful/ to stay/, Swift aut/umn, like/ a bon/fire of/ leaves,

  1. Image 1: "Puritan Marrow of my bones" this is a Visual as well as Tactile image. Image2: "Of landscapes drawn in pearly monotones." this is a Visual image. Image 3: "Bare hills, cold silver on a sky of slate." this is a Visual image. Image 4: "I love those skies, thin blue or snowy gray," this is a Visual image of the sky and its tone colors etc. Image 5: "Swift autumn, like a bonfire of leaves," This is a Visual image, you think of leaves falling and it is also a Tactile image in that when you think of autumn you think of the wind and how it blows leaves everywhere.
  2. He says that his problem is that his Puritan training makes him feel badly about appreciating the beauty of the seasons of nature. That’s why he "hates" the "richness" of it. He decides to focus on the plainer aspects of nature. Even though he also loves those, they are not as vivid and beautiful as the other seasons, which would be too much for him to bear.
  3. Austere: Severe or stern in disposition or appearance; somber and grave: the austere figure of a Puritan minister. Immaculate: completely neat and clean. Sheaves: A bundle of cut stalks of grain or similar plants bound with straw or twine.
  4. Assonance: "Bare hills, cold silver on a sky of slate/A thread of water, churned to milky spate"

    5. Alliteration: "I love the look, austere, immaculate/Of landscapes drawn in pearly monotones."

    "Cold silver on a sky of slate"

  5. Consonance: "There’s something in this richness that I hate./I love the look, austere, immaculate."
  6. The speaker likes and appreciates the New England winter landscape. The Puritan ethic would fit the descriptions with words like "austere" and "monotone." Puritans lived a simple and plain life, which would be similar to winter.
  7. The view of life in this poem is one of great respect for the beauty of the seasons and nature, even appreciating the austere winters in New England that most people do not see as beautiful. The writer is humble and almost guilty about seeing so much beauty.
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