Dirge in the Woods

1. Dirge in the Woods Poem by George Meredith Project by Elise Adkins

2. About the Poet • Victorian novelist • Writing was often inspired by nature for seemingly no apparent reason • Writing was characterized by a fascination with imagery and indirect references • Later novels demonstrated a concern with character psychology, modern social problems

3. Dirge in the Woods A wind sways the pines, And below Not a breath of wild air; Still as the mosses that glow On the flooring and over the lines Of the roots here and there. The pine-tree drops its dead; They are quiet, as under the sea. Overhead, overhead Rushes life in a race, As the clouds the clouds chase; And we go, And we drop like the fruits of the tree, Even we, Even so. 1 stanza 15 lines Ballad

4. Imagery Still as the mosses that glow On the flooring and over the lines Of the roots here and there. And we go, And we drop like the fruits of the tree, Even we, Even so. As the clouds the clouds chase

5. Rhyme A B C B A C D E D F F G H H G

6. Repetition Overhead, overhead Rushes life in a race As the clouds the clouds chase And we go, And we drop like the fruits of the tree, Even we, Even so. Meredith is using repetition to speed up the rhythm.

7. Personification Overhead, overhead, Rushes life in a race, As the clouds the clouds chase Life can’t actually ‘rush in a race’, and clouds can’t chase. Meredith used these personifications in order to symbolize how quick time passes by.

8. Analysis ‘The pine-tree drops its dead’ because you can’t choose what happens to you or how you’re represented after death, as in they are ‘hushed’. The pine-tree drops it dead; They are quiet, as under the sea. We die quickly; death is constantly in the air, making individual deaths seemingly unimportant. Despite being at the top of the food chain in nature, death towers over us and even we eventually succumb to it; it is inevitable. And we go, And we drop like the fruits of the tree, Even we, Even so.