Poems “The fifteen acre” and “The goat path”

           James Stephens was a famous poet of Irish society. He wrote traditional Irish fairy tales, novels, and poems. James also wrote English poems. His famous nature related poems are in the cool of the evening, Check, I heard a bird at dawn, the spring in Ireland, the lonely God, the goat path, and the fifteen acres. In this thesis, two famous poems “the goat paths” and “the fifteen acres” are compared and contrasted (Literarydevices.com, 2019). Furthermore, nature, poem style, and other techniques of both poems are also discussed in detail to explain the work of James Stephen.       

Comparison of James Stephens’s poems

James Stephens wrote several poems on nature, life, and human feelings. From his beginning to the end he (James Stephens) was famous as the romantic poet as most of his poems is romantic poems by nature (Padrón, 2018). He discussed nature beauty, romantic lifestyles, and nature-oriented life in his poems in deep details that show his interest in nature. The goat paths and the fifteen acres are the great examples of romantic and nature-oriented poems written by James Stephens.

Subject themes of both poems are relatively same nature is the subject of both poems.  The goat paths poem is about the life or daily routine of goats. Poet discussed in detail how goats graze crops and grass and stray in the early morning. He elaborated how goats start their day by grazing, and when sun raises they sit under the shade of shrubs to avoid aching sunrays (Poemhunter.com, 2019). While on the other hand the fifteen acres poem is also concerned with nature-related objects including sun, sky, plain ground, beautiful weather, warm sun, pleasant air, trees, birds, and plants.

According to available information about the James Stephen and his poems, we can say that both poems “the goat paths” and “the fifteen acres” are just linked with his spirit (Poemhunter.com, 2019). Deep observation of daily life routine of goats, changes in weather, and deep understanding of silence project that how he was used to observing things in detail and also shows his love for nature.

Even both poems are related to nature but both are not all the same. Meanings, and feelings are quite different in both poems. For instance, in the goat's path he wrote that "of the quite sunniness", “in the quite of furze”, “staring on the roving sky”, and “In a sunny solitude” all these elaborate how deeply he observed the whole scene (Mahoney, 2013). He ignored the sounds of wind, the sound of grazing and bleat of goats but focused on the silence and quietness which indicate the loneliness and isolated life.   

While in the “The fifteen acres” poem James presented romantic feelings but with the feelings of happiness rather than sadness presented in “the goat paths” poem. The fifteen acres represents the joy of life and feelings of gladness (Literarydevices.com, 2019). For instance, he wrote that "I cling and swing", as I sing, sing, sing”, and straw plaits for nest’s nice lining”, all these lines has feelings of happiness and gladness.

Moreover, he also wrote about the sun but his feelings about the sun are different in both poems.  In "the fifteen acres" he admired sunlight by saying that “when his light so bright is shining” (Padrón, 2018). But in "the goat's path" he was feeling loneliness in sunrays as he said “to the sunny quietude” and “in the sunny solitude” According to this difference we can say that poem the fifteen acres has relatively more work connections between James life and poetry. 

Furthermore, there are many similarities between the poems style technique. Poem style technique includes methods such as the use of simile, metaphor, hyperbole, rhyming, repetition, and onamatopeeia (Mahoney, 2013). In both poems James used repetition style as in the fifteen acres he wrote: "sing, sing, sing," and “egg, egg, egg” while in the goat paths we used word “sunny” for repetition. Poet usually uses sound devices such as consonance, alliteration, and assonance. In “the goat paths” James used Alliteration as sound devices (Padrón, 2018). While he used assonance as a sound device in the “fifteen acres” poem as most of the sentences are ended at “O” for instance, he wrote

“Underneath her wings reclining, O”

                 “So early in the morning, O”. (The fifteen acres by James Stephens)

James Stephens also used Rhyme in his poems to make the poems more appealing to the mind of readers. Appropriate selection of rhyming words not only makes poem pleasant but also make it easy to remember (Poemhunter.com, 2019). Rhyme has different types such as double rhyme, single rhyme, and dactylic rhyme. James Stephens used a single rhyme in his poem “Fifteen acres”. In this poem, stress is on the last and final syllable of the word. For instance, he wrote “I cling and swing” and On a Branch, or Sing” (the fifteen acres by James Stephens)

            In these lines the final syllable of word “swing” and “sing” are same. Similarly, in other lines, he used words (last words of the sentences) as “flight and sight”, “Dell and Fell”, “wing and bring”, “Peg and egg” and “twit and bit”. Basically, James used a single rhyme to create a similar sound at the end of each sentence that makes the poem amazing (Poemhunter.com, 2019). While on the other hand, we did not find any evidence of single rhyme use in the poem “the goat’s paths”.

            In the poem “the goat path” repetition of words is common but most of the time write used vowels to create sound at the end of the sentences. For instance, he wrote that "quietude and Furze" and “Furze and Lie”. Somehow, the repetition of "y" is also there in the poem. Many sentences end with the letter “y” (Poemhunter.com, 2019). For sentence last words of some sentences are “sky, away, day, they, spray, and the way that sound similar. Rhyme can be considered as the second major difference between these poems after the difference in feelings and connection of work with the writer.

            Moreover, if we go in detail we will find out that both poems used different meters. Basically, meter describes the pattern of beats in the poems. Here in the poems of James Stephens meter will discuss the pattern as a unit of rhythm. It is also known as the foot that measures or project a certain number of syllables (Mahoney, 2013). According to the analysis of the first stanza of the poem "the goat path" total 8 times iambic foot (iambic pentameter) appears in the stanza. Syllables that are stressed in the first stanza are up-on, heather, sunniness, sunny, cropping, heather, and mouthful. However, in the poem “the fifteen acres” iambic pentameter is used to analyze the use of feet and syllables in the poem. According to this total 12 iambic foot appeared in the stanza.         

Conclusion

           The whole discussion concludes that James Stephen wrote poems on nature and beauty of natural objects. He discussed similar subject theme in both poems “The fifteen acre” and “The goat path” but with different poem style techniques. Rhyme and meter vary in both poems. While in both poems James Stephen represented different feelings and associations. In addition, the goat path represents loneliness, on the other hand; the fifteen acres poem represents happiness and gladness.

References of “The fifteen acre” and “The goat path”

Literarydevices.com. (2019). Rhyme. Retrieved from www.literarydevices.com: http://www.literarydevices.com/rhyme/

Mahoney, B. (2013). Poetry Remastered: A Practical Guide for Senior Students. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 03 05, 2019

Padrón, A. (2018). 9 Common Techniques Used in Poetry. Retrieved from www.santillanausa.com: https://www.santillanausa.com/spanish-classroom/9-common-techniques-used-in-poetry.html

Poemhunter.com. (2019). The Fifteen Acres - Poem by James Stephens. Retrieved from www.poemhunter.com: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-fifteen-acres/

Poemhunter.com. (2019). The Goat Paths - Poem by James Stephens. Retrieved from www.poemhunter.com: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-goat-paths/