The symbolism of Amy Lowell's poem patterns - Essay Example

Lowell's "Patterns" is an account of a young woman who lost his lover involved in movements occurring in the early eighteenth century among provinces in Belgium. She was about to get married to his lover or fiance, but his fiance died in the war. . In her poem she is visualizing each and every moment of delight and pain she has gone through and suffered while his absence. As dressed in the constrictive gown, powdered wig, and jeweled fan, she contrasts the natural colors and configurations of daffodils and squills, bulbs that flower in spring.

There she misses his lover to such an extent assuming him to be very near to her and caressing her. She wanders through the time when he and his warrior lover used to spend afternoons and evenings together, melting within each other arms and unbothered about anything else. Here she again uses the word "patterned paths" referring to the way she chose for his lover. Then the sight changes when a warrior (one of his lover's colleague) arrives and informs Lowell that his lover is no more in this world.

She has compared the news to snakes. Again Lowell has used "Patterned path" indicating the pride she felt on the martyrdom of his lover. Despite of the catastrophic destruction she felt deep inside her, she felt an honor to be the lover of a martyred soldier. Here she has resembled her situation to the blue and yellow flowers as she wants to make it clear to us that in the manner in which the flowers stood up in the scorning sun, just in the same manner she also dared to have the courage to face and survive with the glories and remembrances of his lover.

Actually the first few stanzas of the poem are telling about a relationship, which later escorts a wedding as the line "In a month he would have been my husband" suggests. Now she is manipulating the losses, she suffered due to his fiancs death. Again she has used "Broke the pattern" over here which leads the reader to contemplate the pattern could only have broken by their marriage. Only after the marriage they could have been able to lead a different lifestyle apart from the usual one. It was the marriage ceremony, which Lowell was waiting for, and these were the moments to which Lowell seemed awaiting in a joyous and shy manner.

The briefing of vitality is the last stanza in which Lowell has used the word "Patterns" thrice, first she is walking in the gardened path, secondly she is relating pattern to a war and finally and most importantly as the last line suggests "Christ!What are patterns for ", she has asked Christ, the motive and purpose of pattern as she feel just after the death of her fiance she has entered an environment of a new pattern. Lowell wants the readers to analyze and understand the concept of pattern with respect to different situations, which appear in human lives.

Whether emotional or physical one has to bear the challenges mother nature acquires for him. She also emphasizes upon "symbolism" which in true sense is the characters of the circumstances or character of the patterns as Lowell in the end asks Christ the grounds for having so many patterns in life. She wants us to realize as to why one is faced to different aspects and dilemmas in life. Why it happens that the pattern usually changes when one is adhered to it Lowell, herself in a state of bewilderment wants the answer to her questions.

We can say that she has