Analysis of elizabeth barret browning's work and contemplation poem - Essay Example

Work and Contemplation Elizabeth Barret Browning Order No. 248876 No. of pages: 2 Premium 6530 Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) was considered as one of the most prolific and enduring Victorian poets of all time. She is best loved and remembered for her memorable meditations of her love Sonnets from the Portuguese and in blank verse novel Aurora Leigh (1857) and Casa Guidi Windows (1851)One of her most greatest contributions to literature is undoubtedly ‘The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Her Sister’ Arabella (2002), that was edited by Scott Lewis and wonderfully produced by Wedgestone Press, with a total of about twelve hundred pages packed into two volumes.

A lot of her works are in the possession of Moulton-Barrett family but the majority is safely kept in the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library.Elizabeth Browning was greatly enriched by the complex political, social and economic situation of the times as a lot of people she came across were from different ethnic borders and cultural backgrounds. Women poets during the Victorian Age, existed at a time when religion was a critical or vital part of their identities.“Work and Contemplation” is one of her reflective poems that make her readers to sit back and reflect upon the thoughts of the poet.

In the poem the poet speaks of a lady who sits patiently at her spinning wheel spinning the yarn she has gathered. While engaged in her work of spinning, the woman sings an enchanting ballad or a bar Carole, which helps to make her work lighter and much more pleasant to perform.Elizabeth in her poem “Work and Contemplation” reflects on the aspect that even though the woman is doing a tedious job of spinning her yarn from morning to night, and though she thinks of her song, still she contemplates on the duty before her which is spinning.

This can be clearly seen from these following lines in the poem –“She thinketh of her song, upon the wholeFar more than her flax; and yet the reelIs full, and artfully her fingers feelWith quick adjustment, provident control…”The poet wants to tell us that the lady has full control as she deftly carries out her work though she is contemplating on the song she sings. She also wants to let us know that it is possible to do both things at the same time as long as it is harmonious. Her Christian thoughts come to fore as she pleads with the reader to purse their work with full contemplation but at the same time let our souls pursue a much higher level of thinking to enjoy some respite such as the sweetness of a song, so our work would be less tedious and much more enjoyable.

References:Elizabeth Barrett Browninghttp://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/victorian_poetry/v040/40.3stone.htmlThe Poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume 1 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.Published by C. S. Francis & Co., 262 Broadway, New YorkCrosby & Nichols, Boston Copyright 1853Book: The Poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Publisher Frederick Warne. Place of Publication: London. Publication Year: 1893. Page Number: iv.WORK AND CONTEMPLATION.1:    The woman singeth at her spinning-wheel2:   A pleasant chant, ballad or barcarole;3:   She thinketh of her song, upon the whole,4:   Far more than of her flax; and yet the reel5:   Is full, and artfully her fingers feel6:   With quick adjustment, provident control,7:   The lines—too subtly twisted to unroll—8:   Out to a perfect thread.

I hence appeal9:   To the dear Christian Church—that we may do10:   Our Fathers business in these temples mirk, 11:   Thus swift and steadfast, thus intent and strong;12:   While thus, apart from toil, our souls pursue13:   Some high calm spheric tune, and prove our work14:   The better for the sweetness of our song.