The Windhover and The Oven Bird Essay Example

of hopefulness. In contrast, Frost utilizes "The Oven Bird" to explore a fundamental question about life.

Despite having everything going according to plan, a man's life can suddenly take a turn for the worse and ultimately lead to death. Known as the "teacher bird," the oven bird makes a distinct sound resembling "teacher, teacher." It typically appears in August before the fall season. During this time, the bird can be heard singing in the forest, making even solid tree trunks sound alive. The phrase "early petal-fall is past" signifies the end of spring and the beginning of a new season. Spring is often associated with birth, paralleling the cycle of life.

The concept of mid-summer is representative of a person in their middle age, as indicated by the aged and withered leaves and flowers. It also represents a pivotal moment in one's life. The line "When the pear and cherry bloom went down in showers / On sunny days a moment overcast" employs imagery of blooms resembling clouds, temporarily blocking out the sun during bright moments.

The presence of the sun, symbolized by the blooms, holds a positive connotation. In contrast, the appearance of the oven bird signifies the start of sadness. On the other hand, “The Windhover” uses imagery to emphasize the glory and majesty of Jesus in heaven. The sestet in “The Oven Bird” holds an inner meaning regarding the fall of man and how it brought death to the world through Adam. Frost’s final line, “Is what to make of a diminished thing”, leaves a question for the reader to ponder. As the fall arrives, the oven bird stops singing and teaching.

Despite

the impossibility of knowing the true answer, Hopkins provides a solution in the sestet of “The Windhover”, where Jesus comes down to Earth to save humanity. The use of rhyming, repeated use of letters at the beginning of words, and the separation of the octave and sestet all serve to highlight the symbolism of Jesus. Hopkins employs rhyming to create a pattern for readers to follow, but also utilizes alliteration by arranging words starting with the same letter in a sequence, such as “morning morning’s minion”, “-dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon”, and “gash gold-vermillion”, which creates a brief pause before continuing with the next word in the sequence.

Both Hopkins and Frost incorporate the use of octaves and sestets in their sonnets. Hopkins presents soft and calm imagery in the octave as he describes how the bird flies, while the sestet portrays harsh and active imagery as the bird swoops down to the earth. In contrast, Frost does not use a regular rhyming pattern in "The Oven Bird" to emphasize the complexity of life's simple question, "Is what to make of a diminished thing." Similarly to "The Windhover," Frost separates his sonnet into an octave and sestet, but the change in seasons from summer to fall in “The Oven Bird” creates bleak and sad imagery, as the oven bird stops singing and teaching. In contrast, the imagery in “The Windhover” remains constant as the bird is both glorious in the sky and on earth, much like Jesus. Different hidden meanings can be found in these two sonnets due to the techniques used.

In "The Windhover", Hopkins believed that Jesus Christ truly came to the world and

therefore described the windhover bird visually based on its physique and flight. In contrast, the narrator in "The Oven Bird" only hears the bird and doesn't answer what causes its diminishment. As the narrator doesn't see the bird, it could be argued that its existence is not confirmed.

Therefore, the answer to the question about the oven bird is tied to the silence of its distinctive call. Its voice is significant, as when the “teacher, teacher” sound ceases, so too does the bird itself. Sonnets such as "The Windhover" and "The Oven Bird" share a focus on observation of birds and a similar structure with distinct units of thought. However, differences in rhyme scheme, content, the poets’ backgrounds, and the narrators’ observations distinguish these two sonnets from each other.

"The Windhover" depicts the magnificent descent of Jesus from the sky to shape the marvelous creations on earth, while "The Oven Bird" pertains to a straightforward inquiry in life that remains unanswered despite having a simple solution.