The Heiress
Question:
What does this sonnet describe? How does its description
relate to the title? How does diction help to show the
poet’s attitude towards the ‘young heiress’ Which formal
elements typical of sonnets you have read seem most
powerfully used in this sonnet?
What effects do they create?
Still-life
Through the open French window the warm sun
Lights up the polished breakfast-table, laid
Round a bowl of crimson roses, for one -
A service of Worcester porcelain, arrayed
Near it a melon, peaches, figs, small hot
Rolls in a napkin, fairy rack of toast,
Butter in ice, high silver coffee-pot,
And, heaped on a salver, the morning's post.
She comes over the lawn, the young heiress,
From her early walk in her garden-wood,
Feeling that life's a table set to bless
Her delicate desires with all that's good.
That even the unopened future lies
Like a love-letter, full of sweet surprise
By Elizabeth Daryush
Elizabeth Daryush’s Still Life is an English sonnet that
describes a rich yet naive young lady- the heiress. She is
taking an early morning walk in her garden while a table has
been set up and filled with a sumptuous breakfast. This sonnet
contains formal elements: rhyme and rhythm, turn, enjambment
and caesura. The poet uses diction, metaphor and imagery to
create the mood and setting and she shows us the naivety and
vulnerability of the young heiress.
The octave starts with ‘Through’ suggests the limited yet
rosy view of life seen through the French window. Using
imagery she directs our visual focus immediately to the
‘still life’ on the breakfast-table: The colours from the
variety of fruits, crimson roses, silver make the table comes
to life... visually. The sestet is divided into two parts:
quatrain and closing couplet directing our attention
to She, that...
The ‘turn’: ‘She’ made her entrance, contrast with the mood
of still life in the octave. Her appearance is set in a casual,
leisurely tone;
‘She comes over the lawn,... from her early walk’,
‘that’ directs us to her unpredictable future.
The rhyme scheme is is : ABAB, CDED, FGFG, HH.
The ‘and’ at the end of line 7 did not rhyme
- the poet deliberately directs our attention to the
ordinary morning’s post been placed in the salver,
presented to her in an exquisite manner. Here the
enjambment sets the languorous morning and the
leisurely mood.
The Caesura: the commas after the breakfast-table,
roses, porcelain, figs, pot, love-letter brings our
attention to the pleasures of life. The hyphenated words:
breakfast-table, garden-wood, love-letter displays
her exquisite lifestyle.
The heiress naivety and vulnerability are conveyed by the
poet’s diction – ‘young’, ‘delicate’, ‘good’, ‘love-letter’,
‘full of sweet surprise’ and the metaphor -
‘life’s a table set to bless her delicate desires...’
The dash: ‘for one-‘ emphasizes the heiress as someone
important and superior. Her luxurious lifestyle: ‘arrayed’
hints at the plenty of food. ‘polished, service, porcelain,
silver’ indicate the exquisite lifestyle while
‘warm, hot, ice’ create the sensation of touch.
‘Open’ and ‘unopened’ reveals the contrast of the simple,
uncomplicated present to the unforeseen future. Using the
pun – ‘Lies’ could also suggest something that is not true.
‘good, lies, surprises’ suggest what she thinks is all good
and that she will be surprised to find out that they are
not true.
The poet skillfully uses the formal elements of the sonnet
to show the naivety and vulnerability of the young heiress
in her sheltered, luxurious lifestyle.
(401 words)
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