The House of Life 19 Silent Noon Analysis - Literary devices and Poetic devices

The House of Life 19 Silent Noon

By Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass,—
The finger-points look through like rosy blooms:
Your eyes smile peace. The pasture gleams and glooms
‘Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass.
All round our nest, far as the eye can pass,
Are golden kingcup fields with silver edge
Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge.
‘Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass.

Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly
Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky:—
So this wing’d hour is dropt to us from above.
Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower,
This close-companioned inarticulate hour
When twofold silence was the song of love.

Summary of The House of Life 19 Silent Noon

Popularity of “The House of Life 19 Silent Noon”: The sonnet “The House of Life 19 Silent Noon” is a beautiful sonnet by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The poem first appeared in a collection in 1870. It highlights the moment of silence of the speaker and her lover, showing that even silence could sometimes prove a song of love. The beauty of the sonnet lies in the novelty of the theme of silence.
“The House of Life 19 Silent Noon” As a Representative of Silence and Love: The speaker, who is possibly the poet herself, presents the hand of her lover, saying that his eyes “smile peace” and that they are perfectly nestled in their nest with nature showing beauty around it. They see the fields, hawthorn hedge, and visible silence. However, they see that the dragonfly hangs in the sky and then suddenly drops down. Although it could be a bad omen, they take it as a sign of a favorable time. The speaker heaves a sigh of relief that even in their hearts, they are still in love with each other despite having an inarticulate hour they have passed in the company of each other. The poet states that when this “inarticulate hour” between the two has passed.
Major Themes in “The House of Life 19 Silent Noon”: Peace, silence, and love are three major themes of the poem. When the sonnet opens, the speaker highlights the moments of silence and peace prevalent around them when they enjoy themselves at their residence. It is nestled in the lap of nature with a wide sky above and the hour passes by slowly when they observe the silence and the love between them. This love has its own song of silence. The silence makes them realize the presence of each other at which both the lover and the beloved see each other in the eyes and heave a sigh of peace and love that they still cling to each other.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in The House of Life 19 Silent Noon

Dante Gabriel Rossetti has demonstrated her skill of using a host of literary devices to enhance the intended impacts of her poem. Some of the major literary devices she has used are as follows.

Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /a/ in “All round our nest, far as the eye can pass” and the sound of /o/ in “Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass.”
Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession, such as the sound of /d/ in “deathless dower.”
Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /t/ in “Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge” and the sound of /s/ in “Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass.”
Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;

Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower,
This close-companioned inarticulate hour
When twofold silence was the song of love.

Irony: Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. The poem shows the use of situational irony that the silence was the song of love which should have been rather a sign of peace.
Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Dante Gabriel Rossetti has used imagery in this poem such as “All round our nest, far as the eye can pass”, “Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge” and “Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly.”
Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. The poem shows the use of metaphors such as “The finger-points look through like rosy blooms.”
Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols like blooms, grass, kingcup, and hedge to point to the love between the lovers.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in The House of Life 19 Silent Noon

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

Diction and Tone: Diction means the type of language, and tone means the voice of the text. The poem shows formal and poetic diction with a lovely and enjoyable tone.
End Rhyme: End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. Dante Gabriel Rossetti has used end rhyme in this poem, such as grass/amass and dower/hour.
Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Here each stanza is quatrain.
Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows ABBBAACCA in its octave, while the sestet shows the rhyme scheme of DDEFFE.
Sonnet: A fourteen-lined poem is called a sonnet. This poem is a sonnet.

Quotes to be Used

The following lines are useful for lovers to quote their strong love for each other.