The Villain
By William Henry Davies
While joy gave clouds the light of stars,
That beamed wher’er they looked;
And calves and lambs had tottering knees,
Excited, while they sucked;
While every bird enjoyed his song,
Without one thought of harm or wrong–
I turned my head and saw the wind,
Not far from where I stood,
Dragging the corn by her golden hair,
Into a dark and lonely wood.
Summary of The Villain
- Popularity of “The Villain”: This ten verses poem “The Villain” by William Henry Davies, a Welsh hobo writer, and poet, is an interesting poem. it first appeared in 1920. The popularity of the poem lies in its simple description of the natural elements and their support to life on this earth except for a slight rebellious attitude from the wind that seems personified by the poet.
- “The Villain” As a Representative of Nature: The poem opens with the poet talking about the excitement and happiness that comes to natural elements when everything is all right. The poet says that joy or excitement blesses the clouds with the light that comes from the stars. The clouds, then, look upon the earth and see the lambs and calves tottering on their knees excitedly sucking their mothers’ milk. This natural scene, then, gives birth to another scene that is the enjoyment of a bird that is singing a song. The poet, however, observes that only the wind is playing the part of a spoiler and it is moving the corn as if it is dragging it, catching it by its golden hair. This shows the difference that although all natural things are making the atmosphere pleasant and happy, yet a single element can destroy this entire pleasant atmosphere.
- Major Themes in “The Villain”: Nature, love of nature, and pleasant atmosphere are the major thematic strands of this poem. The poem is interesting in that every other natural element is contributing to the happiness of others. If the clouds are happy, so are the stars as they are making the lambs and calves happy. This entire atmosphere gives birth to another happy episode until something unpleasant mars this mood of the entire atmosphere. In this case, the only villain is the wind that tries to mar the happiness of all others just by dragging the golden hair of the corn plant. The entire message is that just a bad egg makes the entire company feel bad taste.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “The Villain”
literary devices are literary tools essential for poetic or prose writing to make them bewitching and universal. The analysis of these devices in the poem “The Villian” as given below shows this fact.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /o/ in “While joy gave clouds the light of stars”, /e/ in “That beamed wher’er they looked” and the sound of /e/ in “While every bird enjoyed his song.”
- Alliteration: It is the use of successive consonant sounds in the initials of the successive words such as /f/ in “far from.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /l/ and /n/ in “And calves and lambs had tottering knees” and /r/ in “While every bird enjoyed his song.”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. The poem shows the use of imagery such as “And calves and lambs had tottering knees”, “While every bird enjoyed his song” and “I turned my head and saw the wind.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. The poem shows the use of joy as compared to a man, the wind compared to a villain. Both are unique metaphors used in this poem.
- Personification: The poet has used joy and wind as if they have life and emotions of their own. They have been personified.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. Here corn and golden hair are symbols of life and happiness.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “The Villain”
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows the ABABCCABAB rhyme scheme in both of its parts.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. This poem has two stanzas as it is a sonnet.
Quotes to be Used
These lines from “The Villain” are relevant to use when talking about conservation and climate change.
While every bird enjoyed his song,
Without one thought of harm or wrong–
I turned my head and saw the wind,
Not far from where I stood
