Situation

After we have a sense of the poem's speaker, we turn to the speaker's situation. In general terms, we want to know what is going on. Again, as in determining the speaker, we don't need all the details of the speaker's situation. We do, however, want to get a general sense of what is happening, not metaphorically or symbolically. We want to know what is actually, literally happening. If we are not clear on this, we will end up misreading the poem. Is the speaker sitting at the edge of a lake watching a lone sailboat? Is the speaker driving down the freeway? Is the speaker a tired mom who is taking a break from the kids by sitting on the back porch? A reader can go awry inventing an elaborate interpretation of a poem which quickly falls apart when he or she becomes aware of the poem's actual, literal situation. To avoid going down a wrong interpretive path, one of your first steps is to have a clear sense of the situation.

The Carpe Diem Poem

Certain situations found in poetry have been used so repeatedly and are so familiar to readers that they have become poetic conventions. One example is the carpe diem poem. Carpe diem is Latin for "seize the day." This phrase alludes to living life in the present moment and not letting social rules stop us from fully living and enjoying life. The specific situation in a carpe diem poem usually has a male speaker trying to convince a female auditor (listener) to seize the day. This male speaker's interpretation of "seizing the day" is having a sexual relationship. He wants to live and enjoy life, while the female auditor is usually concerned with social rules and consequences. In this module you will read two famous carpe diem poems by John Donne and Andrew Marvell. As you read, pay attention to the similarities and differences in their handling of the same situation.

Setting

You may notice that as we look at situation, what is happening, we also tend to look at setting, where it is happening. The the place where the poem is located also tells us a lot about the meaning of the poem. Places have emotional suggestiveness and associations, and as readers of poetry we must take a full account of this. A poem with a lakeside setting will have a different emotional resonance from a poem with a freeway setting. Think about these settings: a bedroom, a business office, a cemetery, a beach. What feelings do you associate with each of these settings? A poet may use these existing associations, or the poet my surprise us by working against our expectations; however, a good poet never ignores the emotional aspects of setting.

Setting, however, is not just the location where the poem takes place. Setting also includes time, whether it be the hour of the day or the season of the year. Take the example of the beach. A beach on a Saturday afternoon is a very different setting from a beach at midnight. A beach in summer sunshine is different from a beach in a winter rainstorm. Time, too, has emotional resonance. When we examine setting, then, we look at both place and time.