🌿 Explore Unknown Literature: Tips for Substance Writing & Analysis

Learn how to write a summary and add a critical note when given an unfamiliar poem or passage in exams. This guide offers structured tips to help students confidently approach unknown literary texts.

✍️ Substance Writing with a Critical Note of an Unknown Poem

📌 What to Do Before Writing the Substance of Any Unknown Poem?

⮚ Read the poem several times before you write.
⮚ Understand the poet’s emotions, ideas, and perspective to develop a central theme.
⮚ Mark unfamiliar words or phrases and try to infer their meanings.
⮚ Identify the speaker of the poem and the intention of the speaker.
⮚ Understand the context and possible time period in which the poem was written.
⮚ Use approximately 35% of the total word count of the original poem in your summary.
⮚ Summarize in your own words, using third-person pronouns and avoiding direct speech.

🧠 What to Do Before Writing the Critical Note of Any Unknown Poem?

⮚ Understand the overall structure, genre, language, and style of the poem.
⮚ Understand the tone, and rhyme scheme of the poem
⮚ Look for figures of speech (simile, metaphor, alliteration, etc.).
⮚ Detect intertextual references (connections to other poems or traditions).

🔗 Related Post: Let’s Know About Types of Poems, Their Tones and Meters

📝 Sample Exercise – Analyze the Following Poem

“Under the greenwood tree who loves to lie with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird’s throat
Come hither, Come hither, Come hither!
Here shall he see
No enemy
But Winter and rough weather.

Who doth ambition shun
And loves to live i’ the sun,
Seeking the food he eats,
Come hither, Come hither, Come hither!
Here shall he see
No enemy
But Winter and rough weather.”

✨ Substance of the Poem

In this pastoral poem, the poet invites people to experience the tranquil beauty of nature. He contrasts rural life with city life, highlighting both the benefits and challenges of each. In the forest, people can sing cheerful songs, as freely and sweetly as birds, enjoying relaxation and serenity.

The poet acknowledges that while rural life in the forest may bring difficulties—such as the discomforts of winter and harsh weather—it lacks the betrayal, conflict, and challenges often found in city life. According to the poet, if people can let go of their material ambitions and desires, they can find peace and contentment in nature’s simplicity.

In the forest, one must accept whatever food nature provides, encouraging a sense of gratitude for the gifts of the earth. In return, people can experience true happiness and appreciate the peaceful moments that nature offers, akin to paradise.

🧐 Critical Note on the Poem

Genre and Form:
This is a pastoral poem that is subjective by nature. It consists of two stanzas of eight lines each.

Context and Setting:
It is a fine specimen of pastoral poetry. It introduces a wide range of facts about rural life. In this poem, the speaker glorifies the simplicity and serenity of the forest and presents a contrast between city life and rural life.

Imagery and Symbols:
It includes symbols such as birds (freedom), the sun (life), and “winter and rough weather” (challenges of rural life vs. man-made conflict).

Poetic Devices:
This poem features alliteration, repetition (“Come hither”), and inversion to emphasize key themes.

Language and Style:
It is marked by personal touches and vivid descriptions of the forest. Both the first stanza and second stanza end with an optimistic note about rural life. It is written in lucid and simple language. All words are well-chosen. It illustrates highly philosophical thoughts about the serene beauty of rural life as well as the chaos and complication of city life.

Rhyme Scheme:
The rhyme scheme of the poem is abbcaac in the first stanza and ddecaac in the second stanza.

Mood and Tone:
The tone of the poem is peaceful and optimistic, idealizing nature as a refuge.

Intertextuality and Influences:
This poem celebrates pastoral life, reminiscent of William Wordsworth’s glorification of nature in The World is Too Much with Us. It also recalls John Keats’s contrasting depiction of urban and rural life in To One Who Has Been Long in City Pent.

Conclusion:
The poem appreciates the charming beauty of rural life and criticizes the struggles of modern society, which is full of enemies disguised as competitors. It supports the idea that rural life is more peaceful and fulfilling than city life.

🔗 Related Post:

📘Substance of the Poem
📘 Substance Writing with a Critical Note of an Unknown Prose

If you’re interested in mastering prose analysis, explore our guide on writing substance and critical notes for unknown prose passages.

📢 Disclaimer:

This content is created solely for educational and informational purposes. It draws upon publicly available educational materials, literary texts, and the author’s own interpretation. All summaries, analyses, and explanations are original and intended to support learning. No copyright infringement is intended.