Purple Addicts Web Blog

Why is the Rose so Pale

Heinrich Heine

Ah Dearest,canst thou tell me why

The Rose should be so pale

And why the azure violet

Should wither in the vale?

And why the lark should, in the cloud,

So sorrowfully sing?

And why the loveliest  balsam-buds

A scent of death should spring?

And why the sun upon the mead

So chillingly should frown?

And why the earth,like a grave

Be mouldering and brown?

And why is it that I, myself,

So languishing should be?

And why is it, my heart-of-hearts

That thou forsakest me?

S- The Subject is the fact that the poet is going through Heartbreak in which he feels he can’t bear. The woman he loves has left and he is now left in a lonesome grief.

O- The Occasion of the poem is that the poet is going over the grief he is feeling. He is questioning everything that is going around him and comparing it to his sadness.

A- The Audience this poem is intended for is the woman who has walked out of his life.”Dearest” is the person who the poem is intended for.

P- Mr.Heine’s Purpose for writing this poem is to show how much he’s going through to the person who has caused him pain. He is expressing his emotions through the poem.

S- The Speaker is the poet. He doesn’t mention two people plus he is speaking directly to the woman.

Tone- The Tone seems to be solemn, reflective,questioning, and macabre.

Figurative Language and Structure-  The poet does use rhyme which would follow into a ABCB pattern. Heine also uses  repetition ” and why” throughout the poem. Imagery is also used an example of this would be “azure violet” in line  4 or “And why the Earth should ,like a grave/be moulder ing and brown” line 11 and 12. THe devices he uses are rhyme, repetition, and imagery.

Poem taken from: http://www.poetry.com/greatestpoems/poemlove.asp?id=%20275

Picture taken from: http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/JAD/RS06~Pale-Rose-Posters.jpg