Poets often revise and revise their work because it can be difficult to fully express the emotions they want to evoke in the reader. Just a change of one word can change the entire meaning of a line, and the usual brevity of poetry requires that each word be the perfect choice. Tennyson wrote two versions of his "Mariana", the second being very different. The two talk about a woman named Mariana who was abandoned. by her lover and left forever alone in their country house. Upon close inspection, one can clearly see why he made the decision to change the things he did. The first version, "Mariana in the South", has a more hopeful tone: there is a movement from deeper depression to moments of hope. The second, simply titled "Mariana", has no sense of hope, in fact, as it becomes clear that he was unhappy with the expression. from his first attempt, and wanted to try again to evoke that feeling of complete despair. Tennyson changed the actual form of the poem, its diction and, most importantly, its imagery, to create a much stronger sense of despair in the second version. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original EssayThe form of the poem, which seems to be a tiny and insignificant detail, shapes the meaning of the poem in a very significant way. In the first version of the poem, certain lines of each stanza are indented to create a shape that resembles a wave. It alternates between indented and non-indented lines, swelling at the chorus to form what might sound like the crest of the wave. In the second version of the poem, each stanza also alternates between indented and non-indented lines, but the seventh and eighth lines of each stanza reverse the pattern. This breakup of the pattern helps to visually create a much less soft feel and appears to be broken up in some way. This brokenness becomes significant because Mariana herself, in her grief over the loss of her lover, is in a sense broken. The diction of the poem is better thought out in the second version, to help create this feeling of complete despair that Mariana experiences. A few instances of awkward or ineffective diction occur in "Mariana in the South." One such example refers to Mariana’s song as a “Christmas carol” (13). The word "carol" seems to have been chosen simply because its two syllables make the line's iambic tetrameter work properly, but it is completely detrimental to the emotion Tennyson intends to evoke. The connotations of the word actually imply joy and particularly refer to a song about Christmas, a time of love and peace. Of course, Mariana knows no joy, no love, no peace. The diction of the second edition of the poem seems much more clearly thought out. Many words actually have two meanings, both of which are significant to the work. When evening arrives, Tennyson writes, “the thickest darkness made the sky in a trance” (18). The footnote tells us that the word "trance" means to pass through, as in "the thickest darkness passed through the sky", but trance can also mean to bewitch, something which would have sinister connotations for the reader. Likewise, he also writes that Mariana “looked through the dark apartments” (20). "Through" means through this line, but can also mean perverse or false, just as Mariana's world seems somehow false without the presence of her lover. This word is also used in line 77. In the last stanza of the poem, Tennyson writes that the sun "inclines to its western cradle"(78). Of course, most people know that the sun sets in the west. Tennyson's goal is not to remind the reader of the location of the sunset, but to suggest the finality that accompanies the sunset. Just as the sunset represents the end of the day, so the west comes to symbolize an end or finality. Thus, the use of the word "Western" implies the finality of happiness which accompanies the loss of the lover for Mariana. Perhaps most important in the category of changes in diction is the change the poet made to the refrain of the poem, as it is repeated several times and is central to the meaning. In the first version, the chorus ends with “Live forgotten and love desperate.” In the second version, it ends with "I wish I were dead." Even though both are indeed pitiful, the former at least focuses on life. Even if this prospect does not delight her, Mariana thinks about her future life in one way or another. In contrast, the second version focuses solely on death. The despair of the situation is so great in this version that Mariana wants to die. Imagery is so prevalent in these poems and so significant that it is their most important element. So many image designs are used (and almost all are changed) that imagery must be the central topic of discussion in the changes made between earlier and later versions of "Mariana". Religious imagery is perhaps the most radical example. “Mariana in the South” is simply filled with Christian religious imagery. The chorus consists of complaints addressed to the Virgin Mary, Mariana sometimes prays to Mary to help her fight her depression, and Heaven is mentioned in the last verse. In “Mariana,” however, all that religiosity is gone, except for a little “Oh my God, I was dead!” (82) in the last stanza. This change contributes greatly to Mariana's lack of hope. The religion gives many followers a sense of hope through prayer and assurance of happiness in the afterlife. By removing the thought of religion, Tennyson removes a source of hope for Mariana. Another missing image pattern in the second version is images that consistently depict Mariana as beautiful. Throughout “Mariana in the South,” she is described as simply breathtaking. He writes: "She, as her Carol Sadder grew, from forehead and chest slowly descended through her slender pink fingers, drew her streaming curls of deepest brown left and right, and made them appear, always lit in a secret glow, her divine melancholy eyes (13-19) He later evokes “the clear perfection of her face” (32). At best, these descriptions serve no purpose to the meaning of the poem and, at worst, are detrimental. Tennyson must have realized their uselessness and therefore included no reference to Mariana's beauty in the second version of the work. A major addition to the poem's imagery comes in the form of images of destruction. The first version makes no reference to the condition of the house and its surroundings as being neglected. In the second version, however, the house and its surroundings are described as completely decrepit. The first stanza reads: With the blackest moss the patches of flowers were thickly crusted, one and all; the rusty nails were falling from the knots that held the pear to the gable wall. The broken sheds looked sad and strange: the rattling latch was not lifted; weeded and carried the old thatchOn the lonely moated barn. (1-12) The area surrounding the house is “dark” (20), the trees have “gnarled” bark (42), and the woodwork is “moldy” (64). Everything in the house andthe land appears to be collapsing or rotting in some way. These image patterns help to develop the idea that Mariana, like her environment, is collapsing. These images also help to develop the gothic images that are added in abundance to the second poem. The destruction of the house, the dark and rainy atmosphere, "the flight of bats" (17), the reference to midnight (25), the creaking doors and the references to ghosts contribute to the prototypical Gothic of the poem. Such images are also associated with death, which Mariana longs for, and general sadness, which she experiences deeply. The images of water and humidity in "Mariana" are in direct contrast to the images of heat and dryness used in the previous version. In the first version, the river bed is empty and "dusty white" (54). The only source of water is "from the shallows on a distant shore" (7), and Mariana herself is unable to cry until the end. Tennyson writes: “The day grew from heat to heat, / Over stony drought and smoking salt” (39-40). Although the dryness of the imagery is a brilliant way of symbolizing Mariana's inability to cry, reflected in her surroundings, Tennyson must have decided that he wanted something different for his poem. In the second version, these drought images are replaced by humidity images. Mariana cries almost constantly in this poem, which says: “Her tears fell with the dews in the evening; / Her tears fell before the dews were dried” (13-14). This establishes an obvious comparison between her tears and dew, which shows the reader that Tennyson wanted the wet images to reflect Mariana's tears in his surroundings. He speaks of the “blackened waters” of a nearby lock (38). He also describes the rust, mold, and moss in the house and its grounds, all of which cannot exist without water. Maybe he wanted Mariana to be able to cry, to appear more emotional and desperate. Perhaps he needed the humidity to describe things as rot and mold. There is no doubt that he had both goals in mind when he made this change. Water also serves another purpose in the second poem. While the bodies of water that existed in the first version are fast-moving bodies (a river and the ocean), the water in the second version is in the form of a ditch or "sluice with blackened waters” (38). The slow motion aspect of the aquatic images in the second poem helps to emphasize the slowness of Mariana's life, with its "slow ticking" (73). Without her lover, she is condemned to live her “dreary” life alone. The passage of time would happen incredibly slowly for someone who is completely alone forever, which is why Tennyson uses these images to develop the symbolism of his surroundings as representative of his life. Another important image pattern that Tennyson adds to the second version is the use of pathetic fallacies. . Mariana sees her house as a “lonely moated barn” (8), morning as having gray eyes (31), and lock as sleep (38). Sure, these inanimate objects don't have eyes and can't sleep or feel alone, but the fact that Mariana projects her own emotions onto them suggests mental illness. Her extreme depression caused her to view her sadness as enveloping her entire world. A final image pattern, and one of the most interesting, consists of images that depict men as fearful or loathsome. The sun, which signifies only another day of pain for Mariana, is described as “sloping toward [its] western cradle” (78). It is telling that Mariana considers the sun, which is surely something.