Discussion Topic
Analysis of tone, syntax, and diction in Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's poem "Let the Light Enter."
Summary:
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's poem "Let the Light Enter" employs a hopeful and inspirational tone. The syntax is straightforward, enhancing the poem's clarity and accessibility, while the diction is simple yet evocative, emphasizing themes of enlightenment and resilience. These elements collectively encourage readers to seek wisdom and positivity despite challenges.
Describe the tone and syntax in Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's poem Let the Light Enter.
Reading Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's poem Let the Light Enter, one is naturally tempted to interpret her work through the prisms of her African American heritage and abolitionist sentiments during the pre-Civil War period, her civil rights advocacy during the era of Reconstruction, and her somewhat confusing religious orientation, being both a Unitarian and being associated with the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. None of this, however, is necessarily pertinent to any discussion of this particular poem. The subtitle to Let the Light Enter , "The Dying Words of Goethe," is a direct reference to the German writer Goethe, whose final words, a plea for more direct sunlight into his dim room, have been widely interpreted in the context of his late-in-life transformation with respect to theology. A committed quasi-agnostic, raised Lutheran but skeptical of the role of a Divine Presence in everyday life, he was believed to...
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have become more religious in his final days. Consequently, his plea for "more light" has been viewed through the prism of his religious transformation. In other words, "light" equals enlightenment.
The tone of Let the Light Enter is one of quiet desperation. The narrator is dying ("Softly let the balmy sunshine/Play around my dying bed") and is, as with Goethe, pleading for more light. Harper's plea, however, is for more intellectual enlightenment, rather than more enlightenment in terms of forging a closer relationship to God. As she wrote in her poem, the plea for more light is for more time and more opportunity for intellectual expression:
Not for greater gifts of genius;
Not for thoughts more grandly bright,
All the dying poet whispers
Is a prayer for light, more light.
May our dim and longing visionRather than demands for more light, the poet is now emphasizing the action, the verb: "be blessed." Harper's poem is religious, but the request of God is simple and reiterates the plea for more light, for a little more time, for more opportunity to create literary treasures, and for the ability to see one's way along the final journey of life.
Then be blessed with light, more light.
References
What is the diction of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's "Let The Light Enter"?
There is an elevated form of diction that governs Harper's "Let the Light Enter." This word choice is deliberate on her part. One reason why the diction has to be elevated is because of the subject matter. In discussing Goethe and his last words, Harper's diction is elevated in order to communicate the transcendent subject and instant of Goethe's life that forms the basis of the poem:
Gracious Saviour, when life’s day-dreams
Melt and vanish from the sight,
May our dim and longing vision
Then be blessed with light, more light.
Harper's word choice is reflective of the abstract nature of Goethe's demand for "more light."
At the same time, the abstract diction conveys what Harper feels about Goethe, as a subject. Harper conveys how a poet's desire for "more light" is not merely reflective of final words, but is also the spiritual undercurrent that defines what it means to be a poet, in general:
Not for greater gifts of genius;
Not for thoughts more grandly bright,
All the dying poet whispers
Is a prayer for light, more light.
Harper understands this reality as she is a poet herself. Thus, her use of elevated diction embodying abstraction in the form of contrasting the darkness of death with the desire for "more light" is a statement of how she sees her own genre. In employing diction that is abstract, Harper is able to transform The concrete experience of death is transformed into an experience of liberation in large part due to the diction that Harper uses. The connotation is evident in that Goethe and his gifts transcend death for "light," something that Harper sees as synonymous with his work and his contribution to the discourse. This goes beyond "laurels" and temporal praise. Rather, the formal diction that conveys a symbolic meaning behind light is reflective of Harper's attitudes towards her subject.
The use of formal diction brings an elevated tone to the poem. It communicates Harper's willingness to elevate Goethe to a transcendental notion of the good:
“Light! more light! for Death is weaving
Shadows ‘round my waning sight,
And I fain would gaze upon him
Through a stream of earthly light.”
The "weaving" nature of Death as well as a "stream of earthly light" are examples of elevated diction. This word choice conveys Harper's belief in how poets can be transcendent, a transformative abstraction. Being a woman of color in 19th Century America, Harper understands the need for "more light" and can also relate to how poetry can be a vehicle to communicate what can be out of what is. It is in this personalized element where the elevated diction of "Let the Light Enter" can be fully understood and appreciated.