Student Question

What are the symbols in the poem "Mariana"?

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

The poem "Mariana" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson in essence is a poem about isolation. It describes a woman, the poem's namesake, who feels cut off from modern society, and this lack of connection to the world around her causes her to wish for death. If we work with the theme of isolation, it is possible for us to isolate several symbols throughout the piece that contribute to this overarching concept. 

The "blackest moss" on the flower pots and "rusted nails" in the first stanza both symbolize the slow passage of time and the effects it has on immobile or stationary things. The flower pots, untouched, have begun to gather a black moss, just like the old nails have begun to rust due to lack of care and upkeep. The woman who is the subject of the poem feels much like these objects, which have degraded over time as they are left alone. 

The poplar tree, first introduced in the fourth stanza, symbolizes the life that exists outside of her room that she feels so separated from. While she can see it from her window, she cannot touch it or experience it from the confines of her home. Her deepest interaction with the poplar is through the shadow it casts into her room in the moonlight, a shadow which symbolizes how her lack of connection to the outside world brings darkness into her life. 

The door in the second to last stanza essentially symbolizes a portal through which she could enter the world if she so chose. However, the door is marked by dark and eerie imagery, representing her anxieties about connecting with the outside world. It is marked by its creaking hinges and the old faces she sees glimmering through it, which only work to further her distress at being shut away alone in her room. 

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

Analyze the poem "Mariana."

"Mariana" is a lyric poem written in iambic tetrameter. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDDCEFEF. The poem is composed of 7 12-line stanzas (similar to sonnets - 14 lines). The opening epigraph references Mariana from Shakespeare's play Measure for Measure. In the play, Mariana's lover has deserted her. 

In the first stanza, the speaker describes the "moated grange" - an outlying farmhouse. There are signs of decay and these mirror Mariana's feelings. She feels abandoned. Each stanza ends with the same refrain (the final refrain is slightly different): 

She only said, "My life is dreary,

He cometh not," she said; 

She said, "I am aweary, aweary,

I would that I were dead!" 

In the second stanza, the speaker describes how Mariana cried when the dew came in the evening, and she continued to cry before ("ere") the dews had dried. (The dew is analogous to her tears. As she cries, so does nature.) When night comes, all she can see is "the glooming flats." She could not appreciate the heavens (perhaps a beautiful sunset). Everywhere she looks, all she sees is gloom. 

In stanza 3, she hears things which sound like her lover (Angelo): the "nightfowl crow" and the "oxen's low." This is a kind of pathetic fallacy: where inanimate things or animals echo the emotions of a character, in this case mocking her pain. This is of course a fallacy: Mariana perceives only the gloomy quality of things because she is so distraught. 

Stanza 4 continues the description of gloomy surroundings. She feels surrounded, even imprisoned, by the "blackened waters" and the "clustered marish-mosses" (lumps of moss floating on the water). Mariana is symbolized by the poplar tree. No other tree "for leagues" (for a long distance) had to look upon ("to mark") such a dreary scene. 

In stanza 5, she sees the shadow (of the poplar) swaying in the wind. The shadow of the poplar then falls on her bed (when the moon is low), as if she is in her own shadow, stuck in her own despair. 

In stanza 6, every sound is affecting Mariana in a negative way. At this point, she may even be hallucinating, so affected by her loneliness. 

In the final stanza, she is still plagued by every sound. Even the clock's ticking just indicates that she will have to face another day of loneliness. This is why she hates ("most she loathed") sunset. Sunset just precedes another lonely night followed by another lonely day. The poem is about the feeling of abandonment and how such a feeling an affect one's perception of other things, such as the home, nature, etc. The refrain is useful in showing how she feels this way over and over again, day after day. She is stuck in this feeling. She is so despondent that she sees death as the only way out; but she continues to wait. The continuing to wait is perhaps a small spark of hope in the midst of a vast amount of gloom. 

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Approved by eNotes Editorial