Describe The Critical Summary Of The Poem "Leisure" By William Davies.

The poem "Leisure" has been composed by an American poet William Davies. He was a wandering poet and singer. He led a life of loneliness and his poetry is marked with truth and simplicity in idea as well as language. As the title of the poem suggests, it is about the availability of time for enjoying various delights of life. These may range from the most ordinary every day pleasure to the extraordinary events. The poet is lamenting over the rush and hurried manner in which we spend our lives. We deprive ourselves of the richness and diversity of life.

The poet believes that life must be enjoyed in a casual leisurely manner. He thinks that we should spend our free time enjoying and appreciating the beauty of nature. We should find time to stand under the trees and look at beautiful objects of nature as sheep and cows do. While passing through the woods, we must pause to se the squirrels busy in hiding their nuts in the grass. We should also stop by streams of clear water glittering like skies at night. We must also find time to see the beautiful glance of a maiden and admire the skill of her dancing feet. We should not miss the beautiful smile playing at her face. In this way we can fill our lives with happiness.

The poet expresses his grief at the fact that modern rush of life has deprived us of many commonplace pleasures. We run around after our material pursuits, so crazily that we get no time to spend in a relaxed manner. He warns us if our life remains full of worries and problems with no opportunity to enjoy its simple pleasures, it will be very miserable life.

This is what I gathered from different sources...see if its helpful to you...

First Couplet

The first couplet begins with the question:
“What is this life if, full of care, / We have no time to stand and stare?” The
reader can imagine that the speaker has been ridiculed by someone, perhaps as a
child by an adult, for “standing and staring” at something that fascinated him.
Now, in this poem, he explores the idea of standing and staring, and he wants
to know what life is about if standing and staring cannot be tolerated.

Second Couplet

The speaker then begins to enumerate the many
things for which there is no time: “No time to stand beneath the boughs, / And
stare as long as sheep and cows.” The speaker compares the human condition to
that of “sheep and cows”; these animals can stand and stare as long as they
wish.

But the speaker by merely mentioning this
fact laments his own situation. As a human being living in a fast-paced
society, he would be laughed at and degraded for wanting to concentrate on the
simple natural world around him. He would be labeled a sluggard.

Third Couplet

The speaker claims that as human beings
travel by a wooded area, there is “no time” to see that the squirrels are
hiding their nuts in the grass.

Fourth Couplet

In the fourth couplet, the speaker mourns the
lack of time for seeing, “in broad daylight, / Streams full of stars, like
skies at night.”

Fifth Couplet/ Sixth Couplet

The fifth and sixth couplets focus on the
abstract quality of “Beauty”: There is no time to watch Beauty dance; the
abstract concept is being personified. There is no time to stop and stare as a
beautiful woman dances, and no time to wait to see her smile, first with her
eyes and then with her mouth.

Seventh Couplet

The final couplet makes something of a moral
judgment that it is pretty pitiful if human beings cannot just stand and stare
at natural and beautiful things, because they are bogged down with
responsibilities and worries.

Commentary

The poem reveals an interesting
contradiction. Even though the speaker includes himself as a member of the
muddled crowd of humanity so bedeviled with woe and worry that they lack time
to observe nature and beauty closely, at the same time he demonstrates that he
has, in fact, taken the time do that very thing. He has obviously overcome the
stigma attached to “standing and staring.” And now he wants to persuade his
fellows that this “standing and staring” is a good thing.

We focus so much time on the things that bring us troubles and not
enough time on what makes us happy.The word leisure derives from the Latin word
lic-ere, meaning “to be permitted” or “to be free.” Leisure, often referred to
as free time, means time spent in non compulsory activities or, more simply put,
time spent at ease.

In the poem, Leisure, the first two lines say, “What is this
life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?” This is asking,
what good is life if we don’t take the time to stand and look at what’s going
on around us? Why don’t we take the time to look at the little things? We never
wake up and gaze at the beauty of the first rays of the sun shining down. When
the sun goes down and night takes over we don’t look up and admire the moon or
the twinkling stars. We just go on with our fast paced lives as though it is
nothing special, when in reality it is a magnificent creation like a work of
art hanging in a museum.

 

 

The poet believes that life must be enjoyed in a casual
leisurely manner. He thinks that we should spend our free time enjoying and
appreciating the beauty
of nature. We should find time to stand under the trees and look at beautiful
objects of nature as sheep and cows do. While passing through the woods, we
must pause to se the squirrels busy in hiding their nuts in the grass. We
should also stop by streams of clear water glittering like skies at night. We
must also find time to see the beautiful glance of a maiden and admire the
skill of her dancing feet. We should not miss the beautiful smile playing at
her face. In this way we can fill our lives with happiness.

William Davies a modern poet.He has studied the evils of modern civilization very closely. He points out that the modern civilization is remarkable for its advancement in industry and science. The progress of science has made modern man machine like. It has turned him into a material beast. It has deprived man of two things.First- it has made him greedy and ambitious. Man has become a slave of time. Each breath of his life is spent in hoarding and collecting money. Life offers to modern man many gifts of richness and beauty, but man has no time to enjoy them.
In the first part of the poem, the poet builds the theme of the poem. In his view, man's life is quite miserable. Man has lost happiness and peace of mind. He is very busy in his wordily pursuits. He has not time to stand and stare and look at the beautiful and green branches of trees. In this regard, his lot is worse than animals. Even cows and sheep have spare time to enjoy the beauty of nature. He laments that man himself is the author of his tragedy.
The poet feels very sad at man's indifference to nature. Nature has such a wealth of beauty with its shining stars on the sky. The reflection of the stars in the water of the stream is a sight to be fully enjoyed. The sight of the squirrels hiding their nuts in the grass contains many enjoyable points.

The poem is rich in similes and personification. Examples of alliteration are:' stand and stare', 'beneath the boughs', 'when woods we pass','Streams full of stars like skies'..The similles are:And stare as long as sheep or cows',' like skies at night'( any comparison with the use of 'as' or 'like' is a simille). In the last few lines Beauty has been personified as a woman __

'No time to turn at Beauty's glance
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began'

Leisure is one of the best poem among all.The poet wants to give the message specially to adults through the help of this poem.The life we are living is just a drama,this world is the threater and we are the character in it. Human beings are living poor life because of not having leisure time.So we should also look back and enjoy the beauty of nature..
The last verse best sums up the poet's message..!!!

What are some of the simple delights we miss in our rushed life?
What are some of the things you miss because of lack of time?
The poet has used a personification: Can you point it out?
How would you define a personification?

Leisure is a delightful and beautiful poem. The poet feel sorry at preoccupation of man in daily pursuit of life. Modern age man does not have enough time to watch the charming sight and feel happy over them.

Leisure

The poem "Leisure" has been composed
by an American poet William Davies. He was a wandering poet and singer. He led
a life of loneliness and his poetry is marked with truth and simplicity in idea
as well as language. As the title of the poem suggests, it is about the
availability of time for enjoying various delights of life. These may range
from the most ordinary every day pleasure to the extraordinary events. The poet
is lamenting over the rush and hurried manner in which we spend our lives. We
deprive ourselves of the richness and diversity of life.

The poet believes that life must be enjoyed in a casual leisurely manner. He
thinks that we should spend our free time enjoying and appreciating the beauty
of nature. We should find time to stand under the trees and look at beautiful
objects of nature as sheep and cows do. While passing through the woods, we
must pause to se the squirrels busy in hiding their nuts in the grass. We
should also stop by streams of clear water glittering like skies at night. We
must also find time to see the beautiful glance of a maiden and admire the
skill of her dancing feet. We should not miss the beautiful smile playing at
her face. In this way we can fill our lives with happiness.

The poet expresses his grief at the fact that modern rush of life has deprived
us of many commonplace pleasures. We run around after our material pursuits, so
crazily that we get no time to spend in a relaxed manner. He warns us if our
life remains full of worries and problems with no opportunity to enjoy its
simple pleasures, it will be very miserable life.

Life is simple and brief but we have made it perplex through our hectic routines. In this poem the poet brings our attention towards the beauty of our surroundings that we miss just because of our hastiness. He emphasizes on the leisure and resting and spending time for our self to enjoy the beauty of world.

That the most important thing in our lives, which has now stopped, is to stand and stare at the beautiful gift of nature that god has given us. We must take out the time from our busy schedule and stand beneath boughs, or see where squirrels hide their nuts in grass, to see how beauty dances and to observe how she enriches the smile in her mouth that her eyes began.

There doesn't seem to be a paraphrase on the internet, but here are a few ideas about the poem to help you get started:

It starts with a rhetorical question, ie the author is sure you will agree with him that it's important to have free time. The idea of "stand and stare" is picked up all through the poem. He reminds us that even animals have time to look at things; then moves on to looking at animals themselves. And then to broader pictures like the wonders of the night sky and finally Beauty itself - personified as a dancing girl. So by the end of the poem we've realised that if you don't forget your problems and just look around, we miss everything - all the beauty, joy and movement of life.

Hope this helps.

Ts one of the best poems I have read

Here are a few ideas to get you started: Leisure, by WH Davies, is a 14-line poem (like a sonnet, but not in sonnet form) written in 7 rhyming couplets. It starts with a question, and the whole poem is basically the answer to that question - ie, without leisure to enjoy the world and all its beauty, there is no life or only "a poor life." The poem is about simple joys that cost nothing - the outdoors, nature, beauty.

Nature was  very important to Davies - you can find some of his other poems if you look here.

The poem "Leisure" is a thought provoking poem. It deals with the beauty of nature that is spread all around us. The poet deplores the sad fact of the life of the modern man that he has got no time to stand for a while and enjoy the beauty of nature which is present everywhere all around him. He is so busy in his material pursuits that he unable to enjoy the smile and dance of Beauty incarnate that is present there all the time in his neighborhood.

The theme of the poem is very serious and it has been expressed in a very sentimental and straightforward manner. The poet is very sincere in his appeal and at once influences our inner-self. The imagery of the nature in general has been used to make the theme more clearly to us. The grasses, the forest, the squirrel, the nuts, the stream, the daylight, the stars, the sky, the beauty incarnate supply a rich imagery to the poem. "Beauty" has been personified and different details have been sweetly and influentially added to the metaphor. Feet, lips, smiles, dance, all make the beauty fully embodied.

It is a short lyric that gives expression to the personal and serious but tender ideas of the poet. The meter of the poem is fully suited to the ideas. Both have a natural flow. The poet has been written in iambic tetrameter. Each line consists of eight syllabuses, four feet and most of the lines are end-stopped, without enjambment.