Poem Analysis of "Take Beauty" by Alexandra Brown

Essay by iamthejerryHigh School, 10th gradeA, November 2007

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The splendor of nature is captured in Audrey Alexandra Brown's lyric poem, "Take Beauty". She conveys a striking message that as humans, we must learn to seek, experience, and appreciate the beauty in nature. Optimism is the answer to our predicaments: "Take Beauty for your bread; when the soul is weak for want of being fed". The 'soul' is personified as needing to be 'fed' when it is 'weak'. 'Fed' means enlightened with beauty while 'the soul is weak' signifies one feeling dejected or disheartened perhaps because it has not been 'fed'. Brown believes that in order to be happy, one must learn to look for beauty in times of trouble. She instructs us to go into the wild in order to truly experience the splendor of life: "Gather your strength and go where there is none to guard". We start to become aware of the beauty surrounding us when we let our guards down and free ourselves.

Many people nowadays are too consumed with their lives to pause and encounter the magnificence of the world. In the succeeding stanzas, Brown's words impart striking imagery: "through meadows many-starred with whiter flowers than snow". She paints the flowers as being whiter 'than snow'. This indicates how pure these flowers are. Furthermore, the 'meadows many-starred with whiter flowers' signify that nature is flowing with beauty. Lastly, through the use of metaphor, Brown encourages us to focus on the God-given aspects of this world rather than what humanity has created: "Look to the sea's ellipse on whose celestial glass pass and again repass the slant sails of the ships". The vast ocean is compared to a 'celestial glass', meaning that it is heavenly. In addition, the water is what 'pass and repass the slant sails of the ships'.