To The Moon By PB Shelley Summary & Exercise
Critical Appreciation & Exercise of 'To The Moon'
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was one of the greatest second-generation Romantic poets, along with John Keats and Lord Byron. Shelley's poem 'To the Moon' is a short lyric in which the poet, addressing the moon in the night sky, poses several questions to it
Critical Appreciation Of 'To The Moon':
"To The Moon" is a very short and interesting poem. It is one sentence poem that describes the moon in detail. The moon is the symbol of the Mother Goddess and it is believed that she imparts (बाँड्छ) the peace and prosperity (सम्बृद्दी) to the people of the world. But the poem evaluates the moon from different angles (कोण). He finds the moon joyless that does not find anything constant on the earth. The moon has her own course and she is always in motion. She is alone in the sky amongst the stars which are not the moons. The moon is changing like the joyless eyes that find no constant object. Everything in this universe is inconstant and is a separate entity. Every one, though among friends, is alone and wandering here and there and of course is in quest of constancy.
The moon is personified (व्यक्तिकरण गरिएको) in this poem. He finds that the moon is not energetic (फुर्तिलो) but pale due to the weariness of climbing up the heaven and looking down the earth continuously. The journey of the moon is endless and it is certain that it is a repetitive journey and there is no progress or forward movement. On the other hand, the moon has the pang (पिडा) of being changed continuously. The moon is alone in the sky because the stars are of low origin, nobility and birth. Nothing equals the moon in the sky. She is noble and elegantly (भव्यरुपले) born but she is also not perfect. She is in quest of constancy.
'TO THE MOON' By PB Shelley
P.B. Shelley is a famous romantic poet. He has written many brilliant lyrical poems and dramas. He was an atheist in religion and gave several speeches on the repeal (खण्डन) of the union and Catholic emancipation. He refused to concretize his experiences, feelings and intuitions (अन्तर्ज्ञान) into religious doctrine. The poet in his poem "To The Moon" describes the joyless moon which does not find anything constant in this world. It is always changing. Therefore it seems to be in quest of constancy.
Exercise
Word Meanings
Translated Summary Of 'To The Moon' In Nepali)
हे चन्द्रमा स्वर्ग तर्फ चढ्दा र धर्तितिर हेरि रहँदा थाकेर पहेँलो भएको होस्? विभिन्न जन्म र स्थान भएका ताराहरुको बीचमा सदा परिवर्तन भइ रहने, खुशी विहिन आँखा जसले स्थिरताको लागि कुनै वस्तु पाउँदैन जस्तै एक्लै भौतारिरहेको।
To the Moon by Percy Bysshe Shelley
To The Moon is a poem that Shelley has addressed to the moon. The moon shining in the sky has always been a mystery to human beings who have been speculating upon her nature. Although with man’s landing on the moon investigations into the history and nature of the moon have already yielded valuable results. The ancient Greeks personified the moon as a goddess who, according to the story, fell in love with a mortal, Endymion.
To The Moon Analysis
Art thou pale for weariness
Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless
Among the stars that have a different birth, –
And ever-changing, like a joyless eye
That finds no object worth its constancy?
In the poem, To the Moon, by P.B. Shelley, the poet says that the moon is pale. Why? Perhaps the moon is pale because of fatigue. She has to climb up the sky every night and she has to remain awake all night and to gaze all the time at the earth.
All this exertion is too much for her. Again, the moon has to travel all along among the stars with which she has nothing in common. The origin and nature of the stars are quite different from those of the moon and, therefore, the moon feels lonely and solitary among them. The moon is constantly changing in shape and size. The moon is never the same even on two consecutive nights.
This change is due to the fact that the moon cannot find anyone who she can love faithfully. Just as a man’s eyes may be restless because he cannot find a beloved she cannot find anybody worthy of her devotion and love. The change of the moon is thus due to her restlessness.
Summary
The poet thinks that the moon is pale because she is tired of constantly traveling over the sky and always gazing upon the earth. The moon has to wander among stars which are different from her in nature and origin. She is thus without a companion or a comrade. There is also, according to the poet, a reason for the ever-changing shape of the moon. The moon keeps growing bigger and then becoming smaller because she finds no object worthy of her constancy.
Critical Appreciation
This is a brief composition addressed to the moon. Its most striking quality is the poet’s imaginative rendering of a natural phenomenon. Science has its own explanation for the changing phases of the moon and her journeying round and round the earth. But the poet here gives fanciful reasons for the paleness of the moon and of her ever-changing shape. There is a difference between the facts of science and the fancies of poetry.
The poem shows also Shelley’s gift of word paining. He has vividly drawn the picture of the moon climbing the sky companionless and ever-changing in her shape and size. The comparison of the pale moon with the joyless eye of a human being is strikingly apt.
In “The Cloud”, Shelley refers to the moon as “that orbed maiden with white fire laden,” and depicts this maiden as gliding over the “fleece-like floor” of the cloud. This is certainly a beautiful fancy. Another beautiful fancy about the moon is expressed by Shelley in a very brief composition (named “The Waning Moon”) which reads as follows:
And like a dying lady, lean and pale,
Who totters forth, wrapp’d in a gauzy veil,
Out of her chamber, led by the insane
And feeble wanderings of her fading brain,
The moon arose up in the murky East,
A white and shapeless mass.
Question-Answers Of 'To The Moon':
1. What is the poem about?
Ans: The poem is about the inconsistent (अस्थिर) nature of the moon. The poet describes the endless journey of the moon, that is, all alone in the sky.
2. Why do the stars have different birth?
Ans: The poet is distinguishing between the moon and the stars. The moon has a different origin than that of the stars. The stars are the masses having their own light and constant position but the moon revolves around the sun. So, the moon is in constant mass and does not have a light of her own.
3. Who is seeking constancy? Is the moon constant? Is anything else constant?
Ans: The moon is inconstant mass and is seeking constancy. The shape and size of the moon are changing. Actually, nothing is constant in the universe. Everything is changing perhaps seeking constancy.
4: Write five similes comparing the moon to something else each time.
Answer: The moon is like a lonely person. The moon is calm like a sombre (अन्धकार) evening. The moon is loving like a newly born baby. The moon is tired as the ploughman. The moon is beautiful like a rosebud.
5: Is "like a joyless eye" an apt simile? Explain.
Answer: The waxing and waning of the moon are compared here with the joyless eyes of any beholder (दर्शक). Our eyes always go for something beautiful. Like the unsatisfied and therefore joyless eyes, the moon also seems to be changing its phase. The extreme beauty does not last forever and our eyes go on shifting from one object to the other. Similarly, the moon also is not satisfied with her changing state and is seeking constancy.