The shadows
In the poem "The Cloud Confines’’ the narrator describes a man, walking through the mountains and looking at the shadows cast by those mountains. This man feels the urge to go and explore the shadows and to find what those shadows hide. The shadows are used in this poem as a symbol, suggesting the various questions which humanity wants and answer to but which, despite their best efforts, remain a mystery.
Symbol for death
In the poem "Aspecta Medusa for a Drawing’’, the narrator recalls briefly the story of Medusa and of her incredible powers which continued to affect humanity even after she died. Many became interested in knowing her secret and also seeing her decapitated head but were too afraid when faced with the consequences. The head mentioned here is used as a symbol for death and the narrator uses it to transmit the idea that humanity, even though is afraid of the prospect of death, still is fascinated by it.
The pasture
The poem "The House of Life: 19. Silent Moon’’ starts with a description of a person lying in a pasture, staring at the sky. The person described here is perfectly content to just stay in the grass and do nothing, letting the sun above shine. The feelings of happiness which continue to be described in the poem are always linked with the pasture where the character is situated and because of this, the pasture becomes used here as a symbol for happiness.
Symbol for love
In the poem "Life-in-Love’’ the narrator mentions fire a couple of times in the two stanzas of the poem. It becomes clear soon enough that the term fire is used in this poem as a symbol, more specifically as a symbol for love. Through this symbol, the narrator wants to transmit just how destructive love can be and also how it is indispensable to human life.
Nighttime as the perfect time for reflection
One of the common motifs found in most of the sonnets is the presence of the nighttime and the association between nighttime and reflection. The perfect time for a person to think about his or her life and to take important decisions is presented as being time and time again the night time. We find this motif in the poems ‘’Insomnia’’, ‘’Love’s Nocturn’’, ‘’My Sister’s Sleep’’ and many others poems.
