Great Regulars: The speaker understands that the "only thing"

she possesses is herself--or her self, with "self" meaning "soul." She retains the power to "use or waste," "to keep or give" this only possession, and she retains this power always, "every day I live." Even "despite Time's winnowing," she retains this soul power. As the days, nights, and seasons pass, bringing their own special natural qualities, she remains aloof with the power of her own soul.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Christina Rossetti's The Thread of Life

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The lightning knows the "eye cannot speak," plus reasons are just not necessary when events so intimately coalesce.

Still, the speaker is aware that the human mind want reasons for everything, and it wants to talk about things that are ineffable despite the fact that such cannot be "contained--/--Of Talk." The mind is of the ilk of "Daintier Folk," whose less subtle mentality needs everything spelled out in verbiage.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Dickinson's "'Why do I love' you, Sir?"

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In the first quatrain of sonnet 103, the speaker exclaims with great enthusiasm that despite the Muse's value, nay even though her submissions be likened to "poverty," and her pride displayed, the true sonnet with its "argument, all bare" projects it own great worth.

Even with the speaker's "added praise," the honesty of a brilliant sonnet will shine forth.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 103

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The speaker then emphasizes again that the poem is three years old: three springs have turned into "yellow autumn," and the fragrance of "three April[s]" has been incinerated by "three hot Junes." But unlike the seasons that are swallowed up by other seasons, the freshness and "green" of the poem remain.

The speaker, as the reader has seen, remains obsessed with the aging process and dismayed that the human body undergoes decay and decrepitude; for this reason, the poet/speaker remains so enamored with his poems that do not undergo the human frailty of change.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 104

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However, the elder monk, through age and experience, has learned something that the young monks have yet to comprehend. He used to feel the way they do: "But now, beyond the things of sense,/Beyond occasions and events,/I know, through God's exceeding grace,/Release from form and time and space." Through the monastic discipline he has followed over the years, he has come to realize the Christ-Consciousness within his own soul.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Whittier's The Mystic's Christmas

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He asserts rhetorically through his question that no power could exert itself sufficiently to "blind" him to his "most grievous loss."

He then avers that having that thought of the fact that his beloved had died brought "the worst pang that sorrow ever bore." However, he then qualities that claim by stating that there was one--"one only"--other occasion when he had suffered such a grief.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Wordsworth's "Surprised by Joy"

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The speaker addresses his listener by asserting that the old year is gone, and the New Year is beginning. The old year had its "sorrow and laughter," and the New Year promises encouragement and hope, and its "song-voice" graces the senses with the command, "Refashion life ideally!"

The sentiment is universally grasped with many folks making New Year's resolutions.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Yogananda's "The Garden of the New Year"

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