Task Two:

Personification is used to portray the sun in two different tones, which highlights the shift in tone between the first and second stanzas of Futility. In the first stanza, ‘the kind old sun’ is shown to be gentle, as shown by the line ‘Gently its touch awoke him once’. The term ‘gently’ has connotations of compassion and tranquillity. However, in the second stanza the tone switches sharply, and the sun is described as a ‘cold star’, an oxymoron. This emphasises the change in tone of the poem, as the theme changes from hope to despair. Also, the sunbeams are described as ‘fatuous’, which is in direct contrast with the description of the sun as ‘the kind old sun’.

Task Three:

Nature and death are presented alongside each other in the poem because connotations of nature can be manipulated throughout a text, allowing the poet to implement a change in tone between stanzas. In the opening stanza, the nature imagery represents hope and life, but as the tone alters in the following stanza, the imagery seems to emphasise the meaninglessness, or futility, of life and the lack of effect we have during life.