George Meridith's Lucifer In Starlight

3 Pages 832 Words

GEORGE MEREDITH (1828-1909)
"Lucifer in Starlight”

When one thinks of Lucifer, they usually envision a large red monster with a tail, breathing fire out of his nose; however, when one is asked what kind of personality Lucifer has, many different ideas come to thought. Some may say he is wicked. Others may say he is jealous. In the sonnet, “Lucifer in Starlight,” he is described differently. Throughout the sonnet the author uses a structure that is based on the order of primacy, an Italian rhyme pattern, and an undefined meter. He also uses artistic diction to create images, symbols, and a plot theme to help the audience better understand the meaning of his story. In fact, Meredith goes so far to describe the personality of Satan.
In many sonnets, authors wrote about love, a feeling, or a place. Meredith took All those ideas farther and created a sonnet based on an event. The structure of the story, is based upon a method I call primacy. This means that what happened first is described first. It is just like telling a bedtime story. One would never tell a young child what happened last before telling him or her what happened first. Meredith did this to capture the interest of the audience. The readers already know that Satan will fail in all his attempts to destroy God, but the story beforehand creates suspense and curiosity. The rhyme pattern begins as an octave, “ABBAABBA,” form, but by the ninth line changes into a sestet, “CDCEED,” form. This was typical of the Italian sonnets; however, Meredith was English. When I first read the sonnet, the thing that caught my eye was the meter, or the lack there of. It seemed to me that he decided the story was more important than the meter or flow of the sonnet.
This sonnet was written to describe Satan’s evil effort against God, and his inability to win. To analyze the sonnet, one must understand the context, or environment, of the situation. Mere...