Confluents

Question 1

Confluents: Analysis of the title

Answer 1

Confluents = mingling of 2 bodies of water

Metaphor for the spiritual merging that CR craves = ultimate unity with God

Question 2

Confluents: Extended metaphor of the merging of water/symbiosis in nature

Answer 2

• ‘As the rivers seek the sea, much more deep than they’
• ‘As the delicate rose to the sweet suns strength…’
• ‘As morning dew exhales..’
• ‘dewdrops find a way’

Gradual minimising of the water metaphor reflects the inextricable link of all aspects of nature to eachother = cyclical state of life. On an ecotheological level reflects how even the most ‘insignificant’ people on earth are able to assimilate and merge with God = we all form one large body = spiritual community.

Question 3

Confluents: ‘As rivers seek the sea/Much more deep than they/So my soul seeks thee…’

Answer 3

Personification of the river = desperate longing.
Comparative images of the diminutive ‘Rivers’ = small, insignificant & the expansive ‘sea’ = metaphor for the search for a deeper spiritual comfort than the shallow comforts earth provides.

• The phrase “my soul seeks” implies a deep, intrinsic desire that goes beyond mere physical or emotional needs. It suggests a yearning that originates from the very essence of one’s being. The sibilance of such illustrates the agonising search for this spiritual fulfilment.

Question 4

Confluents: ‘delicate rose/to the sweet suns strength…unveiled utterly’

Answer 4

• Fragile image of ‘delicate rose’: fragility of love and weakness which is renewed by the sun - symbiotic relationship established (sibilance creates a soothing sound).
• Evokes vulnerability and weakness in exposing themselves. The “sun” may represent gods light and eternity and hence the rose “doth herself unclosed” for the might of god: willingness for god and seeking nature.

Question 5

Confluents: Structure

Answer 5

Each stanza ends in a rhyming quartet i.e.:
‘as running rivers moan/on their course alone, So I moan/Left alone.’ = paring back by the end of the stanzas, ending on catalectic lines reinforces teh depressing tone of teh poem as the graphical isolation of the catalectic lines reflects the plaintive cry of the solitary figure for unity with God as they feel wholly isolated in earthly existence.