Blackberry-Picking Blackberry-Picking is a poem written by the great Seamus Heaney. The poem creates a contrast between Heaney’s perceptions of the world as a child to his new perception as he begins to grow up. Once again, similar to his other poems, he addresses the theme of childhood memories. The poem surrounds the constant use of different imageries and an irregular rhyme scheme to describe the feelings the writer endures while picking blackberries. The poem includes two stanzas that were filled with opposite contents, the first stanza being twice as long as the second.
This poem expresses frustration at the inability to fulfill one’s dreams. The eleven-line poem uses word play and symbolism to express an overwhelming sense of frustration. Using questions to guide the reader deeper into contemplation, Hughes uses symbolism and similes throughout the poem to present the reader with graphic images. Food symbolism appears more than once in the second stanza, symbolizing that dreams, like perishables, may be good at first but change when ignored, whether for better or worse. The symbolism of the raisin in line 3, drying in the sun, symbolizes the power of a dream, like the sweetness and flavor in a grape, condensing and becoming more concentrated.
Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills We trekked and picked until the cans were full Until the tinkling bottom had been covered With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's. We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre. But when the bath was filled we found a fur, A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache. The juice was stinking too.
From here, we can figure out that the Garden of love is a metaphor for a woman, or Blake’s character’s love. In the first stanza, Blake’s character demonstrates familiarity of the Garden when he says, “Where I used to play on the green.” The words “used to” and “play” explains that he probably knew the Garden in his younger years because many grown up men do not usually “play” anymore. The author wants readers to know this because this poem resembles how love hopes to be rediscovered. Blake’s character wants to believe that his love still holds a place for him, but in reality, everything that once was, has now vanished. Many problems prevent Blake’s character from reconnecting with his lover of the past.
When the speaker says, “Fifty springs are little too room”, (8) the writing gives a tone and a sense of hurriedness to the reader. “About the woodlands I go/To see the cherry hung with snow” (7-8). These two lines are parallel to the first stanza. The speaker is declaring that he will go both in the spring and in the winter. The fact that the speaker is seeing the cherry trees more often helps Housman’s idea that a person should see his/her favorite items more than once in the short amount of time left.
The short stories Paper Pills and Stockings share similar characteristics when it comes to how the author portrays coping with a loved one departing. Doctor Reefy of Paper Pills and Henry Dobbins from Stockings have symbolic items to remind themselves about their loved ones. In Paper Pills it is through the twisted apples and how Doctor Reefy is like a twisted apple, sweet on the inside by rough on the outside, and how thats how his wife saw him. In Stockings the stockings are symbolic to Henry Dobbins love for his ex-girlfriend while he was out at war. In both short stories the main characters are devastated by the depart of their loved ones, and have troubles coping with it.
Our chips are thinner than traditional potato chips because we want to add strong taste on the chips. When Baby Boomers open the bag, the strong taste can recall their sense of taste. Second, our chips combine some fruit tastes, such as orange, grape, strawberry, blueberry, and so on. The major tastes are sour and sweet. In one package, people can taste different fruits.
In Holden’s mind, the edge of the cliff metaphorically represents the perils of adulthood and the falling out of innocence. As the “catcher of the rye,” he could help prevent the loss of innocence by helping the children who are unaware of what adversity is usually associated with growing up. Holden first mentions the song lyric when he hears a young boy singing it in the street. Although Phoebe attempts to correct Holden by telling him that the lyrics are instead “if a
The pauses in the verse, “cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall” create an emphasis on the extreme value of these apples that have gone to waste. This passage is important to our understanding of the purpose of this man’s poem on apple-picking. We meet a man who knows that his life is coming to an end. Death is waiting for him right around the corner and he is uncertain as to “whether it’s a long
His dream seems to be of acceptance and freedom. In the novel, Crooks begins to ridicule Lennie about his plans on the farm. Although Crooks becomes bitter, he feels he is realising his dream of being accepted whilst talking to Lennie. However, just like all dreams, his are crushed too, when Curley’s wife enters the scene and reminds him ‘to keep [his] place, Nigger’. Through this, the composer enables the reader to understand how dreams usually do not come true and when they seem so close, they slip away.