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.
Keats’ poem is one extensive run-on sentence that truly “runs” across the page. It entails a great deal of information in a very short work. Because lines are jammed into one another, the reader is given a sense of abruptness. The lack of punctuation at the end of each line causes the poem to emanate a rushed, nervous and hurried tone. The narrator explains in the first line that he “may cease to be” and rushes to include he is afraid to die “before [his] pen has glean’d [his] teeming brain”.
The Haunter Imaginatively, and most pathetically, Hardy writes this plaintive and moving poem from the point of view of Emma. It is written in the first person, with her as the imaginary narrator. It is almost as if, in putting these words in the mouth of Emma (who, in the poem, sees Hardy as oblivious of her presence) Hardy is trying to reassure himself that she forgives him and continues to love him. Detailed commentary Though Hardy does not know it, Emma's phantom follows him in his meanderings, hearing, but unable to respond to, the remarks he addresses to her in his grief. When Emma was able to answer Hardy did not address her so frankly; when she expressed a wish to accompany him Hardy would become reluctant to go anywhere - but now he does wish she were with him.
I’m intrigued by this poem’s subject matter but annoyed by the poet’s incessant use of fragments. This eight-stanza poem begins with its briefest verse paragraph, a single sentence about the speaker’s father. The repetition of monosyllabic words in the second line, coupled with author’s use of alliteration, creates a sing-song rhythm that establishes a happy tone which the rest of the poem adheres to. Though the poem is framed by a somewhat negative image—that of the childhood Shihab failing in a spelling bee and apparently obsessing over it for the rest of her life—this work is decidedly celebratory. One can imagine the poet given her father credit for her ability as a writer, as “star[ing],” or close examination, is a requisite skill for any good scribe.
This formation works particularly well for “Oh, think not I am faithful to a vow!” because she presents her problem in the first eight lines by giving two examples back to back of reasons that would cause her to leave. Since the first eight lines all connect a central idea they would not work as well if they formed two quatrains. The sestet is formed beginning with “But” in line nine. The last six lines resolve the problem by the (4+2) method, because lines nine through twelve answer the problem and then the heroic couplet accentuates the resolution in elevated diction. [10 points] The poem, however, deviates from the standard structure of the Shakespearean sonnet in the following ways.
Yet, the use of the simile “caught the 414 bus/ like a foreign tourist” undercuts any sense of comfort and creates a sense of alienation in this setting good! Again, Skryxnecki uses the structure of the poem for emphasis, positioning the adjective at the beginning of the next line foregrounds the persona's sense of confusion, “Uncertain of my destination/ Everytime I got off”. Here, the enjambment allows the emphasis to fall heavily on “everytime” highlighting that this was not an irregular
In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses images of sleep to show the guilt of Macbeth's and Lady Macbeth's conscious. They no longer have the natural healthy, normal sleep. Their sleep is made up of nightmares and other disturbances. Macbeth obsesses over whether or not he will be able to sleep even before he kills King Duncan, because sleep is something that he knows he will need in order to feel peaceful and well-rested. "Nature seems dead and wicked dreams abuse/ The curtained sleep."
“Old Man” clearly explores in paradoxes the problem of identity, as well as a feeling that we are cut off from our past and our future. The presentation of memory in the poem is directly linked to this idea of having a problem with identity. This is not necessarily the plant that is suffering from an identity issue, yet it may even be Edward Thomas who is suffering in “memory.” The first stanza develops a theme of naming. The plant with strange names is remembered fondly, we feel, by one who ‘knows it well’ – the phrase suggests a familiarity and wealth of memory associations, an idea challenged later in the poem. Here, however, the gentle internal rhymes, ‘tree’, ‘rosemary’, ‘thing’, ‘clings’, suggest a conversational, fond reminiscence.
In "A Barred Owl", the speaker uses words like "domesticate" when discussing terror, to bring the happenings of the poem closer to the reader's idea of home. Wilbur's writing is much more grotesque and uncut than Collins', in that his diction emphasizes phrases like, "eaten raw" (12), and "her darkened room" (2). In contrast, the diction in "The History Teacher" is centered around innocence and hope, creating a sense of security in the history teacher's lies. "took place in a garden" (11), and "white picket fences" (18), emphasize the speaker's sense of homely-ness and hope in
The irony of this passage is meant to capture the reader’s sensitive side by contrasting the dark and depressing situation at hand with Hazel’s mellow speech at Augustus’s funeral. Green uses an extended metaphor in this quotation while describing Hazel’s eulogy. This metaphor is comparing the infinite possibilities between each number and the amount of small moments that added up to August and Hazel’s everlasting love story. The author’s irony used in this passage gives the reader a sense of Hazel’s relaxed attitude. This is meant to stir up emotions in the reader because in comparison to what is actually happening, Hazel is so composed which makes the entire passage sadder.