The Minnesota winter is described by Dexter as “shut down like the white lid of a box.” Dexter’s dissatisfaction echoes this, as he yearns for the “glittering things” but is living amongst the plain. Dexter’s dreams, like the lid of a box, shut down and close. After learning of Judy’s marriage and realizing the charm and vitality he was so drawn to and inspired by is gone, his emotions vanish, and his dreams turn into memories. The green, open-spaced golf course days turn into cold, harsh, lonesome ones. Only winter can represent how Dexter’s life changed into a bitter loneliness.
The classic Gothic novel includes horror, the supernatural, and a dark and gloomy atmosphere. The Hound of the Baskervilles has all of the elements of a Gothic tale. The Hall, where Sir Henry is now traveling with Watson and Dr. Mortimer, is surrounded by the gloomy moors, and wild countryside with "brambles", and rushing streams. Watson is to stay with Sir Henry in case of danger. Autumn has come, and the leaves are falling.
The speaker shows the brutality of death. He shows that death eventually happens to every person and there is no escaping it. Through the use of metaphors, Frost communicates that all beauty eventually dies, and nothing with meaning will last. Frost further emphasizes the undesirable reality of death through the use of metaphors, and allusions. First, he compares the perfection of Eden to the reality of death.
The two deer seem to be frozen or caught off guard, while running through the forest. The dead and crumbling trees exposed in the painting figure glaringly in the concept of the brittleness of life and the inescapable onset of death. Their bizarre, winding branches also look to be the same as the deer’s antlers. In fact, most of the imagery in the painting, the movement of the clouds and sky, the trees, the setting sun, signifies the passage of time, and the change from life to death. Lastly, in his painting Falls of the Kaaterskill, the main feature of this painting is the waterfall.
Thoreau-Observation Paper Living through a harsh winter in Northwestern Ohio, one may find themselves enveloped in a grey cloud of depression and lethargy. Nature, however, has a gentle way of reminding us that life, and the emotions we experience during it, are on a continuously changing path. Just like the sleeping stillness of winter is eventually replaced with springtime’s bursting buds of colorful new life, so too are the dark times in our life exchanged with those of great hope and joy. By closely monitoring nature’s every changing seasons one can be reminded that like our state of mind and emotion, nothing lasts forever. Watching the frantic flurry of snowflakes falling forlornly onto the cold frozen ground, I wondered if the sun would ever shine again.
In Lying in the Hammock, numerous interpretations believe the author is representing that he has wasted his life. According to Franz Wright of the Constant Critic, the meaning that Wright was trying to convey is, “You must change your life as I have wasted my life” (Wright, Franz). A popular interpretation of Robert Frosts’ Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is that the author was contemplating death or suicide. According to Jeffery Meyers of Modern American Poetry the poem is implying a “subconscious desire for death in the dark, snowy, woods” (Meyers). In On His Blindness, many interpretations focus on the negative mood and resentful tone of the poem surrounding the author’s blindness.
The Narrator describes the mountain through Inman and his words. “Cold Mountain, all its ridges and coves and watercourses. Pigeon River, Little East Fork, Sorrell Cove, Deep Gap, Fire Scald Ridge. He knew their names and said them to himself like the words of spells and incantations to ward off the things one fears most.” (p.16). Inman is gazing at the mountain, knowing how dangerous his journey is about to become.
For example, Burden who earlier saw the warm, peaceful soil now sees a change in the weather: "After the sun sank, a cold wind sprang up and moaned over the prairie. If this turn in the weather had come sooner, I should not have got away. Antonia and I Watson 2 burrowed down in the straw and curled up close together, watching the angry red die out of the west" (76). Cather use weather to intensify the grief that Burden is feeling about the death of Pavel and his parents. Cather made the seasons the biggest connection with the life of Burden.
In the beginning of the story, Young Goodman Brown is leaving his wife Faith at sunset to go on a journey that cannot wait. The images of a sunset and of the approaching nighttime illustrate the fear of the unknown. Goodman Brown must travel through the darkness before he reaches the light of knowledge just as the prisoners in Allegory of the Cave must travel from the dark cave in order to reach the light. As the story continues, Hawthorne uses the image of a “dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest” to heighten the fear of the unknown. Goodman Brown has left the comfort of the cave of confusion and is beginning to discover the imperfections of the world and of its people.
The theme of violence is depicted by the menacing introduction to the poem as we open at the funeral of a murderous gangster. This is shown by “the clouds piled up, dragged their rain through the cemetery”. This creates a bleak and sinister atmosphere which echoes the events taking place. By using personification, it’s as if the clouds are alive and manifesting this sombre mood. Immediately this sets the tone for the violence later in the poem.