The poem includes two stanzas that were filled with opposite contents, the first stanza being twice as long as the second. It is settled in late august, in the season of autumn. Within the poem, the persona seems to be waiting all year, to finally get the pleasure of harvesting his blackberries but eventually he watches them rot, ending the excitement. The feeling of hope and excitement kicked off in stanza one. Heaney uses a tone of expectancy in the first two lines.
Through the visual imagery of “gathering rosebuds,” the rosebuds are a symbol for purity and innocence we can draw the conclusion that the speaker is telling the virgins they are innocent and pure, but soon they will bloom and that is when life should be lived to the fullest, for example by having sex, marrying and having a family. He continues the first stanza by personifying a flower with the ability to smile – the bloom, and he states, “And this same flower that smiles to-day/ To-morrow will be dying” (lines 3-4). From this statement, the reader
A feeling of desolation was presented here when Hurst implied that summer was born with great promise that eventually evanesced without being fulfilled. Another emotion stirred up by the two phrases was a slow passage of time that seemed to go on forever. This was revealed by seasons that had ended without the next one coming. When James Hurst wrote the starting paragraphs of his short stories, he added in death. "Graveyard flowers who spoke softly of the names of the dead," written in "The Scarlet Ibis," hinted that there was a nearby graveyard filled with deadly air.
The narrator than continues describes a tradition in Sicily, where planting of a tree represents the birth of a child, because the earth has "one more life to bear". The narrator claims that he would have followed this tradition. However instead he is in the cold on his knees planting the sequoia, the native tree of California. With the tree he plants a lock of hair and an infant's umbilical cord. Only now in the middle of the poem does the narrator express that he is burying his son and reconnecting him with the elements of nature.
“Planting a Sequoia” by Dana Gioia explores the struggle of a father coming to terms with the death of his new born child. Gioia uses the traditional narrative of the planting of a tree to represent the birth of a child and subverts this traditional Sicilian practice by rationalising the planting of a sequoia for his still born first son. Through the effective use of tone, imagery, setting and symbolism, the poet illuminates his thesis that life is transient, and this loss of a child is bearable because he believes the child will live on through the sequoia. As a symbol, the sequoia will break out of the limitations of the mortal realm, outliving the persona’s own family. At the beginning of the poem, the importance of the tree is shown when the persona, the father, portrays it to have human qualities, referring to it as ‘you’.
RL 320-51 Clara Baker Paper #1 October 13, 2013 Greatest Time of Year It’s the greatest time of year filled with laughter, and filled with cheer. Visions filled with presents lying beneath the tree, with our stockings hanging right above the fireplace. To commemorate this day of Chris we sing carols to keep his memories alive and to remember the importance of why He was born and the significance of why he died for us. Two of these important carols are “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, and “It Came upon a Midnight Clear”, both include apocryphal material to help add to the biblical account of Jesus Christ being born.
Have your friends ask the patient to sing Christmas carols about celebrating the birth of Christ and put a smile on their face. Urge your friends to sing Christmas carols at a hospital dressed as an angel. This is the nicest thing to do for someone in the hospital. Friends will feel an accomplishment of giving back by singing Christmas carols at the hospital. Persuading your friends to sing Christmas carols at the hospital is a rewarding experience for making someone’s day a little
Both have incorporated Pagan concepts but given them their own spin to make them more palatable to their followers. According to Buckland, (2006), Ostara, is a Pagans spring festival, celebrating the planting of seeds which, will grow into new life has similarity with Lent and Easter. Lent is a period of spiritual renewal; Ostara is the time to plant new seeds, which may be literal or spiritual “in nature.” Lent is by Easter: the death and resurrection of Jesus; Ostara is also about new life and
The word sleep is mentioned six times, each acquires more meaning. The tone leans towards the negative side and the timing is during winter, leaving the reader to feel a deeper meaning to sleep; death. Also, going back to the first 2 lines, “My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree/ toward heaven still,” can be taken as once the speaker dies this is the path he will lead – to heaven. Subsequent to apple-picking, the speaker becomes more aware of his physical and mental state and how his time to sleep or death is near. Through an experience and connection with nature, the speaker in “The Tuft of Flowers,” reaches understandings.
Regina DeSandro Daigle ENG 125 December 17, 2008 The poem “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” by Sir Walter Raleigh reflects a women’s view of love toward the shepherd. The poem is written with imagery and vivid speech to enable the reader to envision the outlook of love throughout life’s changes. The poem reflects the seasons of the world and the physical changes made during the changing of the seasons. Love is like a season, forever changing with happiness and sorrow. The poem is a response to the offering the shepherd made to the nymph is she agreed to be his lover.