This is riddle and the witches speak in riddles and paradoxes as they are mysterious beings of the universe. In the very opening of the play the witches appear in storm and rain and plan to have the rendezvous with Macbeth. As the three witches leave, they chant a witchly chant: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair: / Hover through the fog and filthy air" (1.1.11-12). As creatures of the night and the devil, they like whatever is "foul" and hate the "fair." So they will "hover" in the fog, and in the dust and dirt of battle, waiting for the chance to do evil.
Some of the imagery that truly appeals to the reader’s senses are the references to the stars, light and dark, and heaven and hell. In this play the stars represent the vast unknown and the heavens. When Romeo hears of Juliet’s passing he says, “Is it even so? then I defy you, stars!” (Act V, Scene 1, Line 24). Romeo is saying that he cannot believe in a God if they could take his beautiful wife from him.
Highwayman assessment At the beginning of the poem, the mood is gloomy, mysterious and incomprehensible. The poet creates this by using metaphors such as, ‘the wind was a torrent of darkness’ and ‘the moon was a ghostly galleon. The poet describes colour when he says, ‘a coat of the claret velvet’ and he also describes colour when he says, ‘breeches of brown doe skin’. The poet uses repetition when he says, ‘The Highwayman came riding-riding-riding- The Highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.’ This has an effect on the reader as it emphasises the movement of the highwayman. This affects the reader as it adds to the tension.
This alone is an example of pathetic fallacy because the uproarious and aggressive weather can be seen as a representation of the nature of the characters in the novel (such as Heathcliff or Hindley Earnshaw). The title therefore gives an isight into the workings of the characters the readers will soon get to know. As well as the title itself, there are examples of pathetic fallacy amongst the novel such as in Chapter 9 when Heathcliff overhears Cathy telling Nelly how she could never marry Heathcliff as it would “degrade” her. At this moment a powerful storm breaks out as he leaves Wuthering Heights; “About midnight, while we still sat up, the storm came rattling over the Heights in full fury. There was a violent wind, as well as thunder, and either one or other split a tree off at the corner of the building; a huge bough fell across the roof, and knocked down a portion of the east chimney-stack, sending a clatter of stones and soot into the kitchen fire.” In this passage the “violent wind” clearly represents the anger and hatred he feels towards not only Cathy for saying that she could never marry him but also towards Wuthering Heights.
In the opening paragraphs of Joan Didion’s essay, “Los Angeles Notebook,” Didion describes the occasional night in Los Angeles when a Santa Ana wind begins to blow and the “unnatural stillness” preceding such a wind seems to ominously and uneasily hang in the air. Didion claims everybody knows it is coming and demonstrates some concrete examples of the behaviors of individual natives of Los Angeles around such a time. The scenarios she presents bring a humoristic perspective to such an outlandish topic. It is through her tone here and throughout the rest of this passage, along with the diction and imagery she chooses that Didion cleverly relates to her reader a spirited, sprightly narration and history of the wind associated with the Los Angeles area and the effect it has on its indigenous Los Angeles people while entertaining and informing him or her. As mentioned in the opening paragraph, Didion’s examples of people’s behavior around the time of this wind cycle help set a humorous, sarcastic, and playful tone to this selection.
Near the start of the story this idea of weather setting the mood becomes present when Macbeth and Banquo meet with the witches. As the pair enters, Macbeth says, "So foul and fair a day I have not seen" (Act 1, Scene 3, Line 39). Here Macbeth gives the reader an idea of the setting and the feeling of where they are and what is going on. This clearly shows the day to be dim and dreary, which gives a level of suspense as well. The day being dim and dreary is suspenseful because the reader doesn’t know why the day is in such a state.
This is done through a variety of techniques but the most effective is the visual imagery Bronte creates through the vivid descriptions of Heathcliff. References to Heathcliff such as “child of the storm” and the “imp of Satan” create allusions of deep horror and terror for the reader. From looking at the noun ‘storm’ to describe Heathcliff’s place of origin there is a strong sense that Bronte is using pathetic fallacy to both fore shadow the terror to occur at Wuthering Heights and also the destructive nature of Heathcliff. A storm is a destructive type of weather which has connotations of being cold and wet which is a trope of gothic literature used to display terrifying events. This is evident in Shelley’s Frankenstein where she uses the description of a “dreary night” when horrifying events are about to occur.
In this villanelle, Plath has used three poetic techniques including personification, symbols and opposites. Sylvia Plath has mainly used depression and suicide as a theme throughout the poem probably because she has had past experiences and wanted readers to feel what she has gone through. Sylvia Plath has used personification quite a number of times. In the first line of the second stanza, she describes ‘ The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,’ and in the following line, she writes, ‘And arbitrary darkness gallops in:’. They are used to describe how quickly the stars are leaving her without thinking twice and all that is left is darkness and sadness.
11th December 1620 Dear Diary: Though the sky be but dreary and grey, on this day the eleventh of December, I, Victoria Ellison, write thou still. One could hope for more pleasurable conditions to constitute such a memoir as this, but it is with importunity that I tell thou what last night I espied and withal fortook; in my days never have I felt such aversion nor beheld such execration as I did while I partook in some unauthorized strolling that night. The skies of overcast mirror my soul; the horror and frightfulness that I escaped with such haste by the providence of God, for last night I witnessed the savage Indians engaging in a murderous rendezvous with English, unknowing of such aforementioned evil, a fight even David would have
Most would say the title “Acquainted with the Night” deals with the darkness and light. The light being the moon or clock as some see it, the reader can take this as no matter how dark it is there is always some form of light like a symbol of hope. The depth of the moon’s light is also a symbol for how nature trumps humans and their materialistic ways. The speaker is in fact acquainted with the night, but that does not mean he enjoys the night; it appears to be a very somber and depressing time for him. When the speaker says, “I have out walked the furthest city light” (line 3), it can be seen as the distance he has walked is a metaphor for his loneliness and depression.