Child And Insect

776 Words4 Pages
Child and Insect Tom O'Donnell "Child and Insect" is a poem that demonstrates many literary strategies. The poem is about a child who ‘captures’ a grasshopper on a sunny day in a meadow and is sad that he kills the grasshopper in his infant hands. The boy feels grief next as he cries to his mother, but the grasshopper is not dead. Yet as if by magic and with a flick, comes back to life. The poem draws attention and emphasizes key emotions that are expressed in the poem. The poet uses sensory imagery to convey the different aspects and characteristics of the poem. The structure of the poem is also key in uncovering the subject matter as it is broken into stanzas and helps describe the different emotions present and also a shift in tone of the speakeris seen. Thus, this essay will aim to discuss the effects of the imagery and the tone aspects of the poem “Child and Insect” . The poet takes use of extensive sensory imagery in the poem. Visual Imagery, Aural Imagery, Kinesthetic Imagery and Tactile Imagery are used in the poem. The use of this imagery helps the poet to create the atmosphere of ............... in the minds of the readers. ‘He cannot hold his hand huge enough’ - Tactile imagery ‘He races back, how quick he is - Kinesthetic Imagery look! to his mother‘ ‘its dead struts snapped - Visual Imagery even the brittle lidless eyes crushed into the tangle’ The use of imagery also helps to explain the mental state of the boy to the readers. For eg, you can see the boy running towards the mother ( kinesthetic imagery ) as he is sad that an innocent grasshopper has been killed by his own hands. The connotations of the words “cradle” and “cage” could also be seen. The state of happiness in the boy is seen as he takes the grasshopper in his hands but his cruel nature towards the insect is also seen. When the boy realizes that the
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