Imagery of the bird in Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare uses numerous images of birds throughout Romeo and Juliet. Most often, these birds are associated with lovers. From common crows to elegant swans, from doves to falcons, from nightingales to larks, specific and general birds play an important role in defining the relationships between lovers. Characters refer to others and to themselves with bird imagery, and the appearance (or songs) of actual birds highlights moments of significance in this play. By using multiple images of birds, Shakespeare conveys much more about his characters than might originally meet the eye.
Hwawon Bae AP English 3 – 2nd period 12/10/09 IWA #2 Mary Oliver is a poet who is an “indefatigable guide to the natural world.” “Owls” shows us Oliver’s detailed perspective and emotional feeling on the big eyed, flying creatures; her love and respect towards them. Oliver’s style in writing conveys the complexity of her response to nature. Mary Oliver greatly exaggerates reverence to owls. Although they are simply animals, birds to be more specific, she refers to them like they are gods and very elevated. Oliver uses words like glory and delicate to show her thoughts on the owl.
The "Odyssey" by Homer portrays tones of toxic desiring, while Margaret Atwood's poem, Siren Song" has tones of taunting boredom. Odysseus longs to hear the song of the Sirens even though he knows it would be detrimental to his life. In "Siren Song" the birds are teasing the reader about the meaning of their song that is not all that interesting to them. The point of view in both of these poems is first person. The "Odyssey" is told from the perspective of Odysseus, who is affected by the song of the sirens, while "Siren Song" is told from the eyes of one of the siren birds.
All these words reflect lightheartedness, joy and a vibrant atmosphere. Immidiately however the second stanza begins with a transitional word- 'But' and an introduction to the 'caged bird'.Here certain words seem to jump out at the reader like 'bars', 'rage', 'cage' and 'stalk'- they reflect anger and resentment which ... bird 'dares' to claim the sky, something untangeable and limitless, and when this bird is trying to conquer the entire sky we feel empathy for the bird that cannot see through his bars of rage, let alone 'dare to claim the sky'. Reading further, we see that the caged bird has wings that are 'clipped' and feet that are 'tied'; its way to gain flight is cut, and its way to move is fastened. and the only device left to the caged bird with which it can truly express himself is through his voice. His voice is very heartfelt as it comes, not from his mouth but from his throat.
Birds have always had a significant meaning in many cultures and in many ways. They are used to symbolize purity, evil, immortality, and beauty. Kahled Hosseini uses many birds to symbolize the life of Miriam, in “A Thousand Splendid Suns”. Miriam’s actions and desires reflect themselves in the birds that Hosseini strategically places throughout the book. He uses a mockingbird’s freedom, the banning of parakeets, and a simple crow to show that something seemingly so innocent and basic, can have a deeper, more complex meaning behind it.
John James Audubon and Annie Dillard both wrote short passages describing large flocks of birds using vivid imagery and descriptive diction to convey the effect that the flocks had on them as an observer. Both passages have an awed and laudatory tone since the writers seem to be enchanted by the beauty o the birds. While Audubon gives a literal description of what he saw, Dillard describes the birds through the extensive use of figurative language. The descriptive diction in both passages serves to give the reader a mental image of what the writer saw as the birds flew by. Audubon uses phrases like “countless multitudes” and “immense legions” to describe the large amount of birds that he watched fill the sky.
Hosseini uses many birds as examples in “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” but one bird significantly stood out. “Outside, mockingbirds were singing blithely, and, once in a while, when the songsters took flight, Mariam could see their wings catching the phosphorescent blue moonlight beaming through the clouds,” (Hosseini 244). A mockingbird stands out in this one particular part of the book because it symbolizes the one thing that Mariam wants more than anything, freedom. The mockingbird is a bird that does what its name says, it mocks other birds. In this scene, Mariam observes the bird as it copies other sounds and flies into the
To his coy mistress To His Coy Mistress also links in with Petrarchan love, the poem makes a lot of reference to time and talks about if there was enough time he would do different things with her, he lists a lot of time frames such as, ‘I would love you ten years before the flood’, this refers to the biblical story of Noahs Ark and the flood. Another interesting quotation in the poem is ‘And you should if you please, refuse till the conversion of the Jews’ this shows that the poet is referring to the poem as he will love her until the Jews convert to Christians but they will never do this so he is using it as a way of saying he will love her forever. Comparing this poem with romeo and Juliet, romeo is desperately
Petrarchan poetry happens to contain a lot of metaphors that equate the pursuit of love with hunting and/or battle. In this passage, Romeo says that Rosaline is well "arm'd" against the "siege" of his love and "Cupid's arrow," which is
These perceptions are presented in Tennessee Williams critically acclaimed play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ (1947) and the award winning short story ‘Stolen Car’ by Archie Weller (1978). In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ (1947) the author Williams introduces the character Blanche Dubois and describes her as being ‘fragile like a moth’ this juxtaposes the character Stanley Kowalski who is described as ‘… pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens…’ The composer has constructed the play to have a fragile creature next to a rooster who would metaphorically eat it. Blanche is living in a world that doesn’t really exist anymore, and Williams positions us to feel sorry that her ideals are hopelessly out of date. It’s ironic that she urges her sister to move forward and progress with the world-rather than “hang back with the brutes”-when it is Blanche who is unable to move into the new world. The tension between these two main characters reaches the point when Stanley violates Blanche in a horrific way- by raping her.