T.S. Eliot portrays Prufrock’s alienation and depression by using metaphors. The use of metaphors enhances the readers’ thoughts about Prufrock’s character. The reader begins to understand Prufrock as sad and lonely. In the poem Eliot writes, “I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas.” This metaphor is a depiction of Prufrock and how he wished he was a crab who lived on the bottom of the ocean.
These words soft pity in the chief inspire, Touch’d with the dear remembrance of his sire. Then with his hand (as prostrate still he lay) The old man’s cheek he gently turn’d away. Now each by turns indulged the gush of woe; And now the mingled tides together flow: This low on earth, that gently bending o’er, A father one, and one a son deplore: But great Achilles different passions rend, And now his sire he mourns, and now his friend. Th’ infectious softness through the heroes ran; One universal solemn shower began; They bore as heroes, but they felt as man. XXIV.
In S.T Coleridge’s poem, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1798), the mariner finally finds peace and reconciliation after his long and tormented journey. Although the Albatross is a Christian symbol of hope, it is also a symbol of guilt to the mariner. The mariner suffers anguish and pain as the Albatross hangs on his neck, plunging him into hell. From this point, the mariner begins to realise the act that he committed was extremely terrible. The imagery created through the use of anaphoric assonance, “Alone, alone, all, all, alone, alone in a wide, wide sea” with “nothing but agony” shows the anguish and pain of complete isolation.
It also links to nature, this helps the reader to create a clearer image of the Mariner as for so long has be been at sea with deprived of social norms he has almost become part of nature. Coleridge refers to nature once more but this time it is to emphasise the Mariner’s repent. “A thousand thousand slimy things lived on” shows the Mariner’s hatred towards nature as he is angry that such unsightliness can go on living yet ‘The many men, so beautiful’ were dead, it is also one of many juxtapositions which is Coleridge uses throughout the poem. Although we are convinced that the Mariner is full of guilt and sorrow, the remark towards the ‘slimy things’ could be interpreted that he is almost trying to pass his guilt or blame onto them as it appears as if the Mariner is implying it is selfish of the ‘slimy things’ to live while such beauty has come to such an abrupt end. On a larger theme, the ‘Slimy things’ are used in the poem to represent all that is bad in the world.
Explore the ways Coleridge tells his story in Part 3 of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” In Part 3, the poem becomes more fantastical as the spiritual world continues to punish the Ancient Mariner and his fellow sailors. Although later in the poem Coleridge reveals that a specific spirit is responsible for their demise, it seems as though the spiritual world as a whole is punishing the men, using the natural world as its weapon: the wind refuses to blow, the ocean churns with dreadful creatures, and the sun's relentless heat chars the men. The ghost ship, however, is separate from the natural world - it sails without wind, and its inhabitants are spirits. Death and Life-in-Death are allegorical figures who become frighteningly real for the sailors, especially the Ancient Mariner, whose soul Life-in-Death "wins", thereby dooming him to a fate worse than death. Even those sailors whose souls go to hell seem freer than the Ancient Mariner; while their souls fly unencumbered out of their bodies, he is destined to be trapped in his indefinitely - a living hell.
As we follow the narrator’s fast decent into madness and loneliness, he keeps mentioning how heartless he realizes now that his lover is gone. “So that now it is so still I feel the beating of my heart”(“The Raven”464). This starts the beginning of the narrator’s decent into madness. He realizes the room that once was filled with love, has become a dark and silent room.
But when its touches down on earth, it walks awkwardly, like a drunk man that everybody makes fun of. The poet writes about the beauty of this albatross. About the theme of cruelty, there are those who ignore the goodness of a man or a woman and focus on the bad in order to make themselves feel better and vent their cruelty through ridicule and mockery. Some
Here Homer has demonstrated that the soul of Elpenor is suffering and grieves very much, as its body lie without proper burial. He begs Odysseus to return and give him a proper burial and let him be in the underworld in a true peace. On the flipside, we can also see Odysseus mourn the loss of his companion, as shown in lines 28-31 of book 11: “Now when I saw him there I wept for pity and called out to him: ‘How is this, Elpenor, how could you journey to the western gloom swifter afoot than I in the black lugger?’”. It is said that Elpanor (back on Circe’s island) was left dead without the rest of the crew’s knowledge, and when Odysseus finds his soul in the underworld, we can clearly see his sorrow. But one can also argue Odysseus’ selfish side and say that he was worried for only his fate; an act such as to leave his friend’s body dead without a proper sendoff would not put him in the good graces of the
He is beaten down by the sun with its rays and is taunted by the endless sight of water that he cannot drink. Nature is the force in this poem that has power to decide what is right or wrong and how to deal with the actions. The natural order is replaced when the mariner reconciles his sins and realizes what nature really is and what it means to him. On the other hand this poem could be Coleridge mocking the crime and reprobation system in place, because although the mariner is punished this is short lived. The mariner accepts his punishment and lives on with only the slight burden of telling a story rather than facing death.
Lament – mourning some loss or death. Melancholy – sadness, depression. Ebbing – the flow of the tide back toward the sea. To lessen or decline. Pessimism – The belief that the evil in life outweighs the good.