In the following lines, the winter scenery is captured as empty and darkening. This image could have been used to draw attention to Hardy’s isolation from the rest of the world. It may suggest that Hardy is the only one that is pessimistic about the new century and what it will bring. In the first stanza of “the Darkling Thrush”, Hardy creates a sense of sadness and darkness through his description of his surroundings. The image of darkness that comes with the poem stems from the words ‘frost’ and ‘gray’, which not only invokes an image of a cold and dark surrounding, but allows the reader to experience the chills of winter.
Deonte’ Thomas Nimi Finnigan Introduction to Poetry 2305 28 February 2012 In a Dark Time Reflection The poem “A dark Time” By Theodore Roethke was written in 1964. The poem is filled with darkness and vivid imagery portraying the madness that one can come in contact with during a life time. The author describes to us the passage he takes to finding himself in a time of “pure despair” (Roethke line9). Theodore Roethke takes us on a journey through the characters life using nature and darkness possibly depicting the overcoming of depression as he finds himself. Throughout the poem Roethke uses Nature to illustrate an overall image of darkness.
Known as one of the Lake School Poets, Wordsworth is famous for using imagery from his long walks through the countryside. He often borrows images he encountered to help him convey many emotions, in particular those related to death and dying. This imagery is apparent in his poem “We Are Seven” when he utilizes elements from nature to depict the relationship between a young maid and her two departed siblings. This relationship is emphasized in the stanza: And when the ground was white with snow, And I could run and slide, My brother John was forced to go, And he lies by her side (57-60). In "We Are Seven," Wordsworth uses his description of snow to evoke emotion through symbolism and tactile imagery, effectively highlighting the contrast between life and death.
How does Robert Browning tell the story in Porphyria’s Lover? Porphyria’s Lover is a poem written in the form of a dramatic monologue. The speaker in the poem (Porphyria’s Lover) is retelling the story of a very profound moment in his life, giving the reader an understanding of the situation and indirectly giving us an idea of their character. The story takes place somewhere in the countryside, which is currently plagued by a horrific storm. The storm is said to have “tore the elm-tops down for spite” and “did its worst to vex the lake”.
Browning structured this poem as a dramatic monologue and has included structural features such as enjambment which makes the poem sound less like a crafted speech and more like a casual conversation, which may be seen as eerie considering the events later on in the poem. Porphyria’s Lover follows an iambic tetrameter in the first four lines, however in the fifth line “I listened with heart fit to break”, the regular tetrameter breaks, just like our narrator describes his heart breaking. The poem is set in the lover’s cottage in a secluded forest in the middle of the night. The reclusiveness of the cottage may symbolise the fact that Porphyria sees her lover as a secret, less important part of her life and wants to hide him away. However Porphyria is not given a voice in the poem and does not say anything throughout possibly showing that the narrator sees her as his possession who does not have a voice of her own.
Both Sassoon and Owen use poetic devices to convey their sentiment towards war. For example, in “The Send-off”, “darkening lane they sang their way,” Owen uses metaphor in this line, “the darkening lane” because it foreshadows the dark destiny that the soldier awaits, and tells readers that the soldiers have no idea where they are going, and what will happen when they get to the front line. Also in line 2, Owen uses alliteration in “siding-shed”, it means a short stretch of rail road track used to store rolling stork, and this shows readers the atmosphere, which seems sinister and unfortunate. Also in “The Hero” by Sassoon, the author uses metaphor “useless swine” to describe the soldier as a pig in this poem, because the soldier dies in an exploration when he is trying to escape from the battlefield, so it implies reader that the soldiers run away from the frontline, they will be regarded as a coward, but this also shows how horrible war is. Both of the authors used a variety of devices to show the cruelty of war and the soldiers’ unwillingness to go to war.
The poem “Porphyria’s lover” written Robert Browning displays conflict within the two characters in the poem and the themes displayed within the poetry. There are three types of conflict displayed in the poem Inner Conflict which is the main one, Interpersonal conflict and Physical conflict which is what brings the poem to an end. Inner conflict is shown within the first four lines of the poem you can feel the lover’s depressed state in his attitude to the weather. He shows his own inner conflict by lashing out at the wind “the sullen wind” he saids which shows his own anger, jealousy and suppressed anger. There is also use of rhetorical style, through the pedantic words Endeavour, vainer ties dissever, prevail and restrain suggests his anger rises as he is trying to come to grips with the problem of passion and pride.
When “Though” is used it is almost like it is natural that the “night was made for loving” and that Byron is going against the will of nature itself if he does not love. Finally, the word “Yet” acts as a final sending off for the wants of Byron, when it is used in the penultimate line of the poem. It carries with it an idea that the good times will never return and it is possibly this word which is burdened with the greatest amount of lamentation in the entire poem. Thus, Byron’s word choice suggests an idea of grief to the reader. Lord Byron has also used cataloguing in the second stanza, by using “And” in three consecutive lines.
Poetry evokes emotions and creates images in the minds of readers and it is not simply the theme in essence that captures an audience, but the techniques used within poetry that make it come alive. Robert Frost’s poems ‘Out, Out-’, The Road Not Taken and Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening all display Frost’s ability to create clear images that capture moments in life and bring them alive in the minds of readers. Frost is able to demonstrate his themes of nature, isolation, death and decision making through various devices such as symbolism, personification and repetition. Robert Frost’s use of symbolism in his poems enables readers to convey images directly into their mind. Symbolism illuminates details that maybe hard to see.
Though because he is in the present and doesn’t know where either of the paths will take him the personal choice is difficult. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening also explores this concept in the form of a poem by Robert Frost. Frost uses first person to convey how the destiny of the persona is being shaped by unknown consequences, “Whose woods these are I think I know” is an example of this. This question represents that these woods may belong to good or some kind of divine power that is controlling his destiny. In Watchmen the director shows this concept through the use of the super natural.