... referring to this man as "The Unknown Citizen" is quite contrasting of the actual amount of information the government knew, revealing the irony and underlying theme of the poem: the government knew everything about this man, except who he truly was. The government only cares to know ... of art. The poet skillfully structures the poem in a way where each stanza gradually builds toward revealing the reality of Aunt Jennifer's life and the irony behind her art. The first stanza serves to paint an optimistic, colorful picture of the tigers Aunt Jennifer sews as "Bright topaz denizens of ......

• Word Count: 1245
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... by the idea that humans only truly need food, water, and shelter. Yet, not very often do our social elitists talk about the human need for irony. Not very often, unless of course one surrounds one's self with a room full of poets. In that instance one would probably only hear about the need for ... real message is that when one is on a life long search for the perfect and beautiful, all one will find at the end of the search is the irony in searching. "Richard Cory" can easily be classified as a "story poem". It has a beginning, middle and ending, all telling the story of its main chara...

• Word Count: 787
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Wheatley is known for writing poetry with a dominant influence of religious and moral themes. In this poem she uses a highly intelligent and scathing verbal irony. Although it is written in a deceptively mild manner one can catch the hints of Wheatley's sarcasm especially in the last lines of the poem where ... believe it or want to aid them, the Africans can be cultured and more importantly saved through their acceptance of Christ. Wheatley uses verbal irony to point out the hypocrisy of the so called white Christians who judge and condemn the Africans without any thought of actually hel...

• Word Count: 846
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... "I"(15). The poem tells a story through the speaker's point of view so it is considered a narrative. Irony is the use of words to change the meaning of something. Irony is used to show one thing but to actually mean something else entirely. The use of Irony in poems can be very misleading to the reader in certain cases if it is taken to ... literally. A good example of Irony in a poem is in Henry Reed's "Naming of Parts" on pages 823-824. Reed uses irony to talk about war and how nature has nothing to do with things such as war. He relates bees to "assaulting and fumbling the flowers .....

• Word Count: 1272
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... , a beginning to establish characters, a middle to build the plot and an end to conclude. Randall uses many different techniques to fill his story with feeling and emotion, but imagery and irony are the most prominent. Randall most effectively creates emotion in his poem by basing it on an actual event. Although the poem itself is fictional, children truly did die in ... a freedom march for black rights because it's too dangerous, and then her daughter dies in a "sacred place," singing in the church choir instead. This drips with irony and the imagery helps to intensify this irony by con...

• Word Count: 1170
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... Ben Jonson. The significance of the poem's sorrowful grievance tone is exemplified and apparent through Jonson's use of irony, metaphor, and word choice. Jonson's sorrowful tone in the poem is expressed in the irony of the line, "my sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy." One senses Jonson's acceptance ... still have a special bond with the child, Jonson seemed almost surprised. There lies the irony in Jonson's poem, which exemplifies the sorrowful tone in his grievance for his child by making the reader realize the irony of his situation and making them share his pain. Further exempl...

• Word Count: 955
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... silence. The pun in title on the word 'deaf', though truthful, plays on the word 'dead' and introduces the comic irony present through out the poem. The structure of the poem itself is an example of comic irony. It is written in ballad form where four-line stanzas alternate using iambic tetrameter on the first and third lines and iambic ... father's life (emphasized by the repetition of "he liked") with life with the inertia of his death. Furthermore there is also a bitter irony that Betjeman's father ended up in a place he liked least. The irony is highlighted by the use of a...

• Word Count: 1321
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... traditional funeral church ceremony that the boys are robbed of. Owen contrasts the brutal and bitter conditions of war to the peaceful church service using extreme irony. he wants the readers to be pissed off and very annoyed with lack of respect war brings to death. Similarly this idea continues throughout the ... lack of responsibility felt during the war time. Again own contrasts the disgust and taument of the war to things of kind and positive. The irony of the using the structure of a sonnet to describe such hideous situations where in traditional use the sonnet is used to describ...

• Word Count: 626
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... From his poem "The Mending Wall" to his poem "In a Disused Graveyard" he has shown several themes to his style of writing. Robert Frost presents irony, satire and special connection with nature in his poems to prove his thesis. In the following writings that are described below are all related in some way ... The living come with grassy tread to read the gravestones on the hill; the grave yard draws the living still, but never anymore the dead". The irony that is in this stanza is the dead will never be back again. In the second stanza Frost makes us realize why are they going and coming...

• Word Count: 1457
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Design In "Design" author, Robert Frost, reminds the reader that our world is steeped with fate and irony and quite often people don't recognize the irony. Frost illustrates this concept throughout the poem in a number of different ways. I found a dimpled spider, fat and white, On a white heal-all, holding up a moth Like a white piece of rigid ... next line, he refers to the spider as a "snow-drop", which suggests purity, and to the moth's wings as "a paper kite", which suggests innocence. This contrast is another indication of irony. In the first stanza, Frost also makes a strong reference ...

• Word Count: 706
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... merely in rhetorical adornments but in the imaginative and atmospheric use of words," through his irony the people of Spoon River are able to tell their "ghostly wisdom" to the living (Dell). Using irony, Masters is able to convey his points about life through his characters. Through irony and euphemisms, Masters is able to strengthen his poems and tell his thoughts. Masters uses ... on the surface, through the choice of structure he uses, he brings that history of the earlier uses of the structure and that adds to the poems" strength. Through subtle irony and simple euphemisms, Masters...

• Word Count: 794
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... that emphasize the poem's deeper meaning. This use of allusion is often double-sided, with allusion being used positively as a more direct comparison, as well as in the form of irony, helping the reader draw out the meaning of the text through understated contrasts. Both "A Study of Reading Habits," by Philip Larkin and "Constantly Risking Absurdity," by ... Lawrence Ferlinghetti, employ allusion, however in "A Study of Reading Habits" Larkin alludes with a sense of irony while in "Constantly Risking Absurdity," the poet does not. In "A Study of Reading Habits," Philip Larkin uses an al...

• Word Count: 794
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Graduate

... that when everyone else in the world is free and he and the other Negro slaves can not enjoy the world around them he knows how they feel. He uses irony to try and explain the feelings of pain and sorrow, as in the line " And pain still throbs in the old, old scars and they pulse again with a keener sting ... English. Dunbar preferred writing in Standard English; his dialect poems are used more for humorous purposes than meaning (Tuner 110). Dunbar is known for skillful work in placing rhymes and irony throughout his poems "We sing, but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet, and long the...

• Word Count: 1623
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... 's sanity "until they realize the weight of his words and the meanings behind them. Using satire, which the Oxford American Dictionary defines simply as "the use of ridicule or irony or sarcasm in speech or writing,"" Swift is able to address many issues which he feels are of importance. Although they are very different works, the poem "A Description of a City ... in line 58 "St. Pulchre- refers to the church of St. Sepulchre in London that was right next to a prison. Swift points out the irony of building a prison next to a religious place of worship. The humor, irony, sarcasm and satir...

• Word Count: 1478
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... point she has put away all of her labors and leisure's that would not allow her to stop for death at the beginning of the poem. This further displays the irony of death because no one usually stops their life for death itself. Stanza three also is very uplifting, which still strikes the reader because death is normally thought of as ... the ground" (17-20). The speaker is viewing the place where she and Death will be living. From the description by Dickinson, I assume that she is referring to a grave. The irony of the newly weds home being a grave strongly suggests that the speaker is b...

• Word Count: 1277
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... realism and frontier era. Edgar Lee Masters wrote during the realism period, his writing being greatly affected by his life. Masters wrote in a free verse style using the devices of irony, simplicity, morals and values, and symbols. Masters was born in 1868, in Garnett, Kansas. He later died in 1950. During his life, Masters had moved several times, some of which ... book are the people of life itself, each trait of them as plain or as mysterious as in the old home valley where the writer came from."" (285). Masters used irony in the poem when he described the life of Lucinda Matlock in...

• Word Count: 529
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... "two cities some realms I owned." Since she clearly did not own two cities or lose a realm, she compares this to a big loss in her life. The narrator starts to display irony in the last stanza. It states, "Even losing you," the remarks that losing this person is not "too hard" to master. The change in attitude by adding the word "too ... possibly someone close to her. Bishop suggests that mastering the art of losing objects, such as door keys, does not prepare one for the loss of a person, which adds more irony to the title. There must be more than one art to losing, if losing a person ...

• Word Count: 634
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... the centre of the American film industry, he is placing partial responsibility for Monroe's death upon it. In line five; 'That Death should be the only protector' the poet uses irony in saying that for Monroe, death was the only protector from the life that she led suggesting that she led a life so unbearable and awful that death was seen as ... unconcerned about her mistakes and regrets then she would not think of them as 'following her around'. A noticeable feature of 'The Death of Marilyn Monroe' is the strong sense of irony portrayed throughout each stanza. Line thirty is an excelle...

• Word Count: 1209
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... the Modernist movement in art, Modernism became stylistically very different from the other theories. Predominant was the free use of indirect speech, the use of comparison, overwhelming use of personification, irony, metaphor, hyperbole, symbolism, discontinuous narrative, and psychoanalysis etc. and allusion to myths and stories from another time was also popular. Many Modernist writers used the stream of consciousness method. Thematically ... of stony machinery and amplified capitalism, which led people to ultimate loneliness. To achieve the above mentioned feelings and thoughts, the...

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... ;But, mother, I won't be alone, other children will go with me, and march the streets of Birmingham to make our country free" (lines 9-12). We also see a bit of irony in the end of the poem as the mother did not want to send her daughter in the streets to march as she feared it may be dangerous, but in ... details are written from mere observation by the author and not personal experience as references are made to others and there is no dialogue. There are also no examples of irony in the newspaper article. Both the poem and the newspaper article provide the reader with insight of the bo...

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... important?)/plot (entire story/text)/theme (main ideas)/tone/ mood/feeling/atmosphere)/structure (punctuation/ etc.)/diction (use of language)/etc.. Logical organization includes the following: - Meaning: What's the central impact? Irony or ambiguity? Stated or implied meaning? - Tone/Voice: Who's the speaker? Does voice shift? Is it overheard or consciously projected? - Mood: Usually depends on the tone. Emotional atmosphere of the ... of your commentary Body of Essay - Don't just list points. Use evidence to contribute to central effect / idea identified in intro. - Organize logically...

• Word Count: 757
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... is to write about the particulars of her emotions in an adage-like tone. Dickinson uses the connotation of the sea and slant rhyme in "Wild Nights-Wild Nights" and irony to dispel a somber tone about God in "I Heard a Fly Buzz-when I Died". Almost all of Dickinson's poems develop more meaning with deeper analysis. Her poems are devoted to the reflection ... of the thoughts and feelings she experienced over the course of her lifetime. In the poem "I Heard a Fly Buzz-when I Died" Dickinson uses situational irony to question what happens after death. When the persona is about to die and "T...

• Word Count: 315
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... if one tries to relive it, they would not be as happy as they think. W.B Yeats illuminates the theme of his poem by using print, sound, imagery, metaphor, symbolism and irony. Using print and sound Yeats tells the reader the poem is a simple, flowing poem. Yeats makes the poem rhyme like a child's nursery rhyme, "Come away, O human child! To the waters ... behind he realize he is not happier in the dream world but only sad to leave it (the real world) thus being the theme of the poem. Using symbolism and irony (tone) Yeats clearly illuminates the theme. One of the most important symboli...

• Word Count: 487
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

AN IMPRESSION AS A FAÇADE In the poem "Richard Cory- by Edwin Arlington Robinson, the tragic irony of Richard Cory's life which was sought after with empty desire by everyone is revealed when he takes his own life and quickly becomes nothing for everyone to see. This ... trying. When we think of a calm summer night we think of peace, quiet, problem free, and calm. This is a very important metaphor that sums up everyone's view of Cory. Great irony is also shown in that he happens to put a bullet through his brain in the midst of all of this peacefulness. In conclusion, Richard Cory is though...

• Word Count: 728
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... , much less lose a realm, the speaker seems to be comparing the realm to a large loss in her life. Finally, the statement in the final quatrain "Even losing you" begins the irony in that stanza. The speaker remarks that losing this person is not "too hard" to master. The shift in attitude by adding the word "too" shows that the speaker has ... or a beloved person. Elizabeth Bishop suggests then that mastering the art of losing objects, such as car keys, does not prepare one for the loss of a person, which adds more irony to the title. There must be more than one art to losing, if losing ...

• Word Count: 341
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School