... describes to readers the amazement of life's cycle. She accomplishes this by choosing a series of symbols that symbolises cycle of life which are in four stages. The cycle begins with "School" which perhaps represents childhood, "Fields of Gazing Rain" symbolises maturity, "Setting Sun" represents old age, and the last stage is symbolises in the last two lines of the poem which are ... dead people garment. As for Frost, the whole poem symbolises a journey in the woods. Hence, it is about a speaker's uncertainty about life and obligations. The woods are symbols of beauty in general, of i...

• Word Count: 1463
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... doubt that he was one of the most successful writers of all time. "The Raven" is Poe's best known and written work. It was first published in 1845. He is using great amount of symbolism in the raven to express his feelings. The most obvious symbol is, of course, the raven itself. Poe uses ... raven as a symbol of mournful and never-ending sadness. Poe had repeatedly used the word "nevermore". In this poem Poe ... us know that there is no meaning in searching for morale in the raven's "nevermore". The other symbols he is using are "midnight in the first verse, and "December" in the secon...

• Word Count: 259
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... Between my hooked head, and hooked feet", tells the reader to be on guard. "Hooked" gives us an image of power; that the hawk is able to hook anything that it wants. Symbolism too, is used by both poets. The two birds; "Hawk" and "Vulture", could be seen as symbols of heroism. The two ... become heroes when the take flight. Both prey catching birds; are strong, brave, noble and powerful. "The wood" which the hawk sits on ... could be seen as a representation of life and fertility; his life. High up in ... in the poem; "I", is repeated throughout the poem, emphasizes the hawk's proud at...

• Word Count: 1305
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... his own personal mythology, for, as he would say: "Must create a system or be enslaved by another man's". Blake thought the Anglican Church corrupted and cynical - that it made the lives for those who were poor, a living hell. He was very concerned with working class children. He found their ... the poem, he tries to hint that his parents are not entirely to blame; they are in the clever hands of the manipulative Church and State: "And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King, Who make up the heaven of our misery.". As the titles of the two poetry ... from poem 1 is more nave and in...

• Word Count: 2076
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... us, as readers, to expand the meaning of the poem much further than words can take us. Along with symbols, imagery creates a whole world that takes us on the journey the composer intended. In addition to symbolism and imagery, the composer uses other various forms of poetic devices. Frost has cleverly used the word "wall" in many instants: in line 1, 14, 15, 23 ... . This is in view of the fact that the composer raises many thought provoking concepts of humanity in a way which people are able to understand and relate to. He does this through a continual use of vivid imagery and symbolism...

• Word Count: 2071
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... Raven, a dark story of lost love and insanity. There is a large assortment of symbols in this poem, some more prominent than others. The imagery and setting of The Raven adds to its mystery and suspense. Another well-known work of Poe's is The Tell-tale Heart, a tale of murder and the power of the mind. The use of imagery and symbolism in this particular tale is quite ... profound. Poe's poems and tales are famous for using symbolism and imagery to ... manifest themselves into them, finally driving them into a fit of madness. Edgar Allan Poe, the famous American poet, is known for usin...

• Word Count: 1588
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... a symbol and that symbols meaning and value. Frost utilizes many symbols to depict the actual meaning of his objects. In "Fireflies in the Garden," he describes fireflies to be very similar to stars. , stars having the same glowing characteristics as a firefly. Both of them dominate the nighttime sky. While both seem very much alike, they are so very different. Frosts use of symbolism is excellent ... one may question what to do next in spite of this occurrence. Many of Frost's poems have a lesson to be taught or learned while he masks these ideas through symbols and characteristics of ...

• Word Count: 1027
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Symbolism in poetry is used to portray one thing but really mean another. Animals for instance, are sometimes used as symbols to represent human tendencies and to manifest the similarities a person may have with that of an animal's. Animals are also used as symbols to demonstrate ones separation with nature as it was illustrated in Alden Nowlan's "The Bull Moose and "Traveling through the Dark" by ... William Stafford. Both poets used animals as symbols to interpret the theme of their poems. Nowlan's "The Bull Moose" was a poem about a moose that ... killing other drivers that passed throug...

• Word Count: 673
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... is found. Poe is talented at using different styles to present his vision. He paints his literally picture by using settings, symbolism, rhymes, and allegory. He creates an illusions of telling you one thing but it's really something else. This poem starts out describing a palace "once a fair ... oddly moving shapes dancing "To a discordant melody" (line 44). To understand the underlining meaning of the story, we must have to understand the symbolism that comes with it. Throughout the story, there are several clues that what is being described is not just an actual palace but a person's ...

• Word Count: 749
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... which many different poetic apects emerge as we read the poem. There are many aspects of the poem that will be dealt with including the following: structure, symbolism, tone, situation or setting, the speaker, and rhyme and meter scheme. McKay typically presents an outsiders view on American lifestyles due to his foreign birth. In his poems, McKay shows his concern for the treatment ... place in New York during the 1920's. This poem used many elements to help the reader to understand it better and relay the message effectively. Some of the elements used in this poem include the followin...

• Word Count: 1634
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... which many different poetic apects emerge as we read the poem. There are many aspects of the poem that will be dealt with including the following: structure, symbolism, tone, situation or setting, the speaker, and rhyme and meter scheme. McKay typically presents an outsiders view on American lifestyles due to his foreign birth. In his poems, McKay shows his concern for the treatment ... place in New York during the 1920's. This poem used many elements to help the reader to understand it better and relay the message effectively. Some of the elements used in this poem include the followin...

• Word Count: 1662
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In the poem "i thank You God for most this amazing,"" E. E. Cummings uses such literary devices as symbolism, imagery, allusion, and syntax to show that the speaker of the poem has just experienced a rebirth.The speaker is thanking God for allowing him to see life in a new light and to be reborn again for a fresh start.By using these various literary devices, Cummings is able ... the creator of all things natural, God is responsible for the "leaping greenly spirits of trees- and the "blue true dream of sky- that fascinate and enthrall the speaker.These phrases, found in the first stanza of th...

• Word Count: 2203
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... third stanza, Plath mentions the church describing "The stains - that lengthen from ancient cathedrals". Knowing that Plath was not a religious woman, these descriptions may be symbols of what she believes is the destruction of the church and her view of the people that follow it She also compares the Communion Tablet to a pill. Pills are significant to Plath's life because at the ... is portrayed here. From this point, Mystic seems to jump on the positive side. In the following stanza, the rodents are revealed as symbols of people who are happy and satisfied with their lives and show h...

• Word Count: 1168
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... throughout the piece that have a very powerful effect. She uses various amounts of poetic devices to further encapsulate the theme in this poem. These include the use of imagery, symbolism, metaphors and similes along with numerous sound devices. Maya Angelou utilized figurative imagery to exemplify the sad reality, which was the oppression of African Americans during slavery along with the mistreatment of ... an inspirational story taking an event from the poet's past. Masterful poetry portrays meaning and tells a story not only by purely what is written on the page but having to see b...

• Word Count: 1250
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... 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 impacted his writing later in ... before beginning a practice Masters worked as a bill collector. He later started a practice always writing literary works on the side under pseudonyms. His first pieces of poetry were published in magazines and his...

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

... during a period of war can express the author's opinions toward war. Most poetry does not directly state the author's ideas and opinions. One way an author can show his opinion is through symbolism, which is the use of a symbol to show the authors main idea. There are also many other ways for an author ... writing may never be realized. The poem is divided into four stanzas. Upon close analyzing of the poem I noticed that the first and third stanzas are sixteen lines and the second and fourth stanzas are twenty-four lines long. I could not determine whether this was coincidentally planed...

• Word Count: 1076
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... defined good poetry as the spontaneous overflow of feelings. Even though these two poets wrote poetry during the same era, they had many differences in their style, use of diction, and the symbols they used. Wordsworth's style was some what different from Coleridge's in the fact that Wordsworth developed a light, blissful ambience in many of his poems. Throughout his poem "Lines Written ... in Early Spring" , Wordsworth used phrases such as "I heard a thousand blended notes" while "the birds around me hopped and played" to illustrate the joyful serenity surrounding him. Even when he exp...

• Word Count: 886
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... text that are difficult to understand. For example, when reading an allegory, the reader may find it very difficult to detect and interpret the symbolism in the literary work. Because the symbols may have different meanings, the theme of the story may be totally unclear for some readers. In any work of literature ... , a reader may be unsure of how to perceive the characters and certain events of the text. Likewise, the characters" perceptions of ... is trying to convey. An example is "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke. It is a poem portraying a rather strange moment between a young b...

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

... the notion of never-endingness." Another type of figurative language that is used is repetition. The first instance of repetition occurs in lines 9, 11, and 12 as she writes, "We passed" three times. The speaker in the poem is passing through everything that she has already lived through, thus ... throughout "Because." Dickinson uses the final literary element of symbolism to help the reader to understand the meaning that she is trying to convey. The carriage is symbolic of a hearse and carries the speaker, who is symbolized as humanity, and her suitor, who is symbolized as death. The tw...

• Word Count: 2040
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , death, death". It was, he realized, the word of "the sweetest song and all songs". In the poem there are two sets of symbols. The sun, day and land suggest life and the physical, while the moon, night and sea represent death and the spiritual. On the seashore where the sea and land meet and merge, the cycle of nature in its rhythmical evolution, ends only to renew ... itself, with death as the beginning of new life. In Whitman's poems such symbolism is frequently employed. Both ... Whitman's elegies and other poems enclosed his view of death------an excessive optimism. Contemporary Am...

• Word Count: 1210
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... , luck, have done so before. No other similes were discovered, as were no metaphors either. Hyperboles, paradoxes, and irony were not found either. Poe also uses personification and symbolism in "The Raven."" Personification is used when Poe describes the curtains in his room as sad and uncertain: "And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain. . ."" (12). In line 44, Poe describes the raven ... as though it has refinement, "By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it worse. . ."" giving the bird human characteristics. The raven can be looked at as a variety of ...

• Word Count: 2508
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School