... conscientious of language. No word or writing technique was included for aesthetic purposes only, but to enhance the reader's ability to understand what the poet intended to say. Alliteration, metaphor, and onomatopoeia are three such techniques that can be identified within the poems introduced in the readings. Before examining specific poems that contain these three techniques, it is important to ... when working on an assembly line. The use of onomatopoeia also highlights the characters impatience and resentment with the continuance of trivial daily tasks without going to a job. Wayma...

• Word Count: 1140
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... demonstrated in stanza VI when Hardy refers to the Titanic as a "creature of cleaving wing". The author obviously thinks well of the ship- the metaphor basically states that she flew through the ocean like it was nothing at all. This phrase also helps to develop the nature of the Titanic- ... part of the human world, as opposed to that of nature's grandeur. Another area of the poem where metaphor is prominent is stanza VII when Hardy dubs the iceberg the Titanic's "sinister mate." The author starts to reveal his view on the relationship between ... long companion to the Titanic. Essentia...

• Word Count: 546
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... a heavy load", is asking if it is a burden on the dreamer. Langston Hughes switches from similes to a metaphor in the last line for example this metaphor "does it explode", suggests that the dream has finally been reached, one can say that Hughes has switched to a metaphor in this line to symbolize the drastic difference from not successfully reaching your dream to obtaining your ... show that above all the dream itself is what people enjoy, not the accomplishment. However, Hughes most likely agrees that deferred dreams are bad.   In his last line he uses a metaphor to ask if unfulfill...

• Word Count: 1185
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... the next generation to fight in a war. Owen uses imagery constantly to convey the conditions and feelings experienced during this war. Firstly I will be exploring Metaphor as it is used so much in this poem. The first metaphor which I will examine is: "Haunting Flares" on line 3 of the first stanza. This quote has so many connotations, my first opinion on this was ... exposing everything to their view, this indicates that the enemy always seem to have power upon the soldiers, almost godly. The second metaphor which I will explore is: "An ecstasy of fumbling" on line one of the second st...

• Word Count: 1128
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... to sea. (The journey to the unknown). The setting of this poem is obviously the sea. Tennyson is on a boat going on a journey to death. The title is also a metaphor. In actuality, a bar is a sand boundary in the ocean.. In this poem, the bar is the imaginary line between life and death. The opening line is also ... a metaphor ("Sunset and evening star,") for the ending of the day or the beginning of death.. The "boundless deep" in line 7 is what is not life; The unknown or death. ... In line 8, "turns again home" means that dying is actually going home since we came from the unknown so ...

• Word Count: 404
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... of mourning. In the first of these metaphors their love is compared to gold, bringing up an image of perfection, wealth and beauty. This metaphor refers to the souls of the two lovers as one inseparable object. This one soul is only made larger and more beautiful by their separation. ... not when their bodies decay. In the same sense these intertwined souls do not part when the lovers" bodies part, but remain attached but expanded. The second metaphor describing the two lovers as they part is that of a compass. This ties in several themes common in Donne's poems. The first is the usage o...

• Word Count: 1190
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... many traditional structural elements. The poem is using a blank verse form commonly used by the romantics. The technical or structural elements used in this poem include metaphor, symbolism, simile and characterization. Characterization is used in the poem as a way for the reader to identify with the theme. By establishing a character, the ... author gives the reader insight into what a young teenager experiences through memories of their own experiences. Metaphor is used many times to compare the character to a car such as in line 20 where the character in the poem is compared to a stal...

• Word Count: 813
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the next generation to fight in a war. Owen uses imagery constantly to convey the conditions and feelings experienced during this war. Firstly I will be exploring Metaphor as it is used so much in this poem. The first metaphor which I will examine is: "Haunting Flares" on line 3 of the first stanza. This quote has so many connotations, my first opinion on this was ... exposing everything to their view, this indicates that the enemy always seem to have power upon the soldiers, almost godly. The second metaphor which I will explore is: "An ecstasy of fumbling" on line one of the second st...

• Word Count: 1128
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... strive to live life to the fullest until the very end. This theme is emphasized through the poem's structure and Thomas" uses of figures of speech, particularly metaphor, throughout the poem. The poem is written as a villanelle, an old French style of poetry. Villanelles follow a strict rhyme scheme and have two lines repeated ... throughout the poem allows the speaker to emphasize the urgency in his message to his father and highlight the theme of the poem at the same time. Metaphor is used repeatedly throughout the poem, both in the verse lines and in the body of the stanzas. Death is...

• Word Count: 791
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... of a mental illness, that depression has the potential to have an immense toll on one's life. In the poem, Plath uses implied metaphors to reinforce this idea. An implied metaphor is a type of metaphor that compares two unlike things, but does so without mentioning one of them. "Indian pipe" (5). An Indian pipe, also known as the "corpse plant" ... white coloration. The lack of chlorophyll forces the plant to generate its own energy from the sunlight. When touched, the plant turns black and withers away. Plath uses this indirect metaphor to suggest that when life brushes against her...

• Word Count: 1110
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... his feathers"). Yet this is not necessarily or entirely seen as a bad thing - it is at this stage, when the bird takes off that her writing takes off into metaphor ("Too silver for a seam"). It is as if the whole scene has been transformed, and her writing reflects that. Is she suggesting that good can and does come ... the fellow, raw"), again suggesting the need for a civilizing influence on nature. Apart from the bird and the beetle, butterflies are also mentioned, but this is more of a metaphor, but a soft metaphor taken from nature ("plashless as they swim"). Imagery: The bird's ey...

• Word Count: 605
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... said in a commanding way, and I would paraphrase it as "Do not give up easily". "Good night" in this case should be considered a metaphor and a pun. It is a pun because night is said to symbolize death and it is a metaphor because night is define as death and having a good death sounds quite revolting. In line two personification is applied ,"Old age should burn ... and rave", and on the same line "Close of day" is a metaphor. I think it offers a belief that even when old and ill, the man should stay energetic and even ask for help as long as he does not give in to death ... reflected ...

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... in her writing, as if she is not finished with the sentence. Her style of writing adds a uniqueness to poetry like no other. This poem by Dickinson is one big metaphor in itself. Dickinson is comparing death to a suitor who is calling on a Lady. In the first two lines, Death, is compared to a carriage driver, that stops for one who could ... death is now so completely captivated by his personality that she has put away everything that had occupied her before his coming. The third stanza in this poem is another metaphor in itself comparing mortality to "grain," and immortality to "gazing...

• Word Count: 692
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... for individuals to live fulfilling lives they must "open" their minds to new ideas, experiences and concepts to obtain satisfaction from what society has to offer. "The Door" itself is a metaphor for change, so by the usage of the grammatical imperative "go and open the door" the poet is suggesting the importance for the need to embrace change and the need ... change has positive advantages. Throughout the second stanza the poet uses images of everyday aspects of life, "a face/ an eye", as a metaphor for human contact to suggests how individuals are able to gain form interacting with ne...

• Word Count: 288
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... mesmerising, elusive and dangerously overwhelming. Harwood's juxtaposition of the hard, lifeless substances "marble and granite" with the living and growing "quick of autumn grasses" serves as a metaphor for the transience of life and the finality death; as "quick" life is parted by death in the same way as the grass is by the graves. Emphasis ... of [the speaker]" and as a symbol for their wish to "rise above their humble station" elucidates their desire to overcome death. Through Harwood's utilisation of this pumpkin metaphor she portrays the degeneration and eventual decay of the spe...

• Word Count: 856
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... direction. The speaker forgets all about the old woman and moves onto talking about the poem itself. Thus leading to the conclusion that this poem is actually a huge metaphor for the way poetry acts on its readers. In the beginning, the mirror was the metaphor for poetry in the sense that it is and should be reflective, and the woman was the ... metaphor for the readers of poetry. When the old woman fills her entire house with mirrors, she starts to lose the concept of reality, which could imply that poetry should mimic ... ...

• Word Count: 820
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography

... Carl Sandburg, and the poem, "Dusting," by Julia Alvarez, show literary elements including imagery, figurative language, sound, rhythm. "Fog" by Carl Sandburg starts off right with a metaphor, he says, "The fog comes on little cat feet," it is also imagery because he wants us to imagine the fog in a catlike way. In this poem, he ... is very slow and cautious. In line 3, "It sits looking over harbor and city," tell us it has taken up more space now. It's here. We imagine the metaphor in the first stanza as a fog looking catlike, but not the fog is, "sitting," just like a cat would, with ...

• Word Count: 544
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... from the detailed description of the effects of the storm on the mountains. The poem follows the effects of the storm on various objects observable from the house, starting with a metaphor comparing the house with a ship far out at sea at night and stuck in a storm. The poet goes on to describe the various sounds which are audible from the house ... as the poet describes the mountains as having shifted places, the wind is causing lightning which is twitching, contracting and spreading all over the sky for which the poet uses a metaphor "like the lens of a mad eye". By the third stanza i...

• Word Count: 788
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... admits that someday in the future he will recreate the scene with a slight twist: he will claim that he took the less-traveled road. The whole poem is an extended metaphor, where Frost describes a path in the woods that is directly comparable to a major decision in life. In this case, the narrator is "lost" in the poem, both on the trail ... we can picture the first road bending to the right while the other bends in the opposite direction. In the first stanza, (line 1) Frost introduces the elements of his primary metaphor: the diverging roads. Diverging seems to be the key word in this ...

• Word Count: 1093
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Poetry Explication of Robert Frost's "Birches" Summary • This poem is set in a rural natural environment which encourages the speaker to look inward. • The poem relies on a metaphor in which the journey through life is compared to the journey down the roads. • The speaker of the poem must choose one path instead or the other. • Although ... the story will take place. • The "Not Taken" further indicates that it may be an isolated area. Stanza 1 • The first stanza Frost introduces the elements of his primary metaphor, the diverging roads. • the speaker expresses his regret at his...

• Word Count: 872
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... would be the destruction of man himself" (Greiner 209). Frost is using the "woods" as a symbol for nature as a whole and thus the struggle between man and nature may be a metaphor for the struggles that occur throughout life. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is obviously set in the woods but also on "The darkest evening of the year" which may ... be a metaphor for a evening or situation that has a particular importance to the narrator. According to William Shurr the "darkest evening" is in fact the idea or pondering of death, which is all ... the poem. The poem takes place in a "...

• Word Count: 1026
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Robert Frost uses the literary writing techniques of syntax, repetition of lines, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, rhyme scheme and especially personification in his poems. The themes I have found in these select six poems support those methods and techniques. I would not be surprised if I read other ... separation between the two properties, at least in his neighbors eyes, with no room for variation. "And some are loaves and some so nearly balls" (pg. 889) this technique is a metaphor, saying the rocks are like loaves even though they really aren't. At one point Frost uses personification to...

• Word Count: 1053
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... apostrophe to simplicity: "O thou by Nature taught To breathe her genuine thought, In numbers warmly pure and sweetly strong;" In the second stanza the addressee is specified by means of metaphor: "a decent maid,/ In Attic robe arrayed," which refers to simplicity as realized in Attic (Greek) literature. She despised the abundance in art, but is modest and decent. The Simplicity is ... of Simplicity the poet speaks about the honey in Hybla, a city in Sicily famous for its honey and refers to Sophocles's tragedy "Electra": "Soothed sweetly sad Electra's poet's ear". The metaphor "thy gre...

• Word Count: 908
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... stepped you missed My right ear scraped a buckle- could describe the father beating his child with a belt. The interpretation of the poem as a display of abuse, requires "waltz- to be a metaphor for a fight, or a beating. Understanding the word "waltz- simply as a description of a dance-like action instead, will direct the reader's mind to another possible interpretation of the poem. It seems ... "palm[s] [are still] caked hard by dirt-, wanting to spend their few minutes doing something fun. Therefore, we might think of "the waltz- as an actual dance and not as a metaphor for a fight. ...

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... develops an unusual interpretation of death, and while doing this, she creates images that provoke distinctive thoughts. Throughout the poem, Dickinson uses different types of figurative language, and imagery like metaphor, repetition and symbolism and others; these help her create a poem that people can understand it in many ways. In the first two stanzas of "Because I could not stop for ... would not be like it had been in the past. The "Swelling of the Ground" (18) specifies that Death and the speaker have reached their destination. It is a metaphor because it represents the start of...

• Word Count: 1192
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School