Ap English Language Figurative Language

I began this revision by making a few small changes. First changing “go on” to “went” so that the past tense I chose to use would remain consistent. This made a bigger difference than I though it would; it makes it seem like there was more of a separation between the speaker and what was going on around her than I though tit would. I then changed “cold” to “small,” which flows much more smoothly into “shy.” “Cold” has a harder, more unforgiving connotation, when I wanted it to come across that the dog looked vulnerable. I went on to add “so” at the beginning of the second line in the third stanza to show that the second line is an effect of the first line in the stanza. This created a better flow, making the poem easier to read. The last small …show more content…
Showing the dog as unmoving, even when there is a new guest, something dogs are known to become excited over, drove home the point that the dog was not feeling herself. I changed “’til I began to hate her” to “before he struggled up to meet her” because the feeling of hatred did not seem quite right, and was not a clear way for the “traitorous sense of relief” to come to a sudden end. Seeing the dog, not himself and feeling weak, still try to do what he would have normally done when he was healthy was a better fit for the stanza as well as for the poem as a whole. The final difference I made was changing the last two lines of the last stanza. The repetition of “shining” seemed too much, and it was a stretch for the hearts to be shining. I wanted to keep the idea of two good hearts, partly because dogs are known for their goodness and loyalty, but also because the dogs are both Bedlington terriers, who are known for having the “head of a lamb, heart of a lion.” Because the last two lines no longer had any repetition, I decided to end the poem the way most of it was structured, with a rhyme. The “quiet house” shows how the home and the family were