Edward Thomas Speech Figurative Language

Thomas during his speech is recognized for his explanation of his desire for not living through the use of figurative language and imagery of nature. By using these literary devices, Thomas is able to convey his message to his audience in an abstract way to elaborate on the way he feels towards his existence. Thomas decides to talk about this because he thinks that judgement day is coming and he wants to die sooner rather than later as he wants to avoid having to face his fate on the day of. In the first half of the speech, Thomas starts with a description of a broad setting, supposedly about the beginning or creation of time. “Vastness… overwhelming solitude, and the mountain belly of Time labored” is a description of what life was before anything else existed. The line also creates the feeling that before anything existed, the world was just very large and heavy as Time was living by themself. Eventually, Time “brought forth man, the mouse,” meaning Time had brought humans into the world and they are being compared to a mouse because they were so small compared to the amount of space there was in the world. Here, personification was used to make Time seem more like a living figure as Time …show more content…
With the various imagery and personification quoted from the text, Thomas has been trying to talk about how life is a burden in various ways by trying to give inanimate things life. He tries to collect “evidence” of the flaws in life and build up his case as to why he believes in what he does. To the reader or audience, the figurative language used is to emphasize the pointlessness in life and the desire to be taken away and no longer have to suffer from Thomas’s