Imagery is also shown with similes throughout the poem, such as “in their sterile housing they tilt towards these like skiers.” The poem also acts upon our senses, sight when it states “Surrounding them like their last movements (the mash, the…
In lines 299-304 Virgil comments on the time of year where the farmers are finally able to enjoy the rewards of their hard work. Virgil uses personification when he refers to winter since it is winter that brings times of restfulness and idleness, unties cares from the farmers, and invites festivities to the otherwise dull agricultural life. This personification it is obviously seen since hiems is in the nominative case in lines 299 and 302 and it is the main subject throughout these lines. It is also interesting to note that when the agricolae are the subject they have a passive and an active verb, while hiems appears with only active verbs (invitat and resolvit). Another instance where Virgil’s use of personification appears in line 302 when the adjective genialis is used to describe winter.…
Still, you want my warmth, my love, and attention”. By commanding the reader to ‘imagine’, the composer is in fact, using imagery to list the typical traits of a…
Many surrounded the campfire, hoping the high temperature would warm up their hands. The high amount of heat produced by the fire brought warmth to my cold hands. The smell of the burning wood and pine needles became prominent in the area. Smoke rose from the pit and stretched up into the night sky, disappearing seven feet above the fire into the darkness.…
As one of the most iconic American poets, Robert Frost’s work has stood the test of time. Though born in California, Frost moved to New England at age eleven and came to identify himself as a New Englander. That self-identification would become a staple of his later works as he would invest “in the New England terrain” and make use of the “simplicity of his images” (Norton Anthology, p. 727) accompanied by uncomplicated writing to give his poems a more natural feel. Frost’s poems were generalized by certain types: nature lyrics, which described a scene or event, dramatic narratives or generalizations, and humorous or sardonic works. His widely anthologized poem “Fire and Ice” falls between the categories of nature lyrics while also being somewhat…
The vivid imagery took me away and made me feel hooked on to what was being said. There is always a need for imagery in poetry, because without it, the reader would not quite understand what is going on. Imagery allows the reader to feel like he or she is actually present in that time and ultimately causes emotions to…
Imagery used is relatable, yet so extreme that the reader can see the effect it can leave. The poem truly explains the effect of punishment and how it always follows leaving significant marks on each…
Imagery “She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her” (13). The phrase “the gold of the sun” creates a warm feeling and the reader can easily picture the scenery of this setting. Using the personification of “the alto chant of the visiting bees” and “the panting breath of the breeze…”, the reader can use senses to visualize and hear the surroundings. “...the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume...” (3).…
Julia Alvarez’s poem On Not Stealing Louise Bogan’s The Blue Estuaries conveys the speaker’s discoveries—the book, her love for and confidence in reading poetry and her girl’s voice--as surprising and serendipitous. This is conveyed through the use of imagery, figurative language and selection of detail. Imagery is used in the poem to convey the speaker’s discoveries: her love for and confidence in reading poetry. The poem begins with the speaker stumbling upon the book, which she says surprised her. The speaker goes in depth to describe the book, noting its “swans gliding on a blueback lake… posed on a placid lake, your name blurred underwater sinking to the bottom.”…
“The Knight” by Adrienne Rich establishes the conflict between how we, as a society, view people externally versus how people view themselves internally. By using figurative language, including extended metaphor, imagery, and anaphora, Rich imposes the idea of how we shouldn’t expect people to be exactly how we see them. The entire poem is nothing more than an extended metaphor. An extended metaphor is a metaphor that is developed over the course of a body of text. In “The Knight” the speaker compares the knight to people who go through life trying to be brave when they are actually dead on the inside.…
Composers are successful in the manipulation of responders to place them in a position that helps convey their story and its messages that the persona is trying to tell. In ‘North coast town’ and’ Flames and dangling wires’, Gray uses a combination of imagery and similes to relate to the responder therefore easing his task of positioning the reader to experience what he is seeing when he writes. In the poem, Grey is trying warn the responder that society are causing pollution and not noticing it while He is appreciative of the environment, and highly critical of humanity’s exploitation and destruction of the natural world. Similar to ‘Byron bay: Winter’, Grey successfully explores important issues relating to relationships of man and Nature,…
She is known as one of the greatest female, top selling poets in American History, Mary Oliver wrote the poem “oxygen”, which was released in her collection as one of the forty-three poems written in her book Thirst. Written during a time she was going through the loss of a loved one, Mary writes “Oxygen” to express her gratitude toward her relationship. The poem is short and simple, yet is deep as it uses the idea of oxygen to represent love and life. “Oxygen” is written about two people, one of whom is ill and living on a breathing machine. The other person is explaining the importance of their love for the ill person and describing the need of love, to the need for oxygen.…
When a poet chooses the right word or collection of words, the reader is carried away into the world they are trying to create. The use of figurative language and imagery are elements of literature that give poets the opportunity to open doorways in the minds of those reading their literary works. They paint the picture, bring back the smells, and give the quiet pages sound. Such is true in the poems “The Lanyard” by Billy Collins and “A Song in the Front Yard” by Gwendolyn Brooks.…
The writer’s syntax chronologically lists the order events that occurred: Beowulf found the beast, attacked the beast, and realized that the sword did not harm Grendel’s mother. The writer provides words with negative connotations to describe Grendel’s mother in order to effectively describe the monster’s level of wickedness. Onomatopoeia is used as the sword “rings” and “sings” through the air. It effectively creates the image of a battle for the audience, and helps set the tone for the scene. The tone shifts to a melancholic tone as the “fabulous powers” of the great sword fail Beowulf in his time of need, and allowed his opponent to live.…
Millay gives an example of this by stating “Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath / Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone,” explaining how love can do no such thing as something physical to fill these needs (5-6). Saying this, however, she does express how love has some profit, considering people patronize love “for lack of love alone” (8). Millay uses physical aspects such as meat, drinks, rain, blood, lungs, etc. to give the reader a sense of imagery to evoke feelings. For example, Millay states, “a roof against the rain,” expressing how relaxing and calm that phrase comes across and how the love that she is describing is complete opposite (2). While reading, it is easy for the reader to picture what the poet is trying to address and what feelings he/she is trying to generate throughout.…