I Am Vertical Poem Analysis

Literary Analysis Death is inevitable. Some people fear it, others hope it comes soon. As for the author Sylvia Plath and the character Huckleberry Finn, their stances differ. The story The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, portrays the main character, Huck, as terrified of death. While Sylvia Plath’s poem “I am Vertical” shows Sylvia as a person who is very intrigued by death. Sylvia Plath comes off as someone who would rather be dead than alive because she thinks it may be more comfortable. Furthermore, the works of Mark Twain and the poet, Sylvia Plath, reveal that the concept of death is a touchy and intriguing subject by using diction, imagery, and point of view. To start off, the excerpt and the poem use very different …show more content…
Mark Twain had written a lot of imagery to start off the excerpt: “All of a sudden, bang bang bang! goes three or four guns- the men had slipped around through the woods and come in from behind without their horses.” This quote shows the setting, it shows that there are men on their horses going to kill someone because they have guns and they are firing them. This shows that the subject of death is a very scary matter in Twain’s eyes. Likewise, Plath’s poem gives the readers an insight as to what she thought the setting was like, “The trees and flowers have been strewing their cool odors.” This quote shows that the nature is very peaceful, kind of like how Plath feels towards death. Most people love the smell of trees and flowers, so the imagery depicted here shows that Plath loves the smell of nature just like she loves the subject of death. The stories share very distinctive stand points on the subject of death, imagery and diction are just two of the many ways it can be exploited. Additionally, the characters contain different perceptions on death as shown through point of view as …show more content…
In the excerpt from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the readers read the story in the point of view of Huck Finn. Seeing the story in Huck’s point of view added a new way of looking at death. Huck is terrified of death, especially losing the the ones he loves. When Huck witnessed the murder of people his age he felt the need to tug the ashore and cover up their faces. Huck was obviously very sad that his friend Buck was killed, “I cried a little when I was covering up Buck’s face, for he was mighty good to me.” This quote shows that Huck really loves Buck and hates death and what happened to Buck. Likewise, Sylvia Plath depicted through her poem that she is not scared of death and would rather be dead than alive. Thus, the readers seeing it in her point of view really opened the readers eyes to what it really feels like to want to be dead. Plath writes, “It is more natural to me, lying down. Then the sky and I are in open conversation,” which means that she wants to be dead because lying down seems so much more natural. This shows the readers that she in not afraid of death and that it seems peaceful and that the readers should feel the same way. Furthermore, both the excerpt and the poem depict death through point of view in very different