There Are Battle-But Inaudible By Langston Hughes

Improved Essays
The poet connotes by using personification to the everyday life of a fly as shown in the phrase “There are battle-shouts/And death-cries everywhere hereabouts/But inaudible”. Hughes uses illustrative words that complement each other yet, making it a rather unpleasant image. With a single “But” it zooms the reader away from the great detail, ‘inaudible’ creates the whole picture giving a new perspective on what we have been oblivious to our whole lives.

The writer uses imperative language throughout the poem, for example, “First observe the air's dragonfly” In the first three stanzas it gives off the impression that the poem is some sort of written guide on how to paint or advice.The writer doesn't give information on what the reader should

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    The art of poetry is a vast discipline in which the creations of the poets take on a multitude of different forms. Not only are there a large number of poetic structures that an author can choose from, there are also many parts within those structures that can be modified to lead to an even more diverse array of final products. The author has a great many choice when it comes to choosing the structure of their poem, they can vary the number of lines per stanza, the length of each line, and the number of syllables per line. Other variations the poet can make include content changes such as choosing to use rhyming words, repeated sounds like alliteration, and figurative devices such as personification. Even in poetry forms with strict guidelines,…

    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The second stanza is proof that nature has a main part in describing the character and maybe even the meaning the poem. “The leafy boughs on high”, means the “main” part of the branch, resaying nature is the main branch of the poem. The second stanza also has the evidence that the character is depressed. “Hissed in the sun” Hissed mean a sharp note but can also mean displeasure. Figuring out that hissed could mean displeasure, resaying it would be” displeasure of the sun”…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Blue Estuaries Summary

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages

    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.”…

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How do turning points impact people’s lives and countries? A turning point can be described as a significant event that changes people’s lives in positive or negative ways. In the autobiography, “I Never Had it Made” by Jackie Robinson, the memoir, “Warriors Don’t Cry” by Melba Patillo Beals, and the article, “The Father of Chinese Aviation”, by Rebecca Maksel, each of the individuals faced turning points. Jackie Robinson, Melba Patillo Beals, and Feng Ru faced life-changing experiences that changed their lives and their countries.…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the poem “The White Judges” by Marilyn Dumont, the speaker is aware of how she and her Indigenous family are consistently being judged by the primarily white population. The poem juxtaposes the family with the encircling colonialists who wait to demean and assimilate the group. Consequently, the family faces the pressures of being judged for their cultural practices, resulting in a sense of shame and guilt. Dumont’s use of prose and lyrical voice distinctly highlights the theme of being judged by white society. Her integration of figurative language enhances the Indigenous tradition and cultural practices throughout the poem.…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Authors when describing their characters can either be very exaggerated with their characters or actually make them seem unstated throughout the whole story. Sometimes two stories that have similar characters express their identities in completely different ways. This happens between the short stories “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” by Sherman Alexie and “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin. The protagonist Jackson squared in “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” his identity is expressed in such a manner that you feel like the author wanted to display to the readers that this guy was no good. While the author for “Sonny’s Blues” kept his protagonist simple and let the story focus on Sonny and how the brother wanted to reconnect with Sonny.…

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The narrator in the story is close to death and there is nothing but silence, until a fly trespasses the space and silence and interrupts the narrator’s peaceful death. “I Heard a Fly Buzz” states, “and then it was There interposed a Fly - With Blue - uncertain - stumbling Buzz -Between the light - and me -And then the Windows failed - and then I could not see to see” (Dickenson 1). Before the fly imposes, the poem discusses the silence and the simple atmosphere. Because of the fact that flies do not know the situations in which they fly into, this trespassing is not deliberate, but it is brought in a straightforward way because the narrator comes right out and discusses how the fly imposed on the silence before her…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The reader would know enough about the characters to figure the story out. The author would list thoughts and reactions. Notice, the author did not…

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    "Salvation,"an essay by Langston Hughes about his experiences of seeking and losing his faith in Jesus as well as religion. The essay serves as Hughes observations on his expectations and disappointments on the topic of religion as a whole. The irony in title to the final line of the essay features the central subject of the paper: expectation and disappointment. In order to make this happen, many writing styles and techniques were used. Two of those techniques are the use of subordination and dramatically short sentences.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When we think of a hero we usually think of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman because these are modern versions of power, strength, and justice that we see today. Heroes are often characterized as huge, strong people that help you when you are in need. The epic poem Beowulf describes an Anglo-Saxon hero with all of the qualities that a true hero has: strength, courage and determination. The language, ideas and traditions of the poem do belong in the middles ages, but as a work of art it's still relevant to us today because we get to learn from it.. The poem reveals to us the wonders of human imagination such as heros, monsters, epic battles…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Freedom can be seen throughout collection 2 of our textbook. The idea of freedom can be found in the “I Have a Dream speech” by Martin Luther King Jr. The idea of freedom is also found in “from Cairo: My City, Our Revolution” by Ahdaf Soueif. Another selection that the idea of freedom can be found in is “The Censors” by Luisa Valenzuela.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Force has been used in many wuhuj8ays but many people either abuse it or know when to use it. In “The Use of Force” by William Carlos Williams, the author characterizes how the doctor uses force on a sick girl who refuses to be evaluated. William Carlos William uses theme, characterization, and characteristics to define, describe, and identify each char7-pp;acter in the story. The theme in the story was a dark and suspenseful place. Not in a way to where things would be scary or anything but in a way where you wouldn't know what was going to happen next.…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jacques Prévert 's poem, "to portray a bird" gives unrealistic instructions on the steps to create a painting of a bird. Prévert lived from 1900 to 1977 and this poem was written in 1946 which is part of the "Words" collection. The poem is a version of poetry, written in free verse with six stanzas that contain different lengths of words. The poem uses simple language and most verbs are written in the infinitive. The poem places emphasis on the subject of the painting rather than how to create the painting.…

    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When facing adversity people either have positive or negative feeling about the outcome. They are either optimistic or pessimistic. In the past, African Americans were under oppression and often expressed their feelings about the future through literature. In his poem, “The White House”, Claude McKay talks about adversity that he has faced trying to fit in the society while Langston Hughes, in his poem “I Too Sing America”, states that he feels that he is an American. While both poems talk about hardships that African Americans face, they contrast in authors’ views of African Americans in the society.…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Real Paper Who knew that after Mrs.Jones almost had her pocket book stolen that she would be so kind to Roger still. In the story,“ Thank you Ma’am”, by Langston Hughes, Mrs.Luella Bates Washington Jones, the protagonist, is a Kind-Hearted woman. Mrs.Jones is a kind-hearted woman because she took care of Rogers needs, she wanted people to change, she wants people to learn a lesson. Mrs.Jones is a Kind-Hearted woman to Roger, because she wanted Roger to learn a lesson, especially when they’re on the street.…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays