Shakespeare's Use Of Visual Imagery And Figure Of Speech In Poetry

Decent Essays
Poems can be interpreted in many different ways, and that’s the beauty of them. Not two people reading the same poem will have the same exact thoughts about what is happening. Many poets show the themes of their poems through the use of visual imagery and figures of speech. Presenting a poem in this way puts the theme in a position where it barely gets mentioned of, and without even noticing, you understand the theme better than ever. Poets get the reader to recognize the poem’s visual imagery and figures of speech used, and how much an important part they play, as seen in William Shakespeare’s [Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?], Emily Dickinson’s [Because I could not stop for Death-], and Dorothy Parker’s ‘One Perfect Rose’. …show more content…
In opening lines of this poem he starts to answer this question through the use of metaphors. This figure of speech is used all throughout the poem to show how beautiful this person is and how, “But thy eternal summer shall never fade”, he will always be young in Shakespeare’s eyes. Here, we soon come to find out that he’s addressing a man and find the theme of the poem, beauty and everlasting love. Personification is used as well, “Rough winds shake the darling buds of May”, in many parts of this poem to enhance the theme. Following this the tone of the poem shifts. Then we begin to recognize towards the end of the poem is, that Shakespeare is telling himself that the love he feels for this man will never die because he is writing about …show more content…
The speaker never gets a name whereas the character ‘Death’ is given one. Dickenson does this to emphasize the overall theme of the poem, which is the acceptance of death. This poem is regarding how the speaker feels when ‘Death’ comes to her house and leads her to her grave. The speaker speaks throughout the poem from her tombstone. One example of a very short poem, but one that gets across the theme quite accurately through the use of symbolism, is in Dorothy Parker’s , “One perfect rose” poem. The theme of irony is prominent all over. This poem gets going almost like any other love poem, but it’s not. It’s not until the very last stanza do we realize she has been misleading the reader. Where she says “One perfect rose”, the use of symbolism makes the theme of the poem come together. The tone shifts at the end when you realize she doesn’t want a rose anymore. The speaker mentions a ‘limousine’ almost mocking the men that always give her the same thing. Visual imagery and figures of speech help bring together theme without obviously stating it. Shakespeare does this through the use of metaphors and personification. Dickinson accomplishes this by using personification and alliteration. Parker execute this ultimately through

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