Speaker for the Dead

wind is a powerful force that seems to travel on forever. A metaphor also compares the speaker to “the diamond glints of snow” (4). The image of diamonds twinkling over vast snow seems like it spans on forever.…

In the poem Wisteria Vines, the speaker uses the motif of beauty springing from ugliness from The Bean Trees to communicate the theme of the importance of family and community, emphasizing how family, regardless of how atypical it may be, is necessary to "bloom" into something beautiful. This concept is stressed in the final stanza of the poem, when the speaker states, “The rhizobia are not actually a part of the plant, but they always live with the legumes: a kind of underground railroad moving…

An Ouija board is a “game board” that is used to communicate with spirits. Why would someone want to communicate with spirits? In Sylvia Plath’s case, to connect with her dead father and ultimately with herself. Sylvia wrote the poem, Ouija, after getting involved with dark magic through her husband. In the end, dark magic is what killed her, although her death is viewed as suicide. She was once innocent but then dark spirits and her husband changed her. Darkness was what Sylvia sought and due…

before extending outward to the cold surroundings of a winters day in Dublin, reflections on death, and the eventual return to the house in which the Speaker resides. The tone is observational and there is no rhyme scheme, which reflects the mundane, repetitive…

Died” show a distinct different tone. For instance in the beginning of “fly buzz..”, the fly can be related to the “lord of the flies” or the devil. Thus symbolizing the speakers struggle at some point. “Between the light and me” suggests that the speaker is on their way to eternity. Whereas in “Because I could not stop..”, the speaker talks about the calm experience she endured on her way to her grave. In one poem the symbol of death is fearful and in the other is very peaceful. In the poem…

(Bloom 37). “Neutral Tones” includes Hardy’s predictable references to God, gloom, and distaste for a relationship. In the poem, the speaker reminisces about standing next to a pond on a winter day with a lover from years ago. The speaker’s choice of wording throughout the poem leads the reader to believe that the relationship grew burdensome and dull for the speaker, and consequently resulted in a depressing and hurtful ending (Artscolumbia).…

Love has always been a controversial topic between men and women. Analyzing Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem, “My Letters! All Dead Paper” and Andrew Marvell’s, “To His Coy Mistress,” men and women vary in some expectations about love. Marvell’s character focuses on convincing the mistress to make love with him; Browning’s character is reviewing the letters from her lover and having reactions on the paper’s words. It is also important to pay close attention to the words used in Marvell’s poem…

two, making use of the words "chap" and "larking", as the speaker explains that the man they knew was always a happy one. Because of this dead man's seemingly optimistic nature, no one believed that he would be drowning. Furthermore, the stanza suggests that those who are suffering often hide behind acted and practiced emotions. The two different stanzas seem to come from two different speakers. The speaker of the first stanza presents the dead man "moaning" in an everlasting pain. The following…

underlying theme in “Advice to My Son” by Peter Meinke and “Elegy to My Father, Who is Not Dead” by Andrew Hudgins. Although death will eventually come, there is a time to live and a time to say good-bye. Family is a major component, especially the relationships between father and son, in the matters of life and death between these two poems. Notably, family plays a big part in the beginning and end of life. The speaker in Meinke’s poem has a plan for the future of life. The father is telling…

wellbeing of the victim. Elliot Moss has made the speaker of the song to be suffering from their depression. The narrator speaks defeatedly towards their depression, who is consequently their antagonist. The defeated tone is formed from their depression, which is creating excessive internal conflict the outside world cannot view. One-way Elliot Moss illustrates the conflict is by a figurate river which carries him downstream. Then, the speaker states, “Here comes the part where I drown” (“I…