Style guide

Jeffers uses a paradoxical style in his poem “Fire on the Hills” to decipher free will as an unreal idea where fate truly controls one's destiny. Whereas Henley uses a more euphonic rhythm to his dark imagery and metaphor to express the idea of fate being more of an obstacle in life…

Allison Krug Prof. Irving 1 May 2017 Figures of Speech in To a Wasp and The Writer Figures of speech are a commonly used type of literary device. They bring a story to life and give it that extra "spark" to enhance its meaning, opening new layers. Another use is to help the reader to better clarify the material and give emphasis on what they have read. The poems To a Wasp and The Writer, provide vivid and powerful examples of similes and metaphors, which literally “build” the poems. This…

The idea of loss is prevalent in both “Stop all the Clocks” by W.H Auden and “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath. Auden employs the narrative voice of a distraught partner to reveal the travesty of death and the consuming emotions which accompany the devastation of physical a loss, whereas, Plath depicts the symbolic loss of identity through the inevitable process of ageing as told from the narration of a mirror. The initial stanza of Auden’s “Stop all the Clocks” introduces the idea of loss by allowing…

In the short story “White Trash Primer”, by Lacy M. Johnson, a young woman undergoes drastic changes and hardships throughout her life. The literary technique used in this story is primarily voice. The story is told in a unique point of view as it allows the reader to go through the hardships that the narrator is going through. Rather than using first person or third person, she uses second person point of view. This type of literary technique allows the readers to vividly see through the lens…

The passage “The Interrogators” is a short extract from “Our Flowers & Nice Bones”, written by Christopher Middleton. It describes a cold, isolated village, apparent suffering from the aftermath of conflict. The village is likely in a Northern, Eastern-European country, due to its weather and inhabitants. The passage follows two interrogators and their search for a secret thought to be kept by the town. Their goal is met with resistance from the residents. This resistance is due to obvious…

“The Bluest Eyes”, written by Toni Morrison, is a novel about young African American girls as they struggle with self identification and self love. This story talks about their constant battles with society's standards, and how they must overcome different forms of adversity. Throughout the novel there is the constant theme of beauty, and how beauty plays a major role on the lives of those young girls. Beauty, and its many different effects on people's’ lives can be seen through literary…

The Industrial Revolution was not a very easy time period for workers in England. They did not get paid very much, and they were not able to go outside very much either. All they did was stand up and do whatever they were told to do by their overseer. Whether it was making shoes or making coats, these children were forced into labor, and suffered greatly from it. The poem “The Cry of the Children” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning tells the reader how hard children have it when working at a factory.…

In, “Grandfather,” by Gary Soto, the author uses imagery of the tree over the years, symbolism of the avocado tree, and negative connotation to convey a theme of growing up and the passage of time. This passage follows the journey of the speaker’s grandfather’s avocado tree relating to his own life. The first literary device used to show passage of time is imagery and symbolism. In the passage, Soto says, “His favorite tree, the avocado, which had started in a jam jar from a seed and three…

Robert Frost is known for his poetry with underlying themes that seem very complex but, are in fact very simple to understand if you just put in a little work. In 1916 the poet wrote the poem The Road Not Taken. When you first look at the work it seems very short and very unintresting it just seems like your average ABAAB poem. What truly sets his works apart is how he uses an underlying metaphor which is hidden within his poetry to tell the reader the true meaning of the poem so that for those…

Vladimir Nabokov’s Speak, Memory is a novel written with symbolism, imagery, and metaphoric language. He writes his novel in a detail orientated structure with each chapter separated into sections. This shows us that Nabokov is a detail orientated person and wants his reader to understand his thought process throughout the novel. An example of Nabokov using such imagery and symbolism is when he writes about his bedtime ritual. Nabokov starts off by saying, “I next see my mother leading…