“Apparently with no surprise” by Emily Dickinson presents the trials and tribulations that a flower must overcome if it is to survive. Dickinson creates a microcosm of the real world and a deep ecological study of human kind. Her word choice betrays a hidden disdain for human beings egotistical aims.
Dickinson tucks away a series of morose words in every line with the exception of line four. One must first examine the word choice of the first word and the first line. The use of the word “Apparently” creates a standard for irony and sardonicism that is seen throughout the poem. The scenario constructed leads the audience to presuppose that an entity such as the flower should necessarily face such perils. When in fact the connotative effect is the exact opposite. If one continues down the poem to the next line she projects human emotions upon the flower when she seemingly exclaims that it is a “happy” flower. This provides an additional example of embedded irony in that the plant is being fraught with challenges yet it is happy. The projection also depicts human kinds adept ability ...
The first poem in the fascicle, “I dreaded that first Robin so”, shows us a Dickinson who is intimidated by even the most harmless creatures in the world around her. Despite the title she gives herself, “The Queen of Calvary”, her fears seem to hinge on a feeling of inferiority to these small harbingers of spring (24). The first chirp of the robin holds some awful power, while the daffodils become fashionable critics of Dickinson’s simplicity. These comparisons set Dickinson up as someone very small and “childish”—she cannot even stand up to birds and flowers without fear of being exposed to them and found lacking (26). The next poem, “I would not paint—a picture—” continues this idea, but with a slightly more pleasant spin. While somewhat paradoxically rejecting the idea of making art herself (even devoting a stanza to why she should not write poetry), she gives a sense of the exhilaration she finds in being the audience for any kind of art. Ultimately,...
On the surface the poem seems to be a meditation on past events and actions, a contemplative reflection about what has gone on before. Research into the poem informs us that the poem is written with a sense of irony
The relationship between the irony and personification that the poet applied is that he is mocking the “mud-pools” (10) that can give light indicates that there is hope even in the darkest moment. However, in his next line he states: “A way of life is in decline,” (11). Presumably, his health is deteriorating and with the mockery, he cannot see that glimmer of hope. Which then follows with his application of personification, the poet realizes that: “And only those who lived it know / What it is time overwhelms, / While they must gradually let go.” (12-14).
In the poem the teacher points out mistakes such as the student’s thinking, his style of writing the paper and his grammar errors. The teacher said, “there are spots/where your thinking becomes, for me, / alarmingly opaque, and you syntax/seems to jump backwards through unnecessary hoops,” (6-9). This instance shows the error the teacher found in the paper about how the student’s thinking was not straight and would jump backwards and forward throughout the poem. Another error that the teacher finds is when the teacher tells the student that he should have wrote the paper differently or said something else. The teacher said, “I’d have said it differently, / or rather, said something else” (17-18). This instance shows that the teacher is not happy about the way the student has written he paper and tells him that he should have wrote it differently. Another instance where the teacher finds mistake in the paper is when the teacher fixes the students semicolons mistake in the paper. The teacher says, “Please notice how I’ve repaired your/ use of semicolons.”(28).This instance shows that the teacher found a mistake of semicolons, which the student did not use correctly in the paper. However, even after finding all these mistakes the teacher gives A- as an overall grade to the student. This is an example of an irony that shows that the teacher not only gave negative comments to the student, but after giving negative comments
The late president John F. Kennedy once said, “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” Although many may find comfort by endorsing conformity, some may disagree and think otherwise. President JFK highlighted his point of view by describing conformity as the enemy of a liberal and advanced society. In order to shed a better light onto conformity, we ought to ask ourselves questions like, why do most of us submit to the power of conformity? How does conformity shape our personal lives and our society? And most importantly the consequences that may reflect on our lives if we decided to go against conformity. In her poem, Emily Dickinson, “Much Madness is Divinest Sense” attempted to send a powerful message about conformity.
Lines 1-3 in the first stanza is the first introduction of irony. Williams introduces the painting and the scene it is displaying, the fall of Icarus. Although the fall of Icarus is supposed to be a dark, tragic story, Williams informs the reader that it is Spring which is connected with happiness, new life, and the idea that nature that is forever continuing. In the third stanza, lines 7-9, Williams is describing the landscape as “awake tingling near”. This makes the readers feel like this day is fresh and full of life, when ironically this is a poem of a tragic death. In the fifth stanza, Williams is passively describing how Icarus fell to his death, “sweating in the sun that melted the wings wax.” The sun is what caused the wings’ wax to melt, ironically the thing that gives life caused Icarus’s death. In the last two stanzas, lines 16-21, Williams is referencing Icarus’s death as an insignificant thing, but in entirety it is a turn from the rest of the poem. The irony is in the actuality that at the beginning of the poem Williams paints an image of spring, the birth of a new life, but that image is unexpectedly interrupted by death; a depressed and gloomy
The poem describes Richard Corey as a young, handsome, and fit gentlemen in the town. He was believed to be superior to most gentlemen in town and walked as the perfect man. However in the end of the poem he commits suicide. “One calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head” (line 16) is a perfect example of verbal irony. In this point of the poem the reader must be shocked by what has occurred. The verbal irony is presented when the poet mentions the act of suicide. In the beginning he is a description of perfectibility, but towards the end he commits suicide. The irony here is how does a man commit suicide with a perfect
"The Yellow Violet" vividly expresses the nature of life in a very simple way. Bryant takes the cycle of a yellow violet and uses it to describe the humanistic world around him. It is very clever, too, that when he does this, he uses personification. A "modest flower" (2674) pops out from the dark, damp leaves below and "[makes] the woods of April bright" (2675). While the rest of the forests and fields go on with their life cycle this tiny flower does itsí best to make things pretty and happy. The persona describes this sight as an "early smile" (2675) and that is what kept a smile on his own face. Even the various blooms and colors that surface in May are not as joyful because when the violet blooms, it is the first color you see after a long winter of gray. This modesty of the meek flower is compared to that of a person. It's usually the poorer, less known people in the world that are the ones who really cheer you up. They will never let you down. As the persona in the poem points out, "So they, who climb to wealth, forget" (2675). This is the most important line of the entire poem. It is basically saying that those who are wrapped up in material things are just th...wrapped up. They are not dependable. Thus, the yellow violet is the modest person, which are far and few, who you can always count on to stand by you in the end and brighten up your day. This is the illustration of the nature of life.
Jackson, Shirley. "Flower Garden." Introduction to Literature: Reading, Analyzing, and Writing. 2nd ed. Ed. Dorothy U.Seyler and Richard A. Wilan. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1990.
Although imagery and symbolism does little to help prepare an expected ending in “The Flowers” by Alice Walker, setting is the singular element that clearly reasons out an ending that correlates with the predominant theme of how innocence disappears as a result of facing a grim realism from the cruel world. Despite the joyous atmosphere of an apparently beautiful world of abundant corn and cotton, death and hatred lies on in the woods just beyond the sharecropper cabin. Myop’s flowers are laid down as she blooms into maturity in the face of her fallen kinsman, and the life of summer dies along with her innocence. Grim realism has never been so cruel to the innocent children.
Alliteration is a key aspect to how the reader experiences the poem; it especially gives interest toward alliteration of the letter T. This alliteration begins in the very first line “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-” (1.1). The alliteration on the T is used three times within the first line; however, it does not stop there. Dickinson uses the “T” sound to continually draw back to the theme of truth. Dickinson, through the use of two stanzas, four lines each, uses quite a distinct rhyme scheme to organize her poem. The second and fourth lines of each stanza are clearly examples of end rhyme, by using words such as “lies” (1.2) and “surprise” (1.4). However, every single line is not an example of end rhyme. The first and third lines rhyme words such as “slant” (1.1) and “delight” (1.3); which can be described as near rhymes for they give a small sensation of rhyming. This rhyming pattern continues for the second stanza as well. The sequence of rhyming is not arbitrarily put into practice, rather, it also adds on to the truth theme. The near rhymes Dickinson stresses to not tell the truth in its entirety, but rather, convey a little bit of truth. This is being directly compared to the almost rhyming sensatio...
The irony in this poem is the main plot of the poem. A man has taken a
The main characteristic of Romanticism that Emily Dickinson portrays in her writing is the emphases of the importance of Nature to the Romantics. In most of her poems there is some mention or comparison to something found in Nature. In Poem 449, she refers to the moss that covers the names on the graves of the tombstones of “Beauty” and “Truth.” The Puritans believed Nature to be the realm of the devil. By including references to Nature in many of her poems, she was rebelling against the ideals of the Puritan upbringing she had hated so much.
but had left because she did not like the religious environment. For a woman of
Dickinson, Emily. "The World is not Conclusion." Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.h. Abrams. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc, 1993. 729.