In poetry, it is important to be meticulous of your punctuation. By doing this, the flow of the poem will be clearer and better understood by the reader. Not only is this significant in a writer’s work, but the use of other literary devices, such as description and personification, is also necessary in conveying the thoughts of a poem. There authors, Elise Hempel, Brian Simoneau, and Peter Munro, from the Valparaiso Poetry Review use these literary devices to their advantage to effectively portray the messages of their seasoned poems. While the length of a poem can be significant in how well it portrays the message of the poem, a long poem is not always the most effective. In Elise Hempel’s poem “Mosaic”, Hempel expresses her thoughts within three, four-lined stanzas. Her thoughts are short, yet concise and to the point. Within the poem, she describes the scene of a child making a mosaic piece and placing herself into the picture. She begins with a descriptions of the scenery that clearly defines where the overall poem will take place. Hempel writes, “That little island with a single palm-tree / (its cluster of coconuts that never fell)…” (1-2). Instantly, the reader imagining his or herself into the scene. Hempel uses this classic, desolate island to her advantage, noting that many of her readers are already familiar …show more content…
In his poem “Observants,” Munro describes the ever unavoidable winter. He begins his poem with, “Light snags frost as it edges into winter, / dragging glint and spark along pavements embossed / with ice…” (1-3). Here, he incorporates the personification of an otherwise lifeless object, drawing the reader in with just the first sentence alone. By making the light have qualities of an animate object, Munro gives it a personality that the reader can hang onto. With this type of description, the reader is now more engaged than simply saying “the light reflects off the
Authors use many different types of imagery in order to better portray their point of view to a reader. This imagery can depict many different things and often enhances the reader’s ability to picture what is occurring in a literary work, and therefore is more able to connect to the writing. An example of imagery used to enhance the quality of a story can be found in Leyvik Yehoash’s poem “Lynching.” In this poem, the imagery that repeatably appears is related to the body of the person who was lynched, and the various ways to describe different parts of his person. The repetition of these description serves as a textual echo, and the variation in description over the course of the poem helps to portray the events that occurred and their importance from the author to the reader. The repeated anatomic imagery and vivid description of various body parts is a textual echo used by Leyvik Yehoash and helps make his poem more powerful and effective for the reader and expand on its message about the hardship for African Americans living
Good poetry provides meaningful commentary. One indication of a poem’s success in this is the depth of thought the reader has as a result of the poem. The poems I anthologized may take different
As characters in the poem are literally snow bound, they find that the natural occurrence actually serves a relaxing and warming purpose, one that brings together family. This effect is further achieved through the use of meter throughout the work as a whole. In its simplistic yet conversational tone, the author uses meter to depict the result that nature has forced upon these humans, who are but a small sample size that actually is representative of society that that time. Due to nature, the characters can talk, represented by the conversational meter, and thus, they can bond within the family. A larger representation of this more specific example can be applied to a more general perspective of human’s relationship with the natural world. Although “Snowbound” captures what humans do as a result of nature, it can also represent a larger picture, where nature appears at the most opportune times to enhance relationships from human to human. In “snowbound,” this is symbolized by the fire, “Our warm hearth seemed blazing free” (Whittier 135). This image relays a spirited, warm, mood full of security, which is expertly used by the author to show how fire, a natural phenomena, can provide such beneficial effects on humans. This very occurrence exemplifies how such a miniscule aspect of nature can have such a profound effect on a family, leaving the reader wondering what nature and its entirety could accomplish if used as a
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
In the poem written by Emily Dickinson, Because I could not stop for Death, the author uses many poetic devices to strengthen the power and quality of the poem. To define, a poetic device is a type of tool that can enhance the quality and meaning of a poem. Poetic devices complete a poem and allow for coherence. Dickinson uses a number of poetic devices in Because I could not stop for Death, which include personification and imagery. Personification means to give human attributes and character traits to non-humans. Dickinson uses the tool of personification in her poem when she writes, “We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain” (807). Grain cannot gaze as it is not living, so this is an example of personification. Another example of personification
John Riquelme’s essay For Whom the Snow Taps: Style and Repetition in “The Dead” proposes two possible interpretations of the story. The essay describes the variations of meaning behind the recurring thematic purpose of the story, but even more so, points out the repetition of the symbol of snow. Focusing mainly on the celebrated last passage of the story, Riquelme harps on the transformat...
As we can gather from the examples, Gwen Harwood uses language to create dynamic backgrounds and images to subtly delineate the changes experienced by the persona in the poems. Sometimes the characters themselves are not aware of these changes but the readers are able to appreciate them with the aid of skill Harwood posses in using language to such great measures.
And this is where we start with our image. Then Oliver adds, “began here this morning and all day” (2-3) which immediately changes your image to this beginning of the day where the snow is only just starting to fall. Also, Oliver seems to personify the snow by saying “it’s white rhetoric everywhere”(4-5) by giving the sense of knowledge to the snow. Oliver is showing this knowledge that the snow has by playing with this word “rhetoric” meaning having the art of persuasive speaking, so it shows how this snow is grabbing our attention. And then it continues with “calling us back to why, how, whence such beauty and what the meaning;” (6-8) this changes your image of snow greatly to making you think of snow as a greater power leading you to seek questions. This is an automatic change from snow to self. Then it transitions back to the focus back on snow, “flowing past windows,” (9-10) and you are then again transferred back to this image of snow fluttering through the wind, but you also have your thoughts of the unknown and you are relating it to the snow all of this unknown is just floating
In any discussion of poetry vs. prose worth it's stanzas, questions regarding such tools as meter, rhyme, and format must come into play. These are, after all, the most obvious distinguishing features of poetry, and they must certainly be key in determining the definition, and in fact nature, of poetry.
Poetry, a specific type of literature, contains the thoughts, feelings, and ideas of an author in the form of rhythms or particular styles. These styles can be formal or personalized to the author's will. Some of the most important tools used to shape a work of literature are the literary devices. Works of literature are like works of art. A sketch is simply a sketch until colored and given vibrancy. Works of literature are just words on a page until literary devices give them life. Tone, metaphors, and diction are some of the tools that give depth to a piece. These tools create images and feelings in which the audience can connect to. Michael Heffernan, a renowned poet of the 20th century, has his own particular style. His poem, Living Room, is a relaxed piece. Specific literary elements in this poem unfold a whole story in only a few short lines. Michael Heffernan uses tone and point of view to create the short story in this poem a depiction of real life.
... is shown moreover through these pauses. We also see that he places question marks at the end of sentences, which is another way he is showing us the uncertainty in the voice of society. Through his punctuation and word placement, we clearly see the voice of society in his poem, but in a way that tells us not to conform to it.
Throughout history, poets had experimented with different forms of figurative language. Figurative language allows a poet to express his or her meaning within a poem. The beauty of using the various forms of figurative language is the ability to convey deep meaning in a condensed fashion. There are many different figures of speech that a poet can use such as: simile, paradox, metaphor, alliteration, and anaphora. These examples only represent a fraction of the different forms, but are amongst the most well-known. The use of anaphora in a poem, by a poet, is one of the best ways to apply weight or emphasis on a particular segment. Not only does an anaphora place emphasis, but it can also aid in setting the tone, or over all “feel” a reader receives from a poem. Poets such as Walt Whitman, Conrad Aiken, and Frances Osgood provide poems that show how the use of anaphora can effect unity, feeling, and structure of a poem.
By using onomatopoeia, description, and dialogue each poet argues their subject or theme. Although each poet does not write about the same subject or theme they each use the literary device effectively to help support their poem. By using each literary device in different context the poets show the many different styles when writing poetry. Each poet uses the literary devices efficiently to help their overall message in each poem.
...oes hand in hand with the structure of the poem as well; bringing about a certain rhythm through punctuation and line breaks. It is this rhythm brings out the repetition and clash of elements especially with parentheses, which allows us to look at the element of starvation while considering the reaction of the press.
In conclusion the two things that Emily Dickinson uses is personification and extended metaphor. She uses these things in order to make the reader think of the poems deeper