The poem begins with an end-stopped line. The next four sentences are end-stopped lines, as well. These sentences end with periods; when ending a sentence with a period, Cummings emphasizes the sentence and makes the reader reflect on what he or she has read. Use of periods is uncommon for Cummings, who tends to use unique punctuation at seemingly random times. These sentences appear to be straightforward, displaying how Cummings wants the diction to speak rather than the punctuation. The speaker goes on to say, “i like what it does, / i like its hows” (Cumming l. 4-5). By using a comma to separate two independent clauses, Cummings breaks grammar rules. When reading the line, the reader does not stop and reflect after the first clause, but rather, …show more content…
Commas are placed throughout the poem to make the reader pause, stimulating the way a person would pause when discovering someone’s body for the first time. Hyphens are also used in the poem. The hyphens are not accompanied by spaces, reiterating the hurriedness that Cummings wants to portray. By connecting the words trembling, firm, and smooth with a hyphen, these characteristics are connected, adding layers to his diction (since trembling and firm are opposing descriptions). Additionally, when the speaker says, “what-is-it” (Cummings l. 11), the hyphens make the phrase sound like one word which makes the reader say it quickly. Saying things quickly is a result of being excited, which is the emotion that the speaker feels. After the speaker discovers the “over parting flesh” (Cummings l. 12), there is an ellipse. Ellipses are usually used when a person takes an extended pause or loses his or her train of thought. In this instance, the speaker is mesmerized by the “parting flesh” of the woman; so much so that he cannot speak
In The Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne efficiently conveys his purpose to the audience through the use of numerous rhetorical devices in his novel. Two such rhetorical strategies Hawthorne establishes to convey his purpose of informing the audience of valuable life lessons in The Scarlet Letter are characterization and the theme of duality.
Ulf Kirchdorfer, "A Rose for Emily: Will the Real Mother Please Stand Up?” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, 10/2016, Volume 29, Issue 4, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0895769X.2016.1222578
Poems are unique in that there are no set rules for how they are formatted (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). Poems may rhyme, or not. They can be presented in a narrative or lyrical format. The use of proper punctuation can be omitted such as periods, commas, or question marks (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). The use of punctuation or lack there of, brings into play the use of enjambment, which is another term for what is commonly known in poetry as run-on lines (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). If a poem is considered more proper and the author wants the reader to clearly understand how a line in the poem is read, the use of punctuation such as commas and periods are used to stress this point. This style is commonly known as end-stopped lines. (Kirszner
Demeter the daughter of Cronus and Rhea was the goddess of harvest and fertility. The poet, Edith Hamilton, reveals the sorrow of a mother who has lost a child in the mythical "Demeter." The speaker laments on the consequences the natural cycles will receive due to this suffering Demeter is experiencing. Edith uses imagery of dry land and loss to express the agony a mother endures when losing a child. Furthermore, the speaker uses allusion to explain the consequences the society is suffering.
In William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily”, readers are introduced to Emily Grierson whose character was highly respected in her society but for some mysterious reason fell off the grid. The other people in her community became curious as to what was going on in her life and any effort to find out the truth had proved to be futile. This journal seeks to show the narrator’s view of the Miss Emily’s story, as the narrator would refer to her due to the first person plural point of view the story was written in. Consequently, the sense in telling the story should be noted, as denoted by the title and why he would constantly use “we instead of “I”. Furthermore, the journal shall assess the effects on the overall story and the character of the narrator.
There are some literary devices or methods that can be applied in analyzing a given story that can either be short or long. Other aspects include literary devices, contrast, repetition, and anomalies (Wallek and Warren, 1956). In this task, I will use the short story, The First Day, which is written by Edward P. Jones. I will provide a summary of the story and later analyze it by identifying the devices used and how they have been applied to bring out the meaning of the story. The story is about a little girl seeing her mother as a flawed woman. The first day of school or the young girl, she found out her mother is not perfect. It’s not easy when you grew up expecting something, but after a while you find out the opposite is completely right.
In his poem "l(a", the words are arranged in such a way that they are falling down the page. He only puts several letters of each word on a line and then continues to spell the word down the page. The main focus of the poem is about loneliness and the words almost appear to be "lonely." He uses parentheses around the phrase "a leaf falls," which appears in the middle of the poem. The remaining letters in the poem spell "loneliness." When these are placed together in the same poem, it creates an effect that there is a leaf falling from a tree to the ground where it will be lonely because it will be separated from the tree. Cummings emphasizes the image of being alone or aloof by using two versions of the word one. On the first line, he uses the letter "l," which also looks like the number "1." On ...
Organization is a key element in Frazier's and Oliver's work, as it works directly to set the tone, as well as acting as a symbol of nature. Charles Frazier writes in long, descriptive sentences and paragraphs. These, along with the carefully chosen words in the smooth sentences, create a relaxing, peaceful tone and feel to the story. This tone reflects on the symbolic part of structure; that nature works in smooth, careful ways; everything is planned. On the other hand, Oliver writes in broken, choppy sentences, often breaking in the middle and resuming the next line down. This makes for a mysterious, erratic tone towards nature, as well as the blue heron. The blue heron, in this poem, acts rigidly and harshly in movement (as reflected by the short, fragmented sentences), while in Cold Mountain, the heron is smooth and graceful. Punctuation also adds to tone with respect to the blue heron. In Cold Mountain, the paragraphs often end in ways such as "after a deep reflection..." and "coming up short...." These rounds out the passages, allowing them to come to a gradual close instead of short, abrupt finishes to the sentences. This affects the tone of the passage as well as relates to the author's attitude towards the heron. In this passage, the heron moves slowly and steadily, with no abrupt motions, leading to a smooth and constant tone. However, the poem ends all sentences with a...
The sentences within both the dialogue and the the monologue usually end in a period, with quite a decent amount of commas in the sentences themselves. This does deviate at points, as there are question marks obviously for the sake of asking questions. Exclamation points are however extremely scarce in the book. “Mary Anne,” he whispered. “I can’t find her.” (O’Brien 95). Even when the characters are at points of high tension, O’Brien still uses periods. For a war story, this may seem rather strange at first glance, as the situation the characters are in is usually one of high action. When you think about this specific facet of the syntax of the book a little deeper, it makes sense that O’Brien would choose to use primarily periods. O’Brien’s punctuation and sentence structure both tie into what makes the book easily readable and enticing. By using a majority of short sentences with mainly periods, the flow of each of the war stories is consistent, and the suspense is maintained by unveiling the plot piece by piece. “Even in the dim light it was clear that the boy was in trouble. There were dark smudges under his eyes, the frayed edges of someone who hadn’t slept in awhile” (O’Brien 95). There is nothing particularly interesting about the structure or punctuation of these sentence, and yet, the content remains interesting because O’Brien is building up the plot to the next couple of lines.
... 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.
This creates very subtle emphases on words, giving a very different feel to the poem from what would be there if it was removed. The most common technique is enjambment; a line without any terminating punctuation at the end of the line, "running on" to the next, and creating an emphasis on the words at the end of the first and start of the second lines. This is used on the very first line: "[...] the ridge emerges massed and DUN / in the WILD PURPLE [...]" (emphasis mine) to create effect on the word "dun", which is a strong juxtaposition against the "wild purple" of the next line; this effect conveys the sense of chaos and contrast. This already strong effect is enhanced significantly by the emphasis the enjambment creates. The punctuation, however, can also create strong effects on its own, as in "Men jostle and climb to, meet the bristling fire." The comma in the middle of this line affects the rhythm of this line, creating a short pause, which almost causes suspense in that short instant, and mirrors the actual rhythm of what 's being described; this combination of multiple effects is used all throughout by Sassoon 's use of punctuation, and to great effect; it creates a very strong, lasting
Dickinson’s over abundant use of the hyphen is to put more voice into, to let the public know it’s her voice, technically being her “signature” as Kamilla Denman states. However, many conclude that the use of the hyphen signifies stress, which is considered to be a “female habit” (Denman). On the other hand, this poem uses the hyphen to enable a certain pause after each line to enhance the depth of her writing or message. In essence with that statement, the hyphen is just “as important as a period” since it does strengthen the psychological themes and moral of this
Sylvia Plath uses a diverse array of stylistic devices in "Lady Lazarus," among them allusion,
The average reader cannot help but be affected by Dickinson’s style. The capitalized words draw the reader’s attention. They highlight important key words of the poem. The dashes set apart specific words and phrases, forcing the reader to slow down while reading. The dashes compel the reader to contemplate and ponder over the lines. Thus, whether or not Dickinson had a conscious purpose in her unconventional capitalization and punctuation, they have an undeniable effect on the rhythm of the poem and the perception of the reader.
There is a pattern of stressed sounds such as “I”, “light”, and “spent” as well as unstressed such as “when”, “my”, and “is” that are all taken from the first line of the poem. Through the entire poem there is a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, five stressed and five unstressed on each line, creating an iambic pentameter. Through the use of iambic pentameter Milton shows, his great ability and talent to write poems.