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Why is figurative language important in poetry
Essay for figurative language
Essay for figurative language
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Power of Words
“The Hospital Window” by James Dickey is an emotional poem about a son’s struggle to cope with his father’s imminent demise. This poem incorporates figurative language as well as metaphors that create a story of emotion. It evokes such true emotion by drawing the reader into the fidelity of the relationship between a son and his father faced with the reality of death. Not only death in a physical sense, but also the journey one takes to reach that point and the transcendence of faith. Each element of the poem is a cliffhanger for the next line, resulting in a read that sparks the true creative power of the readers’ mind.
A son who is visiting his father in the hospital narrates the poem. In the beginning of the poem, the reader is greeted by the line “I have just come down from my father”(Dickey line 1). This stanza leads into the nature of the poem. It can be interpreted that the son is grieving and that “coming down” is a metaphor for the son’s belief that his father has reached a spiritual point, and is starting to rise above him, as if reaching the afterlife in heaven. This can only be deducted after grasping the style of the poem. Upon first read, the reader would simply deduce the stanza’s literal meaning: the son has gone down an elevator and is now on the street. After further observation, it should be noted that the same line that begins the poem also ends it, which confirms the writer’s intention for it to be figurative.
The poem focuses on the son’s feelings and thoughts as he is looking up at what he perceives to be his father’s hospital window. The second stanza concretes the literal foundation for the poem—the son is despondent about the gravity of the situation revolving around his father’s cond...
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... not afraid for his life, because he knows that through this religious experience, he will have the same fate as his father. It is like his father is already in heaven and reaching out to his son, letting him know that everything is going to be okay.
Dickey is a mastermind at truly evoking mental images and feedback from the reader through his brilliant writing style. By the end of the poem, the reader has felt as if he or her has ridden on a roller coaster of a keen portrayal of the reality of death, the sentiment felt by those left behind by the dead, and also the power of faith. The ending line of the poem now makes sense to the reader. The son has come down from his father. He has accepted the fact that his father will die and can now be at peace with it.
Works Cited
Dickey, James. Drowning with Others. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan UP, 1962.
Print. 75-76
The poem starts out with the daughter 's visit to her father and demand for money; an old memory is haunting the daughter. feeding off her anger. The daughter calls the father "a ghost [who] stood in [her] dreams," indicating that he is dead and she is now reliving an unpleasant childhood memory as she stands in front of his
In this poem, the speaker’s encounter with death is similar to a courtship. In the first stanza of the poem the character Death is introduced as playing the role of the speaker’s suitor. In this way, this poem about death takes on an unexpected light tone, giving the reader a sense that the speaker is content to die and able to approach it with a sense of calm. Death’s carriage is also introduced in this stanza serving as a metaphor for the way in which we make our final passage to death. The final line in this stanza introduces a third passenger in the carriage. Both the uses of Immortality, the third passenger, as well as the use of Death are examples of personification.
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As Carter opens the poem, he tells how at this point in his life, he still has this essential want for things his own father presented him growing up. In the beginning, he expresses he has this “…pain [he] mostly hide[s], / but [that] ties of blood, or seed, endure” (lines 1-2). These lines voice how he longs for his father and just how painful it is without him at his side. In addition, he still feels “the hunger for his outstretched hand” (4) and a man’s embrace to take [him] in” (5). Furthermore, Carter explains how this “pain” he “feel[s] inside” (3) are also due to his “need for just a word of pr...
As I walked down the corridor I noticed a man lying in a hospital bed with only a television, two dressers, and a single window looking out at nothing cluttering his room. Depression overwhelmed me as I stared at the man laying on his bed, wearing a hospital gown stained by failed attempts to feed himself and watching a television that was not on. The fragments of an existence of a life once active and full of conviction and youth, now laid immovable in a state of unconsciousness. He was unaffected by my presence and remained in his stupor, despondently watching the blank screen. The solitude I felt by merely observing the occupants of the home forced me to recognize the mentality of our culture, out with the old and in with the new.
Flash fiction is a type of literature known to have typically around 1,000 words. Limiting a story to 1,000 has some advantages and disadvantages. It allows for a quick and simple read; some are only a couple sentences long. Although they are all considered flash fiction, to be a good piece of literature a story needs to have depth, clarity and appeal. Providing all three elements in 1,000 words can be tricky but when done right they create a moving story. “The Dead Boy At Your Window” by Bruce Holland Rogers is an example of a good piece of flash fiction literature because it has depth, clarity and appeal as shown through the transfixing story of grief and loss.
Near the end of the poem, Taylor gives off a joyous and happy expression in the death of his children, almost coming across as grateful for the passing of his children. He states that, “That as I said, I say, take, Lord, they’re Thine./I piecemeal pass to Glory brought in them.” (Taylor ll. 39-40). This statement creates an image to the reader that he holds no angst towards God in the death o...
..., the content and form has self-deconstructed, resulting in a meaningless reduction/manifestation of repetition. The primary focus of the poem on the death and memory of a man has been sacrificed, leaving only the skeletal membrane of any sort of focus in the poem. The “Dirge” which initially was meant to reflect on the life of the individual has been completely abstracted. The “Dirge” the reader is left with at the end of the poem is one meant for anyone and no one. Just as the internal contradictions in Kenneth Fearing’s poem have eliminated the substantial significance of each isolated concern, the reader is left without not only a resolution, but any particular tangible meaning at all. The form and content of this poem have quite effectively established a powerful modernist statement, ironically contingent on the absence and not the presence of meaning in life.
Death is a reality that can be interpreted in many ways. Some people fear the possibility of no longer living and others welcome the opportunity for a new life in the afterlife. Many poets have been inspired by death, be it by the approaching death of loved ones or a battle for immortality. Just as each poet is inspired differently, each poem casts a different hue of light on the topic of death giving readers a unique way to look at death.
The two poems, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, by Dylan Thomas and, “Because I Could Not Wait for Death”, by Emily Dickinson, we find two distinct treatments on the same theme, death. Although they both represent death, they also represent it as something other than death. Death brings about a variety of different feelings, because no two people feel the same way or believe the same thing. The fact that our faith is unknown makes the notion of death a common topic, as writers can make sense of their own feelings and emotions and in the process hope to make readers make sense of theirs too. Both Dickinson and Thomas are two well known and revered poets for their eloquent capture of these emotions. The poems both explore death and the
...rson could have been a sibling, parent, or a child. The poet describes a struggle and his hope to see this person again. The poem has a feel of “joy in all things.” The poem expresses a sense of peace at the end. There is joy and relief in making it to heaven to see the lost family member (Patrick 2014).
Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden is a short poem that illustrates the emotions that he is dealing with after the love of his life passes away. The tone of this piece evokes feelings that will differ depending on the reader; therefore, the meaning of this poem is not in any way one-dimensional, resulting in inevitable ambiguity . In order to evoke emotion from his audience, Auden uses a series of different poetic devices to express the sadness and despair of losing a loved one. This poem isn’t necessarily about finding meaning or coming to some overwhelming realization, but rather about feeling emotions and understanding the pain that the speaker is experiencing. Through the use of poetic devices such as an elegy, hyperboles, imagery, metaphors, and alliterations as well as end-rhyme, Auden has created a powerful poem that accurately depicts the emotions a person will often feel when the love of their live has passed away.
...his poem and as a result successfully conveyed the sadness and misery of losing a loved one. I particularly was moved when he used a simile to describe his brother as sleeping rather than dead; it portrayed his brother as an innocent little boy. Moreover, when he created a soft image of a hideous scar I was touched as he obviously loved his brother to a great extent. I sympathise with Heaney to a great length as it is a tragic loss to lose a family member especially if it is someone you are exceptionally close to like a brother or sister. This poem has revealed to me the true significance of life and also the unimaginable pain of death. This poem has made me realise that you do not properly appreciate something until it is gone. In light of this I have learned that you should always respect and treat one another well as you never know when their time will come!
“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is a poem composed by Thomas Gray over a period of ten years. Beginning shortly after the death of his close friend Richard West in 1742, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” was first published in 1751. This poem’s use of dubbal entendre may lead the intended audience away from the overall theme of death, mourning, loss, despair and sadness; however, this poem clearly uses several literary devices to convey the author’s feelings toward the death of his friend Richard West, his beloved mother, aunt and those fallen soldiers of the Civil War. This essay will discuss how Gray uses that symbolism and dubbal entendre throughout the poem to convey the inevitability of death, mourning, conflict within self, finding virtue in one’s life, dealing with one’s misfortunes and giving recognition to those who would otherwise seem insignificant.