An Analysis Of The Dead Speak By Thomas Hardy

715 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on Hardy's poetry

The Dead Speak Introduction: Poems in general are meant to stimulate the senses of the mind, creating images and symbols that conjugate to help understand the meaning of the poem. Many of those poems can range from generic to unique, each with an atmosphere that varies from comical to very serious. “Channel Firing”, written by Thomas Hardy in 1914, several months before WWI occurred, is a unique type of poem. The overall ambience within the poem is quite serious, although it has a hint of humour, as it uses dialogue amongst the dead to describe war and how it disturbs their sleep. Hardy demonstrates his use of multiple poetic devices to illustrate and reiterate the overall plot in the poem. Rhyme and Meter: “Channel Firing” has a total …show more content…

Alliteration conveys imagery within the poem, it helps make a memorable line , while at the same time, helps give the effect the poet intended. Throughout the entire poem, alliteration is almost present in each stanza. The first example can be seen in the first line of the first stanza, “...great guns...”, where the repetition of “g” helps emphasize how powerful and dangerous a gun truly is. Now, in order to survive in the world of the living, there is a single rule that one must be aware of, that is the survival of the fittest; that the strong will survive and the weak will not. The living endure and survive on this rule, and in Hardy’s poem, he utilizes the repetition of “s” in order to emphasize this rule, “All nations striving strong...”. Each alliteration helps contribute meaning towards the poem, which is how the dangerous and gruesome wars are, and how they are disturbing the once peaceful slumber of the …show more content…

Unlike alliteration, assonance is used rarely, only appearing in one stanza. In the second line of the fourth stanza, the repetition of the vowel sound “e”, “Red war yet redder...”, is indicating how more blood is being spilled over pointless wars and how incredibly mad one must be in order to continue such a bloodshed, as indicated when the vowel sound “a” is repeated in the same line of the same stanza, “Mad as hatters...”.

Show More
Related

  • The Beginning Of The Song That Diverts The Heart Summary

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    The alliteration used is to emphasize rhythm in the poem. On the other hand, the poet also depicts a certain rhyme scheme across each stanza. For example, the first stanza has a rhyme scheme of this manner a, b, c, d, e, a. With this, the rhyme scheme depicted is an irregular manner. Hence, the poem does not have a regular rhythm. Moreover, the poet uses a specific deign of consonance, which is present in the poem (Ahmed & Ayesha, p. 11). The poet also uses the assonance style depicted in the seventh stanza, “Seven whole days I have not seen my beloved.” The letter ‘o’ has been repeated to create rhythm and to show despair in the poem. On the second last line of the seventh stanza, the poet uses the style of consonance, “If I hug her, she’ll drive illness from me. By this, the letter ‘l’ is repeated across the line. The poet’s aim of using this style of Consonance is to establish rhythm in the poem and add aural

    Read More

  • A Lesson Before Dying Literary Analysis

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thomas Paine once said “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Conflict is an obstacle that many characters in books go through. It is what drives the reader to continue reading and make the book enjoyable. Additionally, authors use symbolism to connect their novels to real life, personal experience, or even a life lesson. In “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines, both take place during a time where colored people were being looked down upon and not treated with the same rights as white people. However, both novels portray the conflict and symbolism many ways that are similar and different. Additionally, both of these novels have many similarities and differences that connect as well as differentiate them to one

    Read More

  • Character Analysis: Speaker For The Dead

    587 Words  | 2 Pages

    “If I were you, I would have chosen one of the other essay prompts,” I hear from sincere mouths. However, all “if I were you” statements can correctly be completed with, “I would have done the exact same thing.”

    Read More

  • Free College Essays - Imagery, Metaphors, and Diction in Dulce et Decorum Est

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    The images drawn in this poem are so graphic that it could make readers feel sick. For example, in these lines: "If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/ Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs/ Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud,"(21-23) shows us that so many men were brutally killed during this war. Also, when the gas bomb was dropped, "[s]omeone still yelling out and stumbling/ [a]nd flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.../ [h]e plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning."(11-12,16) These compelling lines indicate that men drowned helplessly in the toxic gasses. These graphic images are very disturbing but play a very effective role in the development of the poem.

    Read More

  • Dulce Et Decorum Est - Critical Response

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through reading this poem several times I decided that the message from the poem is that war is full of horror and there is little or no glory. Methods which I found most effective were Full rhyme and metaphor.

    Read More

  • New Criticism Analysis of My Papa’s Waltz

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    Not only the words, but the figures of speech and other such elements are important to analyzing the poem. Alliteration is seen throughout the entire poem, as in lines one through four, and seven through eight. The alliteration in one through four (whisky, waltzing, was) flows nicely, contrasting to the negativity of the first stanza, while seven through eight (countenance, could) sound unpleasing to the ear, emphasizing the mother’s disapproval. The imagery of the father beating time on the child’s head with his palm sounds harmful, as well as the image of the father’s bruised hands holding the child’s wrists. It portrays the dad as having an ultimate power over the child, instead of holding his hands, he grabs his wrists.

    Read More

  • Macbeth

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alliteration, or the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables (The Free Dictionary 2011), is used in the play Macbeth to get an actor’s point across in a powerful and intense fashion.

    Read More

  • Explication of Diane Thiels "The Minefield"

    340 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the third stanza, the language becomes much darker, words like: anger, explode, and against make this stanza seem even more warlike than the first stanza.

    Read More

  • War

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although the aftermath of World War I was devastating to many, it did bring the literature world some of the most important work of the modernist era. Many of the writers were directly or indirectly affected by the war and their writing certainly showed this. Each writer’s work shows a view of the war from a different perspective. However, what they most have in common is they way they paint the war in a negative light. T.S. Elliot writes his poem The Wasteland to show the after affects of the war on everyone while Sassoon write They to show the after affects on the soldier. In the essay, these writers and their poems will be discussed to show how they similarly reacted to the event of World War I in reference to the themes of their poems and how differently they use those themes.

    Read More

  • Compare Dulce Et Decorum Est And Suicide In The Trenches

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    ‘Poetry can challenge the reader to think about the world in new ways.’ It provokes the readers to consider events, issues and people with revised understanding and perspectives. The poems Dulce Et Decorum Est (Wilfred Owen, 1917) and Suicide in the Trenches (Siegfried Sassoon, 1917), were composed during World War One and represented the poets’ point of views in regards to the glorification of war and encouraged readers to challenge their perspectives and reflect upon the real consequences behind the fabrications of the glory and pride of fighting for one’s nation.

    Read More

  • War In Brian Turner's 'Phantom Noise'

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the times war has effected people immensely both physically and mentally. All people deal with their circumstances differently to help cope with what they dealing with. Whether it’s a fatality in the family, or post traumatic stress disorder most people find a way to heal from injury or emotional damage. In Brian Turners poem, “Phantom Noise,” he writes about the constant ringing he hears from the war he served in. The poem expresses that Turner seems to deal with his emotional damage by writing poetry about what he feels, hears, and sees during the time he spent in war and in civilian life. Even though Turner is no longer in war it still effects him greatly each day. The overall tone of the poem is very solemn and makes the reader

    Read More

  • Dulce Et Decorum Est, And Wilfred Owen's Impact Of War On Poetry

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    World War I impacted poetry profoundly. Poets who served in the war were using poetry to share their horrific stories about the hardships they faced. These poets became known as “war poets.” They wrote about the traumatic, life changing experiences that haunted them once the war was over. Intense poems started emerging that portrayed the mental and physical struggles soldiers faced. Two examples of the impact that World War I had on poetry is seen in the poems “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen and “Repression of War Experience” by Siegfried Sassoon.

    Read More

  • Emily Dickinson's "Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant" Explication

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • The Harsh Reality of War in Wilfred Owen’s Poem Dulce et Decorum Est

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chaos and drudgery are common themes throughout the poem, displayed in its form; it is nearly iambic pentameter, but not every line fits the required pattern. This is significant because the poem’s imperfect formulation is Owen making a statement about formality, the poem breaks the typical form to show that everything is not functioning satisfactorily. The poem’s stanza’s also begin short, but become longer, like the speaker’s torment and his comrades movement away from the open fire. The rhyming scheme of ABABCDCD is one constant throughout the poem, but it serves to reinforce the nature of the cadence as the soldiers tread on. The war seems to drag on longer and longer for the speaker, and represents the prolonged suffering and agony of the soldier’s death that is described as the speaker dwells on this and is torn apart emotionally and distorts his impressions of what he experiences.

    Read More

  • Poetic Techniques of Wilfred Owen

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    The poetic techniques used in Wilfred Owen’s war poetry sweep the reader from the surface of knowing to the essence of truly appreciating his ideas. Through sonnets, Para rhymes, ironic titles, voices and strong imagery, not only is the reader able to comprehend to the futility and the horrors of the Great War, but also they can almost physically and mentally empathise with those who fought. Through the three poems examined, it is evident that Owen goes to great effort to describe the conditions and thoughts of the First World War, thus his works are considered an invaluable asset to the modern literature.

    Read More

More about An Analysis Of The Dead Speak By Thomas Hardy

Open Document