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.
Analysis of Jonson's On My First Son The poem entitled On My First Son is a pouring out of a father's soul-a soul that pours out every last drop of pain, anguish, and love for his deceased son neatly into a beautiful poem. Ben Jonson illustrates his love and loss with concreteness and passion. Just as an artist creates a painting on paper with a pallet of colors and different types of brushes, Jonson uses thoughtful phrasing and strong diction to create a vivid word painting of his son. The phrasing of this poem can be analyzed on many levels. Holistically, the poem moves the father through three types of emotions.
Therefore, in order to find a way to transcend his temporal life and imminent death, he writes a letter to his son offering something guidance, as consolation for leaving him in poverty and destitution. The letter serves to offer his son guidance and understanding of his father’s identity after he dies and as a plea for forgiveness for the narrator’s isolation, critical ways, and for leaving his son’s life too soon. Ultimately, Gilead portrays a forced distance between father and son due to the father’s death. It reveals the isolation of independence and it expresses forgiveness in the face of loneliness. Through this construction of a father-son relationship, the text critiques independence and reveals a value in forgiveness, acknowledging that the impermanent nature of humanity leaves distance between people and that the nature of writing gives some level of permanence.
Both “My Fathers Song” and “[Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone]” deal with the death of a loved one, however each carry a different tone and themes on how the speaker copes with loss. Through the use of imagery and figurative language the poems create their own way to express their loss. The themes in the poems are different in dealing with death and both show the process of loss at different points. “My Fathers Song” seems to take place a good time after the death and the speaker is reminded poignantly that he misses his father. The “[Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone]” speaker is more frustrated and seems to take place at a closer point of the death.
Each of us is defined to some degree by our suffering. When we experience a great loss, the grief can be overwhelming. We can become crippled by our emotions, plagued by questions, our faith is challenged. “On My First Son” by Ben Jonson describes a father’s tortuous conflict caused by the death of his firstborn son. John Milton searches for answers and self worth after he becomes blind in his sonnet [When I consider how my light is spent].
When discussing the different aspects of New Criticism in Dylan Thomas’s poem “Do Not Go Gentle into The Good Night”, the impression that comes to mind is death. The use of imagery was a necessity for Dylan Thomas to express the different techniques of writing which involved a mixture of surrealistic and metaphysical tones. His ability to change a words meaning to incorporate symbolism is noticeable in circle of unity from life to death and renewed life. The Author presents the poem in a narrative argumentative point view from a son to his dying father upon his final moments. The imagery and symbolism of the Thomas’s reflections on his feelings of childhood and death become evident the approach the poem through psychological analysis.
Ben Jonson's On My First Sonne Ben Jonson writes On My First Sonne from a father’s point of view grieving over the death of his very young son. The title alone suggests which time period this poem is from i.e. it is from the 17th century (1603)- when the poet’s son Benjamin died- through the use of language of the time. This poem has been written in memory of a seven year old child whose death has dealt a great blow to a father. Throughout the poem, the use of religious comparisons and words creates a vivid picture of the thoughts running in the mind of Ben Jonson and we know almost exactly what he feels.
The sad height could very likely represent the Valley of Despair which separates the human world and the metaphysical one. Dylan describes his father to be on the edge of the human world to make the mood more solemn and somber as well as to emphasize the despondent prospect of his father’s recovery. Do not go gentle into that good night is a very subtle and intricate poem which centralizes on dying gloriously while averting death. Throughout the poem, Dylan Thomas uses powerful devices to create a melancholy yet urgent tone as we witness the demise of his father. To quote from Mary Alice Young, “Death is but a promise made to each of us at birth, but before the promise is kept,” we should each and every one of us live life to its full.
In the poem “The Hollow Men,” T.S. Eliot immediately gives his work a tone of darkness and desperation. Eliot also uses references of works from Dantes, Julius Caesar, and Joseph Conrad. These three men majorly influenced Eliot on his writings spiritually and intellectually. Eliot was going through a rough patch in his life during with his wife during the time that he wrote “The Hollow Men.” He reveals his views on contemporary life and uses the poem as a cry for relief from his personal troubles (“Explanation of: ‘The Hollow Men’ by T.S.
In the famous poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, poet Dylan Thomas implores his dying father to meet death aggressively with both passion and energy. While the bereaved son feels empathy for his father’s impending death, he is also angered by his father’s unwillingness to fight; to affirm life until the very end. Thomas sees his father as a passive figure, one who has let his failures in life define him. For instance, his father, David John Thomas, dreamed of becoming a poet, but settled for teaching literature at the local grammar school. Dylan Thomas sees this as an example of giving up too soon and he beseeches his father to fight his impending death until the very end.