Prompt: Compare and Contrast the significance of water as an important metaphor in both Yeats’ “The lake Isle of Innisfree” and in Gary Soto’s “Saturday at the Canal”.
Thesis: While in Saturday at the Canal the water represents anxiety, the feeling of being trapped, and jealousy of the water’s freedom to escape, in The Lake Isle of Innisfree the water represents freedom, growth, and imagination.
Paragraph I:
• Topic Sentence: Many poems utilize a variety of different literary elements to convey the central purpose of the poem such as using allegory’s, metaphor’s, archetypes and much more, however, Gary Soto’s Saturday at the Canal and William Butler Yeats’ The Lake Isle of Innisfree poems use water to represent a larger idea.
• Lead In: Water does not only represent life and death, but can represent many contrasting feelings such as insecurity and unease compared to freedom and liberation. Both poems have representation of water, however, they may be perceived differently based on the context on the poem.
• Thesis: While in Saturday at the Canal the water represents anxiety, the feeling of being trapped, and jealousy of the water’s freedom to escape, in The Lake Isle of Innisfree the water represents freedom, growth, and imagination.
Paragraph II:
• Topic Sentence: In Saturday at the Canal, Gary Soto depicts about a depressed 17-year-old boy watching his boring life pass by, wanting to get away from his school and society. He conveys his feeling on an ongoing feeling of being trapped in his hometown and compares himself with the rushing water out of the canal, envying the water as it escapes.
• Quote Lead In: Gary Soto uses contrasting imagery describing the teenager’s life and try’s to explain that the only way to e...
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...the feeling on being tapped compared to the feeling of freedom.
• Wrap Up: Even though the metaphor of water can be perceived so differently, it helps explain the main idea that the author is trying to relate. In both poems the water is shown as the main metaphor and has the rest of the poem lead up to the main idea.
• Quote: In Saturday at the Canal, many believe that the main quote is “San Francisco was a postcard on a bedroom wall,” …
• Quote Analysis: which is true, however, this quote is trying to lead up to Soto’s main point and feeling that he is trying to convey, anxiety, and the feeling of being jealous of the water since that is the only item in the poem which is considered “free”.
• Conclusion: Even though the metaphor of water was seen so differently thought both poems, they each their own important role in relating the authors ideas and feelings.
Nature has a powerful way of portraying good vs. bad, which parallels to the same concept intertwined with human nature. In the story “Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author portrays this through the use of a lake by demonstrating its significance and relationship to the characters. At one time, the Greasy Lake was something of beauty and cleanliness, but then came to be the exact opposite. Through his writing, Boyle demonstrates how the setting can be a direct reflection of the characters and the experiences they encounter.
In the essay “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White, uses diction and syntax to reveal the main character’s attitude towards the lake in Maine. He has an uncertain attitude towards the lake throughout the essay because he is unsure of who he is between him and his son. On the ride there White, pondering, remembering old memories, keeps wondering if the lake is going to be the same warm place as it was when he was a kid. The lake is not just an ordinary lake to White, it’s a holy spot, a spot where he grew up every summer. “I wondered how time would have marred this unique, this holy spot-the coves and streams, the hills that the sun set behind, the camps and the paths behind the camps” (29). White’s diction and syntax
When I read poetry, I often tend to look first at its meaning and second at how it is written, or its form. The mistake I make when I do this is in assuming that the two are separate, when, in fact, often the meaning of poetry is supported or even defined by its form. I will discuss two poems that embody this close connection between meaning and form in their central use of imagery and repetition. One is a tribute to Janis Joplin, written in 1983 by Alice Fulton, entitled “You Can’t Rhumboogie in a Ball and Chain.” The second is a section from Walt Whitman’s 1,336-line masterpiece, “Song of Myself,” first published in 1855. The imagery in each poem differs in purpose and effect, and the rhythms, though created through repetition in both poems, are quite different as well. As I reach the end of each poem, however, I am left with a powerful human presence lingering in the words. In Fulton’s poem, that presence is the live-hard-and-die-young Janis Joplin; in Whitman’s poem, the presence created is an aspect of the poet himself.
In this poem called “Creatures” by the author Billy Collins there is a literary device called a metaphor when the reader is reading this poem. A metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things without using the words like or as. In lines one (1) through...
Therefore, Oliver’s incorporation of imagery, setting, and mood to control the perspective of her own poem, as well as to further build the contrast she establishes through the speaker, serves a critical role in creating the lesson of the work. Oliver’s poem essentially gives the poet an ultimatum; either he can go to the “cave behind all that / jubilation” (10-11) produced by a waterfall to “drip with despair” (14) without disturbing the world with his misery, or, instead, he can mimic the thrush who sings its poetry from a “green branch” (15) on which the “passing foil of the water” (16) gently brushes its feathers. The contrast between these two images is quite pronounced, and the intention of such description is to persuade the audience by setting their mood towards the two poets to match that of the speaker. The most apparent difference between these two depictions is the gracelessness of the first versus the gracefulness of the second. Within the poem’s content, the setting has been skillfully intertwined with both imagery and mood to create an understanding of the two poets, whose surroundings characterize them. The poet stands alone in a cave “to cry aloud for [his] / mistakes” while the thrush shares its beautiful and lovely music with the world (1-2). As such, the overall function of these three elements within the poem is to portray the
In this poem, the author tells of a lost love. In order to convey his overwhelming feelings, Heaney tries to describe his emotions through something familiar to everyone. He uses the sea as a metaphor for love, and is able to carry this metaphor throughout the poem. The metaphor is constructed of both obvious and connotative diction, which connect the sea and the emotions of love.
---. “Take Me to the Water.” 1972. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998: 353-403.
Imagine a scene in which a small, wooden boat is peacefully floating on the ocean. Now, imagine that the scene is panning out to reveal the boat is merely a tiny speck, the ocean reaching out endlessly around it. Suddenly, the peaceful quality of the boat has been replaced by a feeling of consuming meaninglessness. Stephen Crane, a naturalist writer and reporter in nineteenth century America, often used nature to prompt readers into questioning their purpose and place in the universe. In “The Open Boat,” complex symbolism allows Crane’s characters to reflect humanity's shared experience regarding existence and self-worth.
Eiseley’s essay on water is from a reflective stance, connecting past, present, and future by water. He links his own magical experiences to water, by telling of when “…I lay back in the floating position that left my face to the sky, and shoved off” (Eiseley 139) he sets his mind adrift, and “… this sort of curious absorption by water¬¬—the extension of shape by osmosis…” (Eiseley 137) he becomes an embodiment of water. He goes on to articulate his interpretation of being one with nature, geology, history, and archeology, via water. All his reveries are brought about by a view of a stagnant pool on a roof. He not only feels connected to life through water, but he lets us glimpse that water is able to dredge up his past, and stir speculations of his future. He speaks of our current evolutional phase as a waypoint on the path to the future, he writes “…I have seen myself passing by—...
With fewer than fifty published poems Elizabeth Bishop is not one of the most prominent poets of our time. She is however well known for her use of imagery and her ability to convey the narrator?s emotions to the reader. In her vividly visual poem 'The Fish', the reader is exposed to a story wherein the use of language not only draws the reader into the story but causes the images to transcend the written work. In the poem, Bishop makes use of numerous literary devices such as similes, adjectives, and descriptive language. All of these devices culminate in the reader experiencing a precise and detailed mental image of the poem's setting and happenings.
First, White uses imagery throughout his essay to create an effective visual of his experiences at the lake. To start his essay, White reflects on his childhood memories of the lake when he and his family visited every summer: “I remembered clearest of all the early morning, when the lake was cool and motionless, remembered how the bedroom smelled of the lumber it was made of and the wet woods whose scent entered the screen.” This passage enhances
The poem, “Apostrophe to the Ocean,” is one of the most renowned masterpieces of George Gordon Byron, which conveys the author’s love for nature by including his unique, romantic style of writing. As this poem is entirely dedicated to the mighty ocean, the main subject of this work is about man versus nature. George Byron also discusses his views about the industrialization; throughout the poem, he hints on the deleterious effects of human exploitations. Therefore, the poem, “Apostrophe to the Ocean,” paints George Byron’s view of the concept – man versus nature – by revealing his belief: the power of nature is insurmountable.
Through metaphors, the speaker proclaims of her longing to be one with the sea. As she notices The mermaids in the basement,(3) and frigates- in the upper floor,(5) it seems as though she is associating these particular daydreams with her house. She becomes entranced with these spectacles and starts to contemplate suicide.
“The Fish,” written by Elizabeth Bishop in 1946, is perhaps most known for its incredible use of imagery, but this analysis does not merely focus on imagery. Instead, it is based on a quote by Mark Doty from his essay “A Tremendous Fish.” In it he says, “‘The Fish’” is a carefully rendered model of an engaged mind at work” (Doty). After reading this statement, it causes one to reflect more in-depth about how the poem was written, and not just about what its literal meaning lays out. In “The Fish,” Bishop’s utilization of certain similes, imagery in the last few lines, narrative poem style, and use of punctuation allows the audience to transport into the life of the fish; therefore, allowing them to understand Bishop’s ideas on freedom and wisdom.
...ast each other well. Both poems use imagery, repetition, alliteration and rhyming and both have many biblical references and rhetorical questions. Although each poem is different in its structure, theme and the way it is written.