Meg Smith Modern Cultures Mr. Vassar 1/14/2017 The Garden of Forking Paths – Question #4 The Garden of Forking Paths is ultimately an explanation why an Allied assault on the Serre-Montauban Line was delayed five days in July of 1916. This explanation comes from Dr. Yu Tsun’s personal experience. It starts off with his plan to escape from Captain Richard Madden and his determination to inform the Leader of Germany of where the Allies were going to attack. Tsun gets an early start by taking a train. When he gets off, he gets directions to the home of Dr. Stephen Albert by a group of boys. Yu Tsun remembers a strategy of how to find the central courtyard of a specific type of maze. When he reaches Albert’s home, the gatekeeper lets Tsun in, assuming he was there to see the Garden of Forking Paths. He explains to Dr. Albert about how one of his ancestors, Ts’ui Pen’s manuscript is the labyrinth of the Garden of Forking Paths. When Captain Madden arrives, Yu Tsun shoots Dr. Albert and gets arrested. Sentenced to hang, Tsun is pleased because he got the message to the leader. He killed someone …show more content…
One specific technique that he uses in this short story is a metaphor. The central metaphor of this story is the “forking paths”. Forking paths is another way to describe a labyrinth or a maze. The garden of forking paths serves as a metaphor for the infinite narratives of Ts’ui Pen’s novel, which itself is an allegory for time. Another literary technique that is used in this short story is symbolism. Borges also uses symbolism in this specific piece of literature. For example, the labyrinth appears in so many levels in this story that it’s symbols are as infinite as the forking paths of Ts’ui Pen’s novel. It is a physical setting surrounding Ts’ui Pen’s Pavilion of the Limpid Solitude (1341), the symmetric gardens (1338), and the series of forking paths leading to Dr. Albert’s
Imagery uses five senses such as visual, sound, olfactory, taste and tactile to create a sense of picture in the readers’ mind. In this poem, the speaker uses visual imagination when he wrote, “I took my time in old darkness,” making the reader visualize the past memory of the speaker in “old darkness.” The speaker tries to show the time period he chose to write the poem. The speaker is trying to illustrate one of the imagery tools, which can be used to write a poem and tries to suggest one time period which can be used to write a poem. Imagery becomes important for the reader to imagine the same picture the speaker is trying to convey. Imagery should be speculated too when writing a poem to express the big
The timeline carries on chronologically, the intense imagery exaggerated to allow the poem to mimic childlike mannerisms. This, subjectively, lets the reader experience the adventure through the young speaker’s eyes. The personification of “sunset”, (5) “shutters”, (8) “shadows”, (19) and “lamplights” (10) makes the world appear alive and allows nothing to be a passing detail, very akin to a child’s imagination. The sunset, alive as it may seem, ordinarily depicts a euphemism for death, similar to the image of the “shutters closing like the eyelids”
Another way the author develops his consistent style is in the way he describes certain images. For example, there are a few different occasions where his way of describing what he sees around him are similar to eachother in a way that they all make reference to the fact that the day is going by and it will soon reach dusk. Like when he said 'the soft dew of morning which had glistened and twinkled on the blades of grass which grew in clumps by the side of road quietly disappeared.'; This indicates that the day is going on. At another point in the story the author makes reference to the shadows saying that they have grown longer, which would indicate the sun was setting. Also, the author never exactly comes right out and says the obvious. He uses his descriptive ways to give you an idea of what is going on or happening. For example, he never exactly says that the man he encounters on the road is an old man. He just gives certain physical characteristics that would associate with an old man. I feel his reasoning for this was to also indicate that this man was not just old but a man of wisdom, which very often is associated with old age.
Cummings' peculiar method of using syntax to convey hidden meaning is extremely effective. The reader does not simply read and forget Cummings' ideas; instead, he must figure out the hidden meaning himself. In doing this, he feels contentment, and thus retains the poem's idea for a more extended period of time. Cummings' ideogram poems are puzzles waiting to be solved.
Space is inseparable part of every text of literature. In the Gothic fiction space is extremely important, as the Gothic fiction is mostly based on creating images connected with human perception. During the process of reading readers often use their imagination. Therefore, depiction of old castles, ruined abbeys, monasteries, subterranean passages, vaults, or secret panels, is a standard method of creating the atmosphere. As Izdebska claims, “[t]he subject of a story is event in some space, but also the space itself” (33). A typical example is the setting in Horace Walople’s Otranto, being almost a character in the novel. The castle with its ghosts, giant helmets, giant feet, giant hands, has an influence on much of the novel action.
One of the literary techniques most prominently featured throughout the passage would be that of imagery. The author takes great care to interweave sentences comparing the traits
The next literary device to be discussed is imagery. As previously stated, many sentences could serve as excellent example of imagery, however the sentence that most portrays an idea is on line 40; “The slop was sweet and gold-colored in the afternoon sun.” The line tells you how messy the pie was (slop), and then to tell you exactly what the pie mess looked like, it tells what color it was, and if the environment affected its color (gold-colored…afternoon sun). The idea behind Mr. Soto’s usage of imagery may seem simple, but it makes sure that the point is carried across to the reader.
Visual imagery is the most common type of imagery that is used in Borges’ writing. The author tries to connect to the audience by using visuals to explain his thoughts and get his point across. He tries to get the audience to imagine what he conceptualizes in his head. In the poem “In Praise of Darkness”, Borges explains how his
In the title “In This Strange Labyrinth”, the labyrinth is symbolic of love’s maze-like qualities. The speaker describes her predicament by saying, “In this strange Labyrinth how shall I turn/Ways are on all sides” (1-2). A different path on every side surrounds her, and every way seems to be the wrong way. She is confused about which way she should go. Wroth is conveying the theme of love in a decidedly negative way, for according to myth, the Labyrinth was where the Minotaur lived and before it’s demise, death was evident for all visitors of the maze. The speaker is struggling with every choice she may make and cannot rest or find aid until she finds the best way: “Go forward, or stand still, or back retire;/ I must these doubts endure without allay/ Or help, but travail find for my best hire” (10-11). She has several choices and each one is confusing and leaves her feeling helpless.
He describes the Allegory of the Cave as, “Imagine human beings living in an underground, cavelike dwelling, with an entrance a long way up, which is both open to the light and as wide as the cave itself” (514a). From his brief description of the cave we can see that this sets the foundation to explaining the Divided Line through the tale. The human beings living in an underground cave like dwelling suggest the ignorance one experiences as explained in the Divided Line, the long entrance hints at the Divided Lines Hierarchy steps, and the light at the end of the cave would be knowledge as explained in the Divided Line.
The author, to entirely convey Jonas’s view of the world in his imagination and the origin of his strong desires, employs vivid, colorful, extensive descriptions of the beauty and horror instigated by nature and freedom. A few of the exemplary integrations of imagery, which paint lush mental images, as written by Lois Lowry, include, “Looking through the front window, he had seen no people: none of the busy afternoon crew of Street Cleaners, Landscape Workers, and Food Delivery people who usually populated the community at that time of day. He saw only the abandoned bikes here and there on their sides; an upturned wheel on one was still revolving slowly.” (p.15), “Soon there were many birds along the way, soaring overhead, calling. They saw deer; and once, beside the road, looking at them curious and unafraid, a small reddish brown creature with a thick tail, whose name Jonas did not know. He slowed the bike and they stared at one another until the creature turned away and disappeared into the woods.” (p.230), “…banquets with huge roasted meats; birthday parties with thick-frosted cakes; and lush fruits picked and eaten, sun-warmed and dripping, from trees.” (p.232). Through such instances of imagery, the author is able to convey and inspire the reader through vivid, emotion-evoking mental
Choices are never easy, facing hundreds upon thousands of them in our lifetime, man has to make decisions based upon these choices. Some decisions are clear while others are sometimes not clear and more difficult to make. The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a prime example of these choices in life. This poem is a first person narrative that is seen by most people as being told by Frost. The poem opens up with the narrator encountering a point in the woods that has a trail diverge into two separate paths. In the poem Frost presents the idea of man facing the difficult predilection of a moment and a lifetime. I believe this idea in the poem is embodied in the fork in the road, the decision between the two paths, and the decision to select the road not taken.
The consistent pattern of metrical stresses in this stanza, along with the orderly rhyme scheme, and standard verse structure, reflect the mood of serenity, of humankind in harmony with Nature. It is a fine, hot day, `clear as fire', when the speaker comes to drink at the creek. Birdsong punctuates the still air, like the tinkling of broken glass. However, the term `frail' also suggests vulnerability in the presence of danger, and there are other intimations in this stanza of the drama that is about to unfold. Slithery sibilants, as in the words `glass', `grass' and `moss', hint at the existence of a Serpent in the Garden of Eden. As in a Greek tragedy, the intensity of expression in the poem invokes a proleptic tenseness, as yet unexplained.
Above all, 'The Road Not Taken'; can truly be interpreted through much symbolism as a clear-sighted representation of two fair choices. The two roads in the poem, although, 'diverging,'; lead in different directions. At the beginning they appear to be somewhat similar, but is apparent that miles away they will grow farther and farther away from each other. Similar to many choices faced in life. It is impossible to foresee the consequences of most major decisions we make and it is often necessary to make these decisions based on a little more than examining which choice 'wanted wear.'; In
Its structure – with the sequence of circles fading down infinitely – mirrors the immeasurable quality of time. Simultaneously, one of the procedures of my deformation involved reflecting that limitlessness in the way the poem is read. For instance, you can start reading the poem, and see this ungrammatical sequence of words: “measure Time soon slow youth three days late twentieth year”. Alternatively, the reader should be able to form smaller sequences that tie up together. For instance: “measure Time”, “slow youth”, “three days late”, “late twentieth year”, or even, depending on the readership, to re-think the position of some words in order to form different sequences. For instance the reader might fashion these sequences out of the word “Time”: 1) “fly Time” or “Time thief” or “fly Time thief”. As you are reading the deformed poem, you should be reminded of Milton’s original verses from “How Soon Hath Time”; verses which are grammatically correct. It is suiting that Prof. Jeffrey Robinson’s remarkable observation applies to this example - “as we read, we picture it in glimpses; we recognize it, but strangely.” I recycled words like “stol’n” and “arriv’d” from the original text, and used them in peculiar sequences with one another, in order to pop into the mind of the reader immediately and