Use of Figurative Language and Vivid Descriptions in Poetry

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By using figurative language and vivid descriptions, the poet can leave a lasting impression on the reader of his work. In “Dulce e Decorum Est” , Wilfred Owen describes brutal events during the first world war. The poet himself had been a soldier in the war, and died seven days before it ended. One who hasn’t lived in war time, or maybe does not know what it means, gets the impression of death. The way Owen relates them, makes the reader imagine how the soldier must have felt, and how terrible it must have been. the descriptions are made to disgust the reader, and thus are impressed. He uses very harsh words, and the things that happen are among the worst, such as ‘drowning’ the worst death. “as under a green sea I saw him drowning” In order to impress the reader much more, he says that he himself was impressed so much himself that he kept dreaming of what happened. He says that he was helpless in front of the dying person in his dreams. He portrays his dreams with revolting manner, with words such as “cud” and “froth-corrupted lungs”. Owen tries to paint a very vivid picture of what life in the trenches was like he describes the men as “old beggars”, and tells us the men are not physically or mentally fit. In “The Forsaken Merman”, the poet describes the two worlds very brightly. He also describes the actions very well and originally. The way it is written makes the reader imagine the place and so remembers the poem much better. The use of metaphors colors the poem. Matthew Arnold describes the undersea world and contrasts it with life on shore. Under the sea there is no sense of time, and all Margaret did was “comb’d its bright hair” when: “down suddenly swung the sound of a far off bell”

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