Literal Interpretation in Literature Literature is meant to provide a perspective on life. Phrases or quotes found in works of literature may be used to help express one's own thoughts, to describe a particular situation, or even to apply the circumstances in another piece of literature. Readers often utilize literary quotes for this purpose, yet not every reader will interpret a given quote the same way. One example of a phrase which can have many different meanings is the biblical quote "The
The most feared aspect of life is also the most necessary. Death defines the human experience. In Emily Dickinson’s “Apparently With No Surprise”, she examines death from both a literal and specific to a metaphorical and over-arching perspective. Emily Dickinson shows us this through her poetry by explaining the aspects of death and how they relate to each and ever one of our lives. The apparent meaning of the poem is how death interacts in the cycle of nature, but closer readings reveal more intimate
The Extensive Use of Symbolism in Emily Dickinson's Poem #315 As I had no prior experience with Emily Dickinson's work, I was unsure of what to expect from this assignment. I read the poem about fifteen or twenty times before I was even able to ask myself legitimate questions about Dickinson's thoughts as she composed this work over two hundred years ago. I couldn't even look to the title for guidance..."ugh, this is going to be tough" ran through my head over and over. I began by researching
similarities. The first poem I am going to examine is "digging" by Seamus Heaney. I will first comment on the title of the poem. "Digging" has both a metaphorical and literal meaning to it. The literal meaning is that his father and his grandfather are farmers. The poem talks about the men "Digging" and working, so this explains the literal meaning of the poem. The metaphorical meaning is that Seamus Heaney is "Digging" into his past and back round, which is farming. So, the title is rather effective
is equivalent and sometimes more dangerous than a literal death. The chosen passage begins with the Duke coming to comfort Claudio about his impending death and ends with Isabella attempting to explain to her brother why he must die and how there is no other option. Right at the start of the passage, the
that is not known at a personal level. That is why someone needs to read between the lines to unearth significance, animosity, and purpose to the poem. The poem, “The Unknown Citizen”, has no true struggle as someone reads through the entirety in literal terms. Yet when a person stops to think about the true meaning of the poem the substance becomes evident. The poem reveals conflict between individualism and what a impeccable society expects out of an optimal citizen by showing lack of feelings
family whose life is based around a fence. In the dirt yard of the Maxson’s house, many relationships come to blossom and wither here. The main character, Troy Maxson, prevents anyone from intruding into his life by surrounding himself around a literal and metaphorical fence that affects his relationships with his wife, son, and mortality. Throughout the play, readers see an incomplete fence which symbolizes Rose (Troy’s wife) and Troy’s drifting relationship. Rose wants Troy and Cory to build a
the need for the “family- doctor”. These scenes have deeper meaning than just the literal sense. This chapter can be interpreted by using Dante’s “Four Levels of Interpretation”. The first level of interpretation is the literal. This level focuses on what literally happened in the story. The second level of interpretation is the allegorical. This level is concerned with the meaning hidden beneath the words in the literal sense. It tells of the nature of man and what we do in certain situations. The
is the dominant symbol in The Floating Opera, more important even than the symbol of the showboat of the novel's title. From beginning to end the book is richly populated by references to the heart on both a literal, physical level, and a figurative, symbolic one. In the first case, literal references are made to Todd's heart condition. In the second case, the heart plays two symbolic roles; not only does it serve as a symbol of Todd's emotional and non-rational side, but the frailty of Todd's heart
the reader would simply deduce the stanza’s literal meaning: the son has gone down an elevator and is now on the street. After further observation, it should be noted that the same line that begins the poem also ends it, which confirms the writer’s intention for it to be figurative. The poem focuses on the son’s feelings and thoughts as he is looking up at what he perceives to be his father’s hospital window. The second stanza concretes the literal foundation for the poem—the son is despondent
They are described as ""lovely, dark and deep,"" (Frost, Line 13) and are a sight enjoyed by the man in the poem. They have a legitimate literal meaning, that of being an actual forest which the man is looking at. When looked at from a symbolic standpoint, however, they can be seen as standing for peace, death, and solitude. This is accomplished by the three adjectives, lovely, dark, and deep
the story but also to show Rachel’s feelings throughout the story. As Rachel talks about her past on her eleventh birthday, the various rhetorical devices serve to allow her to express her feelings to the reader, more so than if she had just used literal language in its place. Without the figurative language, the story would be much more simplistic, as it would be unable to convey the main focus of the story, that of Rachel’s feelings within the story, and how they change throughout it. The figurative
And, it 's very frustrating to have all these different dreams but not be able to choose which direction to go. For other people, it can feel like they have no purpose in life. The words, "I don 't know what to do with my life," take on a very literal meaning. They have no passions that they want to pursue and no idea why they were even put here. This can
Gillian Clarke's Catrin tackles one of the well-considered themes in feminist writing - the mother-daughter relationship. CATRIN ====== Gillian Clarke's "Catrin" tackles one of the well-considered themes in feminist writing - the mother-daughter relationship. The aspect of the relationship that Clarke explores here is the bond ("rope") that ties them together and from which they try to free themselves from the very beginning, even before birth. Freeing yourself as an individual within
and the characters. Titles in literature are very important to the symbolism of a story an example of this is Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”. As the story goes on it shows not only the literal meaning of what they carried but also symbolically the burdens that they had mentally. In the literal sense O’Brien talks about what different members of a platoon in Vietnam carried. This helps him to move to a more symbolic sense at the end of the story. He starts by talking about necessities and
Carly McAndrews Belluscio British Lit. March 19, 2014 Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130: An Expression of Love Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The literal meaning is that the perception of beauty is subjective. English poet, playwright, and actor, one who is outstandingly regarded as possible the greatest writer to English language goes by the name of William Shakespeare, and his written about this very idea. Shakespeare was born in 1564 in England, and lived a life span of fifty two years, passing
The body of a woman is a frequent target of sexual objectification. From the perspective of objectification theory, objectification describes the representation of another as an object, which has the consequence of dehumanizing the subject (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Advertisements, magazines, and commercials all utilize objectified images of women to attract viewer attention, yet researchers understand little about why viewers find such images appealing to begin with. Morris and Goldenberg (2015)
The Use of Symbolism in Robert Frost's Wind and Window Flower I interpreted this poem as a very sad one. A love unrequited by the pursued. In the first two lines the poem tells you to forget about the love you share and hear a tale of this. Not to literally forget, but possibly put aside. The man is a winter breeze, cold and rough and sort of roams the land. The woman is a window flower, shut off from the outside. This sets up the separation. They can "see" each other and are kept apart
Age Comes, As Does Society “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” (Martin Luther King Jr., “I had a dream speech”). Racism, a strong weapon used against equality. Langston Hughes portrayed his view of societal racism in poetry and songs. Quite a strong soldier in the war against prejudice, his train of thought was precisely what society needs, yet fears. Racism should be
In Fritz Lang’s M, mise en scène is employed to evoke the theme of Machiavellian theory, the characterization of wavering faith in crisis and the tone of impatient anger and fear. As the following analysis of the scene where the mobsters strategize on how to track down M demonstrates, the great light fixture in the center of the room, in conjunction with the mobsters themselves and their meeting room, is used to accentuate the notion of vigilante justice and expediency that circumventing the law