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Cultural influences personality
Essay on figurative language
English essay figurative language
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The poem “Heritage”, written by Linda Hogan, tells the story of each trait she inherited and the lessons she learned from key members of her family. When analyzing poetry, there are many literary elements that the reader can observe. These elements can range from diction, syntax and rhyme schemes. In Hogan’s poem, there are three literary elements that stand out the most. These are figurative language, tone and diction. By using figurative language, Hogan can better communicate her ideas towards the audience. The use of tone allows the reader to understand the character’s feelings. Lastly, her choice of diction determines how the reader views the story. The author’s use of these three elements allows the audience to connect to the poem because …show more content…
After reading and analyzing this poem, I have observed varying tones throughout the piece. The poem begins by describing what characteristics she has obtained from her mother’s side. She writes, “she left the large white breasts that weigh down/ my body” and “my whiteness a shame.” The tone of these two phrases could be described as ashamed and disappointed. The poem’s tone immediately changes in the second stanza. The author begins talking about her father’s side and how proud she is to learn of her Chickasaw heritage. The poem reads, “From my father I take his brown eyes”, “He was the man/ who sang old chants to me”, and “I learned to kill a snake/ when you’re begging for rain.” When telling about her father’s side, the author’s tone is more compassionate and interested. When the author talks about her grandmother, she uses more detail; however, her tone is much different. I concluded that the grandma was not too fond of the fact that she was half white. It seemed as if she cared a great deal about what her grandmother thought of her. Hogan seemed ashamed of her white background, but was proud of the fact that she had a Chickasaw heritage. The author goes on to conclude the poem with the sentence, “From my family I have learned the secrets/ of never having a home.” The author switched to a contradicting and curious tone, leaving the reader wondering what she meant. Tone is important because it helps connect the reader to the story and allows them to feel what the character or author is
Authors use many different types of imagery in order to better portray their point of view to a reader. This imagery can depict many different things and often enhances the reader’s ability to picture what is occurring in a literary work, and therefore is more able to connect to the writing. An example of imagery used to enhance the quality of a story can be found in Leyvik Yehoash’s poem “Lynching.” In this poem, the imagery that repeatably appears is related to the body of the person who was lynched, and the various ways to describe different parts of his person. The repetition of these description serves as a textual echo, and the variation in description over the course of the poem helps to portray the events that occurred and their importance from the author to the reader. The repeated anatomic imagery and vivid description of various body parts is a textual echo used by Leyvik Yehoash and helps make his poem more powerful and effective for the reader and expand on its message about the hardship for African Americans living
...he theme of the poem is that no matter how young or old you are you are still a subject to racism think what happens in your childhood affects who you are in the future. Countee Cullen experienced racism at age eight from a white kid who was not much older than him. This most definitely shaped how he viewed whites in general.
When looking into works of literature, some stories seem to be similar to others. They can have a similar setting, point of view, theme, or sense of language and style. However, all of these points could be very different as well and could cover different theme or style. Flannery O’Conner’s “Good Country People” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” have some contrasting elements, such as their points of view and use of symbolism, but their similarities in the underlying theme, language, and the setting of these stories reveal how these two stories are impacted by education on both the individual and their family.
On the most basic level, Hogan’s poems lead themselves to personal interpretations of conception and expression. Opening with lines so broadly relatable, such as “It was a time before / I was born. / I was thin. / I was hungry. I was / only a restlessness inside a woman’s body” (“Tear” 1-5) Hogan succeeds draws the reader into that world of hunger, of desperation, and of uncertainty for nothing is quite as captivating as the human experience. From the very beginning, the reader relates and sees personal experiences within her woven words. Relating to the emotions premating off her memories takes down a barrier as connections are made across individuals. However, it is apparent her words are digging at something else as well. This desperation cannot be assumed results from only extrinsic influence. The depth of Hogan’s words reach deeper, past the external, the hardened barriers warped through imbalanced privilege and hi...
...the reader to think in a different mindset. By creating this mindset Hughes and Brooks communicate thousands of years of black history as the speaker of “The Weary Blues” has the singers blues echo through his head so too do we have the weary thoughts of generations past echo through ours. Their creative use of words creates connection between performer and audience through the style of communication. Hughes doesn’t just use the grief of the singer’s lyrics; he uses the moan of the piano to express sorrow. Brooks doesn’t just ponder the life choices of the young boys; she forces the reader to think from their point of view. Brooks creates a connection between the speaker and the reader through the style of communication. By using these styles Hughes and Brooks prove that creating connections is less about what is said and more about the music that drives the poetry.
Nature often plays an important role in the books and poems. Through the use of imagery, an author is able to help the reader to visualize the surroundings and the habitat in which the book is set up. In Michael Ondaatje’s memoir Running in the Family nature is interspersed here and there with the newly discovered family history. In addition to facts that Michael Ondaatje discovers, through the use of nature he associates the behavior of some of his family members. Michael Ondaatje connects his father with dogs and snakes, and his grandmother with horses and gardens. By connecting the nature with one of the most important characters in the book, the author uses symbols to imply his father and grandma’s true personalities. By doing this he is
In an interview with Voice of America, she said that her identity as an Asian American “definitely play[s] into all of the reasons why [she] write[s] and why [she] continues to write” (Byrd). That is evident throughout this poem which is about a facet of the Asian American narrative, the fetishization of Asian American women, that is not always discussed. Women from every background deal with catcalling and other forms of casual sexual harassment which is what makes this poem relatable, but Asian American women must face this unique brand of intertwined racism and sexism in their daily lives. “To the Man Who Shouted ‘I Like Pork Fried Rice’ at Me on the Street” is not the solution to this problem, but it is a powerful piece of literature that demonstrates no one is simply a
The poem tells of a young black with a writing assignment in which he must simple write a page on whatever he wants. Hughes uses the narrator in this poem to give some insight on the obstacles that he believed stood in his path while he was trying to pursue his dream of becoming a writer. The speaker tells the audience that he is in college and that “I am the only colored student in my class” (Hughes line 10). During that time period, it was very rare for anyone of color to participate in higher education. The speaker tells us he is from the Harlem area, and he identifies with the people of Harlem just as Harlem identifies with him. Hughes understood the feelings and everyday lives of the people of Harlem, New York, and gave his fictional speaker those same understandings. The writer tells his audience of his feelings towards the white American population when he says, “I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like / the same things other folks like who are other races” (lines 25-26). Hughes’s used his speaker to explain how black and whites both want to be writers, but blacks are put at a disadvantage due to the social differences of the two. Langston Hughes wanted his readers to understand the cultural differences of people of color and people on non-color. Jeannine Johnson asserts that “for Hughes, poetry is to some degree about self-expression and self-exploration, especially when the "self" is understood to mark the identity of an individual who is always affected by and affecting a larger culture.” One of the most noted portions of this poem is when the speaker tells his instructor, “You are white / yet a part of me, as I am a part of you / That’s American” (lines 31-33). These lines tell the reader that although whites and blacks have their differences, that regardless of race they are both American. Hughes uses
In the poem the Truth Is by Linda Hogan is struggling with her mixed ethnic heritage, with her dad being Chickasaw and her mother being European.
In this poem, there is a young woman and her loving mother discussing their heritage through their matrilineal side. The poem itself begins with what she will inherit from each family member starting with her mother. After discussing what she will inherit from each of her family members, the final lines of the poem reflect back to her mother in which she gave her advice on constantly moving and never having a home to call hers. For example, the woman describes how her father will give her “his brown eyes” (Line 7) and how her mother advised her to eat raw deer (Line 40). Perhaps the reader is suggesting that she is the only survivor of a tragedy and it is her heritage that keeps her going to keep safe. In the first two lines of the poem, she explains how the young woman will be taking the lines of her mother’s (Lines 1-2). This demonstrates further that she is physically worried about her features and emotionally worried about taking on the lineage of her heritage. Later, she remembered the years of when her mother baked the most wonderful food and did not want to forget the “smell of baking bread [that warmed] fined hairs in my nostrils” (Lines 3-4). Perhaps the young woman implies that she is restrained through her heritage to effectively move forward and become who she would like to be. When reading this poem, Native American heritage is an apparent theme through the lifestyle examples, the fact lineage is passed through woman, and problems Native Americans had faced while trying to be conquested by Americans. Overall, this poem portrays a confined, young woman trying to overcome her current obstacles in life by accepting her heritage and pursuing through her
When writing poetry, there are many descriptive methods an author may employ to communicate an idea or concept to their audience. One of the more effective methods that authors often use is linking devices, such as metaphors and similes. Throughout “The Elder Sister,” Olds uses linking devices effectively in many ways. An effective image Olds uses is that of “the pressure of Mother’s muscles on her brain,” (5) providing a link to the mother’s expectations for her children. She also uses images of water and fluidity to demonstrate the natural progression of a child into womanhood. Another image is that of the speaker’s elder sister as a metaphorical shield, the one who protected her from the mental strain inflicted by their mother.
Billy Collins, the speaker of Introduction to Poetry, attempts teach the readers by guiding on how to appropriate and analyze poetry. Collins use of personification and imagery, gives the readers a different perspective to interpret and find the significance in poetry. In this particular poem, the speaker does not want the reader to, “tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it,” (Collins 13-14) but the reader should relate to their own personal experiences to the poem and what the author is conveying. Collins believes poetry should be studied in the right way else they lose their beauty.
Throughout history, poets had experimented with different forms of figurative language. Figurative language allows a poet to express his or her meaning within a poem. The beauty of using the various forms of figurative language is the ability to convey deep meaning in a condensed fashion. There are many different figures of speech that a poet can use such as: simile, paradox, metaphor, alliteration, and anaphora. These examples only represent a fraction of the different forms, but are amongst the most well-known. The use of anaphora in a poem, by a poet, is one of the best ways to apply weight or emphasis on a particular segment. Not only does an anaphora place emphasis, but it can also aid in setting the tone, or over all “feel” a reader receives from a poem. Poets such as Walt Whitman, Conrad Aiken, and Frances Osgood provide poems that show how the use of anaphora can effect unity, feeling, and structure of a poem.
By using onomatopoeia, description, and dialogue each poet argues their subject or theme. Although each poet does not write about the same subject or theme they each use the literary device effectively to help support their poem. By using each literary device in different context the poets show the many different styles when writing poetry. Each poet uses the literary devices efficiently to help their overall message in each poem.
As previously stated race plays an important role within the poem and as such race as a theme it can be seen throughout. Race can be seen from the beginning of the poem where Nichols says “Show me the woman that would surrender her little black dress.” This is likely referring to the skin colour of the narrator as they wear it. This idea is reinforced with the use