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Diction and imagery of poetry
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The Taxi, by Amy Lowell, is an Imagist poem that relies heavily on imagery, rather than abstract ideas, to reveal meaning to the reader. The author uses free verse to allow the images and lines to speak for themselves and stand alone as individual lines. By doing so, each line offers its own tone and meaning, which then adds to the overall feel of the poem. Lowell wrote this poem to a love interest, clearly stating the meaning of the poem. She speaks as if the reader is the one being called after. The reader is entranced in her short poem filled with imagery to set the mood; the dire, last goodbye that seemed to separate the two forever. The poet's love for this person was also shown in her other works, and has made it very clear that there was a connection (Highleyman). This connection reveals the theme to be that she is lost without love. Before breaking the poem down into fragments for a line-by-line analysis, it can first be analyzed as a whole.
To begin, the reader may gather that the poem has a very dark and saddened tone. Due to Lowell's vivid imagery, a mental image of a dark urban setting is created. It also seems very cold, with the mentioning of wind and nighttime. Readers may be able to relate to urban places they know, adding to the reality of the poem. Connections can be made. The imagery is left in such a way that the reader can fill in the gaps with their own memories or settings. Also, since the poem uses free verse, the structure is left open to interpretation. This makes the poem more inviting and easier to interpret, rather than reading it as a riddle. However, though simple in imagery, the poem still captures the reader's interest due to the creation it sparks, yet it never strays away from the theme of bei...
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... narrator has gone is not important, the car lights are out of the reader's sight and the poem has come to an end.
Lowell was an Imagist poet, and by doing so, she has created a scene with as few words as possible. However, she was able to breathe life into each line by making sure emphasis and connotation fell upon the right words. Through this, she made the theme very clear; that she would be lost without love. Ada Dwyer Russell, the suspected subject of Lowell's desire, was the same reader left at the curb. However, with such vivid imagery, she could be replaced with anyone who reads the poem.
Works Cited
Highleyman, Liz. "Who was Amy Lowell?." Lesbian News 33.3 (2007): 45. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 27 Sept. 2011.
Rollyson, Carl. "The absence of Amy Lowell." New Criterion 26.1 (2007): 77-80. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 27 Sept. 2011.
The informal language and intimacy of the poem are two techniques the poet uses to convey his message to his audience. He speaks openly and simply, as if he is talking to a close friend. The language is full of slang, two-word sentences, and rambling thoughts; all of which are aspects of conversations between two people who know each other well. The fact that none of the lines ryhme adds to the idea of an ordinary conversation, because most people do not speak in verse. The tone of the poem is rambling and gives the impression that the speaker is thinking and jumping from one thought to the next very quickly.
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Showalter, Elaine. "Tradition and the Female Talent: The Awakening as a Solitary Book." Martin 33-55.
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Kimmich, Allison."Alice Walker, Overview." Feminist Writers (1996). Literature Resource Center. 2003. GaleNet. Nicholls State University Library, Thibodaux, Louisiana.
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T.S. Eliot had very philosophical and religious meanings behind this poem, and that helped me relate personally very well with this work of his. He used allusions to other poems, letting me make connections with works I have read before. He also used inclusive language and had the same opinion as me portrayed in this work. Based on these, T.S. Eliot has convinced me of his messages in this poem, as well as made this by far my favorite of his.
Lillian Hellman was a well-known American dramatist who was born in 1905 in New Orleans ("Hellman," 1999). She later moved and attended New York public schools and went on to go to New York University and Columbia University as well. Within the confines of her youth, there had been confusion about her family background (Harmon, 1999). There has always been talk about her parents troubled marriage and other events have cropped up to make Hellman an intriguing figure. Yet, she went on to grow up and find a husband, something typical in her day. She married another playwright named Arthur Kober, but this relationship ended in divorce ("Hellman," 1999; James, 1999). Her intimate friendship with the novelist Dashiell Hammett would continue until his death in 1961 (1999). Yet, Hellman would never remarry.
One part of this difference in the structure of the poem, as Traveling has elements that allow it to be a slower more contemplative poem. While Traveling shares with Woodchucks a majority for end stopped lines, it lakes the latters rhyme scheme. This helps to keep the poem from building much rhythm. In addition, there are several examples of caesura in the poem such as “that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead” and “and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing.” These inline breaks help to create natural pauses in the poem, much like the narrator stopping and thinking, which sharply contrasts to the quick, rushed pace of the narrator in
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Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History. New York: Random House, Inc., 2007. Print.
Blum, Deborah. “The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over?” Signs of Life In the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. Ed. Sonia Maasik. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000.
It also shows how through the use of key words such as "but" an undertone of regret can be established by the author without that tone overpowering the mood of serenity and peace that is evident in this poem. This shows that although an explicit meaning is clearly conveyed by the poet, in order to establish the implicit meanings of a piece, the reader must establish the key words of the piece and analyse these words further until the true or implicit meaning is reached. This is often necessary in poems such as "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" as the hidden meaning is often far stronger, when established, than those moods and, meanings shown clearly at first glance. This poem also clearly depicts mans desire to escape from the difficulties of life, society, duty, responsibility and finally "promises."