Zaria Jack
Professor Maresca
Global Literature
October 13th, 2016
“The morning was one peculiar to that coast. Everything was mute and calm; everything grey. The sea, though undulated into long roods of swells, seemed fixed, and was sleeked at the surface like waved lead that has cooled and set in the smelter’s mould. The sky seemed a grey mantle. Flights of troubled grey fowl, kith and kin with flights of troubled gray vapors among which they were mixed, skimmed low and fitfully over the waters, as swallows over meadows before storms. Shadows present, foreshadowing deeper shadows to come.” At this point of the novel Captain Delano is sailing his ship The Bachelor’s Delight. While the boat is anchored, the crew spots a large foreign ship at sea with torn sails that is simply floating in the water. Delano decides to send a boat over to investigate and this is where he meets Benito Cereno and a boat filled with individuals who clearly showed signs of suffering. The quote above turned out to hint to a big part of what was to come in the novel. The lack of control and leadership and obliviousness are themes in the story that led to Benito Cereno’s self-deception and downfall of his crew and Babo’s success. Additionally, this novel tells a story that was quite similar to that of the Haitian Revolution that occurred in Saint Dominique (Haiti). Babo quite smartly uses Cereno’s lack of control and leadership on the boat to aid in his organization of the slave revolt.
In the first stage of the poem, Morgan uses various poetic techniques to set the scene in the early evening by a Scottish loch. “The evening is perfect, my sisters. The loch lies silent, the air is still. The suns last rays linger over the water.” Morgan’s use of effective word choice creates a sense of peaceful tranquillity which is further developed with the alliteration
Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.
Throughout history, authors have used poetry as a way to express themselves and how they think or feel in an artistic way. There have been poems written about almost every feeling a person has ever had which is why poetry is so popular, because it describes feelings in a way many people cannot. In present day, people from all around the world look back at old poetry and try to define the true meanings behind poems using literally elements and context clues to aid them, this is known as explication. The writing named “Boat of Cypress” is a famous poem written long ago by an unknown author, and composed about a woman full of misery and despair from her personal point of view. Throughout this poem, the readers
Updike continues his portrayal of the vast splendor of nature through metaphors, similes, and diction pertaining to a large flock of starlings that flew and over and lit on the gold course where the two men in the poem are playing. The approaching flock of birds seem like a “cloud of dots” (Line 16) on the horizon to observers. The author compares The image of the steadily approaching flock of starlings to iron filings (the birds) stuck to a magnet through a piece of paper (the horizon). The men stand in awe of the black, writhing, approaching mass, much like children do when the magnet picks up the filings through the paper. By comparing the approaching birds to the magnet and iron filing scenario in a simile, Updike subtly likens the men reaction to a small child’s reaction when he/she sees the “magic” of the magnet and the iron filings for the first time. The simile purpose is to show how nature can make grown men feel like small, free little kids when experiencing nature at its best. As the observers continue to watch the looming flock of birds, the flock became one huge pulsating mass of birds that seemed as “much as one thing as a rock.” (Line 22) Updike once again eloquently portrays nature as absolutely stunning to show how nature affects man. The birds descended in a huge “evenly tinted” (Line
The appreciation of nature is illustrated through imagery ‘and now the country bursts open on the sea-across a calico beach unfurling’. The use of personification in the phrase ‘and the water sways’ is symbolic for life and nature, giving that water has human qualities. In contrast, ‘silver basin’ is a representation of a material creation and blends in with natural world. The poem is dominated by light and pure images of ‘sunlight rotating’ which emphasizes the emotional concept of this journey. The use of first person ‘I see from where I’m bent one of those bright crockery days that belong to so much I remember’ shapes the diverse range of imagery and mood within the poem. The poet appears to be emotional about his past considering his thoughts are stimulated by different landscapes through physical journey.
“Over the island the build-up of clouds continued. A steady current of heated air rose all day from the mountain and was thrust to ten thousand feet; revolving masses of gas piled up the static until the air was ready to explode. By early evening the sun had gone and a brassy glare had taken the place of clear daylight. Even the air that pushed in from the sea was hot and held no refreshment.” The opening statement of the chapter gives away its mood; dark, gloomy, hostile and chilling. The author uses the weather to foreshadow ill-fated
Spaulding begins her essay with a detailed personal testimony that describes the deep emotional connection she feels for darkness. In part of the second paragraph she states, “the sky and shore and water were all one inky darkness though stars sparkled on the watery surface,” (83). This description of the
Are Roberto 's aspirations based on fact? Can he convert his status from undocumented worker to legal resident? How might you go about finding out whether this is possible?
Stanza 1-Speaker of poem in the woods. The wood is sunny, bright, it is Fall. He comes to a fork in the road. He’s trying to choose one road. He can only take one. He looks down one path and he can see pretty far but he doesn’t see where it will take him.
There are many subtle clues that hint at the notion of Melville spinning a web of deceit in Benito Cereno, but the most revealing clue that best exemplifies this is when Babo attempts to stab his beloved “master”—Benito Cereno. In what seems to be an emotional ending to the novella, Benito Cereno bids his emotional adieus to Captain Delano while holding his hand; however, after Captain Delano and his crew are settled in their boat and the bowsman pushes the whaleboat off of the San Dominick, Benito Cereno suddenly springs into Captain Delano’s whaleboat and is then swam after by three Spanish sailors who attempt to climb on board. Still unsure on what to make of the situation, Captain Delano spots Babo with a dagger in his hand, and believes that his intent is to stab him. With this in mind, Captain Delano flings the boarded Spaniards aside and grapples the dagger that is aimed at his heart away from Babo.
“The rain this mourning pours from the gutters and everywhere else it is lost in the trees. You need your glasses what you know is there because doubt is inexorable; you put on your glasses. The trees, their bark, their leaves, even the dead ones, are more vibrant wet. Yes, and it’s raining. Each moment is like this—before it can be known, categorized as similar to another thing and dismissed, it has to be experienced, it has to be seen. What did he just say? Did she really just say that? Did I hear what I think I just heard? Did that just come out of my mouth, his mouth, your mouth? The moment sinks. Still you want to stop looking at the trees. You want to walk out and stand among them. And as light as the rain seems, it still rains down on you.” (page 9)
The book “The Captain’s Verses” by Pablo Neruda, there are many love poems. Poems that express different ways of loving someone. I decided to pick Neruda's body of work because of how smooth and elegant his poems sound. They express so much passion towards a person and also send a message. When reading his poems I would be able to understand the emotion the poem carried. This is the first thing that caught my attention from his poems. The emotions each and every one of them carried.
In the view of the captain everything, even nature herself can be fit into "good order." But to insure that good order can exist there must be a prevention of misery. Captain Delano seeks to placate and to prevent misery in those lower than himself in his sense of order. The crucial lesson which the Captain cannot understand is that his conception of "good order" inherently causes misery in those he enslaves. The reason he wants to believe the lie of the San Dominick is because it validates his all important system of order and hierarchy.
The Fish is a narrative monologue composed for 76 free-verse lines. The poem is constructed as one long stanza. The author is the speaker narrating this poem. She narrates a fishing experience. The author is out in a rented boat on a body of water, presumably a lake. She tries to describe the fish to the fullest, which appears to be the purpose of the poem, without saying either the specie or an approximate age. The narration gives the impression that the fish is slightly old. There are a number of reasons as to why that fish got caught by the author, including time of day, the weeds weighing it down, fish’s age, and the fact that it has been previously caught five times.
As he continues from pool to pool, each house is described by the various occupants, who most are drinking or having a party and welcome him, keeping his mind on the idea of being an explorer/hero. The first inclination of a turning lies in the coming storm, "the stand of cumulus cloud - that city - had risen and darkened, and while he sat there he heard the percussiveness of thunder again" (Norton, p. 1864). As he starts again to make his way towards home, he begins to be a bit foggy, wondering what time it has gotten to be. It is almost as if his mind is clouding over, the imagery of darkness descending, "it was growing dark; it was that moment when the pinheaded birds seem to organize their song into some acute and knowledgeable recognition of the storm's approach" (Norton, p. 1865).