Comparing Dog's Death By John Updike And Shooting The Horse

Evaluates and compares the effect of figurative language and imagery in the poems to some extent

If peoples’ dogs die, they will feel heartbroken, depressed, and/or angry. Poetry makes you feel that way, too.

In literature, themes shape and characterize an author’s writing making each work unique as different points of view are expressed within a writing’s words and sentences. This is the case, for example, of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death.” Both poems focus on the same theme of death, but while Poe’s poem reflects that death is an atrocious event because of the suffering and struggle that it provokes, Dickinson’s poem reflects that death is humane and that it should not be feared as it is inevitable. The two poems have both similarities and differences, and the themes and characteristics of each poem can be explained by the author’s influences and lives.

In Czeslaw Milosz poem, “Ars Poetica?”, he reveals to the reader his opinion on the art of poetry. However, instead of praising the art form or the beauty of constructing an overall poem, he critical evaluates his dislike for its limited and depressing state. However, although the writer does not approve of all the aspects of poetry, he does have a belief towards its overall use. Throughout “Ars Poetica” the tone of the writer, his use of figurative language, and word choice in poem all contribute to his overall message.

The last line in the poem “and since they were not the ones dead, turned to their own affairs” lacks the emotions the reader would expect a person to feel after a death of a close family member. But instead, it carries a neutral tone which implies that death doesn’t even matter anymore because it happened too often that the value of life became really low, these people are too poor so in order to survive, they must move on so that their lives can continue. A horrible sensory image was presented in the poem when the “saw leaped out at the boy’s hand” and is continued throughout the poem when “the boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh…the hand was gone already…and that ended it”, this shows emphasis to the numbness the child felt. The poem continues with the same cold tone without any expression of emotion or feelings included except for pain, which emphasizes the lack of sympathy given. Not only did the death of this child placed no effect on anyone in the society but he was also immediately forgotten as he has left nothing special enough behind for people to remember him, so “since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs”. This proves that life still carries on the same way whether he is present or not, as he is insignificant and that his death

The imagery used throughout the poem is heavily sensual, we start with an intimation that the dog has lain dead for five days in the heat, the word `thick' being used to describe the summer heat and to hint at the smell which permeates the air later. The sound of flies is also used to give a sense of foreboding and oppression, he later returns to

The theme” grief “is supported by the construction of the stanza, there is no rhyme scheme or meter, and the speaker seems to be careless about her work. She is too distressed and not even tries to arrange a rhythm to her words.

Although “Mountain Graveyard” lacks that sense of imagery that is clearly shown throughout Updike’s “Dog’s Death”, both poets ultimately are still able to evoke emotions of death and pass that theme along in their poems. These two poems definitely share their similarities and differences. The choice of words that Updike uses helps draw a picture in the reader’s head of what is going on; by “lie down forever”(Updike 8), Updike really meant the dog was slowly dying. Updike’s use of syntax throughout the story helps the reader relate to how the family feels about the death of their dog. The reader can imagine what is going on at this point in the poem.

Exploring the interaction between animals and humans, the poems “Traveling through the Dark” and “Woodchucks” both analyze this relationship with unique insightfulness. William Stafford, the author of “Traveling through the Dark,” depicts an accidental encounter with a dead deer on the road, while Maxine Kumin, the author of “Woodchucks,” invites the readers to witness a hateful holocaust against woodchucks. Although focusing on similar topics with regard to human’s reaction towards the death of animals, “Traveling through the Dark” and “Woodchucks” display a solid contrast of their use of syntax, distinguished by the complexity of their language, and the focus of their main themes, which reveals the two author’s different attitudes on men and the nature.

Does a beetle’s death require as much thoughtful consideration as a human’s? Is a beetle only less significant as a human due to the contrasting proportions? Does size matter at all? A dead beetle lies on a path through a field and is meditated on for only a glance. The passing person then continues the right of way. Wislawa Szymborska attempts to change our ideas of death to comprehend that even small things are relevant as shown in the poem, ‘Seen From Above,’ by utilizing the imagery of the dead beetle, through claiming death’s metaphorical right of way, and with the contrast of a deceased human and a dead animal.

The author uses several types of poetic terms in this poem to develop the theme of a person accepting grief in their life. One poetic term she used was a metaphor. The metaphor is “Ah, grief, I should not treat you like a homeless dog.” Although grief is not a type of dog, the author wants us to think of grief in the same way that we would think about a homeless dog. The same phrase can also be considered a simile. The author intends for us to think of grief as being like a homeless dog. Another way that the author expressed her theme was by using a specific kind of repetition like anaphora. Several words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines and sentences in the poem. These words are “you,” “your,” “my,” and “and.” There are also several phrases that are repeated throughout the poem. These phrases are “your own,” “I should,” and “you need.” She uses these repetitive words and phrases in the poem to describe a conversation that a person is having with grief.

focuses of second half of the poem is concentrated on accident that takes place in which a boy

In this literary analysis it is essential to compare and contrast Cathy Song’s poem “Heaven” and Bryan Thao Worra’s poem “Pen/Sword” to give the reader a better understanding of what the authors’ are conveying to their readers. The similarities in the style, word choice, and theme will be compared, along with the differences of style, word choice, and theme reflected throughout each poem. Furthermore, I will determine the meaning behind the broken up and/or the way the lines of each poem while describing why the lines are strategically placed throughout the pieces. This will allow me to identify the meaning that the authors’ are explaining to the reader. Each poet specifically writes to give the reader(s) a picture of what they are feeling and defining their emotion through their writing.

The astonishing level of agony presented in a person when losing a loved one is described in the poem, “Stop All of the Clocks, Cut off the Telephone” by W.H. Auden. In this poem, the poet describes the pain of ending an intense sensation of love when one of the partners passes away. The inability to cope once one’s love has ended provokes the feeling that life has ended due to the thought of not being able to live alone. This is found in the poem when Auden states, “For nothing now can ever come to any good” (Auden, 16). The author’s use of figures of speech, imagery, and diction allow her audience to understand the speaker’s true emotions over its’ overwhelming grieving period.

The main aim of this paper is to analyse the theme of Tadpoles and For Heidi with Blue Hair through the images that are employed by Fleur Adcock. The main aim of the researcher is to analyse the different types of images used by the poet and how it helps the reader to understand the theme of the poems. There are seven distinct types of imagery which are catergorised as visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, kinesthetic and organic. Visual images appeal to the sense of sight. Auditory images appeal to specific sound whereas olfactory image is used to describe particular scent. Gustatory image pertains to the sense of taste whereas tactile is used to describe the sense of touch. Kinesthetic images deal with movement or action. Organic deals with creating a specific feeling or emotion within the reader. Adcock’s poems Tadpoles and For Heidi with Blue Hair are taken for analysis to analyse theme through images. In these poems Fleur Adcock has used different images in order to achieve the poetic effect.