Dealing With Absence By Emily Bronte And Thomas Hardy

Birdsong is a novel set in the period before, during and after the First World War. Automatically one would think of the loss of life that was suffered during this time, but the loss of life is not the only form loss suffered during this time. Standing side -by -side with the loss of life is the loss of love and the loss of faith. Faulks uses vivid descriptions and contrasting images to place the reader at the scene and make them empathise with the characters. Loss is one of the most poignant themes in the book, and is one that fuels a majority of the lines written.

To illustrate, at the end of the poem, the music is “mercifully opening into the unforgiving new day.” The word “merciful” relates to how the notes provide a sanctuary in his mind to avoid the everlasting solitude of his “unforgiving” day-to-day life. In addition, the narrator is aware of his grim lifestyle, but he also has decided that it was never going to get better, at least when he doesn't play music. He wishes to “turn [himself] into a bird” but realizes that he is “earthbound.” As stated previously, the bird represents a calm, freeing state by using the word “earthbound,” which contrasts the ability of flight that birds possess.

A poem which explores the feeling of loss is ‘Visiting Hour’ by Norman MacCaig. In this powerful and moving poem, the writer uses techniques such as imagery, symbolism and word choice to effectively grip the reader and keeps them with him throughout the poem.

The bird in the story represents someone who lost hope in receiving freedom. That concept is best shown in the story, “But the swallow no longer believes what people say”. The bird lost complete hope. The bird is promised that he will be taken care of, but each time he finds himself in the hand of a new owner. In each situation he begs to be freed but no one seems to understand him. The

At the bird’s appearance and apparent vocal articulation, he is at first impressed, then saddened. He compares this evening visitor as only another friend which will soon depart, just as “other friends have flown before” (58). But the raven again echoes quite aptly his one-word vocabulary, thus leading the man on to think more deeply about the possibilities that exist at this juncture. Somewhere deep inside him, he has realized that it doesn’t matter what question he poses, the bird will respond the same.

Absence of a person let us recall those moments we spent together which make us realize how much we love or how much we are attached to that person because we start to feel the lack of something we can’t have, get worried for him/her and always wish everything to be alright. These sorts of feelings altogether enhance the love and care in our heart for that person.

Dickinson and Whitman also use similar poetic devices in "Hope is a Thing with Feathers” and “O Captain! My Captain!” Each poem contains an extended metaphor. In Dickinson’s poem, a bird clearly symbolizes hope. The first stanza introduces the bird metaphor: ‘Hope is the thing with feathers--/That perches in the soul.’ The next lines ‘And sings the tune without the words--/And never stops—at all—’ illustrate the interminable nature of the bird and hope. The second stanza expands the metaphor by saying ‘And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—.’ The bird’s song, or hope, is the sweetest during a Gale, or troubled times. The first lines in the final stanza ‘I’ve heard it in the chillest land--/ And on the strangest Sea’ describe the bird, or hope, as being

She introduces the metaphor in the first two lines of the poem by saying, ““Hope” is the thing with feathers - / That perches in the soul -” and then builds the poem around the idea of a bird. When Dickinson says, “And sings the tune without the words- / And never stops - at all -” she shows that the hope doesn’t have to be sensible, and it never stops existing in one’s heart. In the last stanza she says, “I’ve heard it in the chillest land - / And on the strangest Sea -”. It is not a possible thing to hear the hope, but in this line she tries to say that that hope is everywhere. Even though the main idea of the poem is hope being in everyone’s heart, the metaphor of hope being a bird is actually what makes the poem more interesting for the

Emily experienced the deaths of many loved ones during her lifetime, which could link to why her poems revolve around despair.

In the poems you have studied a recurring theme is that of ‘loss’. This can take many forms: death; identity; hope or loss of innocence

Both the “Valediction Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson contain age-old themes. These themes focus on inevitable feelings and events of life; love and death. Although both “Valediction Forbidding Mourning” and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” contain the two themes, they differ greatly in how they are presented and what they represent. In “Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” a husband traveling away from his wife is consoling her.

The word choice here reflects Jane's situation - she is like the ground, 'petrified' under the influence of her aunt, whose behaviour is mirrored in the term "hard frost" because of the icy discipline she bestows. Mrs Reed's attitude towards Jane highlights one of the main themes of the novel, social class. Jane's aunt sees Jane as inferior as she had humble beginnings: she is "less than a servant". Jane is glad to be leaving her cruel aunt and of having the chance of going to school.

Throughout the poem of “Hope” is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson, I believe the she referred to Hope as the bird in her poem. As said in the poem “and sore must be the storm, that could abash the little bird”. The bird is like the hope inside of every human being, and no matter what the situation might be. Good day or bad our hope in us never goes away nor does our hope ever run out. Our hope is there whenever it is needed, it’s there to help us pull through any problem we may have. Just like the bird singing through the windy days and powerful storms. I also believe that in the second stanza as she talks about the storm trying to overpower the birds singing when in reality the birds singing was much stronger than the storm. So

The second stanza, that talks about "That perches in the soul," uses the imagery of a bird to explain hope. She believes hope perches in people's souls as the hope becomes the home for hope. The subject is viewed as a metaphor as hope rests in people souls the way a bird is known to rest on its own perch. In both the third and fourth stanza the poem talks about a bird singing the tune without any words and does not stop at all. Dickinson makes use of the imagery of continuous bird's songs to depict eternal hope as the bird does not stop singing the hope song. The fifth stanza, which states "And sweetest in the gale is heard", explains the song of hope by the bird as sweetest to the wind (Dickinson & Vendler

In “Hope is the thing with feathers” the author characterizes hope as being caring and always being there when it's needed, which helps develop the theme of hope and perseverance. The following line, “And never stops at all”, helps characterize the bird in the poem as persevering. This piece of evidence shows that hope will always be there which characterization of caring. The line “That perches in soul”, gives the characterization of perseverance. This line is portraying the idea of hope always being with you, hence the line perching within you, or in your soul. The line “And sour must be the storm that could abash the little bird” characterizes hope as persevering. The line illustrates the bird as always being there even when times are tough. Even when one might think that there is no hope, hope will always be there. The quote “Yet never in extremity it asked a crumb-of me” characterize hope as being giving.The line shows how hope will never ask for anything in return and instead gives without expecting anything in return.