Poets convey their ideas, thoughts and feelings through various structures and techniques. John Blights “Death of a Whale” (a modern sonnet) brings up the issue of death on a large scale, and how us humans have all got a cruel side to ourselves. Seamus Heaney’s “The Skylight” (also a modern sonnet) describes to the reader his battle to realisation with an installation of a sky light that his wife insists on. Both poems are modern sonnets using poetic language such as alliteration, personification and smilies to express their ideas vividly to the reader.
Death of a whale is a modern sonnet influenced by shakespearian sonnets due to the line length and ending rhyming couplet. Blight shares with us his observation of how people will feel great
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For example he uses words like ‘Lugubrious’, ‘tiny, delicate creature’ and ‘wring’. In a very short poem he has conveyed a very big and powerful idea with the use of these poetic words.
“How must a whale die to wring a tear?”
Blight uses a rhetorical question to extend his judgement of humans and also stop the reader in their tracks to ask themselves the same thing. The use of the word ‘wring’ shows how people aren’t as upset, tears aren’t falling out as easily instead it is implying that you would have to extract tears.
“The big feast for the gulls and the sharks; the tug of the tide…”
The writer has used imagery to create a vivid image for the reader to visualise and connect with Blight’s observation. “Feast for the gulls and sharks” also captures a sense of celebration. Since the Whale corpse is now a “big feast” it suddenly solves the issue that the community appeared to have on their bay. Alliteration -“the tug of the tide…”- has also been used to extend the image of dead whale and keep the rhythm flowing through the poem. The third quatrain starts with a volta (a shift in emotion, typical of shakespearian
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“…When a child dies; but the immolation of a race, who cries?”
This final couplet is a comparison to the mouse and whale, meaning that a mouse is like a child, when both die its a shock, people feel pity and sadness. But when a whale dies it is like a whole race dead, nobody really cares and people can live with it or they will only care about what it looks like and how it will effect themselves.
Seamus Heaney’s “The Skylight” is also a modern sonnet. in “The Skylight” Heaney explores his opposition to his wife’s plan to install a skylight in the attic of his house. Heaney explains how he loves his closed, dark space. Eventually his wife does install the skylight and Heaney feels a great sense of freedom to his surprise.
Heaney uses a range of rich vocabulary and techniques to communicate his idea to the audience. He makes you feel and smell the attic’s warmth with the descriptive language used.
“I opposed cutting into the seasoned tongue-and-groove of pitch
Gascoigne uses three quatrains and a couplet to create the English sonnet “For That He Looked Not upon Her.” The first quatrain introduces the reader to the speaker and his issues with his beloved, while also describing the speaker’s appearances after being heartbroken. In the second quatrain, the speaker builds onto his accounting of suffering and sorrow with an analogy of a “mouse” (Gascoigne
What can have 48-52 teeth or no teeth at all? It is the gorgeous creature we call the whale? From Belugas, to Humpbacks, to Killer Whales, there is much to learn about these lovely gentle giants. Did you know that Beluga whales are the smallest species of whale? Belugas can reach weights of 3,000 pounds, adults are reported to be 14 feet long.
(213). The narrator once again speaks of the sea as if it were human. Stating the “waves paced to and fro” and “the great sea’s voice”, he gives the sea life and a voice. Having figures of speech such as these gives the story life and a vivid
emotions felt by characters in the novel. His use of language in this way helps convey his
In 1573, George Gascoigne published “For That He Looked Not upon Her,” a poem in which his careful and methodical approach to the sonnet form is evident. Two years later, he published “Certayne Notes of Instruction on Making of Verse,” which only further served to cement his reputation as meticulous and deliberate with his choice of language and form—every choice Gascoigne makes is made with a purpose in mind. This is especially evident in “For That He Looked Not upon Her,” wherein Gascoigne utilizes both the intentionally-chosen sonnet form and vivid imagery to develop his criticism of the classic sonnet in which the beloved’s refusal of the author only serves to make him more determined to pursue her.
A distinguished sense of hollowness, and darkness is discernable in George Elliot Clarke’s poem “Blank Sonnet”. This poem expresses, the author’s difficult and awkward communication with a lover through a broken relationship. word choice and imagery is imperative to the overall effect and tone of the poem. The usage of an atypical sonnet stylization, broken sentences, forms of metaphors, symbolism, sensory language, and alliteration form strong imagery, and a sense of disconnect. The overall effect leaves the reader with a resonating feeling of emptiness.
In ¨An Echo Sonnet¨ by Robert Pack, he was able to develop a clear message with his carefully structured poem. By employing a Shakespearean Sonnet form and a rhyming echo that answers the question raised by the voice, Pack revealed that the echo was the voice´s alter ego. Through the use of structure and other literary elements such as personification, imagery, and symbolism, the author developed the idea that although one might have insecurities about the future, it is important to take the ¨leap¨ of faith in order to truly be alive.
It brings up the gilded lies that we tell others to make them feel better, but how can telling someone “children are cruel” make a child forget the words that have been told to them? How can they just ignore it when it follows them every day, like an ominous shadow, always there. Within this poem there are multiple stories, bringing out the different victims of the same story, it’s a prime example of how people can affect others, and how words cause more destruction than a fist ever
Written in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet, one could hardly mistake it for anything so pleasant. Sonnets being traditionally used for beautiful, appealing topics, already there is contradiction between
Glasgow sonnet is a touching poem written by Edwin Morgan and is about how Glasgow used to be, years ago and the effects that it had on people. It deals with an important issue such as poverty and we see the reality of it and how it shouldn’t be ignored. By examining Morgans use of techniques we will be able to seen more of the effects of poverty and how and things actually are Morgans makes the poem particularly effective by the use of sonnet structure, the first 8 lines show us the area and the surroundings and the second half shows us the inside of the situation including people having to deal with this poverty.
The sonnet, being one of the most traditional and recognized forms of poetry, has been used and altered in many time periods by writers to convey different messages to the audience. The strict constraints of the form have often been used to parallel the subject in the poem. Many times, the first three quatrains introduce the subject and build on one another, showing progression in the poem. The final couplet brings closure to the poem by bringing the main ideas together. On other occasions, the couplet makes a statement of irony or refutes the main idea with a counter statement. It leaves the reader with a last impression of what the author is trying to say.
The nature of the metaphors with which the lyrical subject of the sonnet presents the nature of our world are grim and
Poe’s Sonnet- to Science is categorized as a Sonnet with a romantic movement, because of the way he sets the poem up and how he goes about explain his point of view. A sonnet is defined as a poem that consists of fourteen lines using different types of rhyme schemes, and having ten syllables per line, typically in the English language. A romantic movement is when the poet portrays his feelings as laws and shows us tranquility throughout, while still emitting strong emotions in the reader.
Poets and authors alike evoke emotion and pictures from one single word. The imagery and thoughts put into the readers’ heads by these different writers are the base of one’s creativity and imagination while reading the author’s work of art. William Shakespeare is one of the most well-known poets of all time that is able to elicit these emotions from the reader to allow the reader to fully understand what Shakespeare is trying to accomplish with his poems. Shakespeare keeps his audience entertained with a whopping 154 sonnets, each having a different meaning and imagery associated with it. Sonnet 18, “[Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day]”, and Sonnet 55, “[Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments]”, are both one of Shakespeare’s most famous works. Shakespeare uses these sonnets to explore the powerful relationship between humanity, art, and time.
This is expressed by the multiple examples of old men whom regret certain aspects of their lives and defy death even when they know their time is up. The speaker is urging his father to fight against old age and death. The meaning and subject of the poem influence the tone and mood. The tone is one of frustration and insistence. Thomas is slightly angry and demanding. His words are not a request, they are an order. The mood of the poem is is serious and solemn due to the poem focusing mainly on the issue of death. This mood and tone is created by words such as “burn”(2), “Grieved”(11) and “rage”(3) along with phrases such as “crying how bright”(7), “forked no lightning”(5), “near death”(13) and “fierce tears”(17). The insistent feeling is also created by the repetition of the lines “Do not go gentle into that good night”(1), and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”(3). The figurative language used also affect how the meaning, tone and mood are interpreted.