What do words actually mean? When we are reading, many of us don’t actually stop to think about the meaning of each word (unless the word is unfamiliar), instead we just assume what it means—we read automatically. Looking at the poem, “To A Poor Old Woman” by William Carlos Williams, we see the Shklovsky’s concept of “defamiliarization” in use. When we look at Shklovsky’s concept, “The technique of art is to make objects ‘unfamiliar’ to make forms difficult, to increase the difficulty and length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged” (Rivkin and Ryan 9). Using this same concept, looking at the first stanza of “To a Poor Old Woman,” we see the way that the stanza was structured in a way to make it unfamiliar. The author splits the sentences up where they normally wouldn’t be split up, so that gives that sense of unfamiliarity, so we begin to question what the words actually mean. If a person attempts to read it as a normal sentence, we would see that someone is eating a plum, the street is a paper bag, and something is in her hand. The reason I believe the lines are broken up in a “weird” way is because it’s trying to give that sense of unfamiliarity to get an audience to focus on what this stanza is really trying to say. Looking at the second stance, we see the repetition of “They taste good to her” written in different forms. This repetition gives an unfamiliar sense because each time it repeats, it gives off
Not only is he the most nominated living individual in the history of the Academy Awards (with 49 nominations), but he is also the third most-nominated person in Hollywood History, second only to Metro Goldwyn Mayer (62) Walt Disney (59). In his credentials he holds five Academy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, 22 Grammy Awards, and 4 Golden Globe Awards. Considering that obtaining a single nomination for any of the aforementioned awards is remarkable in itself, this astounding number is truly
In paragraph 4, Flower opens up how particular words veils positive and negative meaning. One can begin to question how does the positive and negative meanings come take toll. The affiliations that corresponds to a word can be influenced due to certain experiences or knowledge on the word. In addition, many people can begin repetitively take on usage of particular word that binds to a certain scenario such as “awkward,” which can be negative due to the tone and body language one may have. An example, is the word “politician.” One can assume that word is negative due to negative experiences that occurs such as politician misrepresenting them or not taking action for promised
At the onset of the Play, Dubois arrives in New Orleans where she intends to stay with her estranged sister, Stella Kowalski. There is something timid about her demeanor, characterized by great “uncertainty” (Williams 15), suggesting the immediate apprehension Blanche experiences subsequently after arriving in New Orleans. Consequently, Williams immediately places an emphasis on the significance of her apprehension which begins to unveil itself as the narrative progresses. Prior to illustrating this, it is important to understand Blanche’s rationale for leaving her ancestral lands. As aforementioned earlier, the Civil War and the subsequent cultural transformation of the United States alienated women like Dubois; moreover, ill-equipped to deviate from the rigid conservative ideals that Southern Belles were raised with followed by the incumbency to abandon her formerly held ideals in the midst of cultural change, Dubois is compelled to abandon the decrepit ideals of the Old South and to establish a new life for herself. However, this proves to be a difficult endeavor for Dubois as she embodies the vestiges of the Old South in New Orleans which forms her identity. Firstly, racist attitudes towards those who were not of white skin colour dominated the Old South; moreover, Dubois echoes her intolerance towards other races in several instances. At the outset of the play, Williams introduces the notion of racial tolerance in New Orleans through the stage direction of an “easy intermingling of races” (Williams 13). Moreover, Dubois is immediately confronted by this intermingling (alien to her) as she takes notice of a black woman nonchalantly and joyously conversing with Eunice Hubbell, a white woman. In the Old South, this would have been unheard of as plantation workers were expected to work diligently and without question. Dubois still conforms to the Southern Belle archetype as she expects the black woman to find Stella Kowalski for her on the basis of skin colour. This event lays the foundation for her psychological dilapidation as it is the initial experience that questions her psyche and everything it believes. The culmination of racial tension in Dubois’ psyche ultimately impels her to express her disdain for
William Carlos Williams’ passion and dedication of medicine can be seen through his literary contributions of short stories and poems. The Doctor Stories use interior monologue in a stream-of-consciousness as a tool to reflect each narrator’s experience and gives insight into the character and his appraisal of each of the situations encountered. It is through this stream-of-consciousness that we come to realize the observational nature of this doctor’s actions and thoughts.
In this poem, Rodriguez utilizes many examples of connotation to give the story more emphasis and meaning. Connotation is an emotional word that is connected to an emotion. One example I annotated
In other words, the poet likes to make the reader search and figure out what is the meaning, are they right or wrong, or just likes to make the reader not understand the point of the poem at all. This type of confusions can be found not only in poetry but also in stories, such as “We talk about when we talk about love” the
In the poem “Thou Blind Man’s Mark” by Sir Philip Sidney, the speaker is struggling with his desire for someone or something. They are fighting this feeling for control over his thoughts and mind. It is shown that both the speaker and desire are constantly fighting, with neither fully able to take control. This fact is evident through Sidney’s use of violent diction, personification of desire, and oxymorons.
For example, Primo Levi describes how "We say “hunger,” we say “tiredness,” “fear,” “pain,” we say “winter” and they are different things. They are free words, created and used by free men who lived in comfort and suffering in their homes" (Document C). Many people find some words as exciting and joyous even though they can mean the exact opposite to someone else. Because of Levi’s experience, ordinary kind words become cruel and violent and completely change the meaning. Levi
Words are all around us. Words define the way we describe the way we articulate, one such example being this very paper, the way we interact with others, and most importantly, the way we feel or think. Adjectives: the words that give our world emotional meaning beyond the literal definition; that is connotation. Connotation is most evident in words to which we associate our most extreme emotions. Whether it is witnessing the greatest of fireworks, an elaborate collection of lights and sounds, or seeing truckfuls of babies being dumped into a blistering hot fire, the word we would use to describe these two events, fire, will forever be emotionally seen differently by whomever witnesses it. A word can develop in meaning, once meaning one thing to then mean something completely different. In fact, In Elie Wiesel’s “Night”, Elie’s definition of the word ‘fire’ changes from that of a danger to one’s self to that of destruction and revenge.
Words used by people in a society does not have a fix identity. Even if we go through various websites or dictionaries, we will encounter various interpretations of one particular word. A word exists by itself, it does not have an author or creator to prove that it only has specific meanings. This creates a space for people to manipulate words easily at any time. They just need to put in effort in how they intend to present the word to the public. With just having confidence in their speech and good evidence to back up their points, one can completely change the viewpoint of people towards the language used. At one point Orwell has stated that “ As soon as certain topics are raised, the concrete melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of turns of speech that are not hackneyed….henhouse” (Orwell, 512). When we look back at this claim by Orwell, it shows how meanings of words are easily manipulated by just attaching it with other words to create a phrase. It completely changes the current definition and creates a new focus of what it means among the society. Orwell also states that “Some metaphors now current have been
In the poem “Poem” the syntax is very interesting because of how each line is organized. The way the lines are organized gives an image of what the poem is trying to show us. The way the poem is laid out may leave some think it is awkward, but the way it is organized actually makes it more rhythmatic than it would just read out in 1 or 2 lines. When reading the poem I picture the cat climbing/walking with pauses every time the line ends. For example in lines 5-7, “first the right”(Williams 5) pause as the cat steps, “forefoot/carefully”(Williams 6-7) you can picture the cat going slowly and carefully.
Mr. Williams was born in 1971 in Beckley, West Virginia. His mother’s parent lived in Beckley. His family was there because his father was in Vietnam.
Another contrast is the vision of the woman before the bombing at the church and after the bombing at the church. At the beginning she is described in a whole stanza, as if a camera were slowly panning her entire figure. Her beautiful hair and white clothing make one think of a pure, angelic figure. Then, suddenly, in one line, her description is a new one, “Her eyes grew wet and wild.” It seems like the camera now just flashed to her face as it turns to look at it. The short verses long descriptions show the reader her state of being. The long lined description gives a feeling of sereneness, then the one-liner shows the reader her panic and shock
perception, that the reader can relate to. Williams' diction and visual presentation of words resists the artificial;
Another interesting thing about the first stanza is one run on sentence where the only punctuation is a colon, interspersed commas and only one period. It creates urgency, to reach the end of the line and the stanza and dive into the depths of this dream world. There is also a dual meaning here, with the descent into the Stalinist oppression being almost a parallel to the depths of the dream world.