Figurative Language In The Cremation Of Sam Mcgee

The poem, “Death of a Young Son by Drowning” written by Margaret Atwood was awfully sad and tragic as it described the death of her son and its lasting effect on her. The speaker begins the poem by describing how her son was brave, adventurous and led with success. However, the mood of the poem quickly changes as the young boy slipped off the bank and into the water. From there, the boy struggles in the water before eventually drowning. As he is pulled out of the water the mother realizes that all the plans that she had for the future are over and that a part of her has died alongside her son. Atwood uses multiple types of figurative language that gives this poem a sense of realism and really shows the reader the devastation and heartache that occurs after the loss of a child.

In this poem there is a lot of figurative language. One of the biggest types of figurative language used in this poem is irony. The irony in this poem is how the mother wouldn't let her child go to march because she feared her child would get hurt. Instead she sent her child to church because she believed it was a safe and sacred place but ironically the church ended up being bombed. Another piece of figurative language that is very effective in this poem is imagery. The way the poem is written helps me create images in my head for example, "She raced through the streets of Birmingham." I can imagine her running around desperately, looking for her child. The metaphors and hyperboles in this poem also help with the imagery, for example, "...night dark hair," and "…rose-petal sweet." These metaphors make me think of the girls smoothly combed black hair and her fresh and beautiful rosy smell. A hyperbole that had a huge effect on the tone was, "But that smile was the last smile to ever come upon her face." This hyperbole really helps me understand the effect of a tragic moment like this and how it can completely ruin

When we are still children, running around the playground with our friends, our goals in life and what we want to be when we grow up are much different than later in life. We want to me mermaids, princesses, astronauts. When we get older though our values change. Instead of going after what our heart really wants to do, we go after the jobs that offer the biggest paycheck. Our culture’s minds have been warped and bent towards the desire to have a bigger house, a cooler car, and fancier clothes. We put what we think is right in our minds over what we truly love to do deep down in our hearts. The novel Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, is about a sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, who has been given his death sentence. He reconnects with his former student and current sports journalist, Mitch Albom, to try to remold his mind like soft clay to resist the pull of money and fame that today’s society provides. In this story, the author uses descriptive language, figurative language, and repetition for effect, to capture the theme that money will never

Having to find a place to cremate his friend’s corpse, and at the same time trying to stay alive, proved to be quite the challenge. His hardships on his way to find a suitable place to cremate Sam McGee is described in stanzas 34 - 39, “In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load. In the long, long night, by the firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring, howled out their woes to the homeless snows - O God! How I loathed the thing And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow; and on I went, though the grub was getting low; the trail was bad and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in.” The goings get so tough along his trip that the narrator begins to feel jealous of Sam McGee’s corpse, thinking death is better than what he is going

This passage was written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in The Chronicle of a Death Foretold. It is about Divina Flor who explains to the writer why she did not warn Santiago Nasar that he was going to die. She recounts that, as a child, she was sexually assaulted by him. This passage is so important to this book because it brings out the themes of women's roles in Latin American Society, power and culture. These themes help the Marquez bring out the important contexts of the story so readers can understand the importance of the story. In The Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel uses structure techniques, symbols, contrast, foreshadowing, imagery and figurative language to bring out the theme of gender roles.

This poem talks about nature and death. William Cullen Bryant shares that nature can make death less painful. He says that when we start to think about death, we should go outside, and look around and listen to the natural earth sounds. This is supposed to remind us that when we die, we will mix back into the earth. The poem tells us that when we die, we will not be alone. We will be with every other person that has ever been buried, In the ground, which in this poem is called the “great tomb of man”. It also tells us that even those that are still living will soon die and join in the great tomb of man. This poem is meant to comfort those that are afraid of dying and death in general. At the end of the poem, we are told to think of death as

describing the characters and objects throughout the poem and in creating the atmosphere of the

In the beginning of the short story, as Brother reflects on Doodle’s life, the author uses personification and foreshadowing to create a mood of remorse. As he gazes out of the window into his backyard, Brother states that “the graveyard flowers were blooming. ...speaking softly the names of our dead” (Hurst 1). The flowers provide flashbacks of the past, and foreshadow a loss of life. The loneliness felt by Brother causes readers to consider how they would feel if their loved one was gone. As Brother observes the seasons, it is noted that “summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born” (Hurst 1). The personifications of the seasons as stages in the cycle of life and death creates an unsure and uncertain mood. The shift between seasons creates an idea of change and uncertainty of events to come. Hurst creates a mood of remorse through

The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service is an incredible example of a narrative ballad. It tells it’s story through internal and external rhyming couplets

Why do people undertake missions? Cap from The Cremation of Sam McGee undertook his mission of cremating a fallen friend whose last wish was to be warm. Aengus from The Song of Wandering Aengus undertook his mission of finding his long lost love, a glimmering girl. Gerta from A Night Divided undertook the rigorous mission to dig her way to freedom. However, all three felt determined to complete their respective missions to either resolve or change something about their current situation and refused to succumb to hopelessness.

In the novel, the jews are being killed in many ways like bombs, gas chambers and death saying how the dead bodies are just multiplying as the years go. He uses the simile of plastic and glue describing the atmosphere. He says “there is air like plastic” the air is suffocating and is hard to breathe in (Zusak 309). He also uses “ a horizon like setting glue” that demonstrates the dead bodies stuck like glue to the ground (Zusak 309). Overall this simile sets a gloomy mood because the reader can envision the jews dying from the air being polluted and sticking to the ground like glue. Death also states “ there are soft, coal-colored clouds, beating like black hearts” it is saying the hearts are lifeless and cold inside like the sky (Zusak 309).

. . should burn and rave at the close of day”(2). This means that old men should fight when they are dying and their age should not prevent them from resisting death. Another example of personification in the poem is “Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay”(8). This line personifies the men’s frail deeds by saying that they could have danced. This means that the potential actions of the men could have flourished and contributed greatly to their lives. The metaphor “. . . words had forked no lightning. . .”(5) is about how the men had done nothing significant with their lives. They had not achieved anything great or caused a major change. The simile “Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay” is about how even grave and serious men will fight against death for as long as they can. Another notable example of figurative language within the poem is “. . . blinding sight”(13). This oxymoron details how the men can see very well and it is very obvious to them that they will die soon, but they know that they can control how they will leave this world. There is an abundance of imagery within this poem, a few examples of which are “. . . danced in a green bay”(8), and “. . . caught and sang the sun in flight”(10) . These examples of imagery are both appealing to the sense of sight by using descriptive words such as “Green” and “danced” in the first example and words such as “caught” and “flight” among others. The second example also appeals to the sense of sound by

To start off the analysis, the setting of the entire poem is significant. Though the poem takes place in a house, the atmosphere the house is set in is also important. The month is September which is a month of fall which can be seen as a symbol for decline. It definitely insinuates that the poem is leading towards death. Line 1 has “September rain falls on the house” which gives the feeling of a dark and cold night with a storm on top of that. To further develop that, Bishop gives us the failing light in line 2 to also give us an idea of the grandmother’s struggle. Bishop uses the cyclical theme of changing seasons to show the unending nature of what is transpiring within the

The second poem is “Home Burial”, by Robert Frost. The poem is about a couple, Amy and her husband, losing their son causing Amy to go through emotional turmoil. Amy is trying to avoid the situation by trying to leave, but her husband is trying to pull her back, so he can figure out what’s wrong with her and as the poem continues the drama increases. The topic of the poem is sadness, which ties into the theme of Amy and her husband’s relationship is on the rock. The theme in this poem is that everyone goes through sadness, but bottling it up doesn’t help the situation. This is due to the death of their son and as the story continues the husband is trying to understand, why Amy is acting the way she is but she receives the message as rude and offensive. Most of the tension is coming from the graveyard, which resigns on their lot that contains their relatives and son. In lines 1-2, it expresses my theme because it has both

By repeating “O” throughout the elegy, it creates a sense of rhythm throughout the free verse without creating a constant structure. The repetition of “O” emphasizes the importance of the word, and enacts Whitman’s misery on death. The sound “O” also resembles the sound of wails from grief, correlating to Whitman’s first notion of death, questioning his relationship with it. Because it is a pastoral elegy, Whitman incorporates a thematic imagery of death to address his own grief. One important element he uses is the image of the coffin. It is decorated with “Blossoms and branches green” (Whitman 47), which