What Does I Saw A Chapel All Of Gold Mean

Throughout the book “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (written by author Zora Neale Hurston and published in September 1937) multiple motifs (a recurrent image, symbol, theme, character type, subject, or narrative detail that becomes a unifying element in an artistic work or text) have appeared amidst the chapters. Furthermore, motifs have played an excruciatingly important role overall throughout the book, whether it be a place, a person, the weather, or simply just a personʻs possession(s). Therefore, in this prompt I will explain the various motifs exhibited in the passages.

The image of the tiger's "unblinking eyes that stare into the gold heart of the sun" suggests that the poet is seeking for a way to freedom. The images help the reader to visualize "life as bleak" as the poet is finding it hard to express herself and also thrill the reader with the hope created. Therefore, the poem is interesting. A fixed tone is created at the beginning of the poem.

In the first stanza it is the semantic field of water: ‘waters’ (twice), ‘sea’, ‘drowning’ and ‘being drawn’. As I mentioned earlier, water is often the symbol of life but it also evokes tears, sadness and despair.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the town of Eatonville and the Everglades play a very important role in the story. The two settings contrast against each other in a sense of meaning and representation. Eatonville represents a life of not being true to oneself, while the Everglades represents freedom and true love. In the story the main character, Janie, moves to Eatonville with her second husband, Jody Starks, and later to the Everglades with her third husband, Tea Cake. These two settings seem to solidify Zora Hurston’s theme of a search for true love and freedom (Shmoop Editorial Team).

The concept of home has a plethora of definitions. For example, one may feel at home in a multitude of places or with varying groups of people. In his TED talk, Pico Iyer, discusses questions about home, which aids in formulating a definition. One of his definitions is the place “where you find yourself,” which corresponds a discussion concerning home in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (Iyer). Through Janie’s experience, a home for her is a place where she has a voice. This is paramount for Janie as it allows her to vocalize her opinions and feelings, thus aiding in finding herself. In nearly all of her relationships, however, this voice was taken from her, restraining her from learning about herself, her desires and needs,

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement in the 1920s that led to the evolution of African-American culture, expression through art, music, and literary works, and the establishment of African roots in America. Zora Neale Hurston contributed to the Harlem Renaissance with her original and enticing stories. However, Hurston’s works are notorious (specifically How it Feels to Be Colored Me and Their Eyes Were Watching God) because they illustrate the author’s view of black women and demonstrate the differences between their views and from earlier literary works.

This is significant because it emphasizes the melancholy and mournfulness that he depicts with imagery in the first stanza. Later on in the second stanza, he author describes the tree the narrator would have planted as a “green sapling rising among the twisted apple boughs”. The author uses visual color imagery of the color green to describe the sapling in order to emphasize just how young the newborn was when he died. Later on in the poem, the narrator speaks of himself and his brothers kneeling in front of the newly plated tree. The fact that they are kneeling represents respect for the deceased. When the narrator mentions that the weather is cold it is a reference back to the first stanza when he says “of an old year coming to an end”. Later on in the third stanza the author writes “all that remains above earth of a first born son” which means that the deceased child has been buried. They also compare the child to the size of “a few stray atoms” to emphasize that he was an infant. All of these symbols and comparisons to are significant because they are tied to the central assertion of remembrance and honoring of the dead with the family and rebirth.

Emerging from this middle area is a tall brick church. The dark stoned walls give a European look to the landscape, and seem somewhat reminiscent of the Dark Ages in Medieval society. In the stained glass window rests a cross, symbol of Christian faith, corrupted by a snake-like creature. The combination of the church with a historically recognized sign for evil is quite a strong image. It seems as though

The first symbol in the poem would be the falcon. The falcon would represent humans in the world. Scattered around the world and believing in different religions. In the poem it says “The falcon cannot hear the falconer;” (2), which implies that humans are lost. Without their master, which in this case is God, humans are guided into the wrong path. When their is no one to lead them to the right place everything can go wrong. The speaker goes on to say “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;”(3) This means that once your lost you start to fall apart. You can no longer hear making it hard to opt for right decisions in life.

“Then down a green plain a leaping and laughing, they run, And wash in the river and shine in the sun. Then naked and white all their bags left behind, They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind;” When Blake wrote these lines he was of course referring to the act of Baptism. Which is defined in the Bible as being a water ritual, used as a spiritual symbol. Through this process the sweeps would be washed clean of all of their sins and also be cleansed of all of the bad things in their lives including their jobs. “And the Angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy, He’d have God for his father, and never want joy.” This line of the poem indicates that if Tom was a good child and did as he was told on Earth that he would not be forsaken by God as his parents had forsaken him in his former life, but instead he would have everything he could ever possibly desire and be completely content in his afterlife. “And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark, And got with our bags and our brushes to work. Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm; So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.” Through these words Blake reveals hope rather than despair because the focus is on immortality instead of life as a sweep. “The little Sweep's dream has the spiritual touch peculiar to Blake's hand.... (Gilchrist).” As stated before Blake is trying to convey

The poem begins with the poet noticing the beauty around her, the fall colors as the sun sets “Their leaves and fruits seemed painted, but was true, / Of green, of red, of yellow, mixed hue;” (5-6). The poet immediately relates the effects of nature’s beauty to her own spiritual beliefs. She wonders that if nature here on Earth is so magnificent, then Heaven must be more wonderful than ever imagined. She then views a stately oak tree and

Stanza four introduces the "Bell" as a metaphor for the heavens, and goes on to say that "Being (is), but an Ear". The bell is representative of a church bell, and all the mourners (Beings) are listening to its ring. The use of the word bell in the poem’s context forms a vision of a slow ringing church bell, characteristic to a funeral. The next line, of the fourth stanza, pairs up the poet and silence as castaways. They are strangers in a foreign place, and are all alone. One could infer from the poem that "here" represents purgatory. This

. . 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

     Blake also uses startling irony in this poem. This irony shocks the reader into realization of how terrible life is for these small boys. Some of the verbal irony Blake uses lies in the first stanza. The poetic voice claims that “[his] father sold [him] while yet [his] tongue/ Could scarcely cry ‘ ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!’'; (554). These words have a double meaning. They can mean that the speaker was not yet over mourning for his mother, or they can mean that he was so young that he was not yet able to sound out the s sound properly. In this case, he would stand on the corner and, instead of repeating the word sweep in an attempt at getting someone to hire him, he would repeat the word “‘weep!’'; (554). Another, more startling irony is that these young children hoped and lived for death because only in the after life could they become children. Blake emphasizes this with the

Firstly, he uses the phrase “danced in a green bay”. In this sentence, he describes the bay as green which, when you think literally instead of figuratively, sets a weird sight for the eyes, as bays are blue. However, the “green” is referring to life all around us and so when he says “danced” he is referring to living, and “green bay” means a world full of life. He is once again using vivid descriptive language to depict a desirable world, and a wonderful sight: a place that’s worth fighting and persevering to stay in. Secondly, he uses the phrase “Blind eyes could blaze like meteors”. In this sentence, “blind eyes” is referring to weakness, or disease, and when he finishes the simile by saying, “blaze like meteors”, he is referring to going out with a bang, or continuing to fight. The phrase seems to be referring to sight, as it uses the word “eyes” but, actually, it is referring to the feeling and the touch of continuing to live - really live life. This directly relates to the theme because he seems to be saying that even in his father’s weakened state, he can continue to persevere; continue to fight for his life, or else go out with a bang. The author of this poem uses very descriptive imagery to make the reader, or his father want to keep fighting to live in this wonderful