What Does I Saw A Chapel All Of Gold Mean

“Holy Thursday” wherein he bluntly, yet poetically says, “Is this a holy thing to see/ In a rich

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

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 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,

In stanza six, we see the end of visiting hour, and the persona’s loss of control as he is overran with emotion. The phrase, “black figure in her white cave” creates an image of an intruder in her sanctuary. The black and white contrast suggests he is a shadow of his former self and also that he is trying to detach himself. The phrase, “clumsily rises” gives connotations of his state as he is physically affected by his feeling of loss. Furthermore, “swimming waves of a bell” is a metaphor which has connotations of water. This is used to illustrate that he is drowning in the realisation that she is dying. Finally, “fruitless fruits” is an oxymoron used to reinforce that there is no hope or going back, for her.

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.

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.

. . 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

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.

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.

Blake uses a metaphor in the last line of the second verse in ‘The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.’ This is a metaphor because they are being controlled by the church, shown in the word ‘manacles’ as if they were prisoners of the church. Blake also uses a metaphor in

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.

Blake begins the poem by stating that it is not possible to love another as much as yourself, and that thought is the highest of all human functions. This sets the stage for Blake's attack on religion's ideas of hierarchy and condemnation of rational thought. The next stanza describes the boy asking God, indicated by the capitalized "Father," how he could love him or another human more than a little bird picking up crumbs. The boy states that he loves God in and as much as a little bird. This echoes the naturalist ideas supported in the aforementioned poems. Blake seems to be saying that the proper way to worship and commune with God is by loving all natural beings, human and non-human. The priest, a symbol of organized religion that Blake so sharply critiques, overhears what the boy is saying and is infuriated by the idea that a person could worship God through nature, without ritual, politics, or human involvement, and that the boy dares use his mind to question what he has been taught. The priest makes the boy a martyr, preaching from his high pedestal of pomposity, and burns the boy, despite the cries of his family. The boy's curiosity and natural thinking have been squelched, and his imagination bound in iron chains. Blake closes the poem by asking if such

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

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