Imagery In Lucia Perillo's Poem 'Shrike Tree'

Using imagery throughout the poem, the author portrays what the speaker is feeling while watching the death of the toad take place before his eyes. The first example of this is when the toad first got his leg cut off by the lawnmower, as depicted with “chewed and clipped.” The harshness and cleverness of the use of the image depicts the brutality of the injury that the toad is suffering. The detailed and tragic image given in the second stanza of the final breaths of the toad evokes more pity from the reader, as they have to watch this toad suffer.

From start to finish, Death has seen both horrors and wonders. However, in his profession, Death mainly witnesses the horrific parts of life, and he needs the reader to know that he is not immune to the suffering he

In “On Natural Death,” Thomas appeals to the readers by contemplating the subject of death with an academic approach that includes facts, data, and information. Thomas successfully transforms death from an awkward, emotional subject to a more comfortable intellectual one. This engages the readers by placing contemplation of death and dying within the confines of a more manageable and rational context. His gradual exhumation of death eases the audience into pondering the subject in the absence of emotional stress. The essay transitions from the death of an elm tree to that of a mouse. This is followed by Thomas giving a significant amount of attention to a scientific explanation of death, and then finally the description of the near death experience of a human. This use of an academic appeal moves the audience to a comfort zone with the subject of death and circumvents the common response of avoidance. The reader is simultaneously desensitized to the gravity of subject matter and given permission to consider death and dying without the normal societal negative stigma associated with the subject.

In his poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, John Updike uses a flock of birds to show that man can be uplifted by observing nature. Updike’s conclusion is lead up to with the beauty of autumn and what a binding spell it has on the two men playing golf. In Updike’s conclusion and throughout the poem, he uses metaphors, similes, and diction to show how nature mesmerizes humans.

Death is something that at some point will come to each of us and has been explored in many forms of literature. “The Raven” and “Incident in a Rose Garden” are two poems that explore common beliefs and misconceptions about death. Though both poems differ in setting, tone, and mood there are surprising similarities in the literary tools they use and in the messages they attempt to convey. The setting and mood establish the tone and feel of a poem. In “The Raven” we are launched into a bleak and dreary winters night where a depressed narrator pines for his dead girlfriend.

Death is a topic that unites all of humanity. While it can be uncomfortable to think about, confronting death in unavoidable. “Dying” addresses that discomfort and universal unwillingness to consider the inevitability of death. Pinsky’s use of imagery, symbolism, and tone create a poetic experience that is like death, something every reader can relate to. In “Dying,” Pinsky describes how people are oblivious and almost uncaring when it comes to the thought of death. Pinsky is trying to convince the reader that they shouldn’t ignore the concept of death because life is shorter than it seems.

Mary Oliver’s poem, “Sleeping in the Forest,” presents a peaceful and vivid representation of death and its relationship with nature. As the poem begins, the reader is introduced to the earth welcoming the speaker back into the realm of nature. Man was created from the dust of the earth and when we die, our bodies return to the dust. However, this poem presents a more beautiful image of what death is composed of. Death is often portrayed as being frightening and disturbing. When individuals are presented with the thought of death, they often push this thought away out of fear and ignorance. Everyone will die someday whether we ignore the thought of death or not. However, Oliver creates a relaxing and welcoming image for the reader on what death (ideally) is. Obviously, since Oliver is still alive, she doesn’t know what death feels like. However, the way she describes death, I hope that it feels like sleeping in a forest; full of stars and enchantment.

To begin, the speaker of the poem “Thou famished grave” presents a resentful and aggressive attitude towards death. The poem, addressed to a “ famished grave” (1), personifies a grave as a starving beast that can “roar” (2), “gnaw” (3), and has “dismal jaws” (7). This represents death in a negative way because the description of the beast make it seem unpleasant and to be feared. Furthermore, the poem includes words and phrases when addressing the grave that follow the theme of starvation, such as, “famished grave” (1), “Gnaw thine own sides, fast on” (3), and “I cannot starve thee out: I am thy prey” which emphasizes that the beast of death is starving to take someone’s life. This animal-like aggressiveness adds to the already negative image of the beast. This imagery also shows how the speakers thinks of death since it comes from her words which shows that she sees death in a very negative way. Due to this, the speaker is angry and does not want to give death what it wants, which is to take someone’s life. Additionally, although death is something normally feared, the speaker shows that she is not fearful by saying “I have no fear / of thy dark project” (3-4) when speaking to the grave. She expresses that she does not want to die and her “heart is set / On living” (4-5), which explains her resentfulness towards death. She also understands that death is inevitable as she says, “I cannot starve thee out: I am thy prey / And thou shalt have me; but I dare defend / That I can stave thee off” (6-8). This shows that even though she knows that she will one day die, she still doesn’t want to give death what it wants and will fight as long as she can

Because of the supposed similarities between humans and birds, birds are a useful tool for authors wishing to symbolize human emotions or thoughts. Mynott offers that birds are often “distinguished partly by the different human emotions they seem to be revealing” (Mynott 282). He references several examples of the use of human-specific traits in the description of birds, such as “kind,” “stern,” and “astonished” (282). It is not such a huge leap from the attribution of such human characteristics, to “anthropomorphic misdescription” (282). The birds in The Ant of the Self are said to be looking “as though they [had] placed bets” on who would lose Spurgeon’s and his father’s confrontation. While Spurgeon is taking a stand against his father by ordering him out of the car and onto the shoulder of the road, the birds’ curious glances are exposing Spurgeon’s own thoughts. The birds, a symbol for Spurgeon, wonder whether he or his father will “go down in flames” (Packer 95). The caged birds, which are so capable of human expressions, are expressing Spurgeon’s thoughts. ZZ Packer endows the birds with a look of human quizzicality, having them glance from the nervous Spurgeon to his angered father. Spurgeon wonders whether he or his father will win, and the birds, as his symbol, express this.

The night drew closer around the individuals who, some in dreams, some in panic, seemed to react to impending danger and turned, some to nightmares, some to an eerie calm, as those on death row that accepted their demise for what it was, an abrupt shattering of their existence. Be that as it may, however, some did not wish to go so simply. While some wished for a calm ending, but embraced nevertheless a less subtle end, that of fire and mutilation, others feared it for what it was, or what it could be. Some feared being lost, trapped in a dungeon of previously sound architecture, to watch the edges of their vision turn to the blackness of

David Huddle develops the theme of the understanding of life in his poem, Roanoke Pastorale, by using a optimistic tone to create the despair mood. In the poem, the author is singing along the birds in the great blizzard while thinking of his old days along with the death. The quote, “my later’s my soon,” (11) is used to reflect his impending death. In addition, the repetition of the word, ‘turkey buzzard’ throughout the poem depicts the end of life. Although, death may sounds scary, the author mentions it in a positive tone. For instance, aside from the turkey buzzard mentioned in the poem, others kind of birds have their meaning in positive way. Along with the action mentioned in the poem, “for your entertainment, I sing the words of old

Coupled with the reference to the cineraria leaves, a silvery foliage meant for keeping the ashes of a cremated body, the narrator crafts a gravesite which mimics the ceremonial weight of the death of a human being. By elevating this death to such a level, revealing the desire for the toad to rest in paradise after the “chewed and clipped leg” which ended his life, the narrator illustrates his regret over this accidental and unnecessary death. The use of the leaves which hold ashes add the ceremonial and serious presence of a ritual one would do for a loved one, reserving a space for their remains to rest, displaying the speaker’s somber and serious response to the toad’s death.Furthermore, the narrator takes special note of the appearance of the frog, particularly the “gutters of the banked and staring eyes” and his body “as still as if he would return to stone.” The eyes, often a representation of the soul, remain “banked” and “staring”, void of the emotions characteristic to an animal’s eyes. Often, when a person or animal dies, the eyes are placed closed to represent rest. However, the toad’s

The scene caused is revolting and therefore captivating. In contrast, the beetle dies with “tidiness and order.” Its legs are neatly crossed and no mess it produced. What the beetle signifies, is that meaningless things in life will nevertheless stay meaningless. As it is on a different level of importance, it will stay that way, no matter how orderly it actually is. Through the utilization of irony, the large physical contrast between the unlike deaths and the difference in the importance of the two things are clearly intelligible. One should learn to not just disregard small things, but to give them consideration as well. Every single thing has a history to it, which should not be ignored, but acknowledged with intention.

Given that many plants need to be sown and then reaped when fully grown, the metaphorical conceptualization of people as plants may, accordingly, be elaborated to include a reaper, more specifically a conceptualization of death as the Grim Reaper (Lakoff & Turner, 1989, pp. 16, 75):

I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died –, written by Emily Dickinson, is an interesting poem in which the poet deals with the subject of death in a doubtful yet both optimistic and pessimistic ways. The central theme of the poem is the doubtfulness and the reality of death. The poem is written in a very unique point of view; the narrator who is speaking is already dead. By using symbols, irony, oxymoron, imagery and punctuation, the poet greatly succeeds in showing the reality of death and her own doubtful feelings towards time after death.