The poem, “Blessing” by Imtiaz Dharker, shows what life would be like without water. It is so special that it is like a “kindly god”. The author uses various literacy devices to convey her subject.
The poem opens with the statement “there is never enough water”, sharply piercing the readers with a reality that lacks water. The poet wants us to stop and imagine just for a second what it would be like without water, and realise how much we are dependent on this “god”. She then draws a scene of what it would be like when this “kindly god” enters into the water-deprived reality. They are filled with euphoria, elated that such a blessing has entered into their lives. The contrast between these two scenes, the two emotions of despair and elation
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The author applies vivid verbs like “crack” and “crashes” to emphasize the following technique. For example, the vivid verb “crack” in the quote “the skin cracks like a pod” aids the simile “like a pod” in describing the pod drying out and “cracking” so loudly that we can hear it happening right next to our ears. Another example of a vivid verb is “crashes” in the quote “The municiple pipe bursts, silver crashes to the ground...”. The vivid verb helps the visual imagery of water “bursting” out of the pipe in “crashing” onto the ground like the powerful, fierce “voice of a...god”. The sibilance in “the small splash” vibrates in our minds as we hear the “drip of [water]” splish-splashing into the “tin mug”. The drop of water is so small that Dharker uses the onomatopoeia of “echo” to convey what it sounds like when the drop of water hits the bottom of the tin mug. The sound bounces off the walls of the mug it is held captive in. It also conveys that water is scarce that only a drop can be found to fill an entire tin mug. The heavy sibilance in “sometimes, the sudden rush of fortune” imitates the roar of water as it crashes and smashes onto the streets. This show of power of water exhibits that it can really be like a “god”. It is no wonder that a the religious diction of “congregation” is used to depict the people that comes out to worship this deity – “roar of tongues” to sing hymns to glorify this divine being.
In addition to descriptive and language techniques, Dharker also uses structure to communicate with her readers about the subject of water. She uses enjambment in stanza two to copy the movement of the drop of water on its way to the bottom of the mug. Additionally, she applies enjambent in stanza three to mimic the water bursts out of the pipe and flows along the
11. A poet can work its magic on the reader by “choice of images, music of the language, idea content, and cleverness of wordplay” (Foster 17).
The language in the poem has extremely powerful qualities which invoke vivid imagery. Metaphor, repetition, assonance and various punctuation techniques are used to highlight the poems themes and mood. "Metho Drinker's" prayer is by far the most powerful language in the poem. He is asked to be relieved of the
Though written in a very light and simple manner, the poem comes across as something very profound, laden with meaning through its incongruities. The persona, wanting to see something, often goes to the well and looks down at the water to see it. This certain search below the water's surface can be compared to man's search beneath the human experience for meaning, for certainty.
The poem "Our Son Swears He Has 102 Gallons of Water in His Body" is a poem used to challenge the mind of the reader. It makes the reader look farther into the meaning of things. This challenges not only your intuition, but your symbolism abilities as well. The author, Naomi Shihab Nye, seems to be portraying the average adolescent's thoughts of their parents. The poem is about a young man, his damaged relationship with his parents and the quest to mwnding its impairments.
The tone of despair and loneliness is carried on to the proceeding stanzas, and is more evident in the last two. By saying that “Water limpid as the solitudes that flee
The tone of the poem changes as the poem progresses. The poem begins with energetic language like “full of heroic tales” and “by a mere swing to his shoulder”. The composer also uses hyperboles like “My father began as a god” and “lifted me to heaven”. The use of this positive language indicates to the responder that the composer is longing for those days – he is nostalgic. It also highlights the perspective of a typical child. The language used in the middle of the poem is highly critical of his father: “A foolish small old man”. This highlights the perspective of a typical teenager and signifies that they have generally conflicting views. The language used in the last section of the poem is more loving and emotional than the rest: “...revealing virtues such as honesty, generosity, integrity”. This draws attention to a mature adult’s perspective.
The appreciation of nature is illustrated through imagery ‘and now the country bursts open on the sea-across a calico beach unfurling’. The use of personification in the phrase ‘and the water sways’ is symbolic for life and nature, giving that water has human qualities. In contrast, ‘silver basin’ is a representation of a material creation and blends in with natural world. The poem is dominated by light and pure images of ‘sunlight rotating’ which emphasizes the emotional concept of this journey. The use of first person ‘I see from where I’m bent one of those bright crockery days that belong to so much I remember’ shapes the diverse range of imagery and mood within the poem. The poet appears to be emotional about his past considering his thoughts are stimulated by different landscapes through physical journey.
The water is symbolic of romantic love as an overwhelming and transforming force that changes in form and changes the people involved. The wave is large, unpredictable and spans out as far as the eye can see. The movement of an all-encompassing emotion like love is impossible to contain, much like water. It is free flowing and goes on forever. “Love was a game, a perpetual creation (Paz, 2). Love and water are both creations of the divine and humans tend to use and abuse them. However, humans are emotional and social animals who need both love and water to survive. Waves have a way of hitting humans all at once, just like love. It renders humans excited and full of surprise at first “wave of surprise” (Paz, 2) like a crashing delight. It also leaves us always wanting more. We have an unquenchable thirst for love and affection, thus we chase it even in its most sinister forms, like an abusive relationship. The narrator is accepting of the wave 's presence when she appears in his home where he was once hesitant of the idea of her in his life. Love also transforms and can change us, like water changes states. It can become overwhelming and hard to breathe, but it is often all around us and
A little pondering suggests that the poem has a keen focus on the Australian environment. The poet is successful to grab our attention with descriptive explanation in the line in the
In stanza four, “there is still some water left over” alludes that the friendship of the persona and their company will endure and the strength of it will be enough to “refresh them”, even though their time is limited. Harwood comments on the use of the water motif in “Lamplit presences”; “In “At Mornington”, elements of the past, present and future are used in images of water…the first source of the flux of life: the water of the infinity of death”. The concept of the water motif alludes to the ________ of death and rebirth, and of the transitional stages of life. At the beginning of the poem, water represents the innocence of childhood, toying with the childish belief that life is infinite, displaying the persona as a child being saved by her father and tossed amongst the waves; “…and was caught by a wave and rolled/ like a doll among rattling shells/ and I seem to remember my father/ fully clothed, still streaming of water/half comforting, half angry”. Towards the end of the poem, the water is seen as a method of redemption and death, depicting the persona introspectively alluding to their acceptance of death; “…and when I am seized at last/ and rolled in one grinding race/ of dreams, pain, memories, love and grief/ from which no hand will save me…” This central motif of water, and its
Once his heart is lifted, he sees the true beauty of nature and it’s true meaning.
Immediately following the first statement, Oliver prompts that “You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.” The senseless wandering in a desert in harsh conditions is similar to the biblical story of Moses leading the Isrealites through the desert before reaching the Promised Land. By writing that the reader does not have to wander as a punishment leads into line four and five, where the speaker asserts that instead of being good, “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” Instead of following what other’s want, the speaker proclaims that the only real necessity is to follow what your natural instincts, you animal, want. The speaker also declares inn lines six and seven that while you are talking about your despair, “the world goes on,” which proves that human traits of complaining and listening to others do not bring you closer to nature. In fact, the world continues as if you had not done anything at all. The poem then contrasts inert objects such as “the sun,” “the prairies,” and “the mountains” with objects that appear to be alive and move such as “the clear pebbles of the rain,” “the deep trees,” and “the rivers.” This compares the unmoving appearance of what society wants in the solid features of nature compared to the living and movement that is only sometimes perceived in the rain, trees, and rivers. The comparison can also be
The writer compares his life to water on Rouge River that is heading towards dead end with unknown future. “And my reflection is dominated by water Coming to impasse, the teeter-totter Of decision” from the poem shows the seriousness and thought provoking idea i.e. contemplation probably related to meaning of life and what lies ahead. Moreover, “And plunging in we find a serene cavernous strength, And pressed to run its darkness at full length, We find our all”, reflects tone of believing in ourselves and the best we have in us. This means no matter the situation we can bring the best of us that is life. Tone of the poem helps writer to make the poem more appealing to the readers. It aids the poet to express his feeling more effectively and
Finally in the third stanza there is the semantic field of nature: ‘mountain’, ‘rivers’, ‘seas’. Nature has the role of judge. It decides whether she has to be punished or not. Nature is represented as a sort of divine entity deciding of her fate because she has decided of someone else’s right to live. Again the water is represented several times with ‘rivers’ (line 17) and ‘seas’ (line 18 and 19) it gives the impression that she thinks
The poem “Blessing” is about an unfortunate group of people who miraculously find clean water because of a pipe bursting. This is seen as a blessing because of the inadequate amount of water they get in addition to the hot weather conditions and constant droughts. Imtiaz Dharker sets the poem “Blessing” in a shanty town near Mumbai. She starts the poem with a powerful simile describing the state of these people whilst setting the scene. “The skin cracks like a pod”. The word “skin” could demote metaphorically to the earth. Immediately an image of drought and dry soil comes to mind. The phrase “cracks” highlights how hot the country is. This is effective because it allows the reader to envision the scene. The use of onomatopoeia exemplifies the noise of the ground exemplifies the noise of the ground. On the other hand the poem. “Island Man” is about a Caribbean man who one morning woke up in London. This anonymous character is used live in the Caribbean island but wakes up every morning to the sounds and blissful memories of the Caribbean. The Caribbean Scenario that he thinks he has woken up to contrasts harshly with the reality of his existence in London. The sentence “wakes up to sounds of blue surf” proves that Island Man sees the Caribbean as a calm and relaxing location however the poet describes London as a “grey metallic soar”. This usage of language is an illusion compared to the