Literary Analysis Of Hyperbole In Abraham's 'Ponder'

In the poem by Joy Harjo called “Eagle Poem,” Harjo talks about prayer and life and how they revolve around mother-nature. She suggests that while being one with nature, we feel we are in a place in which we haven’t imagined and the things in which we would love to do in that magnificent and calming place. After one reads the poem, he/she enjoys the lyrical type of it. This is because “Eagle Poem” sticks to one idea and extends it throughout the entire poem. For instance, it talks about prayer, nature, and animals from start to finish.

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.

Thus, through the initial impression of the man of the bird’s brave and challenging movements by the utilisation of poetic techniques, the reader is able to visualise the bird’s characteristic it inherits and gain a deeper understanding of nature and the impression of humanity distinctively.

In “The Great Scarf of Birds” by John Updike, he describes the power of nature to impact people by using structure, diction, figurative language, and imagery. By incorporating all of these literary devices, Updike constructs an authentic poem and a great read. The author is truly able to chronicle all the emotions that come with having a change of heart. Every literary device he uses is equally important in construction of the poem and the meaning behind it.

Every spirit builds itself a house; and beyond its house a world; and beyond its world, a heaven. Know then, that the world exists for you. For you is the phenomenon perfect. What we are, that only can we see. All that Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can do. Adam called his house, heaven and earth; Caesar called his house, Rome; you perhaps call yours, a cobler's trade; a hundred acres of ploughed land; or a scholar's garret. Yet line for line and point for point, your dominion is as great as theirs, though without fine names. Build, therefore, your own world.” concerned initially with how we reflect on solitude, the stars, and the grandeur of nature, symbolized in the stars that Emerson views at night, and focuses on how we perceive objects around us. Emerson speaks of the landscape in which he walks and how he, as a poet, can best integrate all that he sees. What is most important in this sequence is the similar ways we perceive the various objects — stars, the landscape, and the poet.(117)

The poem contains two stanzas with two different settings. One might not know much about the first stanza; however, in the second one the speaker is next to an ocean, perhaps, at a beach. So, while the first stanza symbolizes the mindset of the speaker, the inner dream, the second stanza symbolizes the outer dream which is what we see; life. The poem

“Contemplations” by Anne Bradstreet is a poem of thirty-three seven-line stanzas. It has an ABAB CCC rhyme scheme. This complex poem exists as a justification of writing as a unity with God that ends with the questioning of humanity’s placement in the hierarchy of the universe. The theme is presented as a tightly woven structure of different concepts, nature and religion go hand and hand. The poet is conflicted because she has hopes of being able to glorify God, but is hindered by a sense of her own insufficiency. The word contemplation is another word for meditations; therefore, this poem provides the reader with several different scenes of meditation. Some of the scenes include the poet mediating on how God made nature and how it is supposed to mirror Heaven. The poet believes that humans need to meditate on this fact on a daily basis and remind themselves of their placement within the universe. “Throughout the poem the poet ultimately resolves that God alone is eternal and human-made objects, designs and history will fade eventually”

At the bird’s appearance and apparent vocal articulation, he is at first impressed, then saddened. He compares this evening visitor as only another friend which will soon depart, just as “other friends have flown before” (58). But the raven again echoes quite aptly his one-word vocabulary, thus leading the man on to think more deeply about the possibilities that exist at this juncture. Somewhere deep inside him, he has realized that it doesn’t matter what question he poses, the bird will respond the same.

Edgar Allan Poe’s, “A Dream Within a Dream”, challenges the fine line between real and imaginary by inferring that life is nothing but a dream. With this he suggests to his audience that life is what you perceive it to be it and you should take advantage of this gift.. One example of this is how the author states, “You are not wrong who deem ( , ) That my days have been a dream;” This line is used to suggests that, by spending his days dreaming, he has been living in and planning for the future therefore taking a passive interest in his present life. In addition, I used special effects of water and fire to illustrate the inner feelings of the author. Fire is destruction and joy while water is repairing and despair. When the two come together

Both the poem “Birdhouse” and the poem “Mortal Limit” depict an awareness of space similar to that outlined in Faulkner’s “Mississippi” by describing the limitations of life. In “Mississippi”, Caroline is an elderly woman born into slavery. Despite the exceptional care and love she has bestowed on her master’s family and the affection they reciprocate, she must still succumb to the inevitable grasp of death, though her legacy will be honored (498). This is similar to the scenario in “Birdhouse” because, while the birdhouse is constructed with care and sturdy materials, it will ultimately fall victim to the “predator, time”, though its image will last for a while. “Birdhouse” also supports this claim by describing how “life always moves on”

Oliver De La Paz’s poem “Aubade with Bread for the Sparrows”, uses the everyday image of a man feeding birds to illustrate the difficulty created by living for others. The work uses both short explicit metaphors, as well a longer convert metaphor created by the dialogue between the speaker and an unidentified subject. De La Paz, employs subject pronouns such as you, and we, to include this unknown party into the discussion of the birds, and the morning. This leads to the obvious question of who this person is, and thus causes the reader to examine the poem and seek further evidence which may answer this question. The speaker maintains a distance from the scene yet possesses an omnipotence, which he or she utilizes to advise the unidentified

‘How can a bird, born for joy/sit in a cage and sing?’ PG:48. This poem analyses how, if you are not happy, someone you don’t want to be, you cannot feel joy. A bird is supposed to be free, and how could it be happy if its home is taken away? Someone like Skellig is trapped in a garage, Michael is trapped in his fear, Mina is trapped in her opinions and baby Joy is trapped between life and death, once these three characters find the key and open the door to the metaphorical cage, they can sing once more. William Blake sends meaning through his poems, and now through Skellig; he contributes his poems to the novel as an important and meaningful

He wonders why the birds are just waiting in the sky as if they are waiting for a command, why they are restless, and he thinks it is strange that they are little birds and they are the type of the birds that normally keep to their own territory and don’t have a history of attacking people . When he looks out toward the coast, he sees the birds flocking in his direction and he believes that for some odd reason, they are going to come down to the

Sartre argued that humans possess their existence, yet must struggle to mold their essence. In the novel, Bird possesses his existence, yet struggles to discover his essence, not doing so until the final chapter. Bird thinks that “When the baby is dead and my wife has recovered I imagine we’ll get a divorce. Then I’ll really be a free man now that I’ve been fired and all, and that's surely what I’ve been dreaming about for years. Funny, I’m not particularly happy about it” (Oe,141). Throughout the novel, Bird strives to elude the constraints of his life, whether they be related to his child, his wife, or his job. However, Bird ultimately realizes that his dreams do not make him “particularly happy” because the illusion of Africa does not bring him fulfillment or purpose. The usage of “imagine” and “free” denote Bird’s delusion of Africa. Bird’s realization that his essence does not lie within Africa, but rather with his family supports Oe's evaluation of self creation. By a similar token, Sartre states that man is “[c]ondemned, because he did not create himself, yet is nevertheless at liberty, and from the moment that he is thrown into this world he is responsible for everything he does” (Sartre, 7). At the end of the novel, Bird understands that “he is responsible for everything he does” and must take ownership for his actions. He does not want to be the man that places his fantasy of Africa in front of his reality. By confronting reality, in turn, he confronts himself and his

In his essay, Imagination as Value, Stevens reminds us that “the imagination is the power of the mind over the possibilities of things […] it is the source not of a single value but of as many values as can reside in the possibilities of things” (136). With these words in mind and from what we have already noted in “Men Made Out of Words,” we can assert that the “possibilities of things,” mentioned in the essay, are the same as the reveries, poems, and myths, hinted at in the poem; however, one needs to clarify the difference between the ‘possibilities of things’ and the ‘things’ themselves. For Stevens, the imagination is ‘metaphysical’ or something which resides in the abstract but at the time it serves as “the only clue to reality [i.e. things]” (137); therefore it is through the imagination that reality derives its possibilities i.e. its myths, reveries, and poems. In Stevens argument, the imagination is the liberator