O Captain My Captain Figurative Language

First of all, “O Captain, My Captain” uses extended metaphors, while “Shiloh: A Requiem” does not. Walt Whitman uses many extended metaphors, such as “Captain” referring to Abraham Lincoln, and “fearful trip” meaning the Civil War. This shows how “O Captain, My Captain” uses extended metaphors to give the poem a deeper meaning than it seems. Meanwhile, Herman Melville does not use extended metaphors in his poem. Additionally, “Shiloh: A Requiem” uses personification to convey the mood, and “O Captain, My Captain” does not. For example, Herman Melville uses the phrase “The church so lone” to help convey the mood. This shows personification because loneliness is an emotion, and an inanimate object cannot feel emotions. However, “O Captain, My Captain” does not use personification in the poem. In conclusion, this shows that the two authors use unique means to get their messages

The First Stanza of the poem is relatively literal, using descriptive imagery to present the movement of the surfer. Although the poetic devices of personification and simile are used, the

Whitman takes the idea of using parts of nature as unique symbols and transfers this idea into humanity. More specifically, Whitman is able to go beyond Emerson's idea of nature as a symbol and make humans symbols. Most obvious is the way that Whitman uses himself as a symbol of all of humanity. He sees the ideas of humanity coming from him and states, "Through me many long dumb voices…Through me forbidden voices,"(Whitman Section 24 Line 12 & 20). He says that he is a "kosmos" - or he is a universe,

The author uses imagery in the poem to enable the reader to see what the speaker sees. For example, in lines 4-11 the speaker describes to us the

There is also figurative language used in phrases such as “Having come from the clouds” and “tilting road”. This adds to the effect of imagery and emphasis on the journey to the sawmill town. It also helps to make the stanza more interesting to the reader.

Another good example of imagery is Scannell's use of metaphors. The use of metaphors in this poem helps intensify the imagination of the reader by linking objects and actions in a familiar manner. For example, the metaphor "roundabouts galloping nowhere” is used to describe the continuous motion of the carousel ride. This metaphor is very effective as it not only describes the ride in detail but also refers to the endless struggle, disappointment and dismay those who work at travelling fairs face, their lives and careers "galloping nowhere".

This paper will define imagery, metaphors, rhyme and structure and will also discuss the importance of figurative language in poetry and how it communicates to the reader.

One of the most frequent figurative language used in this poem is imagery. In fact, imagery is used throughout the whole poem. For example, in the first poem the reader can imagine a man jumping into the river and sinking, since the stanza states, “I went down to the river, I set down on the bank. I tried to think but couldn't, So I jumped in and sank.” There is also imagery in stanza two, when the speaker says, “I came up once and hollered! I came up twice and cried! If that water hadn't a-been so cold I might've sunk and died.” From this quatrain, the reader can imagine a person drowning. They can also infer that the man was shivering, considering the water felt

The text that will be analyzed is a short story called The Secret Lion by Alberto Rios. This text is jam packed full of figurative language such as symbolism and personification. The story is a memory from the author himself about when he was growing up as a kid in the border town of Nogales, Arizona. He has just reached junior high and he is in the early stages of becoming an adult. He does not like the fact that he is growing up and he wants to stay as a kid.

One example of figurative language is repetition. Although there were multiple lines of repetition the one that stood out the most was “piece by piece” which was featured in the most important parts of the song, which is the title of the song, part of the chorus and the bridge. One line in the song is “But piece by piece, he collected me” (line 7) which is part of the chorus. She is talking about how her father left her in pieces and her husband is the one who put her back together. Another important part is “Piece by piece, he restored my faith” (line 14). Her husband was the one to show her how a true man should act and how a good father should be, unlike Kelly’s own

Furthermore, this poem heavily uses a mixture of literal and figurative imagery. One of my favourite examples of imagery in this poem was “hands reaching out / fists raising up / banners unfurling / megaphones booming” (Jetñil-Kijiner 62-65). This quote allows the reader to imagine the protests and the movements that people are trying to do in order to save the planet. That was a case of extremely powerful and inspiring literal imagery as it shows people’s fight for change. This is an example of people who are fighting to save the planet for not only the current generation but for future generations as well. There are also several examples of figurative imagery, the most prominent is personification. An example of personification is “they say [the lagoon] will gnaw at the shoreline / chew at the roots of your breadfruit trees / gulp down rows of your seawalls / and crunch your island’s shattered bones” (12-15). In this example, it is talking about the repercussions of climate change and what the future will look like if people do not change. The use of personification helps the reader understand the awful things that can

Imagery is present throughout Walt Whitman’s Song Of Myself (-----). Whitman is able to draw the reader into the text and ground the abstract ideas back to the readers by appealing to a range of senses. Whitman also uses visual, tactile, auditory and olfactory to imagery give a sense of reality to the setting.

The speaker states, “Rise up – for you the flag is flung- for you the bugle trills” (line 10). This is interpreted as the ending of the war due to the patriotic symbolism of the flag which stands for freedom and also victory. Within this stanza, the importance of the captain is now extended from just the speaker to all those who await the ship’s arrival. This is demonstrated as the speaker states, “For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning” (lines 11-12). The joyful tone of the stanza ceases towards the end as an unexpected downfall of emotions begins. Whitman uses repetition in lines 15 and 16 when he states “It is some dream that on the deck, / You’ve fallen cold and dead” (lines 15-16). This serves as a disturbing reminder that the figure which was most significant to the entire situation is no longer alive.

Along with the use of metaphors, the form of the poem plays an important role in uncovering the views of Whitman. First and foremost, this poem was written in free verse which is a form of poetry that lacks structure. The free verse stucture of the poem is shown in the lack of form in the stanzas of the poem. Some stanzas are six lines long while others are only one, and the lines can be either concise or drawn out. The poem also lacks any apparent rhyming scheme or rhythm. Unlike Shakespearean poetry, where the foot of the poem stays the same, the lack of any apparent structure to the poem leaves the reader unable to predict what is coming next. In addition to this, at the time this poem was written, free verse was not common. In fact, Whitman may have been one of the first poets to use this form, showing that he may have been rebelling against the predominant structured form in poetry. The lack of any apparent structure guides the reader towards the conclusion that Whitman did not like structure in poetry, and can even be