Pessimism In Clocks And Lovers By W. H. Auden

There is an ebony clock in the room and its chimes go off at each hour which causes all revelers to pause for a few seconds and think deeply>>> The clock is a symbol for passing time and it's ringing reminds people that their death is approaching, making them fearful. Also at the ringing of the clock, all activity/life stops which represents death. Moreover, the fact that the revelers are unable to stop the clock from ringing means that they cannot stop time or escape death

The scene is first set up through the personification of the sun. The poet uses interesting diction and phrases, such as “dipping” and “geometries” to describe nature. The sun is described with human characteristics, “build[ing]” these “geometries and orchids” and “riding/The last tumultuous avalanche”. It is like an almighty being that is capable of anything, including the controlling of nature. The poet wants to portray nature as a hidden yet powerful force that should not be seen as a simple concept. Contrasts,

The imagery in the poem, specifically natural imagery, helps use the reader’s senses to develop a vivid depiction of the speaker’s connection to nature and dissatisfaction with the surrounding reality. The speaker’s continued use of the “moon” reflects her attribution of feminine identity and idolistic character to the moon. As opposed to referencing herself and her personal insomnia, she uses the imagery of the moon “beyond sleep” to convey her internal struggles with insomnia and her reality. Throughout the poem, the speaker also refers to shining, reflective surfaces, such as “a body of water or a mirror”, to describe the inverted reality in which the speaker experiences reciprocated love. Reflective surfaces often invert the image that is projected into them, seemingly distorting the true nature and reality of the projected image. The speaker’s reference to this reflective imagery highlights her desire to escape the burden of a patriarchal society and assume an independent and free feminine identity. Specifically, the use of natural imagery from the references to the “moon” and “a body of water” convey the speaker’s desire to take refuge within the Earth or in the feminine identity of the Earth, Mother Earth. Feminine identities are often related and associated with aspects of nature due to the natural cycle of the menstrual period and the natural process of procreation. The speaker takes advantage of these connotations to suggest Earth and natural imagery as an escape from the man-made terrors of male dominated society. In the second stanza, the speaker uses extensive imagery to develop metaphors conveying the speaker’s experience of jealousy of the moon

Similarly, as “Stop all of the Clocks” develops the narrator metaphorically and onomatopoeically highlights that everything in life must acknowledge the death and experience it with him. Outward signs of cotton gloves and bows with doves is a metaphor for the person’s acknowledgement of death. The importance of the deceased love extends to every facet of the narrator’s life because they belonged in every moment that the narrator lived. In this moment of grief, the narrator feels betrayed because they invested in a love which was not eternal.

The temporal setting “oppress the character with the shape of a pendulum” (3) He fears its deadly velocity which represents his final hours of life. He feels terror of the doom that will “cut” his time on earth. As everyone knows, this symbolizes that death is inevitable.

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

Human beings revolve around time and base their lives off of it. Although a person has the capability to use time as little or a lot to plan out their life, time’s presence can have a different impact for everyone. In sonnet “73” when talking about someone coming to the end of their life Shakespeare says, “In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire that on the ashes of his youth doth die”

Within the first stanza, the symbolism of snow-like grass, a bright sun, and peppermint scented wind prompt a sense of peace, energy, and revitalization. As a result of the dream-like symbolism, this settings seems to be part of the imagination, and could simply be a metaphor for a way of thinking.

Duong’s decision to describe the snowflakes as “strange flowers” exposes Hang’s attachment to the landscape of her own home, and also the strangeness of this new landscape for her. The word choice of flowers and their connotation of spring provide contrast to the harsh winter. Hang’s simile comparing the snowflakes to a “luminous” childhood dream juxtaposes the description of them as “blinding shards” and “frail”, thus revealing Hang’s opinion of dreams as something rarely obtained. Surely as a child she imagined the best that might have happened, and had such optimistic hopes of what might have been. They are thus associated with sorrow by the simile, reflective of the cruel reality she faced when her dreams were suffocated as a child. The snowy landscape also triggers a more consuming flashback to a time in Hang’s childhood. Duong provides vivid imagery of the beautiful landscape of the bay - “Clouds floated like puff jade along the horizon, a line broken jagged by solitary rocks.. This endless jade-colored necklace fallen to the earth.” (Duong ) The metaphor comparing the clouds to a jade-colored necklace further emphasizes the landscape’s beauty and richness. The idea of a jade necklace, a material wealthy good, introduces the idea that the natural landscape is a gift, accessible by all. Duong emphasizes this with the subsequent sentiment that “beauty knows no frontiers, seduces without discrimination” (Duong 83). Hang

To start of, the poem has an appeal of imagination and has many features that show this. First of, we have numerous metaphors, "I am a thousand winds that blow" and "I am the diamond glints on snow" are examples. These metaphors are indirectly comparing him to the greatness, to the amounts of them, trying to relate to us by telling us how he is everywhere. He might not be here in person but he is all around as used in the metaphors the wind, in the snow, in sunlight that ripens the grains everywhere. Second, the poem has the symbol of "do not stand at my

There is plenty of figurative language in this poem, which adds to the poem’s richness. There are several metaphors: “loaded gun” (which I think is a metaphor for life), “Vesuvian face” (volcano), and “Yellow eye” (which I am not sure about), “Yellow Eye” and “emphatic Thumb,” which stand for some kind of weapon. Personification is

. . 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 use of symbolism is seen when the author discusses, “wintery seas” (line 4) which symbolizes the wanderer’s loneliness and isolation, because the sea is at a standstill much like the wanderer is stuck in his own exile. This is also expressed in the line, “a heart that is frozen” which not only symbolizes the wanderer’s isolation but also his inability to find a place that feels like home. Because of this the wanderer then comes to the conclusion that he feels most alone when he reflects over his life, but manages to outweigh that with his dreams of one day finding a home. When people long for the things they can no longer have it results in them falling into a deep depression, just like how the wanderer longs for a life he can no longer have which has resulted in his

Although both Dickinson and Baudelaire write to motivate readers to appreciate nature, Baudelaire uses personification to convey the symbolism of nature. In, “Correspondances,” Baudelaire begins the poem personifying nature as a temple that can communicate with us. He says, “The pillars of nature’s temple are alive/ and sometimes yield perplexing messages” (1-2). This personification is significant because nature is not talking with us, but figuratively it is telling us something about ourselves that

The speaker furthermore conveys the idea that nature is a grandeur that should be recognized by including the element of imagery. The poet utilizes imagery as a technique to appeal to reader’s sense of sight . It is “the darkest evening of the year” (line 8) and a traveller and his horse stop “between the woods and frozen lake” (line 7). By writing with details such as these, readers are capable of effortlessly envisioning the peaceful scenery that lies before the speaker. The persona then draws on reader’s sense of sound. “The only other sound’s the sweep / Of easy wind and downy flake.” The illustration allows readers to not only see,