Narrative Self-Reflection A large purpose of the narrative is to show the change a person must go through in order to change long-term habits, and the setting heavily reflects on that, because both the character and the setting changed. It is set over the course of a year, which is shown through lines such as “flowers bloom”, and “it grows colder”. It is also shown in the title of each poem, which both corresponds to the season, and the stage of recovery the main character is in. These help to establish the setting, along with specific language choices. In my narrative, I used the metaphors of different seasons to convey my message. In literature, winter traditionally symbolizes difficulty and struggle, and it is used in the narrative to convey exactly that. The lines “falling into darkness / it grows colder” are representative of the winter approaching, however, it also acts as a metaphor for his heart growing colder, and him feeling as if he is falling into darkness, which represents mystery and fear. The tone of mystery and fear creates a somber mood, because the helplessness he feels contributes to the fear he faces. The connotations associated with the seasons also apply to the character. Springtime connotes feelings of rebirth and growth, just as he is growing as a character. He refers to his family as “my light”. Light is often connoted with purity and goodness, and he considers his family to be the light of his life. During the summer, the protagonist describes
For instance, Washington Irving, wrote in The Devil and Tom Walker, “One hot summer afternoon in the dog days, just as a terrible black thunder-gust as coming up, Tom sat in his counting house in his white linen cap and India silk morning gown.” Considering that the season, summer, can be referred to as growth and reflection, the reader can construe that Tom is about to experience change. The twelve months can also be related to the seasons; by its nature, the reader can recognize which months are in each season, due to their location. For instance, in The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe, “Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December; and each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.” Despite the fact that Edgar Allen Poe did not verbatimly mention one of the four seasons, the reader can obtain the same mood from
The tone of the story, objects, and the sentence structures help us relate to the dark theme. "Speaking softly the names of our dead" and "now that summer has long since fled and time has had its way." these quotes are examples of how the writer's word choice affected how we feel about the story. The two quotes listed in the previous sentence give a dark, like death, feeling. The first quote gives a sense of hearing reminders of those how have passed in the wind. The second quote gives an understanding of "how time has had its way" an abundance amount of things significant to the narrator happened during the summer like him helping his younger brother walk as well as helping him accomplish other things that everyone thought he would never be able to do. Now all of those memories seemed to have been ages ago when in reality it might have been only a couple of months ago. Thereupon the unfortunate event of Doodle's death in the middle of August making it seem as if time were flying by. "summer was dead, but autumn had not yet been born, that the ibis lit in the bleeding tree" this quote is foreshadowing awful events that are to come. We later find out that it had been in the summer when the two young boys bonded. It might have started with pride, but it ended with the forming of an improbable
Analyse (tell me how the poet creates this image - choice of words, literary devices, implication etc)The idea of a freezing, harsh climate is emphasized with "winter's city" and "winter's leaves". The poet uses words like "death" and "terrible" to highlight the freezing, barren winter.
Weather and seasons are an amazing example of symbolism in literary works. In chapter 9, It’s
Throughout My Ántonia, by Willa Cather, the change of seasons is often mentioned and represents the hardships and beauties of the world. The summer and spring are examples of the beauties in the world since the citizens are able to work due to the long days. The spring is almost as important as the summer since it is the time of year when farmers begin to farm again after the winter. But, the winter is unforgiving. During the winter all of citizens are hiding in their nice warm houses trying to avoid the harsh cold. Due to the citizens’ perseverance and hard work their town is able to thrive.
In chapter 20 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster describes the significance of seasons in literature. Seasons can mean many different things besides the obvious change in weather. Shakespeare uses seasons as literary devices to make comparisons. Seasons often act as metaphors for age in his work. Fall, for example, can also be seen as middle age; the turning point between old and young, summer and winter. Seasons were also used by Shakespeare to convey moods and emotions. Winter is often associated with bitterness, dissatisfaction, or anger. This works because elements of winter include harsh winds and freezing temperatures that make people uncomfortable. Furthermore, authors connect season with the human experience. Each season
In the novel How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas Foster gives evidence of every season having a symbolic meaning in different pieces of literature. In most cases, the seasons can represent certain times in a person’s life, such as death or the renewal of life. Foster states that the seasons may also represent times of decline, dormancy, awakening, and even times of passion. Foster then gives examples of how the seasons are interpreted in other pieces of literature, such as Shakespeare. This makes the reader question if the seasons are symbolic in other pieces of literature and if the author used a specific season on purpose to help portray the meaning of the story they are trying to tell.
new self. As the season changes from winter to spring, like the "dry sticks which had seemed to be dead, developed . . . into green and tender boughs" , the narrator comes to life from a sort of spiritual death.
In The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton emphasizes on the weather description to lead the readers to foreshadow approaching events. "Ain't you about to freeze to death, Pony?" (Hinton, 47) It was a frigid fall night, the boys were desolate in the local park. Once an author establishes coldness and loneliness, the mood drops to death. According to literary symbolism, in winter, death roams the land, the literary use for the season is generally based on death and deterioration.
For centuries, seasons have been understood to stand for the same set of meanings. Seasons are easily understood by the reader, and are easy for the writer to use; as Foster states, “Seasons can work magic on us, and writers can work magic with seasons” (Foster 192). The different seasons are a huge part of our lives; we live through each one every year, and we know how each of them impacts our lives. This closeness between people and nature allows us to be greatly impacted by the use of seasons in literature. In addition, Foster lays out the basic meanings of each season for us: autumn is harvest, decline, tiredness; winter is anger, hatred, cold, old age; summer is passion, love, happiness, beauty; and spring is childhood and youth. On the
The use of symbolism and imagery is beautifully orchestrated in a magnificent dance of emotion that is resonated throughout the poem. The two main ideas that are keen to resurface are that of personal growth and freedom. Furthermore, at first glimpse this can be seen as a simple poem about a women’s struggle with her counterpart. However, this meaning can be interpreted more profoundly than just the causality of a bad relationship.
Bradbury uses similes to convey imagery in The Pedestrian: explaining the bitterness of the air due to the chilly air, comparing a highway to a stream, and using his shadow to the shadow of a hawk. First, he uses a simile to help the reader visualize the chilly weather by comparing the inside of his lungs to the “blaze of a Christmas tree”. This means that his lungs are burning because of the bitter air. This helps us visualize the frigid temperatures of the night which helps us get a sense of the time of year this story takes place: winter. Secondly, he uses a simile to help us visualize how empty the highways are by comparing a highway to an empty stream saying that the highways “ were like streams in a dry season, all stone and bed and moon
The first landscape feature that is described are, “the tops of trees” (Chopin 203). Trees are commonly attributed to nature and the symbol of life. Although the author has attributed the trees in this story with the literary term personification, as the trees, “were all aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin 203). The author has attributed the trees to movement as the protagonist begins to desire to be in the cycle of nature. The protagonist relates to the trees because the trees are no longer weighed down by the heavy snow, thus allowing the trees to grow again, which is similar to the protagonist, as she is no longer confined by her husband, but she desires to be rebirthed (Lucas). Consequently, the protagonist was learning her desires to participate in life as an independent individual and to have restrictions a memory in the past. Therefore, the protagonist is beginning to participate down the path of becoming
The seasons in the poem also can be seen as symbols of time passing in her life. Saying that in the height of her life she was much in love and knew what love was she says this all with four words “summer sang in me.” And as her life is in decline her lovers left her, this can be told by using “winter” as a symbol because it is the season of death and decline from life and the birds left the tree in winter. The “birds” can be seen as a literal symbol of the lovers that have left her or flown away or it can have the deeper meaning that in the last stages of our life all of our memories leave us tittering to our selves.
The atmospheric conditions may represent the hardships that the couple had to go through in their relationship, and may also be used contrast the unpredictability of the outside world compared to the steady relationship that the couple have. ‘A Youth Mowing’ is also a poem about relationships, this time it is between a younger couple. The river ‘Isar’ is a symbol of freedom, it represents the way that the men’s lives are. However, this sense of liberty is broken by the ‘swish of the scythe-strokes’ as the girl takes ‘four sharp breaths.’ Sibilance is used to show that there is a sinister undertone to the freedom that the boy has which will be broken by the news that his girlfriend is bringing. She feels guilty for ‘what’s in store,’ as now the boy will have to be committed to spending the rest of his life with her, and paying the price for the fun that they had.