In the poem ‘Summer Farm’ by Norman MacCaig, the tapestry of the tranquil rural landscape is woven with weft of mismatched hues: each shade representing a different meaning. A metaphor that repeatedly occurs is the problems of life, and the poet achieves by using the actions of animals to represent different facets of life, heavily connotating nature’s peace and through its structures. MacCaig highlights everyday actions of animals – which if thought about profoundly enough – can relate to different aspects of life. In the final stanza, the final line reads: ‘Nine ducks go wobbling in straight lines’. The word ‘wobbling’ is referring to the way ducks walk; they don’t put one foot in front of the other in a straight line, their body swinging from side to side. However, ducks do get to where they want to be. With this image firmly planted, the connection between the ducks and life are clear: the wobbles represents life’s obstacles, and two straight …show more content…
There is a constant rhyming scheme throughout the poem, the first line rhymes with the second, and the third rhymes with the fourth. Examples include ‘grass’ and ‘glass’, ‘through’ and ‘blue’, and ‘face’ and ‘space’ There is, however, no set rhythm for the amount of syllables in each line: ‘Straws like tame lightning lie about the grass / And hang zigzag on hedges. Green as glass.’ The first line has nine syllables and the second has ten. This reminds me of the recurring metaphor of life throughout the poem: the structure itself could embed some of its meaning. The methodical layout and rhyming pattern could hint at life’s stages: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and death. the chaotic number of syllables in each line could indicate life’s problems emerging one by one. Placed together, the structure could convey the poet’s thoughts on problems in life: no matter where you are in life, problems will arise whether you want them to or
Robert Gray is an Australian poet whose work is closely linked with nature. He grew up in the post ww11 era, and lives on the north coast. The poems ‘The Meatworks’, and ‘Flames and Dangling Wire’, express how he feels about life, his experiences and his beliefs. His poetry has such an enduring nature because it can be understood in so many different contexts, and includes universal themes which remain relevant to societies past, present and future.
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.
Seamus Heaney and Thomas Hardy both depict images of rural life as difficult and uncomfortable. In their poems ‘At a Potato Digging’ and ‘A Sheep Fair’ they describe different aspects of rural life; these were elements of life that would have been familiar to the poets and ones that they would have experienced. In their poetry Heaney and Hardy
There are many ways in which we can view the history of the American West. One view is the popular story of Cowboys and Indians. It is a grand story filled with adventure, excitement and gold. Another perspective is one of the Native Plains Indians and the rich histories that spanned thousands of years before white discovery and settlement. Elliot West’s book, Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers and the Rush to Colorado, offers a view into both of these worlds. West shows how the histories of both nations intertwine, relate and clash all while dealing with complex geological and environmental challenges. West argues that an understanding of the settling of the Great Plains must come from a deeper understanding, a more thorough
The Boys of Summer, a non-fiction book of baseball, written by Roger Kahn. Who tells a wonderful heart aching tale of a simple stick and ball game that helped start the development to push Americans (generally the white population at the time) to change what the country claims to be, a free and fair non-prejudice country that gives “everyone” their own rights/opportunities. Jackie Robinson, America’s first African American to play on a Major Baseball league. He was the first colored-skinned to ever make history not only in the game of baseball. Robinson ignited a spark that sent Americans (mostly the white population) dumbfounded, that a “nigga” a dark colored-skinned individual was more than just a janitor. This book transcends the generation gap as Kahn recaps his boyhood in Brooklyn, his young career as a writer following the Brooklyn Dodgers, and a follow-up of the certain members of the Brooklyn Dodgers during post-playing days. As Kahn nostalgically narrates his story of the transformation of the Brooklyn Dodgers, a dead team who came back to life to make a major impact on the country, to a becoming dead of the last time. Reveals the theme that race play a huge role on American’s reaction to the Brooklyn Dodger, Jackie Robinson, and the aftermath to letting a “Negro” into a white man sport.
Harlem Summer is a novel written by Walter Dean Myers. The story takes place in Harlem, New York in 1925 during the Harlem Renaissance. The author envelopes the reader into a rich African American culture of jazz musicians, poets, writers, Negro leaders, and surprisingly gangsters. Mark Purvis is a sixteen-year-old saxophonist. Mark resides with his parents and older brother. They live in the neighborhood with his idol, Fats Waller 's, sister - Edie. He has big dreams of becoming a famous jazz musician. When Fats offers Mark an opportunity to earn five dollars, he immediately accepts the job without any hesitation. Mark thought - why not? I can earn some money, and possibly become friends with Fats. With any luck, we will record an album together on Black Swan Records.
The poem does indeed have a rhyme scheme, yet doesn?t conform to conventional forms of rhyme such as A, B, A, B, etc. Rather, each stanza seems to follow the order of A, B, C, A, C, B, which may not be apparent to the reader at first, but doesn?t
The poem is formed of eight stanzas, each one is six lines long except for the fifth stanza which is an octet. The stanzas are formed of sets of three rhyming couplets in the
Timothy Cole was a 24-year-old student at Texas Tech University. After completing two years of college, he had enlisted in the army for two years in hopes of serving his country. Timothy was an ordinary man with dreams of getting married and having children, but that dream never materialized. Upon his return to Texas Tech in 1985, he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for the rape of a 20-year-old girl named Michele Mallin. Mallin, then, a student at Texas Tech University Lubbock, was walking to her car when a man approached her and held a knife to her neck. He forced himself into her car and drove her to the outskirts of town where he raped her repeatedly. The next day the police investigator showed Michele pictures of the suspect where she pointed at Timothy Cole. When police showed her a lineup, again she picked Cole. “I was positive,” she said. “I really thought it was him,” but in fact she had accidently robbed an innocent man of his freedom (Lavendra 2009).
Birds finding food to eat is definitely natural; what is chaotic is the how a bird is portrayed in the first stanza. A cormorant is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a large and voracious sea-bird.” That is image in our heads in already chaotic in nature; it add insult to injury, the bird is eating and patrolling the bay, assumedly for another animal to devour – a fish. Also another bird enters the picture. Although much less extreme, the “heron “ found in line 6 makes an appearance. How this inspires chaos is evident – “rose off a boulder where he’d been invisible,/ drifted a little, stood again.” The heron from the background makes himself known, disquieting our original ideal of a peaceful stroll.
Reflecting on this event many times in my past, I have called it an "innapropriate romance", I have called it “an unprofessional relationship”. However, most frequently, I have called it “the thing that happened that summer.” As in — remember the thing that happened that summer? What I never called it, for reasons similar to that of why I never made a fuss about it when it happened, was sexual abuse.
John Foulcher writes interesting poetry because he can make the reader see, feel, and think. Summer Rain , demonstrate to the reader that Foulcher’s poetry is not only thought provoking and realistic, but it is also able to capture aspects of society through his unique use of imagery.
conveys the majority of the message in the poem, ' does it dry up like
The poem does not follow a rhyme scheme or meter, which means that there is rhythm in the poem and it makes the poem more like a song. The poem has four stanza’s and has five lines within each stanza.
The rhyme scheme that is portrayed in the poem is ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH and so on. The meaning of this rhyme scheme is every other line rhyme with one another. For example, line one and three rhyme with each other because line 1 ends with brother and line three ends with mothers and that rhyme with each other. Also, line 2 ends with years and line four end with tears and those two rhyme with one another. This poem is literal because it is straightforward with what is going on the poem from the title and throughout the poetry. The poem is literal with explaining that there are children who are going through a depressed time because they are forced to do hard work and believe that death is the best way out. Child labor is causing the children to not live their life as a kid instead as adult with all the hard work they have to do.