At first glance, the poems “Birthday” by M. T. Buckley and “The Secret Life of Books” by Stephen Edgar may seem completely unrelated in every aspect. “Birthday” is a poem about how being born is comparable to being in war, while “The Secret Life of Books” is about the nature and power of reading and literature. But once broken down to their bits and pieces, the poems are in fact very much alike. Although there are differences within both, the authors use significant titles, tone, and extended metaphors throughout the poems that make the two poems similar. Titles are the very first thing a reader is exposed to while beginning to read a poem. They set the tone and prepare the reader for what is to come. Therefore, it is important to have an eye catching and significant title for one’s …show more content…
Like a composer needs musicians, books need readers. The tone allows the reader to realize that we are what we read, as we are what we learn.
Extended metaphors in poetry allow the author to make comparisons all throughout the poem. In “Birthday” and “The Secret Life of Books”, extended metaphors are used throughout both poems. In “Birthday”, the author decided to compare being born in a very interesting and dark way. “These suicide missions are all the same. / Name? Not yet. Unit? 82nd
,” (7-8). The narrator’s birth is being compared to a paratrooper’s suicide mission into enemy territory. This creates a very unique and interesting comparison for the reader. The narrator uses the extended metaphor throughout the poem to emphasize the danger of the unknown that lies ahead of him at his birth. Just as the paratrooper faces the unknown of his future, the narrator experiences the same things he looks towards his future. In comparison, in “The Secret Life of Books”, the author uses an extended metaphor, personifying books and making them appear alive and human-like. “They have you. In the end they have written you, / By the intrusion,” (25-26).
The author uses pathos, Logos, and diction/ word choice to reinforce his argument of the importance of reading. In the second paragraph the author uses the literary device , logos. Logos is a great way to make a strong argument because it's hard to refute facts. The author explains the data collected in the 2002 survey of public participation in the arts.
Through the use of extended metaphor, Mary Oliver is allowed to express both the mentality and physicality when writing a poem, which is able to show the differences and similarities by comparison. The extended metaphor works to compare the process of writing poetry to that of building a house,
How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster is a book that explains there is more to literature than just a few words on a paper or a few pages in a book. Thomas Foster’s book portrays a relatable message to a wide based audience. This book is relatable for two reasons, the way it is written and the examples it uses. The book is written in a conversational manner, as if the reader was in a group discussion about books and writing. As for the examples, they are informative, descriptive, relative, and entertaining.
The two poems are similar in their corresponding feeling of dread for death. Using diction,
In the first stanza it is the semantic field of water: ‘waters’ (twice), ‘sea’, ‘drowning’ and ‘being drawn’. As I mentioned earlier, water is often the symbol of life but it also evokes tears, sadness and despair.
Welty describes the first steps of reading as “human, but inward...It is to me the voice of the story or poem itself” (Welty 11). Picking up from my knowledge of personification, I gained a new perspective on how books play an impact on how one thinks when reading a piece, as it describes the voice of the book as a human. Having said, this gave me the idea that books establish a personal connection between itself and the reader. Following through with the next chapter, Welty recognizes the value of the summer trips she experienced with her family. She makes an interesting analogy between her trips and reading by calling them “stories. Not only in form, but in their taking on direction, movement, development, change...each trip made its particular revelation, though I could not have found words for it” (68). Connecting this to the title of chapter two, “Learning to See” when reading requires looking closely at the small details and soaking it in, in a way that one can look back upon it later. Once one starts to carefully listen and look at the fluidity and rich ingredients a book has, he/she can find their own voice, which leads into the next chapter. Reading spurs imagination which then allows one to explore their own inner being. Welty best describes her encounter of this by explaining “my imagination takes its strength and guides its direction from what I see and hear and
The first similarity that was noticed was how both these poems have the same rhyme scheme. A rhyme scheme is the pattern of how rhyme sounds occur . In the case of these poems, the last word in the line rhymes with the following, and then it starts a new word to rhyme with afterwards. In My Last Duchess, the twenty- first line rhymes with the twenty- second line: “For calling up that spot of joy. She had” (21) A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad,” (22). When looking at the similar poem, My Ex- Husband, the twenty- first and twenty- second lines rhyme with each other as well: “Half- hidden in a corner nook. Such stuff” (21) “Was all too well rehearsed, I soon enough” (22). This is an obvious similarity to both the poems because they show this throughout the whole reading. Although these simple similarities are pretty obvious, there are some similarities that require a bit more
Thirdly, Both writers use a lot of imagery in their poems, they use a big amount of imagination to tell their experiences. Each poem is developed out of
Wright writes about the soldiers as persons that are very little culturally informed because of the parent(s) non-present upbringing.
There are similarities in these two poems such as the theme and the observentness of the narrator. Both of the poems themes involve death. In ?I heard a Fly buzz when I died?, the poet writes, ? And then the Windows failed ? and then I could not see to see- ", which means that the narrator?s eyes would not open no more; they had died. In ?Because I could not stop for Death? it shows the theme
In “The Author to Her Book,” Bradstreet is inundated in indecision and internal struggles over the virtues and shortfalls of her abilities and the book that she produced. As human beings we associate and sympathize with each other through similar experiences. It is difficult to sympathize with someone when you don’t know where they are coming from and don’t know what they are dealing with. Similar experiences and common bonds are what allow us to extend our sincere appreciation and understanding for another human being’s situation. In this poem an elaborate struggle between pride and shame manifests itself through an extended metaphor in which she equates her book to her own child.
“Birthday Party” by Katherine Brush uses literary devices such as tone, point of view, diction, and sensory details to achieve her purpose.
Introduction: Conflicting perspectives are different points of view expressed and influenced by ones context and values. “Birthday Letters” by Ted Hughes is an anthology of poems challenging the accusation that he was responsible for his wife, Sylvia Plath’s death. The three poems The Minotaur, Your Paris, and Red are an insight into Hughes justification of the death of Plath using a very subjective and emotive poetic form. The poems possess many deliberate techniques such as extended metaphors, connotations, diction and juxtaposition to encourage the audience to accept his argument that he was not the one to blame for this world renown tragedy. The poem Daddy by Sylvia Plath also displays conflicting perspectives of the
First of all, based on both poems, the attitude of the poets is influenced by the diction of the poems as well as tone and mood.
Now, when it comes to technical similarities between the two poems (i.e. rhyme scheme and meter), there aren’t any, so instead of stating all they don’t have in common, we’ll just move straight on to the similarities in their subject matter. Of course, the most glaring similarity between the two is that they both feature a gloomy sailor