Types Of Ambiguity In Poetry

Ambiguity in short stories is common and can be used in many different ways by the author. Flannery O 'Connor uses ambiguity in

While ambiguity in literary works may cause vagueness and sometimes confusion, it opens up the story to different interpretations. Ambiguity can be a powerful literary tool when the author uses it intentionally, giving the liberty to the readers to interpret the story for him or herself based on their own psychology and imagination. This motivates the reader to be actively involved with the storyline. In A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor, ambiguity of motivation is portrayed by O’Connor herself and the characters within the story, creating an interactive piece of literary work.

Lorna Dee Cervantes' poem, “Poema para los Californios Muertos” (“Poem for the Dead Californios”), is a commentary on what happened to the original inhabitants of California when California was still Mexico, and an address to the speaker's dead ancestors. Utilizing a unique dynamic, consistently alternating between Spanish and English, Cervantes accurately represents the fear, hatred, and humility experienced by the “Californios” through rhythm, arrangement, tone, and most importantly, through use of language.

    Literature is never interpreted in exactly the same way by two different readers. A prime example of a work of literature that is very ambiguous is Joseph Conrad's, "Heart of Darkness". The Ambiguities that exist in this book are Marlow's relationship to colonialism, Marlow's changing feelings toward Kurtz, and Marlow's lie to the Intended at the end of the story.

Ambiguity is a concept I came across while reading The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak. The novel discussed numerous paradoxes of the human experience, and thus stimulated my mind into exploring branches of philosophy previously unknown to me. Though the concept is a simple one, the source of ambiguity is much more complicated. From my reading of this story and study in a psychology class, I learned that one’s natural instinct and nurturing environment is what affects one’s perspective. Equally important, no matter how similar common the human condition is, everyone is different. No person has the same life experiences, and thus has a different perspective. These conflicting perspectives are what lead to ambiguity, which leads me to quite a harsh

After identifying the basic structure of a message, a critical thinker must ask, “What words or phrases are ambiguous?” (p. 40) An ambiguous word or phrase is one that has multiple possible meanings. Ambiguous words or phrases in an argument create the need for clarification of the meaning before a reader can fully evaluate the argument.

In William Shakespeare 's play, Macbeth, the theme of ambiguity and equivocation stands our quite clearly. The Oxford definition of equivocation is: ‘use of ambiguity to conceal the truth '. Macbeth 's voluntary misinterpretation of the ambiguity and equivocation of the witches relates to the play 's theme. After the first of the witches ' prophecies comes true, Macbeth begins to believe in their truth. However, he also believes that the prophecies must all lead to his enrichment and empowerment. The use of equivocation in Macbeth also incorporates a sub-theme of appearance versus reality and the powers of evil. In the end, he twists the witches ' words to fit his own purposes, ignoring the possibility that the prophecies might have

ambiguity which, once resolved, leads the contemplator to the same conclusion as I do that in fact,

Words are all around us. Words define the way we describe the way we articulate, one such example being this very paper, the way we interact with others, and most importantly, the way we feel or think. Adjectives: the words that give our world emotional meaning beyond the literal definition; that is connotation. Connotation is most evident in words to which we associate our most extreme emotions. Whether it is witnessing the greatest of fireworks, an elaborate collection of lights and sounds, or seeing truckfuls of babies being dumped into a blistering hot fire, the word we would use to describe these two events, fire, will forever be emotionally seen differently by whomever witnesses it. A word can develop in meaning, once meaning one thing to then mean something completely different. In fact, In Elie Wiesel’s “Night”, Elie’s definition of the word ‘fire’ changes from that of a danger to one’s self to that of destruction and revenge.

This is another example of multiple meanings of words and phrases, leading to uncertainty regarding the transportation he used to arrive.

Without doubt, Edgar Allan Poe’s story is one of the author’s masterpiece. The story is an exhibit of artistic genius with various literary features well incorporated. Among them, irony, defined as, “A figure of speech which is a contradiction or incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs”, is the most evident. Allan Poe demonstrates the use of various types of irony throughout the play, which he uses to pass the intended message to the audience.

Ambiguity can be defined as a lack of precise meaning or interpretation, so how can we describe human existence as “ambiguous”? Surely, there must be some essence, or characteristic thing, that we can use to solidify the meaning of our existence. However, it becomes difficult to pin down exactly what every human existence has in common. Dreams of fame and fortune motivate and consume the lives of some people, others dedicate their lives to help people less fortunate, and still there are those that sit on a couch all day watching TV as their years monotonously pass by. In The Ethics of Ambiguity, Simone de Beauvoir develops an existentialist view that explains the details of an ambiguous existence and how those who exist should act in this

The story of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a classic one of betrayal and destiny. One of the major themes of the play is the use of equivocation to create ambiguity. The definition of equivocation from the Oxford dictionary is: the use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth or to avoid committing oneself; prevarication. The very definition of equivocation contains the use of ambiguity, thus making the two very connected in terms of the story of the play. Equivocation is used multiple times throughout the piece to create a sense of uncertainty, which in turn makes the reader not sure of what will happen next. This makes the reading of the play very compelling. Shakespeare uses equivocation to make the reader think one thing,

In poetry the authors uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from what is

Acrostic: In acrostic poems, the first letter of each line of each line of the poem is aligned vertically to form a word. Generally, the word formed thus, is the subject of the poem.