In his literary piece “Upon Receiving My Inheritance,” William Fargason briefly illustrates his agonizing physical and emotional experience on possessing a certain disease—chronic arthritis—while also accepting the possibility of the disease’s constant intensification. Despite emanating his trenchant misery, William also expresses humility and gratitude. William presents the physical torment in his sickness. In the first part of the poem, he states, “some days I can’t sit up without crying” (6). In the middle part of the poem, William states “my heart has a tattoo of a heart with barbed wire wrapped around it,” (20) expressing emotional pain as well. In the latter parts of the poem he states, “if my bones fuse, I will be like a tree” (27)
In the poem “ A Bitterness”, Mary Oliver illustrates a case of crippling melancholy. Oliver depicts the speaker reflecting upon the troubled life and death of someone that they knew. The solemn tone of the speaker is maintained throughout the poem to verify their position on the matter upon which they are reflecting. By using consistent repetition and descriptive comparisons, Oliver conveys the general theme that the bitterness accompanying sadness and sorrow can envelop all aspects of life.
In the poem “XIV,” Derek Walcott utilizes the use of inhumane imagery that is being counterpointed with the use of happy imagery to show the view of an elderly woman with his experiences with her; the speaker recalls this information by describing his experiences with her with a sense of happiness, fear and appreciation.
Inheritance, written by Christopher Paolini, is the fourth and last book in the series The Inheritance Cycle. The first three books of the series are: Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr. Eragon is a fifteen year poor farm boy who discovers a dragon-egg in the woods and goes on to become a Dragon Rider. In the old days, Dragon Riders were powerful elves and humans who helped maintain peace in Alagaesia (the fictional land where the story is set). The evil King, Galbatorix has killed of all the Dragon Riders and taken control of the land. Throughout the book we learn of Eragon's struggle to gain as much ancient and magical information and powers as he can in order
This poem talks about nature and death. William Cullen Bryant shares that nature can make death less painful. He says that when we start to think about death, we should go outside, and look around and listen to the natural earth sounds. This is supposed to remind us that when we die, we will mix back into the earth. The poem tells us that when we die, we will not be alone. We will be with every other person that has ever been buried, In the ground, which in this poem is called the “great tomb of man”. It also tells us that even those that are still living will soon die and join in the great tomb of man. This poem is meant to comfort those that are afraid of dying and death in general. At the end of the poem, we are told to think of death as
Analyzing and interpreting poetry takes time and effort due to the variety of elements each poem may possess as well as understanding those elements chosen and used in the piece of work. In addition, one’s life experiences may influence how one perceives the poem. However, in the poem “Alzheimer’s” by Kelly Cherry, published in 1997 and written during a time of personal struggle for Cherry and her dad, a couple of poetic elements appear more prominent than any others. These are the tone and imagery. Cherry begins the poem with a feeling of insensitivity but by the end transforms the feeling in to one of pity or sadness. Through her careful choice of words and use of similes and metaphors Cherry establishes the tone and imagery throughout the poem in a realistic way regarding this disease and its tug on the emotions one feels when caring for someone with this illness.
Through his poem, Williams use of
The theme of loss is portrayed similarly in the two poems ‘Disabled’ and ‘Out, out-’. Both of these poems are about the protagonist dealing with physical loss as they both experience an accident. Both Wilfred Owen and Robert Frost manage to mesmerize their audience’s attention, and also sympathize for the protagonists’ misfortune. They do this by the use of many literary techniques which are obvious at times, but some are very subtle, such as similes, metaphors, personification, and contrasts.
The second stanza of the poem can be interpreted in many ways. The narrator mentions his fear and how at one point he broke down in tears. To me, this could mean that he is so headstrong about his hatred towards his enemy that it scares him. He couldn’t possibly be scared of his enemy because it was never mentioned that his enemy threatened him. The narrator then starts crying because he never expected to grow so quickly and instead of yelling about his anger, he develops these tears. Just as the unwanted emotions surface, the good emotions come up just as quickly. The narrator smiling could mean that he wants to mask everything with a smile to show his enemy that he’s doing fine. It could also mean that he’s enjoying how everything is unfolding.
Throughout human history we have learnt that power in the wrong hands can lead to devastating effects. Take North Korea for instance. North Korea is a prime example of power being in the wrong hands. Korea used to be one nation, but now it is split into two. The government has restricted its own country and corrupted the nation, and dire consequences await those who dare to speak out against its dictators.
The poem suddenly becomes much darker in the last stanza and a Billy Collins explains how teachers, students or general readers of poetry ‘torture’ a poem by being what he believes is cruelly analytical. He says, “all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it”. Here, the poem is being personified yet again and this brings about an almost human connection between the reader and the poem. This use of personification is effective as it makes the
Costs assigned to the building of a house should appear on the income statement when
In the poem ‘Disabled’, poet Wilfred Owen portrays the horrors of war and the brutal aftermath by using powerful imagery, dramatic contrasts of pace and time, overwhelming irony and by creating a strong sense of sympathy for the soldier of this poem. The contrasts between health and illness, life and death feature greatly in the poem; this gives the reader a ‘before and after’ picture of the soldier’s (subject’s) life.
James Agee's A Death in the Family is a posthumous novel based on the largely complete manuscript that the author left upon his death in 1955. Agee had been working on the novel for many years, and portions of the work had already appeared in The Partisan Review, The Cambridge Review, The New Yorker, and Harper's Bazaar.
In the poem, the beating heart represents the narrator’s extreme guilt and remorse for the murdering of the old man. After the narrator murders
This arising tone of regret and distance is also formed by the speaker’s depiction of his father having “cracked hands that ached,” (1. 3) which further signifies the father’s struggle with the severe coldness. The concept of self-sacrifice is apparent in this portrayal of his father’s disregard to his own pain in order to provide warmth and light for his family’s home. The stirring of “banked fires blaze” (1. 5) within the house,