We Live In Such A World Claude Mckay Meaning

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.

The intriguing thing about this poem is it’s use of the imagery of a bird, the first line is the audience being addressed as “little bird” something that could easily be a childhood nickname, “Fly away little bird / Fly away to a better place / Where you will soar through the sky / In the wide open space” This is a simple verse of the author imploring the ‘little bird’ to fly freely, nothing different until paired with the second verse “Fly away to live out all your hopes and dreams / Enter the real world / Of wondrous things / Through the dark clouds and over the rainbows” Using the mirroring words of ‘hopes and dreams’ and ‘dark clouds and over the rainbows’ creates the thoughts of highs and loves and everything in between, a common happening in the ‘real world’, which is usually used in regards of a child growing up and becoming up and creating a life for themselves. This is defined even more in the next three lines; “Fly away to destinations unknown / Fly away to discover yourself / And embrace what you find” these lines emphasise the thought of growing up and moving on in life, but the use of ‘embrace’ encourages the ‘little bird’ to not be afraid of change or transforming themselves, instead to welcome the difference and

Hereinafter he comes back to the image of the bird "Brushstrokes flash, a red bird's / wings cutting across my stare" poet means by “red bird's wings” the cruel pictures he had to depict while capturing the bloody scenes of the

Nevertheless, in the poem ‘Nesting time’, Stewart interprets a personal experience in first person of the appearance of a bird that lands upon his daughter and forgets the thought of the harsh world. Stewart’s descriptive language repeatedly explains the poem as if seen in his viewpoint, beginning with an interjection, ‘oh’ communicating of his incredulity of an ‘absurd’ bird. Symbolizing the bird with strong coloured imagery its ‘mossy green, sunlit’, described to be bright and joyful, with sweetness shown with the type of bird, ‘honey-eater’, Douglas Stewart takes the time to describe its admiration juxtaposed to the dangerous world surrounding it. While visualizing the birds actions, ‘pick-pick-pick’ of alliteration and repetition of its

The writer makes use of diction to express his feelings towards the literary work and to set the dramatic tone of the poem. Throughout the poem, there is repetition of the word “I”, which shows the narrator’s individual feeling of change in the heart, as he experiences the sight of hundreds of birds fly across the October sky. As the speaker effortlessly recounts the story, it is revealed how deeply personal it is to him. Updike applies the words “flock” and “bird” repetitively to the poem, considering the whole poem is about the sight of seeing so many birds and the effect this has on a person. When the speaker first sees the flock of birds in lines 8-10, alliteration is applied to draw attention to what the narrator is witnessing. In line 29, Updike

The bird then returns to his former place in the cage, the speaker emphasizing the pain in the bird’s “old, old scars”, imparting that the bird has attempted to escape in this manner multiple times in the past. From the line in which the speaker says “And they pulse again with a keener sting,” which refers to the bird’s scars, the reader can assume that the “keener sting” is a fire in the bird’s wings fueled by determination to achieve freedom, and that the bird will continue attempting to escape relentlessly. The speaker states that he “knows why he beats his wing”, meaning that he knows the forces that can drive a creature to harm themselves in the process of trying to achieve something, and he has come in contact with those forces in his life.

Diction affects the tone of the passage. Starting from line 14, the diction evolves into a more negative view. He uses biblical reference towards the beginning of the stanza. He begins to analyze his surroundings more rigorously, and sees the differences in how they look from a distance, to how they appear close by. Once this negative connotation has begun, the flock is said to be “paled, pulsed, compressed, distended, yet held an identity firm” (Lines 20-21). The author’s choice of words as in “less marvelous” (line 25) indicates his intention for making his lines definite, giving it a solid state of meaning. It symbolizes that the feeling of someone longing for something, and once they receive it are not as impressed by it. The diction plays a critical role when the tone of the qualities of nature are exposed. The author conveys the “trumpeting” of the geese as an exaltation to the beauty and simplicity of nature. “A cloud appeared, a cloud of dots like iron filings which a magnet underneath the paper undulates” (Lines 16-18). The iron filings in this phrase symbolize the issues the man faces. Once he looks closely at the flock, he realizes that these issues are only miniscule and do not add up to life in general. This elates him, thus concluding him to lift his heart.

Thus, through the initial impression of the man of the bird’s brave and challenging movements by the utilisation of poetic techniques, the reader is able to visualise the bird’s characteristic it inherits and gain a deeper understanding of nature and the impression of humanity distinctively.

In Tracy K. Smith’s poem, she paints a dream world that provides safety for herself and for those underprivileged within our society. By juxtaposing space and safety with a world filled with prejudice, Smith adequately communicates a utopia in which we are all equal.

He wonders why the birds are just waiting in the sky as if they are waiting for a command, why they are restless, and he thinks it is strange that they are little birds and they are the type of the birds that normally keep to their own territory and don’t have a history of attacking people . When he looks out toward the coast, he sees the birds flocking in his direction and he believes that for some odd reason, they are going to come down to the

The terns aren’t actually locked in pairs by invisible steel, but writing so creates an image of closeness and intimacy between the birds. Similarly, the strong feathered oars are nothing but the wings of the terns; however the author has chosen to describe the wings in a way that illustrates the strength and power behind them. The use of metaphors in this poem draws us into the experience of life through the relations of human love and complexity of the natural world – in this case, the terns. The reader is then forced to draw a comparison between two ideas, reading it as one thing but interpreting it as another, creating vivid images for the reader while easily understanding how the author wanted to describe

Clearly provocative and even chilling, “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay stirs deep and powerful emotions in any who reads it. A poem inspired by violent race riots, it serves as a motivating anthem representative of an entire culture. Graphic and full of vengeance this poem is demanding action, not telling a story. McKay utilizes imagery to its fullest extent creating an end result which any man or woman, black or white, who has ever felt the hard and hateful hand of oppression can relate to.

The loss of innocence is expressed through the eyes of a captive bird. Blake shows how the bird loses it's innocence through stanza's, getting darker with each one. The first stanza mentions the sunny fields the bird once flew over, which refers to how happy life was before. Line one “How sweet I roam'd from field to field” shows that the bird misses being out in the open, free to glide where they please. William Blake uses imagery throughout his poem to portray the loss slowly with each line.

This is done in order to furthermore reiterate the comparison of dominance in the animal kingdom to the nature of power in the human hierarchy. The imagery of the hawk itself and its ability to be “cruising… in skies” as stated in line 6 is a symbolic motif representing the hawk’s dominance and privilege over other animals. This idea is further incorporated in line 27-28 when Witt states “nothing is safe that’s soft or slow on the ground”, he uses alliteration of letter ‘s’ in “safe...soft...slow” to empathize on a tone and pace that mimics the nature of those animals. Height imagery is furthermore used as a symbolical mean to demonstrate the privilege of the hawk as the higher class to rule over the lives and freedom of the animals as the lower class that are “under the eye of power” as stated in line 18. Throughout the poem, Witt uses techniques such as alliteration to empathize on the imagery of perspective and height, while highlighting and comparing social hierarchy to an animal prey versus predator situation, berserk and

Literary elements and techniques are used to add a deeper meaning to The Hawk. Personification and repetition emphases the importance of the words. An example being, the personification and capitalization of death gives the word the power to destroy. The repetition and capitalization of the word you implies the word is important and has a deeper meaning. Metaphors and symbols convey hidden messages that have to be deciphered. The metaphor “To some you are Death” (line 10) leaves the reader to believe whomever the speaker is talking to is powerful enough to destroy. Furthermore, the hawk in the poem symbolizes power and authority. Similes and alliteration are used to create images. The simile “Branched grasped like a scepter passed down” (line 8) leaves the reader to envision the talons of the hawk gripping a branch the way a king would grasp a scepter. Also, alliteration stresses the words “royal robe” (line 7) to paint the image of a beautiful velvety robe only to be worn by royalty. In conclusion, literary