Ispahan Carpet “Ispahan Carpet” is a poem written by Elizabeth Burge. The poem narrates from the point of view of a tourist visiting a production sight of handmade carpets while talking about the abuse of child labor in the production process. The poem mainly discusses poverty, and child labor. Throughout the poem Burge uses imagery to describe the horrendous condition of the workplace and to create a dark atmosphere, Burge also uses figurative language to describe the mistreatment of the child workers, while the poem’s structure shows and describes the ghastly cycle of poverty and imprisonment of children. Overall the effect of Burge’s use of the literary devices shows the readers the dark sides in the undeveloped world and how children with …show more content…
Towards the beginning of the poem the poet starts describing the interior environment of the workplace, the poet mentions the “rough timber” machines, which are the equipment weavers use to weave carpets. By using the diction “rough timber” (1) the poet suggests the oldness of the machines that are no longer used in modern days as they are replaced by automatic machines thus suggesting the underdevelopment of the world the children live in. The poet talks about a “silent, sallow, dark-eyed Persian family” (2) portraying the sick, and unhealthy child workers. The auditory imagery of the children is “silent” (2) and that shows the reader how the children have been ripped away from their freedom. The image of the “blackened pots and jars in the cavernous hearth” helps the reader visualize how small and restricting the workplace is, like the pots and jars that are used as containers. The poet describes the jewels as “sensuous” which contrasts the overall dark and miserable atmosphere. Lastly the poet describes the depression the child weavers suffer from by saying that the child with “large eyes” looks “with a speaking darkness.” The image suggests the suffering of the children resulting in their …show more content…
The poem is composed of long lines, with no pauses. The long sentences represent the long hours of work the children have to do. The long lines also suggest the continuity of poverty and the long years of imprisonment to come for the children and how the cycle will continue for generations. The poet uses anaphora in the third stanza to represent the repetitive and tiresome work the children have to go through. The repetition of “one hundred” reflects how this number is unsettling, the poet is showing the reader that even though the number “one hundred to the square centimeter” may be a number to be proud of because it represents the efficiency of the child workers, the number shows the pain and confinement of the children behind the “traditional beauty” of the carpets. In the fourth stanza the poet uses an exclamation mark to show the unsettling thoughts the tourist had after seeing the state of the workplace and the question mark to represent the questions that occupy him/her after the
The strongest usage of metaphor in this poem is in the first stanza in the line “write their knees with necessary scratches”. While scratches cannot be written, words can, so this insinuates that children learn with nature, and that despite its fading presence in today’s urban structures, it is a necessary learning tool for children. The poet has used this metaphor to remind the reader of their childhood, and how important it is to not just learn from the confines of a classroom, but in the world outside. This leads to create a sense of guilt in the reader for allowing such significant part of a child’s growing up to disintegrate into its concrete surroundings. Although a positive statement within itself, this metaphor brings upon a negative
The tone of the poem changes as the poem progresses. The poem begins with energetic language like “full of heroic tales” and “by a mere swing to his shoulder”. The composer also uses hyperboles like “My father began as a god” and “lifted me to heaven”. The use of this positive language indicates to the responder that the composer is longing for those days – he is nostalgic. It also highlights the perspective of a typical child. The language used in the middle of the poem is highly critical of his father: “A foolish small old man”. This highlights the perspective of a typical teenager and signifies that they have generally conflicting views. The language used in the last section of the poem is more loving and emotional than the rest: “...revealing virtues such as honesty, generosity, integrity”. This draws attention to a mature adult’s perspective.
A Comparison of Two Poems Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan by Moniza Alvi and Search for my Tongue by Sujata Bhatt
In this poem, symbolism is used to help reader’s find deeper meaning in the little things included and show that everything comes back to the father’s fear of the child he adores growing older and more independent. “In a room full of books in a world of stories, he can recall not one, and soon he thinks the boy will give up on his father.” This sentence makes a reader assume that the story the five year old so
The use of simile in the last stanza ‘matchstick hands as pale as the violet stems they lived among’ is used to compare a frog to violet flowers, which are very delicate and easily broken. The innocence of childhood is painted through this visual technique as the narrator only sees the frogs being very delicate, but to the readers the simile also creates a vivid image of the condition of the ‘Frogs’/ the French. The use of first person helps to create a reminiscent tone about the narrator’s experiences, and further helps to stress the ideas of childhood innocence and the influence of war on children because the poem is written from a child’s perspective. The use of enjambment generates a conversational and personal tone, emphasizing to the readers the reality of the themes discussed throughout the poem. The use of symbolism of frogs as pets and also representing the French highlights the idea that adults saw ‘Frogs’ as insignificant or unworthy to speak about, whereas the children could not understand this adult thought, and they placed exemplary regard to the wellbeing of the
Furthermore, we have the use of first person, where the almost universal effect is to have an in-depth look into the character and their immediate response to a problem or dilemma. This poem no different, where in the first stanza we are ushered in with the use of anaphora in lines 2, 3 and 4 with the repetition of the word ‘’and’’. This specific use of anaphora is used to create the mindset and intelligible deduction of the traveller to the events and dilemma prescribed to him. Insofar as his immediate reaction be being presented with a choice. It shows his reaction of regret in that he is ‘’sorry he could not travel both’’ and explains what he wish he could do ‘’be two travellers’’ but also how he initiates his decision making process ‘’looked down one as far as I could’’. Also, the use of first person is used to connect with the reader, enforcing the affore-used notion that the reader substitutes their own personal truth into a positive
“I have a little boy at home, A pretty little son; I think sometimes the world is mine In him my only one” (Document 2). In the beginning of the poem the mother talks about how only sometimes the world is hers and her sons. I deem this shows how she wishes to have more time with her beloved family. [In Document 6 we are presented with a photo of numerous children on a tenement overhang, with no adults around.] This shows that parents probably weren’t around a lot of the time, probably at work. [Also in Document 8 it shows children at work.] This means that not only were parents at work, but so were their kids. All together work mostly separated families from each other, which was very sad for
Symbolisation is also used to counteract the miserable life of an Australian housewife. This can be seen in the line “She practises a fugue, though it can matter to no one now if she plays well or not, (stanza one, line one).” This line suggests that the woman portrayed is a musician. The poem latter reads, “Once she played for Rubinstein, who yawned,” (stanza one, line nine). This suggests she was talented enough to present to Rubenstein but didn’t succeed. “The children caper, round a sprung mousetrap where a mouse lies dead.” This line symbolizes the housewife. Her dreams of becoming a musician are trapped within her own environment. This same line can also evaluate the difficulties and harshness of the urban Australian life. Seeming sad this is something that is exciting to the children.
This shows that, although the worth of these objects was measly, they seemed to fill up the whole table, and in a way the narrator’s world. The narrator describes her mother’s appearance as having “tightly braided hair turning white” and convey that her mother has endured much hardship throughout her life. She also uses words such as “flung”, “crowds”, and “quick” to describe her mother’s actions, suggesting a sense of fervor and urgency when it came to handling
Florence Kelley’s speech regarding child labor elicits pity from the audience. She describes in detail the hours and conditions under which the children labor, and this appeals to pathos because her audience will be able to feel sorry for and sympathize with the working children. In order to evoke feelings of compassion, Kelley continuously repeats the images of children working throughout the night while capable adults get to rest peacefully. The adults would be compelled to imagine themselves in the children’s shoes working for endless hours. Kelley’s use of repetition and imagery in her speech encourages the audience to have pity on the young, innocent, and laboring children. Her anecdote about a child working as soon as she turns thirteen
The peaceful mood is broken by their child brooding, and she is tired with everything- the neat house, the made bed, the good food, and seemingly everything that is the epitome of a sound house. The child creates an impatient mood. The peaceful puzzle piecing is now too slow and too boring. It is no longer peaceful, it is unexciting and dull. The child represent the opposite of her parents desires. She is the unexpected. She is unorderly. She is also the opposite of her parents. She is tired of her neat, little home and wants adventure. Her presence in poem provides a sharp contrast to her
The theme exhibits a lot of ignorance since it does not work in the interests of everybody thought, it brings a lot of meaning considering the author’s point of view. The tone bears a significant similarity to that of a teenager who is oblivious to reality. However, the mood is wondrous and happy following that the diction gives a great sense of positivity and success. The poem indicates that life seems to be a bit easy in the childhood provided that the in the childhood one has no responsibilities to worry about unlike in the old age where one has a lot of responsibilities to worry about. For example, in the sentence "cotton candy torches, sweet as furtive kisses" , it rises thoughts of huge cotton candy that tastes wonderful but furnishes as soon as a furtive kiss. The poet has used very descriptive words and numerous poetic devices to make the description in the poem very clear and effective. The tone only changes in the last line “Tossing a glance through the chain link at an improbable world.” In fact, it is the only instance where the author brings reality to light.
In stanza one, Judith Wright utilizes personification “rivers hindered him” and “thorn branches caught at his eyes to make him blind” coupled with metaphor “the sky turned into an unlucky opal” to emphasise nature’s hindrance of the blacksmith boy, if the poem is to be deemed as a metaphorical representation of
The imagery shows that since the character is young and responsible, he works to support him and his family. We are first introduced to the image of the young boy working as a young adult. Then, in the first 9 lines, the author describes the setting of the poem using imagery such as, “sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it,” “Five mountain ranges one behind the other,” “under the sunset far into
and that he believes them. The poem also translates into how living in the city is toilsome and that the city is unrelenting. On the other hand it shows how the city can be prosperous and happy with the city’s disadvantages. in the second half of the poem it’s telling how nomatter what is wrong with the city, the people are still proud of who they are.