Why Did Richard Wilbur Use Poetry

In the poem “Song of Napalm,” it is a straight narrative of what it is like to live with memories from such a horrible war. “Song of Napalm” follows a Viet Nam soldiers' memories of a scene he once saw. His mind tries to distort the image of a girl getting bombed and burning in front of his eyes into a pleasant scene. The effort to make the scene pleasurable is the mind's way of trying to protect itself from the horrific incident that actually happened.

Each terrace symbolize a different kind of sin. One has to pass through all the levels to make sure that the sins are cleansed so as to get to heaven. On top of Purgatory there is the moon, which according to the artist, represents the heavenly paradise. I also, shows Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, representing the earthly paradise. The seventh terrace is immediately at the top; it faces flames and strong winds from below.

Robin Jenkins effectively conveys loss of innocence and ant war through sophisticated symbolism in the short story “Flowers”. It tells the story of a young girl, Margaret, who was evacuated from the city of Glasgow to the highlands of Scotland in an attempt to avoid the inhumanity of war, but it is in the highlands where she truly witnessed the brutality of war.

In the middle of the poem, the speaker arrives at the number of casualties from the war. When he reads this number he can’t believe that he is still alive. As he reads down the names he uses the visual imagery and simile to describe how he expected to find his own name in “letters like smoke” (line 16). This helps the reader understand how lucky the speaker felt about somehow escaping the war still alive. As he goes

The poem was written to show that war is a waste of human life as the soldier knows he will die one day as well as the men around him, just some quicker than others. This can be evident in stanza four of the poem: “I know I’ll join them somewhere, one day.” The language used is more casual than formative, this is effective as it shows the personal feelings and thoughts of the soldier during the time

In stanza six, we see the end of visiting hour, and the persona’s loss of control as he is overran with emotion. The phrase, “black figure in her white cave” creates an image of an intruder in her sanctuary. The black and white contrast suggests he is a shadow of his former self and also that he is trying to detach himself. The phrase, “clumsily rises” gives connotations of his state as he is physically affected by his feeling of loss. Furthermore, “swimming waves of a bell” is a metaphor which has connotations of water. This is used to illustrate that he is drowning in the realisation that she is dying. Finally, “fruitless fruits” is an oxymoron used to reinforce that there is no hope or going back, for her.

Lastly, the isolated room that the narrator stays in is a symbol. The room symbolizes a safe haven, giving the main character time to write and process many

Her use of sensory images appeal to the senses of the reader and engage them into an interesting setting so they are encouraged to keep reading, “He had picked flowers along the path, flowers with long yellow petals the color of sunlight. He shook the pollen from them gently and sprinkled it over the water; he laid the blossoms beside the pool and waited” (Silko 86). Silko uses sensory images to convey a more significant feeling with more clear images for the audience. Silko describes the text above with “long yellow petals the color of sunlight” (Silko 86), intriguing the reader and connecting with the symbolism to emphasize the event or what is important in it, which would be the significance of the flowers. Silko uses lots of imagery within the text specifically those that demonstrate the night terrors and flashbacks to the war, “Tayo didn’t sleep well that night.

Jarrell also used a great deal of figurative language in this poem. The entire poem is an extended metaphor. This poem compares the struggles of war with the struggles of being born. More specifically, it compares being killed the belly of a plane and being killed in the womb of a mother. We see

This is shown by the way the soldiers were “coughing like hags”. He would have seen many people die in distress and, having experienced one of the most destructive wars in history, he has a very unfavourable view of war. He was involved in the First World War, so he knows the realities of warfare. I can see that his poem is aimed at poets who wrote about glory, honour and patriotism (such as Tennyson) by the use of the word “you” in the poem. He wants to clearly show the realities of conflict behind the heroism and splendour, and this is shown by the vivid language and imagery used.

The description of the opening chapter alludes to the Garden of Eden. The words used by Malouf give the reader further understanding of the beauty of the wetlands. By describing them as a ‘sanctuary’ Malouf implies that the wetlands are a safe homely place. The word sanctuary also has connotations to the church and bible which implies that the wetlands are a holy place. As the setting of the book shifts from peace to war Malouf changes the way that he uses language. Because of this the images of the peaceful wetlands are replaced with images of violence, terror and suffering. Malouf describes the aftermath of mines going of as “the mouth of Hell” these words also have connotations with the church but are not holy words. By changing the way he uses language in each half of the novel, Malouf is able to explore the differences and juxtapose the themes of war and

It sets the beginning scene of the story containing a crowd of people in front of a heavy wooden oak door. The building is a prison and outside the wall is a rosebush that represents a symbol of nature's kindness to the condemned, or relief in unrelenting sorrow and gloom.

In the opening two lines of the first stanza the speaker’s use of “sanctuaried” shows his realization of the toad’s unfortunate situation, and words such as “cineraria,” “ashen” and “final” to show the unavoidable death awaiting. All the descriptive adjectives in stanza two shows that the speaker attentive to the toads current condition. The toad was “drowning” and the speaker could see the light in the toads “antique eyes” fading away. The importance behind these word choices shows how the speaker sees the toad as a prideful creature whose life is as important as his own. He comes to the realization that, the light has been extinguished and the lawn was foolishly cut at the expense of something so precious. These word choices express the change in the speaker’s

Poets frequently utilize vivid images to further depict the overall meaning of their works. The imagery in “& the War Was in Its Infancy Then,” by Maurice Emerson Decaul, conveys mental images in the reader’s mind that shows the physical damage of war with the addition of the emotional effect it has on a person. The reader can conclude the speaker is a soldier because the poem is written from a soldier’s point of view, someone who had to have been a first hand witness. The poem is about a man who is emotionally damaged due to war and has had to learn to cope with his surroundings. By use of imagery the reader gets a deeper sense of how the man felt during the war. Through the use of imagery, tone, and deeper meaning, Decaul shows us the

The poet then presents a scene of patriotic relevance as he describes a scene of a regiment marching into battle with their “flag” and “Eagle with crest of red and gold” (17-18). When people think of flags, they think of patriotism and representing their country. Eagles also symbolize freedom but as readers can witness in the work, the poet makes it seem as if these men were created not to enjoy the gift of life for one moment by him saying “These men were born to drill and die” (19). This comes across to the reader as almost inhumane. Then by illustrating an image of a field of thousands of dead corpses makes any reader wonder why people even go to war. The whole fourth stanza paints a picture of living human being going into a battle with most, if not any, making it out alive. Like stated before, the speaker in the poem builds a case for those people that opposed to war even though the title of the poem might