Strong metaphors and vivid images, like the winter and snow motif, are potent representations for the loneliness, coldness, and emotional numbness brought on by trauma. The harsh realities and emotional distance connected with traumatic memories are embodied by the winter season and visions of snow, as stated in the quotation, "Winter was a country of ice and snow that encased the land like a hard shell" (Wagamese 13). Additionally, as the following remark illustrates, the symbolism of dreams and visions is essential in communicating the concept of trauma. "The residential school was in my dreams. Of children's cries and all innocent things' quiet" (Wagamese 157).
First Snow The ghastly precipitation fell in the skies as if hell had poured to impose judgment. Snow bleed down with crisp edges that were as sharp as a spinning wheel that landed upon all the living and the dead. A cacophony filled my ears with the sound of nature and fearful humans. Within all the chaos something so ghoulish yet alluring caught my eyes. The figure sat atop the steel edifice observing the night city with an expression filled with disinterested.
Allow me to present to you the poem “November” by Lorna Davis. This beautiful piece uses vivid imagery to describe the desolate and melancholy turn of seasons between October and November. It is a classic Shakespearean sonnet, made up of three quatrains with perfect ABAB rhyme schemes, a volta, and a couplet. The author has really taken advantage of this structure to amplify the messaging by grouping together lines with similar meanings to create poetic rhythm as well as isolating certain parts to allow them to stand out more. If you look at lines 3-6, there is a motif of things deteriorating; the trees “have grayed”, the sunlight is “cold and tired”, and the “fruitful time’s approaching end”.
In the excerpt, The Street by Ann Petry, there is a 3rd person omniscient narrator to explain the hatefulness of the cold along with the keen determination of Lutie Johnson. The narrator completely conveys the true parts of the cold to better show Lutie Johnson’s experiences by employing descriptive personifications and vivid imagery of the central antagonist as the wind. Imagery is undeniably the most used literary device in this excerpt, as it gives the reader an accurate sense of the horrible temperate weather that the protagonist is forced to endure in her search for a home. The presence of the “Cold November wind” is shown in the sense of disorder and chaos that is at 110th street. “Scraps of paper “are sent “…into the faces of the people
As the day begins and the seasons begin to shift from winter to spring “the light comes brighter from the east; the caw/ of restive crows is sharper on the ear” (1-2) The caw of the crow sounds sharper at the start of the day when the individual has just awaken. The new brightness of the sun also indicates that it has more life in the spring. To initiate the changing of the seasons “the sun cut deep into the heavy drift/ though still the guarded snow is winter-sealed”(5-6) The sun tries desperately to thaw the ground but winter refuses to give up without a battle.
"The winter has been dreadfully severe, but the spring promises well, and it is considered as a remarkably early season, so that perhaps I may sail sooner than I expected" (2) is a statement expressing his hope in a new beginning, spring. He believes that setting sail elsewhere will allow him to pursue his goals, more specifically the development of his enterprise. Walton appears to be less than pleased with the death of all affiliated season of winter where "[he] voluntarily endured cold, famine, thirst, and want of sleep." (2) In several instances he expresses his distaste with the season but he takes no less of an opportunity to mention it will not deter him, slowly allowing for the growth of his will to face the challenges presented by the weather conditions, he adjusts so that he may pursue that in which he is tasked with. Season although slowly, does surely begin to change Walton at his core and as he toils on his certainty that he will succeed swells.
Images of rain invoke the idea of tears, as does the phrase “an interrupted cry.” It is dark in the poem not only because it is night but also because the speaker has “outwalked the furthest city light.” The speaker is engulfed by their overwhelming sadness, symbolized by the dark night in which they walk, and they have turned away from the light --the happiness-- of the city. It is bitterly ironic that, even in the city, Frost’s speaker is utterly alone. They even hear and see other people, yet they know that everyone else is totally disconnected from their solitary
Everybody will die eventually, and every one of your heartbeats brings you closer to death. This is Judd Mulvaney’s recurring thought and the theme of the excerpt from the novel, We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates. Set in the Mulvaneys’ driveway overlooking the brook, the excerpt gives an insight of the thoughts of Judd Mulvaney. Judd is hypnotized by the water and has an epiphany that makes him realize something terrible. In order to characterize Judd, Oates uses different literary techniques throughout the passage.
In the following passage from the novel We Were the Mulvaneys, Joyce Carol Oates laments that even though most everything in one’s surrounding is dying, not everyone has managed to find the adequate amount of maturity to accept the fact that they are not immortal, even though the idea of death is difficult to come to terms with. Oates conveys this universal idea and characterizes the narrator through the usage of a depressing tone and dismal imagery. The tone set in the passage is fairly dark and depressing. An “eleven or maybe twelve,” year old child should not be fixated on the idea that “every heart beat is past and gone.”
Foster explains that almost all readers know that warmer months, most of the time, symbolize rebirth and happiness, while colder represent decay and sadness. This is true of the time frame of The Road, they are in an eternal winter because the disaster released so much ash that no sunlight could reach the earth’s surface. This makes their journey even harder because not they not only have to overcome fear and starvation, but also the cold. Towards the end of their journey, the monotony of their days and the coldness is emphasized to show that the man was getting sicker and closer towards death. McCarthy might have chosen a cold earth to make their trials seem more worse because the man and boy had to look for both food and supplies to keep them safe and warm.
In the third line he states “spring summer autumn winter” and in line 11 “autumn winter spring summer”. Cummings switches the order of the months a third time in the last stanza creating the idea that time runs on an endless cycle. Cummings implements this change in the seasons order at random times in the poem to remind readers of the infinite quality of
In the book, Frankenstein Mary Shelley uses three devices to make the reader feel and understand what is going on. They are imagery,tone,and the theme she shows these things on pages 90-91 when she is having the creature explain what happened when he ran out of Frankenstein’s house. The images she explains is about the forest the creature lived in then the tones shift as he learns. The theme is that the creature is starting to gain an understanding of humans and himself.
He used the tomb-like houses and empty streets as a form of symbolism. And repeatedly mentions the frosty air and cold november night in his story. He gets a clear message across when he shows how the world has become cold and hard. Each word or paragraph he uses and writes are there for a reason. Everything he does is intentional and nothing is a small detail you can overlook.
The final ending of the world is in question to many individuals. In the short poem, “Fire and Ice”, by Robert Frost, he outlines a familiar topic, the fate of the world’s destruction. In nine lines, Frost conveys the contradiction of the two choices for the world’s end. Frost uses symbolism to convey the meaning of fire and ice as symbols for human behavior and emotion. This poem revolves around two major symbols.
In this poem Henry Longfellow describes a seaside scene in which dawn overcomes darkness, thus relating to the rising of society after the hardships of battle. The reader can also see feelings, emotions, and imagination take priority over logic and facts. Bridging the Romantic Era and the Realism Era is the Transcendental Era. This era is unusual due to it’s overlapping of both the Romantic and Realism Era. Due to its coexistence in two eras, this division serves as a platform for authors to attempt to establish a new literary culture aside from the rest of the world.
