ipl-logo

Alliteration In Crossing The Swamp

571 Words3 Pages

A poem is often distinguished from other forms of writing as an “art of rhythmical composition ... for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts,” (Dictionary.com). Poets use a variety of literary devices to express their emotions and portray what they are perceiving. In the poem, “Crossing the Swamp”, Mary Oliver uses alliteration, tone, and imagery to manifest in the reader's mind the emotions she felt as she crossed the swamp. Alliteration within this poem is used to offer emphasis on perspectives that the swamp is being viewed through. Mary Oliver alliterated the words branching, burred, belching, bogs, peerless, pale, fooothold, fingerhold, hipholes, hummocks as wells as sink and silently within the first half of the poem. In the second half only one case of alliteration is evident and is expressed through the words glittered and grassy. It is clear in the alliterated words that the poet chose that there is emphasis on two opposite perspectives, a pessimistic perspective and an optimistic perspective. The first half of alliterated words are dark and dreary making it appear as if the swamp is a negative place. However, in the second half it shifts to become more optimistic and the words become lighter and softer creating a more positive view of where she is. When thinking of an optimistic …show more content…

There is an exact place within this poem you feel the shift towards Mary Oliver’s feelings about the swamp. At the beginning she is negative towards the swamp and it feels like she doesn’t want to be there. As the poem shifts it seems as if she finds the light and sees aspects that weren’t previously there making it a more inviting place. It is almost as if in the beginning it is nighttime and she might not entirely see the swamp. At the shift, the sun rises as she sees new aspects of the swamp she couldn’t see before due to the

Show More
Related
1184 Words | 5 Pages

Find an example of alliteration, quote it (#); explain its meaning. "That girl in the mirror, daughter of San Juan made of sunshine and sugarcane, looks like me"(14). This alliteration of letters is about how Gloria's friend reminds her of how she used to be before having a kid because she is positive and sweet. The words sunshine and sugarcane give a sound of smoothness and a

Read More
374 Words | 2 Pages

"Crossing the Swamp," a poem by Mary Oliver, confesses a struggle through "pathless, seamless, peerless mud" to a triumphant solitary victory in a "breathing palace of leaves. " Oliver's affair with the "black, slack earthsoup" is demonstrated as she faces her long coming combat against herself. Throughout this free verse poem, the wild spirit of the author is sensed in this flexible writing style. While Oliver's indecisiveness is obvious throughout the text, it is physically obvious in the shape of the poem itself.

Read More
175 Words | 1 Pages

Literary Devices in the Cremation of Sam McGee Literary devices are used to help readers understand an author’s idea. Robert W. Service uses literary devices throughout his poem “The Cremation of Sam McGee.” These devices can be easy to spot or sometimes have to be studied in order to find them. The poem tells about a man who was panning for gold in the Yukon and froze to death in the cold. While his accomplice made a promise to dispose his body no matter the circumstances.

Read More
549 Words | 3 Pages

Abound.” This passage uses pleasant diction to depict the environment of the swamp. The swamp seems to be filled with wildlife, flowers and

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

In the passage from Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America, writer John M. Barry details the many complexities of the Mississippi river and juxtaposes its characteristics with many other well known rivers in order to communicate and share his fascination with the river to the audience. One of the most stand out ways in which writer John Barry conveys his fascination with the river to others is through intense description of the many complexities of the Mississippi river. Rather than simply stating the flow of the river, Barry opts to incorporate words such as “extraordinarily dynamic combination” and “tremendous turbulence” to paint a vivid picture in the reader’s minds. Barry’s word choice in describing

Read More
444 Words | 2 Pages

They use imagery to describe the wildlife and flora that surround the wetlands. Essentially, what the reader can infer from the passage is that the author has this loathing for the swamp. Both passages have many different views from each other that complement each

Read More
752 Words | 4 Pages

Alliterations can be found in the sixth line: {\tql}\underline{p}ass \underline{p}estilence{\tqr} or the seventh:{\tql}\underline{b}ent, \underline{b}lack{\tqr}. The two internal rhymes

Read More
818 Words | 4 Pages

This is seen in “ I listened to the man from 1194 and knew that he was making the time up as he went along”. The protagonist is soon traumatised by the death of Alan Mannering and is psychologically affected by the guilt he feels as if he was the reason of Alan’s death. The swamp was the most prominent place in the entire suburb and was a well attracted place. The swamp symbolises wonder, freedom, adventure and guilt and growing up.

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

In “Crossing the Swamp”, Mary Oliver depicts the process of the speaker crossing the swamp. The speaker makes many observations about the swamp and the descriptions of it correlates with her view towards swamp. At first the speaker only sees the swamp as dark and dense, but later realizes the hidden details of the swamp that was not visible before. After crossing the swamp, the speaker is able to see the swamp as part of beautiful nature.

Read More
96 Words | 1 Pages

Poets like Lucille Clifton, author of "the earth is a living thing", Pat Mora, author of "Gold", and Mary Oliver, author of "Sleeping in the forest" use personification to create a message about nature in the poems. In "Sleeping in the Forest", in lines 3 and 4 it says "arranging her dark skirts". The author shows personification in this way to help humans like us understand the Earth better. In "Gold", it says in lines 1 and 2, " When the Sun paints the desert with its gold". This shows personification because only humans can

Read More
551 Words | 3 Pages

It is set up in a messy structure to display the imagery, but still readable for the audience. The sentence “this is the time of lilly pillies plumping into (fullness)” in the first stanza has a bracket around it to represent the word that takes up the entire line, whereas the word “leaves” in the third stanza represents the line through the middle of a leaf. In the next sentence, the word “falling” has letters in a different line, making it look like the letters are actually falling down. On the next pages, the word “migration” is written with the letters spread out. This is because “migration” is when something moves away, so the letters are moving further away from each other.

Read More
1100 Words | 5 Pages

The agony the writer is feeling about his son 's death, as well as the hint of optimism through planting the tree is powerfully depicted through the devices of diction and imagery throughout the poem. In the first stanza the speaker describes the setting when planting the Sequoia; “Rain blacked the horizon, but cold winds kept it over the Pacific, / And the sky above us stayed the dull gray.” The speaker uses a lexicon of words such as “blackened”, “cold” and “dull gray” which all introduce a harsh and sorrowful tone to the poem. Pathetic fallacy is also used through the imagery of nature;

Read More
708 Words | 3 Pages

In her poem, “Crossing the Swamp,” Mary Oliver uses vivid diction, symbolism, and a tonal shift to illustrate the speaker’s struggle and triumph while trekking through the swamp; by demonstrating the speaker’s endeavors and eventual victory over nature, Oliver conveys the beauty of the triumph over life’s obstacles, developing the theme of the necessity of struggle to experience success. Oliver uses descriptive diction throughout her poem to vividly display the obstacles presented by the swamp to the reader, creating a dreary, almost hopeless mood that will greatly contrast the optimistic tone towards the end of the piece. While describing the thicket of swamp, Oliver uses world like “dense,” “dark,” and “belching,” equating the swamp to “slack earthsoup.” This diction develops Oliver’s dark and depressing tone, conveying the hopelessness the speaker feels at this point in his journey due to the obstacles within the swamp. As the speaker eventually overcomes these obstacles, he begins to use words like “sprout,” and “bud,” alluding to new begins and bright futures.

Read More
1409 Words | 6 Pages

Langston Hughes poems “Harlem” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” are two poems that have a deeper meaning than a reader may notice. Hughes 's poem “Harlem” incorporates the use of similes to make a reader focus on the point Hughes is trying to make. In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” Hughes shows how close he was to the rivers on a personal level. With those two main focuses highlighted throughout each poem, it creates an intriguing idea for a reader to comprehend. In these particular poems, Hughes’s use of an allusion, imagery, and symbolism in each poem paints a clear picture of what Hughes wants a reader to realize.

Read More
859 Words | 4 Pages

Poetic meters in combination with repeated ideas, words, and rhymes are all used in Marvell 's poem, The Mower Against Gardens. The poem explores humanities ungratefulness and abuse to nature with the use of sexual imagery. The poem resonates with the audience because it flows smoothly and is easy to read. The use of repetition is pronounced in the poem and the integrated tail rhymes enhance and join together associated couplets. The rhythmical nature of the poem alongside the "Da-Duh" poetic meters are key to Marvell 's writing.

Read More

More about Alliteration In Crossing The Swamp

Related Topics

Open Document