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Figurative Language In The Living Temple

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Throughout “The Living Temple”, imagery is used to create various scenes provided by nature. Holmes utilizes figurative language within the poem to display the scenes’ beauty as well as the emotions that lay behind its beautiful surface in order to invoke the reflective mind of the reader. With his word choice and use of imagery, Holmes allows the readers to vividly depict the scene he has transferred from his own mind into the words of “The Living Temple”. In the beginning of the poem, Holmes uses metonymy when writing, “Not in the world of light alone, / Where God has built his blazing throne” (ll.1-2). This use of metonymy takes the image of God’s throne to represent his luxurious kingdom in Heaven. Holmes also uses apostrophe within “The Living Temple”, when he states, “O Father! grant they love divine / To make these mystic temples thine” (ll. 49-50). This apostrophe …show more content…

38-9). In this example, Holmes personifies the comets and wonders of space to further implant the theme that the God-given life of the great wonders may inspire human souls to become enlivened as well. Holmes also makes use of reification within “The Living Temple”. An example includes, “When wasting age and wearying strife / Have sapped the leaning walls of life” (ll. 51-2). In these lines of verse, Holmes reifies age and strife to emphasize their eroding effects on the vigor and vibrant energy of life. Onomatopoeia is also utilized when Holmes writes, “The smooth, soft air with pulse-like waves / Flows murmuring through its hidden caves” (ll. 9-10). The use of sounds enables Holmes to further personify abiotic forces on earth. In this example, Holmes gives air a “murmuring” speech, allowing the reader to not only feel the pulse-like air but to also hear it. These auditory characteristics also bolster the idea of life behind God’s forces on

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