Figurative Language

The speakers of both poems reflect on their mornings with similar types of figurative language, but implement those types using different techniques. “Five A.M.” uses flowing syntax, peaceful diction and positive imagery, while “Five Flights Up” uses choppy syntax, bland diction and negative imagery. The different uses of figurative language in the two poems creates opposing ideas. The speaker in “Five A.M.” suggests that with a new day comes a refreshed, inherently good humanity. In contrast, “Five Flights Up” focuses on how humans have generally missed the mark of perfection.
Both poets use syntactical techniques to further the speaker’s beliefs. This syntax between the two poems is contrasted directly in the first lines of each poem. The

By further continuing the sentence, as in the first poem, the poem is started off with a flowing feeling. Sentences are fluid and connect with one another, bringing about light and fresh feelings. The stark stop of the sentence at the beginning of the second poem gives the poem a more biting feel. The shorter, broken sentences frequently used in “Five Flights Up” in comparison with the flowing, descriptive sentences of “Five A.M.” provide contrasting feels that play a hand in the poems’ contrasting themes. Another form of syntax implemented by both poets is the use of questions. “Five A.M.” asks the question, “Where are my troubles”, suggesting that the morning has a care free nature. Rather than asking a question about life, as in the first poem, the speaker of “Five Flights Up” states that the morning provides “questions...answered directly, simply, by day itself.” This particular use of questions shows that the speaker of this poem still has troubles and questions that need to be answered with the coming of day, such as, “what had he done” in the third stanza. The speaker in the first poem is satisfied with humanity and with what the morning has brought, while the other speaker feels anxious and

“Five A.M.” expresses charitable and kind imagery throughout the second stanza highlighting the inherent good of people around the world, like “saints have built sanctuaries on islands and in valleys”. When paired with the poet’s choices of tone and syntax, this imagery gives of powerful thoughts of positivity and peace. “Five Flights Up”, however, focuses much more negatively on humanity. The imagery used in this poem presents people as dreary and destructive. The poet of the second poem emphasizes the care free attitude of animals, possibly showing the standard set by nature, but goes on to show man’s crass attitude even in the waking hours of the morning. By setting a standard through the innocent, “little black dog” and the content bird, the poet makes the harsh man stand out and really fail to be an ideal person. The bird and the dog live life without a care, knowing that “everything is answered, all taken care of”, although the speaker has worries about life and cannot escape the ideas of yesterday. Instead of being okay with the present moment, the speaker is stuck in a time that he can’t change, rendering him unable to focus on the positives that the morning has to offer. The poems “Five A.M.” and “Five Flights Up” have contrasting ideas. While “Five A.M.” tends to focus on the increasing possibilities of humans to be great, “Five Flights Up” takes a different approach to the early hours