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The importance of symbolism
Literary research paper on symbolism
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More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of symbolism
Literary research paper on symbolism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the memoir Night, the author, Elie Wiesel, tells his story about his life during the Holocaust. He talks about his experience in the concentration camps and the traumatic events that occurred. This is all to show a few different meanings. Firstly, the title itself represents the darkness and anguish the Jews experienced. One way Wiesel expresses this meaning is through figurative language, for example, “The days resembled the nights, and the nights left in our souls the dregs of their darkness (Wiesel 94).”
In "Night” by Elie Wisel, there are numerous examples of figurative language. One of the most prominent uses of figurative language is imagery. In Chapter 4 of this memoir, Elie Wisel successfully illustrates an unsettling picture with imagery, "In no time, the camp had the look of an abandoned ship," (59). This symbolic imagery transports the reader to a world of desolation and abandonment, comparing the camp to a forsaken ship adrift at sea. Furthermore, the quote lays the groundwork for a scene rooted in emptiness and despair.
As he does so, he states, “For, despite all my attempts to articulate the unspeakable ‘it’ is still not right.” His use of the word “it” to describe his story is an interesting note; and this quote is vital as it helps portray his purpose for writing his book, which is to speak for the souls that no longer could and to help him cope with his experiences, but no matter how hard he tried he could never find the right word to describe the tragedy he had undergone. Tone is also an important factor when reading Night, tone helps the reader understand what the person is feeling, thinking, and going
This excerpt uses the night to symbolize the horrendous events of the Holocaust. The claim that the night was never ending indicates the loss of optimism within Wiesel. As a result, it demonstrates he does not care about when or where he dies. This is the outcome of the Holocaust already affecting him profoundly. By symbolically representing night as the Holocaust, Wiesel shows how appalling situations cause a loss of hope within
In the novel, Night, by Elie Wiesel, there are many parallels to other parts of the novel. In two passages provided, both of the situations involve terrible conditions and the detachment of the characters former lives. In the first excerpt provided, the people were so close together that they couldn't “...all sit down” (Wiesel). This is also true in the second excerpt, where the passengers on the train were excited to throughout the corpses because “they would have more room” (Wiesel). These two passages show how the people had such cramped living conditions on the train and they had to live with it, as well as a lack of food and proper nourishment.
This creates in the former a sense of community and in the latter a sense of isolation. Isolation is a prevalent theme in Acquainted With The Night. Much of the imagery in that poem - the speaker walking past the watchman with his head down, the moon all alone in the sky- serves to reinforce this sense of isolation. To Frost, the night symbolizes loneliness. Conversely, Dickinson’s poem, through diction such as “we,” and “our,” gives the impression that all of humanity is in the darkness together.
Through all this, the poet seems to ultimately suggest that night in the city is not a period of darkness; it is a smothering blanket separating us from one another. The speaker establishes the central thought of the poem in the first line, in the titular phrase indicating he is familiar with the night. His use of the word ‘acquainted’ here indicated it is a temporary but known aloneness. In the next lines, he establishes how far he’s traveled to shake off this isolation, but to no avail.
He uses a metaphor to show that nothing will last forever; such perfection “sank” and disappeared like things that sink in the ocean and are no longer seen. In the same way, spring will not last and the golden age of humans will come to an end. In his poem, Frost proves
The poet Robert Frost displays a broad message throughout the poem. The mood and tone with the exquisite choice of words. The poem almost makes you feel that you are there, in the cold, snowy, dark, dim woods with him. The man is alone with only himself and the horse. There are no one around, no sounds to hear except the bell on the harness the on the horse and “the only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake”.
This poem by Robert Frost may not be as well revered as ‘The Road Not Taken’ or ‘Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening’,but that does not mean this poem is less in any way. His works intertwined both universally faced human problems and dilemmas with the natural world. The setting of the poem “Acquainted with the Night” is set in a raining city at night, a place where the human made light is difficult to escape. Man and the natural world seems to be a frequent theme throughout Frosts pieces. Lines such as “I have outwalked the furthest city light”(Line 3), portrays how the narrator has experienced freedom from the views of society by escaping to the true natural world and wishes to share that with the reader.
This way of writing keeps the attention of the reader and the poem is comprised of 14 stanzas and 7 sentences. The initial tone the reader receives from Acquainted with night by Robert Frost is loneliness, sadness and empathy for the writer. Frost emphasizes this by using the first-person term “I” anaphorically, in the beginning of the first 5 sentences which accentuates the point of how he is feeling isolated. The repetitious nature of that word makes a fine point to the reader.
The imagery in Robert Frosts poem “Acquainted with the Night” paints the description of loneliness and uncomfortability with his surroundings. The fate of his character’s loneliness and solidarity is dependent on his ability to acquainting himself with society. Robert Frosts description of the “Acquainted with the Night” presents an atmosphere and setting that is isolated and dark. The statement “I have passed by the watchman on his beat and dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain”, is a common theme in individuals who are going through depression. The narrator’s inability to make eye contact indicates that he is unable to interact in society.
Isolation is often a symptom of depression. In the poem “Acquainted with the night”, by Robert Frost, the speaker is flashing back to a difficult time within his life. By the use of contrasting symbolism and imagery, the poet presents the theme of darkness and sadness while also being left with a sense of sadness and hope. The speaker relies on the use of a powerful pair of contrasting symbols to set the tone and mood.
The phrases and words that frost uses set a gloomy mood throughout the poem with words such as unwilling, cry, unearthly, saddest, and dropped. Frost’s “use of “one” signifies a single person with a lone consciousness” (Kent 2) while also exemplifying the isolation he feels with being alone. The poet says “I have walked down the saddest city lane”
In “Acquainted with the Night”, poet Robert Frost examines the inner workings of a lonely, depressed mentality. Through his extensive use of symbolism, Frost demonstrates exactly how confined and flustered someone in that conditions feels. There are two specific symbols that, if analyzed, unravel the meaning behind the poem: the symbol of darkness, the symbol of walking, and the symbol of large distances. Darkness is a perpetually popular symbol, and in this poem, it is certainly prominent/ Historically, darkness has been used to symbolize malice, evil, sadness — generally, anything adverse.