He almost makes her appear on his stage of grief by revealing her facial expression when confronted with the now upside down house. Howard Nemerov’s “The Vacuum” is structured around a central pun, that of the vacuum. The speaker is an older widower, for whom there is a vacuum (meaning both the absence of matter as well as the appliance) where his wife once was. The vacuum itself is a metaphor alluring to the vacuum in the husbands' life that opened after she died. Without the company of his wife his "house is quiet now" (1).
Topic: The complex relations between fathers and children in the poetry of Robert Hayden, Rhina Espillat, and Theodore Roethke Thesis: the historical backgrounds and family settings of Robert Hayden, Rhina Espillat, and Theodore Roethke have contributed to the expression of complex father and children relationships in some of their poems. Williams, Pontheolla T. Robert Hayden: A Critical Analysis of His Poetry. University of Illinois Press, 1987.
Charleston writer DuBose Heyward is famous for his literary illustrations of Charleston, South Carolina. His poem “Dusk” is no exception. “Dusk” creates an iconic image of Charleston, captivating the emotion and aesthetic of one of the oldest cities in the South. Heyward describes how many people describe the physical beauty of Charleston and admire its gardens, flowers, and weather. He believes that these people do not truly know her beauty like he does because he knows her “tenderness, her courage, and her pity” (4), taking his experiences of Charleston farther than the physical realm.
In the short story “2BRO2B”, Kurt Vonnegut introduces a theme of Reality versus Sentiment through the specific characters in the story. In the beginning of the short story the painter in “2BRO2B” represents the sentiment view point of life whereas people like the hospital orderly represent the reality view
The hum of the refrigerator kept me from thinking of my loneliness. (4- 5)12 Interestingly, the motifs of the refrigerator and the blanket suggest images of a mother. A refrigerator stuffed with food and its humming sound recall the inside of the womb.13 A blanket is a symbol of warm maternal feeling. Yoshimoto thus erases the biological existence of a mother from the presence of the heroine, and instead creates
The “vast phantom” refers to the moon in the poem which is a symbol for death and the afterlife. As the funeral procession moves closer to the grave, all the senses are awakened more forcefully; the pounding of the drums “strikes [the observer] through and through.” The double grave that the two fallen veterans are approaching represents a gateway from the material world to the afterlife and the “mother’s… face… brighter growing” is a metaphor for their upcoming welcome into the next world. It is also a metaphor for how the appearance of the moon’s nature, and thus that of death and the afterlife itself, has changed from “ghastly” and “silent” to tranquil and comforting in the narrator’s eyes. This mimics how the dirge’s overall tone changes.
Robert Pinsky Born in Long Branch, New Jersey October 20th, 1940, Robert Pinsky would become a renowned poet. His poetry career would take off post graduation from Rutgers University with a BA and later on receiving an MA and PhD in Philosophy from Stanford. Pinsky’s poetry would follow the symbolic movement, his most famous collection The Sounds of Poetry a perfect example. Pinsky is also known for his translations, most famously The Inferno of Dante. Elected Poet Laureate in 1997, he would serve two terms until 2000.
In 1983, David Rytman Slavitt wrote the poem “Titanic.” Slavitt, a writer, poet and author, wrote this poem about 71 years after the great ship sank. The first stanza of the poem opens by stating that everybody loved the Titanic, and that anyone would purchase a ticket for that crossing, had it been available. Stanza 2 then adds that we all die, but to die with other people in luxury is much more desirable. The poem goes on to say how many mourn the loss of the people who died on the Titanic and that people would be reminded of their death throughout the decades to come.
It Was Never About the Map For many years now, extremist conspirators have believed that the world is going to end, and everyone will perish. However, one poet has a more positive outlook, “A Map to the Next World” by Joy Harjo illustrates the fall of man and the birth of a better world. Symbolism about ancient civilization, modern day society, and her hopes for the future in her poem are used to emphasize that humanity should work towards a restored future. Harjo keeps referring to a map in her poem, but a map was not meant for the creator of that map to use.
Charlotte Perkins Stetson’s, The Yellow Wall-Paper, was written and set in the 1890s and is frequently attributed as a feminist short story. Stetson gives an intimate glimpse into the mind of a woman who, because of her experiences and treatment in a patriarchal social system, slowly descends into insanity. This was achieved through the use of Stetson’s personal account along with her feministic views which led to a story embodying symbolism of the hardships that women of this period faced. Sometimes it can difficult to determine the inspiration behind a story, but in the case of Charlotte Perkins Stetson’s short story, The Yellow Wall-Paper, it was inspired by her own personal experiences.
The poem Dusting by Julia Alverez relays several ideas to the reader. It begins by describing a young child going about a house and writing their name on the furniture. The child 's mother follows behind her and, in the process of dusting, incidentally erases the writing. While this poem may seem superficial from a quick reading, it not only reflects some aspects of Alverez’s childhood, but it also reveals some thought provoking questions. In Dusting, through making an analogy to a relationship between a mother and her child, Julia Alvarez demonstrates her desire to break away from traditional or cultural expectations, express her individuality, be well-known, and, ultimately, she makes an important point about life.
The poem Blood Moon, written by John A. Nieves, was published in the Poetry Northwest. Though it is not a very long poem, I found Blood Moon to be a very interesting poem as it grabs your attention and speaks out to you the reader. It is a poem that the words being used can either be taken literally or metaphorically. In the poem a shooter was named, new heights were reached, a new bed was made, the bed had to be slept in, and the title hunter was self-proclaimed. I perceived Blood Moon as a coming of age story.
In Czeslaw Milosz’s poem “Hope”, the narrator portrays two different outlooks of life on earth, the first outlook is positive and the other is negative. Milosz begins by describing his point of view on the earth, he states, “the earth is not a dream but living flesh, / that sight, touch, and hearing do not lie” (Milosz 2-3). Milosz says that the earth is a “living flesh”, and a “living flesh” can be a synonym for a human or an animal. Milosz tries to express that the earth is a living thing, so therefore the earth is capable of performing many astonishing things. There are many things on earth that are so beautiful, that people think are fake, but they are truly real.
He never wants to hear the vacuum come to life because every time he hears the vacuum turn on, his memories with his wife start to rush in his head. In the “The Vacuum” Howard Nemerov uses symbols, similes and personification in order to reveal losing a spouse can be devastating. The author uses a symbol to reveal the theme and focuses on his hero which is also his wife. The reason why the wife is the man’s hero is because she took good care of him.
Nothing But Death Analysis. Nothing But Death, The poem from Pablo Neruda translated and edited by Robert Bly. The poem presented about the looks of the Death and about how the death appears around the human.
