Stephen Dobyn Metaphors

A Metaphor, Not Just a Word
“My poems always begin with a metaphor, but my way into the metaphor may be a word, an image, even a sound. And I rarely know the nature of the metaphor when I begin to write, but there is an attentiveness that a writer develops, a sudden alertness that is much like the feel of a fish brushing against a hook,” Stephen Dobyns. Metaphors create an image in a person’s brain that help the reader to imagine a specific character, feeling, state of mind, or even just to add in a laugh. This is how Stephen Dobyns uses metaphors, because, in the beginning, he may seem unsure of what it is supposed to add to his writing, but as he goes along, it starts to blend more and more into the piece he is creating. “Hope” by Emily Dickinson,

This indicates she is going to be comparing hope to a bird because hope is “the thing” that makes the soul take flight or keeps the soul airborne, just like a bird. Then adding in at the second line “That perches in the soul” showing how hope is inside of all humans, and it is driven to help us succeed and survive (Dickinson, 2). I believe another great use of metaphors’ is, “And sore must be the storm that could abash the little bird” (Dickinson, 6­7). She is expressing the pain inside of her body is similar to the feeling of being hit by a storm because they are both destructive and painful to one’s self or to the stricken town. Then adds all of us can overcome it, just as the bird defeated the storm because humans are strong and fight for what they deserve. She concludes her poem with “Yet, never in extremity, it asked a crumb of me” telling us no matter where you are, how bad things get, or what the circumstances are, you will always have hope with you. (Dickinson, 12­13). The speaker stresses hope is the last inherent instinct humans have left when all else is gone, and yet only gives us positive efforts while asking nothing from humans. I n sum, she delivers her point to the reader by saying hope stays inside of us despite all of our struggles just as the little bird stays perched on the tree in the face of the

Throughout the poem, she indicates she does not feel like herself, but as something less. She expresses not feeling normal through the lines “An elephant, a ponderous house” and “This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising” (Plath, 2­5). The speaker begins to poke fun at herself with such humor, this time referring to her body size and her newfound displeasure at her ability to move and her size. In the second line mentioned, she refers to yeast, which is used in bread to help it rise and have a soft and fluffy texture. This happens when it is close to be completed baking, which suggests she is possibly ready to go into labor. Along with that, she exhibits she is unsure about her pregnancy and how it will affect her life. She uses the line “I’m a means, a stage, a cow in a calf” to describe her body is not her own and instead has been repurposed as a staging ground, awaiting the birth of her child (Plath,