If you have ever seen someone make pottery, you know how amazing it is. In the passage A Single Shard, the narrator of the passage views to the potter in amazement. In the poem “Turn, Turn, My Wheel”, the speaker also views the potter in amazement, and thinks it is magical. However, there are also some differences in their views.
Authors are given the dynamic potential to create an image in a reader’s mind that would previously be unimaginable. They are given a power to control one’s imagination, word by word, page by page. Donald Barthelme, Robert Frost, and J.D Salinger are all captavating authors because of their strong authority on their stories. However, one of the most notorious examples of this unique influence is in the short story A Mickey Mantle Koan by David James Duncan. Beautifully written, Duncan tells a story of an impeccably timed tragedy.
Both Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and Langston Hughe’s “Po’ Boy Blues” present Walter Lee Younger and the speaker of the poem as men with similar stories, however both reach different conclusions with their struggles. Both men at the start of their stories have hopes and dreams. Later, their trust is betrayed and they lose their thoughts of happiness. However, at the end, Walter is able to regain his determination to keep fighting and surviving, while the narrator of the poem is unable. Both protagonists believe in their dreams, and have high hopes for the future.
The three stories to be discussed in this essay are “The Bouquet” by Charles W. Chesnutt, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and “Gimpel the Fool” by Isaac Bashevis Singer. It’s interesting to dissect these pieces of literature to see how they reflect the time period they were written in, by whom they were written, and if the stories they read have any abnormalities outside what is expected. So first up is “The Bouquet”; I sympathized mainly for the young girl named Sophie. Society’s faults stunted her growth as an individual, and kept her from bonding with those she desired relations.
In the poem “The Ex-Basketball player” by John Updike, personification, metaphors, and imagery tone all contribute to the theme of the poem. In the poem, the main character is Flick. Flick, had great talent while he was on the basketball team then later on in life, he ends up working at a gas station. The poet tells the reader about how Flick played basketball. The thing is, Flick doesn't play basketball anymore.
After reading various poems about our nation, many can conclude that different people have different opinions and views on America. When people hear the word “America” some feel upset or gloomy. Some may feel warm or cheery inside. Some may feel indifferent or confused. There are a million and one ways that people express their emotions towards the land of the free and the brave.
The setting of the baseball field in “Sign for my Father who Stressed the Bunt” is revealing of important and major themes throughout the poem. By using words such as “rough” and “hand-cut” he establishes the setting of a rural baseball field where the majority of this poem takes place. Although time passes and the son gets older, the father still is trying and failing to teach his son to appreciate the bunt in the timeless “hand cut” baseball field. The son never seems to understand the father and his endless antics about the basics of bunting. The son comments, “I admired your style, but not enough to
Some poems are lengthy, and some poems can be very short, however when analyzed, they all express a deeper message. For example, when examining the poem, "The Changeling," by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the reader can easily spot the important message which the author is trying to reveal to the reader through the use of poetic devices. When closely reading this poem, the language and the terminology applied by Cofer enhances the readers ability to make connections between the theme of this poem and how it can be applied to real world scenarios. The poetic devices incorporated into the poem, "The Changeling," reflect on how young children interpret gender roles in their own way.
In the poem, Paul Laurence Dunbar employs the rhetorical device of rhyme structure to contrast the bondage of individual sorrow with the liberation of action. Although the speaker does not claim divine authority, the poem’s orator possesses a definitive tone, bolstering the argument and beckoning the audience. The first lines of the initial stanza, “I am no priest of crooks nor creeds / For human wants and human needs / are more to me than prophets’ deeds,” display Dunbar’s use of rhyme structure to connect a single idea. Dunbar emphasizes the deeds of a prophet, a religious figure chosen by God to interpret His Will, to perhaps convey that time spent discerning the Will of God causes individuals to lose sight of the wants and needs around them.
In the poem “The Juggler” written by Richard Wilbur, the speaker displays a clear fascination in the juggler’s act and illustrates the juggler as an individual capable of bringing happiness and distraction, which is temporary and fleeting as everyone is vulnerable to the monotony and sadness natural to the human condition. Through this description, the speaker reveals that he is cognizant of this weakness and admires the juggler for being able to uplift the spirits of those who watch his performance, even if it is for a short period of time. The poem is organized into five stanzas with each stanza consisting of 6 lines each. The rhythm is arranged in an ABCBAC pattern.
After exploring the metaphor fully, I was able to understand many of the references he tried creating. For example I understood what his “position” was and how “tacklers” played a big part in his struggle of stuttering. At the heart of it, it’s
"The Poet’s Occasional Alternative" by Grace Paley and ‘In My Craft or Sullen Art’ by Dylan Thomas are poems which portrays writing as an arduous and under-appreciated form of art. In "The Poet’s Occasional Alternative", the speaker’s disillusionment with the poor reception of his poetry is exacerbated by the contrasting attention his pie receives, while the speaker in ‘In My Craft or Sullen Art’ reveals his motivations for persevering in his writing despite the lack of attention it receives. Both poems illustrate how the act of writing receives little attention from the masses and is thus an unappreciated form of art. In "The Poet’s Occasional Alternative”, the speaker likens the process of writing poetry to that of making a pie with starkly different results. The pie is described to “already” have a “tumbling audience”, and these expressions show how the pie is able to garner a substantial and excited following with ease, even from “small trucks” which are inanimate objects, presumably toys.
“The Weary Blues” and “The Harlem Dancer” both have a musical setting placed in a bar where the narrators describe what’s taking place with the use of alliteration. “The Weary Blues” conveys how skilled the piano player is with the quote, “He made that poor piano moan with melody” (Hughes, line 10) compared to “The Harlem Dancer” when they describe the performer’s dancing skills, “She sang and danced on gracefully and calm” (McKay, line 5). The narrators each describe themselves as enjoying the performances taking place in their own poems. The narrator of Hughes’ poem enjoys the performance without the disturbance of others, whereas in McKay’s the narrator is surrounded by others watching the dancer, “Applauding youths
In stanza three the ball is personified to lay emphasis on flicks skill, and a simile likens Flick’s hands to wild birds. Yet irrelevant, the lug wrench is personified in the next stanza we jumped back to the present. While “the ball loved flick” (Updike) the lug is indifferent to Flick’s skill. In the last stanza, a metaphor depicts flick as standing “kind of coiled”, signifying the old basketball player within flick is still ready to spring. The last two lines liken the town of candy to former applauding audiences in the seats.
Furthermore, the superficial simplicity of Hughes’ poems is not meant to deceive, but to encourage readers to engage in poetry from different perspectives because there is more to the poem than meets the eye. Additional questions remain, however. Does Hughes’ experimentation with form threaten to mischaracterize or further objectify the subjects of his poetry? Does Hughes ascribe too much value to these ordinary objects and places? Are there limitations to Hughes’ experimentation?