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Theme Of Instructions To A Bad Day

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My initial impression of the poem upon listening to it is that it conveys a strong motivational theme. The poem's title, "Instructions to a Bad Day," effectively indicates that the poem will explore how to overcome a bad day and thus that the poem will be motivational and uplifting, which I found complemented the poem's theme. The poet, Shane Koyczan’s overall message behind the poem is that while there may be bad days, there is never a day we will not overcome, and there is never a light that we cannot reach; if we realize this and accept the help of the people who care about us instead of carrying our pain and burden with us, then we can move past these bad days. The poem's message is made abundantly clear throughout, courtesy of the poet's use of numerous …show more content…

"Realize every dark cloud is a smoke screen meant to blind us from the truth, and the truth is whether we see them or not - the sun and moon are still there, and always there is light," is a metaphor comparing the sky’s clearing of dark clouds to reveal the sun and moon to having a bad day but "scraping the grey sky clean." Personification is evident in "love" and "hate," describing them as beasts able to grow in the phrase "Love and hate are beasts, and the one that grows is the one you feed." The statement is saying that if you give into either love or hate, you'll be stuck with that emotion as it lingers over you like a "beast," and that it's up to you to determine which you wish to accept. The imagery in some statements throughout the poem also offers a very fresh perspective on life; for example, in the line "Be the weed growing through the cracks in the cement, beautiful--because it doesn’t know it’s not supposed to grow here," I visualize a weed pushing its way up through the cement and never relenting; the meaning behind this is to be persistent and determined to overcome challenges in

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My analyst of this poem is that the author of this poem was trying to say that bad things happen but good thing will come.

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751 Words | 4 Pages

In the poem, the speaker says, “Beyond this place of wrath and tears; looms but the horror of the shade” (10-11). This phrase means that beyond the place of extreme anger and sadness, hangs over an extreme fear of death. In the end, the speaker becomes self-confident and does not let evil manipulate him. Both the main character and speaker live depressing lives which open doors to

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1029 Words | 5 Pages

The mentions of brightness throughout the poem represent it breaking through the seal. The poet is growing from his trauma and using it as guidance. He mentions his father cleaning up a fish at sundown. Sundown represents the bad memories and

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310 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout each poem, metaphors are evident. In line 11 of the poem “Remember,” “ For if the darkness and corruption leave,” the metaphor is used to describe that the person will become happier after moving on or forgetting about the dead loved

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1004 Words | 5 Pages

In lines eight through twelve of the poem, the speaker states “I don’t ask myself what I’m looking for. I didn’t come for answers to a place like this, I came to walk on the earth, still cold, still silent.” The speaker says that the earth is cold and silent, illustrating how he or she sees the world as dead and cold. As readers go through the poem they can tell how the speaker was expecting life to turn out the way it did. By the speaker stating in lines thirteen through eight-teen “Still unforgiving, I’ve said to myself, although it greets me with last year’s dead thistles and this year’s hard spines, early blooming wild onions, the curling remains of spider’s cloth” it shows how he views the world as a bad place that never produces anything good.

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761 Words | 4 Pages

Death was personified in, “Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade” (line 11), to show how even death’s grip, that eventually takes everyone, cannot take away this girl. Death was also personified to show how the girl was so extraordinary and beautiful, even death, arguably the most powerful force on Earth, could not touch her beauty. The imagery in “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May” (line 3), is used to show how the girl is calm and simple, unlike the winds of summer which cause chaos and drive people to not enjoy them. By comparing the girl to summer winds, the poet is expressing his love for the girl by showing how much better she is than summer, which many people tend to be fond of.

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1138 Words | 5 Pages

The first part discusses worse becoming better, and the second half discusses the removal of self-centeredness and how living to better the world makes you the happiest you can be. The first part of the poem discusses things becoming more. “Crippled becomes whole, crooked becomes straight, hollow becomes full, worn becomes new, little becomes more, much becomes delusion” (Lao-Tzu, Lines 2-7). The significance of this is that Lao-Tzu is saying anything can be changed for the better. Proving that

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642 Words | 3 Pages

The narrator within the poem perceives himself as superior to the subjects that he observes, and recognizes that they behave as savages due to the absence of rules and boundaries. They fail to acknowledge the error in their destructive behavior and continue to act with free will, which portrays human nature as wicked and unruly. One of them glanced at the narrator and insinuated that they were equals, which implies that the narrator also indulges in sinful behavior with the rest of them. Despite the narrator’s feeling of superiority, their actions reflect the same manner as those they view as beneath them. There exists a domino effect that causes the behavior of others to influence the nature of those surrounding them.

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757 Words | 4 Pages

These four lines are important because as the image of salt in a weakened broth suggests utter dissolution and disorder, it makes the case that in order for the light of freedom and identity to seep through, we have to go through that period of darkness. Nye even uses the metaphor of a bus riding without stop [later in the stanza] to compare it to the presence of loss without kindness (Hong). In the second stanza, Nye emphasizes that realizing one’s ultimate mortality is a prerequisite to kindness when she says, “Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness/you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho/lies dead by the side of the road” (lines 14-16). This lines suggests that in order for humanity to put aside traits that make us different, we have to find solidarity in the fact that is our impending mortality. Nye uses the transcendent image of a dead Indian in a white poncho lying in the road to imply that the idea of mortality connects us all (Hong), even if different people of different backgrounds lead different lives.

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202 Words | 1 Pages

"Fire and Ice" develops a deep, intense theme and raises fascinating questions that regard to human nature. The primary literary device in the poem is implied metaphor which compares two unlikely things. Fire becomes a metaphor for human desire, which is made clear in the third line. Ice is a metaphor for hatred, which is said in line 6. The main idea of poem is that the emotions possess the negative forces.

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873 Words | 4 Pages

Through the poem’s tone, metaphors used, and symbols expressed the poem portrays that fear can make life seem charred or obsolete, but in reality life propels through all seasons and obstacles it faces. The poem begins with a tone of conversation, but as it progresses the tone changes to a form of fear and secretiveness. The beginning and ending line “we tell

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486 Words | 2 Pages

In the first stanza, we can already see how this poem can relate to the world today and how we feel about certain things. We as humans don't like change. Sometimes, we want something to happen so bad, that we don't consider how our life might change if this wish, this hope of something, actually happened. We sometimes may want something so bad, but fear what the consequences might be if something goes

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296 Words | 2 Pages

Everyday is a new day and we should look into the future instead of the past. We all have bad days,but we should put them behind us. As Alondra Orozco once said “Everyday is a new page, every month is a new chapter, and every year is a new book.” This quote means everyday is a new beginning while comparing to book terms. Every month we have a new chapter that we begin and end.

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1432 Words | 6 Pages

Another interpretation of the poem is the contrast between the poems serious message-that hatred and indifference are equally destructive. I believe that the speaker is making a significant comment about the human condition. The speaker in “Fire and Ice” is intuitive for thinking that the world will end in two ways, both of these forces are equally destructive figuratively and literally. Fire and Ice are both aspects of nature and can turn destructive; an example would be a house burning down, or an avalanche. Those are the literal meanings of fire and ice, but the figurative meanings are fire would be desire and ice would be hatred.

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161 Words | 1 Pages

The message could be the importance of kindness in one's day to day routine. The need for people to show compassion for one another like how the father did is what the author wants people to notice. This poem uses imagery and metaphors to help this message cross the audience's minds when reading. These literary devices help the readers visualize the gentle father, the sleeping son, rain and

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