Vulnerable Shadows Literary Devices

The poem “Vulnerable Shadows” has the theme of balancing darkness and light, demonstrated through the use of methaphor, hyperbole, and allusion. The piece describes a man’s journey through life as he experiences the good and the bad. It begins with the man peacefully going through life, when without warning he faces darkness and needs to be reminded of his initial intentions. The metaphor used in the line; “he ignores the shadows,” compares the man’s challenges to the dark and ominous connotaions that is attatched to the word “shadows”. At this point in the poem, the man is noticing the evil that has always surrounded him that he had otherwise ignored. In the same way, the use of “sunshine” and “light” are used to emphasize the ideas of optimism and joy. Afterwards, The

In the poem, the statement saying that the man “has no destination” is an overexaggeration as he is not immobile, but instead means that he goes through life freely without a clear and fixed end goal. This relates to the theme of the piece as it shows the man’s difficulty balancing the good and bad in his life. He is essentially welcoming the good in his life but is not aware the he may be heading down a darker path. Another hyperbole used is where the man is said to be “lost with vague unease”. This statement is meant to show the character’s hazy or unclear motives, similarly used as the common phrase “you have your head stuck in the clouds”. An allusion taken from the film “the Wizard of Oz” was used as well in the poem to provide a comparison and further emphasize the theme. In this film the protagonist, Dorothy, was told to follow the yellow brick road, and if she remained on this road she would stay safe. In the poem at hand, the man is said to “ride the yellow brick path.” In the “Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy does not stay safe down the whole road and faces darkness along the