Poetry Analysis Hard work is always a good ethic to have, even if you may be going through a lot in life. The two poems I chose were “The Village Blacksmith” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and “A Black Man Talks of Reaping” by Arna Bontemps. “The Village Blacksmith” is a poem about is about a hard working blacksmith in a village has a tough life and is going through hard things in life this poem shows examples of honesty, persistence and hard work. “A Black Man Talks of Reaping” is a poem of a black sharecropper going through many hardships like working so hard and getting so little, as many African Americans did in the southern region of the United States in the early 1800s this poem also depicts a clear representation of hardships and persevering through them. There are many comparisons within these two poems, but the one that sticks out the most is theme, imagery and rhyme scheme. These two poems stick out because they were written around the same period of time and they show many similarities and few differences. …show more content…
Two solid examples of imagery are shown, “and catch the burning sparks that fly” (Longfellow 23). Also, “The muscles of his brawny arms are strong as iron bands.” (Longfellow 5-6). Another poetic element that shows strong examples in this poem is the theme. These examples are hard work, persistence, and honest, “His brow is wet with honest sweat” (Longfellow 9). Another solid example “onward through life he goes; each morning sees some task begin” (Longfellow 38-39). The last poetic element I chose was the rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme in this poem is every other line, the same scheme as the poem as I will be talking about
There are multiple examples of visual imagery in this poem. An example of a simile is “curled like a possum within the hollow trunk”. The effect this has is the way it creates an image for the reader to see how the man is sleeping. An example of personification is, “yet both belonged to the bush, and now are one”. The result this has is how it creates an emotion for the reader to feel
A good example would be when the mother in the story talks about her life using a metaphor of a staircase. In the beginning of the poem, the mother says, "Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, [...] But all the time, I’se been a-climbin’ on" (Hughes lines 1-9). This metaphor describes the mother's life experience, the reader can infer was hard, but the nice part of this excerpt is the final lines, where the metaphor of continuing to climb on the staircase is used to symbolize the mother's goal to persevere, no matter how tough life gets because she believes her efforts will accomplish something good.
Life is not always easy, at some point, people struggle in their life. People who are in the lower class have to struggle for a job every day and people who are in upper class also have their own problems to deal with. These ideas are very clear in Mary Oliver’s “Singapore”, Philip Schultz’s “Greed” and Philip Levine “What Work Is”. In "Singapore" a woman is likely lower class because she works at the airport and her job is to clean the bathroom. In both “Greed” and “What Work Is”, the speakers make the same conclusion about the struggle in the lower class. “Greed” furthermore discusses how Hispanics get a job first before whites and blacks because they take lower wages. All three poems deal with class in term of the society. The shared idea
1) This quote is an example of imagery because it uses figurative language to describe what New York is like late at night. As well as it uses words
Figurative Language in used throughout poems so the reader can develop a further understanding of the text. In “The Journey” the author uses rhythm and metaphors throughout the poem. “...as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of the clouds..”(25-27). The author compares the star burning to finding your voice. Rhythm also develops the theme of the poem because throughout the story rhythm is presented as happy showing growing up and changing for the better is necessary and cheerful. In “The Laughing Heart” the author uses imagery and metaphors to develop the theme throughout the book. “There is a light somewhere. It may not be much light but it beats the darkness”(5-7). Always find the good out of everything, even it
Imagery is when the author presents a mental image through descriptive words. One prime example of imagery that the author uses is in paragraph 3; where she tells of a moment between a man and a woman. In this narration she states the time, year, outfit of each character described, and what the female character was doing. These details might come across as irrelevant, or unnecessary, but this is Didions way of showing what the blueprint of notebook it. Using imagery reinforces the foundation of the essay, and what the essay’s mission was.
Behind this form of allusion there is also examples of vivid image that make the poems come to live. Right away, in the first sentences I can picture the speaker performing
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker starts by telling the reader the place, time and activity he is doing, stating that he saw something that he will always remember. His description of his view is explained through simile for example “Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets of their branches” (Updike), captivating the reader’s attention
The first poem that I chose was by the poet Julia Alvarez titled “Queens, 1963” this told the story of a family that has moved into in Queens, NY. The writer and narrator of this story is from the Dominican Republic. One year has passed for the family to finally settle into the neighborhood. This time an African American family has moved right across the street. The young girl notices how her neighbors have not treated this family with kindness and respect. More police have been seen patrolling through the neighborhood. When reading this poem my initial thoughts were that “Queens, 1963” describes the American people's behavior towards foreigners and their reactions. Alvarez states, “Mr. Scott, the retired plumber, and his plump Midwestern wife, considered moving back home, where white and black got along by staying where they belonged.” (Alvarez, pp 952) It will take another year and another family that will move into their neighborhood, than once the African American family settles in another family will be placed under the same scrutiny.
“The best of humanity 's recorded history is a creative balance between horrors endured and victories achieved, and so it was during the Harlem Renaissance" (Aberjhani). "A Black Man Talks of Reaping" and "From the Dark Tower" are poems that tugged on the heart strings of African Americans everywhere. Both poems dealt with the harsh reality of racial prejudice in America and shared the hope of overcoming it. Although the two poems "A Black Man Talks of Reaping" and "From the Dark Tower" by Arna Bontemps and Countee Cullen are different in purpose, they are similar in theme, tone, and extended metaphor.
The first literary device that can be found throughout the poem is couplet, which is when two lines in a stanza rhyme successfully. For instance, lines 1-2 state, “At midnight, in the month of June / I stand beneath the mystic moon.” This is evidence that couplet is being used as both June and moon rhyme, which can suggest that these details are important, thus leading the reader to become aware of the speaker’s thoughts and actions. Another example of this device can be found in lines 16-17, “All Beauty sleeps!—and lo! where lies / (Her casement open to the skies).” These lines not only successfully rhyme, but they also describe a woman who
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life” is an encouraging poem in which Longfellow has utilized many different poetic elements including imagery, rhyme, metaphor, simile and others. The poem is very easy to understand and is engaging to the reader because of the images the poem invokes. Of all of the elements used, imagery is the most consistent and prevalent poetic element in the poem “A Psalm of Life”. Using imagery, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem describes a life not fully lived, how to live and what a life fully lived looks like.
In the poem Digging, the first image presented is, “...sinks into gravelly ground..,” (Heaney 4) which gives the reader an idea that the work is manual and physical because the term “gravelly” would be associated with outside physical labor. Upon researching into Heaney’s background, his paternal family was in the agricultural economy whereas his maternal family fell into the industrial economy. Another instance where Heaney uses imagery is in the following quote, “The coarse boot nestled on the lug” (Heaney 10). Heaney uses the term “coarse” to further bring the audience to recognize that his father worked hard and life was not luxurious for his father.The use of imagery helps depict and emphasize the hardships his father faced and his admiration for his father. In The Harvest Bow, Heaney uses imagery to describe and plant an image of not only a past experience of the both of them together but also the image of his father at an older age. In the following line, “Hands that aged round ashplants and cane sticks/ And lapped the spurs on a lifetime of gamecocks,” (Heaney 7-8) it provides the reader more information on his father’s past and also sets an emotion for the poem. The beginning gives off the impression that his father is at an old age and in a way, it sounds as if Heaney is taking in the memories and details of his father before his father would pass
Throughout the poem, Longfellow uses metaphors and similes to convey the theme of making the most of the time you have on earth, to lead a satisfied life. In the first stanza, a young man is giving a psalmist guidance, he begins by saying, “Life is not but an empty dream!” by “empty dream” he means a meaningless illusion. Another metaphor is “For the soul is dead that slumbers” if one lives life as if it were a dream, than one’s soul would fall asleep and therefore would not be using time wisely to achieve one’s ...
Friedman, Norman. "Imagery." The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Ed. Alex Preminger et al. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993.