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Poetic devices and figurative language
Poetic devices and figurative language
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In the poem “An Echo Sonnet, To an Empty Page” poet Robert Pack introduces the narrator who is referred to as the “voice” and his alter ego/subconscious who is referred to as the “echo” in the poem. They exchange questions and answers which reveal the poets prospects and attitudes toward life. The “voice” seems like unsure man, afraid to make a change in his life and live it, because he fears his inevitable mortality. The “echo” which is the man’s subconscious/ alter ego answers the voices questions showing the man a view on life. Beautifully designed, this poem uses the traditional form of a Shakespearean sonnet with the addendum of the “echo” communicating a direct message to the reader. Various literary techniques like symbols, juxtaposition, …show more content…
The voice which speaks concerns represents the general people who also have fears and are insecure about their future. By having the voice speak these concerns, the attachment increases to the poem. With the one word addendum of the “echo” rhyming with the last word of each line, the poet gives an immediate answer to the question, leading to another which creates a conversation, as well as a rhythm. In the first quatrain, the voice asks general questions of how to start blank/from nothing. The title which suggests that the sonnet is created by an echo which answers “To an Empty Page” , where the “Empty Page” is a metaphor for the “voice” which is the man who is trembling on his future. The strong one word answer to the questions lead to more and more. For example, the answer to the first question “How from emptiness can I make a start” is “start”, emphasizing that no matter what, the first thing to do is to “start” and take the first step. After this question the author juxtaposes the two words “joy” and “grief” and the echo responds with “grief” saying he must master this starting. In the next two lines, the author adds that “art” and “leaf” are the cure for this “consolation” and “relief” which brings up nature and
In “To an Empty Page”, Robert Pack creates a poem almost similar to a sonnet, but has a unique echo in the sonnet. The poem is a conversation between the speaker and the echo, which could be a friend or his alter ego, about the speakers’ anxiety regarding life and death. The poem begins by presenting that he is starting on an empty page and that he doesn’t know how to start. It first began as a writer’s block as it showed in the echo sonnet that he doesn’t know how to begin with it. For example, “…from emptiness can I make a start? Start.” In this line, the speaker does not know where to start with it but the echo seems to be his subconscious as it tells him what to do even
Billy Collins, the writer of Sonnet, uses a comical effect to make fun of old sonnets, how they were written and the older poets, through the use of literary terms. The fact that Billy Collins speaks with a mockery tone of Petrarch, causes readers to understand how he feels about the old sonnet writers and their work. Collins' tone expresses a negative look on old sonnets, but also looks on the bright side of them. He addresses the issue of how older sonnets were written by old poets in order to explain to readers why he wants to change the face of sonnets today. He is trying to get this main point across to readers so that they understand why he wants this change.
"Poetry is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal [but] which the reader recognizes as his own." (Salvatore Quasimodo). There is something about the human spirit that causes us to rejoice in shared experience. We can connect on a deep level with our fellow man when we believe that somehow someone else understands us as they relate their own joys and hardships; and perhaps nowhere better is this relationship expressed than in that of the poet and his reader. For the current assignment I had the privilege (and challenge) of writing an imitation of William Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 87". This poem touched a place in my heart because I have actually given this sonnet to someone before as it then communicated my thoughts and feelings far better than I could. For this reason, Sonnet 87 was an easy choice for this project, although not quite so easy an undertaking as I endeavored to match Shakespeare’s structure and bring out his themes through similar word choice.
...e speaker admits she is worried and confused when she says, “The sonnet is the story of a woman’s struggle to make choices regarding love.” (14) Her mind is disturbed from the trials of love.
..., D. E. (2009, November 7). The Sonnet, Subjectivity, and Gender. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from mit.edu: www.mit.edu/~shaslang/WGS/HendersonSSG.pdf
This sonnet tells the struggle between youth and death, mainly how youth does not accept the idea of death. Piazza Piece, by John Crowe Ransom, is a petrarchan sonnet that tells the struggle of an older man trying to grab the attention of a younger woman. A petrarchan sonnet includes an octave, a sestet and a turn. The choice of a petrarchan sonnet enhances the story’s meaning. A man is the speaker in the first eight lines, the octave. A woman is the speaker in the last six lines, the sestet. The two speakers provide clarity while creating the obvious divide in the sonnet. This divide, found in line nine, is the turn of the sonnet. This turn develops the main message of the sonnet.
This poem is constructed of conflicting feeling that can be felt when one is in love and in a complicated situation. In this poem Wyatt uses something called antitheses or Petrarchan paradox (“I Find no…”). A paradox is a statement that can contain two opposite parts, or using two words that are contrary to each other (“Petrarchan paradox”). For example, in line 1 the word “peace” is used and the opposite of peace is “war”, most of the sonnet is composed of petrarchan paradox. This sonnet also contains antithetical dynamics.
The desire to express one’s feelings can be a complicated and stressful task. In the free imitation poem, "Hidden Heart," by Natalie Meyers, a young woman expresses the frustration she experiences when trying to write her loved one. Likewise, the first sequence of Sir Philip Sydney’s sonnet, "Astrophil and Stella," explores one man’s struggle to write from his heart and eliminate the yearning to select the perfect words for a letter written to his love, Stella. Both Astrophil and Meyers are distraught over what to say and how to say it. Since "Hidden Heart" is an imitation of Sydney’s sonnet, several parallels can be drawn between their common theme, word choice, and form. The "Hidden Hearts" theme of free expression, its diction, and structure, must be compared and contrasted with intertextual references from "Astrophil and Stella," in order to effectively analyze it.
“On Being Cautioned against Walking on an Headland Overlooking the Sea, Because it was Frequented by a Lunatic,” Charlotte Smith’s sonnet, comments on the poet’s feelings toward this lunatic and the thought process he instigates in her mind. By using different syntax to describe her two characters, Smith draws the attention of the reader to the message in the sonnet instead of the scene on the surface. The structure of the English sonnet also lends to the poem’s power, giving Smith a perfect avenue to deliver her message.
In “Sonnet XVII,” the text begins by expressing the ways in which the narrator does not love, superficially. The narrator is captivated by his object of affection, and her inner beauty is of the upmost significance. The poem shows the narrator’s utter helplessness and vulnerability because it is characterized by raw emotions rather than logic. It then sculpts the image that the love created is so personal that the narrator is alone in his enchantment. Therefore, he is ultimately isolated because no one can fathom the love he is encountering. The narrator unveils his private thoughts, leaving him exposed and susceptible to ridicule and speculation. However, as the sonnet advances toward an end, it displays the true heartfelt description of love and finally shows how two people unite as one in an overwhelming intimacy.
The form of a poem can be understood simply as the physical structure. However, there are various aspects that make it up that contribute towards the goals of the poet. I find that the sonnets “When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be”, by John Keats, and “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, by Wilfred Owen, make efficient use of their formal elements to display the depth of the situation of their poems. Keats uses a Shakespearean sonnet structure to organize his thoughts being displayed throughout the poem and to construct them around the speaker’s fear that is the central focus of the sonnet. Owen’s sonnet is a Petrarchan sonnet, although it has a rhyme scheme similar to a Shakespearean, which allows him to display a contrast between the images the
As the major theme throughout this sonnet explains how no matter how great our undertakings may seem in our eyes, they will one day all pass away, become over and done, and go back to the state of nothingness. Nevertheless, a concurrence that is found throughout the majority of this
In conclusion, Shakespeare is more effective with using figurative language and imagery in his sonnet. This is mainly because he personifies the sun in a way that acknowledges how essential the sun is to a summer’s day. Both poems by Shakespeare and Browning are virtually about the same topic. In addition, both of these poems also address the unknown person as “thee”. Moreover, a question of uncertainty is at the beginning of each poem as well. The theme of the two poems are pertaining to eternal love, exceeding death and only becoming stronger.
The fourteen line sonnet is constructed by three quatrains and one couplet. With the organization of the poem, Shakespeare accomplishes to work out a different idea in each of the three quatrains as he writes the sonnet to lend itself naturally. Each of the quatrain contains a pair of images that create one universal idea in the quatrain. The poem is written in a iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Giving the poem a smooth rhyming transition from stanza to
Sir Thomas Wyatt is credited as one of the first poets to bring the sonnet form into English literature, a form in which the speaker’s sincerity for, most commonly, a distant mysterious woman whom he loves, is believed to be the focal point of the poetry. From the selection of works which Wyatt wrote we can see many point in which the focal point is seemingly the earnestness of his love for his muse as authenticated by what he states in the poem itself. However, there is a sense of underlying meaning throughout his works which the reader must tease out themselves to see that that in fact is the focal point of his poetry.