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Critical analysis of margaret atwood
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Margaret Atwood works of literature
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Who Can You Trust? There is a quote that says “Be careful who you trust because even the devil was once an angel.” and Margaret Atwood’s poem “Siren Song” shows us how true that statement is. Margaret Atwood is regarded as one of Canada’s most outstanding poets. She does not write only poetry though; she also writes novels, stories, and essays. Her work has received high praise in the United States, Europe, and Canada. She has received a great number of literary awards such as the Booker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Governor General’s Award twice. By using mythology, specific word choice, imagery, and symbolism, Atwood shows the audience that everyone should be careful who they trust and follow. From an early age, Atwood was …show more content…
Painting a picture into their audiences head is generally what makes a poem great. Atwood does an excellent job of utilizing imaginary, due to the fact that she read a substantial amount of books in her young and adult life. She mostly read pocketbook mysteries, fairy tells, Canadian animal stories, and comic books. All of these sources provided Atwood with strength when it comes to using imagery. Knowing she learned how to create an image with words at such a young age, it makes sense how she is able to bring an imaginary creature to life in as little as three lines. “I don't enjoy it here / squatting on this island / looking picturesque and mythical / with these two feathery maniacs” (Lines 13-16). With these descriptive words, it is easy to picture a lone island were these feathered women are hunched over and waiting in an uncomfortable position to stay out of sight until the opportune moment. However, if nothing was known about the sirens this is a great tactic to use. By describing her terrible home and how awful it is to live there, the sirens gain sympathy from the audience to draw them in closer to what will be their doom. Like the sirens, people will often describe their life only to gain sympathy from others to get them in closer so that they can use them for their own purposes. Another reason that sympathy is useful is that it can be distracting. For example, If someone gets in a fight at school, but they say that life at home is rough then the fight seems more understandable. Feel sympathy for others but do not let it excuse their
In the narrative poem “Cautionary Tale of Girls and Birds of Prey” the author, Sandy Longhorn, tells the story of a young girl who is afraid of a hawk, and her inconsiderate father who doesn’t take her concerns seriously. The story shows how her father is determined to get rid of her fear of the hawk, because he thinks it is both foolish and childish. The daughter very well knows the capability of the hawk, however her father doesn’t acknowledge it until it is too late. In the poem, Longhorn uses alliteration and rhyme to help explore the theme of how being inconsiderate towards others can in the end hurt you as much as it hurts them. The poem takes place on a little farm where the girl and her father live with all of their livestock.
Gloria Skurzynski’s “Nethergrave” is a superior work of science fiction compared to Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" because it has a more important theme, has better characterization, and is much more original. To elaborate in other words, Nethergrave artistically conveys a meaningful message through a distinct story while A Sound of Thunder bluntly restates a generic idea.
Furthermore,the Sirens are portrayed as underprivileged. In the siren song it declares,”This song is a cry
William Faulkner overwhelms his audience with the visual perceptions that the characters experience, making the reader feel utterly attached to nature and using imagery how a human out of despair can make accusations. "If I jump off the porch I will be where the fish was, and it all cut up into a not-fish now. I can hear the bed and her face and them and I can...
Within “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant, he states “She has a voice of gladness, and a smile/And eloquence of beauty, and she glides/Into his darker musings, with a mild/And healing sympathy (Bryant, 4-6).” The “she” Bryant is referring to is Mother Nature, which makes his statement that nature can take away a man’s pain that much more powerful. By personifying nature, the reader feels as though they can relate to “her” in a different way. A poem that uses powerful metaphors is “The First Snowfall” by James Russell Lowell. Within his poem, he states, “From sheds new-roofed with Carrara/Came Chanticleer’s muffled crow/The stiff rails were softened to swan’s-down/And still fluttered down the snow (Lowell, 9-12).” The line “from sheds new-roofed with Carrara” is referring to how pure and white the snow that had just recently fallen looks. Carrara is an expensive white marble. So, Lowell is comparing expensive items to the snow, which helps put an image of a beautiful snowfall into the reader’s head. By using both personification and metaphors, the reader can relate to the words being said in a completely different way, and thus understand the abstract ideas that the authors are trying to convey in their Romantic
In this poem called “Creatures” by the author Billy Collins there are three examples of figurative language helps convey the meaning that the author Billy Collins is conveying. The three examples of figurative language that the author Billy Collins uses are a metaphor, enjambment, and imagery. These three examples of figurative language help illustrate Billy Collins” theme in this poem called “Creatures” that he is writing because these three examples of figurative language help emphasize the theme of the poem. These three examples help emphasize this poem called “Creatures” meaning because it makes the theme of this poem have a deeper meaning. The theme of the author Billy Collins poem called “Creatures” is that the reader has to imagine
The elements in the poem work very well together to help set the theme of this poem. The tone set the overall mood of the poem, so show that it was rushed but not in a chaotic way. The imagery helps to show us little details of the setting, which are very helpful. And finally, the figures of speech, help the reader to compare the scene to things they have experienced in their lifetime to fully understand the poem.
Atwood writes “Siren Song” is written in free verse, thus enhances her main ideas. In a free verse poem, there is no rhyme or organized meter. However she has other organizing elements exist in order to strengthen the speaker in the poems ideas and main purpose of the poem. There are nine stanzas, in which each has three lines. The three lines appear to mirror the three sirens that are mentioned in the poem. The speaker is one, and then she says, “with these two feathery maniacs”(16), referring to the other sirens that accompany her singing. Moreover, enjambment plays a major role in this poem, because it drive the poem in significant moments. The speaker ends a stanza not fully completing her thought, making it so that the audience feels more
Therefore, Oliver’s incorporation of imagery, setting, and mood to control the perspective of her own poem, as well as to further build the contrast she establishes through the speaker, serves a critical role in creating the lesson of the work. Oliver’s poem essentially gives the poet an ultimatum; either he can go to the “cave behind all that / jubilation” (10-11) produced by a waterfall to “drip with despair” (14) without disturbing the world with his misery, or, instead, he can mimic the thrush who sings its poetry from a “green branch” (15) on which the “passing foil of the water” (16) gently brushes its feathers. The contrast between these two images is quite pronounced, and the intention of such description is to persuade the audience by setting their mood towards the two poets to match that of the speaker. The most apparent difference between these two depictions is the gracelessness of the first versus the gracefulness of the second. Within the poem’s content, the setting has been skillfully intertwined with both imagery and mood to create an understanding of the two poets, whose surroundings characterize them. The poet stands alone in a cave “to cry aloud for [his] / mistakes” while the thrush shares its beautiful and lovely music with the world (1-2). As such, the overall function of these three elements within the poem is to portray the
In Homer's Odyssey and Margaret Atwood's Siren Song, Sirens are portrayed as creatures that trick men. Homer and Atwood use imagery, point of view, and diction to convey the image of the deceitful Sirens.
While the monsters of the poem are the antagonists of the poem, the author still manages to make the reader feel traces of sympathy for them. Grendel’s human depiction, exile and misery tugs at the heart of readers and indeed shows a genuine side to the figure, while Grendel’s mother and the dragon are sympathetic mainly because they were provoked into being attacked over things they both had a deep affection for. Their actions make us question whether they are as evil as they seem.
The sirens are a significant factor in Homer’s Epic poem ‘The Odyssey”, they have been reinterpreted throughout the years in many different mediums such as TV, movies, and other works of literature. One of the most notable manifestations is the poem The Sirens Song by Margaret Atwood. Ms. Atwood's portrayal of the mythical creatures is similar to Homer's but at the same time it is quite different.
The narrator has no confidence in himself and always expects things to end unsatisfactorily, therefore he never accomplishes the enormous task that he ponders the entire poem. The main character is completely incapable of normal human interaction, he never asks this monumental question in the story he mulls over the entire poem, because he chickens out, and has very little self esteem. “He knows he is not Prince Hamlet and he does not think the mermaids will sing to him. He knows that he can not make a decision(Lafuente).” An example of this is that the narrator is constantly obsessed with women and his supposed faults, such as baldness and growing old. “Eliot’s use of literary techniques portrays a man incapable of normal day-to-day life, constantly mulling over every action he takes, debilitated by this paralysis (Jaklitsch).” At the end of the poem, mermaids, also known as sirens, represent all of life's opportunities and Prufrock, as he stands on the shore as an observer until his imminent death (Laura). This connection to Modernism is the most obvious, since it is one of the defining characteristics of the poem and Modernism. The reason for this pessimism is because society was faced with the harsh realities of war, the belief that God if he
Throughout the entire poem Shel Silverstein uses the innocence of the little girl to create a vast amount of imagery so that the reader can understand right away what kind of person is talking in the poem and what state of mind she is. Mary Keleshian from GlemMagazine stated that in imagery it is “To describe everything is to supply a photograph in words.” This would mean that the way Silverstein add all the the imagery was done precisely and effort. The readers see all the representation of imagery in their head with all the “symptoms” she describes in the poem. The imagery also gives the reader an understanding of how the innocence shows immediately from how the girl describes all sorts of conditions she has so she won't have to go to attend school. One of the many examples of Imagery shown in the poem would be when “Sad little peggy Ann” says “ I've counted sixteen chicken pox and there's one more- that's seventeen, and don't you think my face looks green?” How the little girl describes how her face looks green gives the reader an image of a sort of cartoon sick person whose face is green. Which rubs off a little innocence to even the reader because of how well done the imagery is made. Michael Smathers from WiseGeek states that “The primary function of imagery in literature is to bring a lifelike quality to scenery, people, or circumstances.” Silverstein creates the sort of lifelike
Overall, the use of irony, point of view, and satire in this novel efficiently emphasizes the central message of the dangers of stereotypes, prejudice, the obsession with social conventions, and hypocrisy. Where Angels Fear to Tread is a novel that goes through several stages of happiness and sadness. It takes the reader through a rollercoaster ride of emotions as they follow the characters and their revelations. The novel teaches the reader to avoid generalizations and judging people before knowing their true personality so that they may avoid unfavorable situations and avoid being the “fool” that “rush in where angels fear to tread.”