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Imagery in poem
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John Ciardi’s “Most Like an Arch This Marriage” is about how a marriage needs support just like an arch. The poem tells of how two people come together in a marriage and support each other in hard times, just like how two pillars come together to hold up an arch. The poem also shows how the author feels about support in a marriage. Lastly, the author uses descriptive images to justify how the two are alike in multiple ways.
The poem starts by defining what an arch is, and how it’s solid and doesn’t move. Describing how it looks and how it’s supposed to hold together for a significant amount of time. The author writes “Inside half-heaven unfolds” (line 4). By stating this the readers feel like marriage is almost perfect, that the arch is perfection.
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The author describes and shows the image of two people and pillars that are weak, leaning on each other as they become strong due to the reliance upon one another. “Two weaknesses that lean into strength. Two fallings become firm” is written by the author to show how two people come together in a marriage and become dependent and strong off of each other (5-6). He uses weakness and strength in his poem to display how you can put weaknesses together and get strength. Then he said “fact that teaches fact to mean.” which conveys the reader to think that he means that each person in a marriage teaches the other something of importance (8). That like pillars, a marriage holds two things together and teaches them to stand …show more content…
He uses words like “upright” or unset” to describe how it feels to be on your own without strength from someone else. He then goes on to say “it is by falling in and in we make the all-bearing point, for one another’s sake” which means that in marriage people dive right in and lean on each other (14-15). In a marriage they both go into it to help and support the other. Lastly, he says “in faultless failing, raised by our own weight” (16). This is supposed to give us the image of each person in a marriage supporting each other with their own weight and if they do then they can’t fail. That two people that support each other can’t fail because they have each other’s back and strength. An arch describes a marriage because in order for a marriage to work the two people need to support and rely on each other to have a strong and healthy
Dugan writes, “By Christ / I am no carpenter. I built / the roof for myself, the walls / for myself, and got / hung up in it myself.” (Lines 7-12). By saying that he is no carpenter, the speaker explains that they know the house, or their life, could not have been perfect. Dugan writes this right after, “by christ” which creates a double meaning, as he is both simply exclaiming, “By Christ” and referencing Christ as a carpenter himself. This allows the reader to see that the speaker does not consider himself as highly as was implied earlier in the poem. This continues with the next few lines, as he explains that he made all of his bad decisions, or built the house poorly, for himself and not for anyone else. In other words, his dislike for himself led to a poorly constructed life. If he built the house for himself and cared very deeply about himself, he would have made it with care and attention to detail and structure. These lines also explain that he does not actually blame others, or nature as previously stated, for the chaos he lives in, allowing for these lines to show a more vulnerable side to the speaker. These lines help the tone of the metaphor by shifting it further from selfishness to insecurity and
In many parts of the poem, Guest uses metaphors to show the strength that one should always keep while facing their troubles. He tells his readers to "Lift your chin and square your shoulders, plant your feet and take a brace" to prepare for whatever could be ahead (lines 2-3). Even through the metaphor "Black may be the clouds above you" which gives a clear perception of difficult and hopeless moments that might be surrounding an individual, it is still better than running since it "will not save you" (lines 8-11). It is throughout the poem that Guest has used many metaphors to remind his readers about the facing the problems that will lie ahead. It is even pointed at points, such as, "You may fail, but fall fighting" to remind the reader that not all problems can be confronted. However, the author suggests that with a person's body language, like standing tall, could become a resolve. With these metaphorical commands, it gives the reader the feeling of a solider or fighter that is preparing to face an enemy. This is also further emphasized from his use of repetition. Guest repeats the figurative phrase, "See it through" to show the reader to overcome the toughest or most hopeless of problems. It is also from this statement that he suggests to go keep going no matter what since in the end it is possible that one can succeed. Becoming the clearest and most encouraging phrase and title of the poem, Guest has made the distinction of his theme to overcome everything that one can in order to achieve the best for one's
“Theory of Marriage” is one of the poems in which Mark Doty read while visiting the students here at Ramapo College. After reading the title of the poem one expects that the content of this written work will focus on, well the theory of marriage; however, after reading the poem it is to some confusion to find out that the face value of the poem is actually about Doty and his friend at a massage parlor. It was only through Doty’s emphasis on certain words such as “oh” that I later realized his poem is not about the pain that the masseuse was giving to him but rather the pain that marriage caused. The way he read the lines, from the pauses to his facial expression really opened up my eyes to see that nothing is as it seems, especially when it comes to
The poem is written in the father’s point of view; this gives insight of the father’s character and
Kaye Gibbons, the author of the novel Ellen Foster, believes that a quote from the Emerson’s “Self Reliance” is connected with Ellen’s struggle to survive and find her way in the world. The first line of this quote says, “Cast the bantling on the rocks” is related to Ellen herself. A bantling is an abandoned child. Ellen is a bantling even though she was not abandoned, she was deprived of a normal childhood. Her life as a child was extremely hard, physically and emotionally. She never had a mother or father take care of her through her entire youth. You could say that her childhood was “cast on the rocks”. The last line reads, “Power and speed be hands and feet”. This reminds me of how Ellen ran from her problems at home and stayed away from her house as much as possible. The line also represents strength and Ellen was a strong person. She dealt with losing a mother, father and grandmother within one year. She never even had a good relationship with her father or grandmother. The short inscription to “Self Reliance” is almost a short summary of Ellen’s character. In it, a child without parents is raised by someone that is a lot different than she is. After Ellen’s mother died, she is unwillingly left with her alcoholic father who mistreats her. Ellen spent a lot of time at her friend, Starletta’s house and at the house of her grandmother. Life with her grandmother was no better than life with her father. She did not want to be in either situation. After living with her grandmother, Ellen’s struggle to find a suitable, comforting home comes to an end. For the second time in her life, a family member has died right next to her, basically in her arms. Ellen is able to overcome this, even as a
A relationship is usually seen between the teller of a tale and the tale that he or she decides to share. Chaucer’s pilgrim, the Merchant, uses his feelings on marriage to teach a lesson in his tale. The Wife of Bathe also relies on her life experience to tell her tale. The two relationships in the tales can then be compared.
It describes how the conservative farmer follows traditions blindly and the isolated life followed by him. It reflects how people make physical barriers and that later in life come to their social life too. Where neighbor with pine tree, believes that this separation is needed as it is essential for their privacy and personal life. The poem explores a paradox in human nature. The first few lines reflect demolition of the wall, ?Something there is that doesn?t reflect love a wall? this reflects that nature itself does not like separation. The "something" referring to the intangible sense of social interaction. Furthermore "that sends the frozen-ground-swell under it" refers to Frost or to the author. Although the narrator does not want the wall, ironically, the mending of the wall brings the neighbors together and literally builds their friendship. An additional irony of the poem is that the only time these two neighbors sees each other is when they both mend the wall. The narrator sees the stubbornness in his neighbor, and uses the simile 'like an old-stone savage' to compare him to a stone-age man who 'moves in darkness', that is, set in his ways, and who is unlikely to change his views.
The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.
The tragedy "Othello" by William Shakespeare is a story based upon the tragic end of Othello and Desdemona’s marriage. Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army is provoked into killing Desdemona; his beloved wife because of Iago a villain and Othello’s ancient has been feeding him lies about his wife. Iago tells Othello that his wife does not love him, that she will find another, and that she is having an affair with Cassio; his loyal lieutenant. The Moor is so easily convinced that all this is true without any sufficient evidence. Could anyone be so easily deceived into believing without seeing? It seems that Iago’s evil plot was beyond successful, not only did he end their marriage but drove Othello into suicide. The marriage may have ended mostly because of Iago’s brainwashing and deceit but I believe the marriage between Othello and Desdemona was doomed from the very beginning, Partly due to the racial nature of the marriage, the inferiority Othello feels, and the jealousy. "O, beware, my lord, of Jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster." Othello thinks of Desdemona instead
...ce of outside forces. However, the male-female love still exists in the world because the world in reality is a play where each being can write their script. In poetry reality holds no limitations. Even though the lover’s love is not true, it exists in the world because of the human being’s fight to preserve it. True love may only be able to exist in the female-friendship as shown in the play, but love in relationships still exists because the world allows any being willing to become a poet to be one. Any person can preserve a dream of false love and turn it into true love is they are willing to believe it possible. True love can only exist without penetration, domination, desire, or loss of identity, which exist in male-female love. However, love exists in this relationship because poetry has the ability to transfer this love away from a dream and into existance.
On the other side, “Love Poem” is very different from the previous poem. This seven stanza poem is based on a man describing the imperfections of his lover. In this, the speaker uses stylistic devices, such as alliteration and personification to impact more on reader, for example as the speaker shows “your lipstick ginning on our coat,”(17) ...
Love defies the test of time and endures when all things suggest its demise. Against odds, lovers meet, and in line with fate, lovers fall apart. The levels of love, and the numerous reactions to those relationships, help determine if and when the relationship will end. Though factors tear two people apart, the love does not always die. These ideas appear time and again, such as in Boccaccio’s The Decameron (the fourth day, first tale) or Virgil’s The Aeneid. Ideals of love and admiration also appear in Sappho’s poetry. Love ties people together, both literally and figuratively. These three works show that complexities of opinion and circumstance threaten to tear lovers apart, but love may still endure in the most unlikely ways.
The third stanza uses hyperboles to describe the depths of love between the two people and the line “He was my North, my South, my East and West” leads the reader to believe that the person who died set a course and now the speaker does not know what direction to take. The deceased was the speaker’s whole world. The disappointment the speaker is experiencing is conveyed when he says, “I thought that love would last fo...
Along the lines of stanzas, no pun intended, the poem creates a circle. Since the first and last stanza have a matching rhyme scheme, the poem revolves and then comes back to the beginning with a whole new perspective. In the first stanza it is being accepted that the urn is beautiful yet mysterious and in the fifth stanza, after a closer look, it is realized that it is not as ‘perfect’ as Keats first believed. One possible interpretation of why Keats crafted the poem int...
The poem begins enigmatically describing “crumbling” (1). The speaker does not indicate what kind of crumbling she is referring to at this point, which allows for a literal interpretation of the stanza. In the first two lines, the speaker reminds the reader that crumbling is a long process that is a basic part of life.