Leslie Silko’s “Deer Song” is a stunning, if melancholy, work of art. The poem opens with winter storm imagery, taking the reader to a desolate and harsh world. A mountain is introduced to the reader as the poem’s setting, the rock covered by snow and ice. Silko also introduces the poem’s trend toward visceral body imagery and diction when she writes that the river flowing down the mountain is “clotted white in silence,” the word clotted bringing to mind the clotting of blood. This word would insinuate that the river on the mountain is similar to the veins in a human, and that the winter has halted the flow of the mountain’s veins, putting it to sleep, or to death. The trend continues as Silko describes the “shattered” ice on the mountain
as “bone splinters that tear deep,” once again ascribing humanity to what might be considered, in some cultures, inanimate objects. By assigning human and animal imagery to these objects, she is bringing them to life. The main theme of the poem features the story of a deer, running away “from the wolves” in an attempt to escape death. This will prove to be a fruitless endeavor, as the deer dies after being “smashed against dark rock… strugg[ling] [against] shining teeth tangled in sinew and flesh.” As the deer lays dying, the narrator, who is presumable the deer, says that they “will go with you because you call softly,” which seems to contrast with the violent imagery mentioned before. However, earlier in the poem, as the deer is running, ice cuts deeply “into soft parts of [its] hoof,” and as he swims away from his pursuers, the salt water has “steaming red froth,” indicating that the deer is already injured. The pain that the deer feels is “numbed only by the freezing” of his surroundings. After he has been caught by the wolves, he lays down to die, the call of death soft because he is being released from the pain of this world. He feels no anger towards the deer or the mountain, though both caused him pain, because they are a family, they are all part of the circle of life, and there is a deep love in that connection.
Good morning Mrs Dover and 8D. I have chosen to analyse the film clip “black fella, white fella” by the Warumpi band, and have determined that the song and associated images is partially successful in communicating aboriginal values, such as culture, land and family. The lyrics include the language features repetition, alliteration and rhetorical questions to deliver a message of reconciliation and equality. These features are also supported by visual imagery that is intended to support the ideas within the song.
She elaborates on the traditional act of hunting through a simile: “my mother would lift and lay it in place / like a dead relative” (40-41). The relation to a dead relative shows reverence and respect for the animal. The white judges also observe the practice of “praying, coaxing, and thanking” (42), the dead animal as the speaker describes her mother performing the cultural practice of preparing the meat. Dumont’s use of description adds imagery to the poem as she states, “until we had become it and it had become us” (20), further noting the cultural and spiritual connection with animals. Overall, this incorporation provides the reader with information about the Indigenous culture and
This is a very lyrical poem. The speaker's emotions and intentions are made very clear in very inconspicuous ways. The subtle repetition of certain words and images give the poem a very distinct tone. For example, the repetition of the words "cold" and "brittle" in the description of the grass and the car seats is interesting. It adds an element of fragility or ephemerality to the poem. The prevalence of cold imagery is also remarkable. The cold setting seems to freeze not only the grass, but the moment in time at which the speaker is in. The icebox 'full of lightness of air' could be an ...
In the poem “Auschwitz” by Charles N. Whittaker, the poet uses figurative language such, as end- rhymes and a metaphor to convey a theme about death and losing hope/faith. In the poem, Whittaker uses this phrase “and the blue ink slabs a little harder on the skin/ above the veins in despair where murder let in”(Stanza 3 lines 1-2). Here, Whittaker addresses how “skin” and “in” rhyme at the end of the rhymes. To infer more, end-rhymes occur in the rhyming of the words at the end of the two or more lines of poetry. This connects to the theme of death because the blue inks may represent the blood of all the prisoners who are dying. This illustrates how death is represented when saying “murder” and “veins”. Another example is the metaphor used
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
The Song of the Hummingbird, written by Graciela Limon, is a novel telling the story of Huitzitzilin an Aztec survivor whose kingdom fell to ruin by her nation's blind reliance on God. The book features Huitzitzilin as the narrator of the story and Father Benito as a naive journalist of sorts. As the story begins, Father Benito meets Huitzitzilin while he’s taking confessions in the church. Through this transaction; Benito is told by the head of the church to take note of the history Huitzitzilin has to tell, while absolving her of her sins. As Benito begins to hear her story, his irritation and discomfort with hearing it becomes clear. He fidgets, buries his head in his hands, and at times even threatens to leave. The reasons for this comes from what Benito knows from history books and the teaching of his faith, Huitzitzilin begins to pick up on things as she tells her story. She uses this to mess with him at times and to distance him from the mindset that he’s just a tool for his god’s word. When the story draws to a conclusion, Benito sees Huitzitzilin story for what it is, he and his people are no different than hers, yet they treated them as savages.
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
The poem, “Field of Autumn”, by Laurie Lee exposes the languorous passage of time along with the unavoidability of closure, more precisely; death, by describing a shift of seasons. In six stanzas, with four sentences each, the author also contrasts two different branches of time; past and future. Death and slowness are the main motifs of this literary work, and are efficiently portrayed through the overall assonance of the letter “o”, which helps the reader understand the tranquility of the poem by creating an equally calmed atmosphere. This poem is to be analyzed by stanzas, one per paragraph, with the exception of the third and fourth stanzas, which will be analyzed as one for a better understanding of Lee’s poem.
The symbolic imagery in this passage contributes to helping the reader understand Louise’s character while encompassing two major thematic concerns. The imagery begins with a “mule deer” darting its way into a large arena filled with dancers. The description of the deer being a mule makes the animal appear strong because mule deer are often larger in size and more heavily built than other species of deer. There are many instances from the beginning to the end of the novel that involve deer. Their significant involvement in the story, and the fact that Louise is absent from this scene, can leave one to believe that they are a symbolic representation of her character. After entering the arena, “the great deer” began to display signs of aggression towards the dancers. Describing the deer as a “great” animal
There has always been a power struggle between the sexes. Men and women have always had trouble accepting the idea that there may be a defined role for each sex. Through time men have constantly upheld the belief that if women gain a recognized status in society then they could jeopardize the role that men play. However, this is simply not true as can be seen in the current times. Women hold prestigious titles and do the same types of jobs men do and society still functions normally. At the time Margret Atwood wrote the poem, “Rat Song” the feminist movement in Canada as well as the United States was in full swing. Atwood uses a rat in this poem to symbolize a women and a human to serve in the place of man. The rat is constantly being thought of a inferior or vile by the human always getting in the way and having a cleverness that is thought of as dangerous. Through the strained relationship of the rat and the human Atwood is able to depict what it is like to be a women growing up in society during the 1970’s. Nonetheless, the point of view that Atwood chooses to embody in this poem can still relate to society today even though the struggle between men and women is not as prevalent as it once was.
The consistent pattern of metrical stresses in this stanza, along with the orderly rhyme scheme, and standard verse structure, reflect the mood of serenity, of humankind in harmony with Nature. It is a fine, hot day, `clear as fire', when the speaker comes to drink at the creek. Birdsong punctuates the still air, like the tinkling of broken glass. However, the term `frail' also suggests vulnerability in the presence of danger, and there are other intimations in this stanza of the drama that is about to unfold. Slithery sibilants, as in the words `glass', `grass' and `moss', hint at the existence of a Serpent in the Garden of Eden. As in a Greek tragedy, the intensity of expression in the poem invokes a proleptic tenseness, as yet unexplained.
At first, the cheerfully perceptive stroller on backcountry roads: “I found a dimpled…” (593) the iambic lilt supplements a tone of pleasurable astonishment. With the introduction of “spider”, he betrays himself, and in “fat” and “white”, the dimpled insect appears less amiable. Additionally, in the next line, “On a white heal-all…” the verse is suggestive of innocence and fortification (Frost, 593). The white heal-all, which for the most part is a light blue flower, is how Frost suggests the purity of the situation.
The poem is evidently about the relationship between the narrator and the woman with the "little snow-white feet• and the narrator's failure to be able to cope with that relationship. Whilst she wanted to enjoy herself and "take life easy•, he was too "young and foolish• to understand her needs, resulting in them going their separate ways, hence the ?nal line.
“Autumn River Song”, is a beautiful, yet very short poem. It is being only four stanzas long but captures what poetry is all about. Though it may be short the poem is very effective to how the reader may interpret it. “The moon simmers in green water. White herons fly through the moonlight. The young man hears a girl gathering water-chestnuts: into the night, singing, they paddle home together” (Li Po). Now, after not knowing too much about the white herons, research was crucial to help me as a scholar to interpret this
The opening stanza paints a portrait of the end of a day. The herds of farm animals walk away from the speaker to their home, just as a weary farmer "plods" (3) his way back home. All of these figures recede from the speaker into the appr...