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The latin aphorism, carpe diem, is an accurate depiction that expresses the enjoyment of life. In his phrase, Quintus Horatius Flaccus known as Horace, who is a roman lyric poet, explores the idea of seizing the day, since tomorrow would be too late. The fragility and nuance of life never comes into the picture, since living is an important aspect. In “Joyas Voladoras,” Brian Doyle explores this idea through the metaphor of a hummingbird’s short life expectancy and the idea that the knowledge of this shortage of life makes such creatures seize the day without putting much “trust in tomorrow.”
Hummingbirds are small creatures with hearts “the size of a pencil eraser” that every night are in a constant battle with their heart because “when they rest, they come close to death” (Doyle 1) -- their heartbeat slows down causing multiple “heart attracts and aneurysms” that end their life. “Consider for a moment those hummingbirds who did not open their eyes again today, this very day, in the Americas…each the most amazing thing you have never seen, each thunderous wild heart the size of an infant’s fingernail, each mad heart silent, a brilliant music stilled.” (Doyle 1) Doyle uses the analogy of the hummingbirds’ death to show
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After battling with the memory of the dam, Didion realized that she was so attracted to the dam’s beauty and peacefulness because of the feeling of “isolation” it brings him. She argues that the dam will be more powerful when it's “free of man” -- in absolute isolation. Perhaps life as well as beauty can be better appreciated when one is alone. Isolating one’s self from others gives the opportunity to have a more productive and active life. One must be able to concentrate one’s self to live life to the
A never ending struggle for survival and revelation when everything is taken away finding what is left to care for. Father Benito captured the essence of Hummingbird and the conquered fate she endured. In the end Father Benito the same priest who listened from the beginning to the end respected and with his recordings on paper the memory of Hummingbird's song will never die as his thoughts fade into the night with a final thought, “His question was answered when he reminded himself that he had captured her word on paper and that her song would live on in Anahuac forever” (Limon 217). The final though of this book validated all that Hummingbird wanted which was her story to be heard. An emotional story griped with enticing character development
In the essay, “Joyas Voladuras” from The American Scholar, Doyle states that “Joyas Voladoras” translates to “flying jewels” in English. Doyle uses “Joyas Voladoras” in this essay to tell what the first American explorers called the hummingbird because they are such small, majestic birds which these explorers had never seen. (Para. 1)
The constant process of life and death, driven by an indestructible progression of time, explains the attitude of carpe diem expressed in three poems focused on human love being a fickle matter. Within the poems “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick, and “Youth’s the Season Made for Joys” by John Gay, the concept of how a shy attitude towards the inevitable end of all life is exposed as an inherently useless view. Nevertheless, though their primary themes and ideas of this constant procession of time are obviously expressed, the manner in which they do this, through figurative language and imagery, is the main point in which each of these three poems can be contrasted and examined
"Because the truth was simple, not a long-drawn-out record of flowered shifts, tree cages, selfishness, ankle ropes and wells. Simple: she was squatting in the garden and when she saw them coming and recognized schoolteacher's hat, she heard wings. Little hummingbirds stuck their needle beaks right through her headcloth into her hair and beat their wings. And if she thought anything, it was No. Nono. Nonono. Simple. She just flew. Collected every bit of life she had made, all the parts of her that were precious and fine and beautiful, and carried, pushed, dragged them through the veil, out, away, over there where no one could hurt them. Over there. outside this place, where they would be safe. And the hummingbird wings beat on." (163)
Poetry is a part of literature that writers used to inform, educate, warn, or entertain the society. Although the field has developed over the years, the authenticity of poetry remains in its ability to produce a meaning using metaphors and allusions. In most cases, poems are a puzzle that the reader has to solve by applying rhetoric analysis to extract the meaning. Accordingly, poems are interesting pieces that activate the mind and explore the reader’s critical and analytical skills. In the poem “There are Delicacies,” Earle Birney utilizes a figurative language to express the theme and perfect the poem. Specifically, the poem addresses the frangibility of the human life by equating it to the flimsy of a watch. Precisely, the poet argues that a human life is short, and, therefore, everyone should complete his duties in perfection because once he or she dies, the chance is unavailable forever.
...d genuine excitement, although the reasons were still scientific. The birds’ effects on Dillard, on the other hand, contrasted from how the birds had affected Audubon. Throughout her whole encounter with the starlings, Dillard “didn’t move” at all. She was mesmerized from when the birds first appeared to her up until they had wiped out into the woods. As the birds disappeared into the trees, she “stood with difficulty” with her “spread lungs [roaring]” Ultimately, Dillard was appalled by the magnificence of the flocks in flight.
A simile, this line states that the man in the poem wishes to be similar to a hummingbird. Using the denotation of hummingbirds, they are extremely small birds with rapid heart rates. Although the connotation of hummingbirds is mostly positive, a human likeness to one is primarily negative. To compare himself to a small avian animal furthers the theme of the man being fragile. Juxtaposed to the use of hummingbird is “So he slept on a mountain” (Wilco 18). The contrast between these two words is an additional example of the difference in size of the man’s projected likeness and his
Whenever the narrator questions the Raven on when his deceased love will return, or when he will stop grieving, the Raven responds with the repeated word “Nevermore” (Poe 102). The bird’s incessant reminders signify that since Lenore’s death is eternal, the narrator’s consequent anguish from it must be as well, which is why the narrator is incapable to ever recover from the Raven’s words on his loss. For, this leaves an everlasting impression on the narrator, prompting him to demand the bird, “‘Take thy beak out of my heart’” (Poe 101). In this metaphor, the author alludes that the Raven’s ‘beak’ is the words it is saying to the narrator, and the ‘heart’ is not representative of the narrator’s physical heart, because the bird is not physically attacking the speaker, but is making him aware of his eternal loss and irreversibly breaking him down emotionally. Therefore, Poe’s use of repetition and metaphor aid him in expressing the loss induced anguish of the
Moore begins the last stanza with an ambiguous “So”. Although one has a heightened awareness of mortality, one “behaves,” one keeps the ego disciplined. This is the same concept as that of the caged bird who, though held captive in a cruelly small space, continues to sing with all his heart. Despite the bird's lack of “satisfaction” because of his loss of flight and freedom, he knows “joy”.
Hummingbirds have evolved certain behavioural and physical traits which allows for them to be more energetically efficient, such as specialized storage and digestion adaptations, feeding and flying adaptations and breathing adaptation. Hummingbirds are extremely small and their muscles for flight are highly oxygen-dependent and require large amounts of energy. Hummingbirds are one of the smallest endotherms and any energetic output can be metabolically stressful. The hummingbirds’ small body size means that they have very little room for energy storage and therefore often endure energetic and metabolic stresses. They are the one of the oldest aves, dating back to some 33 million years ago and have evolved certain energy efficient adaptations that have allowed for them to live so long. These adaptations allow Hummingbirds to efficiently meet their energetic needs which in turn, allows for them to not only survive but also continue to evolve and expand their specific niches.
First, the hummingbirds are a favorable example of living life to the fullest. For example, they try to do as much as possible in a day. In the text it says: “Each one visits a thousand flowers a day.” (page 30, line 15). Because the hummingbird’s
The poem had been one of the owner’s favorites and the house read it to her every night before bed. When the poem is read to the woman before bed, the house says, “There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, and swallows circling with their shimmering sound…” (4). This line from the poem read by the house describes the perfect image of nature and its purpose. The poem discusses different images and proves life’s beauty to its reader. Whoever was to read the poem is meant to recognize the significance of nature and its beauty, and how often it is overlooked. People expect nature to tend to their every need, when in fact, nature is in no debt to
The speaker started the poem by desiring the privilege of death through the use of similes, metaphors, and several other forms of language. As the events progress, the speaker gradually changes their mind because of the many complications that death evokes. The speaker is discontent because of human nature; the searching for something better, although there is none. The use of language throughout this poem emphasized these emotions, and allowed the reader the opportunity to understand what the speaker felt.
In the poem “Sympathy” the author explains why the caged bird sings, this is said many times through the poem. The caged bird attempts to get out of his cage, he doesn’t stop trying to escape. “I know why the caged bird beats his wing Till it’s blood is red on the cruel bars; For he must fly back to his perch and cling When he fain would
Although this poem is reverent to the yellow bird, it is undoubtedly about its death and burial; it is a poem about beauty that has been “extinguished”. The “electric, excited, murmurous”(36-38) bird whose beauty pertained to its “defiance”(54) was entrapped, restricted, forced to go against its natural ways. Even when Neruda mentions the beauty of the bird, he does not forget to attach the reminder that it no longer exists or that it was taken away from the bird. The characteristics, the “yellow flashes, the black lightning”(lines 10-11), that once made the bird one with nature were covered in dirt when it was buried. Readers can imagine not only the bird encaged and dead, but also the way Neruda associated its color and way of being to one of nature 's occurrences. So when the reader imagines the bird buried, they also see yellow and black lightning. And the inevitable noise and the feeling of fearful amazement that comes with it. The burial of a bird is also a reminder of the mood at people’s funerals. Moreover, many people keep birds as pets trapped in a small cage rather than let it be free where it 's supposed to be. Many times, the captors are aware of the cruelty but still wish to selfishly and without benefits hold on to their beauty and not let it go. Intertwined in