In the poem “The City of the End of Things” by Archibald Lampman he paints an image of a dystopian and mechanical future. The theme of this poem is a prediction of the natural world 's destruction and of the current industrialized future. Humans cannot live without nature, thus with the destruction of the natural world comes the downfall of humanity. Lampman wrote “Its roofs and iron towers have grown / None knoweth how high within the night”(9-10), which provokes a picture of a city that is ever growing, seemingly overnight. In the poem there is an ABAB rhyme scheme along with use of alliteration, onomatopoeia, and imagery. By using all of these techniques it helps the reader to better understand the message which is being relayed in the poem. Some of the subjects of this poem include, urbanization, dystopia, nature dying and the fall of
The reader gets a vivid image of a huge industrial city built in “valleys huge of Tartarus”(4). This reference to Tartarus is saying that the city is virtually in a hell-like area. The image of hell is further exemplified by the line “A flaming terrible and bright”(12), which conjures up thoughts of fire and heat. The reference to hell and flames adds to the theme because it brings to light the idea of destruction and nature burning away. Similar to what happens when there is a forest fire. The fire is not just coming out of nowhere though, it is coming “from out a thousand furnace doors”(16), which furthers the idea of industrialization. There are no longer humans in this city which is evident because when talking about the beings in the city Lampman wrote “They are not flesh, they are not bone,/ They see not with the human eye”(33-34). This part of the poem is important because if there are no more humans left it is easy to assume that the only driving force of these “Flit figures that with clanking hands”(31) is work. They work to make the city bigger and to build more than they already
The poem starts with an audacious statement: “He fired God” (George line 1). From the very beginning, the speaker exudes confidence, pride, and sass that captivate the reader. The entire first stanza is full of this kind of cheekiness and word play. Instead of boringly stating that Prometheus stole fire from Olympus and gave it to the humans, the speaker metaphorically says that Prometheus “plagiarized the fire, / and published all the flames in the hottest how-to / book of the season” (1-3). This analogy nods to George’s literary practice and the “how-to book” concept provides a convenient way of describing all the things Prometheus can teach humans to do with fire such as cooking and making armor. The sentence also demonstrates the silly and obvious humor that makes its way
John Hollander’s poem, “By the Sound,” emulates the description Strand and Boland set forth to classify a villanelle poem. Besides following the strict structural guidelines of the villanelle, the content of “By the Sound” also follows the villanelle standard. Strand and Boland explain, “…the form refuses to tell a story. It circles around and around, refusing to go forward in any kind of linear development” (8). When “By the Sound” is examined in regards to a story, the poem’s linear development does not get beyond the setting. …” The poem starts: “Dawn rolled up slowly what the night unwound” (Hollander 1). The reader learns the time of the poem’s story is dawn. The last line of the first stanza provides place: “That was when I was living by the sound” (3). It establishes time and place in the first stanza, but like the circular motion of a villanelle, each stanza never moves beyond morning time at the sound but only conveys a little more about “dawn.” The first stanza comments on the sound of dawn with “…gulls shrieked violently…” (2). The second stanza explains the ref...
According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, frontier as an adjective means “a new field for exploitative or developmental activity”. In Helen Hunt Jackson’s “Echoes in the City of the Angels”, Stewart Edward White’s “The Rules of the Game”, Upton Sinclair’s “Oil!”, and Louis Adamic’s “Laughing in the Jungle” Los Angeles is described as a frontier town. Los Angeles, long ago, used to be the Wild West. This is the basis of reasoning behind labeling Los Angeles as a frontier town. Jackson, White, Adamic, and Sinclair all establish Los Angeles as a frontier town after depicting its plethora of Wild West imagery, its developmental activity, and its exploitative activity.
Bradbury first depicted fire as a hurtful force through Montag, a fireman, who burn books. With the converted mentality of his culture, “it was [Montag’s] pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed” (3). Montag’s culture sees burning as an enjoyment; however, the fire portrayed here demonstrates the destruction of knowledge and personality. While Montag’s profession brings him joy he does not understand that burning is the most permanent form of destruction. He is oblivious to his governments’ strong desire to eliminate the ideas and knowledge that books hold. In this society, where ignorance is bliss and their phobia of unhappiness controls all aspects of life, people believe that their destructive fire “is bright and…clean”, as it is used as a means to keep themselves oblivious and happy (60). In addition, Bradbury establishes the difference in the symbolisms of fire by naming part one of his novel “The Hearth and the Salamander”. The hearth is the fireplace of the home and is the most positive image of fire. This fire contributes warmth and restores relationships between people. The salamander, the symbol of the firemen, and who personify fire’s destruction is contrasted with the hearth, which represents restoration.
In the poem, “The Was of Things,” (P 14) by Willie Perdomo, the poem is a free verse, no rhyme scheme, has 10 lines, and one stanza. The poem includes different techniques such as symbolism, personification, imagery, alliteration and so forth to illustrate different themes in the poem. The speaker uses enjambment in the poem to make readers think of what comes next. The beginning word of the poem is capitalized, the speaker trying to emphasize the first word in the poem or just followed a pattern. The purpose of the poem is to identify one theme in the poem, hence, what can be a theme captured in the poem “The Was of Things?” In this essay, I discuss the theme speculation and use structure, word usage, imagery, alliteration and symbolism to demonstrate the speculation throughout.
Vallejo utilizes the form of free verse in this poem. He uses free verse to go beyond the constraints of usual structures and forms to express his point of view on the hardships of the world, without regards to the “beauty” of the poem. This poem consists of thirteen non-rhyming couplets, each being identical in structure. This poem is without rhyme because Vallejo wants the content to be perceived as deeper than a rhyme scheme. Rather than writing poems for the art form and beauty of it, Vallejo often writes to bring attention to human suffering and problems in the world
In “To Build A Fire”, the main conflict throughout is man versus nature although it would be inaccurate to say that nature goes out of its way to assault the man. The fact of the matter is, nature would be just as cold without the man's presence regardless of him being there .The environment as a whole is completely indifferent to the man, as it frequently is in naturalist literature. The bitter environment does not aid him in any way, and it will not notice if he perishes. In the same way, the dog does not care about the man, only about itself. Ironically enough though, as the man was dying he was getting upset toward the dog because of its natural warmth, the instincts that it had, and its survival skills and those were the elements that the man lacked for survival. It is ironic that the man had to die in order to find out that man's fragile body cannot survive in nature's harsh elements, regardless of a human’s natural over-confidence and psychological strength.
The Valley of Ash, the least described region of the book, is an impoverished region connecting the prosperous, the wealthy New York City and the wealthier Long Island. The neighborhood is a “dismal scene” (23), which Nick Caraway is forced to view every time he rides the train into the city. The name valley of ash is an informal name deriving from the sheer quantity of ash, littering the city. Ashes cover and define everything in the city: the “ridges and hills and grotesque gardens”, the “houses and chimneys”, and the “men”. Similarly, the residents of the valley are hardly characterized by Caraway, because he cannot understand them. The smoke “obscures” and “obfuscates” the actions of these men both literally and figurative: a rich man like Caraway cannot understand the pure and intolerable poverty. The residents of the valley are plain and not very interesting. Most predominately featured ...
...s poems publication. In `A un olmo seco', we discover references to the cemetery of Leonor's grave, and the beauty of new shoots set against the decay of the `olmo's' trunk, which evokes Machado's young wifr in her terminal condition. `A un olmo seco' is highlights the central theme of landscape and countryside, and through the physical description, Machado remembers his personal experience in Soria. The river Duero acts as a leitmotif for the cemetery where his wife was buried. In `Caminos' as Machado develops the theme of his displacement in Baeza, his mood is finally attributed to the loss of his wife. Landscape can be linked with inner emotional landscape. The landscape in this poem is ominous, violent and inflexible: "hendido por el rayo." Therefore, landscape acts as a way of revealing inner emotion and Spanish National character throughout the collection.
What the author wants the reader to take away from this book is that because of the great fire there were fatal political ramifications for Nero. The author builds suspense in the book by
...hful and benevolent man, following his return from Old Hell Shaft, serves to exhibit the grave flaws of industrialism that are embodied by the ubiquitous serpents of smoke that hang over the factories.
The second stanza is in sonnet form, and develops the poem further by introducing a sphinx-like creature. This creature is akin to an anti-Christ of sorts, and a play on the Christian prophecy that the poem is named after. The metaphorical meaning of this creature is encased in modernism ambiguity, modernism being an unconventional literary style, with open-ended symbolism and messages. And thus, reader’s have yet to unanimously agree on an interpretation. However, I and several others, interpret it as the physical embodiment of the products of a conflicted post-WWI environment. Since the environment in the first stanza is volatile, and of it may arise a wretched and vile place that would envelope violence, and death. Violence and death that may derive from malicious intent and the scuffle of control from various states. And overall, makes for a frightening reality. Under this sentiment the logic becomes clear as to why readers commonly interpret the second stanza as an inadvertent prophecy of
Within London’s stories, he presents a dark tone but life lessons throughout his pieces of work. One of London’s works that mirrors dark tones, and life lessons is “To Build a Fire”. This story is about a man who is traveling in extreme, miserable cold weather conditions with his dog. Though this man was advised by an older man not to travel in these harsh conditions, he does it anyway. In this story, the man’s destination is a faraway camp with people whom in which he is supposed to meet with. At the beginning of the story, he starts out with such optimism and courage that he is going to make it to his destination with no problem. As the story goes along, his health and optimism starts to deteriorate. I loved how London, throughout the story included the turmoil that this man was starting to comprehend. For example, a sign of trouble that the man was experiencing was when the “circulation of wet and freezing feet cannot be restored by running when it is seventy-five below. No matter how fast he runs, the wet feet will freeze the harder.” (pg. 1052). At this point in the story, the stubborn man is now remembering the older man from Sulphur Creek who had warned him, and tried to give him advice. London has managed to present the downfall of the man’s well-being. As the man gets worse and his dog is no longer wanting to be in his company, the more the old man’s advice is brought up. Further in the story the man’s optimism is beginning to disperse, and he decides at one point after trying so hard will not make it to the camp. He later dies under a tree, and the dog later goes away from him, and heads to the camp alone. This story is a representation of regret and troubled events that this man endures because of his stubbornness. London was able to present a story with hope, optimism, doubt, regret, life lessons, and the reality. As a result, this is why I love this work by Jack London,
It is through the city itself, and the people who inhabit it that Blake elects to convey the harsh reality of the progression of time on the fallible nature of humans, and the enduring nature of machines. It is in “marks of weakness, marks of woe,” of passerby’s that the speaker identifies the sense of depression that has descended like the smog of an industrial city, upon its inhabitants. This entity that takes with it the hop...
The natural yet chaotic process of destruction is vividly depicted with contrasting images of destruction and purity throughout the poem, beginning with Pan entering the river in a disorderly