Crushing Creativity

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Creativity is very fragile. One person can destroy the balance. In this poem, it is the government that is disrupting this balance. They are trying to suppress all creativity like a seine. During “The Purse Seine”, the suppression of creativity is an ongoing battle. In “The Purse Seine”, Robinson Jeffers tells the audience about the helplessness of humans to the oppressive government using metaphors and other literary devices.
Symbolism is used throughout “The Purse Seine” to show that something as simple as a closing net can relate to a bigger picture. The most notable symbol in this poem is the actual seine. This net represents the government, and the pursing of the net represents that the “government takes all powers” and closes in on creativity. The seine depicts the trapping government. The fish “wildly beat from one wall to the/ other...” This symbolizes the intelligent people fighting back, but they are too late. The net is already being hauled in. Jeffers has many symbols personifying human weakness and helplessness. “How beautiful the scene is, and a little terrible, then, when the/crowded fish know they are caught...” The beautiful shimmering bodies represent how beautiful a human life can be, yet they are terrible because humans know that even in the joys of life, being caught by death is a threat. “…each beautiful slender body sheeted/with flame, like a live rocket…” Human lives are like the rockets. Although they are beautiful, they are short lived and can wane into oblivion without a trace. “The inevitable mass disasters” are also used by Jeffers to illustrate the helplessness of humans. If these “mass disasters” are inevitable, then the humans are too weak to stop it from happening. The symbols used by Robinson Jef...

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..., so no new ideas can be heard. In “The Purse Seine” many metaphors are used to portray the government, creativity, and human life.
Throughout “The Purse Seine”, many literary devices are used. Robinson Jeffers gives his opinion about humans through this poem by suggesting that they are dependent, helpless, and oblivious. He tells the audience this through the use of literary devices. By using symbolism and metaphors, he shows the reader that a closing net is more than closing net. It is a trapping government that is trying to ensnare all human creativity. Jeffers uses imagery to add depth to his words. His imagery adds to the symbols and metaphors, and makes them more descriptive and expressive. All throughout “The Purse Seine”, Robinson Jeffers uses metaphors and other literary devices to describe the oppressive government and the crushable creativity of society.

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