A Different Type of Author, A Different Type of Poem In Frank O'Hara's "To the Harbormaster", a ship captain seems to be alone at sea on a voyage to a Harbor. The poem is written as if it is a letter to the Harbormaster, hence the name of the poem. Nevertheless, "To the Harbormaster" leaves the reader with images of a vast ship and an anxious ship captain with one last dangling hope. With subdued language and short sentences, this poem is almost the opposite of the normal writing style of Frank O'Hara. "To the Harbormaster" by Frank O'Hara utilizes figurative language, imagery, tone, symbolism, and allusion to have a grand effect on the reader's thoughts long after they finish the poem. The metaphors in "To the Harbormaster" are immense and exceptionally significant to the entirety of the poem itself. This poem contains the speaker, which is perceived to be the ship captain, a large ship, and whoever "you" is perceived to be. The speaker uses a metaphor in that he is comparing his journey to reach "you" to that of a voyage on a ship. At times, it seems that the speaker is even taking place as the ship. "In storms and / at sunset, with the metallic coils of the tide / around my fathomless arms' (lines 4-5) and "I offer my hull and the tattered cordage of my will" (10-11) give in to placing qualities of the ship onto the speaker himself. These …show more content…
metaphors are "revolutionary in the...ways it produces the speaking and writing subject"(Davidson) as one instead of two. To gain better understanding of "To the Harbormaster", the reader must engulf themselves in the overflowing amount of imagery given. The imagery in this poem is built up by the recurring declaration of commitments by the speaker. The speaker is willing to do anything to get to his addressee--"I am unable to understand the forms of my vanity / or I am hard alee with my Polish rudder in my hand and the sun sinking" (8-9)--although he is well aware that it may all be in vain. O'Hara does a remarkable job of "creating kinship structures"(Tomkins) that relate to everyday people through something that doesn't relate to everyday people-- a ship and a harbormaster. In assurance to "reach you" (1), the speaker goes through life endangering experiences such as "terrible channels where the wind drives me against the brown lips of the reeds"(11-12). But, the beautiful art in "To the Harbormaster" is not the relationship between the speaker and the addressee, but rather the imagery O'Hara used to describe the efforts taken to reach one another. The tone of O'Hara's poem is full of yearning and anticipation, yet full of despair at the end. "I trust the sanity of my vessel; and / if it sinks, it may well be in answer / to the reasoning of the eternal voices" (14-16). The speaker has not quite lost hope in reaching his addressee, but has come to realize that it is up "to the reasoning of the eternal voices" (16) to declare one's fate. The poem reaches its peak of despair in the last line when the speaker understands that "the waves which have kept me from reaching you"(17) contain the path of his fate. "O'Hara employs images of undead" (Lagapa) eternal voices in "To the Harbormaster" to "express [his] views on" (Lagapa) the control one has over their own fate. "To the Harbormaster" also recognizes the romantic delusion that humans often find themselves in. The speaker comes across as the unreliable lover who is "always tying up / and then deciding to depart"(3-4). It also recognizes that humans are often the ones that stand in the way of finding their own love when O'Hara writes, " though my ship was on the way it got caught / in some moorings" (2-3). But, overall, the poem shows you that this romance is one sided when it acknowledges the truth in the last few lines : "I trust the sanity of my vessel; and / if it sinks, it may well be in answer/ to the reasoning of the eternal voices, / the waves which have kept me from reaching you" (14-17). Frank O'Hara's "To the Harbormaster" is a symbol of an apology.
O'Hara allowed "the reasoning of the eternal voices, / [and] the waves which have kept me from reaching you"(16-17) to symbolize the imperfections of mortal life. And in addition he added trials such as "the terrible channels where the wind drives me against the brown lips / of the reeds"(12-13) and where the "ship was on the way it got caught / in some moorings" (2-3) to symbolize as an apology for the limitations placed on a human life. This symbolizes as an apology because the speaker is repeatedly encountering obstacles to which he must ask
forgiveness. As an extension to the symbols in the poem, there are two biblical allusions. Anyone who has read the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament, would recognize the first biblical allusion in the poem: "I am unable / to understand the forms of my vanity" (6-7), but they may not see the poem as a whole to be a biblical allusion. In "To the Harbormaster", the reader comes to understand that the speaker had no control over his fate, but rather that the "eternal voices"(16) that "have kept me from reaching you" (17) had control all along, even before his journey began. The Bible also teaches that God has "predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will" (Ephesians 1:5). Therefore, O'Hara used a biblical allusion in "To the Harbormaster" to further embed the truth that no human has control over their own fate. Frank O'Hara's "To the Harbormaster" may seem like many of his other poems: free verse, long breathless sentences, and lively images. But, in truth, this poem is strikingly different then all his other poems. "To the Harbormaster" has vivid images of ships and reeds while his others are light and warm pictures of people. "To the Harbormaster" has quiet language where his others have loud, bustling language. "To the Harbormaster", while still free verse, proposes a natural flow instead of gasped breathing. Overall, Frank O'Hara created a masterpiece that easily describes and depicts the relationships between mankind without evoking anger, but rather, moving people toward understanding and recognition of their fate. Work Cited O'Hara, Frank. "To the Harbormaster". Poetryfoundation.org. Poetry Foundation, 2014. Web. 27 July 2014. Davidson, Ian. "Symbolism and code in Frank O'Hara's early poems." Textual Practice 2009: Vol. 23 Issue 5, p787-802. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 July 2014. Lagapa, Jason. "Parading the Undead: Camp, Horror and Reincarnation in the Poetry of Frank O'Hara and John Yau." Journal of Modern Literature 2010: Vol. 33 Issue 2, p92-113. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 July 2014. Tomkins, David. "Frank O'Hara: The Poetics of Coterie." American Literature 2008: Vol. 80 Issue 2, p411-414. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 July 2014. English Standard Version Student Study Bible. Crossway. Illinois: Wheaton. 2011. Print.
Finally, although it might be argued that many of the images in the poem have individual inspiration, it would seem that, by deriving the most important (almost symbolic) imagery - the beginning and end from the scene of the Harbour - Slessor has given a discernible unity of concept and mood to his poem, and created a work which is both validly Australian in derivation, and at the same time universal in its implication.
“Morro Bay” is a poem by Robinson Jeffers with many examples of imagery and diction. The poet also has some examples of personification in a couple of lines. Jeffers uses these literary devices to change the audiences tone and to establish his connection between him and the bay. These literary devices make the poem less comprehensible for the audience and harder for them to find the true meaning of the poem.
The author shows the reader the sea just as the sailor does as death, but more than death
Alistair Macleod’s “The Boat” is a tale of sacrifice, and of silent struggle. A parent’s sacrifice not only of their hopes and dreams, but of their life. The struggle of a marriage which sees two polar opposites raising a family during an era of reimagining. A husband embodying change and hope, while making great sacrifice; a wife gripped in fear of the unknown and battling with the idea of losing everything she has ever had. The passage cited above strongly presents these themes through its content
The juxtaposition of the Titanic and the environment in the first five stanzas symbolizes the opposition between man and nature, suggesting that nature overcomes man. The speaker characterizes the sea as being “deep from human vanity” (2) and deep from the “Pride of Life that planned” the Titanic. The diction of “human vanity” (2) suggests that the sea is incorruptible by men and then the speaker’s juxtaposition of vanity with “the
The poem is notable for Hayden's characteristically accurate evocation of imagery. Just like his other poems, Hayden’s imagery in this poem is very vivid. The reader is able to imagine or see these images in their inner minds. Thus, the diver “sank through easeful/azure/swiftly descended/free falling, weightless/plunged” he described the diver’s carefree attitude and relaxed attitude as he dove into the sea. Thrilled and enchanted by what he sees in the wrecked ship, he lingers for more than intended. When he was brought to the reality of the danger he was in, he, “...in languid/frenzy strove/began the measured
He turns her from beautiful, innocent, and pure to lifeless, brown, and limp like the dead seaweed. Additionally, just like how the daughter’s body is being tossed around by the waves without anyone else’s control, the outcomes of arrogant behavior also happen without anyone’s control. Although the skipper did not intend for his daughter to die, his borderline-smug attitude ultimately ends up ruining everything about her. The imagery used here depicts what a person’s overconfidence does to the things they love and care about. In conclusion, Longfellow uses imagery of the skipper’s eyes and daughter’s hair to convey the poem’s theme to his audience.The author of “Wreck of the Hesperus”, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, uses personification, simile, and imagery to establish that the overconfidence and pride that people have leads to a wild downward spiral for that person, and for the innocent things that the person loves. This is important for people to remember because overconfidence leads to an over-inflated ego and an excessive amount of pride, which weakens people and their relationships with others. People like this find it difficult to reach out and think it’s below them to ask for help or want help.
...ion of the situation to the Ancient Mariner. Moreover, the way in which the dialogue is presented, makes the structure seems more of a script of a play. The structure of the poem is a key characteristic in displaying the theme, for by telling the story as a personal experience, it helps the reader understand the moral and theme intended as a warning to people.
To conclude, there are two main opposing representations and aspects of home presented in this poem, from what is seen as the "norm", the narrators life on land, to the "favoured", the narrators life at sea. Home is irrevocably linked to lifestyle and should not just be where the heart is,(though there is a sense that our "Heart's fulfilment" is important) but should more importantly be a place where we can live a life that will bring us towards heaven, which the poem portrays as our eternal home. The Seafarer is a poem which urges us to carefully "consider where we possess our home, and then think how we com thither."
A poem without any complications can force an author to say more with much less. Although that may sound quite cliché, it rings true when one examines “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop. Elizabeth’s Bishop’s poem is on an exceedingly straightforward topic about the act of catching a fish. However, her ability to utilize thematic elements such as figurative language, imagery and tone allows for “The Fish” to be about something greater. These three elements weave themselves together to create a work of art that goes beyond its simple subject.
The charge of the light brigade and o captain, my captain both use metaphors but are used in different ways. The charge of the light brigade uses metaphors “into the valley of death” in stanza one and two to describe the battlefield. Uses “into the jaws of death” to emphasize that the soldiers were going to die but they kept on going anyway. In o captain my captain the whole poem is a metaphor towards Abraham Lincoln. The sailor on the ship is grieving towards the death of his captain which is abraham lincoln and the people on the dock waiting for his return is the country. Although both authors use metaphors in many ways, they also use personification in many different ways.
The Seafarer is about an old sailor, and the loneliness and struggle of being out at sea. The speaker uses his loneliness out at sea along with his struggles such as the cold and hunger he faces. The speaker puts emphasis on his loneliness by saying, ?my heart wanders away, my soul roams with sea?. This adds to the imagery that the sailor is attached to his life at sea, his love for sailing yet adds the isolation that comes with his life.
In the story "The Open Boat," by Stephen Crane, Crane uses many literary techniques to convey the stories overall theme. The story is centered on four men: a cook, a correspondent, Billie, an oiler who is the only character named in the story, and a captain. They are stranded in a lifeboat in stormy seas just off the coast of Florida, just after their ship has sunk. Although they can eventually see the shore, the waves are so big that it is too dangerous to try to take the boat in to land. Instead, the men are forced to take the boat further out to sea, where the waves are not quite as big and dangerous. They spend the night in the lifeboat and take turns rowing and then resting. In the morning, the men are weak and exhausted. The captain decides that they must try to take the lifeboat as close to shore as possible and then be ready to swim when the surf inevitably turns the boat over and throws the men into the cold sea. As they get closer to land a big wave comes and all the men are thrown into the sea. The lifeboat turns over and the four men must swim into shore. There are rescuers waiting on shore who help the men out of the water. Strangely, as the cook, captain and correspondent reach the shore safely and are helped out of the water, they discover that, somehow, the oiler has drowned after being smashed in the surf by a huge wave. (255-270) “The Open Boat’s” main theme deals with a character’s seemingly insignificant life struggle against nature’s indifference. Crane expresses this theme through a suspenseful tone, creative point of view, and a mix of irony.
The human voyage into life is basically feeble, vulnerable, uncontrollable. Since the crew on a dangerous sea without hope are depicted as "the babes of the sea", it can be inferred that we are likely to be ignorant strangers in the universe. In addition to the danger we face, we have to also overcome the new challenges of the waves in the daily life. These waves are "most wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall", requiring "a new leap, and a leap." Therefore, the incessant troubles arising from human conditions often bring about unpredictable crises as "shipwrecks are apropos of nothing." The tiny "open boat", which characters desperately cling to, signifies the weak, helpless, and vulnerable conditions of human life since it is deprived of other protection due to the shipwreck. The "open boat" also accentuates the "open suggestion of hopelessness" amid the wild waves of life. The crew of the boat perceive their precarious fate as "preposterous" and "absurd" so much so that they can feel the "tragic" aspect and "coldness of the water." At this point, the question of why they are forced to be "dragged away" and to "nibble the sacred cheese of life" raises a meaningful issue over life itself. This pessimistic view of life reflects the helpless human condition as well as the limitation of human life.
Symbolism was used to express the Captains minds set. In the beginning paragraphs, the Captain is viewed as depressed, apprehensive, and insecure. The Captain viewed the land as insecure, whereas the sea was stable. The Captain was secure with the sea, and wished he were more like it.