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Was john updike a&p about himself
Imagery and personification poems
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In John Updikes poem ‘Marching Through a Novel’ he utilizes personification to bring the novel and his characters to life. The way in which he displays himself as a general further develops the language needed to convey the relationship between the novelist and the characters in the novel. Updike begins the poem by personifying the characters as if he was a general leading an army. “My characters greet me with misty faces though chilled”, this line describes the characters as willing but scared soldiers ready to begin training. When Updike describes his characters as changing “clothes and mannerisms” with “instant obedience”, he further utilizes the technique of bringing his characters to life, and displays a connection between
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker starts by telling the reader the place, time and activity he is doing, stating that he saw something that he will always remember. His description of his view is explained through simile for example “Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets of their branches” (Updike), captivating the reader’s attention
In “Marching through a Novel,” John Updike, conveys a complex relationship between the novelist and characters, by representing the author as a god-like figure whose characters are like his soldiers ready to take action upon his command. John Updike successfully portrays this characterization through his use of metaphors, diction, and imagery.
In his poem, “Prometheus,” Emery George’s speaker closely aligns himself with the main character to describe his theft of fire and its effects on the story of humankind. Even though the narrator speaks in third person, he knows Prometheus’s thoughts and is very in-tune with his experience suggesting that perhaps Prometheus is actually the speaker. His conversational and easy to understand voice goes from cheeky in the first stanza to serious in the second as the horrific consequences of Prometheus’s actions, the bombing of two cities, become apparent. George’s use of enjambment, punctuation, and diction creates continuity throughout the poem in order to highlight the interconnectedness of all things and ultimately pose questions about inevitability and fate.
Updike, John. "A & P." The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 2nd Edition. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martin's Press, 1990. 407-411.
Updike is famous for taking other author's works and twisting them so that they reflect a more contemporary flavor. While the story remains the same, the climate is singular only to Updike. This is the reason why there are similarities as well as deviations from Joyce's original piece. Plot, theme and detail are three of the most resembling aspects of the two stories over all other literary components; characteristic of both writers' works, each rendition offers its own unique perspective upon the young man's romantic infatuation. Not only are descriptive phrases shared by both stories, but parallels occur with each ending, as well (Doloff 113).
Updike, John. “A&P”. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Eds. R.V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. Shorter Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000. 864 - 869.
Updike, John. "A&P." The Bedford Introduction To Literature. Ed. Editor's Name(s). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin, 2005.
Updike, John “A&P.” Exploring Literature: Writing and Arguing About Fiction, Poetry, Drama and The Essay.4th e. Ed. Frank Madden. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. 496-501. Print.
Updike, John. "A & P" Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
Updike, John. "A&P." Thinking and Writing About Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. 981-86. Print.
Owen opens his poem with a strong simile that compares the soldiers to old people that may be hunch-backed. ‘Bent double, like old beggars like sacks.’ ‘like sacks’ suggests the image that the soldiers are like homeless people at the side of a street that is all dirty. This highlights that the clothes they were wearing were al...
John Updike’s poems are written in a very peculiar style. Unlike most poets, Updike’s poems seem to tell a story, rather than depict a singular emotion. This is due to the fact that many of Updike’s poems deal with simple, yet focused topics. Updike masters the use of vivid language to produce powerful images in the minds of his readers. The use of such strong language in his poems allow his readers to see and experience the messages which he is portraying. Although the topics of Updike’s poems vary immensely, the same detailed conceptions are evoked from every poem.
John Updike was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1932. Later in life he would develop an affinity for providing the setting for many of his stories in the areas neighboring Reading (AA). Mr. Updike wrote affectionately about American life with an attitude of respect for its diversity. As mentioned earlier he enjoyed writing about people that were easily understood by middle-class Americans. His patriotism and religion formed a relationship with the common life experience of average Americans. His earliest aspiration was to become a cartoonist and later he desired to be a poet. He wrote many popular short stories however; his most celebrated works are among his novels.
Updike applies repetition in the line “a cloud appeared, a cloud of dots” (16) which describes the flock in more depth and gives a slight visualization of the occurrences. Also, in the lines “Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets/ of their branches. The maples/ were colored like apples” (3-5), Updike again uses repetition but of the word apples to create a comparison between the surrounding environment and other aspects of fall but also applies words describing nature to describe other things in nature. Updike also incorporates alliteration to show the quickening pace of the heartbeat, thoughts, and emotions of the narrator when he begins to make sense of the great flock soaring above, such as seen in the lines “It dartingly darkened in spots, paled, pulsed compressed, distended, yet” (19-20). In these lines, the narrator uses mostly action verbs, which gives the movement and flow of the line a quick and urgent rhythm, to which a heart would beat when excited or nervous. In the line “I lazily looked around” (32), Updike also uses alliteration, but in this sense, he uses it to give a calming and peaceful feel, or to make the heart and thoughts seem to slow down. The narrator’s story-like and precise use of diction, helps the reader to feel and better imagine the atmosphere and mood during the
With this being said Heaney uses similes and denotations throughout his poem to put in a sense of tone in the poem to help the readers get a better understanding of what the people were going through when they would see soldiers walking about. According to Dictionary.com (“Simile”, 2016). “A simile is a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared.” This is being used in line 18 where it says “standing there like youngsters” (Heaney, n.d.). This interprets how men working would pause and observe what was going on and the soldiers marching by just like kids would do when they see something remarkable. Heaney also uses Denotation. Which according to Dictionary.com, “Denotation is the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression, as distinguished from the ideas or meanings associated with it or suggested by it.” This is being showed in the poem throughout various lines. It’s being showed when he writes, “They would have heard the screaming, / Then heard it stop and had a view of us / In our gloves and aprons / coming down the hill” (lines 6-9), this evokes an image showing that what is being told and said is what is truly happening. That the soldiers were so close to them that they could hear the slightest scream of a pig being