In “There But for the Grace,” Wislawa Szymborska is creating a list of situations that separated the survivor and victims of the holocaust. She uses form, sound devices, and language in this poem to communicate the message that there’s more to luck and chance than just lotteries and raffles. Sometimes it can be the difference between life and death. In this poem, the author is speaking to the survivors of the Holocaust and expressing to them how lucky they were and how they had good chances while escaping the Holocaust. Using form, Wislawa Syzmborska conveys the message through a serious of parallelism, stanzas, and lines in her unconventional poem. Examples of parallelism are found in the 2nd and 3rd stanza where the poet is emphasizing “because” and “luckily” to show the reader that because of these situations the victim survived and that the victim was extremely lucky to have all these materials provided to hide and protect the victim which adds to the message. The poem begins with a breathless response to some disaster, as if the speaker is processing as we listen. Therefore, the mood is rushed and fast paced. The parallelism keeps the poem moving and at a quicker pace while sustaining the mood. The poem itself is in an unconventional form. With the different lined stanzas and different line lengths, she uses them to represent different situations and with the different situations and circumstances, it comes out to be successful, into a meaningful poem, which correlates to the whole message. With the different turns the victim took by chance, that person survived. Form is used, in this poem, to gather together ideas and unify the poem. Sound Devices help convey the poet’s message by appealing to the reader’s ears and dr... ... middle of paper ... ...f this poem. Rhyming and rhythm bring out the musical quality of language. Music is more happy and spirited. So, if rhyming and rhythm were placed in her poem, it would make it sound delightful and happy which wouldn’t sound right taken that she is talking about escaping the holocaust. Every device that Wislawa Szymborska used has its own purposes. Some were used and some weren’t. The devices that she didn’t use also conveyed the message that this poem isn’t about delight and happiness; it’s about something more serious. In summation, the poem “There But for the Grace,” creates a list of situations that separated the survivor and victims of the holocaust. She uses form, sound devices, and language in this poem to communicate the message that there’s more to luck and chance than just lotteries and raffles. Sometimes it can be the difference between life and death.
The two poems best illustrate, through a reading put in a wider context of black suffering, Finney’s success in making the beautifully said thing intersect with the difficult-to-say-thing through her sharpened pencil (“Nikky Finney”), thus reshaping the present. The historical approach is necessary in order for given allusions to be situated in their social, political and cultural background. In order to escape intentional fallacy, a poet should relate his work to universal concerns. The application of the (auto)biographical-historical approach necessitates the investigation of some points: the relevance of the poet’s personal life and his/her poems; the expression of certain beliefs of the poet and his personal experience in relation to public concerns and beliefs of the time; the representation of historical figures in the poems; adequate depiction of the time/context of the poems (“Literary Criticism”); the poems as a reflection, a product of the time; the reformulation of actual events for special purposes; the difference between fictional representation and reality; the difference the time; understanding past events mirrored in the poems; and the impact of historical events/movements and literary works in formulating the poems.
This poem is telling a story, perhaps of someone grieving over the loss of someone lose to them, with no happiness nor hope left to have. “Here you sit beside me, Our shadows have outgrown us. The lamp goes out, The joy already came, already went. Our heart will grieve, We’ll sit here melancholy, Like children greatly punished. Here you sit beside me, Our shadows have outgrown us” Earlier within the poem it states “The joy already came, already went” which is meaning there is no joy left as it was once there, just sadness and sorrow left behind. This poem shows that he, and other people he was with, went through a great amount of sadness and loss because the Holocaust took loved ones and family members away and he may have felt as if he didn't have hope left any chance of happiness.
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness,” Desmond Tutu once said (“Desmond Tutu Quotes”). During the Holocaust, the Jews were treated very badly but some managed to stay hopeful through this horrible time. The book Parallel Journeys by Eleanor Ayer shows how Helen Waterford and Alfons Heck who had two very different stories but managed to stay hopeful. Helen was a Jew who went into hiding for awhile before being taken away from her family and being sent to a concentration camp. Alfons was a member of the Hitler Youth where he became the youngest member of the German air force. To him, Hitler was everything and he would die any day for him and his country. As for Helen, Hitler was the man ruining her life. The Holocaust was horrible to live through but some managed to survive because of the hope they contained.
The poem “Woodchucks” by Maxine Kumin, is about the narrator’s attempt to eradicate woodchucks from a garden. The figurative message of the poem is how a person can change from good to evil effortlessly. The metaphor of the Holocaust is intertwined in the poem and helps enhance the figurative message. The uniform format and the implication of Kumin’s word choices creates a framework that allows the reader to draw out deeper meanings that the literary devices create. Maxine Kumin’s use of an undeviating format, word choice, and allusion to the Holocaust reinforces the purpose of her poem.
Amazing Grace, allows the world outside of South Bronx, to grasp a small understanding of what it is like to live a destitute life. The inequality issues, healthcare problems, and educational shortcomings of the district are a few of Kozol's problems concerning the treatment of the lower class society today. The presence of drugs, the acts of prostitution, and the side items that come with living in the ghetto, are not things that should be present in a child's everyday life. Kozol's examination of the lives of the people living in these slums, clearly shows that these people deserve the same freedoms and comforts that others in privileged classes take for granted.
The Holocaust was a tragic event in history which instilled fear and sorrow in so many. This time can be seen as one without order, because the law at the time said the actions taken were just (epigraph translation). A poet was able, however, to take such a chaotic time in history in the poem The Book of Yolek, and create a more personal attachment (for the reader) to the topic. The poet Anthony Hecht has taken the Holocaust (more specifically the moving of Jewish orphans to a concentration camp) and made it simple and nostalgic, taking a more calm approach to the subject ("5th August 1942: Warsaw Orphans Leave for Treblinka"). By using the form of a Sestina (very precise form difficult to properly do), along with the images, rhetorical use of grammar, and the tone portrayed throughout the piece, Anthony Hecht demonstrates a peaceful outlook can be given to the most chaotic moments in human life (Strand et al. 20). However, he also demonstrates the need for emotional attachment when referring to an occurrence (in history) of the past.
Edward Taylor’s Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children and Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold are similar in their approach with the illustration of how beautiful and magnificent God’s creations are to humankind. However, each poem presents tragic misfortune, such as the death of his own children in Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children and the cold, enigmatic nature of human soul in Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold. Taylor’s poems create an element of how cruel reality can be, as well as manifest an errant correlation between earthly life and spiritual salvation, which is how you react to the problems you face on earth determines the salvation that God has in store for you.
World War I and II brought the worst of times for some people; loved ones were lost, families were separated, homes were destroyed, and innocent lives were taken during this time. There are many ways to deal with these hardships; Jewish poet, Avrom Sutzkever, used his hard times as inspiration for his writing and as a way to deal with the war and survive it (INSERT CITATION). This part of history also resulted in other great works of art as a way to deal with what the war brought, during and after the war was over. Avrom Sutzkever wrote his poem “Frozen Jews,” using such dark and depressing imagery, connotation, and diction because of his historical and biographical background.
In these few lines, Wilner has gone through the entire Jewish life cycle in the early 20th century. Jews live in small, cramped ghettos; they die at the hands of Aryan oppressors; they are buried in a way unbefitting their religious traditions; and they go to Sheol. The first five lines of the poem focus on the death and burial of the Jews of Prague.
The youth of today are more likely to have a favourite song rather than a favourite poem. Although the feelings and hidden meanings expressed in songs are often unacknowledged by the listener, they often have qualities that resemble those of a typical poem. These qualities include word choice, mood, hidden meanings and imagery. Using the songs “Luka” by Suzanne Vega, and “April Come She Will” by Simon and Garfunkle, I am going to prove that songs can be considered a form of modern day poetry.
He uses powerful imagery and onomatopoeia to achieve the desired effects that make the poem more realistic. All this combined together produces effective thought provoking ideas and with each read, I gradually get an improved understanding and appreciation of the poem.
Poets express their concerns about human suffering, the cruel nature of Nazis and the living conditions of War camps through the use of poetic devices in order to create a response in the readers. Through poetic devices used by Lily Brett and Trish McCallister, they make the reader sympathise with the victims of World War Two, specifically the Jews, and they create hatred towards the Nazis and their actions towards these victims.
The tone of the poem, in the beginning, is quite sarcastic in a way and almost mocking war in the face of it.
When reading or listening to poetry, the main objective for me is to feel moved. Happiness, longing, sadness are some of the feelings that can be achieved just by listening to others’ words. It is within these words that creates another world, or separates us from our own. Words all have a certain kind of attachment to them, so if used properly an author can stimulate a reader beyond belief.
One of the many examples of sound device, is the way the author uses Consonance, “but what is this warmth I hear the light tease about”(Scarlet 22).” This helps the author make the words stand out, using the same consonant sound in the middle and end. The author states “it do not know how it feels to be warm”(Scarlet 23)”, this emphasises the sound of the words, and it makes the sentence stand out more than the others and helps the author show the reader just how much she doesn’t know what it feels like. Another good Sound Device the author uses is Rhyme, “and for that reason it scares me”(Scarlet 61)” and “really scares me”(Scarlet 62).” This also helps the reader, because of the rhyming repetition of the two lines, it shows the reader just how scared the speaker really is; just another reason why this poem is the