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Significance of symbolism in literature
Significance of symbolism in literature
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The Road
The story ends with a sad mood. The ending is also symbolic by trying to imply that the struggle is not only to humans but also to other creatures. The author might expect the reader to look at the struggles and trouble from a different angle. The angle of struggles being part of life, [both to humans and animals. There is little to no hope of things getting better than they were. The author compares the life of people to the life of a miserable brook stout that has stayed in the mountains forever and whose attempts to get out have become futile.
Such an ending is implying that the struggle would continue. Also, it also implies that the boy would now get some motherly love. He would become introduced to new sources of refuge, the mother, and God.
The last bit of imagery involving the brook stout that lives
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in the mountains and is doomed to unhappiness and miserable life ends the story to signify that the struggle that was being experienced all along was not about to go. It was there to stay despite the new friends and a new mother. The new mother might have been just another source of trouble. The motherly love is not as important as knowing if the problems the boy was undergoing would come to an end. This is why the story ends with an emphasis to the desperate life that will not end soon rather than the new motherly love. The audience of this story might be young people who are undergoing daily sufferings. The story is meant to encourage them and remind them that ultimately life is all about survival among competing troubles. Everyone should struggle to live despite the prevailing conditions. The story ends in a symbolic tone.
There is the figurative use of language in a symbolic way to represent some actions and ideas in a way that appeals to the reader. The author compares the lifestyle of the brook stout fish to that of the boy and people at that time. Just like the stout was isolated and left to live in desolate conditions, so was the boy. The vermiculate patterns on the back of the brook stouts are described as being maps of a world in its becoming. This is symbolic in that it represented the events that had shaped the people. Everyone had some marks describing where they are from and what they have gone through. Again, the maps and mazes could not be corrected. The scars from the war, both physical and emotional were there to stay. The author is saying that these maps and mazes could not be made right again. The comparison of the marks and shapes on the trout to maps and mazes. Maps represent the incessant attempt by the trout to get away or out of the desolate glens and deep mountains. The maze is also symbolic and implies that the attempts to get out of a situation are like being confined in a maze. There is practically no
hope.
In conclusion, the story describes that life changes, and nothing stays the same throughout it. It is in the hands of the people to decide that how they want their life to be. They can make it as beautiful as they want to and they can also make it worse than it has ever been
Without the use of stereotypical behaviours or even language is known universally, the naming of certain places in, but not really known to, Australia in ‘Drifters’ and ‘Reverie of a Swimmer’ convoluted with the overall message of the poems. The story of ‘Drifters’ looks at a family that moves around so much, that they feel as though they don’t belong. By utilising metaphors of planting in a ‘“vegetable-patch”, Dawe is referring to the family making roots, or settling down somewhere, which the audience assumes doesn’t occur, as the “green tomatoes are picked by off the vine”. The idea of feeling secure and settling down can be applied to any country and isn’t a stereotypical Australian behaviour - unless it is, in fact, referring to the continental
Ithaca road is a comedy production aimed at teenagers. However, it seems to overdo it in some instances. For instance, they seem to have read a textbook on how to write a play for a teenage audience. Yes, they keep the set simple and the stage never changes, but they do this at the expense of the simplicity of the plot and characters (which is vastly more important). Also, they make classical references. No teenage student nowadays is expected to have read the odyssey. Yet the play incorporates events and names from the poem to get its point across. For instance, the home of the children is known as Ithaca – Odysseus’s homeland. Like him, they are carried away for twenty years or there abouts, divorced from their parents and family, and eventually return. Then there are the sirens, the bully girls who try to carry her off. And here choice of themes and way of getting them across is worse. They seem to have done high school English and thought
This darkly satiric poem is about cultural imperialism. Dawe uses an extended metaphor: the mother is America and the child represents a younger, developing nation, which is slowly being imbued with American value systems. The figure of a mother becomes synonymous with the United States. Even this most basic of human relationships has been perverted by the consumer culture. The poem begins with the seemingly positive statement of fact 'She loves him ...’. The punctuation however creates a feeling of unease, that all is not as it seems, that there is a subtext that qualifies this apparently natural emotional attachment. From the outset it is established that the child has no real choice, that he must accept the 'beneficence of that motherhood', that the nature of relationships will always be one where the more powerful figure exerts control over the less developed, weaker being. The verb 'beamed' suggests powerful sunlight, the emotional power of the dominant person: the mother. The stanza concludes with a rhetorical question, as if undeniably the child must accept the mother's gift of love. Dawe then moves on to examine the nature of that form of maternal love. The second stanza deals with the way that the mother comforts the child, 'Shoosh ... shoosh ... whenever a vague passing spasm of loss troubles him'. The alliterative description of her 'fat friendly features' suggests comfort and warmth. In this world pain is repressed, real emotion pacified, in order to maintain the illusion that the world is perfect. One must not question the wisdom of the omnipotent mother figure. The phrase 'She loves him...' is repeated. This action of loving is seen as protecting, insulating the child. In much the same way our consumer cultur...
For example, in the beginning of the story, Young Goodman Brown is leaving his wife Faith at sunset to go on a journey that cannot wait. The images of a sunset and of the approaching nighttime illustrate the fear of the unknown. Goodman Brown must travel through the darkness before he reaches the light of knowledge just as the prisoners in Allegory of the Cave must travel from the dark cave in order to reach the light. As the story continues, Hawthorne uses the image of a “dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest” to heighten the fear of the unknown. Goodman Brown has left the comfort of the cave of confusion and is beginning to discover the imperfections of the world and of its people.
The entire story was a symbol of Needy’s life. The setting in the story was symbolic to the way Needy was feeling. Needy’s life was diminishing right before his eyes, and he did not realize it. The different changes in the story represented how much Needy’s life had gradually changed over time. By reading the story the reader can tell that Needy was in a state of denial.
Making difficult decisions show up in life more often than realized. These choices can alter a person’s life in good and bad ways. “The Bicycle” by Jillian Horton is a story that focuses on a young talented pianist named Hannah. Throughout the story Hannah deals with the strict teachings of her Tante Rose, which leads her to make ironic decisions. Similarly, in the story “Lather and Nothing Else” by Hernando Tellez, the barber undergoes a dilemma in which he must consider his moral values before making his final decision. Both stories have a protagonist that face conflicts which lead to difficult decision making, and in the end leads the characters to discover themselves. In both stories the authors use the literary devices theme, irony and symbolism to compare and contrast the main ideas.
The poem contains the central idea that many of these children never understood what home really means. In Native American culture the people venerate earth and it is referred to as mother nature which we see in the poem. The rails cut right through their home but they don’t view them like the average person. They view the tracks as if they are scars across mother earths face and her face is the Native American’s homeland. She is scarred for eternity but she is perfect in their dreams. This symbolism is ironic because the children try to reach home using the railroad that ruined natural life for them and many other Native Americans. In the second stanza the speaker says “The worn-down welts of ancient punishments lead back and fourth” (15-16). Which can be talking about the marks on the children’s bodies after getting caught while running away. But the “word-down welts” can also symbolize the welts that were put on mother nature throughout history. The last five lines of the poem sums up the symbol of hope through their memories and dreams. The last line of the poem says, “the spines of names and leaves.” (20-24). The “spines” symbolize the physical strength of the children and their ability to maintain hope individually “names”, and for their tribe
In this poem, Blake is trying to dispel the myth of grandeur and glory associated with London and to show the 'real' people of London and how they felt. London was seen and portrayed as a powerful and wonderful city where the wealthy lived and socialised. However, Blake knew that London was really a dirty, depressing and poverty-stricken city filled with slums and the homeless and chronically sick. To reveal the truth, Blake combines description of people and places with the thoughts and emotions of the people. For example, the second stanza says:"In every cry of every Man,In every Infants cry of fear,In every voice: in every ban,The mind forg'd manacles I hear"Blake combines the descriptions of the crying baby and man with the observation that the people oppress their hopes and dreams, figuratively 'chaining up their minds' because they know that they will never be able to achieve their dreams. Another Example is in the third stanza when Blake describes the crying chimney-sweep and then the "blackning church", but is really saying that the church does not want to dirty its hands by helping the soot-covered [black] chimney sweep. Therefore, a "blackning church" is one that helps the common, dirty people, and Blake says that "every blackning church appalls", showing that the aristocracy and those in positions of power did not want the church that they supported associating with the common people.Throughout the poem, Blake uses fairly simple language, punctuated with the occasional obscure word, but generally the more common words, probably to appeal to the common people who he was supporting through this poem.In writing this poem, Blake is trying to make the reader understand the truth about London and understand about the 'real' people, and he is also encouraging the church, and the aristocracy to help the common people and to support them instead of pushing them away and disregarding them.
To begin, the reader may gather that the poem has a very dark and saddened tone. Due to Lowell's vivid imagery, a mental image of a dark urban setting is created. It also seems very cold, with the mentioning of wind and nighttime. Readers may be able to relate to urban places they know, adding to the reality of the poem. Connections can be made. The imagery is left in such a way that the reader can fill in the gaps with their own memories or settings. Also, since the poem uses free verse, the structure is left open to interpretation. This makes the poem more inviting and easier to interpret, rather than reading it as a riddle. However, though simple in imagery, the poem still captures the reader's interest due to the creation it sparks, yet it never strays away from the theme of bei...
In the Robert Frost poem ‘’The Road Not Taken’’ there is a pervasive and in many ways intrinsic sense of journey throughout. In such, the poem explores an aspect associated with human decision, or indecision, relative to the oxymoron, that choices with the least the difference should bear the most indifference, but realistically, carry the most difficulty. This is conveyed through the use of several pivotal techniques. Where the first such instance is the use of an extended metaphor, where the poem as a whole becomes a literary embodiment of something more, the journey of life. The second technique used is the writing style of first person. Where in using this, the reader can depict a clear train of thought from the walker and understand why and how he made the choice he made, and the ramifications of such. Lastly, we can depict a clear repetition of indecision throughout the first three stanzas, indecision that ultimately proves to be fruitless and subsequently telling us more than the arrival at a clear decision ever could.
In Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” there are many complexities that ultimately lead to the poem’s unity. At first glance this poem seems to be a very typical coming of age poem where the speaker has come to a major fork in the road and he must decide which path to take. At first glance this would be a very good statement to make; however, as the reader digs deeper and searches for the complexity and the nuances of the poem the original assessment seems to be shallow and underdeveloped. In order to truly appreciate this poem as a work of art, the reader must search for the unity and complexity within it, otherwise this poetic work of art will go by unnoticed and cast off as a coming of age poem and nothing else.
Actions perhaps torn by indecision about which way was the best direction to travel, where life could lead next, and to determine what one would miss by passing by the opportunities on the path left behind. (2) And sorry I could not travel both,
I believe the poem “The Secrets We Hide” by Tiffany Franklin, is about struggling to find the meaning of our life. While struggling we don’t realize that answers were hidden with us all along. Even though the answers we may find are not something we want to accept, it’s something we need to learn to embrace instead of hiding it. The poem suggests that we needs to release this secrets because the more we hide the things that cause us pain the more we struggle to enjoy a happy life. The author’s purpose of writing this poem is to help people learn to accept who they are instead letting the pain inside of them destroyed them. Two key words my group decided upon in my poem is hidden and struggle because we found that
Everyone needs a sense of morals in life. These morals can be learned from family members, past experiences or even nature. Robert Frost takes imagery, emotion, symbolism, and he often uses nature in his poetry to not only paint a picture in the readers mind, but also to create a more of each work.