We see figurative language in most writing styles, but especially poems. Emily Dickinson’s poem, “The Railway Train,” uses a variety of figurative language. This poem uses personification and metaphors is to explain what the train does. In doing so it is compared to a horse. When it says, “I like to see it lap the miles, and lick the valleys up,” it uses personification or it gives the train human-like qualities. Lapping the miles and licking the valleys are things that a train could not literally do, but a human very well could. It also says, “And stop to feed itself at tanks.” A train doesn’t need to eat, but a human does. Later, it says the train crawls, complains, and neighs, which again, is an example of personification.
A good example would be when the mother in the story talks about her life using a metaphor of a staircase. In the beginning of the poem, the mother says, "Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, [...] But all the time, I’se been a-climbin’ on" (Hughes lines 1-9). This metaphor describes the mother's life experience, the reader can infer was hard, but the nice part of this excerpt is the final lines, where the metaphor of continuing to climb on the staircase is used to symbolize the mother's goal to persevere, no matter how tough life gets because she believes her efforts will accomplish something good.
He uses personifications specifically in this poem to write about what is going on and to describe things. “It's a hard life where the sun looks”(19)...”And its black strip of highway, big eyed/with rabbits that won’t get across ”(2)...”A pot bangs and water runs in the kitchen” (13) None of these are really human body parts on things such as the sun, a pot, or a highway, but they help describe what something does or what something looks like. In the first instance, the sun cannot actually look at something, but it could mean that the sun is visible to the humans, and if humans are out for a long time in the sun, they can get hot and exhausted. For the second line, the big-eyed highway could mean that the highway has many cars with bright headlights that are dangerous for the rabbits, the immigrants, to get across. For the third and final line, pots are not able to bang things on their own, and it could have possibly been a human who made the pot bang, preparing the meal of beans and brown soup that they survive on. There is also a simile in this poem, “Papa's field that wavered like a mirage” (24). This simile could suggest that the wind is moving the grass or crops on his father’s field and looked like an optical illusion. According to Gale Virtual Reference Library, the literary device, “tone” is used to convey the significant change of the author’s feeling in the poem. In the beginning lines, the tone is happy. The poem talks about nostalgia of when he was little, “They leap barefoot to the store. Sweetness on their tongues, red stain of laughter (5-6). (GVRL) These lines illustrate the nostalgia and happy times of Gary Soto’s life when he was probably a child. However, after line 11, the tone becomes more of a negative one. Soto later talks about Farm Laborers and how the job was not a great one. After line 19, a brighter
An example of personification is, “Do you think a snake killer kills muskrats?” said Rikki-Tikki scornfully. (paragraph 34). This is an example of personification because animals can not talk and do not have human-like qualities. This personification proves my theme because when Rikki-Tikki does this it shows his bravery to talk to Nagaina in that kind of tone. Another piece of evidence is “ “Then Rikki-Tikki came up and cried: ‘Turn round, Nagaina; turn and fight!’” (para 88). This is an example of personification because it gives the animals human-like qualities and that Rikki Tikki is talking to Nagaina as if they were people. He shows that he is brave by wanting to start a conflict between Nagaina. By using personification, it gives the text more exaggeration to show the fighting between Rikki-Tikki and
Figurative Language in used throughout poems so the reader can develop a further understanding of the text. In “The Journey” the author uses rhythm and metaphors throughout the poem. “...as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of the clouds..”(25-27). The author compares the star burning to finding your voice. Rhythm also develops the theme of the poem because throughout the story rhythm is presented as happy showing growing up and changing for the better is necessary and cheerful. In “The Laughing Heart” the author uses imagery and metaphors to develop the theme throughout the book. “There is a light somewhere. It may not be much light but it beats the darkness”(5-7). Always find the good out of everything, even it
The author use personification in the poem because he sees but things will be easier to explain if he uses figurative language. The metaphor comparing to things without using like or as like when she said in the poem ´´ Big ghost in a cloud´ ´ She used metaphor to give a better example of what she sees and what she sees Is cloud shaped as different animals or anything but in the poem she pretty much-seen cloud shaped as the ghost.
It was as I sat watching the black and white 1964 film, The Train, I realized that with today’s advanced special effects and technicolor, I was spoiled. Enormous amount of footage in films today is saturated with the latest special effects and at times the storyline is lost in all the latest and greatest marvels the film industry has to offer. The manner in which the film was directed by John Frankenheimer elicited an intensity to the drama and provided a grit and substance that can only be found in a black and white film. The film begins as the Allied forces at the end of World War II are approaching Paris and a German Colonel Von Waldheim, played by Paul Scofield, is formulating a plan in which to ship a collection of paintings he has accumulated
Orphan trains and Carlisle and the ways people from the past undermined the minorities and children of America. The film "The orphan Trains" tells us the story of children who were taken from the streets of New York City and put on trains to rural America. A traffic in immigrant children were developed and droves of them teamed the streets of New York (A People's History of the United States 1492-present, 260). The streets of NYC were dirty, overcrowded, and dangerous. Just as street gangs had female auxiliaries, they also had farm leagues for children (These are the Good Old Days, 19). During the time of the late 1800's and early 1900's many people were trying to help children. Progressive reformers, often called "child saver," attempted to curb exploitation of children (The American Promise, 834). One of the people who was obsessed with the plight of children was a man named Charles Brace. He created the NY "Children's Aid Society". This was a program that was best known for "Orphan Trains". In 1853, Brace founded this society to arrange trips, raise the money, and obtain legal permission needed for relocation (the Orphan trains, 1). The reaction to the orphan trains were both positive and negative.
...e use of figurative language and many literary techniques, Dickinson makes clear her theme, adding on to the intensity of the poem.
In lines 1-2 it says, “The mountain held the town as in a shadow I saw so much before I slept there once:.” This is an example of personification, because the mountain cannot literally hold the town. It means that the mountain is so massive that it forms a shadow over the town. The speaker had a different outlook on the town. The speaker is not from the same town that the mountain is located in. The town that the speaker lived in is shadowed by the mountain. His perspective of the town was different, meaning he viewed things differently and saw many things in the town that one from the mountains would see differently.
She would go on to state that the author’s use of rhyme, rhythm, and personification would not be able to exist without an extensive use of vocabulary. Emily Dickinson is able to choose from a wide arrange of words to sculpt and mold the poem into exactly what she wants. Without language the poem would be an idea that felt as though it was never really fleshed out and could only be seen at the surface level.
The speaker in this poem is overwhelmed by all the tasks, she does, which use up all her time; as a result, the speaker wants to relax and have fun in her life. However; it is not possible so the speaker finds death as her last resort. So when Death finally comes; she gladly enters his “carriage“ as she was weary of her daily life. When they arrive at her final resting place, the burial ground, she realizes it has been centuries since her death and the horses have been walking to eternity. This tells the reader Emily Dickinson believes in afterlife, and is probably looking forward to it.
Though Dickinson’s poem may initially seem transcendental, it can also be interpreted as a mixture of Emerson’s transcendental ideas and those that support the notion of imagination. Dickinson’s poem serves as a response to Emerson’s ideas because she adds on to his thoughts and unites his idea that there is oneness present in the world with the notion that imagination and sight serve as a bridge that connects human consciousness with nature to create this oneness that Emerson believes in. In the first stanza, the narrator says, that “I got my eye put out” (1), showing that she can now only see from one eye because of the singular use of eyes. Because she only talks of having lost sight in one eye, it can be assumed that she laments the limited vision that is now provided by her remaining eye. The narrator’s fragmented and limited vision caused by the loss of one eye is captured through the extensive use of dashes, which are used to separate the sentences, making them give a feeling of disarray and disjointedness.
In conclusion, Dickinson's form helps the reader begin to comprehend the poem. Figurative language is one of the literary elements that Dickinson uses. to help convey hidden messages to the reader.
Dickinson uses irony, personification, and metaphores/connotation, to reveal her perception of agony in contrast to the normal human reaction.
Through alliteration and imagery, Coleridge turns the words of the poem into a system of symbols that become unfixed to the reader. Coleridge uses alliteration throughout the poem, in which the reader “hovers” between imagination and reality. As the reader moves through the poem, they feel as if they are traveling along a river, “five miles meandering with a mazy motion” (25). The words become a symbol of a slow moving river and as the reader travels along the river, they are also traveling through each stanza. This creates a scene that the viewer can turn words into symbols while in reality they are just reading text. Coleridge is also able to illustrate a suspension of the mind through imagery; done so by producing images that are unfixed to the r...