In “The Groundhog” poem by Richard Eberhart, the speaker analyzes the death of a groundhog and explores the idea of death as the poem’s theme. The poem follows the speaker’s reactions to the death of the groundhog for three years. The speaker by using metaphors, similes personification and allusion, portrays death and its cruelty and how time passes like in the blink of an eye.
The groundhog represents the fact that individuals cannot escape death and speaker emphasizes the fact that one day everyone, similar to the groundhog, will die eventually. The speaker describes the death as “outshot our naked frailty,”(line 4) because when we are naked, we are somewhat vulnerable and also especially in this poem, the speaker is afraid of dying and his sense becomes “waiver dim,” because he’s overwhelmed, then the speaker uses “There lowly in the vigorous summer”(line 5) to contrast the life. As summer passes by and Autumn
…show more content…
emerges, everything that the speaker felt initially “had lost its meaning”(line 29) and he’s starting to become more mature emotionally. When he sees the groundhog’s bones “bleaching in the sunlight,”(line 37) this shows that he has changed and doesn’t experience sadness by watching the bones of the groundhog. Moreover, the speaker describe the groundhog’s bones as “architecture” and “geometer,” to show the beauty of the nature and how he’s starting to realize and observe his surroundings. The speaker illustrates metaphor in line 10 by stating “And seething cauldron of his being” to show an image of the movement of the maggots as they eat their way through the groundhog’s death body.
By poking him “with an angry stick”(line 12), the speaker personifies the senselessness and Eberhart’s tone changes throughout the story, from denial, anger, bargaining, depression, to ultimately acceptance. Eberhart uses these five different tone shifts to show his reader the process and the time it takes for an individual to accept and overcome someone’s death. Eberhart also uses allusions to portray that even the famous people will eventually die one day. “Of Alexander in his tent; Of Montaigne in his tower; Of Saint Theresa in her wild lament.”(lines 46-49) All three examples of the speaker depict that death was inevitable for all of them and as well as the groundhog. All people, regardless of where they are born, what they have, money or power, will eventually say their farewell and nothing possibly can stop them from it when the time
comes. The speaker uses allusion, personification, similes and metaphors to portray the significance of how the groundhog’s death is inevitable. As time passes, the speaker’s views on death changes dramatically and start to realize that every person lives will get taken away one day.
Even though it is a short 16 lines long, Emily Dickenson’s poem “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—” is full of death and darkness as well as light and life. Throughout the poem, seeing and sight are major topics which serve as a sense of irony for the narrator who is dying. Dickenson is able to describe death in a very vivid and colorful way that makes readers feel as if they are at the bedside of the dying narrator. She is excellent in her use of hidden meanings and references for such a short poem— this is the mark of an exceptional poet .
The constant process of life and death, driven by an indestructible progression of time, explains the attitude of carpe diem expressed in three poems focused on human love being a fickle matter. Within the poems “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick, and “Youth’s the Season Made for Joys” by John Gay, the concept of how a shy attitude towards the inevitable end of all life is exposed as an inherently useless view. Nevertheless, though their primary themes and ideas of this constant procession of time are obviously expressed, the manner in which they do this, through figurative language and imagery, is the main point in which each of these three poems can be contrasted and examined
...ttachment or emotion. Again, Heaney repeats the use of a discourse marker, to highlight how vividly he remembers the terrible time “Next morning, I went up into the room”. In contrast to the rest of the poem, Heaney finally writes more personally, beginning with the personal pronoun “I”. He describes his memory with an atmosphere that is soft and peaceful “Snowdrops and Candles soothed the bedside” as opposed to the harsh and angry adjectives previously used such as “stanched” and “crying”. With this, Heaney is becoming more and more intimate with his time alone with his brother’s body, and can finally get peace of mind about the death, but still finding the inevitable sadness one feels with the loss of a loved one “A four foot box, a foot for every year”, indirectly telling the reader how young his brother was, and describing that how unfortunate the death was.
The presence of death in the novel looms over the characters, making each of them reflect on the
Groundhog Day is a film starring Bill Murray who plays Phil Connor’s, a news anchorman, who gets stuck on the repeating Groundhog Day every day. He is a man who does not appreciate things around him but he expects others to look up to him. He lives the same day while time goes on; he does not make an effort to reach out to others. Phil follows the same daily routines and does not attempt to change anything and accepts his life as it is, even though he doesn’t like it. Phil doesn’t understand the idea of the man creating his own being by experiencing life.
What does it mean to have free will when one cannot choose the environment in which they live in? Because the environment in which one lives in shapes their beliefs and practices, how is it they are morally responsible for their actions and decisions when they are not in control of the environment they live in? Causal determinism is a belief that everything that happens is completely caused by whatever happened before it. Furthermore determinism implies if the conditions under which one made a choice were precisely the same, one could not have done otherwise (Kamber). While it is difficult to argue against causal determinism there is still freedom to reflect on possible alternatives before acting. Though, the question is not whether one can choose to do what they want (to follow their desire) but whether one is free enough to be held accountable for their decisions even though one can judge the importance of these desires and their place among other reasons for action (Horton www.oocities.org/emilische/free-will.doc). In the movie Groundhog Day, Phil Connors experiences the same day (Groundhog Day) over and over again. At first Phil uses this to his advantage until he discovers he is forced to stay in the same place with the same people who do the same thing every day. While Phil Connors lives in an identical situation every day and therefore a deterministic setting, does Phil have free will and is he morally responsible for his actions? According to compatibilists Harry Frankfurt, Susan Wolf, and John Martin Fischer in certain events where one “could not do otherwise” one could still have free will and moral responsibility over their actions. With the example of Phil Connors and the ideas of compatibilists Harry Frankfurt, Susan ...
Time is endlessly flowing by and its unwanted yet pending arrival of death is noted in the two poems “When I Have Fears,” by John Keats and “Mezzo Cammin,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Keats speaks with no energy; only an elegiac tone of euphoric sounds wondering if his life ends early with his never attained fame. He mentions never finding a “fair creature” (9) of his own, only experiencing unrequited love and feeling a deep loss of youth’s passion. Though melancholy, “Mezzo Cammin,” takes a more conversational tone as Longfellow faces what is commonly known as a midlife crisis. The two poems progressions contrast as Keats blames his sorrow for his lack of expression while Longfellow looks at life’s failures as passions never pursued. In spite of this contrast, both finish with similar references to death. The comparable rhyme and rhythm of both poems shows how both men safely followed a practiced path, never straying for any spontaneous chances. The ending tones evoking death ultimately reveal their indications towards it quickly advancing before accomplish...
Cummings uses the seasons, bells, his unique composition and the repetition of “Women and men” and “anyone” to create and emphasize the unfortunate cycle of life. The use of the seasons in lines three,eleven, and thirty-four emphasise the passing of time and the unchanging ways of the townspeople. “Women and men”, in lines five and thirty-three,are used to remind us of Cummings definition of “most people” and how people tend to blend in and follow. The bells in lines two and twenty-four are used to indicate a change in the character 's, the first bell is before love and the second bell is rang before death. These significant life transitions show how love and death are final.
Kenyon’s choice of a first person perspective serves as one of two main techniques she uses in developing the reader’s ability to relate to the poem’s emotional implications and thus further her argument regarding the futility of mankind’s search for closure through the mourning process. By choosing to write the poem in the first person, Kenyon encourages the reader to interpret the poem as a story told by the same person who fell victim to the tragedy it details, rather than as a mere account of events observed by a third party. This insertion of the character into the story allows the reader to carefully interpret the messages expressed through her use of diction in describing the events during and after the burial.
The movie Groundhog Day tells a great tale about an arrogant, self-centered weather forecaster named Phil who has to be exiled from normal life so he can discover that he is in exile with himself.
I will discuss the similarities by which these poems explore themes of death and violence through the language, structure and imagery used. In some of the poems I will explore the characters’ motivation for targeting their anger and need to kill towards individuals they know personally whereas others take out their frustration on innocent strangers. On the other hand, the remaining poems I will consider view death in a completely different way by exploring the raw emotions that come with losing a loved one.
The speaker started the poem by desiring the privilege of death through the use of similes, metaphors, and several other forms of language. As the events progress, the speaker gradually changes their mind because of the many complications that death evokes. The speaker is discontent because of human nature; the searching for something better, although there is none. The use of language throughout this poem emphasized these emotions, and allowed the reader the opportunity to understand what the speaker felt.
In the 1862 poem, After Great pain, a formal feeling comes--, Emily Dickenson presents death from the perspective of the bereaved. This poem is written in the third person, and informs the reader as to the actions and thoughts of the mourners through an omniscient narration. In contrast, most of Dickenson's other death related poems show the reader the perspective of the dead. The vivid imagery in this poem functions to enhance the reader's perception of the poem. The following passage conveys a resplendent physical sense of coldness as someone is frozen to death: "This is the Hour of Lead-- Remembered, if outlived,
The poem “Ghost House” by Robert Frost is a work that highlights the speaker, and possibly the author’s feelings towards death. This is achieved through the use of an eerie mood via word choice, implications of death, and imagery of a happy, yet ghostly, couple. Thus, the poem progresses in moods from first ominous, then shocking, and finally a slightly perturbing contentedness.
“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is a poem composed by Thomas Gray over a period of ten years. Beginning shortly after the death of his close friend Richard West in 1742, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” was first published in 1751. This poem’s use of dubbal entendre may lead the intended audience away from the overall theme of death, mourning, loss, despair and sadness; however, this poem clearly uses several literary devices to convey the author’s feelings toward the death of his friend Richard West, his beloved mother, aunt and those fallen soldiers of the Civil War. This essay will discuss how Gray uses that symbolism and dubbal entendre throughout the poem to convey the inevitability of death, mourning, conflict within self, finding virtue in one’s life, dealing with one’s misfortunes and giving recognition to those who would otherwise seem insignificant.