Anatomically, life is composed essentially of unanimated protons, electrons, and neutrons as these are the building blocks for the building blocks of life, cells and tissue. It is this combination of inanimate objects that produces animation, a conscious, a being that is simply living according to the laws of science. Yet, as life unavoidably comes to an end, do all life forms experience the same death? In Richard Wilbur’s poem “The Death of a Toad,” an insignificant life form such as a toad, experiences an almost honorable death through the use of formal elements such as careful structure, diction, and vivid imagery.
The sequence of events that took place during the poem highlight the attitude of the speaker. For the poem utilizes an aabcbc rhyme scheme for better formality because death is a formal sequence of events; less oxygen reaches the blood, thus the tissues die. Yet, the formality is juxtaposed with an informal
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Verbiage such as the mower “chewed” off the leg of the toad brings about a gruesome personified image of a neutrally helpful machine. A creative twist on a verb, “sanctuaried,” demonstrates the realization of the toad’s fate; which coupled with words such as “cineraria,” “ashen” and “final,” this conveys the deathly atmosphere. Ultimatley, realizing that any and all blood, despite it being inanimate, the speaker watches the “rare original bloodshed” flow out; he now sees the importance and uniqueness of blood. The adjectives used in stanza two, “wizenings,” “banked,” and “staring” all demonstrate how the speaker is analyzing the death of the toad. A sense of empathy for the toad is drawn out of the reader in a collective morning over the lose of this life from a brutal accident. Ergo, the main reason for employing such diction and syntax, is that the speaker sees the toad as a precious life, no more important than any other intelligent
In the poem “Auschwitz” by Charles N. Whittaker, the poet uses figurative language such, as end- rhymes and a metaphor to convey a theme about death and losing hope/faith. In the poem, Whittaker uses this phrase “and the blue ink slabs a little harder on the skin/ above the veins in despair where murder let in”(Stanza 3 lines 1-2). Here, Whittaker addresses how “skin” and “in” rhyme at the end of the rhymes. To infer more, end-rhymes occur in the rhyming of the words at the end of the two or more lines of poetry. This connects to the theme of death because the blue inks may represent the blood of all the prisoners who are dying. This illustrates how death is represented when saying “murder” and “veins”. Another example is the metaphor used
The speakers in the A. E. Housman poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” and the Edward Arlington Robinson poem “Richard Cory” serve different purposes but use irony and rhyme to help convey their message. In “To an Athlete Dying Young” the speaker’s purpose is to show the audience that dying young with glory is more memorable than dying old with glory. In “Richard Cory” the speaker’s purpose is to show the audience “you can’t judge a book by its cover.” In the poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” the author uses rhyme to show the reader how the glory of the runner came and went in a dramatic way. By having rhyme in “To an Athlete Dying Young” it allows the irony in the poem and the meaning that poet A. E. Housman is trying to convey, to really stick with the readers.
The poem “anyone lived in a pretty how town” by E.E. Cummings talks about the cycle of life and the importance of structure, symbolism, and language of the poem. For instance, the poem has nine stanzas, which has a rhyming pattern of AABC. The rhythm of the poem is significant for it supports one of themes, the cycle of life. Cumming uses season to explain the poem's progress. “spring summer autumn winter” (3) and “sun moon stars rain” (8) symbolizes time passing, which represents life passing. In the poem, as the seasons and skies rotate, life continues along with them. In addition, the uses of the words “snow” (22), “buried” (27), “was by was” (28), and “day by day” (29) leading to death. Towards the end of the poem, the depression of death was mention, but Cumming was just stating the n...
In the first instance, death is portrayed as a “bear” (2) that reaches out seasonally. This is then followed by a man whom “ comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse / / to buy me…” This ever-changing persona that encapsulates death brings forth a curiosity about death and its presence in the living world. In the second stanza, “measles-pox” (6) is an illness used to portray death’s existence in a distinctive embodiment. This uncertainty creates the illusion of warmth and welcomenesss and is further demonstrated through the reproduction of death as an eminent figure. Further inspection allows the reader to understand death as a swift encounter. The quick imagery brought forth by words such as “snaps” and “shut” provoke a sense of startle in which the audience may dispel any idea of expectedness in death’s coming. This essential idea of apparent arrival transitions to a slower, foreseeable fate where one can imagine the enduring pain experienced “an iceberg between shoulder blades” (line 8). This shift characterizes the constant adaptation in appearance that death acquires. Moreover, the idea of warmth radiating from death’s presence reemerges with the introduction to a “cottage of darkness” (line 10), which to some may bring about a feeling of pleasantry and comfort. It is important to note that line 10 was the sole occurrence of a rhetorical question that the speaker
...s fullest. The first stanza contains active imagery, while the second uses passive. The third stanza is expected to contain even more passive diction, but instead uses a mix of both active and passive. The active diction is used a little bit more. The diction in the third stanza is what makes this poem so great. If you add this proof to the first two, you get life slipping away as it progresses, with the individual being active even as he is dying. In other words, the person is enjoying his life as it slips into death?s hands, which is the theme of the poem.
As a prelude to an inquiry into thematic elements of the poem, it is first necessary to draw out the importance of Fearing’s use of experimental form. Fearing “adheres” to the conventional use of strophic poetic construction, making use of epigrammatic style, where the seven stanzas separate the lament into isolated combinations and experiments on language and the content suggests each might stand alone as organic entities. Putting these highly-varied units into a single poem reflects on the incoherence of broader theme of death and the response to death, the dirge, as well as the notion that such a broad topic as death contains many sma...
In literature, themes shape and characterize an author’s writing making each work unique as different points of view are expressed within a writing’s words and sentences. This is the case, for example, of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death.” Both poems focus on the same theme of death, but while Poe’s poem reflects that death is an atrocious event because of the suffering and struggle that it provokes, Dickinson’s poem reflects that death is humane and that it should not be feared as it is inevitable. The two poems have both similarities and differences, and the themes and characteristics of each poem can be explained by the author’s influences and lives.
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.
"A man wading lost fields breaks the pane of flood" which starts the second section gives the effect of pain and hurt. The man survives by going along with nature and resisting it, but it also gives the effect of danger at the same time. " Like a cut swaying" carries on the effect of being deliberate, sharp and precise and "it's red spots" and "his hands grub" continues with the theme of the animal sort of.
Herrick’s examination of death and decay is without gore or sadness rather he uses positive and beautiful imagery of writing and sun and “raine” (63). The optimistic, excited tone of the poem keeps it from sounding like a lesson rather than a love charm. In lines 65-66, the speaker is romanticizing death by using the infinity of writing to preserve their love in “a fable, song” for everyone to experience (65-66). He wants his love to realize that even though they can be immortalized in words, before that time comes they need to “goe a Maying” to make their story more significant when they are older and when they are gone (70).
The consistent pattern of metrical stresses in this stanza, along with the orderly rhyme scheme, and standard verse structure, reflect the mood of serenity, of humankind in harmony with Nature. It is a fine, hot day, `clear as fire', when the speaker comes to drink at the creek. Birdsong punctuates the still air, like the tinkling of broken glass. However, the term `frail' also suggests vulnerability in the presence of danger, and there are other intimations in this stanza of the drama that is about to unfold. Slithery sibilants, as in the words `glass', `grass' and `moss', hint at the existence of a Serpent in the Garden of Eden. As in a Greek tragedy, the intensity of expression in the poem invokes a proleptic tenseness, as yet unexplained.
death is of the way the poet feels about the frogs. In the first verse
In conclusion death should be celebrated because if life is a gift in which every day is a new day to accomplish new goals and conquer any obstacle death should be the end of a satisfy life that live pleasantly . The poem emphases that idea of taking death as a new chapter, in which we remember all the encounters we have had from childhood memories to new experience we had as we get older. In so many ways death comes as our birth starts expected in some point but unpredictable when the moment would come.
...s recognize it. These words create a strong imagery of smell. He also says that his heart is black as death, “O bosom black as death!” (III, iii, 68). This simile provides strong imagery alluding to his guilt using “black as death” and an overall dark atmosphere for the play (III, iii, 68).