It is common for an individual to want to cheer up a friend when they are upset or depressed. In Francesca Abbate's poem, "Slatternday Crumbday," Pandarus is attempting to do the same for Troilus when he becomes depressed after Criseyde moves away. This poem allows Abbate to build upon her theme of fate and the effects of depression that is present throughout the book, Troy, Unincorporated. Through the use of poetic form and structure, figurative language, and diction Abbate is able to effectively convey these themes.
The poetic form and structure of Abbate's poem help strengthen the reader's understanding of the state of Troilus. The lack of punctuation throughout the poem creates enjambments that pull the reader down the page while reinforcing the concept that Troilus has fallen into a deep depression. This depression also seems to be continuous and everlasting:
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Troilus I want to tell him That girl's mind is not So grass-dazzling but I know The feeling a griefly Should This stanza portrays the idea that Troilus's depression is so great that nothing Pandarus says will help him.
In addition, these enjambments create a more rapid and frantic rhythm, which conveys the seriousness of Troilus's mental health. Together, these enjambments are influential in understanding his severity of depression throughout the poem.
Abbate's use of figurative language in the form of similes sheds light on the concept of fate. In fact, she creates a simile within a simile in the first stanza when Pandarus is talking about Troilus:
Troilus gotten slow
As a story I have to read
Aloud to the end of
Like war's unhappy
hover Fat water stain… On the ceiling By comparing Troilus to a story, Abbate is foreshadowing that his fate or outcome has already been written and there is nothing he can do to change it. In addition, the comparison of that story to a water stain on the ceiling reinforces the idea that this depression is permanent. Throughout the poem, Abbate's use of diction is also important in helping develop the reader's understanding of fate and depression. This is extremely prevalent in the second stanza, "He calls from bed to tell me / the dog brought home / another owl carcass." Owl carcasses are not something dogs typically bring home to their owners. However, it is likely Abbate chose this animal because owls are believed to be the foretellers of death. Thus, supporting the theme that Troilus's fate is already decided. Another good example of Abbate's use of diction is seen in the singlet, "May [Troilus] says is a ruby in a casket." May is the month when everything seems to come back to life and rubies are believed to have many positive emotional and physical effects. However, Abbate chooses to create a more negative connotation with these words to express the pessimistic tone of Troilus. In conclusion, Abbate elaborates on the concepts of fate and the struggles of depression in her poem "Slatternday Crumbday." The lack of punctuation throughout the poem helps convey the depth and seemingly everlasting depression Troilus has fallen into. In addition, her use of similes reveals to the reader that Troilus's fate has already been decided and also builds on the idea that his depression is permanent. Lastly, the use of diction further emphasizes the understanding of Troilus's fate and the effects of his depression. Overall, Abbate's use of poetic form and structure, figurative language, and diction allow her to effectively convey the themes of fate and the struggles of depression throughout this poem.
Poetry conveys emotions and ideas through words and lines. Long Way Down gives the story about a boy named Will, who wants to avenge his brother. He believes that a guy named Riggs killed his brother. He takes his brother’s gun and leaves his family’s apartment on the eighth floor. On the way down the elevator, he is stopped at each floor and a ghost from his past gets on.
In her poem entitled “The Poet with His Face in His Hands,” Mary Oliver utilizes the voice of her work’s speaker to dismiss and belittle those poets who focus on their own misery in their writings. Although the poem models itself a scolding, Oliver wrote the work as a poem with the purpose of delivering an argument against the usage of depressing, personal subject matters for poetry. Oliver’s intention is to dissuade her fellow poets from promoting misery and personal mistakes in their works, and she accomplishes this task through her speaker’s diction and tone, the imagery, setting, and mood created within the content of the poem itself, and the incorporation of such persuasive structures as enjambment and juxtaposition to bolster the poem’s
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
While the monsters of the poem are the antagonists of the poem, the author still manages to make the reader feel traces of sympathy for them. Grendel’s human depiction, exile and misery tugs at the heart of readers and indeed shows a genuine side to the figure, while Grendel’s mother and the dragon are sympathetic mainly because they were provoked into being attacked over things they both had a deep affection for. Their actions make us question whether they are as evil as they seem.
The use of diction throughout the poem aids the author in displaying the idea that
Despite the differences between the characters in the poems, I will also go on to say how the preoccupation with death and violence all seem to stem from the apparently unstable minds of the characters; from the instability brought on by varying emotions such as grief, jealousy, resentment, guilt and madness, and the fact that these emotions may lead to paranoia.
To fully understand this poem, the reader would find it helpful to know what led Coleridge to write it. Coleridge grew up with English essayist Charles Lamb in school and the two were close friends (Merriman.) In their later years, however, the two rarely saw each other as Coleridge lived in the country side and Lamb lived in the city, where he cared for his mentally ill sister (Merriman.) On one of the rare days Lamb went to visit him, Coleridge planed to go on a walk through the scenic area surrounding his house with Lamb and some other friends, but before they left, Coleridge’s wife accidentally dropped boiling milk on his foot and he was unable to participate in the walk (Benzon.) While the others gallivanted across the countryside, Coleridge sat in his garden and wrote this poem.
...ues. The body of symbolism indicates Thomas’s changing view between the writer and his environment and outward look of the relationship with his own children. The use of surrealism provides a vivid image of his life’s despair. Though the poem can be analyze and evaluated from all of the different methods of criticism. The text within the verses indicates that the evaluation of the author is indicative to the psychological critical approach.
A metaphor, depending on its construction, can pack a powerful punch. Metaphors use comparison, but are not the same thing as similes. Metaphors make comparisons by saying that one thing is another, and by doing so, having a different meaning than what is said. An example of this comes from the poem, from lines 85 and 86, “And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, And in short, I was afraid.” The eternal footman is a metaphor for death. By saying he has seen the eternal Footman hold his coat, and snicker, he is saying that he is close to death, he knows that it is close to his time to go and he knows that death is waiting on him. By saying he is afraid, he means he is afraid to die. Another example of a metaphor from lines 124 and 125 is, “I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me.” By saying this, the speaker is saying that he has heard the mermaids singing, heard them singing to each other, calling each other home. By saying that he does not think they will sing to him, does not think that they will call him home, tell him it is his time to die. Another example of metaphor,coming from lines 129, 130, and 131 is,“We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Til human voices wake us, and we drown.” He is saying that he has spent too much time lingering on death, he had lost all track of time. He does not know what is going on, he is confused, he has let his fear of death take over his life. By the time he realizes he has let his life pass him by, by the time he wakes up, it is too late. He drowns in his sorrow, and dies. This could be the meaning. It could be because it sounds like there is supposed to be more, like the poem is supposed to continue, but it doesn’t. It just stops. “Til human voices wake us, and we drown.” is
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.
Throughout history, poets had experimented with different forms of figurative language. Figurative language allows a poet to express his or her meaning within a poem. The beauty of using the various forms of figurative language is the ability to convey deep meaning in a condensed fashion. There are many different figures of speech that a poet can use such as: simile, paradox, metaphor, alliteration, and anaphora. These examples only represent a fraction of the different forms, but are amongst the most well-known. The use of anaphora in a poem, by a poet, is one of the best ways to apply weight or emphasis on a particular segment. Not only does an anaphora place emphasis, but it can also aid in setting the tone, or over all “feel” a reader receives from a poem. Poets such as Walt Whitman, Conrad Aiken, and Frances Osgood provide poems that show how the use of anaphora can effect unity, feeling, and structure of a poem.
Throughout the poem two phrases are repeated many times, emphasizing their importance, and giving them more power. As they are repeated the reader is shown the indifference of the narrator when he says, "First they came for the ..." "and I did not speak out Because I was not a..." (Niemöller, 1-6). These phrases and their interchangeable endings show how the narrator does not care who is facing troubles as long as it is not them. This indifference is detrimental because it shows a lack of empathy and cares for others in the narrator. Niemöller's repetition of these two phrases during his poem highlights the narrator's consistent disregard for people different than them. A shift in the pattern of thinking of the narrator is seen when he says, "Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me." (Niemöller, 7). After repeatedly ignoring the injustices against others the narrator realizes their mistake when they find themself in the same situation as the people they had previously ignored. This change in how the narrator thinks shows how their lack of action to help others face their injustices was done so partly in ignorance. The narrator had not yet realized that everyone faces struggles at a point during their lives, and that the only way to get through them is by supporting and having the support of
First of alll, the poem is divided into nine stanzas, where each one has four lines. In addition to that, one can spot a few enjambements for instance (l.9-10). This stylistic device has the function to support the flow of the poem. Furthermore, it is crucial to take a look at the choice of words, when analysing the language.
In the poem “A song of Despair” Pablo Neruda chronicles the reminiscence of a love between two characters, with the perspective of the speaker being shown in which the changes in their relationship from once fruitful to a now broken and finished past was shown. From this Neruda attempts to showcase the significance of contrasting imagery to demonstrate the Speaker’s various emotions felt throughout experience. This contrasting imagery specifically develops the reader’s understanding of abandonment, sadness, change, and memory. The significant features Neruda uses to accomplish this include: similes, nautical imagery, floral imagery, and apostrophe.
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...