Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, has many different themes illustrated throughout the many poems written in the book. One theme that is pictured quite often when reading these poems is, Life. There were many, many poems in Spoon River Anthology that contained Life as the main theme. Lucinda Matlock, The Hill, and Griffy the Cooper, were my three favorite epitaphs that all show this theme.
Lucinda Matlock, the first epitaph that the main theme of the poem is Life. She was a woman married for seventy years, to the same man. Davis (her husband) and Lucinda, raised twelve children together. Although she birthed twelve children, she lost eight of them throughout the years of her life. She may have lost many of her children but Lucinda
…show more content…
did not let the loss of life ruin her life. She did what she loved, and didn’t hate life because the lives of her kids were taken, and at ninety-six she had passed away. In the end she believes that it takes life to love life. She questions, now that she has passed, why the new generation complaining of sorrow and weariness. “Degenerate sons and daughters, life is too strong for you – It takes life to love life.” This quote clearly emphasizes that this poem is an example of the theme life. Exactly how is because throughout it, she proved that no matter what happens in life, you don’t have to let it ruin the rest of yours. Life comes and goes but that isn’t a reason to not live out the rest of yours. Which comes to my next favorite poem that portrays life, The Hill. My next favorite poem that has the theme Life is, The Hill.
This epitaph shows life throughout the whole entirety of it. This poem talks about the many people of Spoon River who are now deceased and on The Hill, in the grave yard. All of the people that were well known, that made up Spoon River that everyone remembers because of how small and close together the town is; few people did not know each other. This is an epitaph that is remembering all of the many lives that have come and gone in Spoon River. It is asked very many times, where are these certain people? They are sleeping, sleeping on the hill. An example of a quote that is in the epitaph The Hill is, “Where are Elmer, Herman, Kate, Mag, Lizzie, and Edith? The tender heart, the simple soul, the loud, the proud, the happy one? All, all, are sleeping on The Hill.” How does this poem show the theme Life when that one quote shows basically what the whole poem says. It is asking over and over again because Spoon River was once full of Life. Edgar Lee Masters is asking this over and over because all of the Life that used to live here is now not around, but all of the Life that once inhabited Spoon River is now sleeping (dead) on The Hill. If they are dead how is this an epitaph showing Life? Well that reason is because even though they are dead, they were unique people, with lives that mattered so their lives are being remembered, that they are all still here; just on The Hill. Which leads off into my final favorite
epitaph of Spoon River Anthology, Griffy the Cooper. Griffy the Cooper, the final epitaph that I have chosen as one of my favorites that show the theme Life. Griffy the Cooper was nothing more than an average man. For work, he worked with tubs. How can working with tubs teach you Life? Many people would think that it was not possible to do so, but Griffy the Cooper although working with tubs, learned about life while doing so. “You think your eye sweeps about a wide horizon, perhaps in truth you are only looking around the interior of your tub. You cannot lift yourself to its rim, and see the outer world of things and at the same time see yourself.” Now what does he mean when he said this? Life is basically like a tub, and when you only worry about yourself you may not see the outer world of things. If you worry about the outer things, you will not be able to worry about yourself! There is the horizon where life is simple and you can make it happen. Things do not revolve around you, so be sure not make life hard worrying only of yourself, or worrying only of other things; make sure your life is balanced. Many epitaphs in Spoon River have life as a theme. There are many other types of themes that are shown throughout the whole story. Lucinda Matlock, The Hill, and Griffy the Cooper were my three favorite poems that used Life as the main theme.
She starts by telling us what she thinks the dead are doing. She is putting this picture in the reader’s head of dead down by the river drinking to start out the poem. The second line and the beginning of the third line talking about unburdening themselves of their fears and worries for us makes the reader think of someone that has passed that they knew. By saying this, she is trying to get the point across that the dead are thinking of us, like we think of them. The thought of the dead still caring and worried about us will later be strengthened in the poem when the writer starts using memories in the poem. Mitchell then says “They take out the old photographs.” she starts using memories to start making feelings more deep. Lines four and five continue this, stating “They pat the lines in our hands and tell our futures, which are cracked and yellow.”. These lines contain a metaphor comparing our futures to something cracked and yellow. Her directly stating that our futures are cracked and yellow, gives a very depressing vibe. This is foreshadowing that she is depressed about something, that we will later find about at the end of the poem. In the first five lines of the poem, the writer is talking about the the dead and what they are doing. Even though she doesn’t really know what they are doing, she puts a picture in our
With the coming of the new century America under goes a change led by many different events. The collection of poems written in Lee Masters book Spoon River Anthology portrays the typical small town at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Show the different social, economical, and political trend and influences throughout the United States.
I found Decan’s poem the most interesting, because I wonder how he hid his addiction all those years. Mr. Taylor was a member of the church and belonged to the party of prohibition. Everyone thought he died from eating watermelon when in reality he died from drinking for thirty years. The epitaph states, “I slipped behind the prescription partition in Trainor’s drug store And poured a generous drink From the bottle marked ‘Spiritus Frumenti’” Life is a great theme for this poem because he lives his life but at the same time doing something he enjoys even though its frowned upon. Life includes being happy so why not do something you like, while living your life.
For the most part of the poem she states how she believes that it is Gods calling, [Then ta’en away unto eternity] but in other parts of the poem she eludes to the fact that she feels more like her granddaughter was stolen from her [or sigh thy days so soon were terminate]. One of the main beliefs in these times was that when someone died it was their time; God needed them and had a better plan. Both poets found peace in the idea that God had the children now and it was part of the plan, but are also deeply saddened and used poetry as a coping mechanism.
On the surface, "life" is a late 19th century poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar. The poem illustrates the amount of comfort and somber there is in life. Unfortunately, according to Paul Laurence Dunbar, there is more soberness in life than the joyous moments in our existence. In more detail, Paul Laurence Dunbar demonstrates how without companionship our existence is a series of joys and sorrows in the poem, "Life" through concrete and abstract diction.
These poems are not as complex when compared to other poems, and with that being said they do not take an abundance of inference to determine the theme of the poem. Because they are not as complex as others all 3 of these poems are capable of being paraphrased to better understand the main idea of the poem. When putting the poem into different words, one can
The phrasing of this poem can be analyzed on many levels. Holistically, the poem moves the father through three types of emotions. More specifically, the first lines of the poem depict the father s deep sadness toward the death of his son. The line Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy creates a mental picture in my mind (Line 1). I see the father standing over the coffin in his blackest of outfits with sunglasses shading his eyes from the sun because even the sun is too bright for his day of mourning. The most beautiful scarlet rose from his garden is gripped tightly in his right hand as tears cascade down his face and strike the earth with a splash that echoes like a scream in a cave, piercing the ears of those gathered there to mourn the death of his son.
Another Example, In the poem is, “We always think you’re coming back, but if you don’t, we’ll see you someplace else.” In other words, even if you died you would still see them later in heaven. Where they would be waiting because death doesn’t mean
Hughes emphasizes his message consistently throughout this poem, weaving in the most important line in the middle and end of the poem. He is representing his people. African Americans have waited and been abused by society, and this deepened and weathered their souls over time, just as a river would become deepened and weathered. Hughes’ soul, the collective soul of African Americans, has become “deep like the rivers” (5). This simile speaks that the rivers are part of the body, and contribute to this immortality that Hughes is so desperate to achieve for his people. Rivers are the earthly symbols of eternity: deep, constant, mystifying.
One of the most repeated symbols in this poem is the image of the hill. It is repeated in four stanzas. In the first stanza of the poem, the hill is mentioned as “the ideal of Virginia brochured with goldenrod and loblolly” (2-3). This hill is specifically in Virginia and is the image looks like something that is on a brochure with beautiful nature. The hill is mentioned again in the second stanza: “It is a certain hill the one I imagine when I hear the word “hill”...and this hill would be still beautiful” (1-2, 5-7). There is an obvious image of a hill that the persona is depicting. Hills in general have a top and a bottom. I believe that the hill in this poem represents the ups and downs of the persona’s life and how the persona depicts the hill as beautiful lends to him being optimistic about life. Berman writes about the hill again in the fifth part of the poem: “The hill out my window is still looking beautiful suffused in a kind of gold national park light” (300-301). The last mention of the hill is in the twenty third stanza the first two lines read: “I walked out of the hill behind our house which looks positively Alaskan today”. The hill is now mostly covered with snow due to the Alaskan mention. You cannot tell what the hill looks like with the snow covering it, which represents how the persona feels about his life. Another symbol is the persona’s dogs. Dogs are normally symbolized as being kind and loving animals, a man’s best friend. The second stanza of part five is: “I’m watching my dog have nightmares, twitching and whining on the office floor and I try to imagine what beast has cornered him in the meadow where his dreams are set”. This stanza represents that the persona as a young person. The persona feels that he has not lived out his dreams yet, but he cannot achieve them because he is not happy. The dog is again mentioned: “but I was with our young dog and he was running through the tall grass like running
Frost created many poems with a correlation to death. A poem that easily displays this theme is “A Soldier” because it deals with the falling of a soldier at war. As Karen Hardison explains that “"A Soldier" is composed around an extended metaphor that is introduced in the first line: "He is that fallen lance ...." The soldier is compared to a fallen lance, a weapon, that lies on the ground” (1). Most of this poem involves a metaphor and imagery, which help the reader understand the theme. The fallen soldier lies dead on the ground and as time passes he begging to deteriorate yet he remain in the same location, just like the lance. Frost also condemns war and all of the consequences that occur because of it. Furthermore, another of Frost poem that containing the theme of death is “Nothing Gold Can Stay’, the poem indirectly references the theme of death. The poem states that everything eventually comes to an end and that not even gold can remain unchanged. The poem explains this theme with many metaphors about everything’s coming to an end. Freeman explains that “Even the poem's rhymes contribute to this sense of inevitability: Nature's gold we (or She) cannot hold; the flower lasts only an hour; the post flower leaf is like Eden's grief; the coming of day means that dawn's gold cannot stay”(2). The poem explains that everything has a natural cycle and that nothing last forever. When the poem states “nothing can
death as the subject of several of her poems. In her poem "Because I Could Not
However as shown in the final stanza this poem is truly about the lost of someone dear to her and
In his poems, Masters used free verse patterns to make his subjects seem more natural. There are really no historical or literary allusions in this poem. Although she barely includes any similes or metaphors in her poem, there are a few. Lucinda says at the end of the poem ?Life is too strong for you?It takes life to love Life?. Lucinda has a very satisfied tone, which means that she was very happy with her life. By saying that, she is relating that she was very satisfied and happy with her life.
This shows the first part of the poem, that no matter how strong your friends are, death will still come. Next we have a picture of someone running, and a watch, because she is talking about how death may be soon to come. Then we have a picture of a knot, and a picture of darkness. This shows how tight they are, and how when the knot is untied, which is when she dies, that she will be nothing just like the picture. Next we have a picture of a runner on a podium, which shows virtue and a man that look like her is remembering something, which is what she wants her husband to remember, all of the good things about her.