"The Jaguar" is about a trip that Hughes made to the zoo. In the poem, he describes the animals in a zoo and their behaviour. It compares the apes, parrots, tiger, lion and a boa constrictor to the jaguar, which is an animal that lives differently to the others in the way that it views its life. The poem begins by describing the apes 'yawning' and 'adoring their fleas', and the fact that they are in the sun adds to the sleepy air. I think this line was deliberately chosen to convey the monotonous lull of everyday life in the zoo and set a drowsy mood. The second line has a rather different tone; it tells of the parrots that 'shriek as if on fire'. Parrots do shrieks, so this is literal, but it gives a connotation of pain or perhaps boredom. Also, they strut themselves like cheap tarts so that visitors of the zoo will feed them, which indicates that they are losing their dignity to food. Line three speaks of the tiger and lion, which are apparently "fatigued with indolence". Once again, suggesting the tone of sleepiness and possibly boredom, and the idleness of the animals. The animals are tired, and in the wild they would probably be more likely to be hunting rather than lazing about in the middle of the day.
The second stanza repeats again the same monotonous lull of the animals, this time a boa constrictor. The word "sun" is used again, so the warm, drowsy image returns, so are the animals. The following lines describe the boa-constrictor which has a coil in its tail, which supposedly "is a fossil". The end of the second line of stanza two is: "cage after cage seems empty" which signifies the monotonous appearance of the cages, which hold very little activity as all the animals in there are barely moving. Basically, the animals are dull and not a very piquant sight for visitors. The next line uses the alliteration "stinks of sleepers" which doesn't really means that the sleepers literally stink, just that there is a strong 'scent' of sleepiness in the air, as if there is no activity to interest the visitors. Some of the sleeping animals themselves are hidden under straw, so the author uses another metaphor and suggests that the straw is breathing. These animals, which in the wild could be threatening and very dangerous, are not acting on their usual instincts and instead are choosing to lie about in a kind of stupor that makes them appear harmless and approachable and generally unnatural.
In the poem, the reader finds themselves trapped in the harsh and unrelenting landscape of drought stricken Australia, only to be witness to the sheer relentlessness and devastation of the drought that is readily consuming the land. It is a witnessing that quickly becomes a warning, one repeatedly reinforced and capitalised on by the loud and strange cries of a dingo. Throughout the poem, Wright clearly outlines the importance of life and the harsh yet fragile reality of nature, by including many depictions of dead or dying animals and plants. Towards the end of the poem the narrator finds themselves propping a dead horse outside the gate of the ‘thirty mile dry’ in hope of warning people not to come this way, or they too, will face a horrible demise at the hands of the relentless
Both these poems are great poems and emphasize on different parts of an animal’s life. The two poems are “The Blessing” and “Predators.” The four topics that will be compared and contrasted are the animals, the speaker’s feelings, the title, and the conclusions.
“Skimming slightly, wheeling still, the swallows fly low over the field in clouded days,” The birds (swallows, to be exact) are mentioned twice, at the beginning and end of the poem. They seem to be the introduction and closing. They are solemn and peaceful, yet are also reminders of the battle. Or are they peaceful? The clouds could represent the clouded confusion of the battle and aftermath, and the sad and melancholy tones of the area
Each poem describes a scene where a man learns from his experience and interaction with nature. In “The Meadow Mouse” the man instantly finds himself a father-figure to the mouse that he finds. When the mouse leaves, he thinks of the dangers of nature such as, “the turtle gasping in the dusty rubble of the highway.” From his instant love and pain of losing the mouse, he learns how he truly feels about nature. Set in a different scene, the fisherman in “The Fish,...
As a way to end his last stanza, the speaker creates an image that surpasses his experiences. When the flock rises, the speaker identifies it as a lady’s gray silk scarf, which the woman has at first chosen, then rejected. As the woman carelessly tosses the scarf toward the chair the casual billow fades from view, like the birds. The last image connects nature with a last object in the poet's
The ability of words to calm a child’s fears is shown in “A Barred Owl.” Additionally, the author conveys the idea that even though one may say everything is alright, what one makes up in one’s mind is often worse than reality. The rhyme scheme in “A Barred Owl” helps depict the simple and soothing tone of the poem. Not only the rhyme scheme but also the repetition of certain consonants and sounds such as, “the warping night air having brought the boom / of an owl’s voice into her darkened room” help emphasize Wilbur’s i...
As the journey to the destination begun the atmosphere is horrid as they passed cheap motels half deserted streets and sawdust motels it all set a very bleak tone of lifelessness, to support this claim, “like a patient etherized upon a table.” (Eliot 368) although they also encountered a yellow fog most likely caused by industrialism it took a form of animal imagery finding comfort in its surroundings to support this claim, “The yellow fog that rubs t back upon the window-panes, the yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes, Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening.” (Eliot
"Fog Envelops the Animals." The Whole Motion: Collected Poems 1945-1992. Hanover: Wesleyan UP, 1992. 80-21.
The repetition of sound causes different feelings of uncertainty and fear as the reader delves deeper into the poem. “Moss of bryozoans/blurred, obscured her/metal...” (Hayden 3). The r’s that are repeated in blurred and obscured create a sense of fogginess of the darkness of the water that the speaker is experiencing. The fogginess is a sense of repression, which is attempting its way out of the mind to the conscious. Hayden continues the use of alliteration with F and S sounds. Although they are different letters they produce the same sound that causes confusion, but an acceptance of death. “Yet in languid/frenzy strove, as/one freezing fights off/sleep desiring sleep;/strove against/ the canceling arms that/suddenly surrounded/me...” (Hayden 4). The use of sound at the last six lines of the poem causes the reader to feel the need for air and the fear of death. “Reflex of life-wish?/Respirators brittle/belling? Swam from/the ship somehow; /somehow began the/measured rise” (Hayden 4). The R sounds that begin is the swimming through the water. The B sound that continues right after in “brittle belling” is the gasp of air, and finally, the S sounds that finish the line by creating a soft feeling. As if the reader might not get out in time, even though the lines are saying that the speaker does escape the ship. The fear the alliteration evokes from the reader is the unconscious. The deep inner thoughts that no one wants to tap into. The speaker is accepting the idea of death in the ocean through his unconscious, but his conscious mind is trying to push back and begin the “measured rise” (Hayden 4) back to the
Sleep shall neither night nor day / Hang upon his penthouse lid; / He shall live a man forbid: / Weary sev'nights nine times nine / Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine: / Though his bark cannot be lost, / Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.
Although this poem is reverent to the yellow bird, it is undoubtedly about its death and burial; it is a poem about beauty that has been “extinguished”. The “electric, excited, murmurous”(36-38) bird whose beauty pertained to its “defiance”(54) was entrapped, restricted, forced to go against its natural ways. Even when Neruda mentions the beauty of the bird, he does not forget to attach the reminder that it no longer exists or that it was taken away from the bird. The characteristics, the “yellow flashes, the black lightning”(lines 10-11), that once made the bird one with nature were covered in dirt when it was buried. Readers can imagine not only the bird encaged and dead, but also the way Neruda associated its color and way of being to one of nature 's occurrences. So when the reader imagines the bird buried, they also see yellow and black lightning. And the inevitable noise and the feeling of fearful amazement that comes with it. The burial of a bird is also a reminder of the mood at people’s funerals. Moreover, many people keep birds as pets trapped in a small cage rather than let it be free where it 's supposed to be. Many times, the captors are aware of the cruelty but still wish to selfishly and without benefits hold on to their beauty and not let it go. Intertwined in
Specifically, I am intrigued by the use of a Lion as a metaphor in this poem. The Lion is constantly growing and being “feed” from an abundance of different things, all with varying levels of severity. The idea that the lion is constantly growing seemed almost like the author was waiting for something, like perhaps the lion to roar. Once this roar happens and the lion is feed to the point where he cannot remain silent anymore, “he comes.”
"The thing could barely stand." ("The Bull Calf" line 1). The calf is referred to as a thing not an animal or creature. This is the way the author blocks emotion. The first line in the first stanza is a contradiction from the rest of the stanza because the rest of it has a positive attitude and the first sentence shows that the animal is weak. The third and the fourth line show the glory of the animal by hinting to royalty. The last line in the first stanza helps to back this information up by pointing to Richard the second. In the fifth line the narrator uses thee word us this connects him to the event. "The fierce sunlight tugging the maize from the ground" ("The Bull Calf" line 6). This is imagery, the sunlight showing promise and hope, maize is yellow this refers us back to the sun through the similar color. The last line refers to Richard the second this makes the poem flow better into the next stanza, Richard the second was lowered from his rank much like the calf is going to be.
The first stanza directly addresses the Tyger, which is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “a large, carnivorous feline quadruped.” It sets up the theme of night, along with which comes darkness and evil. The third and fourth lines ask the first of many repetitive and, in a sense, unanswerable questions: what kind of creator has the ability to make something with such “fearful symmetry” (4)? The second stanza moves on to ask the same question in a different format, inquiring where the Tyger came from: heaven or hell. Starting in line 9, the speaker uses powerful imagery to ask again what God could create the Tyger. The diction portrays the Tyger as evil, with a “twist[ed]” heart (10). Lines 13-16 make up the fourth stanza and compare the creator to a blacksmith. Lines 19 and 20 ask two questions that are different from the rest: “Did he smile his work to see?/Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” These lines ask of the Tyger if his maker was happy to see what a monstrous being he had created, and if it was the same maker that made the pure and innocent Lamb. In a sense, t...
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.