In the poem, “Ground Swell”, by Mark Jarman there are many themes but one I could relate too most is to move on from the past. The poem explains how Jarman’s life began after one of these skilled surfers passed away. This surfer was really important to Jarman because he was the person that made Jarman “reconsider [his] worth”(37). This poem to me is about Jarman as a teen but now as an adult who was writing about his past life. Jarman says “ I can write about a lot of things Besides the summer that I turned sixteen”(50-51), this meaning that summer he turned sixteen was when his life changed completely. Although this poem can be seen as a poem about surfing, I can still relate to the theme of to move on from the past. It was when I was in
The speaker’s personal emotions emphasizes the poem’s theme since although his father is no longer with him in this world, the memory of his father will always live in his heart. Throughout the poem, Lee uses the sky, underground, and the heart to symbolize imagination, reality, and memory—emphasizing the poem’s theme of the remembrance of a loved one. Lee also uses repetition to convey the meaning of Little Father. The speaker repeatedly mentions “I buried my father…Since then…” This repetition displays the similarity in concepts, however the contrast in ideas. The first stanza focuses on the spiritual location of the speaker’s father, the second stanza focuses on the physical location of the father, and the third stanza focuses on the mental location of the speaker’s father. This allows the reader to understand and identify the shift in ideas between each stanza, and to connect these different ideas together—leading to the message of despite where the loved one is (spiritually or physically), they’ll always be in your heart. The usage of word choice also enables the reader to read in first person—the voice of the speaker. Reading in the voice of the speaker allows the reader to see in the perspective of the speaker and to connect with the speaker—understand
The poet uses four line stanzas or quatrains, and this is a narrative poem because the speaker tells a story. The speaker seems a little odd in a way because she does not know what is happening; “Worried whispers” (6) is an alliteration, and it also symbolizes the speaker’s anxiety. Both her uncle and father do not tell the truth to the speaker, instead they “Sugarcoat” it. This is similar to Emily Dickinson’s poem “Tell all the truth but tell it slant” because the children might get scared if they learn the truth right away. In the line “What a good time she’ll have learning to swim,” (11) the poet again emphasizes how adults lie to children so they do not hurt them. The speaker feels as though her parents are lying to her; however, she just trusts them because she believes that what adults do cannot go wrong. Also, “A week at the beach so papi get some rest” (15) sounds as if the speaker’s father has to leave the Dominican Republic because he is some kind of danger.
The story describes the protagonist who is coming of age as torn between the two worlds which he loves equally, represented by his mother and his father. He is now mature and is reflecting on his life and the difficulty of his childhood as a fisherman. Despite becoming a university professor and achieving his father’s dream, he feels lonely and regretful since, “No one waits at the base of the stairs and no boat rides restlessly in the waters of the pier” (MacLeod 261). Like his father, the narrator thinks about what his life could have been like if he had chosen another path. Now, with the wisdom and experience that comes from aging and the passing of time, he is trying to make sense of his own life and accept that he could not please everyone. The turmoil in his mind makes the narrator say, “I wished that the two things I loved so dearly did not exclude each other in a manner that was so blunt and too clear” (MacLeod 273). Once a decision is made, it is sometimes better to leave the past and focus on the present and future. The memories of the narrator’s family, the boat and the rural community in which he spent the beginning of his life made the narrator the person who he is today, but it is just a part of him, and should not consume his present.
“I had been born into a raging ocean where I swam relentlessly, flailing my arms in hope of rescue, of reaching a shoreline I never sighted. Never solid ground beneath me, never a resting place. I had lived with only the desperate hope to stay afloat; that and nothing more. But when at last I wrote my first words in the page, I felt an island rising beneath my feet like the back of a whale”.
America has always been a land of great beauty and ambitious dreams. The most prominent dream of all is the American Dream: nice house, loving family, steady job. However, this vision is becoming less of a reality, and more of what it’s called, a dream, in this modern era. Through two different forms of art, poetry and music, two people describe their longing for a bit of the old world in this new one. “Dover Beach” is a poem in which Matthew Arnold laments the harsh realism that grips the world, wishing against all hope for romantic beauty to enthrall the world again. In the song, “Where the Green Grass Grows,” artist Tim McGraw expresses his longing for a peaceful, pastoral future, all the while describing his dissatisfaction of working in an increasingly gritty urban setting. The exploration of the effects contemporary society imposes on the beautiful, romantic dreams of the past are the centerpieces of the two different forms of art.
...is sentiment is echoed in the following line, “Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;” Both these hyperbolic metaphors are again intended to symbolize the aimless feelings of the author and the void left by the death of this man. By commanding the audience to dispel of the oceans and remove the forests of the world, the speaker shows both how meaningless life is without the deceased and how the world would be able to equate with such a loss. The negativeness of the poem is captured best in line 16, “For nothing now can ever come to any good.” The death of this man has devastated the speaker in such a way that he feels both without purpose and unable to see any good in the world. This line concludes the poem and emphasizes the melancholy tone evident throughout. Like the death of his lover, the last line emphasizes the finality of life and an end void of purpose.
The young man is continually talking about his feelings about being depressed, empty, and having horrible feelings. He writes poetry for one assignment, and we all know that poetry can capture true pain and sadness. The poetry that Andy writes evinces that emotional torture. His poem is called “Poem of Hope” and is on page 57 stating, “It’s dark where I am. And I cannot find the light. There are shadows all around me. And my heart is full of fright. (Lines 1-4) … I cannot see the future. And I cannot change the past. But the present is so heavy. I don’t think I’m going to last. (Lines 9-12)” It is fairly evident that he is talking about how his life is dark without any light, and he’s fearful of if he can handle all of his problems because of how much it is weighing on his shoulders. He will soon explode after so much pressure and negative build up. It is a metaphorical representation of how he truly feels. Next Andrew says how he feels in another, painful way on page 123. “It was dark, so I couldn’t see, and I was under the water, so I couldn’t breathe. I tried to scream, but water got into my mouth and my throat and my chest. I was crying out for help, but my cries only made things worse. That’s how I feel tonight, Mom. That’s exactly how I feel tonight. (Lines 21-26)” The water represents the suffering that he is experiencing;
The Ground Effect (or Wing in Ground Effect) is a natural phenomenon that occurs due to vortices caused by a difference in pressure between the two sides of a wing. This effect can be very dangerous to inexperienced pilots, but can be utilized by creative engineers.
Even though we believe there are so many happy things around us, these things are heartbreaking. The poems “Tips from My Father” by Carol Ann Davis, “Not Waving but Drowning” by Stevie Smith, and “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop convey the sorrow of growing up, of sorrowful pretending, and even of life itself. The poem “Tips from My Father” depicts an episode of the life of a father and his son. The pain from the childhood, the betraying of a lover, countless secrets are settling during the period of life, which can absolutely not be shared and understood by others.
innocence and how it all changed at the end of primary school. inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks I believe. This symbolizes the change from a child into an adolescent. However, in Piano, the poem shows us how the past will always shape us. tells us how we can never go back to the past I weep like a child for.
It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen.” -pg. 85
From there I rolled down to the boardwalk. I sat, alone, watching the ocean waves crash against the shore. While I watched the sun slowly set on the ocean. The waves were pounding the shore with the rhythm of my beating heart. I was beginning to realize the ramifications of living in a wheelchair, no dancing; no high heels; no hiking; no beach-combing. The waves rise up, curl, then crash; drawing back into the sea. With each crash, it seemed to pull a piece of my life out to sea, no more. . . no more. ...
“The Swimmer,” a short fiction by John Cheever, presents a theme to the reader about the unavoidable changes of life. The story focuses on the round character by the name of Neddy Merrill who is in extreme denial about the reality of his life. He has lost his youth, wealth, and family yet only at the end of the story does he develop the most by experiencing a glimpse of realization on all that he has indeed lost. In the short story “The Swimmer,” John Cheever uses point of view, setting and symbolism to show the value of true relationships and the moments of life that are taken for granted.
During the summer months, my family would spend every Sunday at the beach, if it didn’t rain. My father would carry the water cooler packed with sandwiches, fruit and home-made chocolate chip cookies. Tracy and Bobby would swim in the ice cold Atlantic while I waded in water well below my waist. Or often, I’d pick up sea shells from the wet sand to take home to show Tracy
As I sat down on the sand and watched the waves flow onto the beach, calmness envelopes my mind. I reminisce about the childhood memories that took place in my hometown in Pakistan, echoing excitedly within my mind like an old-school movie. Suddenly, an image flashes within my mind, bringing forth memories of my childhood. I start to reflect on the impact of these childhood memories on one’s development as an individual. My childhood memories I remember may differ from those of others, especially in regard to their emotional and spiritual impact.