Poetry Ch. 5 Figurative Language (3)

"Inebriate of Air-am I-And Debauchee of Dew" (797)

The poem "I taste a liquor never brewed" by Emily Dickinson contains an extended metaphor to which the speaker compares alcoholic intoxication to intoxication with the beauty of nature. The comparison to nature has many instances throughout to support it: "yield," "Debauchee of Dew," "Butterflies-renounce their 'dreams,'" "leaning against the-Sun." I think that the comparison is effective because everyone understands the feeling of being overcome with the beauty of nature and God's creation. The speaker describes alcoholic intoxication using the extended metaphor of intoxication of nature because people experience the same feeling of being on top of the world and happy when they are alcoholicly intoxicated and naturally intoxicated. Some of the descriptions of the beauty seen in alcoholic intoxication are beautiful occurences in nature that one can't help but see as beautiful. Some of these images are: "Tankards scooped in Pearl," "inns of Molten Blue," and "snowy Hats." I think that the figurative language of an extended metaphor is effective in this poem because it not the typical way we see drunks until the last stanza. It is almost letting us see the drunks from a new perspective.

Poetry Ch. 4 Imagery (2)

"And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul." Pg 776

The poem "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" by Emily Dickinson is an allegory. There are many symbols throughout the poem that contribute to the overall allegory. The overall allegory is that the speaker's funeral is a symbol for the speaker losing her mind and going crazy. The funeral is not a literal funeral because if the speaker was actually dead, he/she could not hear; it is symbolic of the burial of her current state of mind. A symbol in the poem that helped me arrive at this conclusion is the "Funeral, in my Brain." This explicitly tells readers that the funeral is not real. I concluded from this that the funeral was for her brain in her brain. Also, "Sense was breaking through" suggests that something is breaking into her mind and it was not going well. "My Mind was going numb" explains that the speaker's mind is not longer working properly; it is almost as if it is not their because the speaker cannot feel it the way he/she once could. The "strange Race Wrecked" symbolizes the beginning of the end. This point identifies the breaking point for the speaker. After that, everything goes down hill, or is "dropped down, and down." The last thought concludes the allegory of the poem with a symbol that is very relevant to the idea the speaker losing her mind: "And Finished knowing."