"Winter. Time to eat fat and watch hockey."
I think the poem "February" by Margaret Atwood is a very strange poem from line twelve on. I think that the basic idea is that sex is the way to stay alive and well during the winter months. The hockey, cat, and eating analogies are present throughout. Sex is compared to hockey when the speaker says "He shoots, he scores!" The poem also mentions the conquest of a cat marking his territory. The eating analogy is also related to sex when their is famine in the bedsheets. All of these analogies work together to make sex seem like a conquest to score, quench hunger, and mark territory. I think that this poem is kind of bizarre and has a weird theme. One of the questions from the book asks if this is what I associate with winter. I can assure you that I have never even considered these things with winter or any time of the year. This poem has an interesting theme to say the least, but it is very well portrayed through analogies and imagery.
Showing posts with label figurative language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label figurative language. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Poetry Ch. 5 Figurative Language (4)
"Dull sublunary lovers' love
(Whose sould is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it." (802)
This quote is from the poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne. The central theme of this poem is that true love, once refined, is so strong that even when one lover dies or leaves for a while, the bond cannot be broken. This is apparent when the whole message of the poem is taken into consideration. I think that the message that true love will never die is timeless and evident in this poem. The poem really reveals the bond between lovers and recognizes that they become one after time. I think that this poem shows the significance of love and how it influences people. The poem also shows that lovers depart in different ways, but that does not make their love any less. Some lovers (laity) part with no noise, no tears, and no sighs, rather, they give a profanation of their joys. Other lovers are fixed footed and do not move without their other half. This poem stays true to its theme and describes how true love can be shown in different ways, but is so strong that the bond never falters.
(Whose sould is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it." (802)
This quote is from the poem "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne. The central theme of this poem is that true love, once refined, is so strong that even when one lover dies or leaves for a while, the bond cannot be broken. This is apparent when the whole message of the poem is taken into consideration. I think that the message that true love will never die is timeless and evident in this poem. The poem really reveals the bond between lovers and recognizes that they become one after time. I think that this poem shows the significance of love and how it influences people. The poem also shows that lovers depart in different ways, but that does not make their love any less. Some lovers (laity) part with no noise, no tears, and no sighs, rather, they give a profanation of their joys. Other lovers are fixed footed and do not move without their other half. This poem stays true to its theme and describes how true love can be shown in different ways, but is so strong that the bond never falters.
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.
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. 5 Figurative Language (2)
"Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" (805)
The poem "Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes uses many similies. The similes propose different options about what could happen to a dream that is deferred. The deferred dream is compared to a raisin in the sun, rotten meat, a syrupy sweet crusting over, a sore, and a heavy load. These are all things that have the connotation of being lost and forgotten. This similes are effective because it shows that the speaker thinks that his/her dreams will be forgotten like meat and rot away somewhere. The speaker thinks that the dreams that are not realized will be forgotten by all involved and become some rotten thing just sitting somewhere without a purpose or hope. The similes are followed by one metaphor that concludes the poem. This metaphor is strategically placed at the end because it introduces another idea entirely. All of the similes dealt with something being forgotten and becoming old and gross. The metaphor "or does it explode" at the end compares the deferred dream to something that blows up and leaves nothing behind. I think that this ending metaphor may be what the speaker is hoping happens to the dreams that are deferred because he/she doesn't want his/her old dreams hanging over his/her head for the rest of his/her life. The speaker wants to be able to move on and forget about it.
The poem "Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes uses many similies. The similes propose different options about what could happen to a dream that is deferred. The deferred dream is compared to a raisin in the sun, rotten meat, a syrupy sweet crusting over, a sore, and a heavy load. These are all things that have the connotation of being lost and forgotten. This similes are effective because it shows that the speaker thinks that his/her dreams will be forgotten like meat and rot away somewhere. The speaker thinks that the dreams that are not realized will be forgotten by all involved and become some rotten thing just sitting somewhere without a purpose or hope. The similes are followed by one metaphor that concludes the poem. This metaphor is strategically placed at the end because it introduces another idea entirely. All of the similes dealt with something being forgotten and becoming old and gross. The metaphor "or does it explode" at the end compares the deferred dream to something that blows up and leaves nothing behind. I think that this ending metaphor may be what the speaker is hoping happens to the dreams that are deferred because he/she doesn't want his/her old dreams hanging over his/her head for the rest of his/her life. The speaker wants to be able to move on and forget about it.
Poetry Ch. 5 Figurative Language (1)
"I have prepared my sister's tongue."
The poem "The Joy of Cooking" by Elaine Magarrell uses metonymy. The speaker uses metonymy to describe the shortcomings of his siblings. In the first stanza, the speaker prepares his sister's tongue. The tongue's description allows readers to infer things about his sister. One thing the metonymy hints at is that his sister uses foul language. I gathered this because he prepared it and scrubbed it. Usually, children get their tongues washed with soap to teach them not to curse. The fact that the tongue needed to be "scrubbed and skinned" implies that it was dirty. The speaker uses metonymy to describe his sister's bad habit of using foul language. The speaker also uses metonymy in the second stanza when he has his brother's tongue. I think that the metonymy hear is describing his brother when he describes the heart. The heart is "firm and rather dry, slow cooked." This implies that according to the speaker, his brother's heart is not used often and isn't very appealing. Also, the heart only serves two, unlike the beef heart that serves six. This implies that the speaker's brother's heart is small. By the speaker's metonymy, we can gather that the speaker has some background in food and has some pent-up feelings about his siblings.
The poem "The Joy of Cooking" by Elaine Magarrell uses metonymy. The speaker uses metonymy to describe the shortcomings of his siblings. In the first stanza, the speaker prepares his sister's tongue. The tongue's description allows readers to infer things about his sister. One thing the metonymy hints at is that his sister uses foul language. I gathered this because he prepared it and scrubbed it. Usually, children get their tongues washed with soap to teach them not to curse. The fact that the tongue needed to be "scrubbed and skinned" implies that it was dirty. The speaker uses metonymy to describe his sister's bad habit of using foul language. The speaker also uses metonymy in the second stanza when he has his brother's tongue. I think that the metonymy hear is describing his brother when he describes the heart. The heart is "firm and rather dry, slow cooked." This implies that according to the speaker, his brother's heart is not used often and isn't very appealing. Also, the heart only serves two, unlike the beef heart that serves six. This implies that the speaker's brother's heart is small. By the speaker's metonymy, we can gather that the speaker has some background in food and has some pent-up feelings about his siblings.
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