|
|
Metaphor
"The mountain sat upon the plain in his eternal chair." Emily cleverly makes it sound like the mountain is literally a person sitting on a chair which gives the reader a deeper appreciation for the mountain through out the poem. As for similes, much like the definition of a metaphor they create a comparison of two unlike things. Only difference is, is that they use the words "like" and "as" to create the comparison. For example, instead of directly calling someone a pig you would instead say something like,"You eat like a pig" or "You chew as if you were a pig". A simile is a more direct manner rather then using a broad meaning sentence like "You are a pig" which could possibly mean many many things. Analogies however, are actually the opposite. They're the comparison of two pairs of with the same kind of relationship. A basic example would be My mother is to my father as Michelle Obama is to Barack Obama. The relationship could be of any kind as long as its the same on both pairs, in this case the relationship being "a married couple". Much like personification, Anthropomorphism is the idea of giving "entities" human like forms and characteristics. For example, the "gods" of many different kinds of religions are all given anthropomorphic qualities in order to better picture and discuss them. Finally Hyperbole is just the act of exaggeration a basic example would be just saying "I'm so hungry that I could eat an elephant!" Obviously this isn't to be taken seriously, but rather to give the statement a bigger "umph". "Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all," Right from the very beginning "hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul" Dickinson creates a vivid beautiful image by making a comparison between hope and a bird. Just as a bird would take rest and refuge on any kind of high area, hope takes rest and refuge in our souls. Creating a strong yet respectable bond between the otherwise distinctive pair. In the next 2 stanzas "And sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all." The author takes it a step further by comparing the relationship between a birds lively yet strong singing and our hope's undying strength in the next two stanzas, Greatly adding onto the previous relationship that was just created and strengthening it. But that's just an example of one author making use of metaphors. Dylan Thomas's poem is a bit more peculiar."The force that through the green fuse drives the flower Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees Is my destroyer" From just the first three stanzas I can already get a solid idea of where Thomas's metaphors are heading, on the first stanza "The force that through the green fuse drives the flower" the keywords that are brought to light here are the "Force" and the "green fuse drives the flower". Usually terms that are tied into "Energy" or more specifically "life energy" are easily interlinked with this sentence. As the second stanza goes on "Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees" the idea of "life energy" is clearly stated by the author due to the comparison of his age to that of of what drives trees. Along with the comparison that Our life force and the life force of a tree are the one and the same. Finally the third stanza "is my destroyer". It couldn't be more straight forward. The very life that drives the trees and ourselves will eventually end us as well."You are a dainty violet. Yet wither'd ere you can be set Within the virgin's coronet" From the beginning "You are a dainty flower" the author starts off with comparing his mistress's beauty to that of a delicate flower making a strong but amazing statement with only but a few words. Though he does not let up. He continues on with the line "Yet wither'd ere you can be set within the virgin's coronet" meaning even when she begins to age and wrinkle, her beauty is so great that she could be placed within a virgins coronet. Beauty which is said to be untouched, unsoiled, completely pure, beauty which seems to be more holy then not. Extremely powerful statements and feelings written towards his mistress.l(a le af fa ll s) one l iness As complex as it might look all that is really needed here is a decent understanding of how punctuation can work. When the poem is written out in standard form we are left with "Loneliness (a leaf falls). Basically this poem gives life such a grand twist. Think of how a leaf is always surrounded by hundreds maybe even thousands of other leaves. Sure it may not seem lonely, hell it even seems like they're anything but lonely. However, the point is no matter how many leaves you may be surrounded by, or even people in our case humans. The fact that we are still our own individual being and live our lives without the necessity of others proves that we are indeed isolated beings. The leaf may always be around other leaves but when its time to fall the trip is always done alone. I couldn't think of a better example to describe my own life in a metaphor. Yes we may be surrounded our entire lives by people. Not just people, family, friends, lovers. Whatever it may be, we always have someone in our lives. But when push comes to shove we are still individuals.
|