Oxygen and The Larynx
Both in Mary Oliver’s “Oxygen” and Alice Jones’s “The Larynx use the same central idea that bodily functions can do so much for a person. In “Oxygen” the poet describes how the character has had a breathing issue their whole life and has an oxygen machine to help them breath well, and it is beautiful (Oliver 824). In “The Larynx” the poet describes how singing requires the strength and ability to make the body an instrument. Both poems use the body to make something beautiful, for better or for worse. In “Oxygen”, the speaker is about a family member of someone who has an ill breathing problem. The speaker describes that seeing the family member try to breath with a lack of air as “the fire, stirring with a stick of
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The speaker goes into great detail on how the larynx is compounded, with elegant jargon. The central theme of the poem is that singing is more than a talent, and the poem uses imagery to show how from the bottom of the larynx, “Under the epiglottis flap, the long-ridged tube sinks, its shaft down to the bronchial fork” (Jones 829), to the top, where sound is produced, is a process; “ here the cords arch, in the hollow of this ancient instrument, curve and vibrate to make a song” (Jones 829). Just like in “Oxygen”, there is no rhyme scheme. But unlike “Oxygen”, “The Larynx” is written as one long sentence. This is called a syntactical structure, this is used because, when reading out loud, it requires the reader to draw their attention to there own breath and attempt to space out the words to take breaths. The tone and mood of the poem also has a reaction witht e reader. It helps the reader appricate the poem when speaking out loud through the word choice and diction. The poem also uses metephores and imagry, like “Oxygen,” but also uses similys as well; “small and tough’ they flutter, bend like bird’s wing finding” (Jones
Poetry often uses sound to maintain a flow that keeps the reader interested and involved in a poem. Onomatopoeia is used in both “We Wear the Mask” and “Ballad of Birmingham” in one way and another. In the “Ballad of Birmingham,” alliteration is used when the consonant “W” is used in the line “her eyes grew wet and wild.” (26) In the same respect, “We Wear the Mask” states “But let the world dream otherwise/We wear the mask.”(14,15) The sound of the “W” is also repeated three times in these lines. Assonance is also a common sound used in both of the poems. In “Ballad of Birmingham,” the vowel “O” is repeated in the line “No, baby, no you cannot go.”(4,13) Also, the vowel “E” is repeated in the line “It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes”(2) in “We Wear the Mask.” The way in which a consonant or vowel is repeated brings a pleasing sound to the reader’s ear. The only major difference that the two poems contain is that in “Ballad of Birmingham,” the tone of the poem changes from a normal
Throughout the poem the tone and harmony is showing many different moods including shyness, anger and calmness. An example of shyness is at the start of the poem “softy, silently it swishes”, an example of anger is in the middle of the poem “it thumps, it sprays it rips at shores, its ozone spray”, and finally at the end of the poem calmness is shown, “it spends its strength, it sings, it sighs. The wave recedes”. One aspect of the poem I find intriguing is the alliteration and personification. For example, “it sighs, it sings, it seeks”.
describing the characters and objects throughout the poem and in creating the atmosphere of the
The poem does indeed have a rhyme scheme, yet doesn?t conform to conventional forms of rhyme such as A, B, A, B, etc. Rather, each stanza seems to follow the order of A, B, C, A, C, B, which may not be apparent to the reader at first, but doesn?t
The language in the poem has extremely powerful qualities which invoke vivid imagery. Metaphor, repetition, assonance and various punctuation techniques are used to highlight the poems themes and mood. "Metho Drinker's" prayer is by far the most powerful language in the poem. He is asked to be relieved of the
The poem sits easily on a page and is visually satisfying, although this is in part due to the visual rhymes previously mentioned. This appearance though is false as the poems content is analysed but reinforces the theme of appearance and reality in the 4th stanza. Again, the "controlled" use of structure can be seen as adding to the poems "passion" showing a masterful combination of the two. The repetition of and permutations on the line: "my heart is breaking for a little love" is another structure that reinforces the poems meaning and show the despair that the poem communicates. The move away from the 1st person in the last two stanzas serves to provide a different perspective on the emotions discussed allowing a broader view than if the whole poem was in the first person, again this use of structure emphasises the underlying emotions.
He uses this in the poem to give it rhythm to engage the reader and
She also presents a slight rhythm to the reading that allows for smooth reading. In keeping with her open form, there is no set scheme to the rhyme pattern. However, there is a single ending sound constantly repeated without a set pattern throughout the work. She also connects pairs of lines at random just for the sake of making connections to make that particular stanza flow. At the same time, she chose blatantly not to rhyme in certain parts to catch the reader’s attention.
symbolic richness, but at the same time the poem supplies the reader with a wide
With a few exceptions, the poem primarily follows the form of accentual-syllabic verse. The majority of lines are composed of three syllables, most often two unstressed and one stressed. Using a combination of structural technique and descriptive language, Williams emphasizes the action of visual perception.
Another technique this poem takes use of is alliteration. The alliteration used helps to express the themes importance through repletion of sound devices. A specific example of alliteration
The poem does not follow a rhyme scheme or meter, which means that there is rhythm in the poem and it makes the poem more like a song. The poem has four stanza’s and has five lines within each stanza.
There is a rhythm throughout the poem with strong rhyme, this pattern is like heavy breathing you have when you try to go to sleep it could also represent the rhythmical counting of sheep.
The fact that enjambment is used throughout the poem such as in the lines, “like a colour slide or press an ear against its hive” portrays a lack of structure and therefore emphasizes the initial enjoyment one feels when reading a poem before the chore of analyzing it begins. This is also emphasized through the fact that the poem is a free verse poem.
The sound of poetry is the most important element than anything else involved with poetry. The sounds of poetry are basically a foundation of desire. It is how the syllables are arranged in a pleasant-sounding pattern to satisfy and please desires even if they have a small meaning or no meaning to them. A poem that is filled with sound but little meaning can be “The Word Plum” by Helen Chasin. It is a poem that uses the sound devices of alliteration and onomatopoeia to bring the plum to life. Using alliteration and onomatopoeia it gives the plum a sound, a savory sound, it’s almost like you can taste and touch the plum in the palm of your hand and the sounds are just rolling off the tongue with every “delicious” bite of “luxury”. In the first line there is just a brief description of how delicious the plum is, but wait there is more. Then Chasin uses alliteration in (line 2) with the two words “pout and push” because they begin with p’s, they’re verbs, four letters, and are not capitalized. Chasin also uses onomatopoeia with the second line, same words “pout and push” to give a new sound of delicious from the first line, and to explain why the plum is so delightful. Once more, she uses alliteration in the third line using “self-love and savoring”; creating that delightful sound of juices from the plum.