Espada Summary

“Enter without so much as knocking” is a poem that is critical of consumerism in the modern world. The poem itself is a story of one man’s life, from birth till death and is a satirical look at modern society and its materialism. The poem begins with the Latin line “Memento, homo, qui, pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.” This means in English “Remember you are dust and dust you will return”. This is the central idea of the poem; no matter how many materialistic items we acquire and consume, in the end, we all end up at the same place. The poem then follows by speaking of a baby waking into life,

To start off the analysis, the setting of the entire poem is significant. Though the poem takes place in a house, the atmosphere the house is set in is also important. The month is September which is a month of fall which can be seen as a symbol for decline. It definitely insinuates that the poem is leading towards death. Line 1 has “September rain falls on the house” which gives the feeling of a dark and cold night with a storm on top of that. To further develop that, Bishop gives us the failing light in line 2 to also give us an idea of the grandmother’s struggle. Bishop uses the cyclical theme of changing seasons to show the unending nature of what is transpiring within the

Symbolisation is also used to counteract the miserable life of an Australian housewife. This can be seen in the line “She practises a fugue, though it can matter to no one now if she plays well or not, (stanza one, line one).” This line suggests that the woman portrayed is a musician. The poem latter reads, “Once she played for Rubinstein, who yawned,” (stanza one, line nine). This suggests she was talented enough to present to Rubenstein but didn’t succeed. “The children caper, round a sprung mousetrap where a mouse lies dead.” This line symbolizes the housewife. Her dreams of becoming a musician are trapped within her own environment. This same line can also evaluate the difficulties and harshness of the urban Australian life. Seeming sad this is something that is exciting to the children.

The tone of the poem changes as the poem progresses. The poem begins with energetic language like “full of heroic tales” and “by a mere swing to his shoulder”. The composer also uses hyperboles like “My father began as a god” and “lifted me to heaven”. The use of this positive language indicates to the responder that the composer is longing for those days – he is nostalgic. It also highlights the perspective of a typical child. The language used in the middle of the poem is highly critical of his father: “A foolish small old man”. This highlights the perspective of a typical teenager and signifies that they have generally conflicting views. The language used in the last section of the poem is more loving and emotional than the rest: “...revealing virtues such as honesty, generosity, integrity”. This draws attention to a mature adult’s perspective.

In addition to this, belonging to a family is a key concept in this novel. The novel opens with an alluring introduction to the family; a blissful atmosphere is created through the picturesque icons of their family life. The composer uses small photograph like icons to allude towards the widely acknowledged contentment that is readily associated with the memories in a picture album. Tan introduces the motif of the paper crane which he carries through the length of his novel as a symbol of affection and belonging between the family members. The next pages signify the break in contentment as the man begins his journey and a salient image of the couple with their hands grasping the other’s parallels the anxiety and despair in their downcast facial expressions. Although the gloomy atmosphere, the light sepia tones in the picture allow an insight into the tender and loving relationship that the family members share. Upon the man’s departure the paper crane motif returns and he hands it to his daughter as a token of his undying love for her. His migratory experience is studded by the comfort and ease that he obtains from a picture of his family. In paralleled scenes on the boat and the new apartment, the

and that he believes them. The poem also translates into how living in the city is toilsome and that the city is unrelenting. On the other hand it shows how the city can be prosperous and happy with the city’s disadvantages. in the second half of the poem it’s telling how nomatter what is wrong with the city, the people are still proud of who they are.

The use of symbolism and imagery is beautifully orchestrated in a magnificent dance of emotion that is resonated throughout the poem. The two main ideas that are keen to resurface are that of personal growth and freedom. Furthermore, at first glimpse this can be seen as a simple poem about a women’s struggle with her counterpart. However, this meaning can be interpreted more profoundly than just the causality of a bad relationship.

This is significant because it emphasizes the melancholy and mournfulness that he depicts with imagery in the first stanza. Later on in the second stanza, he author describes the tree the narrator would have planted as a “green sapling rising among the twisted apple boughs”. The author uses visual color imagery of the color green to describe the sapling in order to emphasize just how young the newborn was when he died. Later on in the poem, the narrator speaks of himself and his brothers kneeling in front of the newly plated tree. The fact that they are kneeling represents respect for the deceased. When the narrator mentions that the weather is cold it is a reference back to the first stanza when he says “of an old year coming to an end”. Later on in the third stanza the author writes “all that remains above earth of a first born son” which means that the deceased child has been buried. They also compare the child to the size of “a few stray atoms” to emphasize that he was an infant. All of these symbols and comparisons to are significant because they are tied to the central assertion of remembrance and honoring of the dead with the family and rebirth.

Therefore, most of the Stanza and the 10th line focus on introducing the reader into the problem and the perpetrators of the violence. The use of religion is not only symbolic to the inevitable suffering of the Latin Americans at the Poets country but also is ironical to the end times which marks massive violence acts against humanity. The aspect is brought to form by the last two lines which liken the treatment of the Indian bodies being killed as rotten fruits, thrown in a pile of garbage. The words rotten and garbage bring out the ugly scene of dead bodies surrounded by flies that feed on the decomposed material, an immense feeling of empathy towards the dead.

The first stanza depicts two main elements: metaphors and synecdoche’s. The first two lines of the poem set the stage for what this poem is about, “When my heart is not in my mouth, it’s in your hands” (line 1-2). This allows the reader to understand that this man’s heart lies with this woman and that she has complete control over it. This line also describes a synecdoche in which the woman is not actually holding a live organ in her hands as the reader would

The theme exhibits a lot of ignorance since it does not work in the interests of everybody thought, it brings a lot of meaning considering the author’s point of view. The tone bears a significant similarity to that of a teenager who is oblivious to reality. However, the mood is wondrous and happy following that the diction gives a great sense of positivity and success. The poem indicates that life seems to be a bit easy in the childhood provided that the in the childhood one has no responsibilities to worry about unlike in the old age where one has a lot of responsibilities to worry about. For example, in the sentence "cotton candy torches, sweet as furtive kisses" , it rises thoughts of huge cotton candy that tastes wonderful but furnishes as soon as a furtive kiss. The poet has used very descriptive words and numerous poetic devices to make the description in the poem very clear and effective. The tone only changes in the last line “Tossing a glance through the chain link at an improbable world.” In fact, it is the only instance where the author brings reality to light.

Near the end of the poem, Decaul makes a dejected image as he speaks of “life” being similar to “dew” and the “disappearing dew” (26,27,28). By saying this, Decaul shows us how fast a life comes and ends. The many different unfortunate and unhappy images the soldier witnesses, help the reader to connect and understand the overall meaning of what life is like during the war. It displays how the soldier would describe his life. By relating life to dew, the reader sees how melancholic a person can potentially become due to war. These images guide the reader to connect with the author and detect the unhappy emotions specified in the poem.

Culture is a defining thing in every person’s life, and affects them and how they perceive the world. In the poem “Without Title,” the theme is that leaving behind one’s former way of life, culture, and family can lead to the loss of joy, identity, and joy in culture. In this poem by Diane Glancy, it has different ways of showing this loss of culture and identity. Without Title uses a lot of figurative language to show this. Line 14 says, “I remember the animal tracks of the car,”. This shows how the author knows the culture she used to have and recognizes that it is gone and there is no true part of her culture now. She calls car tracks, animal tracks, which is something she would have seen if she had gotten to stay with her people and family. These all have a wistful longing feel in the poem, one of sadness. In the final part of the poem it says, “The red buffalo painted on his chest. Oh, I couldn’t see it but it was there,” This can be a representation of the author’s father’s lost culture, how he still has it be he is not allowed to show it at all, so he just keeps it to himself. In both it shows all the father and the author have left of their culture, their memories, and physical reminders. It shows a loss of identity, and that they both miss it. When the author says her father, “brought home horns and hides,” it can also be representing any piece of his former culture that he tried to bring back into the home, but his wife says to “get rid of them.” The wife could say

The poem is composed of long lines, with no pauses. The long sentences represent the long hours of work the children have to do. The long lines also suggest the continuity of poverty and the long years of imprisonment to come for the children and how the cycle will continue for generations. The poet uses anaphora in the third stanza to represent the repetitive and tiresome work the children have to go through. The repetition of “one hundred” reflects how this number is unsettling, the poet is showing the reader that even though the number “one hundred to the square centimeter” may be a number to be proud of because it represents the efficiency of the child workers, the number shows the pain and confinement of the children behind the “traditional beauty” of the carpets. In the fourth stanza the poet uses an exclamation mark to show the unsettling thoughts the tourist had after seeing the state of the workplace and the question mark to represent the questions that occupy him/her after the

“That oppresses, like the Heft of Cathedral Tunes--.” It has a very heavy feeling derived from the word Heft as well as Cathedral Tunes. The Cathedral is considered sacred yet it is such as somber sound that it could easily affect a person’s mood. The use of paradoxes in the poem creates a sense of confusion about the true feelings about the revelation. “Heavenly Hurt” is both wonderful and horrible and suggests that the pain comes from the heavens. This suggestion is support in various situations throughout the poem. “Cathedral Tunes” and “Sent us of the Air” are the prime examples. It shows that this new realization may have been from a divine being therefore the reader is confused on it’s significance because it perhaps a type of gift. “Landscapes Listen Shadows—hold their breathe” is the personification used in the poem. This personification in the work shows that a divine being has arranged for this revelation to occur therefore, all of nature will halt to the being who has been selected to find this new piece of themselves. She also uses a bit of irony as well as parallel structure to set the scene in the poem. The revelation is brought out in the light of an wintery afternoon, this is the parallel yet it oppressive and dark which is ironic because the light brought with it such darkness.