The Temperature of Poetry
Poetry is one of the stranger parts of the literary world. A poem can be anything, from a three-lined poem known as a haiku to a giant epic poem like the “The Odyssey.” They can be rhyming or non-rhyming, long or short, sensible or nonsensical. Even lyrics in songs can be considered poetry, seeing as how they are rhyming and flow so well. The parameters for a poem are wide, the requirements few; but no matter what kind of poem you read, from Homer to Doctor Seuss to John Mayer, symbolism is the driving force behind it all. Symbolism is the basis for almost every piece of poetry written so far, barring some of the works of Doctor Seuss. One recurring piece of symbolism found throughout the literary world is the use of temperature. The warmth of the sun or a comforting smile, the cold of night or a dark hospital room, temperature plays a part in many poems and plays its part well. But the part it plays can vary from writer to writer, poem to poem. The three major uses of temperatures though are to show the warmth of memory versus the harsh cold of reality, the warmth of comfort, and how warmth is used to show life and vitality while cold is used to signify harshness and cruelty.
The first two poems to discuss are “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth and “Disabled” by Wilfred Owen. These two poems are very different in their subject, but their usage of temperature in the form of memory gives them a common denominator. Both speak of
The poem “Neither Snow” has excellent figurative language. Imagery comes up a lot during this poem. (2) The first line of the poem has imagery, “when all of a sudden the city air filled with snow.” Visualizing the air filling up with white snow could also be color symbolization. White can mean purity but it can also mean death. More imagery comes up towards the middle of the poem, “phosphorescent
Writers have their own “special touch” as to how they will sway peoples’ emotions and thoughts with every work they release. In the poem “Those Winter Sundays,” poet Robert Hayden takes advantage of different types of imagery to display deeper levels of emotion. The imagery changes from being cool in nature to warm in nature as the poem’s growth changes. The reader will find, with the use of visual and auditory imagery, that Hayden may understand the force behind his father’s actions, but the father has not and will not be forgiven in the end. With the use of specifically visual and auditory imagery, Hayden is able to effectively display his emotions from
Metaphoric language is used in both works to establish tone, but the approaches differ. In Cold Mountain, Frazier uses similes to bring emphasis on different aspects of nature. For instance, the author describes the heron's legs and wings as "black as the river." This is to continue the smooth, even tone of the passage and establish that there is a continuous circle, spawning from nature and leading right back to nature. Relating the heron to another awe-inspiring aspect of nature simply elevates its divinity. Personification is also used in this passage to give the paragraphs an ironic tone. When Frazier describes the heron as "look[ing] high as a man in the slant light with its long shadow blown out across the water", he establishes a tone of irony. The heron is mocking mankind, who stands in front of nature (and supposedly above it) and allow themselves to consume it entirely. The irony continues as the heron looks as if it does not know where to step next, lost in its own conceit. This ironic tone is a laugh at mankind for being so selfish. However, in the poem, Oliver speaks in the first person narrative, as if mankind is attached to nature and can comprehend what is happening. This gives the poem a cynical tone, full of anticipated destruction and isolation. Metaphoric language adds to tone immensely.
Two men came to America with a organization of people on a ship to set up their own colony. Both of them had a goal and a reason for coming to the new world. When both of them came to set up a colony they had high hopes. They soon realized it would be a struggle to survive and had to endure a lot when they decided to come to the new world. They were not exactly the same though and had some differences and came to the new world for contrasting reasons.
Poems are like snowflakes. While no two are the same, they all have common structures and themes. One prevalent theme in poetry is that of death, which is present in both “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost. Dickinson perceives death as a gentleman, while Frost perceives death as loneliness, which provides insight on how the time periods of the poems, the genders of the authors, and the authors’ personal experiences influence literature.
In a piece of literary work weather is never just weather. Rain, snow, storms, and even rainbows all have their distinct meanings and in most cases usually symbolize something much deeper. Weather can change the entire mood of a novel and this is important because at times authors use weather to symbolize what is going on emotionally with a character. Two works of literature that use weather accordingly and symbolically are Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and The Odyssey by Homer.
Lorna Dee Cervantes' poem, “Poema para los Californios Muertos” (“Poem for the Dead Californios”), is a commentary on what happened to the original inhabitants of California when California was still Mexico, and an address to the speaker's dead ancestors. Utilizing a unique dynamic, consistently alternating between Spanish and English, Cervantes accurately represents the fear, hatred, and humility experienced by the “Californios” through rhythm, arrangement, tone, and most importantly, through use of language.
When a young boy sees girls in bikinis it can make his day, it can also make it his worst. In the story “A&P” by John Updike, A young boy at work sees three girls walking in in bikinis and the turn of events leads him jobless. This teen boy portrays how easy it is to stumble upon adult situations. In the story, the main character (Young teen boy) Sammy is working at a supermarket. While working he is used to seeing people walk in and out of the stores until he sees an unusual group of girls.
In The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton emphasizes on the weather description to lead the readers to foreshadow approaching events. "Ain't you about to freeze to death, Pony?" (Hinton, 47) It was a frigid fall night, the boys were desolate in the local park. Once an author establishes coldness and loneliness, the mood drops to death. According to literary symbolism, in winter, death roams the land, the literary use for the season is generally based on death and deterioration.
Symbolism is a strong leading force in a piece of literature and in a majority of this text symbolism is used. For example Gatsby is focused on keeping the good of the past around so he can live his present life happy. An important example shown in the text, with the help of foreshadowing Jordan talks to Daisy about the season change and tells Daisy not to be morbid because “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” (118) This is symbolism because fall is used as a time, and according to Jordan time starts over when fall comes. The negative connotation of fall usually is that it is cold, dark, and it leads to the sad and depressing winter.
Hayden utilizes diction to set a dark and solemn tone throughout the poem. Like the various examples of imagery, there is also a strong use of underlying symbolism. In the first stanza, the words “cold” (1. 2) and “fires blaze” (1. 5) are used, which introduces a conflict. This is emphasized in the second stanza when the word “cold” (2. 1) is used again, later followed by the word “warm” (2. 2). In the last stanza, the father eventually “had driven out the cold” (3. 2). Yet the father had not ridden the house of the cold air until the end of the poem, which symbolizes how it took his son several years later to recognize the behaviors in which his father conveyed his love for him.
Poetry is literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm, poems collectively or as a genre of literature. It is also a quality of beauty and intensity of emotion regarded as characteristic of poems. Poetry (poem) is something that follows a particular flow of rhythm and meter. Compare to prose, where there is no such restriction, and the content of the piece flows according to the story, a poem may or may not have a story, but definitely has structured method of writing.
Symbolism plays a large role in most poems. "A pure-white doe in an emerald glade/Appeared to me, with two antlers of gold" (Petrarch lines 1-2) is a perfect example of symbolism is poetry. Petrarch is not actually talking about a white deer with golden antlers, he's talking about a beautiful woman with golden hair. Wyatt also uses
Some of the poems and essays I have read during this class were relatable to me. Being away from college, I have struggled with not being at home. I have become a different person when I am at school, but when I am home, I feel like I am my normal self again. Some of these authors of the poems and essays that I have read throughout this class has struggled with being somewhere where they don’t belong and that they are someone else when they are not home. Unlike the other poems and essays we have read throughout the course. I enjoyed reading the ones about “home” because I actually understood what they are going through and that I can relate. Some of these poems and essays include “Going Home” by Maurice Kenny, Postcard from Kashmir”, by Agha Shahid Ali, “Returning” by Elias Miguel Munoz and “Hometown” by Luis Cabalquinto. All of these poems deal with duality.