Themes in the Cremation of Sam Mcgee

In the essay “The Embalming of Mr. Jones,” (1963), Jessica Mitford is describing a procedure of embalming of a corpse. She writes that people pay a ton of money each year, but “not one in ten thousand has any idea of what actually takes place,” and it is extremely hard to find books and any information about this subject. She assumes that it must be a reason for such secrecy, and may be if people knew more about this procedure, they would not want this service after their death.

However, the poem has fluidity despite its apparent scarcity of rhyme. After examining the alteration of syllables in each line, a pattern is revealed in this poem concerning darkness. The first nine lines alternate between 8 and 6 syllables. These lines are concerned, as any narrative is, with exposition. These lines set up darkness as an internal conflict to come. The conflict intensifies in lines 10 and 11 as we are bombarded by an explosion of 8 syllables in each line. These lines present the conflict within one's own mind at its most desperate. After this climax, the syllables in the last nine lines resolve the conflict presented. In these lines, Dickinson presents us with an archetypal figure that is faced with a conflict: the “bravest” hero. These lines present the resolution in lines that alternate between 6 and 7 syllables. Just as the syllables decrease, the falling action presents us with a final insight. This insight discusses how darkness is an insurmountable entity that, like the hero, we must face to continue “straight” through “Life” (line 20).

There is alliteration in the stanzas of 3 and 6 “blade beak” and claws clutching”. This poem also has a rhythm to it; the stanzas are not constructed in that unbalanced way in which it’s hard to keep flowing feel to the literature.

In the poem the Cremation of Sam McGee it is written in the form of a ballad. The poem has multiple words that give it a rhythm that sounds like a song. The poem would sound sad and bleak without the melodic tone used. The poem uses a lot of alliteration and has a use of strong figurative language. The use of the figurative language used within the poem helps portray a more vivid and detailed pictured in the readers head. The melodic tone of the poem gives it a very upbeat mood. Without the rhythm in the poem it would sound very bleak. The poem the “Cremation of Sam McGee” is like a story being told in the form of a song. ”And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow, And the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe”, the figurative language within this piece of the poem “ The Cremation of Sam McGee” it gives the stars such detail as if they are alive. Within the poem the figurative language helps bring some inanimate objects to life and paints a vivid picture using strong language. The imagery used within the poem helps enhance the picture that the author is trying to paint for the reader. The structure of the poem helps draw slowly but steadily into the conflict that main character runs into.

supports his theme with the use of tone, diminishing repetition, and many strong literary terms.

The poem also uses end rhyme to add a certain rhythm to the poem as a whole. And the scheme he employs: aabbc, aabd, aabbad. End rhyme, in this poem, serves to effectively pull the reader through to the end of the poem. By pairing it with lines restricted to eight syllables. The narrator creates an almost nursery-rhyme like rhythm. In his third stanza however, his last line, cutting short of eight syllables, stands with an emphatic four syllables. Again, in the last stanza, he utilizes the same technique for the last line of the poem. The narrator’s awareness of rhyme and syllable structure provides the perfect bone structure for his poem’s rhythm.

Both poems have alliteration. Some of the first lines have alliteration. “Light like a green

symbolic richness, but at the same time the poem supplies the reader with a wide

The poem progresses from mourning of the deceased to praising of his achievements and fate to die before his glory withered. Therefore, the tone shifts from somber and quiet to upbeat and positive. Such shift of tone is achieved by Housman’s use of sounds. In first two stanzas, Housman describes the funeral procession as he remembers the time when the young athlete was proudly brought home after he won a race. Then, he solaces the mourners by reminding them it is better that the athlete “slip betimes away from fields where glory does not stay” (lines 9 and 10) because the laurel “withers quicker than the rose” (line 12). The soft “s” sound stands out especially in second and third stanza and it creates a sense of calm and quiet tone and evokes an image of townspeople mourning the death of their “hero”; Consonance of “s” sounds is present in words “shoulder, set, threshold, townsman, stiller, smart, slip, betimes, fields, does, stay, grows, withers, and rose.” In addition to consonance, soft sound alliteration in “road all runners” (line 5) helps to create a quiet tone. As the poem progresses into praising of the young athlete in stanzas four through seven, the consonance of hard “c”, “t”, and “f” sound become prominent. Readers can immediately detect

Apart from that, the poem consists of a series of turns that reflect different parts of the speaker’s feelings and the experiences he had. The significance of these turns is made possible through the use of stanza breaks. For example, the first

Although each stanza has a bit of alliteration, the second stanza is the most dominant. Dunbar writes, “Why should the world be over-wise,/ In counting all our tears and sighs?/ Nay, let them only see us, while/ We wear our masks” (6-9). The alliteration in this stanza is used heavily with the letter “w.” With the use of this alliteration, it creates a sense of flow that helps the speaker get his point across more smoothly. Although the poem is more cacophonic, and harsh, rather than euphonic, and harmonious, the use of alliteration helps highlight the importance of this stanza’s sayings. The alliteration aspect of this stanza

The poem is separated into two parts, each with sixteen lines, and is loosely based on an iambic pentameter metre. The rhyme scheme is ABAB throughout the poem, with the noticeable exception of the last four lines of part II, in which it changes to

“It was a clear day, and yet there seemed an intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark, and that was due to the absence of the sun.” Throughout Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” there is a sense of slow burning dread as readers are introduced to the man and his gradual, but inevitable death, brought upon by himself. London’s short story opens with the main character, a man, foolishly embarking on the long journey back to camp in the freezing Yukon, accompanied only by a husky mix. It is in this unforgivingly harsh weather that the man meets his fate, at his own hand. From the beginning of the story, the man displays flawed behaviors and personality traits that render him unable to survive on his solo journey in the Yukon, becoming his own worst enemy.

The author uses a rhyme scheme that mirrors the pace of walking. The pace is moderate using an octameter meter, and each stressed syllable is like each footfall of the narrator. As he walks through the streets near the River Thames, he notices the common distress in the faces of the people he passes along the way. The author uses alliteration in

I have to go to my grandma's cousin’s funeral tomorrow. But I get to see some family that I have not seen before. I get to meet a little girl named lily that I might get to babysit. But it is not like a normal funeral it is a memorial funeral. It only is going to have pictures of Phil cause he donated his body to scientists so they can experiment on the human body. Then we might go to the hotel to see my great aunt Doris. Lily is my second or third cousin and her mom is like my second or third aunt. After the service we had lunch and after I helped my great aunt Doris she gave me $20.00. In about a week and a half till we go see them. I think it will be fun cause we get to go to the hotel then we will go out to eat or go