In this poem, Kinnell demonstrates a profound metaphoric relationship between the tangible objects of blackberries, and the intangible objects of words. He feels an attraction to blackberries such as with taste, touch, and appearance. That notion is supported throughout the poem. For example, line 7 states the following: "Lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries," illustrating his love for the taste of delectable fruits.…
Galway Kinnell’s poem “Blackberry Eating” (rpt. in Greg Johnson and Thomas R. Arp, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 12th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth, 2015] 890-891) makes me think of my childhood with blackberries. Blackberries are my favorite berries and love the time of the year for them. As the poem says “I love to go out in late September among fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries…” (890), this is the best time of the year. Blackberries bring many memories with my grandparents: picking the blackberries, eating the blackberries, and making jelly and cobbler out of blackberries.…
Hurston continues to implement diction as a method enrich the reader's knowledge of her childhood. The author begins to mention the multitude of fruits which her family grows on their large farm complete with five…
The symbolism and scatological imagery establishes a decaying, decrepit and depressing environment, which reveals Billy’s isolation. Another evocative portrait is the internal monologue in the poem "Sport" in chapter one. The 'pain and suffering’ of 'soulless tyranny' endured by Billy, from 'the old bastard' his father.…
James Fenton and Carol Ann Duffy are both contemporary poets. Their poems ‘In Paris with You’ and ‘Quickdraw’ both include the themes of the pain of love. This essay compares how the two poets present the pain of love in their poems, exploring things such as imagery, vocabulary and form and structure.…
Some poets reflect on the particular and the universals of the world to unveil certain aspects of human experience. Through the use of particular and universal ideas along with intensive visual and kinesthetic imagery, the reader is able to adopt the same feeling of awe at these simplistic spectacles as once felt by the poet. Harwood’s poem; ‘in the park’ uses particular and universal themes and objects to discuss post-natal depression. Similarly, Heaney’s Poem; ‘Blackberry picking’, uses particular and universal themes and objects…
the 'yellow palm' is about the poet walking down the main street in Baghdad and comments on what he sees. In doing so the poem reflects on war and peace. Reflecting on the past and future which are linked with reconciliation and peace.…
There are multiple literary elements that combine together to create the theme and mood of a story. In the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” the author, James Hurst, demonstrates the use of literary elements and the importance of vital life lessons. The mood in this short story is deeply nostalgic and melancholy. The narrator faces the difficult obstacle of his pride vs. Himself (which is also the critical theme of the story). In the story, Hurst uses the elements of setting, foreshadowing, and symbolism to create a bittersweet, nostalgic memory of the character of Doodle.…
In his autobiographical narrative A Summer Life, Gary Soto vividly recreates the guilt felt by a six- year-old boy who steals an apple pie. Through Soto’s reminiscent he has taken us on a journey of his guilt, paranoia, and redemption through the usage of tone, allusions, and imagery.…
In the first line of the poem the speaker states his fondness for going out to eat blackberries. "I love to go out in late September..." This line makes it clear that the speaker goes out voluntarily because of his desire to eat the blackberries. In the next line, the speaker describes the blackberries in vivid imagery. "among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries. This description of the blackberries does not leave the reader to wonder about how the blackberries look or taste. The reason the author is giving the reader such a vivid sensory image of the blackberries is to show the powerful images that words can produce. The third line states the speaker's purpose. He is going out "to eat the blackberries for breakfast." This line shows that the…
Gary Soto’s autobiographical narrative “A Summer Life” recreates the feeling of guilt Sota felt after stealing an apple pie. The feeling is recreated through the use of allusions, imagery, and lively diction.…
Metaphor is the tool Bontemps uses in his poem. For instance, “Wind or fowl” (line 3) metaphorically refers to white race who are every where and can take the profit of African American race away like a wind blows grains away or like a bird intends to steal seeds of a farmer by pecking them away. Therefore, “the grain” (line 3) represents the speaker’s benefit that he gets from his hard work and effort, as the same as the word “reaping” in line 7. The “seed” (line 6) means his hard work to improve black people’s life. He dedicates so much like he scatters seed throughout the land with the hope of its bountiful output: the better life of the blacks. This has a similar meaning to the word “orchard” (line 9) in the last stanza. “Bitter fruits” (line 12) refers to what his children get from those seed he has planted: worthless outcome the future generation gets as a result of his dedicating work. It is the rancor like what he has got for all his life. As a whole poem, he compares the plantation of black slaves to their bitterness they face due to the white people.…
In ‘Mr Bleaney’ Larkin presents setting as an extremely reclusive place which has an everlasting and overpowering effect on the persona, making him very agoraphobic. The repetitive and constant ‘ABAB’ rhyme scheme throughout this poem hints at the continual and dull life the persona leads, being forced to live a constant, boring life sculpted by Mr Bleaney’s previous existence. The lexis ‘stayed’ also reiterates the lack of ambition the persona feels towards being any different to Mr Bleaney. The previous occupant Mr Bleaney relied on his house ‘the whole time’, and the persona is starting to behave similarly. The end of the poem ‘I don’t know.’, ending with a caesura displaying irony, is a powerful ending which is the personas way of justifying superiority or difference, and the irony that he is actually like Mr Bleaney, a reclusive and restrictive man. The metaphorical use of pathetic fallacy ‘frigid wind’ is hinting at the outside world trying to torpon the previous occupant to come outside more frequently, but due to his contentment with confinement, he chose never to. ‘That how we live measures our own…
Between Cape jasmine bushes and chinaberry trees, Zora Neale Hurston's childhood, was a warm sweet memory illustrated in an extract of Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography. In this excerpt, diction and point of view jump from the page to give the reader a lucid and realistic view of life "down there" in the farm, sheltered from society to protect the plentiful love, food and company of the Hurston home, compared to "way up north" where "rare" apples are abundant and gardenias are sold for a dollar, but where reality is a universal cry for equality and justice. Hurston's juxtaposition of these two environments compliments her parents' idealistic differences when it comes to raising their children. Metaphorical language, separation, position and repetition of words; flowers, fruit and struggle imagery create an atmosphere of home-like neighborhood versus the world outside the chinaberry trees.…
C.S. Lewis, am extremely popular fantasy writer, once said, “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides, and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” Both novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith, have become beloved novels for people of all ages. Betty Smith uses honesty to cast on the experiences of people from around the world and all different circumstances, while Mark Twain adds the humor of children and their intelligence. Although in the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the setting, such as the city life or the tenement building, tells the reader a…