Preview

the rain horse

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
270 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
the rain horse
How does Hughes present a sesne of fear and menace in this story?
The rain horse by ted hughes is a short story text. Ted hughes was a prolific poet and was more celebrated for his poetry than his prose. This narravtive reflects his poetry through the very vivid imagery created by the description of the blinding rain and mysterios horse. Hughes presents a sense of menace and fear through the description of the horse and the horse following him.

Hughes presents menace ad fear through the limited and mysterious descriptions of the horse. The simile: “It seemed to be running on its toes like a cat, like a dog up to no good. “ suggest that the horse is fast. The effect of this is that is gives a very mysterious impression of the horse to the reader. This presents fear and it the reader is unsure how to interpret the nature of this horse. The simile: “or a moment like a nightmarish leopard” suggests that the horse has a daunting aura about him. The use of the adjective “nightmarish” gives the horse a negative connotation this create a menacing and frightful impression of the horse to the reader. The description: “He got one snapshot glimpse of the red-veined eyeball” suggests the horse has a sense of anger. The effect of the compound adjective “red-veined’ is it creates an almost human like imagery of someone in pure anger state. This shows menace and fear as it portrays the horse to be angry and violent. The limited yet very descriptive language used to describe the horse presents fear to the reader.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Additionally, the moon is described as an “orange disk” (Roberts 19) whose rays lit the ravine “strangely”(Robert 19). The mention of the darkness and the strange moonlight create a distinct first impression of what is to come. For example, the child’s strife, the battle of man versus beast, and the “rapidly decaying” bodies of the panther cubs. The tone may be foreboding in terms of these events. Perhaps the darkness and the moonlight may connect yet again to Darwin (his connection between animal and human) in the sense that there is a sense of mourning for the cubs (and even the adult panthers). The reader may emotionally connect with the weeping child, but there is no denying that Robert’s provides for the reader a sense of mourning for the panthers and the decaying cubs. As discussed, man is simply a more cunning animal and so, there is a darkness and a mourning for the animal as well as the…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author uses descriptive language to describe the dull and depressing mood of the story. For example, he uses a simile to illustrate the dullness of the story,” This look came over her face like the sun had wrinkled out and was not going to shine again till next June.”(4) When he mentions wrinkling it gives the reader…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Blood Red Horse

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages

    While annotating the novel, I noted that there was a sufficient amount of imagery throughout the story, but an abundance of it was towards the beginning, when Sir Thomas and his sons Will and Gavin are called on to fight in King Richard’s army against Saladin for the Holy Land. Will must choose a Great Horse to ride in the war and when sent to pick one out, he chooses Hosanna, “[who] was bred to be a Great Horse, but can’t quite make the size…The stallion was liver chestnut, almost red, the unusual color unbroken except for a small white star between his eyes. His mane and tail being exactly the same color as his coat seemed to flow out from his body, and his slender legs [like those] of a fallow deer. The horse’s eyes were luminous and reflective, his muzzle slightly darker than the rest of him.” (Grant 25) Grant does a remarkable job when describing events in her story, creating a clear mental picture for the reader. Although imagery was relatively easy to discern, diction on the other hand was not. The only word I could find for diction is “thundered”, which usually refers to weather conditions. In this case, though, Grant uses it to describe how the horse, Montlouis, runs, “…urged on by Gavin, [he] thundered toward the victims…” (Grant 121). In regards to an overall theme, I discovered…

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Intense imagery, contrasts, comparisons, and parallelism are used in conveying the complexity of her feelings toward nature. She ties in the similarities between the terror-striking reaction to the great horned owl and the heart-striking happiness of a field of roses.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Paret the Boxer

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In conclusion, the sympathetic effect that the passage has is due to the writer’s use of animalistic imagery, diction, and similes. "And…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Rattler Essay

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The author uses diction in the passages to signify the effect of the author¡¯s meaning in story and often sway readers to interpret ideas in one way or another. The man in the story arrives to a ¡°[dry] desert¡± where he accosts an animal with ¡°long-range attack¡± and ¡°powerful fangs.¡± The author creates a perilous scene between the human and animal in order to show that satisfaction does not come from taking lives. With instincts of silence and distrust, both of them freeze in stillness like ¡°live wire.¡± In addition, the man is brought to the point where animal¡¯s ¡°tail twitched,¡± and ¡°the little tocsin sounded¡± and also he hears the ¡°little song of death.¡± With violence ready to occur, the man tries to protect himself and others with a hoe, for his and their safety from the Rattler. The author criticizes how humans should be ¡°obliged not to kill¡±, at least himself, as a human. The author portrays the story with diction and other important techniques, such as imagery, in order to influence the readers with his significant lesson.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    -The line slowly, slowly horses of the night means Chris disappears into insanity and that he can't see day and night. Means the night must move slow for Chris and "Whether he had discovered at last a way for himself to make the necessary dream perpetual" (pg.24)…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book All the Pretty Horses is a western drama about teenage cowboys as they transition from adolescence into manhood. The author, Cormac McCarthy, structures the book using echo words and parallel structure that links dialogue exchanges and makes the scenes flow smoothly. McCarthy is a master of this sort of repetition and uses this structure throughout the entire book. There are many examples of this used throughout the book, but the author primarily focuses on the interpersonal relationships, diversity, and change.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the centuries, there have been an infinite amount of literary works written by a sea of authors that write a variety of genres. All of these works are precious in their own way, and even if their theme is similar to that of another, the author always ads a bit of his/her own flare in order to make said literary creation unique in some way. William Wordsworth’s “London 1802” and Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Douglass”, although quite similar in form and sentence structure, do add their own flare through the use of specific details. Through the use of these devices, the speakers show their disgust for the evil deeds humans do and attempt to change them.…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The imagery creates the very distinct contrast between terrifying and beautiful parts of nature. The frightening great horned owl has “razor-tipped toes” that “rasp the limb” and a “hooked beak” that makes a “heavy, crisp, breathy snapping.” The physical form is rough and rugged, reminiscent of a terrifying being. The owl is presented with characteristics of the “night” and “blackness,” The flowers, on the other hand, are like “red and pink and white tents.” The color contrast reinforces the complete oppositeness of the flowers and the owl.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His style is detailed and the use of poetic devices such as alliteration creates vivid imagery. Alliteration such as ‘blaring bull’, ‘a stallion splashed’ and as he describes the mongrel as ‘slowly slinking’ portray a certain movement which the reader then picture in their minds. The movement of the bird is also described in detail the use of verbs ‘twitch and toss’, ‘clip and sip’ showing sharp, quick movements as…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    They are purely emphasizing the horse, and the deed. He rode a horse, and yelled warnings. Neither painting emphasized what he actually looked like or who he actually was.…

    • 999 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Richard Connell’s thrilling short story “The Most Dangerous Game”, an uneasy mood is constructed by Rainsford’s illusive adventure on Ship Trap Island. Many moments in the short story help build up a feeling of uneasy, one being when Winston uses a simile to describe the evil of the atmosphere, saying that the air “ was actually poisonous”, and that he felt a “mental chill, a sort of sudden dread” when the ship neared the island (Connell 1). The author makes the reader feel uneasy by making just the atmosphere itself seem evil and dangerous with the simile comparing the air to something that kills and is to be avoided. Readers also naturally pick up the feeling of dread from Whitney, which significantly helps in building…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    When the every day reader takes a look into a book its the ardent features that grab them and entice them into reading the rest. In "Black Cat" Edgar Allen Poe explores indredulous emotion. Poe often uses the work of strong words to entisify parts of the story.…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scarlet Ibis Readthrough

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages

    James Hurt’s use of figurative language in the short story, “The Scarlet ibis” contributes significantly to the reader’s understanding of the characters. One such instance of figurative language is shown through symbolism and can be found in the rising action of the story, during a hurricane:” Cotton balls were wrenched from the stalks and lay like green walnuts in the valleys between the rows, while the cornfield leaned over uniformly so that the tassels touched the ground.” This use of figurative language helps provide a vivid image for the reader, as well as represent something much larger. The storm itself represents the misery that the entire family went through, and how out of place Doodle was by comparing him to the cotton balls that were wrenched from the stalks. Another example of symbolism of Doodle can be seen in his comparison to the Scarlet Ibis bird, both mentally and physically. Both Doodle and the Scarlett Ibis were destined to die, and both died in the same position. In addition to this example of figurative language, Hurst’s use of simile’s help add to the reader’s knowledge of the character of Brother: “Keeping a nice secret is very hard to do, like holding your breath.” In this conflict, simile is used to compare the act of holding your breath to that of keeping a secret, and the reader can tell that Brother is apprehensive about telling the family of his accomplishments. Brother clearly wants the family to see what a great job he did, but he really just does not want to have a crippled brother. The use of simile in the story helps the readers illuminate the characters’ actions, this giving the reader a better appreciation of the characters. One instance of personification can be found in the beginning of the story: “They did not know that I did it for myself, that pride is whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all of their voices; and that Doodle only walked because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.” This use…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays