Benevolence Tony Hoagland Analysis
Benevolence is defined as meanings kind, compassionate, or caring. In Tony Hoagland’s, “Benevolence”, the speaker thinks longingly of a time where they are able to control their father’s drinking habit. Hoagland uses the duality of harm and affection in his poem with the topics of benevolence and abuse. The speaker seems to have mixed feelings about it, as in knowing alcoholism is a bad habit, but knowing or feeling like their father always had good intentions. There is also a gloomy and depressing undertone when you analyze the poem; speaking of their alcoholic father who abused them. Tony Hoagland uses diction and imagery in this narrative poem to create a melancholy tone. The speaker imagines when their father dies, he will be reincarnated as a dog. They say they know what their favorite sound will be (opening fridge, cracking an ice cube tray, the clink of ice bouncing around in a glass). As a dog, he won’t be able to speak, (pronounce favorite drink, express preference for malt) he will only be able to bark and point his nose …show more content…
Hoagland uses the word “dies” instead of “passes away”, this seems like a cold-hearted word instead of the passing of a loved one. We can infer he had a difficult and confusing relationship with his father. When Hoagland states, “I mistakenly believed that it was love concealed in his closed hand”, it shows how he believed his father loved him even through his abuse. Hoagland’s poem has a melancholic tone in that all the son wanted to do was please his father, who was both abusive and an alcoholic, and how the son tried to believe that even though his father abused him, he still loved him. Hoagland uses a lot of “ah” sounds with the letter in this poem such as in “soft”, “dropped”, and “bottle”. He also uses a lot of short and harsh words such as “dies”, “dog”, and “cold”. This helps create and develop the melancholy
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreSummary Of Cheyenne River American Indian Joseph Brings Plenty
291 Words | 2 PagesThe author creates a sorrowful
Change In Night By Elie Wiesel
798 Words | 4 PagesThis shows how his environment has changed him, and even when it came to his father's death, he didn't even shed a tear, he was just emotionally incapable, and he even was relieved that his father had
The Sad Fisher Family In The Short Story 'Blood Knots'
564 Words | 3 PagesThe Sad Fisher Family In the short story, “Blood Knots” grief is revealed in different ways. In the beginning of the story the main character is described as calm and laid back. This gives the reader the sense that she does not care for her father’s death and she announces, “I am still waiting for my own emotion to surface in what I am anticipating will be a sense of overwhelming, loss”(Burton 33). The main character is in great shock that even she cannot describe it.
Emilia Lanyer's The Description Of Cooke-Ham
874 Words | 4 PagesThe poem feels very personal, as if the reader is reading a private letter between two dear friends, perhaps due to the fact that Lanyer uses
Diction In Annabel Lee
280 Words | 2 PagesThe poem, “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe dramatizes the theme of everlasting love. The use of contrasting diction effectively conveys this message. For example, the speaker states, “That the wind came out of the cloud by night, / Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee” (26-26). Poe uses the wind to represent a disease, such as tuberculosis. In addition, the choice of the words, “chilling” and “killing” and the use of cacophony emphasize Annabel Lee’s death and the effect it had on the speaker.
What Is The Tone Of My Papa's Waltz
531 Words | 3 PagesIn this poem all the son sees is battered knuckles on his father with “palms caked hard by dirt.” This paints a description of an abusive father that does not love his son because if he did love his son he would not hurt him. The father is first introduced with “whiskey on his breath” (line 1) which can be inferred that he is an alcoholic and this creates a negative image that the reader can see and even smell. The son though seems to notice all this, but still seems to love his father and admire him. The waltz represents a repetitive step and in the poem the waltz is his father’s constant abuse and interrupts the sweet idealistic dance.
Figurative Language In Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven
920 Words | 4 PagesThrough the words reflecting melancholy and sorrow, we can sense the narrator's self destruction due to the death of the woman he loved. As one examines the figurative language of the poem, one finds that its form and
Analysis Of Othello's Jealousy In 'The Awakening'
500 Words | 2 PagesAlso it is depicted how the father is cruel and at the same time gentle. Booby Fang , a literary analyst, showed how this poem can have mixed feelings of interpretation. He mentions how the poem is like a seesaw where the elements of joy, which Fang notes as the figure of the waltz and the rhythm it has, balances with elements of fear which he mentions happens through the effects of diction used in the novel such as the words like romped, scraped, beat, and whiskey. The narrator in the poem is remembering an incident in his childhood which shows that thet there were qualities in his father that were good and bad. He mentions that the achievement of this poem is that it permits readers to access such powerful memories in their own lives in ways consistent with the words and construction of the
Literary Analysis Of Louise Erdrich's 'Captivity'
957 Words | 4 PagesThe melancholic tone leads to sympathy as we can see the narrator having feelings towards her captors and the sadness of the situation and her sympathy is shown through the tone in this
Eating Alone Li Young Lee Analysis
437 Words | 2 PagesThe techniques, such as, imagery and tone, help create the theme of memory and loneliness throughout the poem. The poem is very simple and complex as the same time where the speaker is using simple everyday objects to represent life and death. Using those literary techniques, Lee creates a tone and image of grief over the father’s death where the speaker lives through his memories leaving him forever
The Kite Runner Atonement Analysis
739 Words | 3 PagesAshmita Bhatnagar Ms. Kanika Dang 29th November 2015 Khaled Hosseini in his novel the Kite Runner Explores the theme of sin and atonement “There is a way to be good again” Life is all about second chances, there are many mistakes committed by us in the past and the present. The novel the kite runner explores the mistakes committed by Amir and always hoped to atone the sins. Sins committed weigh on one’s conscience and it’s not every day that one gets an opportunity to redeem their misdoings.
Stylistic Analysis Of The Poem Staying Alive
1040 Words | 5 PagesThis poem has an apparent rhyme scheme. The last word in each line rhymes with the last word in the line directly under it. This lets the reader almost sing through the poem. There is a very nonchalant tone and feel to the poem. The lack of detail in the poem lets the readers imagination create the situation in which the person dies.
Funeral Blues And Remember Analysis
1774 Words | 8 PagesThe attitudes to grief over the loss of a loved one are presented in two thoroughly different ways in the two poems of ‘Funeral Blues’ and ‘Remember’. Some differences include the tone towards death as ‘Funeral Blues’ was written with a more mocking, sarcastic tone towards death and grieving the loss of a loved one, (even though it was later interpreted as a genuine expression of grief after the movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral” in 1994), whereas ‘Remember’ has a more sincere and heartfelt tone towards death. In addition, ‘Funeral Blues’ is entirely negative towards death not only forbidding themselves from moving on but also forbidding the world from moving on after the tragic passing of the loved one, whilst ‘Remember’ gives the griever
Analysis Of Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
1108 Words | 5 PagesIt’s said that Thomas was an alcoholic and it was deemed that the cause of his death was because of the obsession and also it was accentuated with the grief he felt for his father approaching death. The form of the poem is elegy whereby Thomas used the poem by expressing his grief for his father’s impending death. It is vital to know the poet state of mind in order to relate or understand the poem. Therefore, descriptive language used by the poet should be focused to further know the poet’s is trying to impose.
A Dog Has Died Analysis
745 Words | 3 PagesA Dog Has Died is a poem by Pablo Neruda that can relate to any pet owners who have lost their dog. The poem is about losing love. It tells about how the author misses his dog after it died and when they buried it. He looks back on all of the good memories they had and realizes how much he will miss him. In the poem, he speaks as if he has lost the love of his life, his companion, and his best friend.
More about Benevolence Tony Hoagland Analysis
Summary Of Cheyenne River American Indian Joseph Brings Plenty
291 Words | 2 PagesChange In Night By Elie Wiesel
798 Words | 4 PagesThe Sad Fisher Family In The Short Story 'Blood Knots'
564 Words | 3 PagesEmilia Lanyer's The Description Of Cooke-Ham
874 Words | 4 PagesDiction In Annabel Lee
280 Words | 2 PagesWhat Is The Tone Of My Papa's Waltz
531 Words | 3 PagesFigurative Language In Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven
920 Words | 4 PagesAnalysis Of Othello's Jealousy In 'The Awakening'
500 Words | 2 PagesLiterary Analysis Of Louise Erdrich's 'Captivity'
957 Words | 4 PagesEating Alone Li Young Lee Analysis
437 Words | 2 PagesThe Kite Runner Atonement Analysis
739 Words | 3 PagesStylistic Analysis Of The Poem Staying Alive
1040 Words | 5 PagesFuneral Blues And Remember Analysis
1774 Words | 8 PagesAnalysis Of Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
1108 Words | 5 PagesA Dog Has Died Analysis
745 Words | 3 Pages