In the book Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, he uses specific literary devices and techniques that cause this collection of poems to become one cohesive novel to portray the story of a boy struggling with the death of his brother and gun violence in his community. This story changed the way I view living in an inner city community and how that can affect a child’s development and mental state while living in that environment. Reynolds uses imagery to develop a deeper understanding of the death of a child, dramatically displays a child being shot and how our main character views this tragedy, “Her mouth open. Bubble gum and blood” (133). This disturbing piece of imagery establishes our main character’s inner conflict, indicating that Will (main
Some see the ugliness in the most beautiful things but others see the beauty in the most hideous of things. The poem William Street by Kenneth Slessor demonstrates this thesis statement as he talks about how he sees the beauty in the street that is renowned for its ugliness and the unsightly surroundings it is engulfed with.
In his poem “Behind Grandma’s House,” Gary Soto details the life and daily routine of a somewhat masochistic ten year old boy as he kicks over trash cans, terrorizes cats, and drowns ant colonies with his own urine. In many ways the boy acts as any other boy his age would be expected to, but he tends to go further than most young boys with his actions and descriptions of how he feels. This extra violence and destructive tendency the narrator exhibits can lead the reader to believe that, rather than being a typical child, he strongly craves attention due to his circumstances, and he is willing to act out and act obscenely in order to receive that attention.
The Film, “One night the moon” by Rachel Perkins and the documentary, “Barbekueria” by Don Featherstone are very similar in the way they portray racism during the early developments of Australia. Through different Camera techniques and imagery both Featherstone and Perkins are able to project the ideals of the White Australian Policy onto a Film/Documentary. The uses of different Camera angles (by both producers) are seen in the film to represent the insignificance of one race compared to the other. “One night the moon” uses different colour patterns and camera techniques to represent innocence and superiority among the
The poem Dusting by Julia Alverez relays several ideas to the reader. It begins by describing a young child going about a house and writing their name on the furniture. The child 's mother follows behind her and, in the process of dusting, incidentally erases the writing. While this poem may seem superficial from a quick reading, it not only reflects some aspects of Alverez’s childhood, but it also reveals some thought provoking questions. In Dusting, through making an analogy to a relationship between a mother and her child, Julia Alvarez demonstrates her desire to break away from traditional or cultural expectations, express her individuality, be well-known, and, ultimately, she makes an important point about life.
What would you do if you had to climb on a train to an unknown town only with a sack of a few belongings and your list of universals? As an avid reader with a love for history and mystery, Moon Over Manifest By Clare Vanderpool scores as one of the best reads I have had in awhile. The heartwarming story flips between the 1910s and the 1930s weaves together historical events to Abilene Tucker’s family’s past. Abilene, an adventurous and caring character, explores her father’s childhood town while he works the dangerous railroad job. Ms. Sadie, a mysterious Hungarian diviner, finds Abilene 's lost belonging and makes her a list of odd jobs to earn it back. Throughout the story Abilene listens to her diviner tales that all connect to an old letter she found. As the book goes on the reader learns Ms. Sadie has more to do with her father’s past than it seems in her diviner stories. Moon Over Manifest
The poems “The Gift” by Li-Young Lee and “The Lanyard” by Billy Collins both discuss the identity and relationship of parents and children. “The Gift” discusses how sometimes physical things have deeper, more metaphorical meanings. “The Lanyard” discusses the relationship of a mother and child and the identity of being a parent. “The Gift” and “The Lanyard” both speak about parents, their children, and the love between them, but have different tones and situations.
“The moon rose over the bay. I had a lot of feelings.” - A poem by Donika Kelly
The brief flash-back to the man standing below who has “no such illusions” of the moon, provides the reader with a nod back to reality as well as yet another reminder of the queerness of the Man-Moth and his “false” perspective. The last two lines of this stanza are the richest, stating, “But what the Man-Moth fears most he must do, although / he fails, of course, and falls back scared but quite unhurt. These words encompass a raw human instinct, the will to do what we fear most. However, the fact the Man-Moth remains unhurt in the process also exudes a sense of the human error of misperception, like the common fear of spiders or a child’s fear of jumping into a swimming pool.
Alice Walker uses imagery and diction throughout her short story to tell the reader the meaning of “The Flowers”. The meaning of innocence lost and people growing up being changed by the harshness of reality. The author is able to use the imagery to show the difference between innocence and the loss of it. The setting is also used to show this as well.
Edgar Allan Poe's “The Raven” is a narrative poem which addresses the themes of death and melancholy through the repeated line of the ominous visitor “the raven” saying, “Nevermore” and the bleak mood that prevails the poem. It consists of eighteen stanzas composed of six lines each. The repetition of the phrase “nevermore” at the end of each stanza emphasizes the narrator's despair. Also, this repetition is one of the reasons that drive him mad. Hearing this phrase, “nevermore” constantly, the narrator is finally on the brink of frenzy. Through 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
Imagine people standing right by your house and committing horrendous acts; people whom, if given the chance, would not hesitate for a second before taking your life away. Imagine the fear and terror you would feel, and try to put yourself into the position of such a helpless somebody. The poem “Incident”, written by Natasha Trethewey, deals with a person in such a situation.
In order to transfer her theme the author also uses simile, for instance, ' 'the tears running down like mud ' ' to emphasize that those tears are not positive tears, but negative tears like mud, which is unpleasant. It makes the reader understand that the protagonist 's childhood period is not easy and depressing. She also uses personification in her writing, for example, ' 'The Fury of Overshoes ' ', the title describes a fury, which is an emotion. Emotions are human qualities, and overshoes cannot express fury. The use of personification is common in children. Therefore, this use conveys a feeling that a child wrote the poem. In addition, the narrator reminds the fish the time, in which it could not swim. If the reader reads this sentence, he will not understand it since there is not a fish that cannot swim. Nevertheless, if the reader reads it as a metaphor, he will understand the meaning behind it. It seems that the fish is actually the child, which could not walk at the beginning of his life. This metaphor conveys the helplessness that the child feels during this period. He feels like a fish that cannot swim. Moreover, the author uses imagery to make the reader feel the child 's anxiety, ' 'Under your bed sat the wolf and he made a shadow when cars passed by at night ' '. The child has a wolf under her bed, but she cannot do anything. The wolf, which sat under the bed, also seems to be a symbol. It seems to represent the monsters under the bed,
Imagine your mother is dead to you and under the title of “mother”, she is an empty void like the craters in the moon. The poem Moon written by Kathleen Jamie in 2012 emphasises the relationship between the speaker and the speaker’s mother. Jamie uses metaphor, imagery and symbolism to demonstrate the speaker’s and the speaker’s mother’s troubled relationship.
“Their Beauty Has More Meaning,” written by Robinson Jeffers is seventeen lines that all flow with admiration for nature. Jeffers introduces the poem solemnly with the title referring to a their, leaving the audience wondering to whom Jeffers is referring to. Throughout the poem, Jeffers focuses on five forces if nature: storms, the moon, the ocean, dawn, and the birds. Certain words are structured differently to showcase emphasis and importance towards the author. After carefully analyzing the poem, it is evident that Jeffers is trying to convey that nature is a sacred treasure that truly represents the ultimate deity.