ipl-logo

Figurative Language In The Living Temple

533 Words3 Pages

Throughout “The Living Temple”, imagery is used to create various scenes provided by nature. Holmes utilizes figurative language within the poem to display the scenes’ beauty as well as the emotions that lay behind its beautiful surface in order to invoke the reflective mind of the reader. With his word choice and use of imagery, Holmes allows the readers to vividly depict the scene he has transferred from his own mind into the words of “The Living Temple”. In the beginning of the poem, Holmes uses metonymy when writing, “Not in the world of light alone, / Where God has built his blazing throne” (ll.1-2). This use of metonymy takes the image of God’s throne to represent his luxurious kingdom in Heaven. Holmes also uses apostrophe within “The Living Temple”, when he states, “O Father! grant they love divine / To make these mystic temples thine” (ll. 49-50). This apostrophe …show more content…

38-9). In this example, Holmes personifies the comets and wonders of space to further implant the theme that the God-given life of the great wonders may inspire human souls to become enlivened as well. Holmes also makes use of reification within “The Living Temple”. An example includes, “When wasting age and wearying strife / Have sapped the leaning walls of life” (ll. 51-2). In these lines of verse, Holmes reifies age and strife to emphasize their eroding effects on the vigor and vibrant energy of life. Onomatopoeia is also utilized when Holmes writes, “The smooth, soft air with pulse-like waves / Flows murmuring through its hidden caves” (ll. 9-10). The use of sounds enables Holmes to further personify abiotic forces on earth. In this example, Holmes gives air a “murmuring” speech, allowing the reader to not only feel the pulse-like air but to also hear it. These auditory characteristics also bolster the idea of life behind God’s forces on

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Figurative Language In The Veldt

    611 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most well written and descriptive stories use many disparate tools to make it better. The author of the story The Veldt used figurative language, imagery, and diction to foreshadow the tragic ending of the story. In the end the children use the lions from Africa to slaughter their parents ,and you can kind of guess that the children are planning something evil because of the descriptions and figurative language in the story. The children give off a very negative aura throughout the whole story that leads you to believe that something cynical is occuring.

    Read More

  • Figurative Language In The Bean Trees

    437 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Barbara Kingsolver’s story, “The Bean Trees”, something that makes it so effective is her use of figurative language to depict scenery. In chapter 12, Mattie takes Taylor, Esperanza and Estevan to a beautiful desert at the time of the first rain, so they can see the natural world come to life. In order to make the scene come alive, Kingsolver uses sillies, metaphors and personification as a mean of figurative language. Kingsolver personifies the mountains and city.

    Read More

  • Tecumseh's Speech Figurative Language

    697 Words  | 3 Pages

    White colonizers moving westward posed a huge threat to Native American tribes in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These tribes were threatened with the loss of their homes, ways of life, and families when white people came to forcefully eject them from land that was rightfully theirs. Tecumseh, a Shawnee leader, recognized that the only way to defeat the violent white men was to unite his tribe with other tribes faced with the same problems. Tecumseh met with the neighboring tribe, the Osages, to deliver a speech calling for the unification of the tribes. Through his use of figurative language, diction, and allusion, Tecumseh attempts to unite the Shawnee with the Osages against their common enemy, the white man.

    Read More

  • Figurative Language In The Things They Carried

    1541 Words  | 7 Pages

    Tim O’Brien Research Essay Truth is something that Tim O’Brien wants his readers to comprehend about war throughout his writing. For example in The Things They Carried O’Brien mentions that he doesn’t support the Vietnam war, but he supports the fact that he is fighting for his country and for their safety. “They carried the sky. The whole atmosphere, they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus and decay, all of it, they carried gravity.” (The Things They Carried,39) O’Brien uses figurative language to emphasis his writing and uses symbolism to convey the importance of a message to the readers.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Figurative Language In Their Eyes Were Watching God

    403 Words  | 2 Pages

    Figurative language is a technique used commonly among authors in literature, yet still something readers have a difficult time figuring out due to the deeper meaning that is hidden in the piece of work. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, a minor yet significant character named Mrs. Turner is compared to a pious worshipper, portraying her as someone who is obsessed of one race over another, showing her want of power in society. This ultimately suggests the invisible power in a race and how the color of one’s skin can make differences. Mrs. Turner is an interesting character in this novel. Mrs. Turner is compared to “believers [who] had built an altar to the unattainable -- Caucasian characteristics for all” (Hurston

    Read More

  • Figurative Language In The Pie, By Gary Soto

    130 Words  | 1 Pages

    The pie by Gary Soto tells the story of a six years old boy. This boy lets the temptation get the best of him leading him to steal a pie. He struggles with the guilt throughout the story feeling as if he has disappointed everyone even though know one knew. Soto uses figurative language such as personification, allusion, metaphors, and similes to entertain the reader. His main intention is entertain but I can argue that he wrote the story to inform as well.

    Read More

  • Allusions In Countee Cullen's Yet I Do Marvel

    487 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the poem “Yet I Do Marvel,” Countee Cullen utilizes allusion, diction, and structure in order to convey his wonder at the path the Lord has chosen for him, and his complete trust that his ways are good, through the comparison of the truly terrible sufferings God has allowed on this earth and his own unorthodox calling. First, Cullen presents allusions in order to illustrate the depth of hopelessness and desperation in the human experience and how God could explain the worst of it all if he chose to. Take, for example, how before he explains how human minds are “too strewn with petty cares to slightly understand” the ways of God, he alludes to “Sisyphus” and his “never ending stair” (Cullen 7, 8, 10, 11). This example insinuates that life mirrors the story of this tragic Greek hero, that the man upstairs has for some reason doomed us to forever struggle at endeavors we can never reach, and in this way highlights the extreme trust that Cullen possesses in order to claim God must have done this for a good reason.

    Read More

  • Antonio's Loss Of Innocence In Bless Me, Ultima

    842 Words  | 4 Pages

    And I thought, the power of God failed where Ultima’s worked; and then a sudden illumination of beauty and understanding flashed through my mind. This is what I had expected God to do at my first holy communion! (ch. pg. ).

    Read More

  • Kenneth Patchen's Be Music, Night

    1053 Words  | 5 Pages

    ‘Be Music, Night’ by Kenneth Patchen is an intriguing piece of literary art. A picture is painted of human interaction with Earth immediately. The manner in which humans fall into her beauty and vastness is apparent in even the first lines of Patchen’s poem, but why is this important? “Be music, night, That her sleep may go Where angels have their pale tall choirs” This choir is brought on by our musical mother nature.

    Read More

  • Sherman Alexie's Views On Figurative Language

    617 Words  | 3 Pages

    1. The line “We lived on a combination of irregular paychecks, hope, fear, and government surplus food” is a hyperbole and zeugma. The word that creates the zeugma is the word lived, as the narrator uses the word lived to mean different things in the same context. The narrator actually lived off of paychecks and government food, but did not literally live off of hope and fear like the line suggests. The line is also a hyperbole because the author did not literally live off of the hope and fear, as you cannot sustain yourself with emotions.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Gothic Elements In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

    1669 Words  | 7 Pages

    Additionally , the house that the narrator mentions is illustrated as “ mansion of gloom “ which might be a sign that the aura of the house has something dreadful in it. However , the Narrator reveals something important about his first impression for the house by saying “ I looked upon the scene before me , upon the mere house, upon the bleak walls , upon the vacant eye-like windows ( 3 ).To illustrate , the words such as “ air of heaven , silent tarn , mystic vapor “ used as a reinforcement for making the ambience of the house as gloomy. In fact , in the light of these facts , it could be said that the house has an darkness appearance which might be an indication of its mysterious atmosphere.

    Read More

  • Sound In Baldwin's Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1879 Words  | 8 Pages

    The use of sound enables one to connect with their spiritual side as seen in the muck. Sound gives power, and the ability of black characters to control the sounds they create in Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God and Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” enables them to attain the ultimate happiness and sense of belonging in their communities. The ability to speak is important.

    Read More

  • Jorge Luis Borges 'The Circular Ruins'

    1493 Words  | 6 Pages

    Despite the short story focusing primarily of the reality within the man's dreams, a concrete setting is given as “a temple which had been devoured by ancient fires” where the man awakens to realize “the men of the region had been spying” (Borges 1). Through the details of the setting, Borges confirms a true reality the man will always return to. Borges describes the enclosure as being “devoured” by flames, both personifying fire as ravaging while creating imagery specifically constructing a realistic depiction. Additionally, the village men confirms the presence of other living creatures besides the man who are not imagined, adding to the material setting. However, the ending of the story reveals the man is a dream, questioning where reality begins throughout.

    Read More

  • Arguments Against Figurative Language

    242 Words  | 1 Pages

    I agree that the claim figurative language helps you understand the world and times of courage that samuel lived in. I know this is true because it really helps to make a mental image so you're not just reading it, you’re seeing it. An example of this is found on page eighty-four chapter twelve as you can see, “The hessians gone like a plaque” he describes them like this so you can see he really hates them. Another good example to support my claim is on page one hundred thirty-two chapter seventeen, ”Like the inside of a dead cow” It shows here that he smells something so bad that he describes it smelling as rancid as he can possibly describe it.

    Read More

  • Film Analysis: A Game Of Shadows

    2317 Words  | 10 Pages

    In this chapter we approach the new embodiment of Sherlock Holmes, such as the films Sherlock Holmes (2009), Sherlock Holmes: The Game of Shadow (2011) and the British series Sherlock. 3.1 Sherlock Holmes (2009) Sherlock Holmes was the first Sherlock Holmes film adaptation directed by Guy Ritchie. It was released on 25 December, 2009. Starring in the role of Sherlock Holmes is Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law as Dr. John Watson, Rachel McAdams as Irene Alder and Mark Strong playing Lord Blackwood.

    Read More

More about Figurative Language In The Living Temple

Open Document