ipl-logo

What Is The Metaphor In Audrey Lorde's Afterimages

850 Words4 Pages

In the poem “Afterimages,” Audrey Lorde compares two seemingly different concepts in a metaphor in order to create a specific and significant feeling or idea. This expresses a distinctive identity when the cohesion of two different objects are used in a metaphor. Although most metaphors are commonplace and their meanings easily identified, such as “time is money” in which one “spends” or “earns” time, some metaphors require more thought and analysis in order to convey a specific meaning. In “Afterimages,” Lorde uses the equation EYES = CAVES when she quotes in lines 3-4 in section I, “my eyes rockstrewn caves where dragonfish evolve…” It is not particularly known at this moment why she equates her eyes to caves. By listing the semantic primitives of the words EYES and CAVES, it is possible to make a connection between the two words and convey the thoughts and feelings Lorde attempts to illustrate to the audience. Figure 1 below illustrates a list of semantic primitives that applies to both EYES and CAVES. Figure 1. Lorde’s Equation for EYES = CAVES EYES = CAVES + HOLD +HOLD —MOVE —MOVE +WET +WET …show more content…

For the primitive +HOLD, it means that eyes and caves hold different things in different ways. Eyes hold images, such as the photographs displaying the mutilated body of Emmett Till on every street corner in the poem. The author holds these images in her mind just like everyone else, and the images of Till’s body are shown throughout the national and international news. Caves physically holds things, such as water, animals, plants and darkness, illustrating that the author’s eyes hold the images of the horrific murder and it feeds her thoughts like the environment of a cave feeds its inhabitants; unable to leave, but staying and growing stronger by the

Show More
Related

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Anna Howard Shaw's Speech

    364 Words  | 2 Pages

    " This metaphor highlights the depth and complexity of the emotions being expressed, and suggests that words and symbols are inadequate to fully capture

    Read More

  • 'Before I Got My Eye Put Out'

    779 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the beginning she say’s that she liked to see just like everyone else: “Before I got my eye put out – I liked as well to see, As other creatures, that have eyes – And know no other way –”. She talks about different views she misses seeing but then she says that being able to see all of these things can ‘strike her dead’. In the last stanzas she says: “So safer – guess – with just my soul, Opon the window pane, Where other creatures put their eyes – Incautious – of the Sun –”. She is explaining that she is not cautious of the sun’s brightness affecting her sight because she lost her vision

    Read More

  • Does Mark Twain Use Descriptive Adjectives In The Monkey's Paw

    199 Words  | 1 Pages

    shadows.¨ The mood the author sets is eerie because he uses the words like

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Trethewey's Elegy

    943 Words  | 4 Pages

    Trethewey immediately uses imagery to set the scene inviting your senses to help illustrate the image she has already relayed. This helped depict a more in-depth image of her poem “elegy”. After reading this poem several times, to build understanding, and break down literary elements; I came to the conclusion that Trethewey emphasizes the struggle to find balance. The balance between metaphor and symbolism, increasing throughout the entire poem showing battle between connotation and detonation. The struggle in which she used to connotation to portray the bigger picture, but also balanced out by denotation to show the subliminal messages of the relationship shared between the narrator’s father and herself.

    Read More

  • The Metaphor By Budge Wilson Literary Devices

    651 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Metaphor,” by Budge Wilson, is a short story about a young girl, Charlotte, coming of age. It begins with Charlotte as a seventh grader stuck between the two poles of her life: her teacher and mother. During the course of this bildungsroman, there are many techniques the author uses to strengthen and amplify its theme of growing up. Through the use of motif, juxtaposition, and symbolism, the reader is aware of the protagonist’s growth. In the story, the most potent motif is the metaphor.

    Read More

  • Metaphor In Bless Me Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya

    575 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel Bless Me Ultima author, Rudolfo Anaya exploits the literary device metaphor to construct striking and significant imagery in their writing. By comparing one thing to another, metaphors can help the readers have a better understanding and visualize abstract concepts and complex ideas. They can also add depth and richness to a story by creating layers of meaning and symbolism. The author notes, “I wondered if I would ever really know my brothers, or would they remain but phantoms of my dreams.” (Chapter 16)

    Read More

  • Diction In Eugenia Collier's Marigolds

    95 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the story, “Marigolds”, the author, Eugenia Collier uses imagery, diction and connotation in deep way. One example is of connotation is “... how thick were the bars of our cage”. This gives a negative connotation because it's pointing out how big their poverty is. An example for imagery is “running together and combining like fresh water color painting in the rain”. This shows how she and her friends would run around and play together.

    Read More

  • Significance Of Eyes In Night By Elie Wiesel

    161 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Elie Weisel’s Memoir Night, The motif that stands out the most is eyes. The reason why is because in books eyes are usually not the main word that is used to describe different emotions and actions. Eyes are used in many interesting ways such as describing a person’s emotion, similes, and when eyes are used they can self-explain the reason for their significance in the sentence. Eyes in night are put in sentences, and can give imagery to what is currently happening in the memoir. Other ways eyes are used well as a motif, is when it is used to describe an emotion, but the way that eyes are used, can make the reader already know how that person is feeling, just by how eyes are represented in the sentence.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Total Eclipse By Annie Dillard

    690 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dillard implements imagery all throughout her essay, which gives the reader a clear picture of the events occurring. For instance, she describes her husband “gesturing inside a circle of darkness” as a result of him gradually travelling farther away from her (Dillard). Ultimately, the use of imagery in this case represents the loneliness the narrator begins to feel. The author also utilizes metaphors to get her message across. Dillard compares “grammar and lexicon” to a “decorated sand bucket and a matching shovel” because without the other, they will not be able to fulfill their purpose (Dillard).

    Read More

  • Imagery And Diction In Alice Walker's 'The Flowers'

    524 Words  | 3 Pages

    The imagery had much light and childishness to it. With images such as “it seemed to Myop as she skipped lightly from her house to pigpen to smokehouse that the days had never been as beautiful as these”. As well as having lines such as “she felt light and good in the warm sun”, and “She struck out at random at chickens she liked” to create the feeling of child hood innocence, using all of this light to mean goodness and being unaffected by the harshness of reality. However she also uses the imagery later to show the loss of innocence when she describes everything as darker, when she starts using lines such as “it seemed gloomy in the little clove she found herself in” and “all his cloths had rotted away”. Alice walker is using this imagery to convey that the innocence has been lost at this point, taken by the harshness of reality and death.

    Read More

  • The Environment In Louise Erdrich's The Beet Queen

    578 Words  | 3 Pages

    The excerpt from Louise Erdrich’s novel, The Beet Queen, explores the effect of an unwelcoming environment on two children. Imagery contributes to the formation of the environment’s qualities through descriptions of weather and the town. Selection of detail develops the children’s reactions to the impact of the environment by including important details about the children and their actions. Through her

    Read More

  • Metaphors In Night By Elie Wiesel

    109 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the tantalizing novel, Night by Elie Wiesel, the author uses figurative to convey his thoughts and emotions. There are two cauldrons of soup left laying in the middle of the road with no one guarding them and the starving jews are looking at them. The author uses the metaphor, “ Two lambs with hundreds of wolves lying in wait for them.” ( Wiesel 59), to vividly describe this moment in time in the book. This is an accurate comparison of the two cauldrons of soup to two helpless sheep and the Jews to hungry wolves.

    Read More

  • Metaphors In Frida Kahlo's Art

    1255 Words  | 6 Pages

    How has artwork transformed itself with the use of metaphors? With many different artwork pieces we have seen through museums or within our textbooks, most would include an underlying meaning. The underlying meaning of the artwork is depicted by the audience and how they would choose to interpret the artwork. For instance, in Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait piece with a thorn necklace and a dead hummingbird, it signifies certain objects to show her own characteristics. Aside from the hummingbird, which could have meant light transcendent or escape, there are also different animals and objects surrounding her in her artwork piece.

    Read More

  • The Lovesong Of J Alfred Prufrock Diction Analysis

    558 Words  | 3 Pages

    In T.S. Eliot’s work “The LoveSong of J. Alfred Prufrock”, he uses diction to give an underlying meaning and tone to his poem in order to express the downfall of a man. The author uses his diction to give this poem Its tone as if he regrets what he did in life. He also shows great tone changes in this work, giving this poem a dramatic, almost tragic outlook. Many of his word choices also give his work an underlying meaning and adds to his theme and messages. A large part of his poem is also using metaphors to add to this underlying meaning and give more force to this tone he is trying to create.

    Read More

  • Sonnet 30 Figurative Language

    551 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eyes cannot literally drown and therefore is figurative. He continues with a metaphor for death and an example of personification when he says that his friends are dead, “For precious friends hid in death’s dateless nights”.

    Read More

More about What Is The Metaphor In Audrey Lorde's Afterimages

Open Document