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QUESTION
Poetry
Figurative Language
- Simile = a comparison using “like” or “as”
She is as happy as a clam. (I don’t know how happy clams are, but they always seem to be smiling.)
He dances like Michael Jackson. (Yeah, I know Michael Jackson is not dancing on Earth, but I think he’s dancing somewhere.)
- Metaphor
An implied or suggested comparison. If I said, “My aunt Stella is a pig,” you would have to figure out why my aunt Stella was compared to a pig. This is different than if I said, “My aunt Stella eats like a pig,” because you would figure she eats a lot or sloppily. The first example is the metaphor. The second is a simile, because it uses the word “like.” A simile is more specific than a metaphor. A metaphor is usually more general.
- Rhythm
This is simply the “beat” of the poem.” “If I want to take a guy, home with me tonight, it’s none of your business. If you catch me freakin’ only on the weekend, it’s none of your business” (an old Salt and Pepa rap). If you read it aloud you can clap to it and hear the beat. Similarly, the poet Victor Hernandez Cruz writes: “Old ladies, on the train, playing football for seats, but no one knows where I am going to take this train, to take this train, to visit Miriam, to visit Miriam, and kiss her on the cheek, and hope I don’t see Sonia on the street.” If you read this aloud it should remind you of being on the subway. The rhythm is the same as a train, so the poet is taking you, as the reader, on the train with him.
- Rhyme
I had a Love
She Had eyes like a dove
She came from above.
This is a stupid poem I just wrote to show you how rhyme works. It’s just similar end sounds to words like “love,” “dove” (which is kind of stupid. A dove is a white Pidgeon with eyes on the side of her head. Do you want to be with a person whose eyes are on the side of her or his head?) The end sounds of the words are the same, however.
- Hyperbole
Hyperbole is simply exaggeration, when you make someone or something sound more important than it actually is. If I said, “You are the best student in the whole college,” you may think so, but I might be using hyperbole.
- Meiosis
Meiosis is the opposite of hyperbole. It makes something seem less important than it actually is. For example, if you said, “I failed all my courses last semester, but it’s okay,” well, maybe it’s not.
- Alliteration
Alliteration is the opposite of rhyme. Rhyme looks at similar end sounds. Alliteration says look at similar beginning sounds. For example: “The big black bug bit a big black bear and made the big black bear bleed blood.” (Say that three times as fast as you can. This is called a “tongue Twister, and children love them.) Poets also use alliteration: “The whispering winds wafted through my hair.” The sentence, read aloud sounds like wind blowing.
- Irony
When one thing is expected, but another thing happens. My friend Mark bought a Lotto ticket last week. He won $100,000 dollars. He was hit by a car when crossing the street after checking his Lotto ticket. (This is not a true story.)
- Paradox
Paradox is a contradiction. If I ask you, “If God can do everything, can he or she create a rock so heavy that he or she can’t lift it?” That’s a paradox. If you believe in a god, and she or he should be able to create a rock that she or he can’t lift, but if she or he can’t lift it, then she or he can’t do everything. This is like asking a friend if she or he wants to go to the movies with you, and she or he says, “Include me out.” This should mean the person does not want to go, but the person said “Include me.”
- Personification
This is fun. It means giving an animal (other than human) a thing or an idea human qualities. So if I were to say, from an old nursery rhyme, “The dish ran away with the spoon,” no, a dish can’t do that unless it’s in a Disney movie. If I said, “My dog begged for food,” no, a dog didn’t say to you, “Yo, I need something to eat.” If I said, “Death knocked at my door,” it means I was sick, not that someone answered my door saying, “Hey, T, I’m Death, and I was looking for you.” (I wouldn’t answer the door.
- Image
An image is simple. It’s just a picture. So if I asked you to describe your home, you would write an image. If I said. “Give me a description of your most peaceful place,” you would give me an idea of a place you consider peaceful.
- Symbol
Okay, symbol is complicated. It is something used to represent something else. That’s not hard, but we tend to forget what symbols represent. For Valentine’s Day, for instance, I might give you a rose or twelve roses. Why?
- A rose is soft and delicate, and represents how love should be, but it always has thorns which suggest that love can sometimes be painful or hard.
- I should give you a red rose, which represents passion because of its color, but red also represents menstruation, meaning I’m thinking of the fact that you can become pregnant.
- If I give you twelve roses, it means I love you all year (a rose for each month). If I give you one rose it means you are unique or our love is very special that no one else has. (No, it doesn’t mean I love you for just one night.)
- Roses are also expensive, so I’m showing you the value our love has.
- Apostrophe
Apostrophe is when someone is speaking to someone not physically present. (No, talking to yourself does not count.) It’s like prayer, or speaking to someone in a cemetary, or practicing what you want to say to someone before you actually see her or him.
- Synecdoche
This is using a part of something to represent the whole thing. If I say, “All hands on deck” and we’re on a boat, it doesn’t mean cut off your hands; it means everyone come up to the top of the boat. If I say, “Every foot in the club was dancing,” it does not mean that I walked in and only saw feet; it means “Everybody in the club danced.” If I say, “The man with the badge followed me down the street,” you can guess I’m being followed by the police.
- Tone
Just the emotion in the poem or other piece of writing. Is it a happy piece, a sad Piece? Is it angry? Is it funny?
- Voice
Who is the speaker (or speakers) in the piece you are reading? Is it the writer or a character (or characters) she or he created for the piece?
Poems:
Love and Marriage
Love and Marriage
Writer(s): Cahn/van Heusen
Love and marriage, love and marriage
Go together like a horse and carriage
This I tell you brother
You can't have one without the otherLove and marriage, love and marriage
It's an institute you can't disparage
Ask the local gentry
And they will say it's elementaryTry, try, try to separate them
It's an illusion
Try, try, try, and you will only come
To this conclusionLove and marriage, love and marriage
Go together like the horse and carriage
Dad was told by mother
You can't have one, you can't have none, you can't have one without the other!No Sir!
I WISH I WAS SINGLE AGAIN (anonymous)
When I was single, Oh then, Oh then,
When I was single, Oh then,
When I was single,
My money did jingle,
I wish I was single again, again,
I wish I was single again.I married me a wife, Oh then, Oh then,
I married me a wife, Oh then,
I married me a wife,
She's the plague of my LIfe,
And I wished I was single again, again,
I wished I was single again.My wife she died, Oh then, Oh then,
My wife she died, Oh then,
My wife she died,
I laughed and I cried,
To think I was single again, again,
To think I was single again.I married another, Oh then, Oh then,
I married another, Oh then,
I married another,
The devil's grandmother,
And I wished I was single again, again,
I wished I was single again.On Marriage
Kahlil GibranYou were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.Some are essays (introduction, body, and conclusion) but they are also critical essays, meaning you should have an opinion that is stated in a thesis and supported by the rest of the essay. You should cite from a text or use references to events in the text to support your paper. The paper should be at least three pages (unless you choose a creative option; then it’s as long or as short as you think it needs to be), and not use any outside sources;
- For three of the poems in your handouts, in essay form, identify the types of figurative language used and explain why you think each author chose to use the figurative language you identified.
| Subject | Literature | Pages | 10 | Style | APA |
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Answer
The Use of Figurative Language in Poems
Figurative language is used in poems to bring about specific meaning and effects on the reader. It places emphasis on specific elements, and tries to trigger a specific feeling. In this essay, three poems will be analysed to determine why the various figurative languages were used by the poets.
Love and Marriage
In the poem by Cahn and van Heusen, various types of figurative languages have been employed. First, a simile is noted when he states “…Go together like a horse and carriage.” (line 2) (Cahn & van Heusen, 1955). This simile helps to compare how love and marriage should be like. It also helps to create a picture for individuals who have never been in love or married. Next, various words rhyme throughout the poem. At the end of line 1 and 2, marriage and carriage rhyme together as they both end in ‘-arriage.’Also, brother and other rhyme in line 3 and 4. A rhyme is important because it assists in memory when the poem is being recited. Furthermore, the audience will find it easy to decipher the message and remember it.
Next, a metaphor is present in this poem, where the author indicates that “It's an institute you can't disparage.” (Cahn & van Heusen, 1955). The author describes marriage as something that is highly worthy. It is an important description as it tells the audience how much value it has. A paradox is also used where the author states, “Try, try, try to separate them,” with regards to love and marriage (Cahn & van Heusen, 1955). However, since it is already indicated that it is basic knowledge that the two cannot be separated, it makes no sense to request the audience to go ahead and try to separate them. A specific musical rhythm is noted in how the poem is presented. The author keeps on repeating the phrase ‘love and marriage’ at the start of new stanzas (Cahn & van Heusen, 1955). A realistic tone is also used since the author is trying to educate the audience on the nature of love and marriage. The voice used is that of the writer who is also a son, as evidenced by the statement in the fourth stanza where he states, “Dad was told by mother.”
I wish I was Single Again
The first noticeable figurative speech in this poem is rhythm. The repetition of the phrase “Oh then, Oh then” in every first two lines of the stanzas make it feel like the author is singing (I wish I was Single Again, n.d). It also places emphasis on the time that the author wishes to go back to, ‘when he was single.’ Rhymes are also used to further place an emphasis in various lines of the poem. For instance, in line 3 and 4, the author uses single and jingle, both of which end in ‘-ingle.’ There is also the use of wife and life in the second stanza, and died and cried in the third stanza. All these rhymes make it memorable during recitation since it is easy to recall words that sound almost the same.
Paradox has also been used in the poem in stanza three, where the author indicates ‘I laughed and I cried.’ (I wish I was Single Again, n.d). These are two different things, especially since he was not crying out of joy but sorrow. A metaphor has also been employed, and used to explain how bad his second wife was. The author refers to her as “The devil’s grandmother” in the final stanza (I wish I was Single Again, n.d). She is clearly not the devil’s grandmother, but it could mean that she was way worse than his first wife. Another metaphor is noted by how he refers to his first wife when saying, “She was the plague of my life.” (I wish I was Single Again, n.d). It could be because he feels like she brought him bad luck.
Additionally, a regretful tone has been used in this poem since the author regrets getting married. He prefers the time in his life when he was single and had money. The voice is clearly male and it belongs to the writer of the poem as evidenced by the use of first person. Lastly, an irony exists in how the author wishes he was single again, but after the wife dies, he marries another. Since he was always wishing to be single, it would only be logical for him to remain single as a widower.
On Marriage
This poem makes use of a satirical tone since the content is mostly ironical and exaggerated. First, hyperbole is noted when the author starts the first line by stating “You were born together.” (Gibran, n.d). It is clearly an exaggeration since a couple is never born together. However, it may be taken to mean that two people who are in love never want to be apart.
Personification is also used in most lines to provide a vivid description of how the relationship between the couple should or should not be like. First, it is noted in line 2 where the author states, “You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.” (Gibran, n.d). Death is not a living thing, but it has been described as having wings. Another example is noted in third stanza where the author indicates, “For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.” (Gibran, n.d). Life has been described as having hands, despite it not being a human being.
The content of the poem is also paradoxical as the author says one thing before negating it. First, in the first line of the second stanza, he states, “Love one another, but make not a bond of love.” (Gibran, n.d). Later, he also states, “Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.” Lastly, the poem is ironical because it promotes living separately, as one.
In conclusion, all the above poems have used figurative languages to communicate specific messages. The use of these stylistic devices has made the poems more memorable and easier to understand. As such, the poems are not boring to read.
References
Cahn, S., & van Heusen, J. (1955). Love and Marriage. Barton Music Corporation.
I wish I was single Again. (n.d).
Gibran, K. (n.d). On Marriage.