“All poems are the same, just fluffy, rhyming, boring stories” This was thought by me a few years ago, but over the past few weeks I found that that was anything but the truth. Poems can be very diverse and unique telling different stories with different ways of telling them. I'm going to be talking about two different poems that prove my point. The first of which is called “O Captain, My Captain” written by Walt Whitman. This poem is a story of explorers on a ship which, when it finally reaches its destination, they find that their captain has passed away, thus never getting to see the fruits of his labor. The second is “Hunger in New York City” by Simon Ortiz. It's about the city of New York and what it is to the writer. As you can see they …show more content…
The story of the poem talks about how after a long voyage the captain dies and was not there to see his mission be finished. This was to symbolize how Lincoln never got to see how his side, which he has given so much for, wins the war. Some of the main things that are unique from this poem to the other is its use of rhythm, the point of view, and how the stanzas is positioned. Rhythm, the pattern of beats or end rhythms, is used throughout the poem to make it feel as if it were to be song in a A-A-B-B pattern. The story is told from first person by the captain's son and his realization of his father's death. How the stanzas were set up is very unique, it has the first four lines following the A-A-B-B scheme, but after it has four shorter lines that is more indented then the last. This poem isn't just different from my other example, but from most other poems that I've …show more content…
It talks about how at the time there were many people going hungry in New York at the time. The author talks about hunger as if it was a creature that crawls into your body. Then the author comes to the conclusion that this monster live it the concrete of the city and can come up at anytime to get anyone, and there need to be a solution. Some of the unique qualities that this poem has is the use of alliteration, personification, and how it written in free verse. Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds “for food, words, wisdom, young memories”. Personification is used by talking about one thing as if it were a person, like when hunger is talked about as if it where a monster “That is, hunger searches you out”. This poem was written in a style called free verse which has no rhyme or rhythm “That is, hunger searches you out. - It always asks you, - How are you, son? Where are you? - Have you eaten well?”. So many things differ from theme to how they are
Some poems are similar. Some are different. Some, however, can have aspects that are both similar and different. In the poems “O Captain, My Captain” and “Shiloh: A Requiem” many literary aspects are used. Some of these include repetition, imagery, extended metaphors, and personification. Although the poems “O Captain, My Captain” and “Shiloh: A Requiem” have very different literary elements, they have some in common as well.
However, a poem could be written without personification and still be great. In this poem the speaker states, “season when the young buttercups and daisies climb up on the mulched bodies of their forebears to wave their flags in the parade” (1096). This stanza is personification because it talks about the buttercups and daisies climbing up. This line of the poem also reminds the reader of soldiers marching in a parade.
The most visually noticeable part of this poem is the format. It isn’t written in familiar stanzas with any kind of meter or complex
At first glance the poem is a relatively short (especially for Whitman) three stanza poem. What makes this poem stand out from other Whitman poems is its rhyme and meter. It steers away from his “traditional” free verse and instead uses primarily iambic meter, although the number of feet in each line varies (Hochman). Some literary critics have expressed disdain that Whitman wrote a poem in such a manner, with poet Robert Creeley saying that he was embarrassed “by my aunt's and my grandmother's ability to recite that terrible poem.”. At one point even Whitman wished he hadn’t written the poem because of all the attention it received even though it was nothing like his other poems (Hochman). When delving into the content of the poem, it is essential to understand when it was written. This poem was published in Leaves of Grass under the section titles “Memories of President Lincoln” after the Union’s victory in the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination. Understanding this context makes deciphering symbols and metaphors in the poem much easier. In the very first line of the poem Whitman refers to the title of the poem as the poetic voice says “O Captain! My Captain! Our fateful trip is done” (Line 1). Given the context of the poem, the Captain clearly represents President Lincoln, who finished the fateful trip of getting the nation through the Civil War. When Whitman places himself in the poem as a sailor on the Captain’s ship, he implies that he fought for the same goals as the captain, namely the preservation of the Union. The next image Whitman provides is of the ship sailing into harbor with all the people cheering. The
Personification is a figurative element used to give an inanimate or inhuman object, human features. This is to allow the author to describe an objects quality. Harper Lee uses this profusely in the book. Although when Lee uses personification it not
1. Personification: “The lake was silent for some time. Finally, it said: 'I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful.”' (Coelho, 2) In this quote, personification is shown because the lake is able to stay silent or weep. These are qualities of a human given to an object.
Often times people use poetry to tell a story, or show how they feel about a topic. The poet Walt Whitman does this in his Poem “Oh Captain! My Captain!”. This poem tells the story of one of Whitman’s idol’s legacy and death. Walt Whitman portrays American Romanticism through “Oh Captain! My Captain!” to describe Abraham Lincoln’s life.
In her poem Mary Oliver uses personification to say "she took me back so tenderly." This explains how the earth is taking her back so gently like a new born child. In the poem "Gold" Pat Mora uses personification to say the "Sun paints the desert."
In the short story Red, the author, Michael Hall, uses the motif of personification to teach the reader to avoid being prejudiced towards others. This personification was shown in the text when the author wrote “frankly, I don’t think he’s very bright”. These pieces of the text are an example of personification because of the fact that the other roles are speaking throughout the text, but are not humans themselves. Hall’s theme of “people shouldn’t have prejudice towards others” is made clear through personification because as the other characters have a repetitive conflict with the blue crayon because of his lack of ability to draw something in red, the author is using the situation to express his opinion. Similar examples can be derived from
For me, both essays Homeless and I Want a Wife captured my interest with the very
The river motif in the poem also speaks of the strength of the African American race when considered against an ever flowing river. Additionally, there is also the use of anaphora. This speaks to the repetition of the “I” in each line of the poem. This helps in the meaning of the poem, as it speaks to the affirmation of the message the persona carries. This being that the African American community has been a part of the existence and has a history and a place.
This figure of speech plays a huge role in the story. Personification is when an “Inanimate object is given human qualities” (Random House Inc). For example in the story the author gave all of the animals the human ability to speck to one another. In reality animals cannot talk to one another. In paragraph six it states that the cat said to all of the animals, “It is the looks of it” (Twain).
In Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!,” a sailor walks the deck where the body of his fallen captain lies, while the battered ship returns from a harrowing voyage and approaches a dock where people are celebrating the ship’s victory. The ship represents the Union, its voyage the Civil War. The dead captain represents Abraham Lincoln, the beloved leader of the Union, while the sailor who mourns him is Whitman. Through poetic devices, imagery, and diction, Whitman conveys his torment over the death of Abraham Lincoln.
The poem starts out with the narrator telling the captain of the ship that the crew has accomplished their goal, they have won a battle at sea. The ship and crew is riding the waves back to the port, where he can already hear bells and people celebrating their victory. Then he relates the horrible news to the reader, his captain is dead, and cannot celebrate
The poem, "o captain my captain" by Walt Whitman re-imagines the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Walt Whitman, has a patriotic attitude towards this poem as he describes Abraham Lincoln and all that he did for America by using imagery to develop a scene similar to the reality. The poet conveys his deep admiration for the achievements of Abraham Lincoln. The poet shares his form by using a physical way of laying out and her attitude through the use of sound devices such as the iambic meter and the use of amphibrach.