Thesmell of the powder and the cream mixed together was de-licious and sweet. Toby smeared butter on the handlesof taps, and mustard on the doorhandles. We sprayedthe lounge room with deodorant and flyspray, and thespooky mist settled on the furniture. We untuned theradio and lost the picture on the TV.
imagery - engaging smell, touch, sight
I ran down the stairs and across thegreen lawn, past pink concrete flamingos and white tyreswans, past coppery skinks sleeping on sunny rocks, pasthibiscus flowers scattered on the grass, and leaped overthe blue water, into my uncle’s arms
Imagery - this last paragraph almost feels like a dream. The imagery creates a bright vivid picture that leaves us with a lasting image and feeling at the end of the story.
made my stomach swirl like the sea.
showing how horrible and nervous she feels.
I nearly swallowed my wobbly tooth, my tongue andboth my ears as well.
Metaphor - not literally
my teetering fang
metaphor
but the apartmentlooked like a doll’s house that had rolled down a street.Clothes flopped on the floor like exhausted ghosts, thedining chairs stood on their heads, the newspaper wastorn into a thousand pieces of confetti. The dresserdrawers hung out like tongues, the kitchen cupboardswere gasping mouths, the bathroom was completelyshell-shocked. Foamy faces grinned from the mirror; allthe pictures hung upside down
A litany of metaphors and similes, all combining into a big piece of imagery. The list before tells us WHAT they did. This paragraph paints the picture for us.
The similes and metaphors also do another subtle thing - it makes it feel silly. They use a lot of childish references here. This will contrast against how seriously the adults ended up interpreting the scene.
Toby opened a bedside drawer andfound money folded in a metal clip, and we argued aboutit in whispers. He wanted to sticky-tape the money to theceiling, but we didn’t have any sticky-tape; so we emptieda bottle of lemonade down the sink, put the money insidethe bottle and screwed the cap back on.
Without knowing what Toby and Sonya did, it seems like someone * Broke into their room * Searched the place * Stole their money
sometimes I need to hide myhead in a bucket
Again, doesn't actually hide her head in a bucket.
I don’t care to, eventhough my face will go Santa Fe pink
Her face won't literally go Santa Fe pink - this is a metaphor for blushing, to show how embarrassed she is by this memory.
Hu-man Cannonball with us in the pool.
This is the first mention of Human Cannonball. We don't know it yet, but it kinda ends up representing the freedom of childhood.
I used to wish I would never come down, that I couldstay in the sky forever. I wished the Christmas holidayswould not end, that we’d never make the long journeyback to the ordinary world. I wished that Santa Fe wasmy home, and that I could spend my life chasing skinksand picking frangipani and soaring through the air.
The literal feeling of freedom (flying through the air) is being using to represent the figurative feeling of freedom (being a child and having idyllic holidays with no problems)
I remember my brother tumbling through the air, a tangleof arms and legs, the sky very blue behind him, the poolsparkling below
Using imagery to highlight this moment of Human Cannonball, which helps us to focus on it as a symbol, and understand why Sonya loves it so much.
Toby and Itrailed them like ducklings
Showing how much Toby and Sonya were hanging out with their uncles.
we liked theglittering pool at Santa Fe. We liked floating about onthe li-los that Father Christmas gave us each year
Repetition (cont. on next page too). Paints a picture of what life is like at Santa Fe - idyllic.
Idyllic- means that life is perfect "extremely pleasant" especially as a way to describe a place or a time during a place.
PINK as sunburn, PINK as Barbie’s lips. Being at Santa Fe waslike living in a ball of fairy floss
Using similes to express HOW pink everything is.
Living in thegarden were tiny black-and-copper skinks. On the lawnwere flamingos made of concrete, and curvy swans madefrom car tyres. Everything that didn’t already have a brightcolour of its own was painted pink
Imagery - usually sight, especially bright colours, to paint a picture.
whose flowers looked like dresses for dolls
Helping to paint a picture for the reader
namesare changed to protect the innocent.
Language technique - hyperbole. Hartnett is exaggerating to make the story seem really dramatic
the kind thatmakes you want to hide your head in a bucket wheneversomeone mentions it.
Language technique - metaphor. You don't want to LITERALLY hide your head in a bucket. It means that you are super embarrassed.
wealth as a shield
Metaphor. It implies using wealth to protect oneself or others from harm
And cloistered in these living walls of jet.
"cloistered" (religious) referring to the seclusion of monks or nuns in a monastery "Walls of jet" (flea), hard dark exterior of flea, shows a physical and symbolic barrier that contains their union
Kutti’s coat shone with cleanliness, sparkling in the sunshinelike a silk sari
similie
Celina Aunty’s words made my dream glimmeragain.
personification
Her face glowed like a moon
similie
“Don’t talk back.” Her face flushed redder than a brick.
hyperbole
when I felt like a rock was sitting on my chest,
similie
“Because you’re not talking much to anyone, Viji, and that’s nothealthy. Your thoughts are sitting inside you like a stone,
similie
His words felt like a warm ray of sunshine slipping in through arain-soaked sky.
similie
His words felt like a warm ray of sunshine slipping in through arain-soaked sky.
personification
He slipped his fingers through mine. They felt bony as askeleton’s
similie
I didn’t tell her how sick you were.I didn’t want to believe it.
repetition
Arul wound your new doll’s hair around one of his wrists like ahandcuff.
similie
And it wasn’t justmy feet that dragged. It was like my mind was dragging my heartalong, and it and the rest of my body didn’t want to come.
similie
My feet felt heavy as sacks full of scrap metal.
similie
inside was already wet. A rash had broken out on your back, makingyour skin as rough as sandpaper,
similie
The wind picked up. It tore away the plastic tablecloth we’d usedas a door and sent it flapping like a bat across the dark graveyard.
similie
Your body was a tight knot.
metaphor
Purple rain clouds burst over us like rottinggrapes.
similie
“Don’t be.” Kumar churned the filthy water with his stick. “Kidsdie every day. You start feeling sorry, you’ll drown.”
metaphor
of water thatlooked and smelled like raw sewage.
similie
“No, no, Akka.” Muthu grinned weakly at me. “If you kept mefrom working that long, I’d fall ill from shock.”
hyperbole
All through that starless night, your breath came in wheezy gasps asraindrops wriggled, like silver snake
similie
But the woman at the orphanage was arakshasi.”
metaphor
“You’re the one being ridiculous,” he said. “I went to one ofthose ‘schools’ once. It was a prison.”
metaphor
That was a miracle.
metaphor
I didn’t want youtraveling all alone to our palace.
metaphor
“Cheee!
onomatopeia
“Rukku’s the sweetest of us all,” Muthu said. “That’s why themosquitoes like her best.”
metaphor
I’ll brush his coat so it shines like silk
hyperbole
“My friends and I sell trash to make ends meet,”
metaphor
Silver pins of rain fell around us as we left the church.
metaphor
“Priests don’t accuse kids who are in God’s house,”
metaphor
like they could hear music. Like theywere alive. Alive the way you were alive, alive right there, right then,
repetition
those little flames, dancing in thatstill, silent church, dancing like they could hear music.
personification
We stood in a circle, linked together like an unbreakablenecklace.
similie
You took the bead from him, and your face brightened slowly,like the sun peeking out from behind rain clouds. The two of you
similie
You were silent for what felt like forever.
hyperbole
steal our gold?
metaphor
A nauseating smell rose and smacked me in the face, but I toiledas fast as I could.
personification
And then it rose and came at us like a monstrous cobra,swallowing everything in sight, and I ran.”
simile
That was something.No.That was everything.
metaphor
“Your necklaces are worththeir weight in gold!”
hyperbole
why can’t we try to sell her jewelry?”
metaphor
As we approached a street vendor whose spicy food was makingmy mouth water,
metaphor
I rubbed the notes between my fingers, asthough they were fine silk.
similie
watched you stacking pieces of cardboard and humming joyfully,the realization stabbed me
metaphor
“I get to slice your hands into little tiny pieces.”
hyperbole
His words pierced me like needles.
simile
“Chee!”
onomatopeia
The man’s eyes fell on me. They were mean, like a rogueelephant’s.
similie
Yesu fight the bad guys?” Muthu continued. “He had twelve in hisgang—”
metaphor
When, at last, I placed a section in my mouth, I could hear itburst as my teeth met the flesh, squeezing the juice out onto mytongue, tart at first and then sweet. Everything else melted awayexcept for the taste, the smell, the feel of the fruit on my tongue.I ate the fruit slowly. The way you liked to do things.
metaphor
We were in plain sight.But we were invisible.
metaphor
og of worry.
personification
uge posters as tall as we were,
similie
“Ahhh,” you murmured, cradling it in your hands as if it werethe most beautiful thing ever.
similie
as
similie
as
similie
as
similie
as
similie
Hugging him close, like you used to hug your doll, you finallylay down on our sheet. “Story?”
similie
Tishoom.
onomatopeia
He reminded me of a sunflower
metaphor
Kutti pricked up his ears and stood attentively at your side, likehe understood you perfectly.
similie
Our story was clearlywritten on my swollen face and your cut lip
personification
boiling insidelike the oil in her frying pan.
similie
Ai-ai-yo!
onomatopeia
flood of vehicles and pedestrians.
metaphor
doubts slithered into my mind.
pesonification
buses to and from the city roared through ourvillage.
personification
likesunshine slipping into a dark room
similie
Imagining Appa “before” took a lot of imagining. I was a goodimaginer, but even so, I couldn’t imagine him all the way nice.
repetition: using derivatives of imagine a lot.
These may occur on rock walls, but were commonly engraved onto robust bones since at least the beginning of the European Upper Palaeolithic and African Late Stone Age, where it is obvious they served as artificial memory systems (AMS) or external memory systems (EMS) to coin the terms used in Palaeolithic archaeology and cognitive science respectively, exosomatic devices in which number sense is clearly evident (for definitions see d’Errico Reference d'Errico1989; Reference d'Errico1995a,Reference d'Erricob; d'Errico & Cacho Reference d'Errico and Cacho1994; d'Errico et al. Reference d'Errico, Doyon and Colage2017; Hayden Reference Hayden2021).
Abstract marks have appeared on rock walls and engraved into robust bones as artificial memory systems (AMS) and external memory systems (EMS).
We also demonstrate that the <Y> sign, one of the most frequently occurring signs in Palaeolithic non-figurative art, has the meaning <To Give Birth>. The position of the <Y> within a sequence of marks denotes month of parturition, an ordinal representation of number in contrast to the cardinal representation used in tallies.
parturition<br /> the action of giving birth to young
<Y> potentially one of the first written "words"
never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he orshe feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, thehomeless refugees — not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude byoffering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory
The speaker uses descriptive imagery of how the victim feels when treated indifferently and why indifference hurts others more than we think. This is the author using pathos to get the audience feeling pity and guilt for these children and victims. This creates a critical tone because his words are harsh about what happened to the victims.
profoundfear and extraordinary hope
He ends his speech dramatically using an oxymoron to tug at the audiences extreme opposite feelings. Mr. Wiesel does this to make a lasting impression, prompting the audience to take action.
I was here and Iwill never forget it
Mr. Wiesel uses a hyperbole here to show that it was a very memorable moment that will be stuck in his memory for a long time.
Why were they so few? Why was there agreater effort to save SS murderers after the war than to save their victims during thewar?
He asks more rhetorical questions to make the audience question whether or not they were indifferent.
What happened?I don't understand. Why the indifference, on the highest level, to the suffering of thevictims?
He asks rhetorical questions that get the audience to think about their countries actions and why they were indifferent to begin with.
Hemobilized the American people and the world, going into battle, bringing hundredsand thousands of valiant and brave soldiers in America to fight fascism, to fightdictatorship, to fight Hitler. And so many of the young people fell in battle.
He uses imagery here to describe how great Roosevelt was, but it creates a heartbreaking and sad tone.
just the railways, just once
Repetition is used here to show the desperation the children had in being saved. He shows this by repeating "just" twice to create a sense of hopelessness and desperation.
strangers to their surroundings
Mr. Wiesel uses personification, suggesting the surroundings are strangers or people the prisoners don't know. This means the prisoners were in a state of confusion and isolation.
broken heart
Mr. Wiesel uses a hyperbole here to show how devastated people feel when seeing children in pain or abandoned because adults were indifferent to them. This helps him relate to the audience more by using pathos.
Does it mean that we have learned from the past? Does it mean that society haschanged? Has the human being become less indifferent and more human? Have wereally learned from our experiences
More rhetorical questions are used to raise even more doubt about whether or not the audience has truly learned from there mistakes and are willing to do better in the future. This creates a critical tone that's a little harsh at times.
But this time, the world was not silent
The personification of the world being silent represents everyone on the world not speaking against indifference. This implies that everyone needs to stand up and choose not to be indifferent.
save those victims, those refugees, those who were uprooted by a man
He uses repetition here to show there are many people who suffer from indifference.
with hundreds ofJewish shops destroyed, synagogues burned, thousands of people put inconcentration camps. And that ship, which was already in the shores of the UnitedStates, was sent back
Mr. Wiesel uses imagery to show many examples of indifference in other places because of the US government. This is to create a tone of guilt and it also creates pathos, which helps the audience realize what mistakes they made and how they were accidently indifferent to others.
, his image in Jewish history — I must say it — his image in Jewishhistory is flawed
Mr. Wiesel uses Repetition here to show how important Roosevelts image is and how his image is flawed in Jewish history.
God is wherever we are. Even in suffering? Even in suffering
Rhetorical question that means God is wherever we are even in suffering, helping us realize someone is always watching over us and staying with us.
human being inhuman
Mr. Wiesel uses a hyperbole here to show that being indifferent makes you a monster, or someone who doesn't care as much as the average human does.
They were dead and did not know it
A hyperbole exaggerating how the prisoners were. This creates pathos because the audience feels sad for the prisoners and maybe guilty for not helping them.
It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptionsto our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to beinvolved in another person's pain and despair. Yet, for the person who is indifferent,his or her neighbor are of no consequence.
Vivid Imagery of why people are indifferent, which creates a critical and wise tone.
lives are meaningless
A hyperbole stating people who are being treated indifferently have no value. Everyone has value and are meaningful, but Mr. Wiesel states this to show how the person feels when being treated terribly.
What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means "no difference." A strange andunnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn,crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil
Mr. Wiesel uses imagery here to explain to the audience what indifference is in his point of view. This is to help the audience better understand what he will be implying about indifference later.
Thesefailures have cast a dark shadow over humanity
A metaphor is used here comparing the many failures to some large object that casts a dark shadow. The meaning of this is that the failures are difficult to understand, they block the light from humanity, and it effects everyone. This creates a gloomy tone
What will the legacy ofthis vanishing century be? How will it be remembered in the new millennium?
Rhetorical questions asking what the future generations will think of them, and how will they be remembered. Will they have a legacy of being indifferent or helping others.
and I am filled with a profound andabiding gratitude
Hyperbole, he is not actually filled with gratitude, Mr. Wiesel just has a lot of it.
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide
This metaphor unfolds how powerful the speaker is as it acts as a symbol of energy and immensity while hinting at the color of her skin. Comparing herself to a compelling force of nature, she portrays herself as strong and majestic going with the highs and lows of the "tide" or society's challenges.
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs?
The alliteration in this line - in which the words begin with the consonant "d" - make the line easy to read and flow nicely, thus suggesting that the speaker dances with joy and content. The simile conveys that she embraces herself, her body, and culture and that she will not change to fit a societal mold.
Symbols of wealth are spread throughout the poem: gold mines, diamonds, and oil wells. This suggests that Angelou feels wealthy when surrounded by the elements of her community. She does not have an abundance of financial wealth and society does not view her or her community as wealthy and also restricts them from gaining wealth. s
like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room.
This simile portrays Angelou's success with her previous poetry collections as she recognizes herself as an accomplished female black writer. Oil wells are a symbol of prosperity; the richest countries in the world were selling oil. Thus when reading this line, the reader should picture a wealthy girl with their head held high.
like dust, I’ll rise.
This simile contrasts that of the symbol in the line above. Using the symbol of dirt to convey the unvalued and downtrodden significance of the African Americans to society, she counters this with the simile of dust. She implies that, similar to dust which rises from the ground when stepped on by a heavy foot, her community will rise up and fight against this oppression.
This set of two lines at the end of this first stanza address direct oppression and demonstrate irony. She explains that in an attempt to try and oppress her, the oppressors are giving her strength and determination to survive. With the intention to stop her from moving forward by stomping her into the dirt, it has an opposing effect. She is able to rise higher. The presence of oppression strengthens her resolve, and followed by "I'll rise" emphasizes her resistance to give in. Typically a negative and dirty image, Angelou is able to twist dust into a positive and strong image to show her community's desire for equality.
dirt
Dirt represents how the black community was treated. They were constantly being pushed down or insulted. The community was not accepted as a true part of society as they were seen as a low, disrespected class.
history’s shame
"History's shame" could be interpreted as an understatement. Slavery generated extensive suffering through tearing apart families, destroying the spirits of African people, and many died. The effects still present today - seen with some still prevalent racist beliefs - demonstrate that slavery changed the course of American history.
To view more about the history during this time period and how Maya Angelou impacted this crucial era of American history, view the Historical Context page note.
I rise I rise I rise.
The repetition of "I rise" at the end of the poem drives home her desire to work together with the African American community to rise and face the adversity and hardships that society imposes. It not only creates rhythm, but also reinforces the persistence and strength of the speaker.
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
When talking about her ancestors, Angelou is referring to her great grandmother who was a slave (and passed away in 1942). By saying she is the dream, Angelou is attempting to set an example for others of her race in regards to rising above hard situations. Her goal with her work is to inspire change. She is demanding that society leave behind the negative effects of slavery and history of oppression with intent to rise above.
Shown through her later works, Angelou's great success with not only poetry, but other aspects of American culture. being a poet of presidents, civil rights activist, filmmaker, actor, dancer, and above all educator. She was the first of many special experiences for the African American community; for instance, she served as the first black female street car driver in San Francisco, she wrote the first script by a black woman to be made into a Hollywood film, and her best-selling, award-winning autobiographical book (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) was one of the first ever written by an African American woman to generate widespread readership. Overall successful in her rise above the deep-rooted racist American beliefs as she played a major role in the civil rights movement.
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
This line contrasts that of the dark images portrayed in the line above regarding nights of "terror and fear." This juxtaposition highlights the bright future ahead with her hopes for the civil rights movement by using the images of night and day.
huts of history’s shame
Alliteration from repeating the consonant "h" creates a line with a heavy sound as she refers to the history of slavery. Even though her people have been. oppressed in the past they have overcome these challenges and will continue this movement.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Alliteration is used in this line as the consonant "s" is repeated, making the line taunting. The repeated rhetorical questions place society on trial for the harm and injustice pitted against the African American community. While incriminating them, she reveals incredible self-confidence despite the hardships.
like air
Air in the simile illustrates that the speaker will continue to rise above the challenges set forth, no matter the harm that someone tries to inflict upon her.
kill me with your hatefulness
The oppression is brought to the climax in this stanza as Angelou compares the hate to death. Saying that the oppressor's hate might kill her spirit, she continues in the next line ensuring the reader that she will rise above. Overall from this stanza, the dark and grim connotation emphasize the aggression towards the African American community. In these lines she is referring to more deep emotional pain rather than physical hurt; however, she uses these tangible, violent objects to show her message. One's words and looks can destroy another person's emotional spirit and one's hatred can kill caused by certain societal rejections.
cut me with your eyes
This metaphorical weapon refers to the violence of a gun comparing it to the cruel looks of the oppressor. The looks are so hurtful and agonizing in the regard that they are sharp and cutting, like a knife.
shoot me with your words
Angelou uses metaphorical weapons in this stanza to emphasize the pain of the oppression. Referring to the violence of shooting a gun, the metaphor demonstrates the pain of the oppressor's hateful language.
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines Diggin’ in my own backyard.
By comparing gold mines to her laugh, she portraying that she laughs with the confidence of someone who is wealthy, like she had gold has been discovered in her backyard. She may not be wealthy in a financial sense; however, she has a great wealth of hope and spirit. This simile can also be interpreted as describing the richness of Angelou's culture. The traditions and ties to the culture and "backyard" shows she is close and involved in her community.
Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Another set of rhetorical questions, Angelou is painting a picture of defeat. Being direct and pertinent, she is accusing the oppressor for their actions. She is aware that her success is received with bitterness by the racist society. A few interpretations can be drawn from this stanza. This may literally be a picture of a slave who was abused and she is referring to a broken person. But it can also be taken as a person with a broken spirit as this poem is an autobiography. When Angelou was a young child, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend and informed of his death after he was murdered soon after; the traumatic series of events led her to be almost completely mute for several years. This interpretation can be of her broken heart and broken spirit from those traumatic childhood experiences. Finally, a general interpretation applies this brokenness and defeat from challenge as an experience that everyone can undergo throughout their life - making it relatable and applicable to the general public, or someone who is experiencing similar despair.
Shoulders falling down like teardrops
This simile shows the impact of societal conditions on her and the black community - that she is working towards fixing. The speaker refers to being upset and distraught to the point that one's shoulder collapse or sink down, just as tears fall off of one's cheek.
Just like hopes springing high
This simile stresses her point about maintaining high hopes and confidence during this time of oppression.
Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides
In this simile, Angelou is comparing her resilience to the rising sun and moon in how she will continue to live her life even after people insult and ridicule her. It is her nature to stand against oppression just like the nature of the tides to respond to the moon. The word "certainty" is significant in this line because it emphasizes that no matter how difficult the challenge, she will rise above it with certainty and confidence.
Why are you beset with gloom?
These first two stanzas contain rhetorical questions that notice society is upset with her success as a writer. Seeing as her work mostly dealt with speaking out against inequality, when Angelou's activist efforts became popular, she received backlash for being an African American woman. In this poem, she is questioning those who would try to deny her the right to succeed and become an accepted part of society. Throughout the poem, she refers to this "you," or the antagonist. Interrogating them, she holds the antagonist accountable for the painful events that her community has been subjected to for countless years.
words rang as a knell,
"Knell" refers to a bell that rings to announce a death or a funeral. Poe uses a simile to compare the sound of wedding vows to the sound of a death knell. This comparison introduces the concept of death, a major characteristic of gothic literature, into the poem, and it also shows the bride's mixed emotions towards her wedding.
grow light.
personification of light
we in us find the eagle and the dove
Metaphor: Donne is comparing his lover and himself to and eagle and dove. Typically the eagle symbolizes a powerful and sturdy image, while the dove symbolizes a calm, soft, and innocent image. The juxtaposition among these words can show the power imbalance in the relationship as Donne is the stronger male character represented by the eagle who rules over his lover categorized the the submissive innocence and purity of the dove. On another note, by saying "we in us" Donne could be moving past the stereotypical gender norms and implying that the love is both strong and innocent.
The phœnix riddle hath more wit By us; we two being one, are it. So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit. We die and rise the same
Extended Metaphor: Throughout these lines, Donne compares him and his lover to a phoenix and the action of rising and dying. This intertwines both the spiritual and sexual in his writing.
Allusion: This can also be a religious reference as the phoenix and its well known actions of rising and dying is commonly used as a symbol of the resurrection of Christ.
are it
Metaphor: Donne is saying that now that the two are united as one they are the phoenix as they now die and rise together.
quarrels move
Imagery: Donne describes these grand events using descriptive language that has a darker denotation (cold, sigh, injured, tears, war, etc.). This gives the reader an idea of what their love does not consist of, as he is saying that despite these events happening their love continues.
Alas, alas, who’s injured by my love? What merchant’s ships have my sighs drowned? Who says my tears have overflowed his ground? When did my colds a forward spring remove? When did the heats which my veins fill Add one more to the plaguy bill?
Repetition: The author uses the repetition of questions at the beginning of this stanza. This repetition highlights how Donne believes his love to be harmless compared to the outside world.
Antithesis: Through these rhetorical questions Donne creates contrast between small actions (such as crying) to grand events (like the seasons changing).
fly,
Metaphor: Donne is comparing the lovers to flies in order to emphasize the insignificance of their love in comparison to the rest of the world based on the size of a fly.
Canonization
Extended Metaphor: Canonization is the process by which a dead person becomes a saint in religious tradition. This idea is continually carried throughout the poem as Donne is describing that he and his lover will be made saints for their love.
love
Repetition: Donne begins and ends each of the stanzas with love. This ensures that the reader knows that the couple's love is the central idea of this poem.
“You, whom reverend love Made one another’s hermitage; You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage
Antithesis: There is contrast found within these lines, specifically involving the words "reverend," "love," "hermitage," "peace," and "rage." The contrast created among these lines conveys that people appear to appreciate their love, but their actions do not match their words.
well a well-wrought urn
Alliteration: In this phrase, Donne repeats the letter 'w' when discussing an urn. This draws the readers attention to this reference and highlights the strength of their relationship and love.
hymns
Allusion: The reference to hymns suggests that their love is nearly at the level of Scripture.
it will be fit for verse;
Metaphor: Donne is saying that if the two lovers die in vain that their love will not be forgotten as it will last historically in the form of poetry. Although the couple may not last physically, their love will be validated via poetry.
we two being one
Allusion: This line of the poem refers to Christian religion, specifically the concept of marriage as two people unite as one body after being married.
We’re tapers too
Metaphor: This metaphor compares the lovers in the poem to tapers, or candles. This suggests that he thinks of him and his lover as burning candles - which eventually disappear. He and his lover will burn out, or die eventually, consumed by their passion for one another.
let me love
Repetition: Donne repeats "let me love" at the beginning and end of this stanza, suggesting a demanding tone. The author is emphasizing this phrase to demand from the reader the freedom to love his lover.
We reached the house, in the temper of two strange dogs, coupled up together for the first time in their lives by the same chain.
Betteredge uses some interesting figurative language. I'm curious to see if the style changes in the Second Period.
This is not a physical phenomenon: the software does not actually decay, but rather suffers from a lack of being responsive and updated with respect to the changing environment in which it resides.
For the usage in society, see Second-class citizen.
Ironic that this reference is ostensibly about the usage of "first-class citizen" in society, yet it links to a seemingly-mismatched (by name only, that is) article, entitled "second-class citizen".
Ironic that the first-class (unqualified) article is about the figurative meaning of "citizen" used in computer science, and that the page describing first-class and second-class status of the more literal citizens in society is relegated to what I kind of think is a second-class position in the encyclopedia (because it takes the #2 position numerically, even though it is (at least as is implied in this reference) also about first-class citizens (though the word "first-class" does not appear a single time in that article, so maybe this reference is the one that is more ironic/incorrect).
The spelling "internet" has become often used, as the word almost always refers to the global network; the generic sense of the word has become rare in non-technical writings.
rare to see "internet" used to mean an internetwork in the general sense
I don't doubt that we will soon treat the process of logging in as a figurative point of entry, meaning that log into will make full conceptual sense (cf you don't physically delve into a problem or pile into an argument, yet both are correct grammatically because they are semantically [i.e. figuratively])
By extension, a situation in which problems continue to arise faster than one is able to solve or cope with them, resulting in piecemeal, incomplete, or temporary results.
to remove the force or effectiveness of
Marginalize provides a striking case of how thoroughly the figurative use of a word can take over the literal one.
Now, if we think of the tasks that we perform throughout the day as consuming separate "bands" of time, then the term makes perfect sense. Being "out of bandwidth" would indicate that you do not have enough unallocated "bands of time" in your day to complete the task. Using the term bandwidth to describe time maps more closely (in my opinion) to the original definition, than the current definition describing data capacity does.
I may be living in a bubble, but my impression is that don't understand that figurative use of bandwidth are way out of the loop.
BESIDESthe neutral expression that she wore when she was alone, Mrs. Freeman had two others, forward and reverse, that she used for all her human dealings. Her forward expression was steady and driving like the advance of a heavy truck. Her eyes never swerved to left or right but turned as the story turned as if they followed a yellow line down the center of it. She seldom used the other expression because it was not often necessary for her to retract a statement, but when she did, her face came to a complete stop, there was an almost imperceptible movement of her black eyes, during which they seemed to be receding, and then the observer would see that Mrs. Freeman, though she might stand there as real as several grain sacks thrown on top of each other, was no longer there in spirit.
Right from the beginning of the story, the audience is made well aware of what kind of person Mrs. Freeman is. This passage focuses on her face being a reflection of her being a somewhat strong willed person when it comes to her words. It's made clear to the audience that Mrs. Freeman has strong opinions in a story along with not being hesitant in sharing those opinions as well as the facts, and that she rarely backpedals when telling a story.
ghosts
These ghosts are representative of past lovers who are haunting her, which is especially disturbing to the speaker because she cannot remember them. Perhaps she cannot remember the past lovers because she was promiscuous rather than trying to find real love. I think Millay chose the word ghost because usually things that haunt you are things that you feel guilty about, and I think Millay feels guilty for her past behavior of being promiscuous.
summer
represents happiness, juxtaposes with "rain" mentioned in the first stanza. Summer could also represent her true love that made her the happiest, while the ghosts in the rain represent all of the other unimportant people she was with.
lonely tree
metaphor for the speaker, the "birds" are a metaphor for her past loves, and they have all "vanished". Therefore, the speaker is like this tree in the winter, left alone with no companionship. This is also personification because trees cannot be lonely.
Why didn’t the men begin? What were they waiting for? There they stood, smoothing their gloves, patting their glossy hair and smiling among themselves. Then, quite suddenly, as if they had only just made up their minds that that was what they had to do, the men came gliding over the parquet. There was a joyful flutter among the girls.
Throughout the story, the narrator figures the men and women as birds participating in courtship/pre-mating dances. Observe the narrator's ornithological language here: the men "glid[e] over the parquet" towards the women, who respond with "a joyful flutter." With part-of-speech tagging, we could zoom in on how the story's syntactical elements (especially verbs and adjectives) create this parallel between social and animal rituals.
you can’t keep turning round in one place like a horse grinding sugar cane.
This simile takes up the theme suggested by the previous figurative device; here, though, the horse serves as the power source and walks in a tight radius around a central grinding apparatus in which raw cane is pushed in from the top lengthwise and the pressed out juice is collected in a tub. Likening Janie now to a beast of burden accentuates the suggestion that she has been taken advantage of ("worked") by Tea Cake.
The train beat on itself and danced on the shiny steel rails mile after mile. Every now and then the engineer would play on his whistle for the people in the towns he passed by. And the train shuffled on to Jacksonville, and to a whole lot of things she wanted to see and to know.
The personification of the train serves to suggest that Janie, in following her heart--leaving Eatonville and marrying Tea Cake--is in touch with her self, her humanity, for the first time in her life.
He leaned on the counter with one elbow and cold-cocked her a look.
The implied metaphor relates to pugilism. tenor: permitted Janie to see an expression that revealed his interest in her vehicle: a punch ground: a blow delivered with enough force to knock a fighter unconscious
Lemme know when dat ole pee-de-bed is gone and Ah’ll be right back.”
Hilarious country euphemism/implied metaphor: tenor: Ike Green vehicle: an old, incontinent person ground: one who lacks fundamental control of bodily functions and is therefore rendered helplessly childlike.
She wasn’t petal-open anymore with him.
An interesting and evocative image and implied metaphor. The tenor is Janie's willingness to be vulnerable, emotionally and physically, with Joe; the vehicle is a flower; the ground, is a living thing's natural inclination (you could say the biological imperative) for making available its innermost self, its essence, in order to foster growth and/or reproduction. The implied image of the woman's labia as the petals of a flower is relatively obvious.
Ah knowed you would going tuh crawl up in dat holler! But Ah aims tuh smoke yuh right out.
Two implied metaphors in quick succession: tenor: choose a position (here, in a debate) vehicle: crawl up in a hollow (as in the mountains) ground: a narrow and protected position that is well-guarded but is nonetheless difficult to retreat from tenor: effectively refute Sam's argumentative position vehicle: smoke you right out ground: to force an animal (or person) from a protected position by denying access to oxygen and thereby threatening their life
It was just a handle to wind up the tongue with.
The implied metaphor relates to bringing up water from a well; here, the suggestion is that the verbal irony exhibited in the tone of whomever opens a remark with "Our beloved mayor," invited anyone in the vicinity to gather (as around a well, water being the primary source of life sustenance in any community) and speak ill of Jody.