"The Kitchen Shears" Analysis

The Kitchen Shears
By Christianne Balk

This division must end
Again I'm forced to amputate
the chicken's limb; split the joint,
clip the heart, snip wing from back,

strip fat from flesh, separate
everything from itself. I'm used,
thrown down by unknown hands,
by cowards who can't bear to do

the constant severing. Open and close!
Open and close. I work and never tell.
Though mostly made of mouth, I have no voice,
no legs. My arms are bent, immobile

pinions gripped by strangers. I fear
the grudge things must hold.
I slice rose from bush, skin from muscle,
head from carrot, root from lettuce,

tail from fish. I break the bone.
What if they join against me,
uncouple me, throw away one-half,
or hide my slashed eye? Or worse,

what if I never die? What I fear
most is being caught

"Because I Could Not Stop For Death" Figurative Language

Stanza 1, Line 1:
"Because I could not stop for Death" (EDickinson)
Anthropomorphism

Stanza 1, Line 4:
"And Immortality" (EDickinson)
Anthropomorphism

Stanza 4, Line 1:
"Or rather, he passed us" (EDickinson)
personification

Stanza 6, Line 2:
"And yet, feels shorter than the day" (EDickinson)
paradox

Stanza 5, Lines 1-2:
"We paused before a house which seemed/a swelling of the ground"
metaphor

"Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" Figurative Language

Stanza 3, Line 2:
"Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay." (DThomas)
Personification

Stanza 4, Line 4:
"...who see with blinding sight" (DThomas)
Irony

Stanza 4, Line 5
"Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay" (DThomas)
Simile

Stanza 5, Line 1
"there on the sad height" (DThomas)
Personification

Stanza 1, Line 2
"Old age should burn and rave at close of day" (DThomas)
Irony

Stanza 4, Line 1
"....caught and sang the sun in flight."
Metaphor

"Because I Could not Stop For Death" Analysis

Because I Could not Stop For Death

By Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death -
He kindly stopped for me -
The Carriage held but just Ourselves -
And Immortality.

We slowly drove - He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility -

We passed the school, where Children strove
At Recess - in the Ring -
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain -
We passed the Setting Sun -

Or rather - He passed us -
The Dews grew quivering and chill -
For only Gossamer, my Gown -
My Tippet - only Tulle -

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground -
The Roof was scarcely visible -
The Cornice - in the Ground -

Since then - 'tis Centuries - and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmissed the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity -

In this poem, the poet often replaces punctuation marks such as periods and commas with a "-" instead. This may mean to take a very deliberate pause rather then continuing onward like a sentence as one would do with period or comma. Dickinson uses very calm, relaxed diction in this poem, to represent how she feels about death as a part of nature. For example, "I first surmissed the Horses' Heads..." (EDickinson) Surmissed suggests a relaxed realization, not one would expect from realizing that she has indeed died.
The meaning of this poem is that death should be accepted as a natural part of life. Dickinson gives Death an anthropomorphic representation in this poem, which creates a less frightening view of it. Rather than taking her forcefully, he "kindly stops" for her. The third stanza represents her memories. The schoolyard is her childhood, the gazing grain is her adulthood, and the setting sun is her old age and death. And finally, as the setting sun passes them, which represents her new life in death. Her "house" is a "swelling of the ground," which is a grave.

"Do not Go Gentle into that Good Night" Analysis

Do not Go Gentle into that Good Night

By Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into the good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

This poem uses a subtle rhyme scheme in its stanzas. Although, because of the range from the two rhyming words in the stanzas, the rhyme is not heared clearly until the last two lines: "Do not go gentle into that good night./Rage, rage against the dying of the light."(DThomas) The regular rhyme scheme is that the last words of the 1st and 3rd lines rhyme, the last line always being either "light" or "night." The repetition of the phrases "Do not go gentle into that good night"(DThomas) and "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" (DThomas) emphasis the rhyme at the end of the poem and the meaning and the contrast of these words.

The speaker of this poem is Dylan Thomas himself, as this poem was written when his father was slowly dying and going blind. He urges his father to resist death, although he is dying, and live life as he is dying, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light." (DThomas) He also gives examples of other men who have died: wise men, who resisted death because their words "had forked no lightning" (DThomas), good men, who "cry how bright/their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay," (DThomas) wild men, and grave men, who can still rage against death. The "good night" in this poem represents death. However, instead, it represents death as a peaceful experience, using a casual, comforting phrase in order to describe it. By men raging against this peaceful experience, perhaps it shows just how powerful death is, and that is why one must fight against it all the more.

Examples of Poetry Terms

Examples:

Anthropomorphism- Sponge Bob Cooking a Krabby Patty.

Apostrophe- An elderly woman talking to her deceased husband who has past away.

Irony- A vegetarian eating meat

Metonymy- The pot boiling but the pot itself is not boiling but the water inside is boiling.

Paradox- The coach is cheering on the player and he misses because the coach was cheering.

Personification- The willow tree dancing in the wind.

Synecdoche- Poland won the rugby game. The whole country didn't win, the team won.

Tautology- The elderly woman was talking to her deceased husband who has past away.

Understatement- a guy who is really rich says $1000 is a few bucks.

Poetry Terms

1/14/10

Anthropomorphism: The giving of human traits or characteristics to nonhuman things, such as animals and inanimate objects

Apostrophe: An address to a non-present person, whether they be simply absent or dead

Irony: A meaning that contradicts the literal definition of what someone means to say or something that contradicts what is meant to happen.

Metonymy: The use of one noun as a substitute for another noun. The noun substituted is closely related to the other noun.

Paradox: A statement or situation that, although contradictory to common sense, is true.

Personification: The giving of significant human characteristics to nonhuman beings, such as animals and inanimate objects

Synecdoche: A figure of speech in which a fraction of something stands for the whole

Tautology: The unnecessary use of the repetition of an idea in one sentence

Understatement: A statement that does not fully represent the fact.

First Post

• Jerry S.
• Ashely K.
• Mike C.

We started this blog because we wanted to share our thoughts of figurative language and poetry.

We hope to communicate our opinions and knowledge of poetry.

We are not huge fans of poetry but we respect it because of its creativity and its figurative language.

We have learned diction, imagery, metaphors and similes.

We hope to learn to understand and identify poetry and its deceptive language