...The passage from ‘The Things They Carried’ is primarily focused on a dream regarding escape from the war. The passage is comprised of two solid blocks of prose including one enormous sentence with unconventional punctuation. Symbolism is used to great effect in the prose with special emphasis on falling and birds. O’Brien employs various literary techniques to create a giddy, dreamlike tone in the passage. Powerful themes are presented includingthe desire of release and the inability to rid oneself of blame.The passage gives insight into the pure and innocent psyches of the soldiers which are normally hidden through gruff exteriors. The structure of the passage is set as two almost solid paragraphs with very little form and shape. This physical density allows the reader to appreciate the immensity of the prose and becomeengrossed in the flowing movement of it.The initial paragraph is broken in the centre by an italicised sentence which deviates from the informal flowing style used previously to a coarse colloquial one. This serves to give the piece a sense of balance and symmetry while also reminding the reader that even in this ethereal vision the soldiers are still very much human. Partway through the initial paragraph one unusually large sentence begins making up the bulk of the passage. This creates a graceful, fluid tone that contributes to the dreamlike feel of the prose. This is enhanced by frequent use of dashes and commas which give the reader respite while not...
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...Concision and Repetition in Babel’s Collected Stories With laconic power, Isaac Babel tells short stories that are at once cold and full of exultation. This effect arises as much from his prose style as from the wrenching content of his narratives. In this paper, I will explore several techniques that compress his prose to the lapidary and one that is more expansive and cuts against his impulse to concision. One of Babel’s most striking tools for reducing his text to essentials is the simile (and more rarely the metaphor), a tactic that allows him to juxtapose images that complicate the text in a short space. He also has a knack for rendering psychological states in terms so compressed that they seem irreducible; for instance, at the end of a story when a character’s heart is constricted by a foreboding of truth, there really is nothing more to say. To an extreme, Babel makes his prose do more than one thing at a time: his descriptions of scenery frequently delve to the heart of the point-of-view character. Cutting against this tendency and made powerful by it, the stories indulge in the repetition of words, a tactic that can propel the prose toward exultation. §1 Simile and Metaphor Babel makes good use of simile and metaphor, both of which lend power, complexity, concision, and often violence to his writing. At times the similes are simply vivid juxtapositions that enliven the prose but do little else. “His stomach, like a large tomcat, lay on the silver pommel” paints...
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...been a downpour. The use of sibilance adds to the effect of the weather, both in the title and the content, ‘Shining Streets’, ‘skies’, ‘sooty’ and ‘solid’. When reading the poem the sound of rain can be heard through these words. In addition to this, onomatopoeia also adds to the effect with the word ‘splash’ in the seventh stanza. There are different types of language used within the poem, the rhyme scheme used is easy to follow and uses an ‘a, a, b, b, c, c, d, d’ couplet sequence. Further to this, each of the lines consist of eight syllables and each of the stanzas consist of four lines. This style is kept consistent throughout, making the reading of it easy to follow. Continuing with style of language, Noyes uses archaic language, which suggests this has not been written in the recent years, ‘portly pride’, ‘O love’. It could be established that Noyes has kept the style consistent to mirror the descriptions and to keep the poem flowing. Subjective language is used, especially in the last stanza where an opinion is portrayed, ‘And who would sail for Greece or Rome, When such a highway leads him home?’. The reader could be persuaded to look at their own home towns and see the magnificent imagery, rather than the thinking of a dark and damp scene. There is also use of enjambment, this could symbolise the flow of the...
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...blond hair appears flattened out of gold.” I think by using figurative language Percy wants to better explain what specific place and object, which is in my opinion very effective because it makes essay look more understandable. Percy’s choice of words is great too, which entertain readers. 4. As I mentioned before Percy’s use of metaphors in his essay “Invasion” is very effective since he’s got a very nice choice of words that attract readers. Percy uses extended metaphor very effectively too. He compares to unlike things and continues it throughout few sentences. But comparing to short metaphors extended one doesn’t help him as much as short ones because of its size. 5. There were several instances where Percy used straightforward style such as in these sentences: “The last time I was there, January, I trudged into a coffee shop to warm up. Ahead of me in line stood a teenager. He was wearing sunglasses, designer aviators. His hair was...
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...“Survival of the fittest” – Competition or Cooperation? Among the most damaging myths and metaphors in business talk are those macho 'Darwinian' concepts of 'survival of the fittest' and 'it's a jungle out there'. The underlying idea, of course, is that life in business is competitive and it isn't always fair. But that obvious pair of points is very different from the 'dog-eat-dog', 'every [man] for [him]self' imagery that is routine in the business world. It is true that business is and must be competitive, but it is not true that it is cut-throat or cannibalistic or that 'one does whatever it takes to survive'. However competitive a particularly industry may be, it often rests on a foundation of shared interests and mutually agreed-upon rules of conduct. The competition takes place not in a jungle but in a community which it presumably both serves and depends upon. Business life is first of all fundamentally co- operative. It is only within the bounds of mutually shared concerns that competition is possible. And quite the contrary of the ‘every animal for itself’ jungle metaphor, business almost always involves large co-operative and mutually trusting groups, not only corporations themselves but networks of suppliers, service people, customers and investors. Competition is essential to capitalism, but to misunderstand this as 'unbridled' competition is to undermine ethics and misunderstand the nature of competition too. The most persistent metaphor, which seems to endure...
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...The page before Donald M. Murray’s “All Writing is Autobiography” warns readers that Murray’s opinion on writing is different from most other opinions. Prior to reading Murray’s article, I agreed with those opinions which included the rule: never use the word “I” in a formal paper. While writing this paper, I feel a strong urge to erase the words “I agreed” and rewrite the entire page in a more formal manner. Murray’s article changed my idea of the writing process by making me realize that every piece of writing is autobiographical whether or not an author is writing objectively through word choice, sentence structure, metaphors, and even punctuation. A reader can learn much about an author through his or her word choice. An author’s diction may seem more colloquial or more obscure and academic depending on his or her personality. Murray demonstrates how an author can use creativity by creating words when he uses the words “squenched and “companioned” in his poem “At 64, Talking Without Words.” Though these are not words one would find in a dictionary, they are understood by readers and aid in defining the author. Sentence structure is an important piece of writing. An author may utilize a run-on sentence or a one-worded sentence in order to create a point or emphasize one, however grammatically incorrect the sentence may be. Charlotte Brontë, for example, frequently uses run-one sentences in order to complete a thought without the interruption of a period. Authors may...
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... | |OVERALL SCORE: 80% (8 of 10 Questions Correct) | |Site Title: Writing Style | |Quiz: Mood | |Date/Time Submitted: Monday, August 12, 2013, 6:46:21 PM | | | | | |Results for: Point of View Quiz | | | |OVERALL SCORE: 80% (8 of 10 Questions Correct) | |Site Title: Writing Style | |Quiz: Point of View ...
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...Point out three metaphors and three epithets used by the author to characterize the main character (Stephens) and comment on them. Three metaphors : trifle embarrassed apologetic laugh forcible ring Three epithets: thick-set and stout a round red face bullet-shaped head All these stylistic devices describe the main hero as a person who is very tired of life, he is passive, but he wants to change something in it, that is why to show us the antagonistic character of the visitor, the author uses an oxymoron “bright dark eyes”. Also we can see the despair of a stranger, because he uses “short, sharp sentences”, to emphasize it the author told us that they had “a forcible ring”. 2. Give synonyms of colloquial style to the following literary words: “to flounder”, “hazardous”, “content”, “a trifling indisposition», «errand”, “to perceive”. To flounder – to struggle Hazardous - dicey, chancy Content – pleased A trifling indisposition – reluctance Errand – trip To perceive – get, understand 3. What words and phrases are used to describe Stephens at the beginning and at the end of the story? How can the reader gather that Stephens was happy in Spain? What was it that attracted him to Spain? The narrator used epithets, metaphors, oxymoron and other SD to describe Stephens. He used such constructions as “trifle embarrassed”, “…holding it in one hand absent mindedly stroked it with the other.”, “apologetic laugh” , “with a round red face from...
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...06.07B Political argument A. 1. In paragraph 3, Orwell points out two common faults in the sample passages. What are these faults? Correct grammar and syntax. 2. Orwell presents guidelines for using metaphors. Briefly describe these guidelines. Being preoccupied with grammar could make writing meaningless. He said you can have a whole bunch of words with no metaphors and these words would have no meaning. Too much metaphors and no paying attention to grammar will bog the meaning down. This will make the reader lost and he won’t be able to understand. It’s good to use good grammar, but don’t make that your only concern. 3. Pretentious diction poses a number of problems, according to Orwell. Explain what these problems are. If they are unable to put their thoughts in “words” then their ideas won’t be effective. Grammar is like cane to hold up their sagging argument. 4. Give three examples of Orwell's idea of meaningless words. romantic, plastic, values 5. At the time of this writing, how did Orwell view the state of the English language ? How did it get that way? He thinks the English language is too vague. He thinks it’s easier to make up words then to find a word in English words. 6. Orwell mentions and explains "the defense of the indefensible." What are some examples of this? What is the importance of English usage here? Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations-Defense. Defense doesn’t...
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...Crossing The main character in the short story is a man in the middle of the thirties or around the age where he has a young son and has been married. When we read we get a feeling that he is divorced even when it is not written directly in the text, but as he sits in the driveway of a house and says: “the azaleas he’d planted” it gives us the impression that he is divorced. It also indicates that the main character has been living in the house with the mother to the son and now he has come to the house to pick up his son and he wants to make thinks right between himself and his wife again. All of this is described in the sentence: “He went inside, wiping his shoes and ducking his head like a visitor” and “and that moment he thought, maybe – maybe he could make things right”. That could be why he is taking their son on a trip; to take a small step and make up for some of his mistakes he has made. We only hear about the narrators’ thoughts and not about the sons: “He could hear himself breathing hard”. This make the narrator restricted and therefore we are only seeing the story from the man’s point of view. It also guides the reader through the story even though it is not told by a first person narrator but by a third person narrator. The narrative mode is describing through the story, the narrator gives small hints saying that something dangerous is about to happen. However, if nothing happens at first, the effect of the hints makes the reader anxious together with the main...
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...Priscilla Camarena Intro to Poetry Essay #1 When envisioning winter Sunday memories of hot cocoa, snowmen, and Christmas appear. However Robert Hayden’s poem Those Winter Sundays is quite the opposite. In fact it illustrates the lack of relationship between a father and son. It is through Hayden’s usage of techniques imagery and diction which allows for the regret and sense of loss felt by the narrator. Hayden’s subtlety in the poem forces it to be carefully read so that the reader may reflect on the misunderstandings of their own relationship with their parent. The first line provides a hint to the reader on who the narrator is, “Sundays too my father…” this can possibly be a father reminiscing. An adult is reminiscing on the strenuous relationship he had with his father. It can be inferred that the narrator is a male due to the narrator’s shoes being “polished.” Only men during those this period polished their shoes. “Speaking indifferently to him,” reflects a sense of male pride that may be impeding the development of their relationship. Sunday and the “polished good shoes,” can represent the Sabbath or the Catholic Church. It can even allude to the relationship between God and his son Jesus Christ who happens to be born during winter. The difficulty in Jesus Christ understanding the methods of his Father, God. Another allusion that can be made is through the word “chronic” that can represent the revolt between Zeus and his father Cronus. A tone of remorse and regret...
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...Dat Tran Professor: Ashley Becker February 21, 2016 ENC 1102 Literary Devices in “The Fish” The poem "The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop is one of the masterpieces to study. It is written in free verse, that is, it does not have any consistent rhyme or form. However the poem shows control of the poet over the verses as the lines are of equal length and kept short and trim. The poem is a colorful epiphany of several literary devices used by the poet to describe a fish and why, even after catching the fish, the poet let it go. To begin with, the poet has made use of imagery to describe the fish. The poem begins with an author explaining that she caught the fish, continuing on to describe the fish as “battered, venerable and homely” (8-9). In these very words, the reader gains an understanding of the empathy the poet is feeling towards the fish caught: then begins description. The brown colored skin of the fish which hung “like ancient wallpaper” (11) seems apt as it imposes an imagery of an old waning wallpaper, there by implying the old age of the fish. The age implied imagery continues in the lines which follow saying “like full-blown roses/ stained and lost through age” (14-15). Further on, the poet describes other parts of the fish- as she could see a few lime figures, the white speckled sea lice infestation, and a few green weeds clinging on. The entire description makes use of imageries to bring home the point...
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...differences. During each of the author’s childhood they explain how it was for them. When Harriet was growing up in her, she was shielded from slavery. Her Father was accomplished carpenter, whose wish was to someday buy his children. “I was so fondly shielded that I never dreamed I was a piece of merchandise…” On the other hand Fredrick childhood was the opposite. Fredrick was born to a slave mother and an undisclosed white man. He did not know his age growing up he had to make educational guesses. ”I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it.” Another way that Jacobs and Douglass narrative works were different is the tone and the writing style that each author writes in. In Jacobs’s narrative she writes with fear, and her writing style is free-flowing. She also directly addresses her reader at times, and asks questions to catch the reader and make...
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...characters not only because he is the narrator, but due to the dynamic change of his character we see at the end of the story. Baldwin effectively uses the first-person narration of Sonny’s brother in order to convey the theme of communication. Throughout the entire story of Sonny’s Blues, the narrator and his brother interact through exchanging words countless times. The question posed is whether or not the narrator can truly hear what his brother is saying to him. Through an examination of the narration style and the ways in which the characters are composed, we can see how Baldwin develops the theme of communication throughout Sonny’s Blues. Directly at the start of Sonny’s Blues we can identify the first-person narration. “I read about it in the paper, in the subway, on my way to work. I read it, and I couldn’t believe it, and I read it again.” (p. 75) Over and over again Baldwin uses “I” and “my” allowing the reader to easily detect the first-person narration style. The limited first-person narration will be crucial in the development of the theme of communication due to reader’s abilities to know narrator’s thoughts and feelings, but not Sonny’s. We know that the narrator is limited and not omniscient due to the fact mentioned before; the narrator does not have the ability to know what Sonny is thinking. This inability to know what Sonny is thinking is pivotal in the way Baldwin builds the theme of communication between the brothers. Due to the fact that the...
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...How does Grace Nichols use language to present feelings in ‘Praise Song for My Mother’? Grace Nichols uses metaphors to present feelings for her mother, using a praise song which celebrates her mother’s life and her key qualities. The first stanza includes the metaphor ‘You were water to me’ which introduces the idea that her mother was essential for life, nurturing and reviving things. However the aspect of water also adds a depth to her mother’s personality, showing that she can also be powerful and dangerous. Nichols goes on to say ‘deep and bold and fathoming’ which emphasises the image of depth, strength and uncertainty- not knowing and a sense of mystery. Another example of a metaphor used in the poem is ‘You were moon’s eye’ which creates the image that her mother is always there, precious and irreplaceable like the silver of the moon and that her mother is like a guiding light in the darkness – a reliable and reassuring object. The third metaphor used ‘You were sunrise to me’ relates back to the heavenly and powerful objects used in the previous metaphors – water and the moon. A sunrise gives light and warmth to the world which shows that her mother was a loving person. It also is very reliable as everyone knows that the sun rises everyday which demonstrates that her mother provided a security. Lastly the sunrise provides the image of enlightenment, that her mother was a source of understanding and knowledge. Nichols also uses imagery through a series of metaphors to...
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