Use Of Visual Image In The Pulley By George Herbert

As we have mentioned in few of the articles in naijapoets, The Pulley by George Herbert relates man and God, God bestowed man (his creation) blessings such as strength, beauty, wisdom and so on.

The language of the poem is simple and conversational with suggestive tone. The varying visual images created by George Herbert shows the supremacy of God over man (his creator).

The title of the poem portrayed the strength of God (the creator) judging by the fact that a pulley is a powerful lifting device capable of moving object from point "A" to point "B". According to the poem, God placed man on earth through creation, then added unto man that which will toss him back to the creator. The title is also effective in that the more God increases t
he gift of man, the more the burdens of the gift push man towards his creator, God.

The use of simple imageries, dramatic monologue, personification, etc; assisted in the painting of visual images all through the poem. Line 13-14 are clear instances among the imageries in the poem titled "The Pulley":
"He would adore my gift instead of me
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature"

Dramatic monologue cast a visual image to the readers' mind through the suggestive voice shown by the poem persona. The voice of the poem does not only seem present during the creation of man, the direct speech in lines 3 and 11 respectively , revealed that God was democratic not authoritative during creation processes of man.
"Let us" said he "pour on him all we can" (in line 3)
"For if I should," said he, (in line 11).

READ MORE POETIC ANALYSIS >>>

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

Read More

Thematic Analysis Of Ambassadors Of Poverty By Phillip Umeh

THEMATIC ANALYSIS
(a) Theme Of Poverty And Suffering
(b) Theme Of Selfishness
(c) Theme Of Deceitfulness
(d) Theme Of Political And White-collar Corruption
(e) Theme Of Negligence And Nonchalance

Theme of poverty and suffering must come to mind first in this poem. It is the outcome of mismanagement, embezzlement, and awkward supremacy within the country that led the poet to lament on the wide and deep abysm poverty has become in the country. The poet summarized it in the first stanza before spending the rest stanzas to buttress his summary of poverty, suffering and corruption:
"Ambassadors of poverty are
The corru
pt masters of the economy
With their head abroad
And anus at home
Patriots in reverse order
Determined merchants of loot
Who boost the economy of colonial order
To impoverish brothers and sisters at home"

Theme of selfishness seem to be the root cause of the acts perpetrated by the villians wearing the robe of rulers. Since the dawn of time, mankinds have ceased to cure the disease of selfishness dwelling within them and the generationally inherited selfishness has caused much harm to the country described by poet.

Theme of deceitfulness occurred when the grown selfishness made use of deceitfulness as its evil tool. Those expected to be the savior of the masses became otherwise using "tearful stories of rip-off", heartlessness and "alibi as governance" to play on their citizens intelligence while they amass wealth to feather their own nests.

Theme of political and white-collar corruption, the poet described them with mammoth metaphors and imageries such as
"The political elite/ In air conditioned chambers/ And exotic cars..." (according to stanza 4) "Office loafers in the guise of workers/ Barons of incompetence/ With kleptomaniac fingers/ And suckling filaments/ Position occupants and enemies of service/ Locked in corrosive war of corruption/ With their peoples' treasury/ And killing their future"(according to stanza 2)
They perpetrated their corruption through counterfeiting and vain promises providing the populace "With death traps for roads/ Mud for water, candle for light/ Underneath trees for schools/ Rats for protein/ Fasting as food/ And alibi as governance" in stanza 4 of the poem.

Theme of negligence and nonchalance by the masses was also pointed out as one of the causes of poverty the people suffered; they became nonchalant and neglected the destructive hands causing suffering because they were lazy "able-bodied men on the streets/ Without motive, without vision, without mission/ Men fit for farms/ But glued to the city/ Hungry and desperate/ Constituting willing tools in the hands/ Of political overlords" and because the hardworking one were striving for their own survival:
"Ambassador of poverty are
All of us whose in-actions
Steal our collective joy
Because of what we should do
Which we never do
As we bargain away
Our conscience in the market place
Under the weight of poverty
To assuage our hunger
And our masters' will."

>>> READ MORE POETIC ANALYSIS

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings soaring high)

Read More

Analysis Of The Immigrants By Margaret Atwood

The Immigrants is a poem with expected poetic devices as follow: Repetitions found in the poem are land, unknown, further, year, poor, wood glass. Assonances are "to be told" "the old one, sow" "I wish I could". Alliterations are "gallstones in glass bottle" "carry their carpetbags" "flat the green fruit".

Margaret Atwood wrote this 9 stanza poem with no end rhyme scheme but beautified each stanza with the use of enjambment which made the poem flow so freely.

As part of my poetic analysis, I searched for themes in the poem and below are few found:
(a) Theme of Poverty, we are made to understand the immigrants level of poverty and suffering "only to be told they are too poor/ to keep it up" (line 7 and 8) and in any foreign country they find themselves, no possession hold assurance_ whatever they have today might the taken from them tomorrow "but always they are too poor, the sky" (line 24)

(b) Theme of Instability and M
obility, according to the poem, immigrants are alway on the move and no matter how promising a place is, they never believe it can be their permanent home; "day and night riding across an ocean of unknown/ land to an unknown land" and as they move "they carry their carpetbags and/ trunks with clothes, dishes, the family pictures" (line 19 and 20)

(c) Theme of Inferiority led to the immigrants instability because they shared no equal right with the citizens "they are allowed to inherit/ the sidewalk, involved as palmlines, bricks.../ only to be told they are too poor/ to keep it up" (stanza 1)

(d) Theme of Ill-health, improper living always provide them with diseases and sicknesses to associate with. There poor conditions are easily noticed:
"I see them coming
up from the hold, smelling of vomit
infested, emaciated, their skin grey
with travel, as they step on shore" (according to the description seen in stanza 3 of the poem).

(e) The theme of Nostalgia. This can be defined as home-sickness which is caused by wistful longing for things enjoyed in the past. "they carry their carpetbags and/ trunk with clothes, dishes, the family pictures" (line 19 and 20) "like the old one, sow miniature orchards/ carve children and flocks out of wood" (line 22 and 23)

The Immigrants is a poem that revealed how unenjoyable immigrating is; how they suffer, lack possession, move from place to place because no foreign land can be compared to their own land of birth.


Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

Read More

Analysis Of Expelled by Jared Angira

Expelled by Jared Angira is the matter at hand in naijapoets.com

All the way to Kenya, Jared Angira was born 21st November, 1947. is
a Kenyan poet. Studied commerce at the University of Nairobi from 1968 until 1971. He also founded the Kenya Writers' Association.

I took a very close look at the poem "Expelled" and I saw the following themes: Encroachment, Exploitation,Hopelessness and Colonialism.

"We had traded in this market competively perfect
till you come in the boat, and polished goodwill
approval from higher order
all pepper differentials, denied flag-bearers"

The quoted expressions above, is the first stanza of the poem. It revealed the degree of encroachment the poet felt when powerful foreigners withheld freedo
m where freedom once existed. Judging from the totality of the poem it shows that such encroachment was the cause of the poet's lost.

As one theme leads to another, Exploitation led to Hopelessness the poet resigned himself to. The second stanza of the poem expressed how the poet and his people were exploited by the strange marauding beasts who came to their marketplace by boat; even all the goodwills they pretended to bring were bad omen.

"Plants reject the sea water, the sea water rejects me/ I have nothing to reject" in line 21 and 22, gave us an insight into the theme of Hopelessness. Imagine someone watching his hope given to another hand "The auctioneer will gong his hammer/For the goods left behind"
Colonialism according to frequent lamentations of poets, is a very horrible experience which lingers longer than expected and this poem is no exception to such notion.

POETIC DEVICES:
(1) Personification: "he drought you brought/ planted on the market place, the tree of memory" line 7 and 8; the drought was personified a human planting tree.
(2) Imageries: "The broken line runs across my face" line 23, "deposition of my last penny/ the last sight of my fishing-net" line 16 and 17, "this market competitively perfect" line 1, "creditors tapped my rusty door" line 12.
(3) Repetition: there are repetition of words (our= "our ribs, our cows" in line 5) (avoid="avoids my path; I avoid death's too" in line 18) (reject="reject sea water, the sea water rejects me/ I have nothing to reject" in line 21 and 22)
(4) Chain line: "the rivulets from my human lake/ from my viens, my heart, my whole" in line 14 and 15 of stanza 3, "plants reject sea water, the sea water rejects me/ I have nothing to reject" in line 21 and 22 of stanza 4; were instances of chain lines that occurred in the poem
(5) Allusion: the was a Biblical allusion which reminds the readers of the story of how they said Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed in the Bible
(6) Alliteration: in line 8 "planted on the market place" in line 11 "flowed to flooded stream" in line 20 "floated garden in a gale"

==>> READ MORE POETIC ANALYSIS

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings soaring high)

Read More

Analysis Of As Kingfisher Catch Fire By Gerard Manley Hopkins

AS KINGFISHER CATCH FIRE is a great poem that is full of sounds, each line is with either alliteration, assonance or both. Not like the Shakespeare's, Hopkins' sonnet didn't follow a rigid end rhyme pattern and spoke of religion and its influence on human.

Gerard Manley Hopkins canned the poem with a flexible lid but the complex content was only to be enjoyed by those who can patiently digest it. The poem began with similes, describing how a situation leads to another (As kingfisher catch fire, dragonflies draw flame) making readers see how injustice led to Christianity. He said further that the sound of rung bells made a bold tongue gather people for spiritual orientation which has become a routine "Each mortal thing does one thing and the same" (in line 5)

According to line 13 and 14 of the poem "Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his/ To the Father through the features of men's faces"
Those parading theselves as teachers of Christ ways; portraying Christ in thousand places are only what they are in the faces of men but migh
t not be through the Father (God)

The following are the themes evident within the poem: (i) theme of Christianity (ii) theme of priesthood (iii) theme of cause and effect (iv) theme of moral and injustices (v) theme of human opinion and thoughts

The examples below carry Similes, Alliterations and Imageries as few among many poetic devices in the poem:
"As kingfisher catch fire, dragonflies draw flame
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells" (line 1-2)
"Stones ring; like each tucked string tells each hung bells"

Gerard Manley Hopkins was born in Stratford, England in the year 1844 but died 45years later in 1889. Few among his beautiful poem are: Felix Randal, Pied Beauty, The Caged Skylark, etc.

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

Read More

Analysis Of Nine To Night By Toyin Adewale Gabriel

Nine To Night is a poem written by alluring, rosy, smiling, ambitious Nigerian poetess princess; Toyin Adewale Gabriel. To be candid, I've seen close to fifteen of the her poems online and guess what, they are mesmerizingly charming.

From the way see Nine To Night, the poem was written to celebrate her birthday "staring 40 in the face" which began the second stanza of the six stanza poem is prove to hold.

While searching for the themes of the poem, it wasn't hard for me to find self-reflection, hope, wish, tenacity and so on as the themes of the poem.

As mild as the bold as the tone of the poem was, it did fall-short of sweet poetic devices like metaphors where the major part of the poem saw the poet comparing herself to thing like undying voices.

The first three lines of the poem were similes; the first line goes "Like a shock of corn come at season". Age or number was also personified in the poem "staring 40 in the face". "cropped hair flying" was one of the imageries "strenghtened by the strife of the tongue" was one of the alliterations in the poem. The third stanza of the poem described "adulthood" in a way that pleased my mind.

Toyin Adewale Gabriel is a Nigerian writer, she has authored so many books and still waxing stronger in all her endeavors. More grease to her elbow.

READ MORE ANALYSIS>>>

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

Read More

Thematic Analysis Of Water By Philip Larkin

Water by Philip Larkin is a simple complex poem and the complexity of meaning within the simple structure of the poem has given it various opinions.

I will be dishing out my own point of view irrespective of its acceptance. I see freedom of choice and religious perspectives as the themes of the poem.

Philip Larkin began the poem as if someone requested his advice on the issue of starting a religion. He said that if he was called in to start a religion, he would not deny the use of water, the act of sousing and the scientific experimentation of placing a glass of water where it can generate more light:
"And I should raise in the east
A glass of water
Where any-angled light
Would congregate endlessly" (stanza 4 of Water by Philip Larkin)

I believe that Larkin took the use of water and drenching so important in his own religious creation because Christianity did the same where a true Christian m
ust be baptized, the sick jumped into a healing pool of water and those who didn't obey God to enter the ark of Noah were destroyed by water.

The poem is a monologue which used the first person singular pronoun "I" to express the poet's view. The is also said to hold element of sarcasm (base on readers opinion) because the first stanza of the poem made it look like religion is easily created by anyone. There is metaphor in the poem where religion is compared to a building that builders construct.

The poem has no end rhyme pattern with four stanzas of 3 line except the fourth line which was 4 linesThere are alliterations like: "dry, different clothes" in line 6 "devout drench" in line 9. Imageries found are "A furious devout drench" "A glass of water" "any-angled light".

I believe that freedom of choice should be considered a theme in the poem because the poet no only show freedom in his choice of word and opinion, he showed that human has the freedom to make his own religion and even worship the he or she pleases; that was why Philil Larkin preferred his religion be mixture of science and christianity. Philip Larkin was tempted to mention church in the poem but his freedom of choice gave him the opportunity to avoid words like Christianity, God, Jesus Christ, Baptism, etc.

Another theme is religious perpectives where Philip Larkin made use of metaphorical allusion of Jesus Christ given the task to create christianity in collaboration with essential elements: light (dove descending from heaven) and water (baptism). He expressed how his own religion would look like.

READ MORE POETIC ANALYSIS >>>

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings soaring high)

Read More

Poetic Devices In Snake By D. H. Lawrence

POETIC DEVICES IN SNAKE BY D.H. LAWRENCE

the poet made use of carefully selected words in describing the actions of the snake: "He lifted his head from his drinking as cattle do and looked vaguely as drinking cattle do. And flickered his two forked tongue from his lips and mused a moment..."


The poet made use of images such as "Sicilian July" "Accursed human education"


He personified the snake with the use of the third person pronoun "a king in exile"


"and l like a second comer, waiting" "his head as cattle do" "like a king" are few examples of similes in the poem.


In line 2 "on a hot, hot day" carries a repetition. "Must wait, must stand and wait" in line 6 as well has repetition

Alliteration also existed in the poem "brown slackness soft" "softly drank through his straight gums" and rhetorical question in the poem are:

"Into the burning bowels of t
his earth?

Was it cowardice, that I dare not kill him?

Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him?

Was it humility, to feel so honoured?"


D.H. Lawrence wrote about his encounter with a snake he found drinking from a water pot. He explained his own reaction and also explained the reaction of the snake he then wondered what made him to allow the snake walk away safe without trying to kill it.

MORE POETIC ANALYSIS>>>

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings swinging in the sky)

Read More

Analysis Of The Blind Man By Pius Oleghe

ANALYSIS OF THE BLIND MAN BY PIUS OLEGHE

Poet:

Pius Oleghe, the author of this poem is a Nigerian. He once worked as a teacher. A graduate of the University of Ibadan that is why this poem (The Blind Man) first appeared in Nigerian Student Verse.


Poem:

Was that a sound piercing his darkness?

The blind man shuddered:

"Who's there?"


He gasped; jerked forward, strained ears, ruffled poise

To catch a repetition of the noise_

Which never came again.

He rectified, again he bent:

The broken silence was doubly silent

Now. "Who's there?" he called

Again, nor waited for reply:

His hands stretched out, fingers felt about

To something, anything, and pu
sh fear out.


None answered him,

But none harmed him;

So, his solitary peace resettled o'er him.


Yet apprehensions daily still assail

Nor hand, mouth, nose and ear

Replace one eye.

But worse,

He hears the voice, receives the gifts

Of men_ but never feels their touch.

Nor seems it odd:

For alms aren't handed to him, but dropped

(Like manna from the skies). No wonder then,

He gets his needs from men,

But gives his thanks to God.


Analysis:

Pius wrote about a blind man who seek response with his question and reactions. In his hopeless state of blindness, he made the readers to see how the man's needs were supplied and how he battled with fear.


The blind man even tried to substitute his eyes with hand, mouth, nose, ear which even worsened his condition because such attempt made him restless:

"Yet apprehensions daily still assail

Nor hand, mouth, nose and ear

Replace one eye.

But worse,"


The poem has the following themes:

(1) The effect of impairment and deficiency

(2) The loneliness caused by rejection

(3) Anticipation caused by fear

(4) The gratitude as a result of needs in a state of hopelessness


The blind man's impairment has brought him hopelessness to the extent that he rejected and left with fear. His loneliness was also as a result of rejection that's why people around him refuse to associate with him even when he asked "Who's there?" and they want to give him gift they drop it instead of hand it to him.

The blindness coupled with rejection made the blind man feel he was alone in this gangerous world that every sound made demand response and fear. He knew people around him repel him but it was God that touched their hearts to give him alms that's why he gives his thanks to God whenever people give him gifts.

There are alliterations in the poem "silence was doubly silent" in line 8 "finger felt about" in line 11. Assonance in line 16 "daily still assail". Repetition of "Who's there?" Rhetorical question in line "Was that a sound piercing his darkness?" Inner rhymes like "jerked, strained, ruffled" in line 4, "silence, silent" in line 8, "something, anything" in line 12. There are the use of imageries that added beauty to the poem and enjambments where few lines of the poem proceed to another line. And the statement "he gets his needs from men,/But gives his thanks to God" is an irony and a contrast.

READ MORE POETIC>>>

Read More

Analysis Of Crossing The Bar By Lord Alfred Tennyson

Crossing The Bar by Lord Alfred Tennyson 1809-1892, such a poem can be considered an elegy. It was note that Tennyson asked his son to always add this poem to the end of his anthologies. As a sign of closure to his life on earth and to his world of poetic living. A four stanza poem with four lines each stanza. The poem holds a simple diction flowed with metaphors and symbolisms; it has a rhyme pattern of ABAB CDCD, etc.

The poem speaks of the poet's readiness to embark on an e
vening journey of no return; through the sea, when the sunset, the evening star, the twilight and evening bell are present. He urged the people not to give him a mournful farewell since his journey would be deep and far. He ended the poem with wish or hope to see his pilot face to face.

The theme of old age and death which is followed by sorrow. Alfred Tennyson compared his death to sailing the sea; "When I put out to sea" (in line 4) and out of experience, he knew the kind of sadness that follows death so he warned them not sorrow when he's gone. "And may there be no moaning of the bar/When I put out to sea" (in line 3-4) and "And may there be no sadness of farewell/When I embark"

The theme of human mortality. In this poem, Lord Alfred Tennyson, shows human's susceptibility to death in spite of the effort, every Genesis must have Revelation; described in the poem stanza 2:
"But such a tide as moving seems asleep
Too full for sound and foam
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turn again home"

There are symbolism, metaphor, simile, repetition, alliteration, etc. In the poem, bar symbolizes grave, pilot symbolizes God, sunset and twilight and evening bell and evening star all symbolize old age. "drew from out the boundless deep" is a clause that symbolizes the womb.

Imageries exist in the poem and some are of sight while some hearing. The following are few of the imageries: "And clear call for me" in line 2, "no moaning of the bar" in line 3, "out the boundless deep" in line 7, "And after that the dark!" in 10.

Metaphors are "sadness of warefell" in line 11, "out our bourne of Time and Place" in line 13. The biggest part of it is that the poem was woven with metaphor where Tennyson compared his dying to sailing the sea "Too full for sound and foam" (in line 6)

Alliterations as follows: "Sunset and evening star" in line 1. "clear call" in line 2. "flood may bear me far" in line 14, "face to face". Repetitions that can be seen in the poem are "bar" "evening" "When I" "And may there be no..." simile is "such a tide as moving seem asleep" It is noticed that line 7-8 is a paradoxical antithesis.

Lord Alfred Tennyson lived 83years on earth; he was born 1809-1892

READ MORE HERE>>>

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wing swinging in sky)

Read More

Analysis Of The Pulley By George Herbert

Here are the themes of the poem, "The Pulley" by George Herbert:
(1) The limitation in human existence
(2) The blessings bestowed man through creation
(3) The problems associated to riches
(4) The vanity of possessions in presence of loneliness

The following are the figuratives within the poem:
(1) Rhyme pattern of ABABA CDCDC, etc.
(2) Personification in line 19-20 "If goodne
ss lead him not, yet weariness/May toss him to my breast"
(3) Allusion to the creation story in the scripture
(4) Alliteration in "made man" in line 1, "repining restlessness" in line 17
(5) Assonance in "weary that at least" in line 18, "lead him not, yet weariness" in line 19.
(6) Repetitions are "God" "rest" "Nature" "riches" "said he"

Structure of the Poem can be considered a classical one where stanza, end rhyme pattern and rhythm are very important but the poem does not hold a specific rhythm. Out of the four(4) stanzas of the poem, the first and the last lines of each stanza are of equal length (trimeter) but the second, third, and fourth are not clearly equal in each stanza.

The poem: "The Pulley" by George Herbert has a to total of twenty(20) lines divided into five(5) lines per stanza; each line with end rhyme pattern of ABABA, CDCDC, etc. The first stanza was about the reason why God endowed man during creation, the second stanza showed all the endowments, the third stanza was about the reason God gave man a companion, the last stanza was about how all the blessings and possessions given will lead man back to God's bosom.

The Pulley is a poem that revealed that when God created man, he created him blessings like strength, beauty, wisdom, honour, pleasure but place man under a contract that will put him and his possessions to an end at certain short peroid of time:
"'Let us" said he "pour on him all we can"
Let the world's riches which despersed lie
Contract into a span"
Poem further narrates that when when God realised that man's treasures are meaningless in his loneliness, he provided him companion in association with his riches which would bring him regrets and weariness and the two will make his life come to an end.

MUST NOT MISS:-
>>>Is God Omniponent in the Pulley by George Herbert

>>>Death As A Limitation To Human Existence In The Poem The Pulley

>>>Analysis of Virtue by George Herbert

MORE POETIC ANALYSIS>>>

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings soaring)

Read More

Preoccupation Of Lenrie Peters In The Panic Of Growing Older

Lenrie Peters preoccupation in the poem: "The Panic Of Growing Older" can be considered as how some factors (time,ambition,hope,etc) affect the adult stage of human beings.

Lenrie Peters, the author of the poem, took age 20 upwards as his case study to show how the events of adulthood unfold. He revealed that a person begins adulthood with beautiful hopes:
"at twenty
stilled by hope
of gigantic success
and exploration"

Ten years later, one has gained the achievement of raising a family (which is not an achievement at all because such will surely occur as an adult), one becomes unnecessarily busy in domesticity that won't give room of seeing the moon, one begins to suffer emotional pains due to inability to achieve exp
ected goals. He puts it this way:
"Copybook bisected
with red ink
and failures_
nothing to show the world"

He further explains that the scientific prove of life longevity is uncertain because "hope is not a grain of sand" since human being can die at anytime.

The poem holds the following themes: (1)Uncertainty of human future and expectations (2)Varying challenges of adulthood (3)Personal and Public expectations of adulthood (4)Captivity of being an adult

The gigantic hopes that one have at age twenty are uncertain and at the age thirty brings emotional pains due to failure. Even the prove that one will live longer enough to achieve the expectations waiting to be achieved is not certain.

As one grows through adulthood, various challenges confront one's endeavors, affecting both the personal expectations and the public expectations (those things the world and the people around expect a person to achieve as a growing adult)

"From now on the world has you" shows that every adult is a captive or a slave to the world; one must impress with achievements to be regarded as a success.

MUST NOT MISS:-
>>>the Panic of Growing Older by Lenrie Peters
>>>Preoccupation of Lenrie Peters in the Panic of Growing Older
>>>Relate the Panic of Growing Older by Lenrie Peters to a Stitch in Time Saves Nine
>>>Factual Analysis of We Have Come Home by Lenrie Peters
>>>The Use of Imagery in We Have Come Home by Lenrie Peters
>>>Simple Summary of the Fence by Lenrie Peters
>>>Homecoming by Lenrie Peters

READ MORE POETIC ANALYSIS

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings soaring high)

Read More

Deep Analysis Of Post Mortem By Wole Soyinka

Post Mortem was written by the Nigerian world class poet, Prof. Wole Soyinka.

Denotation
The poem began with the poem speaker, preferring dead plants to dead human beings because human beings become stiff and cold "in the cold hand of death..."(line 4) and everything in them become opposite: their talking become "cotton filled", their manhood or man-pike become small like larva of an insect.

The poem speaker in the third and forth stanza revealed the futility of post mortem where the dead man's head was hollowed and his brain was scaled when death had already done a damage no medical practitioners could recover.

The poem ended with the encourag
ement to love science, scientists, practice of post mortem, old age, etc.

Connotation
Now, let's look at the themes in the poem. (1) Theme of Untimely Death (2) Theme of Death's Supremacy Over Science And Human Being (3) Theme Of The Importance Of Dying Old.

(1) Untimely Death. The poem reminds the readers of the fact that untimely deaths are the major causes of post mortem. Such deaths hold mysteries that prompt scientists into action of searching the cause of such death; in a very rare occasion, the death of a very old person post mortemed.
(2) Death's Supremacy Over Science And Human Beings.
"in the cold hand of death...
his month was cotton filled, his man-pike
shrunk to a subsoil grub" (stanza 2)
The stanza explained how powerful and dominating death is. The following two stanzas backed the fact that science and scientific experiments are under the feet of death.
(3) The Importance Of Dying Old. Although, the last stanza of the poem look ambiguous, out of the ambiguity came the importance of dying old where "grey" symbolized old age, "one grey sleep and form" sydmbolized lying in coffin while old, "grey slabs" symbolized the undertaker grey- color Cadillac. The poem speaker stressed the importance of old age by saying: "let us love all things of grey;"(line 13).

Language, Style, Poetic Devices
The poem is a five stanza poem with three lines each stanza.
The language of the poem is simple.
The use medical title and instrument gave the poem a medical setting.
Alliteration in line 1 "functions to freezing", in line 2 "beer; cold bier", in line 11 "head hollowed".
Imageries "stocking beer", "harnessed_ glory be!_", "trick to prove fore-knowledge after death", "grey sleep and form".
Euphemism in line 5 "his man-pike", "how not to die" in line 12, "subsoil grub" in line 6.
Symbolism "stocking beer" symbolized dead beings, "cold bier" symbolized the embalmed, "grey images" symbolised victims of post mortem.
Allusion in line 2. Bier alluded to William Shakespeare's Hamlet Act 4, scene 5: "They bore him bare-face on the bier".

MUST NOT MISS:-
>>>Analysis of Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka

>>>Analysis of I Think It Rains by Wole Soyinka

>>>Analysis of Abiku by Wole Soyinka

READ MORE POETIC ANALYSIS>>>

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings in the tempest)

Read More

Analysis Of The School Boy By William Blake

For broader understanding,
[naijapoets recommend you read:- The Summary and Themes Of The Schoolboy]

The Poem
"I love to rise in a summer morn,
Where the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me:
O what sweet company!

But to go to school in a summer morn
O it drives all joy way!
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little one spends the day
In sighing
and dismay.

And then at times I drooping sit..." the poem went on to reach six stanzas of equal lines. Each of the stanza has five lines that look ABABB.

Figures Of Speech
(a) Repetition of "summer morn", "sit", "how can", "joy", "sing", "droop", "spring", "day", "dismay".
(b) Imagery can be of sight, smell, touch, etc. "distant huntsman winds", "cruel eye outworn", "times I drooping sit".
(c) Personification and Metaphor in line 2, 17, 19, 20, 28, 30.
(d) Rhetorical Questions and Exclamations in line 5, line 17, line 20, line 27, line 30.
(e) Symbolisms where bird symbolized youth, summer more symbolized youthful days, winter symbolized adulthood.

READ MORE POETIC >>>

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

Read More

The Things I've Learned (by Missdestiny)

I've learned that knowing "what matters most", seldom happens until it's too late.

That success isn't measured in dollars or assets, but in the company you keep and how much you laugh each day.

That if you can't stay lovers, you should at least stay friends - and if you can't, it was probably never?true love to begin with.

That the best friends are the old ones. They knew you then and still see the "real you" now, even when you're pretending to be someone else.

That a hug from my son can cancel out any bad day, and a hug from my mother is still the fastest way to dry a tear.

I've learned that accepting yourself for who and what you really are, is far more exhausting then upholding an image, but in the end the only rewarding option.

That no matter how much living you did or didn't do when you were young, one day you'll still look back and realize it all went by far too quickly.

That few things in life last forever, and the things that do are usually the ones you never expected to.

That one door closing doesn't always lead to an open window, nor is one man's trash always another man's treasure - but if you don't try to find something positive in every situation, you'll be left with nothing but resentment.

I've learned it's what you did for others and not your profession,??that people will remember when you're gone.

And mostly I've learned that life is full of surprises. Some that make you laugh, many that make you cry and a few that will change who you are forever. And you will many times be left with the decision of having to let go of something you want, in order to get what you really need in your life.

But while life many never be all the things you thought it would be, it is in the end, no more and no less then what you make of it - and its success or demise lies only in you and the decisions you make everyday.

© Missdestiny @booksie,com/miss destiny

Big thanks to Missdestiny and big thanks to booksie.com for this poem

Read More

Analysis Of Ambush By Gbemisola Adeoti

PURPOSE:-
This article will speak of the poet, the themes, the mood, the figures of speech, etc.

SUITABILITY:-
This article is suitable for; (a) All lovers of poetry (b) All lovers of Literature-In-English (c) Students for WASSE/WAEC, NECO, GCE, A-LEVEL, IJAMB examination (d) Students of English Language And Literature In Universities, Polythenics, Colleges of Educations, etc.

ANALYSIS OF THE POEM AMBUSH:-
Ambush is a poem written by Gbemisola Adeoti, a teacher, poet, editor, author, etc. He is a Nigerian belonging to Yoruba ethnic group. A member of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). Gbemisola Adeoti works as a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Ambush has four themes: (1) the theme of hopelessness (2) the theme of helplessness (3) the theme of danger (4) the theme of deceit.
Hopelessness in a nation full of hardworking people appeared in the language of the poem speaker. With the use of symbolism, whale s
tood as the symbol of hopelessness swallowing every effort and attempt of the citizen to the extent of petering out their desires and made them return home without catching a fish.

Anothe theme of the poem is helplessness. How correct is the statement? When the sabre-toothed tiger cried "deep in the glade", the poem speaker made the readers realize that "infants shudder home" and adults that stood their grounds only did so because such troubles or tribulations were inevitable. Besides their helplessness towards the tiger, they also had no help against the hawk of disasters hover above them and none to redirect from the path where the land await ambush them "toward the snare of possibilities".

The theme of danger is next; and virtually all the lines of the poem exemplified it. The poet made it known with the use of following words like "swallows", "cries", "snatch", "tribulations", "disaster" and created dreadful agents of death like "a giant whale", "a sabre-toothed tiger", "a giant hawk" to carry out fear and danger.

The theme of deceit can be seen crystal clear at the end part of the poem where those walking toward the right direction are ambushed and misdirected.

The structure of the poem is very easy to understand since the poem does not take a rigid classic structure like that of The Pulley by George Herbert [you can view The Structure of the Pulley by George Herbert]
Ambush is a 21 lines poem that is void of specific rhythm and end rhyme pattern; not broken into verses. With the aid of symbolism, metaphor, imagery, etc. the poet's opinion is flatly tabled in front of the readers. "The land" which appeared many times in the poem plus the metaphorical animals reveal how the masses of a badly governed society suffer (standing at the receiving end). Each opinion of the poem speaker is further explained with the introduction of a relative pronoun "that" for instance in line 2, "that swallows the sinker" in line 9 as well, "that cries deep in the glade". Though Ambush by Gbemisola Adeoti is not structured in a multi-stanza form but each mention of "The land" gives birth to a fresh opinion, which divides the poem into four (4) nonvisual stanzas.

The poem has a tone of sincerity and made the poem readers feel a mood of revelation, realising the evil plots of the land or in the land.

The Figures Of Speech
There symbolism in the poem where the whale symbolized hopelessness, tiger symbolized helplessness and danger, hawk and the title of the poem "ambush" both symbolized danger. The land was personified and the land was also used as a metaphor by comparing it to a giant whale, a sabre-toothed tiger, a giant hawk, a dangerous person or an animal laying ambush. There was repetition of the following: the land, a giant, Peter, dusk, etc. Alliterations in the poem were "swallows the sinker", "Peter with Petered out desires", "the land lies". The poem also made use of biblical allusion of Peter fishing but could not catch any fish until Jesus Christ directed him to the right place to cast his net (John 21:3-6).

"The land lies patiently ahead" also has the "the land" personified and portrayed the land a tyrant putting the victims in a condition of hopeless.

To Narrate Ambush In Prose Form:-

The land we live is more like a giant whale that disrupts the efforts of fishermen where all achievable goals are made to be a waste of time and effort.
The land we live now treats its dwellers like prey; kids and adults live in fear of possible bestial attack.
The land we live is so full of contagious diseases that mingle with our atmosphere seen everywhere like a giant hawk hovering in the sky.
In conclusion, the land we find ourselves is such a slavery zoo. Whoever tries to escape is ambushed and brought to book.

Similarity Between Ambush by Gbemisola Adeoti And The Dining Table by Gbanabom Hallowell

The tone of both poems is sad. Not only that, the speaker of both poems are victims; victim of bad governance in the poem "Ambush" by Gbemisola Adeoti but victim of civil attack in the poem "The Dining Table" by Gbanabom Hallowell. Both poems share the theme of danger and destruction: "The land is a sabre-toothed tiger/ that cries deep in the glade/ while infants shudder home/ the grizzled ones snatch their gut/ from bayonets of tribulation" (according to line 8-12 of Ambush by Gbemisola Adeoti)
"The table/ that gather us in an island where guerrillas/ walk the land while crocodiles/ surf..." (according to line 9-12 of The Dining Table by Gbanabom Hallowell)

COMMON QUESTIONS:-
(1) Narrate Ambush by Gbemisola Adeoti in a prose form.
(2) Discuss how the use of poetic devices portray the feelings of the poet.
(3) Describe Ambush As Metaphor Of societal Evil
(4) From your understanding of the poem Ambush, what messages are passed across by the poet?

READ MORE POETIC>>>

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the soaring Leo with wings in the sky)

Feel free to inform friends and fellows if you love this article

Read More

Connotation And Denotation Of Futility By Wilfred Owen

Futility happens to be a poem written by Wilfred Owen, English poet and soldier who was born in March 18, 1893 at Oswestry, Shropshire England but died in November 4, 1918 at Sambre Oise Canal France. Owen was said to have started poetry at the age of 17, today, he's still remembered for his beautiful war poems like "Anthem Of Doomed Youth" "Dulce et Decorum est". This post is to look at the denotation and connotation of the poem Futility.

DENOTATION:
The poem of two stanzas revealed in the first stanza where the poem speaker request
someone referred to as "him" to be brought into the sun maybe it could wake him as it has done before "At home" (line 3) and "in France" (line 4), claiming the sun is the only option for his revival. In the second stanza of the poem, the poem speaker showed the sun had revived seeds, clays, among other things but wondered why it became very difficult to wake the man this time. The poem speaker became angry, blamed the sun and gave the sun an abusive name while questioning it by saying "_O what made fatuous sunbeams toil/ To break earth's sleep at all?"

CONNOTATION:
The poem has the theme of life's futility. It is said that the poem was talking about world war 1 where men dead in battle were spread under the sun like grains. The poem speaker saw futility in the effort of those in battle because their fighting led them to nothing but shameful sudden death. The poem also saw futility in the effort of the sun that revived at some points but lost its power of revival at a point to death.

The poem also has the theme of death's supremacy over everything. The poem speaker showed the power of the sun was limited to a certain period of season when he/she said "Until this morning and this snow" (line 5) and also revealed that the sun would have equaled death if it had not foolishly toil "To break earth's sleep at all". It must also be noted that the sun was used to symbolize daybreak in line 13 and 14.

Another theme of note in the poem is the impact of the sun on human and living things. According to the poem speaker the sun has the power to wake things not excluding the dead victim but one might be tempted to ask how the sun does its revival? The sun is used as a metonymy in the poem to refer to the morningtime. In the morning, the sun wakes alongside humans and even plants but with the power of hyperbole the poet turned the sun to an entity with the ability to wake or revive.

POEM:
Move him into the sun_
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of field unsown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know

Think how it wakes the seeds_
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved-still warm-too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
_O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?
© Wilfred Owen (18-03-1893 04-11-1918)

READ MORE POETIC ANALYSIS

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

Read More