"The Hound" by Robert Francis

"The Hound" by Robert Francis

Life the hound
Equivocal
Comes at a bound
Either to rend me 
Or to befriend me.

I cannot tell
The hound’s intent
Till he has sprung
At my bare hand
With teeth or tongue.
Meanwhile I stand
And wait the event.

In the poem “The Hound”, Robert Francis compares the unpredictability and mystery of life to that of an unknown dog. By using this metaphor, he is able to describe many of the situations and struggles we face throughout our lives. In the beginning, Francis says that life (portrayed through the dog) comes to him unexpectedly, not knowing if it would either hurt or help him. With the idea of how unpredictable it can be in mind, he doesn’t know which way life is taking him until it is right there in front of him. So patiently, he must wait to see what the futures holds for him. Life can either go well for you or not, but in the end, you never really know where it will take you. This is what Francis is trying to convey by using the dog—just like life, an unknown dog can spring up out of nowhere and put you in this dilemma of uncertainty. You’ll ask yourself, Is this ‘dog’ going to hurt me or is it going to be my friend? You can’t possibly know until the dog reacts, and when it does, it will either attack you or greet you with kindness. As simple as this poem is, Robert Francis does a great job of strengthening its meaning by using the metaphor of life and the dog. There’s no way of knowing what will happen when you chose a path in life, and Francis illustrates this in such a beautiful, yet sincere, way.

Harper Lee and her use of Metaphor in To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee uses multiple forms of figurative language within her novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. Metaphor and symbolism are two of the many literary devices that she uses to advance and develop the story. The mockingbird, in particular, is a metaphor for the loss of innocence of the two children, Jem and Scout Finch, who symbolize innocence and harmlessness themselves. Being that the plot revolves around the trial of a black man, named Tom Robinson, being falsely accused of raping and killing a white woman, the children witness firsthand the prejudicial mores of their community. The children are slowly stripped of their innocence as the story progresses, and this is subtly shown through Lee's use of the mockingbird. The mockingbird appears several times throughout the novel, serving as an indication of the loss of their purity and innocence each time. However, even though they are so exposed to the world around them, including the hypocrisy of their fellow townsfolk, because of how their father Atticus allows them to be independent, they still serve as primary figures of innocence throughout the novel. They question and respond to the good and bad going on around them, and are always willing to make the right decisions and foster goodness within their community.

Lord Alfred Tennyson's use of Figurative Language in "The Eagle"

"The Eagle" by Lord Alfred Tennyson

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Lord Alfred Tennyson's "The Eagle" is a short poem about an eagle perched on top a mountain, [assumingly] stalking its prey down below. Tennyson perfectly uses a combination of personification, imagery, and simile (including several other elements of figurative language) to portray the bird, and the scenery surrounding it, in such vivid detail. To start off, he begins his poem by depicting the bird as being alone, clasping onto the side of a mountaintop with its "crooked hands," almost as if it was next to the sun. Here, Tennyson describes the eagle as holding onto the cliff face with its "hands," instead of simply saying 'with its claws.' By personifying the bird like this, he is able to compare it to that of a human being, making it seem like something much more important than that of a simple bird. Beneath the eagle is a sea, "wrinkled" in its form and "crawl[ing]" in its flow. These examples of personification and metaphor give the reader a better understanding of what the eagle sees as it looks down. Suddenly, as it watches from the mountainside, the bird dives toward the sea "like a thunderbolt," presumingly to catch a fish that caught its eye. The simile Tennyson uses to describe how quick and abrupt the eagle is in this action perfectly fits the predatory prestige of this bird of prey. Lord Alfred Tennyson uses figurative language in such a way that it elevates the stature and significance of the eagle, and is able to do this in such a short, but meaningful, poem.

Analyzing Ernest M. Hemingway's "Champs d'Honneur"

"Champs d'Honneur" by Ernest M. Hemingway

Soldiers never do die well;

         Crosses mark the places—

Wooden crosses where they fell,

         Stuck above their faces.

Soldiers pitch and cough and twitch—

         All the world roars red and black;

Soldiers smother in a ditch,

         Choking through the whole attack.

    With this poem, Hemingway is able to properly portray the true tragedy of war—the potential benefits war would bring to a nation does not justify the physical and psychological damage done to human life during that time. The horror and suffering soldiers face while in combat, including those who are just caught in the crossfire, is unimaginable. Those who survive are scarred for life, and those who don't face a terrible death. The title of the poem translates from French into Fields of Honor, and the details Hemingway chose to include in his writing show the irony of this title—what honor is there in dying, scared and afraid, while fighting someone else's war? Why sacrifice your life for something so brutal like war? Hemingway even references this poem directly to the World War I gas attacks. This explains what he means by, "Soldiers pitch and cough and twitch—", assuming that they were just bombarded with gas canisters, causing them to "[choke] through the whole attack." Hemingway's portrayal of the terror soldiers face moments before dying, which he does within the span of only a few lines, make "Champs d'Honneur" one of his greatest war poems of all time.

Sonnet 1

"Short Story"

I took a trip on a very old carriage,

Driven by a man named Oliver West,

To see my daughter the day of her marriage

With a man I knew was trouble at best.

Upset, I traveled at the thought of him

Taking my child far away from me.

This gave me an itch right under my skin

While my heart filled with hate and agony.

But then I saw the most terrible sight;

A great big fire was burning the church

Where my own child was starting her life,

And my own heart raced and started to hurt.

    I feared for my daughter, and started to shout,

    "Oh please, dear God, please make her come out!"

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines -- First Impressions

Ernest J. Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying starts off in a Louisianan courtroom where a man named Jefferson is being tried for allegedly killing a man during a robbery. From what is gathered, Jefferson is obviously being falsely accused of this crime, but because the novel takes place in pre-Civil Rights South (and also the fact that Jefferson himself is black), he is charged with first degree murder and sentenced to death by electrocution. This is the main idea of what's going on in the beginning of this story, where Jefferson's death sentence sets up everything else that is going to happen in the novel. Gaines interestingly starts off in the middle of a key scene in the story; there is no buildup to Jefferson's trial, nor is there a proper introduction for any of the main characters. I feel like he did this to somewhat get us straight into the story, without adding irrelevant information that would just slow it down. At one point, the defense attorney gives reasons as to why Jefferson is innocent of the crimes he is accused of, but in the process says some very degrading things about the man. He says that Jefferson is not a man, but a fool; a fool that would get himself in the trouble that he was in; a fool that lacks any sense of intelligence; a fool that only acts on command. He even says that Jefferson "acted the way he did" because of the traits he inherited from his African ancestry. The man who is solely responsible for keeping Jefferson away from a death sentence is also the one who degrades and belittles him at the same time. I think Gaines gave this character this kind of dialogue to show the audience when this novel is taking place, and the type of attitude people had during that time. From what is said, you can tell that A Lesson Before Dying took place during a time when ignorance and prejudice were very prevalent.