Metaphors in "Coal" by Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde’s “Coal” is full of metaphors. I believe that metaphors give more strength to the meaning of a message. It is also a means of explanation when there are no other words to explain. Metaphors are also used to describe a condition in an exploded and exaggerated way. Lorde first starts off with describing herself as a natural element that exists within the earth itself-coal. Coal starts off as one element and changes through the course of time depending on where it is located and what treatments it is exposed to. It may start off as a worthless chunk of earth, but when the conditions are right, the coal has the possibility of turning into a valuable diamond. So the speaker is saying that there are some things that are closed but can be opened, just like coal. An other example in the poem is the perfect combination of sounds that make words that can make or break the situation. There are words and thoughts that boggle your mind in a good way. Then there are words that make you cringe and think bad thoughts. Lorde’s metaphors are also alive and fun. This makes the poem interesting and easier to read. “Others know sun seeking like gypsies over my tongue to explode through my lips like young sparrows bursting from shell” is an example of a metaphor that brings the reader in with strength. The use of imagery of coming into the world and dancing in the sun has positive affect on the reader. Use of words is like a diamond, if the cut is correct and held into the light, it will shine with great brilliance. But if cut poorly, there will be a dull shine that is not pleasing. This is easily applied to diction used in poetry.

Poetic Elements in "The Fish" by Marianne Moore

The form of “The Fish” by Marianne Moore is artistically articulated in its appearances. It does not follow a traditional form but uses a certain pattern (due to the line breaks) to create the undulating sensation of a wave. Each stanza is as if it were the start of a new wave, which suits the theme of the poem well because of the contents. The poem starts off with how the sea barnacles on the cliff rocks react to the waves crashing in and out by “opening and shutting itself like and injured fan.” They can not hide from the waves or the sun. They are helpless and remain stationary as the day moves on. The number of syllables in each line fluctuates, contributing to the physical form of the poem. There are eight stanzas, and the rhyme pattern of each stanza is AABBC. The poem is linked together literally because each stanza relies on the previous one in order to continue the thought, just as the title is apart of the first line in itself. Moore uses alliteration of the dominate ‘s’ sound such as “submerged,” “shafts,” “sun,” “split,” “spun,” “spotlight,” and “swiftness” in just four lines. All of these descriptors create very vivid images of the theme of the sea and the waves crashing onto the rocks as the sun shimmers down.

Form, Rhythm, Imagery, and Metaphors in John Keats’ “To Autumn” and Percy Shelley’s “England in 1918”

John Keats’ “To Autumn” is written in a three-stanza structure with a variable rhyme scheme. All of the stanzas are eleven lines long and is metered in an iambic pentameter, meaning that the pattern of the syllables alternate from unstressed to stressed. In terms of rhyme scheme, the stanzas are in two parts. The first four lines of each stanza follows an ABAB pattern (Lines 1 and 3 rhyme while lines 2 and 4 rhyme). This first part is used to define the subject of the stanza. The last seven lines vary in rhyme scheme which are arranged CDECDDE. This second part is used to further develop the subject.

The poem starts off with how the season of autumn ripens the fruit and causes the late flowers to bloom in the first stanza. In the second stanza, the speaker describes autumn as a female goddess, often seen sitting on the granary floor or sleeping in the fields. In the third stanza, autumn is awaiting the season of spring. But it should realize that it has its own beauty too.

In stanza I, Keats describes autumn with a series of vivid images. These descriptions are very active, showing autumn at peak season, where the fruit continues ripening at an alarming rate. At first the sun "load and bless" by ripening the fruit (Page 849, line 3). But then so many apples start to emerge that their weight bends the tree limbs. The flower bloom-age is so overwhelming that even the bees’ hive is “o’er brimm’d” with honey (line 11). In stanza II, the imagery shows less action, autumn is nearing the end. The setting is more laid back. The wheat fields are only half way reaped. The swell of apples has come down to the last batch because the goddess is watching the “last oozings” from the cider press drip out (line 22). In stanza III, autumn is dying. There are no more signs of spring. The death of autumn is like the “soft-dying day” (line 25), the sunset brings a pleasant “rosy hue” to the stubble harvested fields (line 26). Winter is now approaching and the swallows fill the sky as they migrate south. It is apart of the cycle of time and process. In time the flowers will bloom once more and the birds will return.

“To Autumn” is very descriptive in form. The entire poem acts as a metaphor. When autumn's harvest is over, the fields will be empty, the cider-press dry, and the skies empty. The sense of grief is infused in the poem. But the cycling seasons softens the loss of autumn. There is simplicity in Keats's song to the season of autumn, with its fruitfulness, its flowers, and the song of its birds gathering for migration. The calm and gentle descriptions of autumn are not obscured when the exploration of themes are developed. Autumn is a time of warmth and abundance, but it is on the edge of winter's cold and desolate coming. Despite the approaching chill of winter, the late warmth of autumn provides full beauty to celebrate: the cottage and its surroundings in the first stanza, the agricultural references in the second and the animals in the third.

Percy Shelley’s “England in 1819” is a fourteen-line poem metered in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is ABABABCDCDCCDD. The first six lines deal with England's rulers (the king and the princes) and how they are selfish and overly powered. The last eight lines speak of the common people’s struggles. The last couplet implies what hope can come of this horrid state of nation.

In “England in 1819,” Shelley describes the corrupt aristocracy as preying on the common people’s sufferings. The king is despised because of his actions, and his sickly condition produces no pity in the heart of the working class. The king is incapable of seeing, feeling, or knowing, but clings to his "fainting country" (page 800, line 5). Shelley also addresses the plight of the working class and the ways that the ruling class is oppressive. The king is shown as an “old, mad, blind, despised, and dying” ( line 1). His sons are described as low life leeches that do not see, feel, or know what happens to their country. The people are suffering with hunger and oppression. The army is corrupt and is feared. But there is hope yet in the end because Shelley starts to use lighter words like glorious and illumine near the end.

Shelley uses a lot of descriptive words to show how he feels towards England. He uses dirty and grim words to create a certain images to relate with the aristocracy. These words are associated with negative images. He is using them to point out the terrible state in which his nation fallen into. A sealed book describes no religion. The people are too famished to practice faith, maybe they do not believe because of the conditions they have been put in. All of this imagery magnifies Shelley’s focus on addressing the public. He wants them to take action in order to make a change for the greater of the nation.

Shelley also uses a handful of metaphors to express his feelings towards the oppressive burden upon the working class. He describes the princes as leeches that are sucking their nation dry. The rulers are selfish and do nothing to help the depressed state. In fact they make it worse by preying on their own people. The army is described as a two edged blade that has no mercy. The laws are said to be “golden and sanguine” but in reality they gray and grim (line 10).

Both Keats’ and Shelley’s poems are similar in form because the stanzas are broken down into parts. The first part of the stanza introduces a subject and the second part goes into more detail. Both poets also use very descriptive imagery that enables the reader to feel and vividly see the themes of each poem even though the approaches are different. Keats poem is more descriptive and straight forward in observation while Shelley’s descriptions, shown metaphorically, are politically influenced. Keats sees physical change in the seasons, while Shelley wants to see and is advocating structural changes in the social system.

Ferguson, Margaret; Salter, Mary Jo; and Stallworthy, Jon. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. ed 4. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1996.