Symbolism And Allusion Essay Research Paper SYMBOLISM
Symbolism And Allusion Essay, Research Paper
SYMBOLISM AND ALLUSION
What major symbols are used?
How appropriate is each symbol in its several verse form?
How make the poets use the symbols to concentrate on the jobs they present in their verse forms?
Allusions and symbols are critical constituents of an interesting and apprehensible verse form. Poets rely to a great extent on them because of the demand to conserve their words. Poems don & # 8217 ; t waste words on elaborate accounts in order to be understood. They rely alternatively on the reader to utilize his ain procedure for construing and linking to the significance, whether or non he understands the allusions or symbolism.
The Penfield Study Guide poses this inquiry: & # 8220 ; When does a word mean more than a word? & # 8230 ; When it & # 8217 ; s an allusion. ( p.213 ) & # 8221 ; A more defined significance is that allusions are unacknowledged mentions or citations which the writer assumes the reader will acknowledge, and relate to the context of his verse form. Conversely, a symbol is defined as anything & # 8211 ; an object, individual, topographic point, thought or state of affairs that stands for itself and besides gathers to it a larger significance. For illustration, a flag could be a symbol stand foring freedom or resignation, depending on the colour and juncture. However, by utilizing two simple words, & # 8220 ; Old Glory, & # 8221 ; the reader can immediately associate the allusion to the American flag and mentally remember all of the historical images associated with it. What power for two words!
This paper will utilize three verse forms, & # 8220 ; 80-Proof & # 8221 ; ( A. R. Ammons, 1975 ) , & # 8220 ; A Final Thing & # 8221 ; ( Li-Young Lee, 1990 ) and & # 8220 ; Resume & # 8221 ; ( Dorothy Parker, 1936 ) , to exemplify the creativity and assortment of allusions and symbols, and their utility in pulling the reader into the verse form. Without them, these verse forms would non be about as interesting or effectual, and decidedly less meaningful and relevant. It is notable that both Parker ( born 1893 ) and Ammons ( born 1926 ) are from epochs that are culturally different from that of Lee & # 8217 ; s ( born 1957 ) . Yet the cosmopolitan allusions used in each verse form span both the cultural differences every bit good as their clip period, and portion a common yarn in their position of life.
Get downing with the rubric, & # 8220 ; 80-Proof & # 8221 ; ( Ammons, p. 1021 ) , the usage of numerical symbols and mention to intoxicant is obvious. The poet & # 8217 ; s usage of & # 8220 ; fifth & # 8221 ; for bookends get downing with & # 8220 ; A fifth of me & # 8217 ; s me & # 8221 ; ( 1 ) and stoping with & # 8220 ; fifth by fifth & # 8221 ; ( 18 ) , coupled with the mention to & # 8220 ; pursuer & # 8221 ; ( 2 ) gives the reader a direct nexus to the rubric and completes the model. The lines in between describe the physical organic structure made of castanetss, nervousnesss, venas and membranes, which sidetracks the reader into believing that the poet is merely depicting the organic structure in footings of pieces. However, the significance is possibly revealed toward the terminal with & # 8220 ; accomplish a whole & # 8221 ; ( 19 ) , which takes these pieces and makes the transmutation from intoxicant to a & # 8220 ; extremely nonnatural & # 8221 ; ( 20 ) person. The overall consequence is acquiring down to the true ego and make up one’s minding whether to travel & # 8220 ; 100 % religious & # 8221 ; ( 17 ) or & # 8220 ; retain the shoal discoloration & # 8221 ; ( 16 ) . Lines 10 and 11, & # 8220 ; strip out nervousnesss & A ; veins/ & A ; permeable membranes, & # 8221 ; give allusion to the destructiveness of intoxicant on the organic structure and spirit. Optimistically there is hope for recovery ; pessimistically there remains so small of the existent ego on which to reconstruct. It & # 8217 ; s like seeking to acquire to the point by skining off, bed by bed, all the coverings on the & # 8220 ; true ego & # 8221 ; ( 4 ) , until all that remains is & # 8220 ; a greasy topographic point & # 8221 ; ( 13 ) . When the verse form arrives at the underside ; i.e. , the alcoholic hits stone underside, there is a determination to be made & # 8212 ; whether to remain at that place or reconstruct the organic structure back to the whole. The numerical symbols provide the points
for the reader to link when organizing his mental image and his reading of the poem’s significance.
The similarities between & # 8220 ; 80-Proof & # 8221 ; ( Ammons, p. 1021 ) and & # 8220 ; Resume & # 8221 ; ( Parker, p. 1083 ) are non based on numerical symbols, but instead their abstract symbols of life. The rubric, & # 8220 ; Resume, & # 8221 ; seems to sum up the history of a life ; seven lines possibly meaning seven different of import times or phases, crossing a life-time. Symbols such as & # 8220 ; razors, & # 8221 ; & # 8220 ; drugs, & # 8221 ; & # 8220 ; guns, & # 8221 ; & # 8220 ; snares, & # 8221 ; and & # 8220 ; gas odors, & # 8221 ; ( 1-7 ) are easy recognized as methods of self-destruction. The whole verse form is dejecting and offers small hope except that the agencies of decease are non pleasant plenty to be appealing. Both Parker and Ammons portion the old ages from 1926 to 1936, a clip in which America was encased with the prohibition motion, illegal liquor, and the Great Depression. These old ages seem to put the tone for these verse forms in that the state was on a slide from top to bottom, ensuing in the terminal of life for many. One can see the allusions to prosperity in & # 8220 ; 80-Proof & # 8221 ; ( p. 1021 ) with such words as & # 8220 ; steak & A ; chops/ & A ; chicken fat, / two-over-easy & amp ; cream-on-the-side & # 8221 ; ( 7-9 ) . In contrast, & # 8220 ; Resume & # 8221 ; ( p. 1083 ) offers a inexorable listing of the physical feel to decease described by & # 8220 ; hurting, moistness, spasm, atrocious odor & # 8221 ; ( 1, 2, 4, 7 ) which are normally associated with poorness. There is really small hope evident in either verse form. Parker & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; Resume & # 8221 ;
( p. 1083 ) ends with a resigned & # 8220 ; You might every bit good unrecorded & # 8221 ; ( 8 ) , while Ammons ends & # 8220 ; 80-Proof & # 8221 ; ( p. 1021 ) with a determination & # 8220 ; whether to retain/ the shallow stain/ or travel 100 % religious & # 8221 ; ( 16-18 ) .
What an uplifting contrast provided by Lee & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; A Final Thing & # 8221 ; ( p. 1070 ) . His allusions are introduced in a much more elusive manner, gulling the reader with a wholly different first mental image than what is revealed toward the terminal. The diction and phrases used are elegant and emotional, particularly when the reader realizes they are coming from the male parent. In the first three lines, Lee uses the symbol of & # 8220 ; the organic structure in a white sheet listening & # 8221 ; ( 3 ) giving the image of a cadaver, or possibly a patient in a coma. The lines that follow give the allusion of memories or of something traveling on outside the witting kingdom of this organic structure as he interprets the noises and voices heard. What is revealed is that this is a male parent listening to his married woman state a narrative to their boy, wholly chase awaying the first image. The usage of allusion followed by world completes the & # 8220 ; span & # 8221 ; to understanding the verse form and its significance. It ends on such a positive note with & # 8220 ; and this is not/ my last forenoon on Earth & # 8221 ; ( 42-43 ) giving the reader grounds that he is easy being awakened by these sounds. The verse form coatings with a sobering allusion to the male parent & # 8217 ; s hereafter old ages when & # 8221 ; someday, I & # 8217 ; ll shut my eyes to remember & # 8221 ; ( 51 ) . The cultural background of Lee is felt in his elusive attack and diffused symbols and allusions. The repose and soundlessness in the male parent & # 8217 ; s ideas as he listens, and the female parent & # 8217 ; s gentle, early forenoon words to her boy supply a peaceable and quieting consequence on the reader.
What all poets have in common is a love of linguistic communication & # 8211 ; its words, its significances, its beat, its sounds, even its forms ( Literary Visions, p. 141 ) . It is this linguistic communication, in the signifier of allusions and symbols that gives significance and involvement to poems, and gives the reader an penetration into the poet & # 8217 ; s alone position. & # 8220 ; Poets use an intuitive procedure. They don & # 8217 ; t cognitively think about allusions, nor do they hold to cognize the allusions. The poesy that succeeds best is one that touches the natural something we all portion. That something celebrates the Communion with what we are and what we believe & # 8221 ; ( Dorn, Video Program # 116 ) .
