Discuss Ways in Which Edward Thomas Presents Memory in ‘Aspens’.

The memories in the poem maintain a cohesiveness and continuity of experience through repeated motifs such as the violets and the ‘whistling’. Memories also give us a recovered sense of life, as shown through the final line of the poem ‘faint scent of violets drifts in air’. This example of sensory imagery also creates a rhythmic drifting sense linked closely to the “stone-curlews call from Kedron Brook”. It echoes images of the speaker’s mind drifting into reflection and aurally creates transience between the present and the past.

In this free-verse war poem, the idea of 'journey' extends itself to cover both the physical and emotional aspects of the subject matter of the poem. Repetition and word

An important aspect of Collins’s poem is syntax, as it is in White’s essay. One example of this in Collins’s rhetoric is found on Page 1, “Memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones” (1-6). This demonstrates how Collins arranged words to metaphorically compare the place where memories go to a place that is secluded. By using the words “harbor”, “southern hemisphere of your brain”, and “little fishing village”, Collins applies syntax and shows the reader where memories go metaphorically, instead of telling the reader. Another example of this syntax can also be found on Page 1 in Collins’s poem, “You rise in the

Now that you have read the poem and considered the meanings of the lines, answer the following questions in a Word doc or in your assignment window:

Here is a discussion of how the sound and metrics of the poem help convey that meaning. In the face of strong emotion, the poet sets himself the task of mastering it in difficult form of villanelle. Five tercets are followed by a quatrain, with the first and last line of stanza repeated alternately as the last line of the subsequent stanzas and gathered into a couplet at the end of the quatrain. And all this on only two rhymes. His villanelle repeates the theme of living and fury through the most forceful two lines, "do not go gentle into that good night," and "rage, rage against the dying of the light." Thomas further compounds his difficulty by having each line

The words “struggling” and “dark” are specifically used to describe the show that the path to losing your memory is a dark road to be on. Furthermore, in the poem it states “Well on your way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.” Collins uses the word oblivion to further enhance his theme of a passage of time leading to memory loss and how appalling it is. Therefore, the authors use complex diction in their writing to help develop their theme.

` E.B White, author of famous stories like Charlotte’s Web, once said ,"The middle track was missing, the one with the marks of the hooves…”. He continues on with this phrase, trying to connect the reader to the concept that change comes with time. In “” Once More to the Lake” by E.B White and ” Forgetfulness” by Billy Collins, both writersauthors strive to make the reader understand how nothing can stay the same throughout the tests of time. In White’s story, he narrates an experience of going to the lake that he used to visit when he was young. He takes his son with him, and at first, sees himself in his son, but eventually succumbs to the repercussions of time, proving that he is closer to death than previously thought. Additionally, the poem ”Forgetfulness” address the same topic. Billy Collins, the author, describes experiences that display memories being forgotten over time. Collins, therefore, tries to show the reader that memories tend to fade, or change, over one’s lifetime. Therefore, using diction and figurative language, E.B White and Billy Collins help one better understand that the true tragedy of time is the change that comes with it.

In war ,many terrible tragedies occur, leaving many people scarred and in grief and who can never forget the nightmare of war.This paper will discuss“ In, Flanders fields by John Mccrae’s,Dulce et Decorum EST by Wilfred Owen and I sing of Olaf glad and big by ee cummings.This paper will be discussing the different points of views that poets have about war and how it shapes our own opinion ,of it because none of us have experienced war firsthand and have only heard about the nightmare from those who have survived and lived to tell us their story.

Andrew Shields utilizes various techniques in the poem “Your Mileage May Vary” to accentuate his fundamental theme of the interjecting memories of the houses he talks about. The way the poem is structured creates a story with a beginning point and an endpoint. With the usage of lyrics after a sentence, it can encourage the readers to develop a connection between the sentence and the lyric. It also helps create a mood when listening to the song. Short sentences, with the intention of the poet, become very choppy almost as fragments of memories. Shields exploit the usage of length, sentences, lyrics and allusions drive his poem from a nostalgia viewpoint in his first stanza to a creation of new memories in his second stanza.

In Robert Pack’s poem “To an Empty Page”, the narrator is uncertain about what comes with death. He worries about his future and what may happen to him. As he asks questions into the emptiness, he finds answers in the echoes of his voice. Robert Pack uses literary devices such as rhetorical questions, selection of detail, metaphors, and juxtaposition to construct the meaning of his poem.

Memories can in a way define who we are and how we progress through life. Memories can be a pathway to either follow the straight and narrow or to have us decide which fork of the road to take. Past memories can help to identify a person and can effect the future that follows. Through the journy of self discovery, Marshall’s Praisesong for the Widow and Danticat’s Breath, Eyes, Memory suggest one must relive past and present memories to find their true identity in the future.

Thomas begins with “truth” and ends the poem with “love”, there is the silly level of tension simply the reason in the side of truth, that all will resolve into a unjudging “truth” which weakens the idea of truth itself. Truth is not essentially not “false”. Just like in The Polar Express, it is not a film that convinces young children to believe in the “big man” it paints a bigger a picture, to believe in what you think is true and believe with all your heart and not let others convince you, you are

In Thomas’s poem he uses other types of figurative language. At the beginning and through the poem, the speaker talks about “That good night”, as well as the sunset and the night fall takes place in the poem. Extended metaphor is present at the beginning of Line 1, Thomas uses the word “Night” to represent the afterlife or a void, and the sunset to represent the moment of death. Thomas implies how easy life can goes away by using the night fall and the last lingering light of the evening.

People would not want to hear that their loved ones merely gave up and died passively. This poem in itself is a celebration of life, the poem is not only about death but it is an affirmation of life. To further emphasise the points being made Dylan Thomas utilises a wide range of literary devices. Parallelism is used from lines seven to fifteen to juxtapose the different attitudes of the so called “genres” of men at their death. This is used to outline that if you continuously lead one set type of lifestyle whether it is as a “wild man”, a “grave man” or a “good man” you will not be satisfied when your time comes to die. The only true way to be satisfied is to live a life of balance; only with a good contrast can you be at peace.

Q: In some poems what is described is given a meaning beyond the immediately obvious. Explore any one of the poems where this feature is most memorable.