Blackberry Eating Explication

In the poem Blackberry Eating, Kinnell uses certain sounds to capture the sense of eating blackberries. The poem begins and ends with late September because it shows the cycle of blackberry-eating, which is a habitual event that he looks forward to every year. He uses phonetic intensives when he describes the stalks as "prickly" and a "penalty". These words are associated with the ideas of pricking your finger. Also, they are cacophonous because they have the harsh sound of a hard consonant alliteration, which reinforces the harsh feeling of pain when your hand is pierced by a thorn. The words "strengths" and "squinched" are a comparison for the blackberries. They are "many-lettered" because the berries are ripe and bursting with juice. The "one syllable lumps" represent each section that makes up the whole blackberry. Additionally, these two words bring to mind the sound of eating the berries when the juice squirts into your mouth. He further use of alliteration of "squeeze,""squinch," and "splurge" describe the feeling of the berries popping in your mouth.

Kinnell repeats black and blackberries throughout his poem, which emphasizes the dark color of the fruit. He personifies the berries because they know a "black art." They practice the mysterious art that makes them taste so delicious. Also, they figuratively create their own black language because it is a tradition for the speaker to eat the blackberries every year. They literally form a black language because the juice turns your tongue a deep black-purple color. In the beginning of the poem, Kinnell describes the blackberries with a majority of cacophonous words, such as "fat," "overripe," and "black." They have harsh consonant sounds because he has to pick the berries, which can be dangerous because of their thorns. Then, in the end, he uses more euphonious words, including "silent," "startled," and "icy." They all have a soft "s" sounds because he has happily finished eating the blackberries.

The Aim Was Song Explication

Robert Frost wrote the poem in iambic tetrameter. There are four stanzas, each with four lines. The first and third lines rhyme in a stanza and the second and fourth lines rhyme. He uses a regular rhyme and meter to show the how man has created a structure for the wind and poetry. Frost personifies the wind because it has a goal to make song and learns a lesson from man. He calls it "untaught" because it is uncontrollable at first. It blows wildly and loudly, until man arrives to form it into poetry. Man teaches the wind how to blow correctly with less force. He takes only a little wind when he blows it, so it is no longer too strong. The wind has a habit of blowing hard and has to become gentler to transform into song. Man changes the wind from north to south because it becomes the opposite of its rough former self. Frost begins to repeat words in the last stanza, such as "by measure" and "wind," so the lines flow more smoothly, similar to the sound of the now tamed wind.

Frost uses the poem to show the relationship between nature and man or poetry. He implies that man tries to control nature, which he adjusts to fit his own standards. He thinks that he is superior to the wind, even thought it has existed for much longer than him. He believes that the wind would be grateful to receive help from him because he is improving it by transforming the blowing into poetry. However, the wind remains powerful because man can only control a little wind at a time which can fit in his mouth. Also, Frost explains that poetry comes from nature. Although man uses a small amount of wind for creating song, the poetry still contains some of the wind's original power. There is a small untamed part of the wind that can still found in poetry, despite man's control, which is the creativity and unpredictability of a poem.

Rite of Passage Explication

In the poem, Olds describes the rite of passage of her son as she imagines him becoming a man. The little boys compete with each other, so they seem older and more mature. However, she uses consonance of the s sound throughout the poem because the soft sound reminds the reader that they are still young children. Also, it unifies the poem with the repetition of the same sound. After beginning with the s sound, Olds uses assonance in pockets, jostling, and jockeying as the boys transition into adults in her mind. Then, she uses consonance in the first and last of these three words in addition to breaking because they form harsher k sounds because the boys are trying to act like men. Olds repeats the alliteration of six and seven in two lines because the soft s shows the contrast between their age and what they are saying. When the seven say that he is older, the six replies with so because he wants to act unimpressed and tougher. Olds uses consonance of the hard k sound again with dark cake. It continues in freckles, specks, and cheeks, which describe the young son, who shockingly boasts that they could kill a two-year-old because of his harsh words.  Olds uses less musicality in the last five lines of the poem to show that it is sad that little boys think they must be violent to prove their strength as a man.

Also, Olds uses many comparisons to create an image of men from these boys. At first, she uses a metaphor to compare them to bankers because they act like small businessmen, who are skeptical of each other. In the end, she changes her comparison and calls them general because of their violent impulses. She uses similes, which compare the cake to a turret and her son's chest to a boat keel, and create images of war. It is ironic that the other boys relax when they are playing war and they celebrate the son for saying that they could kill a boy. Olds laments the violent tendencies of boys, which she sees in her own son as he loses his innocence, as they try to act like men and later develop when they become men.

The Selfish Giant

Wilde personifies nature, which is an important theme. He mentions pink and pearl again to describe the blossoms on the trees, which decorated the Infanta's fan. The Giant is punished for being selfish by the Snow and Frost who live in his garden all year. Wilde calls them people as if they are actually human. When the Giant realizes that it is his own fault for the Spring not coming and opens his garden to the children, only one little boy is not afraid and accepts him. Also, Wilde shows that people should not judge others based on their external appearances because even though the Giant in large and intimidating, he has become kind. He learns that it is better to share with others than to only think about himself.

Wilde uses a strong biblical allusion, where the tiny boy represents Jesus. He is separated from the other children because he is different and tries to make Spring come to the last corner of the garden. He helps the Giant realize his mistake and fix it. He forgives the Giant for his sin and shows him love. The Giant's selfishness is replaced by love for all of the children, especially the tiny boy. He no longer feels hatred towards the winter because he knows that the Spring will come again. He has the prints of nails in his hands and feet. The Giant wants to punish whoever hurt him, but the boy teaches him that violence or acts of hatred will not solve his problems. The Giant does not meet him again, until he is old and feeble. He leads the Giant to his garden of Paradise, which refers to Heaven. In the end, he is covered with white blossoms to show the innocence and purity of his death. This is a more optimistic and simpler story than The Birthday of Infanta because the Giant demonstrates that there is a possibility of redemption for people who have sinned.

The Birthday of the Infanta

Wilde criticizes the lives of the wealthy, who do not help the poor. He juxtaposes the happiness in a wealthy fantasy to the of harshness in reality. When the king is getting married, hundreds of heretics being burned at the stake at the same time on his wedding day. Also, during the festivities of the Infanta's birthday, Wilde shows that even the children's thoughts are corrupted. The have fun watching the violence of sham bullfight as one boy cuts of the bull's head. Then, when they are older, they will watch real bullfights for amusement, where live animals are tortured and killed. Both the children and the adults cry over the situation of the wooden puppets, but are spending money on one child for her birthday rather than helping their real subjects. The last line of the Infanta is shockingly heartless and insensitive because she hopes that people have no hearts, so she can get what she wants.

Although the king and the dwarf seem like opposite characters, they share similar emotions in their pursuits of love. The king loves his wife and wants to please her, but she dies and his love ruins state affairs, such as alliances with other countries. He could be considered dead because he is consumed by his sorrow and stays in the castle. The Infanta thinks the sun shines brightly on her, but from the king's perspective the sun is pitiless and mocks him. Similar to the king, the dwarf is completely infatuated with is love for the Infanta. He desperately wants to please her by taking her to the forest. In the end, he dies because of his broken heart.

Wilde focuses on nature throughout the fairytale, especially flowers. The Infanta has a white rose, and white symbolizes innocence and purity. From the beginning of the story, the Infanta as a dislikable character. Yet, she is arrogant and selfish, which at first could be dismissed because she is just a young child. She throws the rose to the dwarf because she is actually not innocent, while he is ignorant of his ugliness and hatred in the world. The flowers represent the wealthy, who are beautiful in appearance, but cruelly judge and want to harm the dwarf. Although the birds and lizards see his inner beauty, they are still not much better than the flowers. They do not understand him and do not try to, but rather pretend to know what he is saying by looking wise. Even the philosophical lizards say he is not so bad when they close heir eyes. The dwarf does not know their thought, so he is happily ignorant and believes everything is wonderful. Then, he tears the white rose to pieces because he loses his innocence. He dies of his own realization of reality.

Since there's no help Explication

In this poem, Drayton describes the different emotions experienced by the narrator when he ends a relationship. At first, he seems to handle leaving the woman very well. He tries to convince himself that there is no hope of staying happily together, so it is better that they go their separate ways. He claims that he even feels glad and freed from the restrictions of being in the relationship. He creates a confident tone that he is making the right decision. He says that they should shake hands for the last time and forget their marriage vows. He exaggerates his happiness to hide his true feelings of regret for the loss of their relationship. He acts as if he is fine after breaking up, so the woman also pretends to forget the love they shared together. If they meet again, neither of them would express their former endearing feelings towards one another. In the third quatrain, Drayton personifies the parts of a relationship with Love, Passion, Faith, and Innocence. He reveals his true emotions about ending the relationship in his tone of hopelessness. Love is dying because his pulse is failing, while the others do nothing to help him. They are all weak and near death, instead of their usual strength found in a relationship. Passion is speechless, Faith sits by his side, and Innocence also closes his eyes in death. In the last couplet of the sonnet, the tone shifts again. He changes the point of view by speaking to the woman. He says that she still has a chance of saving Love and bringing him back to life when everyone else has given up. There is hope that they can mend their relationship or find happiness in a new relationship. They should not feel hopeless because of their grief after losing a person in a relationship, but keep their faith in finding love again.

Hunt Hawkins

In his article, Hunt Hawkins opposes Chinua Achebe's views that Joseph Conrad is racist. One of the strengths of his argument is he uses direct textual evidence to support his claims. When he argues that Conrad opposed European expansion and imperialism, he quotes Marlow who says the ivory trading company is run for profit rather than civilizing the natives. Hawkins justifies that Conrad condemns Europe for its exploitation of the Congo by using parodies of the firemen with the leaking bucket and the pilgrims shooting from the steamship. Also, he acknowledges Achebe's criticism of Heart of Darkness and then provides evidence against it. Throughout the essay, Hawkins refers back to Achebe's counterargument in the beginning, and responds with specific examples to show its inaccuracy. One of Achebe's reasons for calling Conrad a racist is because he frequently compares the natives to animals. Yet, Hawkins argues that Conrad also shows that Europeans are animalistic, so he is not singling out the Africans. I like that Hawkins references other writings by Conrad, where he attacks white racism because one novella does not completely represent his opinions. Hawkins's argument seems creditable because he uses logical evidence from the novella.

However, sometimes Hawkins makes a counterargument, but agrees agrees with it, which weakens his own essay. After arguing that Conrad criticizes both the Europeans and Africans, he says that the author could be considered racist because the Africans are still on the low end of the scale. He ends his opinions about imperialism by supporting Achebe's claim about racism in the novella before he moves on to his next topic about Kurtz's corruption. This structure is a weakness in his argument because the reader has final thoughts about Achebe instead of Hawkins. Also, he goes on tangents about other works criticizing Heart of Darkness or written during the same time period. They can be distracting from his main argument. I agree with Hawkins that the focus of the novella is on the Europeans and not the Africans. I do not think Conrad is a racist because his views are separate from Marlow's opinions of the natives. I think describes Marlow as racist to expose the similar views of many Europeans at the time, so he raises awareness to change them.