Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

"The Blue Heron" by Theodore Roberts a paragraph regarding the colours used in the Blue Heron.

Good Essays
277 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
"The Blue Heron" by Theodore Roberts a paragraph regarding the colours used in the Blue Heron.
Imagery has always been a powerful mode of forcing the reader to experience poetry as it was meant to. In "The Blue Heron", the poet, Theodore Roberts, uses a variety of color to engage the audience in the vivid imagery he presents. He tries to create a happy scene in the mind's eye; one of health and untainted natural beauty. He describes the scene with "green lanced through/ With amber and gold and blue", describing the flora and bodies of water that fill the area. He also describes the "roses pinker than dawn", insinuating the rich floral beauty and abundance of nature that exists in the area. Then the poem takes on a more somber tone, with images of "grey ... embers of yesterday" and "grey feather." The toned down, dark colors have a negative effect on the feelings that the reader experiences, and that helps the poet get the sentiments that he means to across. This contrast of the bright colors against the darker colors also signifies how the blue heron is viewed by the poet. He seems to portray the bird as a two faced mystery, showing itself as a mindless creature that barely understands that which is around it, but with hidden grievances against the world. Images of the heron being "still as an image made/ Of mist and smoke" but with "eyes [that] are alive like gems" makes the audience hold a view of the heron as being an animal that holds a grudge against something. Using these powerful, vivid images, not only does Roberts convey his message, but he also forces people to think about how things are not always what they seem.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Intense imagery, contrasts, comparisons, and parallelism are used in conveying the complexity of her feelings toward nature. She ties in the similarities between the terror-striking reaction to the great horned owl and the heart-striking happiness of a field of roses.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In poem the imagery job was to put reader in the shoe of the young white narrator. Imagery allowed reader to come to a conclusion of why would narrator think like she did. An example of this were in line nine through ten, where narrator claimed that IQ the African American man had a casual, cold, alertness in his eye as if he planned to may her. Another examples is line twenty six through thirty one, as she explained how man can break her back like a stick maybe for vengeance on people that are breaking his.…

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The sanderlings simile represents a time of disguise. As humans, we hide, run, and shield ourselves from pain, sorrow, truth, and sometimes, ourselves. The birds symbolize our desperation to not be found in our times of struggle; we blend in with the crowd making ourselves, as Carson said, of no color. Carson does a phenomenal job of illustrating emotion through her connections, imagery, and symbolism. This use of rhetorical devices makes her message understandable to, people of all ages who go through the roller-coaster of life, her audience. The essay flows beautifully as the author successfully makes her point, or purpose, clear to her audience members. Using strategies such as symbolism, comparisons, and imagery to set a serene mood makes…

    • 126 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author uses imagery to illustrate and give the reader a clear understanding of his thoughts about injustice. Dunbar uses imagery by stating, “ Till it’s blood is red on the cruel bars” (line 9). This shows the bird’s relentless efforts to escape. The author includes this to relate the bird’s struggles and hardships to his own dealing with injustice. Another way Dunbar uses imagery to relate to injustice is by stating, “ When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, When he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer he sends from his heart’s deep core”( lines 16-19). Here the author uses imagery to show the reader that even when the bird is in pain he still fights for freedom and justice. The author uses this piece of imagery to relate himself to the bird in the sense of that like the bird, the author fights for his freedom, but along the way is…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    4 O'Clock Birds Singing

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the poem, the author describes the scene of birds singing early in the morning and how quickly the sereneness ends. The author uses diction and metaphors to describe the birds’ song.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Simile and metaphor are frequent modes that Baldwin exercised to present imagery. “For a moment nobody’s talking, but every face looks darkening, like the sky outside” (Baldwin 244) is an example of simile in which the word “like” is used to compare two different ideas, drawing the reader into the story through a mental picture. The author also applied the use of simile to liken a boy whistling a tune to a songbird (239). In the second paragraph of “Sonny Blue’s”, Baldwin uses metaphor to reflect the pain that the narrator feels…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sun Is Burning

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What images are juxtaposed? Give examples and explain how this is effective in emphasizing the theme of the poem.…

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author employs imagery throughout the poem by pairing vivid colors with other characters and figures to contribute to a more complex meaning. This visual imagery is found in line 3 when the speaker described…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dunbar at the beginning of the poem says “When the sun is bright on the upland slope” (2), giving the wonderful and peaceful fragmented image of a shining sun on the top of a mountain. He gives the sensation of freedom to the reader, even though the author does not feel free. During the work he also says “when the wind stirs soft through the springing grass” giving images to show the reader what is like to be in a bird cage (discriminated). Dunbar’s use of great descriptive words gives the reader the sensation of the reader looking at the bird in the cage, being held and bleeding. And it makes the reader feel like the bird (Dunbar) is desperate to get out.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Paint a Water Lily

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Only once the lily’s surroundings are taken in can the true beauty of the lily be revealed to the artist. Even amongst all of the creatures and madness, there sits the water lily, “trembling hardly at all”. The poet knows that there’s both an ugly and a beautiful side to nature and he wants this to be known to the artist. Once the artist realizes all of this he can finally begin to paint. “Now paint the long-necked…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Weary Blues

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In “The Weary Blues” Hughes uses imagery to communicate to the reader what the narrator is experiencing while listening to blues. The reader can feel the slow and steady beat of the music: “He did a lazy sway…/ He did a lazy sway…” (4-5). The flow of the two lines mimics the beat of the music. The reader can hear the pain in the voice of the musician: “In a deep voice with a melancholy tone” (17). By using the word ‘melancholy’ the reader can understand there is sadness in his bass voice. One can see his hands working the piano in the dim light: “By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light/…/With his ebony hands on each ivory key” (5, 9). Due to the detailed description the reader can see the musician’s dark hand in contrast to the pale keys of the piano. Through the use of imagery Hughes has allowed the reader to empathize with the musician’s pain and relate to his suffering.…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poet uses imagery throughout the poem, evoking strong images in each stanza, and language that appeals to the senses. The first stanza uses an image of a "tree, or a wood". This natural image conjures a sense of freedom. It then moves to "a garden, or a magic city", evoking images of human tampering with nature, and the idea of large possibility.…

    • 505 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I feel this poem has impressionistic, decorative, and picturesque imagery. To allow you to visualize what’s going on and experience the emotions being expressed. Symbols were used to help add to the picture. One would be the bird that has a broken wing and moving in circles showed that everyone is capable of getting hurt. Another symbol is the goat’s bones, symbolizing that danger is always present in our lives. Birney used alliteration to flow from one word to another. An example of this would be “seracs that shore”. Similies were used to create an intense picture.”An overhang crooked like a talon” reveal’s the power and threat a mountain gives off. The metaphorical image: “... mountain... were made to see over, / Stairs to the valleys and steps to the sun’s retreats” relates to life. Mountains are the barriers to life in which you must overcome. The stairs resemble the chance to overcome the barrier. The sun setting shows missed opportunity.…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the poem "The Fish," Elizabeth Bishop uses a fish as a symbol to express the theme of life and experience. The poem by itself has little structure to it. There are no apparent rhyme schemes, nor any clear meters. However, Bishop uses very powerful diction and ideas in the poem, forcing the reader to think and relate it to a greater aspect of his/her own life. The persona has a very mature and serious tone, and some gloomy element to his/her mood. The poem uses a significant amount of imagery. Descriptions like "brown skin hung in strips" and "fresh and crisp with blood" are common throughout the poem. The reader can almost see the fish on the boat, waiting for its life to end. Bishop also uses a plethora of colors in the poem. Colors include: "brown skin," "green weed," "dramatic reds and blacks," "yellowed," "green line," and it also contains the combination of all the colors in the spectrum as "rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!"…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this poem Rich makes efficient use of imagery throughout the poem but also of symbolism. She created a memorable image of the tigers using strong colours such as the ‘Bright topaz’ , ‘world of green’ this is making…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays