Far Memory by Lucille Clifton
This poem, in seven parts, represents how the protagonist of the story, a woman who becomes a nun, embarks on a journey of facing her fate. To symbolize this experience, Clifton uses a series of metaphors to embody human emotions as the ones having physical characteristics. For example, the author mentions: “the habit is heavy. / you feel its weight / pulling around your ankles / for a hundred years” (Clifton, lines 62-65). The concept of a habit, in this case, is metaphorically presented in the form of a leg cuff, a physical restraint that forbids the protagonist to move further with her life, as the patterns of her behavior, along with the shadow of the past trauma, paralyze her movement, and her spiritual and emotional growth.
You, Doctor Martin by Anne Sexton
The present poem reveals the story of a woman that addresses her doctor in the asylum, which provides the whole text with an emotionally tense mood. In order to render the experience, Sexton resorts to the use of a simile. Thus, when immersing the reader in the atmosphere inside the asylum, Sexton writes: “We chew in rows, our plates / scratch and whine like chalk / in school” (lines 14-17). These lines have the intention to make the reader feel physically uncomfortable by recalling the sounds of the chalk scratches on the blackboard. Hence, this simile is used as a literary device to evoke a feeling similar to synesthesia, encouraging the reader to understand the meaning of the sentence through a sound or a shape.
A Bride in the Thirties by Wystan Hugh Auden
The poem by Auden is an autobiographical story that is integrated into the European industrial society of the 20th century. While perceived as a poem about love, the story by Auden resorts to the use of multiple allusions to historical and literary figures. A prime example of such an allusion is “He from these lands of terrifying mottoes / Makes worlds as innocent as Beatrix Potter’s” (Auden, lines 14-15). First, to emphasize how the power of love cannot be controlled and driven by any societal or political norm, the author uses the antithesis by juxtaposing the words terrifying and innocent. As far as the allusion is concerned, Auden refers to a child novelist Beatrix Potter to emphasize the innocence of love as an emotion.
Works Cited
Auden, Wystan Hugh. “A Bride in the Thirties.” 1935. Babel Matrix, Web.
Clifton, Lucille. “Far Memories.” 1993. Poetry Foundation, Web.
Sexton, Anne. “You, Doctor Martin.” 1960. Famous Poets and Poems, Web.