The Power of Illumination in Poetry Essay Example for Free

The Power of Illumination in Poetry EssayThe stunning power of illumination imbed in poetry is a luxury for reviewers who love to read verses. Compared to other genres in Literature such(prenominal) as short stories or plays, rimes offer insight in just one sitting, in a matter of minutes. In as few as four lines, the reader is offered an illumination about life story, invaluable insight that would make him understand the events in his life and the world in general. Such illuminations are demonstrate in the following poems London, by William Blake offers us a tour of the Londons gloomy streets. travel through the Dark, penned by William Stafford, gives the readers a poignant account of death. Ozymandias, scripted by Percy Bysshe Shelley, introduces the concept of kings and royalty in a new style. We Wear the Mask, written by Paul Laurence Dunbar emphasizes the need for human falsities in society. The humankind He Killed, by Thomas Hardy offers an alternate reality in resp ect to war. The History of War, by Billy Collins reveals the folly of cushioning the children from the spikes of the real world, of accurate history. My Papas Waltz, by Theodore Roethke offers the readers an delight account of a father and son relationship.Daystar, written by Rita Dove characterizes one aspect of motherhood. edge and Fall, penned by Gerard Manley Hopkins, renders the theme of mortality through a child named Margaret. The popular Robert Frost poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, documents the pull between responsibility and abandon. The wonderful poem, Rain, by Naomi Shihab Nye, describes gumshoe through the eyes of a child. The witty poem, Latin Women Pray, by Judith Ortiz Cofer gives a criticism on religion. And finally, the death poem in the list, Buffalo Bills/ defunct, by e.e. cummings, mourns the death of popular cowboy, William Frederick Buffalo Bill Cody.In London, by William Blake, the contribution characterizes London as a gloomy, oppressive pla ce. The images portrayed in the poem are ignominious and disturbing. Peoples faces are marked with woe and despair, and the only sound the reader hears in the poem are cries. The tone of the persona is obviously dark and foreboding, warning the reader of despair and death. William Staffords travelling through the Dark, on the other hand, uses the issue of death to illustrate a lesson about life. The persona gives the reader an account of a dead deer, pregnant with a doe, lying on a narrow road. The persona is confronted with a dilemma of making a choice.To leave the deer and its doe on the road would bewilder accidents and therefore cause more deaths, so he decides to push the deer to fall onto the river. Rich in figurative language, the poem effectively uses the word, swerve to prove the point that big decisions in life ability make a person radically change his convictions to get off the path he chose, so to speak. The popular poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, is ric h with symbolism. The persona, who is making his way home, stops by the woods long enough to admire its beauty, but short enough to emanate to his destination. Here, the reader clearly sees the divide between the call of responsibility and the luxury of pure abandoned pleasure.The approximately unconventional style in poetry is revealed in the poem of e.e. cummings entitled, Buffalo Bills/ defunct. The verses are written in a different form and pattern, the lines are slashed to emphasize a point. The poem is an ode, or more appropriately, a eulogy for William Frederick Buffalo Bill Cody, a popular figure in America. These poems win the reader a vicarious and enlightening experience about other places, about people, and about lifes big issues. The challenge for the reader is how to utilize this enlightenment, these points of illumination, for a better understanding of life.