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    Radhika

    Allusion: It is a reference to a well-known person, place, event, or work of literature. For example, “For nothing less than thee”  refers to the beloved and suggests the idea of how important the person is to the speaker. Apostrophe: A figure of speech in which the speaker addresses an absent or imRead more

    1. Allusion: It is a reference to a well-known person, place, event, or work of literature. For example, “For nothing less than thee”  refers to the beloved and suggests the idea of how important the person is to the speaker.
    2. Apostrophe: A figure of speech in which the speaker addresses an absent or imaginary person or entity. The entire poem is an apostrophe to the beloved, as the speaker addresses her with “Dear love”.
    3. Assonance: It is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words. For example, “it could not choose but be” uses assonance with the /o/ sound, creating a sense of musicality and emphasis.
    4. Hyperbole: It is an exaggerated statement used to emphasize a point or create a particular effect. “Thou art so true that thoughts of thee suffice / To make dreams truths, and fables histories” is a hyperbole that emphasizes the beloved’s truthfulness and the speaker’s devotion.
    5. Irony: It is a contrast between what is expected and what happens. The poem shows it in lines “Thou wak’d’st me wisely; yet my dream thou brok’st not, but continued’st it”. The irony in this line is that the speaker is initially grateful to the person who woke him up from his dream, but then realizes that the dream is still continuing even though he is awake, which is not what he wanted.
    6. Metaphor: It is a comparison between two, unlike things without using “like” or “as.” “That love is weak where fear’s as strong as he” compares love and fear, creating a metaphor.
    7. Personification: It gives human characteristics to non-human entities. For example, “Perchance as torches, which must ready be” personifies the beloved’s actions.
    8. Simile: It is a comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as.” “As lightning, or a taper’s light, / Thine eyes, and not thy noise wak’d me” uses a simile to compare the brightness of the beloved’s eyes to lightning or the light of a candle.
    9. Symbolism: It is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. The dream itself can be seen as a symbol of the speaker’s subconscious desires and feelings towards the beloved, while the act of waking up from the dream represents a shift to a more conscious and rational state.

    The Dream Summary

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    It is a love poem that examines the notion of using dreams to escape reality and the ability of genuine love to overcome such dreams. The speaker talks about how his dream was so ideal and blissful that he did not want to be awakened from it, but his beloved did so nonetheless. Thoughts of his belovRead more

    It is a love poem that examines the notion of using dreams to escape reality and the ability of genuine love to overcome such dreams. The speaker talks about how his dream was so ideal and blissful that he did not want to be awakened from it, but his beloved did so nonetheless. Thoughts of his beloved were sufficient to bring the dream to life, so it persisted even after he awoke. The poem also discusses how it can be challenging to believe that the person we love is really who they seem to be, as well as the fear and uncertainty that comes with love. The poem’s final message is that real love triumphs over these uncertainties and apprehensions and that the dream state is a metaphor for the enduring strength of love.

    The Dream Summary

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    John Donne's poem "The Dream" explores several significant issues, including the nature of reality, the transformational power of love, the passage of time, and the speaker's connection with his beloved. Donne explores these ideas with elaborate analogies and striking imagery. The poem's dreamlike eRead more

    John Donne’s poem “The Dream” explores several significant issues, including the nature of reality, the transformational power of love, the passage of time, and the speaker’s connection with his beloved. Donne explores these ideas with elaborate analogies and striking imagery. The poem’s dreamlike environment highlights the subjectivity of reality by creating ambiguity and doubt. The dream’s appearance of the speaker’s lover acts as a metaphor for their transformational connection, which reshapes and alters the dream’s setting. The picture of the river symbolizes the passage of time and the transient character of pleasure. The transformative power of love is expressed through the way the presence of the lover changes the dream world. Putting it concisely, the complex interplay of these themes creates a thought-provoking and beautiful poem.

    The Dream Summary

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    Imagery: Imagery is used to make the readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “When the sun is bright on the upland slopes”, “And the river flows like a stream of glass” and “I know why he beats his wing.” Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same liRead more

    1. Imagery: Imagery is used to make the readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “When the sun is bright on the upland slopes”, “And the river flows like a stream of glass” and “I know why he beats his wing.”
    2. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of /o/ in “And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars” and the sound of /i/ in “I know why the caged bird beats his wing.”
    3. Simile: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between different persons and objects by using ‘like’ or ‘as’. For example, the flowing river is compared with the stream of glass in the fourth line, “And the river flows like a stream of glass.”
    4. Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession. For example, the sounds of /h/ and /b/ in ‘When he beats his bars and he would be free’.
    5. Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings different from literal meanings. The caged bird symbolizes African Americans desperate for freedom from slavery. Cage stands for various tactics white people used to block their way to freedom.
    6. Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects different in nature. There is an extended metaphor of a bird used in this poem. Here the caged bird is an entire African-American community in slavery.

    Sympathy Summary

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    Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem "Sympathy" is about having a deep knowledge of and empathy for individuals who are oppressed, limited, or marginalized. The poem examines issues of yearning for liberation, the lingering sorrow of imprisonment, and the determined human spirit in the face of difficulty thrRead more

    Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy” is about having a deep knowledge of and empathy for individuals who are oppressed, limited, or marginalized. The poem examines issues of yearning for liberation, the lingering sorrow of imprisonment, and the determined human spirit in the face of difficulty through the metaphor of the caged bird. It emphasizes the desire for independence and the pursuit of a fulfilling life while also noting the psychological and physical damage that may be caused by confinement. The primary idea encourages the reader to consider the value of compassion and the necessity of social justice by focusing on the strength of empathy and the acknowledgment of common human experiences.

    Sympathy Summary

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    The primary themes of this poem are struggle, prejudice, and societal inequality. Throughout the poem, the trapped bird attempts and fails to obtain his freedom. Although he is captivated, he longs for the same freedom in his life as he observes his fellow birds playing in the wind. He bleeds and geRead more

    The primary themes of this poem are struggle, prejudice, and societal inequality. Throughout the poem, the trapped bird attempts and fails to obtain his freedom. Although he is captivated, he longs for the same freedom in his life as he observes his fellow birds playing in the wind. He bleeds and gets scars in the name of freedom, yet nothing happens. Dunbar illustrates the African American people’s unending suffering and dire position with the comparison of this little bird. Their wounds have healed into scars, unlike this bird. Even in daily life, they are denied their basic human rights and are imprisoned. They eventually fought for their rights after many years.

    Sympathy Summary

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    This answer was edited.

    Alliteration: The repetition of the same consonant sound twice in the same verse is known as Alliteration. In this poem, the poet uses Alliteration in lines one “happiest/hands”, nine “little loaf”, and twelve “bent-backed” where the sounds /h/, /l/, and /b/, are repeated twice, respectively. InternRead more

    1. Alliteration: The repetition of the same consonant sound twice in the same verse is known as Alliteration. In this poem, the poet uses Alliteration in lines one “happiest/hands”, nine “little loaf”, and twelve “bent-backed” where the sounds /h/, /l/, and /b/, are repeated twice, respectively.
    2. Internal Rhymes: There are many internal rhymes in this poem, for example, “moon/spool/fool’s”, “gilled/little/pickle”, etc.
    3. Parallelism: All the lines carry Parallelism.
    4. Metaphor: Plath in this poem, teasingly compares her unborn child to various things like a Clown, Turnip, Loaf of bread, Prawn, Mexican bean, Mail, etc.

    You’re Summary

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    The central idea of the poem “You’re” by Sylvia Plath is the excitement of carrying a new life. The experience of motherhood, and its life changing quality. As for most of her life, Plath suffered from depression, this poem is shows her eagerness and optimism unlike most of her poem that are dark anRead more

    The central idea of the poem “You’re” by Sylvia Plath is the excitement of carrying a new life. The experience of motherhood, and its life changing quality. As for most of her life, Plath suffered from depression, this poem is shows her eagerness and optimism unlike most of her poem that are dark and carry suicidal elements.

    You’re Summary

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