Preview

Analysis of poem "The Door" by Miroslav Holub.

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
505 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis of poem "The Door" by Miroslav Holub.
How is the Need for Embracing Change Conveyed in "The Door"

The concept of "The Door" is based on the idea of taking risks and embracing change. The poet uses a persuasive and insistent tone to encourage the audience to take action. The lack of rhythm, rhyme and conventional structure also give the poem a conversational tone.

The poem opens with the line "Go and open the door" and is used to begin the following three stanzas. The repetition of the imperative constructs a strong sense of not only urgency and necessity, but it also gives the audience a sense of the poet's voice and presence as he urges change. A strong sense of speech is present in the second stanza when the poet directly addresses the audience ("you'll); this gets the audience's attention.

The poet uses the central concept of the door, which is used as a dual metaphor that can be viewed as a symbol of a barrier, a symbol of what restricts us. It can also be seen as a gateway to opportunity and change. This image gives cohesion to the entire poem because the image is sustained strongly throughout.

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.

The idea of possibility is conveyed by the use of the word "Maybe" in both stanza one, and twice in the second stanza. The ideas present in the second stanza build up the same way as in the first stanza; there is a repetition of structure and style. It begins with brining the poem back to reality, and ending with "the picture of a picture", conjuring the idea of an endless possibility.

The third stanza differs from the first two. It is here that the possibility of risk is introduced with the metaphorical fog. However, we are assured that this fog will

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Glass Jar Analysis

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Another one of Gwen Harwood’s poems where psychoanalytical criticism or a modernist reading is appropriate is The Glass Jar. This poem is about the transformation from childhood innocence into adulthood. The poem deals with an individual’s perception of the universe and the romantic notion of a child learning through experience. Gwen Harwood writes about a child’s fears of the darkness and loneliness and how through his experience he transforms. This poem has a major contrast between light and dark, good and evil. In the poem the sun is a symbol for security and plays the role of a saviour. The imagery of the “reeling sun” is used to remind us that darkness is fast approaching. Religious imagery such as “disciples” is used to express the child’s faith and belief in the “pulse of light beside his bed”. The words “bless” and “exorcise” are used to express the boys belief that the light will protect him from the “monsters that whispering would rise”. His believe in the lights “total power” to create a “holy commonplace of field and flower” represents his innocence and trust. Harwood uses a short sentence “he slept” to represent action and a change in the poem. “Pincer”, “claw”, and “trident” are words used to express the imagery of pain and terror the child feels. The metaphor “hope fell headlong from its eagle height,” is used to describe the child’s loss and realization that he is alone. This poem mocks traditional conventions of religion and family through the fact that the mother has her back turned when the boy needs her, creating a sense of betrayal. The rivalry between the boy and his father, and how this influences his image of his mother is significant "...his comforter lay in his rival's...... violence done to her".…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fryberg uses a lot of imagery to paint pictures in the reader’s mind throughout the whole poem. She…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is also figurative language used in phrases such as “Having come from the clouds” and “tilting road”. This adds to the effect of imagery and emphasis on the journey to the sawmill town. It also helps to make the stanza more interesting to the reader.…

    • 2400 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The painted Door is a very interesting short story considering its great usage of symbolism as well as its setting. The author does a good job in portraying to us not only happenings but feelings and emotions as well. “The leap of light and shadow sank, and a chill crept in again…”…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stanza two develops the poet's ability to shelter her pain. "I am industrious and clever" Here she states plainly that she is gifted at hiding her true feelings. She paints "Landscapes on door panels and screens." Here symbolism is developed further as door panels may represent doors to her heart or other aspects of her being. In parallel, the screens she paints provide illusion to the way she feels. By painting the "the doors and screens" she hopes others will follow the illusion instead of looking at what she really experiences.…

    • 598 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The door symbolises new opportunities and emphasises that individuals need to take action to expand their horizons. The repetition of the imperative command, ‘Go and open the door’ establishes the urgency for the need of change. This makes the reader consider what the opened door would reveal to us. The door is a dual metaphor, as it represents what restricts us as well as a doorway for new prospects. It also implores readers to take a chance and change as a result of exposing themselves to the outside world.…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This is blank verse at its most abstract. There is no rhyme here, nor is there any attempt to conform to the usual visual pattern of a poem. It is a series of these paragraphs, each building on the previous one until the reader can form a picture of what has happened.…

    • 1511 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the very first line of the first stanza, the poem speaker says, "Home 's the place we head for in our sleep" (1). This one sentence sets up the reader with an explanation that the poem is going to take…

    • 1516 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Blue Against White

    • 605 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The story is full of symbolism. First of all, the blue door symbolizes the protagonist herself – Lena. She represents the door. Her whole life she was embarrassed by the way the bright blue color of the door stuck out. She was too immature then, to realize that it is okay to stand out and that individualism is good. The crow that is mentioned in the story, symbolizes all of the choices that Lena has made. “She had hated the dirt road and the mud in the spring and the dust in the summer”, these are the words that she uses in the story, to describe her feelings about her home. Based on them, we can see that living there, for her, was not the ideal place.…

    • 605 Words
    • 2 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
  • Better Essays

    The first line of the vivid poem opens with a blunt statement made by the speaker where it uses imagery to describe the setting and subject of the poem (1). From…

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kogawa makes mention that there is a way around a wall such as a gate, ladder, door, or a sentinel. The gate, ladder, door and a sentinel symbolize a solution a person can have for an obstacle in order to reach your everyday goal in life, which in this poem the obstacle would be the wall and the goal would be to reach the other side.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Belfast Confetti

    • 700 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analysing the lines in the poem, I can see a trend of contradictions and dual meanings. For example “All the alleyways and side streets blocked with stops and colons” on the outside this line tells us that the escape what…

    • 700 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hotel Room 12th Floor

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Part of the answer is revealed when the poet describes what he sees from his window during the day. The imagery he uses is unexpected:…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the first stanza, the voice is “far beyond the door” (Line 1), “the cage” (Line 5) in the second stanza, and “the locks” (Line 9) in the third stanza. A cage is more secure than a - presumably room - door, and locks are used to keep people from opening a door in the first place. The mention of locks is especially significant when tied in with the mention of the locked door in the title. As the poem progresses, so the does the strength of the barrier between the voice and speaker. In conjunction with the progression of time, it seems that as time goes on the speaker becomes more distant from the voice, and therefore from her loved…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays