"Globe shrunk tight" could be talking about a microcosm which could mean the themes of the poem are reflective to the wider world.
Line 2
"Round" could link with the title and theme cycles of death and rebirth because snowdrops are iconic of the spring time and death is very prominent within the poem. "Dulled wintering heart" is descriptive of the mouse and how it is dying and in the winter of its life. This also links with the seasons and death themes as it's the death of the year and the time of year when much wild life is either dead or dormant.
Line 3
"Weasel and crow" are predators of the mouse and "moulded in brass" would make it seem as if the mouse cannot touch them or harm them leaving the mouse powerless. There are two comers on this line which slows it down and gives it a creeping feel as if the animals are hunting or being hunted.
Line 4
"Outer darkness" the predators are forever in the darkness waiting to kill the mouse and other prey.
Line 5
"Right minds" This could be saying that the mouse and other prey wouldn't go in to the dark in there sane minds. This is a short line and could be intended to be read fast this could represent the heart beating faster because the mouse is near death and struggling for breath or because a predator is near.
Line 6
"Other deaths" could refer to the deaths of things in winter. "She...ends" could be talking about the mouse being ready to die or Mother Nature perusing the end of winter.
Line 7
"Stars" this could be the stars of fortune and in winter the stars are brutal because a lot of things die and it's harder to survive.
Line 8
"Pale" would suggest that either all the blood has gone or that the skin is malnourished because its winter. "heavy ... metal" this makes it seem as if its really hard to move maybe the animal hasn't eaten much because it winter.
Themes
Death, the cycle of life, nature, predator vs. prey, survival.
Tone
The done is very dark and cold words like wintering and brutal make the poem seem harsh and unforgiving much like nature.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Moreover the author also uses symbolism to indicate the mood of the story. In fact the phrase,”Toads. Beetles. Bats.” could also be viewed as symbols illustrating the mood of the story. This is because toads beetles and bats all are considered as nocturnal, being active mostly at night, animals. The night is dark just like the mood of the story. Furthermore, the author decides to use the “Perfect House” as symbol. The “Perfect House” is almost perfect except for the fact that part of the ceiling collapsed. This showed even his family was unable to provide a comfortable living style, leading into…
- 496 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Beginning in the fourth sentence of the excerpt, the author narrates all the life found in the forest, but describes them darkly, thus the contrast of death or fear. One of the many examples found in this section is the description of the poisonous frogs. Besides the clear image of death as the poisonous animal is described…
- 262 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
All of this then progresses into the third stanza. He sees a “yellow hare” but one is left to consider whether this in itself, is a metaphor for something else. Is it a real animal coming up from the ground he is running and being startled, or does he consider the soldier, or even the reader, in this thinking state, to be that yellow, cowardly hare. (Connotations - Associations)…
- 874 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Have you ever felt out of place from those around you? In “Theme for English B”, Langston Hughes discusses how the speaker goes about this paper assignment. He questions the definition of simple. He wonders if the truth is the same between him, his classmates and his professor. Will the papers be the same between himself and all the other white students in class? This paper assignment has the speaker realize that there is more in common between himself and the other students than just race.…
- 1255 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
Of Mice and Men and “To a Mouse” were two completely different works, with similar titles and themes. Both works were very enjoyable to read...and in once case “decode”. Either way, they both kept me thinking at all times, and I couldn’t put the book down. The similarities between to two pieces of literature include failure, mice, and farming. Failure, believe it or not, was of the many presented themes discussed in both the book and the poem. Well, not failure...but being able to accept things. Both readings deal with plans that don’t always work out. For example, Lennie and George had a plan to one day obtain a huge farm, and live out the american dream; Did that turn out as planned? In the poem “To a Mouse” a man messes up a mouse’s home with his gardening tools. The mouse thought…
- 544 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
“The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew”, said Robert Burns, in the poem “To a Mouse”. In this book Steinbeck uses foreshadowing a lot for upcoming events that will shock you. This book is about 2 friends that have a huge farm dream and a lot of things happen in this story to make that big plan go askew. Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to indicate the deaths of the farm dream, Curley’s wife dying, and Lennie.…
- 566 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
To begin with, Thomas writes in rhyming couplets which create an on-going effect of the individuals story also reflecting the oral tradition of the English countryside. He also writes in narrative lyric which gives this poem a song like undercurrent carrying the story fluidly and seamlessly. AOMWN is a narrative poem with an irregular rhyme scheme, Frost here reflects the conflict between man and nature as death approaches. Even though the poem is irregular in rhyme, frost makes use of internal rhyme such as assonance and alliteration which may illustrate how the character feels comfortable inside but has a fear of the natural environment, feeling almost as if it is against him.…
- 1127 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The use of this figurative language was used to highlight how obviously overwhelming the mice’s commotion was. It was effectively used because the descriptive word “swell” gives the feeling of being engulfed. Lastly in paragraph five the author finishes of with the phrase “...buttons or spool of thread rolled around, threatening to drown the couple’s sanity”. This word play would be a use of personification, in which the buttons and spools were given the human characteristic to threaten. I agree that this effectively conveyed the character’s emotions given the situation, we can feel their anxiety and discomfort. Moving on to the story’s last paragraph, the author uses the phrase “...she nuzzled her “six babies”, as they suckled and slept, there little mouths pink and puckered.”. The effect of this was how defenseless and innocent the mother mouse looks together with her babies. It effectively gives away this feelings with descriptive adjectives of the baby's’ appearance and actions through imagery. Followed by this the author uses the word “vulnerable” to signal the feeling the mother mouse and her offspring gave…
- 580 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In this assessment you will have the opportunity to present evidence that shows you are able to:…
- 4720 Words
- 19 Pages
Powerful Essays -
In the months before winter, “when the days were longer than the nights”, this person felt happiness and contentment (Matanle qtd. In de Barros 0:1:20). By winter, however, sadness and loneliness replaced happiness and contentment. Snowflakes falling from the sky “stop at…
- 382 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
“He wrapped in the glittering pelts of black foxes; and she wore high, black, shining boots with scarlet heels, and spurs.”5 This makes the characters appear malevolent in depiction, even more so when juxtaposed with “the child of his desire.”6 The ‘black foxes’ not only is suggestive of the cunning nature of the character but the colour black connotes death, foreshadowing coming events. The Countess appears even more malicious than the count, “she on a black”7 mare, insinuating the colour black symbolising death again, in conjunction with the “scarlet heels” the colour red also symbolises death, and blood, but also can imply compassion, for whom we can assume is the Count. The characters aren’t the only gothic features of the narrative. Symbols of…
- 1602 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Beginning the passage, the main character is presented with the obstacle of carrying the lifeless body of a wolf up the Pilares Mountain. McCarthy utilizes selection of detail as he unveils the main character’s tenderness towards the female wolf. In line 5, the narrator watches as he “[cradles] the wolf in his arms and [lowers] her to the ground.” This careful treatment of the wolf by the protagonist is somewhat unexpected as animals are frequently viewed as being beneath humans – they are beaten, starved, neglected, even killed by humans yet this character displays respect and compassion for the animal. The detail of how the “coyotes were yapping along the hills” (line 10) is an example of the mournful aspect behind the wolf’s death. Like the coyotes, the main character seems to be mourning her death by the way he respects her still body and the fact that he is journeying a mountain in order to ultimately find a peaceful resting place for her. Also, the detail of the wolf’s fur being “bristly with the blood dried upon it” (line 7) highlights the religious aspect behind her death. This image of what…
- 1055 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
That mouse's home is destroyed as an accidental consequence, this has similarities to events that occur in Of Mice and Men because the characters have destroyed dreams or loved ones or may be destroyed inside because of their disabilities.…
- 705 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The title of this work is an allusion to a line from a Robert Burns poem, To a Mouse.…
- 1087 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
It goes to describe pictures/paint of a family; a man mowing the lawn, a woman picking flowers, and two children playing ball together, as well as saying that the paint of the family remains on the walls but everything else in covered in a thin layer of charcoal, the diction that Bradbury uses indicates that the house keeps everything but that wall clean almost as a remembrance to the family (Bradbury 1). A dog eventually comes up to the house “shivering” “ The dog, once large and fleshy, but now gone to bone and covered with sores” (Bradbury 2), Bradbury is using imagery with the words shivering, and bone to give emphasis that the dog has not been cared for. The house recognized the voice of the dog and allows the dog inside, where it brung dirt and mud and “angry mice” follow behind it cleaning the mess it makes. When the dog goes around the house it finds nothing, “only silence was here”. The dog eventually goes to the kitchen smelling food and “The dog frothed at the mouth, lying at the door, sniffing, its eyes turned to…
- 668 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays