Preview

Explication On Snodgrass's Lying Awake

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
547 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Explication On Snodgrass's Lying Awake
Explication on "Lying Awake"

When reading Snodgrass's "Lying Awake" I felt completely lost. After reading the first two stanzas it seems as if Snodgrass is talking about someone feeling pressured to do something that they may not want to do or go forward with. In the first stanza he describes the moth as being "squirmed up, sniper style, between/The Rusty edges of the screen;" This might indicate the moth being someone that is involved in law enforcement or someone who can't seem to leave a controlling relationship. The poem continues to read "Lay here, content, in some, corner hole./Now that we've settled into bed/Though, he can't sleep. Overhead,/ he hurls himself at the blank wall." This stanza might indicate that the speaker is very much afraid of his or her partner because they were content in a corner hole but he or she cannot sleep.
…show more content…
The speaker says "Each night hordes of these flutterers haunt/And climb by study windowpane;/Fired by the reflection, their insane/Eyes gleam;they know what they want." I believe that the hordes of flutterers might be bad influences on the speaker. He seems as if he doesn't wan to do have any part of it but they are haunting him and he can see their insane eyes gleam which may relate to drug abuse. He ends the stanza with something kind of disturbing because he says that they know what they want from the speaker. That probably means that they want him to give in to the life of misery and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    On Frost at Midnight

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the second stanza, he is reminiscing about his childhood and how he felt imprisoned in school (gazed upon the bars). He speaks of a fluttering stranger (line 26), which seems to indicate that not that person is fluttering, but his eyelids are. His eyes are unclosed, because he is daydreaming, but soon he actually falls asleep and thinks about his teacher, who he detests. He describes the anticipation of being able to go outside again only by hearing the bells of the old church-tower, since he is only looking out the window and waiting for the doors to open for anybody to pick him up and take him outside.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    It is obvious that everyone is so anticipated that even the nature itself is waiting breathlessly – “the fireflies waited in the shadows”. Human interference with nature is the main idea of this piece of writing. It is obvious that “the pencil line across the sun” is an unnatural event and it shouldn’t be there. It is an example of a simile comparing two important sources of light – the sun and electricity. The repetition of the verb “closing” in the end of the second stanza shows, that although exiting, new things are always frightening, especially in the Third…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The first line contains an image of a “bronze butterfly” sleeping on a trunk. This stagnant description of such a beautiful creature demonstrates a slowly moving life, one of which hasn’t achieved much. The trunk that the butterfly is sleeping on is colored black, representing the man’s missed opportunities to leave the farm. The next line portrays a leaf blowing down a ravine found behind an empty house. Obviously the empty house and the later heard cowbells in the distance (implying that the cows are leaving the farm) are clear images of the man’s loneliness. The speaker moves on to spot some horse manure. This dung, after being left for over a year, has dried and is turning into stones. The changing of this manure symbolizes the man’s changing into an old, lifeless man. Just as the manure does, the longer the man sits there and waits for something, the more prone he is to dry up and waste his life. Before the last line of the poem, the speaker mentions the setting sun and the evening that approaches as he lays back in his hammock. A chicken hawk, a well-known hunter, flies by the man and looks for his home, just as the man is looking for his home — or the place where he belongs. As the evening envelops the man, all of these apparently “beautiful” images (yet symbolically depressing messages) pushes the man to realize that his life has become…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Through my studies of this poem, I was unable to find any documentation of the poet, Jim Stevens; therefore I was unable to assess his life and his reasoning behind writing this poem. Because of this I have had to make my own assumption that Jim Stevens might be writing this poem about himself. His lack of publication leaves a rather eerie air to the poem. All I found was purely speculations, of what the poem could mean or why it was written, no assurance.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    4 O'Clock Birds Singing

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the poem, the author describes the scene of birds singing early in the morning and how quickly the sereneness ends. The author uses diction and metaphors to describe the birds’ song.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Upon a "certain hour", or sleep, the speaker beckons his soul to fly free, escape the day, and ponder its own themes. The speaker's soul does not necessarily appreciate the day's happenings and thoughts, so it drifts in dreaming to a place where it can think about "night, sleep, death, and the stars." The daytime mind of the speaker, most likely representing a restricted or bound form, thinks about things it is perhaps not naturally inclined to do. This poem is like a snap-shot of the human soul between consciousness and…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Great Scarf of Birds

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Opening the last stanza with a freethinking bird that leads the flock, creates a metaphor relating to how he has prepared the reader for his ending statement of his lifted yet not restored heart.…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    was of "three minds, Like a tree, In which there are three blackbirds." This was…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A raven is often associated with death, as it is dark and ominous. In the first line, the reference to a raven is quite significant as it foreshadows the violence to come. The raven is also mentioned to be hoarse, this shows that its powers are impaired, and it is being silenced as to not attract attention to the horrors that come.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the second stanza the simile ‘like a homing pigeon’ is used to show that they are desperately seeking connection and reassurance with people from the same ‘nationalities’. The metaphoric line ‘partitioned off at night’ displays their separation from the other cultures, but more dramatically they feel separated from society. All they have is ‘memories of hunger and hate’ – a burden that they have to carry – they have seen too much and felt too much pain. They can’t think properly because they are too scared of what will happen next.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Julius Caesar

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Their uncertain existence is elaborated in the third stanza. The simile, comparing the migrants to “birds of passage” who were always sensing a change in the weather” emphasises the absence of a fixed home for these people. They don’t not belong in their current location but are also uncertain of their future. This leads to a sense of dislocation and alienation from their current setting…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Raven Tpcastt

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages

    This poem could be about a multitude of things with the title Poe chose, but one thing that is clear is that it is about a Raven. Judging from Poe's other works, it is likely about some kind of a rabid/demonic raven. Also, it is very likely that this Raven will torture someone in some unimaginable way that will destroy the person more so psychologically than physically.…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    November night

    • 290 Words
    • 2 Pages

    On the last stanza the line ‘the worlds a bear shrugged in his den’ suggests he is experiencing the bear pit. Further more, the word ‘snug suggests the warmth inside; ‘snoring night’ is inside away from rest of the world while winter is outside. Inside all inviting but outside it’s harsh. The line ‘the fog unfolds its bitter scent’ suggests its comparing ice to fog and also its comparing the fog to the bad smell…

    • 290 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Insanity In The Raven

    • 1388 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the first stanza, we learn of the speakers feelings due to Poe's use of organic imagery on line one when he states, ““Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,” . Then it goes on to explain that he begins to hear a tapping at his chamber door but dismisses…

    • 1388 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘You hide in your mansion’, as young people's blood, flows out of their bodies, and is buried in the mud’. This line creates striking imagery further stirring emotion and portrays a world of evil. The stanza further creates a world so horrific, that people do not want to live in it ‘As young people's blood, flows out of their bodies, and is buried in the mud’. The ‘Masters of War’ have made the world so threatening all trust is lost further stirring our feelings. This can also been used as a fear factor, if our world continues in this heinous way, we will find ourselves in the situation described by him consequently making people want to take action.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics