How Does Shu Ting Use Figurative Language In Gifts And To The Oak

Gifts and To the Oak by Shu Ting, are poems that both use nature to reveal a deeper meaning. These poems are lyric poems, which use or express personal feelings, and this case use the feeling of the poet, Shu Ting. Figurative language is found throughout these poems, and assist in conveying a profound meaning, while being notably different. Both To the Oak and Gifts utilize powerful figurative language and reveal themes about relationships; however, their tones and structures are significantly different. Both To the Oak and Gifts employ figurative language, and both use nature as a setting to reveal a similar theme. Both poems use nature as a way to represent relationships. Imagery is found immensely throughout these poems, which help to
create a vivid picture. In Gifts, the gift of new life is given using imagery, “In the pupils of children’s eyes/igniting golden flames./Whenever seedling sprout/I shall sing a son of green./I’m so simple. I am profound!” (Ting, Gifts 12-16). In To the Oak, the use of imagery is to tell about being equal in a relationship, “I would like to be a kapok tree/standing beside you as an equal,/Our roots touching underground,/Our leaves touching in the clouds;/And with every gust of wind/We would bow to eacother.” (Ting, To the Oak 14-19). Both poems use symbol to take the form of what Shu Ting is trying to reveal. Gifts uses nature as a way of bringing new life, and To the Oak uses nature to express a relationship. To the Oak is a poem about two individuals in a relationship, meanwhile Gifts is about a relationship with oneself. Unlike To the Oak, Gifts uses and rhyme, and To the Oak uses no rhyme. In Gifts, rhyme is used, “My dream is the dream of a pond/Not just to mirror the sky/ But to let the willows and ferns/Suck me dry.” (Ting, Gifts 1-5).Gifts is talking to oneself, whereas in To the Oak the speaker is talking to someone, their partner. Gifts message is harder to reveal, due to its use of metaphors that help disguise a deeper meaning that is harder to find. The structure of Gifts is more formal where it has four stanzas, but the stanzas are longer than the more formal or traditional poems. To the Oak is much different since it has longer stanzas reaching 13 lines, but there are only three stanzas in all. Both Gifts and To the Oak by Shu Ting use an immense amount of figurative language, which help to unravel a deeper meaning to the literal meaning. Both poems use nature as a way to reveal the deeper meaning, mainly about relationship. The structures in each of the poems differ, while both do not follow a formal poems structure, but one follows the formal structure more similarly than the other. Gifts uses rhyme in the poem, whereas To the Oak does not. The figurative language in both help to convey the reader, and help transfigure a message that can influence the reader as well.