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Imagery And Symbolism In Robert Graves 'Naked And Nude'

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Imagery And Symbolism In Robert Graves 'Naked And Nude'
In Robert Graves "The Naked and the Nude" he supplies the reader with an anomaly by characterizing naked and nude as two opposing ideas. Essentially, the words "naked" and "nude" have the same definition, however, in a progressive society, the two words are associated with different interpretations. Robert Graves conveys the differing interpretations through the exertion of imagery with usage of couplets, parallelism, and a fluctuating tone to distinguish the contrasting views between the interpretation and attitudes between the words "nude" and "naked".

In particular, the adoption of parallelism is evident in "Naked and Nude" through the author's portrayal of the distinctive nuances associated with the variations of the words naked and nude. In stanza two and three, the author contrasts the naked and the nude, both of which have a AABBCC rhyming meter. Conversely, the author creates different parallelisms to …show more content…
For instance, the second and third stanzas have varying tones two talks of the naked while stanza three speaks of the nude. The author gives "naked" a positive connotation while the "nude" is asserted with a negative tone. In addition, the naked and ablaze reference can be described as both lively, true, and virtuously pure. Similarly, the author alludes to Lovers and a Goddess within this stanza, which can relate nakedness with the power it can behold as represented by the Goddess and the beauty it can have through the Lovers. The nude however is "bold" and "sly"; they are deceitful and mechanical. The negative connotations the author utilizes to describe the nude, such as "treasonable" and "dishabille," are much different from the shining and blazing naked bodies. Overall, the author describes the "naked" in a rich and warm tone while the "nude" is portrayed in a harsh, cold
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