Foxy Lady

In Margret Atwood’s “Red Fox” the use of visual imagery, conceit and the diction of the words used comments on the desperation and the limits that humans will go to to preserve themselves and their futures.
The conceit of the red fox, which symbolizes human desperation and selfishness is the vehicle through which the meaning and intent of this poem is communicated. This poem focuses on this fox and in the third and most descriptive stanza of this poem Atwood describes this creature as having eyes filled with longing and desperation and also as having skinny feet which are adept at lies. These descriptors further the idea that this fox is human desperation because eyes are usually thought to reveal a person’s true purpose and by having eyes filled with desperation Atwood is suggesting that this animal is willing to do anything to survive due to the fact that it is so emaciated, “I can see the ribs” and is in dire need of sustenance. Also the description of the fox is also important in that Atwood speaks about the legs of the fox and we as humans and animals in general see our legs as a means to an end. A treacherous and dishonest past is implied through the line “skinny feet, adept at lies” this also furthers the idea that this animal is willing to do anything to get what it wants whether honestly or otherwise.
The rhetorical question that makes up the fourth stanza as well as the fifth stanza and the allusion presented there also contribute to this theme of human ambition and recklessness for a cause in that it challenges the implicit Christian belief of poverty being virtuous and presents it as a form of selfishness and self-neglect. The emaciated image of the fox is referred to in these sections as the speaker analyzes the effect that this hunger has on animals and people alike. The use of the phrase “hunger corrupts” suggests that this virtuous poverty creates a paradoxical circumstance in which this virtuosity leads to immorality and people committing evil or corrupt acts. Also the allusion the story of Hansel and Gretel in the forest illustrates that the corruptive powers of hunger are also seen in humans in that parents who were so hungry were forced to abandon their children.
Atwood, through this conceit of a simple red fox, comments on the animalistic nature of humans when faced with the most primal of situations: survival and self-preservation.

Blackberry-Picking

John Heaney through his use of contradicting visual images, similes, cataloging as well as the connotation of the words used in Blackberry-Picking contribute to the greedy and over indulgent tone of the poem.

The images used by Heaney in his first stanza most of which are positive and nostalgic images are directly contrasted by the many images of decay and loss which are present throughout the poem. One such example would be the contrasting images of a beautiful august day which implies serenity as well as the images of ripening blackberry clots which is contrasted by the imagery of summer's blood which is more gruesome and this violent imagery take away from the previously peaceful imagery of the season. The natural images of the hayfields and open air of the byre are also contrasted by the images of various jars which contain the essence of these beautiful hayfields. These images add to the tone because the seemingly genuinely appreciative images of summer and blackberries are contrasted by images which show the author's want to contain and preserve these images unnaturally whether by taking "summer's blood" from the berries or simply taking the berries out of their native habitat.

The gruesome diction of the words used by Heaney also communicate his greed because words such as blood, clot, and flesh while having negative and human connotations they are also necessary process/components of a human which implies that the author's want of these blackberries because he sees them as essential parts of himself.

The cataloging used by Heaney also adds to this tone because he lists all the ways in which he tried to contain and usurp all the beauty and nutrients that lied within these libraries even if it was a painful process.

Blackberry-Picking

Mid-term Break

The alienated tone of the narrator in Seamus Heaney's "Mid-term break" which creates the overall lonely mood of the poem is created through the use of tactile imagery, visual imagery, onomatopoeia and diction all of which imply the awkwardness that the speaker feels during this unexpected break.

The tactile images of hands in this poem help create the aforementioned tone because of the various emotions and social customs that are associated with these interactions. The touching of hands in our society means a personal and intimate connection between two humans because for that one second they are as close as is physically personal because their bodies are melding together. The alienation of the author is more importantly communicated through the different ways in which the speaker's hands interact with others. When shaking the hands of older men the speaker states that he is embarrassed. This statement implies that either he is not accustomed to this "manly" and formal greeting and feels uncomfortable shaking these men's hands or that maybe the entire exchange between him and these gentlemen embarrasses him because he is uncomfortable in these types of situations. Either interpretation of the speaker's feelings toward the situation establish firmly that he feels out of place and awkward at this funeral. While there is a customary shaking of hands between the speaker and the older men @ the ceremony when with his mother he is forced to hold her hand which is a more permanent and personal connection of bodies due to the fact that it lasts longer and also because its and exchange between family members. The difference between the tactile interaction with his mother and the older gentlemen also presents another field in which the speaker is at unsure and feels out of place: age. Having shaken hands with the older men to show that he too was man, holding his mother's hand is so reminiscent of the speaker's childhood that this elderly façade he previously tried to dawn simply evaporates as soon as his hands meet his mothers as they had done hundreds of times before as he was growing up.

Aside from the uneasiness that the author feels when having to participate in these physical connecting moments with people at this funeral, the tone of alienation is also depicted through the use of visual images. The constant reference of the author to time and how long he has been away from his family establishes that the speaker's separation from his family has affected the relationship with his family and all the attendants of the funeral. Whether talking about being "in the college sick bay", "away at school" or "[seeing] him for the first time in six weeks" the author communicates the strangeness of the situation because he has been away from his family for so long and in a way doesn't have the same connection with them that he used to have which could explain why he feels slightly disconnected from them and the situation because he can't quite relate because while he's been away it is as if he were in a different world.

More than any other technique the diction of the words used by Heaney connote the alienated and tone and awkwardness that the author feels. By using the words "blow" and "knocked" instead of a more delicate and gentle euphemisms suggest that the author has no reason to present this information delicately because to him they are just facts about the situation and not descriptions of his brother's death or his father's feelings. This lack of euphemisms or less graphic terminology is especially telling of the speaker's disconnect in the fifth stanza when he refers to the lifeless body of his own brother as "the corpse" and nothing more which suggests that to him this is just a random body and that he does not realize that it is his brother.

This poem through the use of powerful literary tools presents the difficult situation in which a speaker finds himself at his four year-old brother's funeral questioning the connection he has with his family and who he is.