Tone in God’s Grandeur Poem by Hopkins

The initial sound pattern is alliteration, and Hopkins employs more than two or three alliterating phrases. In a sonnet, he follows the pattern of medieval English poetry, which relies on a rhyme for the core pattern production. Hopkins has explained the use of alliterations in each line; therefore, the increased complexities of the b/br alliterations in the last three lines are simple to note.
Hopkins frequently employs parallelism to demonstrate the parallel structure of sentences, as in the line 'Everything is seared with an exchange,' which parallels 'bleared, smeared with toil,' or 'and wears man's,' which parallels 'and shares man's scent.' Hopkins’s poem has the typical structure of the Bible poetic, where the word ‘and’ has a strong rhetorical force for building up emphasis.

He also makes use of simple repetitive patterns, like ‘have trod’ which is repeated three times; and the internal rhymes of ‘seared, bleared, smeared,’ which add to the parallelism. Also notable is the use of two interjections: ‘oh’ and ‘ah'. Hopkins’ uses such interjections to illustrate the force they show in the middle of a sentence and provide some resonance. They create emotions which help to give fresh voice to the poem.

Imagery as Used in ‘I felt a Funeral, in My Brain’ Poem by Emily Dickinson

The poem is about the speaker’s irrationality and madness. Dickinson employs physical sensations to portray the breakdown. Emily uses the senses of touch, sight, and hearing to communicate about the speaker’s funeral metaphor. She uses imagery to show how the mourners are treading to-and-fro in the speaker’s mind which is the metaphorical casket. Emily also tries to compare the battle between sanity and insanity that is going in the speaker’s head. A drum is depicted in the funeral service and is said to numb the head of the speaker. It signifies the first slowdown of mental shutdown that the speaker is experiencing. The significance that Emily tries to show in this poem is the insanity falling off of the speaker. In the modern parallel, Dickinson relates this to the modern society when a person loses a family member and undergoes the process of falling into a depression, finally losing grasp of rationality.

Theme Development in Herrick’s Poem – To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Herrick uses the theme of time in his poem of 'To the Virgins, to make much of time.' The title of the poem exemplifies the fact every human being should make the most of his/her time, especially the youth phase. Regarding the passage of time, Herrick emphasizes that people change as they get older. We become less vigorous and less healthy, less warm, and eventually, we die. The theme of time is clearly developed where Herrick’s says that mortality is merely a fantastic, fancy word because death is inevitable. “To the Virgins” as Herrick’s puts it, the end of a flower’s life begins with the setting of the sun, symbolizing another kind of death. The poet categorically states that getting older is a sign of getting closer to death. In this regard, death is everywhere and is also inevitable. Human beings should thus strive to make the most of the time we have.