Comparison of Use of Imagery and Metaphor in Percy Bysshe Shelleys Ozymandias and Thomas Dylans Fern Hill - Essay Example

Section/# Comparison and Contrast Based Upon Use of Imagery and Metaphor: An Analysis of “Ozymandias” and “Fern Hill” Though the authors themselves were separated by more than a century with regards to the publications that will herein be analyzed, the fact of the matter is that Thomas Dylan’s “Fern Hill” and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias” both heavily rely upon and utilize the literary mechanisms of metaphor and imagery as a means of communicating ideas and concepts with the reader. As a function of understanding the ways in which these otherwise dissimilar pieces of literature are comparable, this author will seek to analyze and point out the similarities and contrasts that exist between the ways in which the respective authors relate key concepts within their poems to the reader. Due to such a level of analysis, the author will attempt to show the key concepts which govern and define the ways that both of these otherwise unrelated writers utilize with regards to their use of imagery and metaphor within their respective works. For purposes of this analysis, imagery will be defined as a construct which utilizes the readers understanding to represent something. Conversely, metaphor will be defined as the literary process of having one thing stand for another by means of comparison. By engaging in such a level of understanding, it is the hope of this author that the reader will gain a further level of overall understanding and discernment with respect to what each of these poems seek to represent and the mechanisms that they utilize to impact the reader and his/her engagement with the topic. As a function of this level of analysis, the first poem which will be analyzed is that of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias”. Although many poems have sought to engage key aspects of sociology and the manner by which kings and kingdoms seek to hold on to power, “Ozymandias” takes a more broad based approach and discusses the topic from the standpoint of the eventual and inevitable fall of great civilizations and kingdoms through the decline that is so emblematic of great powers. Ultimately, these processes are such that they can be defined as inevitable; a fundamental understanding that is required for better appreciating the subject matter that Shelley represents. As such, what the author is ultimately seeking to portray is the identity both of Ozymandias and that of the lower levels of society that had propelled him to such a lofty and high stature. Perhaps the most powerful imagery of all that is represented within the poem “Ozymandias” is the stark representation of life and death that are alluded to both figuratively and literally throughout the work. The reader is of course made aware of the fact that the poem itself discusses a statue, and by extension a character, who has long since passed away. As a function of representing the death of power and the death of the individual who wielded this power, the author spends a great deal of time discussing the way in which the statue itself is broken down, half covered by the sands of the desert. These sands therefore necessarily represent not only the literal sands that define the countryside of much of the Middle East but also the figurative sands of time that have long since enveloped the memory of Ozymandias (Fruman 71). Such a metaphor is powerfully utilized in concert with the imagery of the statue as a means to grip the reader with the nature of life, death, power, and the ways in which history both remembers and forgets key individuals, actions, and causes. Moreover, the sculpture that was described in such great detail provides the metaphor for the way in which humanity is ultimately responsible for making figures of power such as Ozymandias something to be esteemed. This secondary metaphor is much more muted than the first and not as readily understood; however, when one considers the means by which the power is ultimately derived by a leader and the way in which the emblematic statues are created, it is easy to realize the sheer power of remembrance that these “smaller” individuals have on the course of human remembrance and history (Shelley 1). As with the poem “Ozymandias”, Thomas Dillon’s poem, “Fern Hill” also utilizes a high degree of imagery and metaphor to describe the way in which the identity of the character within the poem is cast. Again, much as was the case with “Ozymandias”, “Fern Hill” discusses topics related to life and death. Similar still is the way in which the author discusses the growth, development, and eventual decline of life as in the way that seasons of a year come and go. So strong is the imagery of the natural process of youth, middle age, and ultimate death and dying are presented that the author makes special care to utilize the colors of green, gold, and white with the poem. As one might expect, this imagery serves to identify the periods of life that the poem itself deals with. By utilizing green to denote early childhood and the memoires that the character had, the author relates that the boy was “green and carefree” in his youth. However, as the poem progresses the color of gold is used as a powerful imagery to describe the middle age of the character and how even though life has changed precipitously, there is still power and enjoyment within this period. Likewise, the imagery of death is utilized by the author with relation to the color of white (Brennan 50). During this reflective period, and the final portion of the poem, the author relates how the character most desperately despairs for the lost memories of youth and the times that have passed. Such an imaginative way of engaging the reader with the imagery of life is useful due to the fact that it ultimately relates the clear distinction between the internal reality of the determinacy of age with the external reality of how the different places that the poem engages seem so effortlessly timeless. Instead, “Fern Hill” denotes a much more awe inspiring view of life and the natural process that death represents. As such, rather than encouraging the reader to become frustrated at the prospect of death and seek to fight against it at each and every turn, the author instead uses the natural process of death as an end unto itself; representing death as a natural process just as is life, youth, and happiness. Although this is disquieting, it is disquieting in a way that is entirely different from the way in which Shelly’s poem seeks to engage the reader. The differential between these two poems does not provide the reader with an understanding that one is inferior or one is superior; instead, it merely helps to indicate the differential in mechanics and approach that poets take to very similar topics. Doubtless, Dillon and others that might seek to represent an alternative view of death would still appreciate the inherent beauty and description that is present within “Ozymandias”. Further metaphor and imagery is noted within Dillon’s poem as he makes a strong connection with youth and old age as a function of a type of spiritual paradise that has been lost. Just as in the Biblical understanding of the term, the paradise itself was underappreciated at the time that it existed, remembered in middle age, and desperately longed for in old age as a type of Holy Grail that must be sought after at all costs. However, just as in the case with life, the ability of the character to re-engage with the same thoughts, emotions, dreams, and realities of this particular portion of his earliest life was just as futile as wishing time away. In this sense, the metaphor of paradise is used as a means of engaging the reader with the understanding that life itself is something of the unattainable dream that all mean long for upon reaching old age (Viswanathan 285). In such a way, Dillon represents a youth as something of an long sought after commodity that once gone must not be longed for. Effectively, even though Dillon represents you as something magical and something that the aged necessarily earn four, he also indicated that an acceptance of old age is also extraordinarily dangerous. However, rather than denoting that old age in and of itself is damaging and must be issued, Dillon stop short of this. Instead, indicate that an acceptance of old age as an indication of near that should be avoided at all costs; with the assumed meaning of all of this being that the acceptance of death is morally reprehensible. Although this is not particularly new approach, Dillon represented in a way that the reader has no other choice but to agree with this contingent and wish to provide a level of hubris in the face of death; the one unstoppable and guaranteed force that neutralizes all human life, dreams, expectations, and hopes. Although both of these stories deal with what many would consider to be wholly different subject matter, the way in which the subject matter is engaged and the overall emphasis that the authors place on life, memory, and the recognition that comes from a life well lived form the very backbone of the plot and action that the stories represent to the reader. Moreover, the strong and effective utilization of metaphor and imagery, as has been discussed within this brief essay, serve to provide the reader with a very clear understanding of the ancillary topics that the author wishes to impress upon the reader. In such a way, rather than having to dictate the exact levels of meaning directly to the reader, the story-tellers (i.e. authors) are able to present the subject matter in a tangential way which not only gets the main point across but allows for a strong degree of reader imagination and provocative thought to take place on topics of history, philosophy, religion, and sociology to name but a few. Ultimately, by utilizing such a diverse litany of metaphor and imagery, the collective authors that have been analyzed within this piece help to differentiate the way in which the reader engages with the piece and instills a higher level of take away with regards to key understandings that are gleaned from reading them. All of these split-second life during the course of this is, is also true that neither of them represent a similar genre or approach to poetic analysis. Instead, these two points have been chosen as a function of their differential as much as a function of their similarity. In terms of the underlying rationale for writing these forms, it is the interpretation and understanding of this particular author that they were done as a function of helping to define the way in which humanity should be engaged with use, middle-aged, and old age. Rather than providing a philosophical paradigm through which each of these experiences must be accepted, the authors instead denoted a sense of primal human action and the mechanisms through which understanding is denoted. From the information that has been provided, it is clear and apparent that the poems help to engage a further understanding with respect to the way in which the authors approach the very same topics on which they were predicated. Although it is oftentimes dangerous to contemplate abuse out author that the represented, it is the interpretation of this analyst that the practice of both with respect to “Ozymandias” and “Fern Hill”. Works Cited Brinnin, John Malcolm. "Cockles, Brambles, And Fern Hill." Atlantic (01606506) 196.5 (1955): 50. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Fruman, Norman. "Ozymandias And The Reconciliation Of Opposites." Studies In The Literary Imagination 19.2 (1986): 71. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Shelley, Percy, Bysshe. "Ozymandias." Journal Of Singing 69.1 (2012): 91. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Viswanathan, R. "Thomass Fern Hill." Explicator 48.4 (1990): 285. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Read More