Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children - Essay Example

no. The use of figurative language in “Upon Wedlock, And Death of Children” In the poem “Upon Wedlock, And Death of Children” Taylor writes about his marriage and the birth of their children. In order to convey the intended message, Taylor uses a lot of figurative speech. For example, Taylor writes about “planted slips” which grow gloriously (7). The slips represent the speaker’s children as being a part of the speaker, just like slips are small cuttings of bigger plants. In stanza 2, Taylor writes about chanting birds which chirp sweet music (12).

The birds are used as a symbol of the speaker’s children who are a sweet addition to his life. Additionally, the “planted slips” are symbolic of the speaker’s offspring whose growth is something glorious to his eyes. Again, in stanza 2, Taylor writes “unless an hellish breath do sindge their plumes” (8).In this case, the speaker uses the metaphor “hellish breath” to refer to the struggles that his children face in life and “sindge their plumes” to mean how that breath will suffocate the life out of the children and end their lives.

In addition to the symbolism, Taylor also uses some form of alliteration, whereby the first consonant sound is repeated in several words. For example, Taylor writes about how the slips are planted and how they “gay and glorious grow” (7). The use of figurative language continues at the beginning of stanza 3 whereby the speaker talks about a “knot” (Taylor 13). The word “knot” in this case is a symbol that represents the speaker’s sleeping with his wife and the result of which is the birth of children.

These children are symbolized as flowers which break out of the knot, one after another. For example, the “manly flower” represents the birth of a baby boy whose smiles and chuckles brings joy to the parents (Taylor 14-18). In stanza 4, Taylor uses symbolism and metaphors as the main form of figurative language. The speaker talks about a hand of glory coming down guarded by angels, “to crop his flower” (Taylor 19-20). The glorious hand that the speaker talks about is death that comes to take away his child.

The metaphor “crop this flowere” represents how death often chooses the best people and snatches them from their loved ones. The speaker describes the moment of the child’s death as a “dolesome, darksome houre” (Taylor 22). But although the death is described as a dark hour, the speaker has faith that his child ascends to heaven. Stanza 5 still uses symbolism as the primary form of figurative language. Here the speaker talks about how Christ has chosen the prime flower from his branch.

The prime flower here stands for the dead child while the branch is representative of the speaker himself and could arguably mean the speaker’s reproductive organ. In essence, Taylor writes “and having choice, chose this my branch forth brought” (26). Since the birth of the child was as a result of coitus with his wife, it, therefore, means that the speaker could be referring to his reproductive organ as the branch that brings forth children. More alliteration is evident is some instances, for example, “lord take’t.

I thank thee, thou takst” (Taylor 27).Work CitedTaylor, Edward. “Upon Wedlock and Death of Children”. The Explicator, 42.1(2010): 17-18. Web. 2014.