"Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold: Location

          In Matthew Arnold's poem "Dover Beach," location plays a large role in the overall meaning of the work.  The speaker discusses three different seas and each are in a different place but have one common bond.  The seas are the English Channel, the Aegean, and the Sea of Faith.  The common bond they all share is they produce the sound of the "eternal note of sadness," (Arnold, 892).  The speaker describes them as looking nice but they have a melancholy tone to the sound they make.  He relates this to the Sea of Faith saying that as faith dwindles there is more sadness and that the Sea of Faith is very sad.  The speaker uses these locations to better describe the sadness he feels.  At the end of the poem the speaker blames this sadness and lack of faith on the world.  He even proclaims to his love that they only have each other and must hold on to that.  This contributes to the meaning of the poem as a whole.

"I taste a liquor never brewed" by Emily Dickinson: Figurative Meanings

          "I taste a liquor never brewed" by Emily Dickinson uses the technique of extended metaphor and other figurative language.  In the last stanza Dickinson creates a stereotypical scene.  This scene is of neighbors observing the behavior of a drunkard.  It also depicts a drunkard leaning against a lamp post.  Because of the extended metaphor the speaker is not drunk off of alcohol.  The speaker is drunk off of nature.  So the drunkard is not leaning on a post.  They are actually "leaning against the-- Sun," (Dickinson, 797).  Also, the angels watch the speaker frolic in the nature instead of the neighbors and drunkard.  This creates a tone of happiness because of the descriptions of nature.

"Sorting Laundry" by Elisavietta Ritchie: Imagery

                             In the poem "Sorting Laundry" by Elisavietta Ritchie, the speaker uses many images all relating to laundry.  These images relate to her relationship with her significant other.  Throughout the poem the speaker reveals different aspects of her relationship through the images of laundry.  The speaker talks about the "wrinkles" in her relationship (Ritchie, 841).  This is a metaphor for the problems in their relationship that could be fixed or could be ignored. The speaker also references how they are not tired of each other and that the "seams still holding our dreams" are intact (Ritchie, 841).  But the poem has a shift when the speaker thinks too much.  She begins to wonder what might happen if her lover left her.  Ritchie uses the image of folding laundry to tie the end into the beginning creating another image.

"The Convergence of the Twain" by Thomas Hardy: Tone

          In Thomas Hardy's poem "The Convergence of the Twain," Hardy's tone unfolds throughout the poem.  In his poem about the sinking of the Titanic, he has a tone of indifference towards the victims of the ship wreck.  Throughout his writing he describes how all of the glamour of the ship no longer matters.  He depicts this through the image of indifferent "sea worms" and gazing "moon-eyed fishes," (Hardy, 778).  This creates a tone of indifference of the  speaker towards the tragedy that killed many.  This also brings some irony into the poem.  The people were very wrapped up in the glamour and beauty of the ship.  The speaker implies that the people should have been concerned with the safety of the ship.  The speaker presents this in an ironic manner.  The people were very wrapped up in the "stuff" on the ship and in the end it did not matter because the "stuff" they needed to save them was missing.