Chapter 7 Figurative Language 3
Paradoxical, Overstatement , Understatement
1 - A Paradox
Example 1 In this line we talk about death . All as a human being will die . Death is a truth for everyone but there is an eternity , we live eternally and forever . It’s a contradiction . The contradiction could be in a situation or a statement . It’s sometimes not true & imaginative .The value of paradox is to serve the truth .
Example 2 Sometimes we have it as a verbal paradox when Pop wrote :-
“how can a man damn by praising ?’’
Example 3 “Much madness is divine sense” The speaker is talking about madness & how the madness is something great . so Paradox is Contradiction . What is the value of paradox ?
It is its shock value . Its seeming impossibility startles the reader into attention .
2- Overstatement or Hyperbole
It is an exaggeration and it serves the truth . For example “ The Eagle ‘’’
“ close to the sun in lonely lands ‘’’ The sun is very far ,so the speaker is exaggerating in this line . The eagle can fly highly but can’t be close to the sun . Sometimes the exaggeration telling the truth & the facts . It has many effects , it may be humorous , or sad ( grave ) , fanciful or restrained , convincing or unconvincing . Example , Wordsworth reports in his poem “ I wandered lonely as a cloud ‘’’ “’stretched in never-ending line”
It means no ending until the end of the earth . The poet exaggerates the facts because the romantic poets are fanciful and imaginative . He noticed the flower in endless number and he exaggerates the scene
3 – Understatement
It is the opposite of overstatement or saying less than one means , may exist in what one says or merely in how one says it . Example : -
That man who holds his hand for half an hour in a lighted fire will experience “ a sensation of excessive and disagreeable warmth’
When you put your hand in the fire it is similar to more heat .
What is ethic ?
It is the first literary English work . Beoulf is an earliest English ethic . It was written in Dutch not in English .
Incident
By Countee Cullen (1903-1946)
The poet is Countee Cullen , he is an American modern poet who lived in the early 19th century .
Who is speaking ?
He is a young boy , he is 8 years old . He is telling us about his incident .
The 1st stanza
What’s Baltimore ? It’s a city .
What happened to the boy ?
We have two boys , one is black & the other is white in color . The black boy is a visitor , he came to visit Baltimore . He smiled to the white boy but this boy poked out his tongue to him . He corns him & looks down to him . The poet is telling something that happened in the past .
“Once ‘’ its like narrating a story
“ riding “ may be he rides a bicycle .
How does the black boy feel firstly ?
He feels glee & happy . His heart was full with happiness & enjoy .
“ Heart – filled, head-filled with glee “
“ I saw a Baltimorean “ it means he saw another boy from the city .
“Keep looking straight at me ‘ he is saying that the white boy looked at him carefully & staring at him . In the first stanza , the black boy visited the city for the first time , he was so excited & happy .
The 2nd stanza
The speaker says he was eight years old and he was very small in size .
“ very small “ means small in size & in the mind , he is innocent , naïve , he doesn’t know the difference between white & black people in that time , but the other boy knows very well this difference .. The white Baltimorean is like him in the age , size & gender . , so there is an equality .
Is this equality applied in the society in that time ? No
It is a spontaneous reaction of a child in such age . He looked at me & I smiled , I shocked when he called ma a nigger .
The white boy committed many abuses , what are they ?
1- He was looking straight at the black boy .
2- The black boy smiled to the white , instead of smiling to me . he poked out his tongue .
3- He called “Nigger “ to the black boy .
It’s very clear that the society was against the black people during that age .
The poet uses a comma & capitalize “ Nigger “ in the fourth line to show us the horrible act , so there is an inequality , the white boy is against him .
The 3rd stanza
The black boy stayed in Baltimore from May to December , during all these eight months he saw a lot of things , but he never forgets this event . it’s always in his mind .
‘’’’Of all the things that happened there’’
There is an overstatement in this line .
“That’s all that I remember “ there is an understatement in this line .
The last line links the title . The title is very strong and effective because it refers to that event or incident for the black boy .
The 2nd stanza is the crucial & climatical stanza . The fourth line in it is the climatic line in the poem , the speaker tells us how he was innocent & naïve . This memory & experience were very powerful . The blacks have no rights but all the whites have all the rights in the society , they are cruel because of the slavery .
What is the theme , the issue , the general idea or the main idea in this poem?
The racial discrimination or the inequality is the issue in this poem .
What’s your own response after you read this poem ?
There is more understanding to the way we should treat each other because we all should respect each other not insult each other .
What’s the technique or technicality or the structure in this poem ?
The poems consists of three stanzas , each of four lines ( quatrain )
Quatrain is a stanza of four lines .
Couplet is a stanza of two lines .
Verse is more than four lines . This kind of verse we call it ballade .
Ballade is a narrative poem & lyrical poem . (lyre is an instrument to produce music )
What are the kinds of poems?
1- Lyrical 2- Narrative ( telling a story )
The poem is a ballade , consists of three quatrains . There is a variation in the rhyme scheme to show the inequality . It’s not arranged because he wants to show us the theme . This because there is a relationship between the rhyme & the theme . So there is a racial discrimination in the society .
Figure of speech
Overstatement in “ Of all the thing that happened there “
Understatement in “That’s all that I remember”.