Essay on Two Poems After Ovid

Submitted By sessoms72
Words: 506
Pages: 3
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Brittany Sessoms
Ap English 4
1st period

In her poem Two Poems After Ovid Amy Beeder utilizes imagery and metaphors, among other literary devices, to highlight Persephone's altered perspective on life after her abduction. Her use of diction and meter gives the poem its own tragic beauty. The metaphor “reeking dark cradles of stars” expresses Persephone's negative feelings toward stars, darkness, and night in general, which sets the tone for the rest of the poem. In “The field might blossom into flame;” Persephone uses a flower term to describe a fire that would destroy crops. Using such a 'beautiful' term might indicate that Persephone can now find beauty in destruction, due to her time in the Underworld. In her absence, the wheat could also develop blights and stink like rotten eggs. These two circumstances give the reader a better understanding of Persephone's importance to crops and the harvest. Persephone's description of herself as “just another bead of spawn gone down, another slant of shade for evening's husk.” holds two different meanings. By “another bead of spawn gone down,” Persephone clarifies that she is just one of many lost offspring and is therefore relatively insignificant. “Another slant of shade for evening's husk” is another metaphor for the day's death count, which also employs more wordplay by indirectly referring to corn husks. These metaphors display how nonchalantly Persephone views death now. The incorporation of farmer's terminology serves as a juxtaposition to the otherwise dark subject matter, much like Persephone in Hades' kingdom. The contrasting images of the word ravished show Persephone's original thoughts toward her situation, and her thoughts now. “A ram's brute advances” describes her initial feelings towards Hades, and “his frail caress” reveals that Hades does love Persephone but he has terrible people skills and the Underworld is pretty depressing. “Now oxen drag their broken plows” presents winter imagery, and may be a
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