Analysis of the Use of Imagery and Connotations in Poetry

“Darkened house, drenched and chilled, blinking into the slanting rain../as the sun slips behind scrambled clouds and the pears, mellowed to a golden-green, glow like flames among the boughs”(1). The poem 'Gouge, Adze, Rasp, Hammer' by Chris Forhan is about a narrator reflecting on a breakup that left him feeling about the loss of love. The poem 'The Green One Over There' by Katia Kapovich is about a narrator, older sister, felt threatened by her half brother. The poem, “The summer I was sixteen” by Geraldine Connolly is about a narrator reflecting on the summer of her childhood and remembering as she grows up. Although imagery and connotation can help the reader understand the theme, mood, and tone of the poem, still those are not the authors intended in their poems. When looking at the poems, “The summer I was sixteen” by Geraldine Connoly, “Gouge, Adze, Rasp, Hammer” by Chris Forhan, and “The green one over there” by Katia Kapovich, imagery and connotations allows the reader to understand themes and moods better.

In the poem, “The green one over there” by Katia Kapovich, reveals how jealousy can negatively impact and ultimately destroy interpersonal relationships within a family. The older sister feels threatened by her half brother, who she perceives as being superior to her. The origin of jealousy between siblings is often derived from the competition for affection from a parent. The main character expresses how she intensely dislikes being in the presence of her brother. In the phrase, “He was cute and smart and innately kind. Unlike me at his age, according to my father.”(1) we can see that this phrase reveals how the main character feels inferior compared to her brother, and constantly lives in his shadow. And also in the phrase “He did better than I with poetry, reciting by six some ‘grownups’ versus which I couldn’t memorize at eleven(1)” we can see that she is always comparing herself to her brother, and feels that he always outshines her. In the poem, the green one over there, author Katia Kapovich used few poetic devices such as metaphor, imagery, comparison, criticism, empathy, and connotation. In the phrase “my father had frozen in his heart.(1)” use of metaphor makes the poem more dramatic and clearly illustrates the point the author is trying to portray. 

A metaphor is a powerful way of expressing the lack of love experienced by the main character from her father. The phrase “He was cute and smart and innately kind, unlike me at his age, according to our father. He did better than I with poetry, reciting by six some ‘grownup’ versus which I couldn’t memorize at eleven.”(2) shows the use of comparison. The narrator used words ‘unlike’ and ‘than’ to compare herself with her little brother. The poem also used phrases “My half-brother had dark sad eyes, wheaten hair and the same gorgeous skin his mother had. He was cute and smart and innately kind.../The waiting area was noisy and smelled of urine and medication/ a row of iron bunks with striped mattress/ He lay leaning on a big gray pillow, a glass of water in his hand. The doctor wanted him to take a pill, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He was willful, obstreperous, he pushed away from the hand of medicine. The green one, over there! inserting his finger in a glass of water where a green ship, a three-funneled steamer, was slowly sinking at the time”(1+2). 

The narrator uses imagery to explain her little brother, description of the hospital, and the green ship the narrator’s brother saw at the end of the poem. And not only the narrator used imagery to describe places and things, but the narrator also used the imagery in a phrase “after I realized that everything about this boy put me down, humiliated me and filled me with jealousy. I would meet dad on one condition: if he wanted to see me, he had to come to my place.” This phrase used imagery to describe the feelings the narrator had on her little brother. These phrases from the poem support that the imagery helps the reader understand the theme, and mood better. The theme of this poem is jealous of the siblings, and the mood of this poem is jealous. The connotation in this poem is used in the phrase “green ship.” or “green.” In this poem, The green one over there, Kapovich used word green as the meaning of jealousy. The phrase, “where a green ship, a three-funneled steamer, was slowly sinking at the time.”, Kapovich described the green ship as her feeling to her little brother, which was jealousy. The author used the phrase “green ship,... was slowly sinking at the time” to describe how she had a feeling of jealousy to her little brother, which was green ship in the poem, and that feeling of jealousy disappeared, the green ship was sinking slowly in the poem. The connotation from this poem mostly helps the reader to understand the mood of the poem, which is jealous, because the green symbolizes the feeling of jealous of the narrator’s little brother.

In the poem, “Gouge, Adze, Rasp, Hammer” by Chris Forhan is a reflection of a breakup that left the narrator feeling and does not want to be like people who become unfeeling of breakup to deal with the pain that comes with the breakup. Forhan sets a heartbreaking and lovesick tone in his poem, “Gouge, Adze, Rasp, Hammer”. Forhan used imagery, and connotation to articulate his journey of getting over a loved one leaving. Forhan sets the human mind and body against the wonders of nature, explaining the beauty of that the ‘scrumble clouds’ do not have feelings or love lives to worry about. The theme of this poem is that nature is always beautiful, and it never has to worry about getting messed up. Forhan, the author of this poem, used great details and imagery to expound on the natural wonders of the world, emphasizing that the ‘pears, mellowed to a golden-green, glow like flames among the boughs.’ The author Chris Forhan was sending another message that nature never changes, and also about how every day is the same without his lover. He contrasts nature with artificial tools, saying that they are forceful objects while plants and such are untouched, pure, and divine phenomena. Chris Forhan compares himself as lilac in the phrase “for the lilac that strains so hard to win attention to its sweet inscrutability; when one admires instead the lowly.” The author used the imagery in phrases “so this is what it’s like when love leaves and one is disappointed that the body and mind continue to exist, … her darkened house, drenched and chilled, blinking into the slanting rain… as the sun slips behind scrumble clouds and the pears, mellowed to a golden-green, glow like flames among the boughs… scattering them in the dirt, in the slug’s sure, slow arrival to nowhere… for the lilac that strains so hard to win attention to its sweet inscrutability;” In the phrase, “her darkened house, drenched and chilled, blinking into the slanting rain” is the imagery of sense of loneliness and separation, meaning the feelings narrator felt after the breakup. This phrase supports the thesis statement, showing how the imagery of this poem, “her darkened house, drenched and chilled, blinking into the slanting rain” helps readers understand the mood/tone of loneliness and the phrase “flocks of swallows roil and dip, and streams churn, thick with leaping salmon, and the bee advances on the rose.” This phrase finishes with the connotation of nature, so it supports the thesis statement that nature is always beautiful, and it never has to worry about getting messed up.

In the poem, “The summer I was sixteen” by Geraldine Connoly is about the summer when the narrator was sixteen years old. Conolly used vivid imagery in her poem such as the turquoise pool which evokes the pleasures of swimming in clean, clear water in an environment specifically designed for human comfort. The word boy gives unusual force. It achieves a forceful impact. The narrator is looking back on her youth with a mixture of both pleasure and irony. This poem takes the readers into the mindset of a teenager without wholly embracing a teenager’s perspective. The placement of individual words in this poem is often highly effective. She used the strong verb shaking which makes the action sound as we were taking place in the present than the word ‘shook’. The theme of this poem is enjoying her childhood and remembering as she grows up. The mood is cheerful with a sense of positivity. The author was trying to convey her reaction to the problems at the time the poem was written in her poem in comparison to sixteen years old’s summer. This poem is full of vivid imagery in phrases 'the turquoise pool', 'cherry colas, hot-dogs, Dreamsicles, we came to the counter where bees staggered into root beer cups and drowned', 'cotton candy torches', 'summer shadows', 'we spread our chenille blankets across grass, pressed radios to our ears', 'loosened thin bikini straps'. The author used the words us, we, and our repeatedly showing that it's a group and pictorially describes how this group of girls' spent their summer. It is also in the past tense which it is reminiscent of this girl's summer that she was sixteen. This poem shows the typical summer of teens, careless and free. The phrase 'We did not exist beyond the gaze of a boy', 'oiled and sated, we sunbathed', 'mouthing the old words, then loosened thin bikini straps and rubbed baby oil with iodine across sunburned shoulders' is a good description of what every teen girl' summer is like, it's a perfect summer for a young teen, an improbable world if you will, one that never lasts and goes by too fast. 

Connolly also makes an allusion saying, we danced to the low beat of 'Duke of Earl. With the words lifted, ladder rose and paraded, danced, loosened, the narrator indicated the carefree and elated state of her sixteenth year. The narrator's heavy use of imagery, color indicates that the only thing she cared about her sixteenth year was having innocent, worry-free fun. The diction of mirage is that she was surrounded by an illusion that life was full of cherry colas and Dreamsicles, and while she has stuck in that dream-like state in 'an improbable world' she 'did not exist beyond the gaze of a boy'. She was preoccupied, like other teenage girls, with boys, hanging out with friends, and listening to music. ' The summer shadows kept her hidden real world, but she would eventually be tossing a glance through a chain-link and discover life beyond adolescence. This whole poem shows that none of these memories would have happened without her friends. This poem is very nostalgic.The author looks back at all the things in her teenage years and everything has a light sense to it even when she says rubbed baby oil with iodine across sunburned shoulders. She also stated that there's dancing in the same stanza that describes bees drowning in root beer. This poem represents a young adult/child by seeming carefree with all the fragments and repeated specificness of the trees and foods. The description sets the poem alive, like how a young adult feels. The poem captures the mindset of a sixteen-year-old girl and her friends who think that the whole world has eyes on them. The imagery such as mirage of bubbles makes everything so vivid, even the cotton candy torch, sweet as furtive kisses. It would be kisses, boys, and tanning that the girls care about even though they're sunburned. 

The imagery is bright, and flawless, like looking through rose-tinted glasses. There's nothing dark or foreboding. The imagery was also very prominent with words like turquoise, silver, screaming, water, oiled and sated, beat (of the music), cherry colas, hot-dogs, and sunburned which all related to the senses. The fact that she is 16 would support this idea because she is still a kid and is still protected, but she is old enough to recognize that there is another world out there, even if she is still too young to understand it. the tone is innocent and nostalgic. The author uses many sweet words such as “cherry colas, root beer, and cotton candy” to suggest that the speaker, at the time that the events were occurring, was innocent and pure. She is untainted and still enjoys pure childish things. Each event is described in great detail to show how important this time frame was for the speaker, enough so that she could name and describe every aspect.

The poem ends on a less upbeat tone, transitioning to them growing up. Then loosened thin bikini straps compared to the rest of the poem, the last stanza’s material is somewhat explicit. The speaker also mentions her “sunburned shoulders” which reminds the reader of the great discomfort that comes with sunburns, but most importantly is the last line “through the chain link at an improbable world”. At sixteen, there’s nothing else on a girl’s mind then fun times, fashion, and boys. The speaker is sheltered from the outside world behind the rugged cold chain-linked fence and is not prepared for what’s to come. this poem is extremely nostalgic. the child-like words such as bubbles and boys to give the reader a vivid sense of imagery. The tone is also very carefree as well as nostalgic. It describes a time where teenagers have not a care in the world but having fun and enjoying themselves. It is completely innocent. As others have pointed out, the author uses we instead of I meaning that she shares this memory with others.

This is what makes it very relatable to many people because even though their childhood may have not done the same things as Connolly describes, people can relate to the feeling one gets thinking about summer. the main focus of this poem is on the teenage mindset where nothing really matters. It has a dreamy quality with diction like the mirage of bubbles and personification in the line The turquoise pool rose up to meet us. This poem yields a nostalgic tone, especially with the cheerful diction such as sweet, gobbled, and chenille. These words all have positive connotations and are reminiscent of a teenage girl's life. Important literary devices in this piece are diction, allusions, connotation, and imagery.

Although imagery and connotation can help the reader understand the theme, mood, and tone of the poem, still those are not the authors intended in their poems. imagery and connotations allow the reader to understand themes and moods better. The complication of usage of literary devices such as imagery and connotation exists. This complication is important to consider because the literary devices such as imagery generate a vibrant and graphic presentation of a scene that appeals to as many of the reader's senses as possible. It aids the reader's imagination to envision the characters and scenes in the literary piece clearly and connotation refers to a meaning that is implied by a word apart from the thing which it describes explicitly. Words carry cultural and emotional associations or meanings, in addition to their literal meanings or denotations.

Imagery and connotation, not only allows the reader to understand the theme and mood of the poem better, it also generates a vibrant and graphic presentation of a scene that appeals to as many of the reader's senses as possible, it aids the reader's imagination to envision the characters and scenes in the literary piece clearly and refers to a meaning that is implied by a word apart from the thing which it describes explicitly, words carry cultural and emotional associations or meanings, in addition to their literal meanings or denotations. The literary analysis helps readers better understand literary works.