Alexis Gonzalez
Essay 2
English 1121 (Prof. Scanlan)
April 13th, 2020
Explication of “The Taxi” by Amy Lowell
In the blank verse poem The Taxi by Amy Lowell the speaker expresses the pain of having to separate from a love one. The speaker emphasizes the struggle of having to be apart from the one they love, through imagery, connotation, denotation, symbolism, and several other figurative languages. Through a sad tone the speaker describes the suffering that comes through the departure. I will explicate line 4 “I call out for you against the jutted stars” and line 12 “To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?”. I choose line 4 and line 12 to explicate because these two lines were able to convey the whole of the poem through the use of negative diction. Which help to convey the speaker’s emotions.
In line 4 and 12 the speaker use of imagery helps express the pain and sorrow through the use of the words such as “jutted”, “wound”, and “sharp”. The use of the word “jutted” is a good example of imagery as the words meaning is to be stricken. This can be perceived as a person who is crying or in pain as their watching a love one leave or as they are leaving themselves. Moreover, the use of the word “wounded” is in fact an example of imagery as the word is defined to be injured. This can be observed as the amount of pain inflicted to the person as the distance between each other increases. Lastly, the use of the word “sharp” is indeed an example of imagery, as it signifies a fine point that can be used for cutting or piercing. This can be seen as the person feeling as though they are in physical pain because of their emotions.
Furthermore, the pain and anguish the speaker expresses in line 4 and 12 are examples of the use of the literary device symbolism. As the speaker uses the words “stars”and “night” to help emphasize their sorrow, that is caused by having to depart from their loved one. The use of the word “star” is to represent the loved person by figuratively linking the person to the stars she is relating the feelings of losing someone to being apart from them. As stars are known to commonly symbolize a person whom someone may have lost. The use of the word “night” is defined as a condition or period reminiscent of darkness. The night is frequently symbolized as being depressing, lonely, and empty. Through the journey of leaving the speaker expresses the massive emptiness that is encompassing and constantly inflicting emotional pain on the speaker.
Therefore, in Amy Lowell’s blank verse poem “The Taxi” the speaker dwells upon the pain they are feeling as a result of departing from their beloved. Through the use of the literary devices of imagery, connotation, denotation and symbolism the speaker stresses the trouble of not being able to be with the person they love. In addition, the speaker use of a depressive tone accentuates the struggle that comes with leaving behind their lover. In the explications of line 4 “I call out for you against the jutted stars” and line 12 “To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?”. It can be seen that the speaker is crying out to no avail. I explicate the importance of the words “jutted”, “stars”, “sharp” and “night” that have a negative diction and helps describes the struggle. In fact, the speaker’s choice of wording helps shape and expand on the emotion of the speaker’s experiences through the whole of the poem.
Peer Review Questions:
1–Is the title of the poem and full author’s name provided in the first or second sentence? Be specific if something is missing.
-Yes.
2–Does the student provide the two lines he or she will explicate?
-Yes.
3–What poetry terms does the student examine?
– imagery, connotation, denotation and symbolism
4–Copy and paste your two favorite sentences from the students essay. Then explain why you like them. (example: not only is this an example of the college sentence, this sentence highlights an important poetry term (metaphor) in a very clear way–I get it completely
– “The speaker emphasizes the struggle of having to be apart from the one they love, through imagery, connotation, denotation, symbolism, and several other figurative languages. Through a sad tone the speaker describes the suffering that comes through the departure.” This a very nice and detailed explanation on what the speaker is saying and a little bit of what the poem is about.
5–Copy and paste two sentences that are confusing. Then explain what is confusing about them. (example: you may have mixed up the terms alliteration and assonance, please check to make sure you have the right term for repeated vowel sounds)
– “As stars are known to commonly symbolize a person whom someone may have lost. ” I feel you can describe more of how and why stars symbolize that.
6–Make two concrete suggestions. (example: expand the range of connotations rather than name one connotation; example: instead of using the verb “like” three time in the first paragraph, consider different varying the idea by using “love” or “can relate to”; example: when you revise this, change the lower case “i” to “I”–Prof. Scanlan will definitely say something about that.)
– Your essay was very detailed and descriptive. It was also well written. My only suggestion is what I said at #5. But, other than that great job!
QUESTIONS:
1–Is the title of the poem and full author’s name provided in the first or second sentence? Be specific if something is missing.
Yes, but missing quotation marks around the title of the poem
2–Does the student provide the two lines he or she will explicate?
Yes. Line 4 and line 12
3–What poetry terms does the student examine?
Imagery, Connotation, Denotation, and Symbolism
4–Copy and paste your two favorite sentences from the students essay. Then explain why you like them. (example: not only is this an example of the college sentence, this sentence highlights an important poetry term (metaphor) in a very clear way–I get it completely)
“Therefore, in Amy Lowell’s blank verse poem “The Taxi” the speaker dwells upon the pain they are feeling as a result of departing from their beloved. Through the use of the literary devices of imagery, connotation, denotation and symbolism the speaker stresses the trouble of not being able to be with the person they love.” – I like these two sentences, because they emphasize the topics discussed in the essay. I think it should have been in the introductory paragraph.
5–Copy and paste two sentences that are confusing. Then explain what is confusing about them. (example: you may have mixed up the terms alliteration and assonance, please check to make sure you have the right term for repeated vowel sounds)
“As the speaker uses the words “stars”and “night” to help emphasize their sorrow, that is caused by having to depart from their loved one. The use of the word “star” is to represent the loved person by figuratively linking the person to the stars she is relating the feelings of losing someone to being apart from them.” – I think these sentences need to be checked again. Punctuation should be checked, and put in the right places.
6–Make two concrete suggestions. (example: expand the range of connotations rather than name one connotation; example: instead of using the verb “like” three time in the first paragraph, consider different varying the idea by using “love” or “can relate to”; example: when you revise this, change the lower case “i” to “I”–Prof. Scanlan will definitely say something about that.)
This is a really good essay to start. I think it needs extra proofreading. There are minor grammar errors(tenses, and sentence structures). Good luck
Peer Review Questions:
1–Is the title of the poem and full author’s name provided in the first or second sentence? Be specific if something is missing.
-.Yes
2–Does the student provide the two lines he or she will explicate?
-Yes
3–What poetry terms does the student examine?
– imagery, connotation, denotation, symbolism
4–Copy and paste your two favorite sentences from the students essay. Then explain why you like them. (example: not only is this an example of the college sentence, this sentence highlights an important poetry term (metaphor) in a very clear way–I get it completely
– “In line 4 and 12 the speaker use of imagery helps express the pain and sorrow through the use of the words such as “jutted”, “wound”, and “sharp”. The use of the word “jutted” is a good example of imagery as the words meaning is to be stricken”
In this 2 sentences author express the purpose of imagery and the emotion express by imagery，clear and detail.
5–Copy and paste two sentences that are confusing. Then explain what is confusing about them. (example: you may have mixed up the terms alliteration and assonance, please check to make sure you have the right term for repeated vowel sounds)
“ The use of the word “star” is to represent the loved person by figuratively linking the person to the stars she is relating the feelings of losing someone to being apart from them.”In this sentence “star”，might not just mean the person，it also can point to the distance is cannot reach.
6–Make two concrete suggestions. (example: expand the range of connotations rather than name one connotation; example: instead of using the verb “like” three time in the first paragraph, consider different varying the idea by using “love” or “can relate to”; example: when you revise this, change the lower case “i” to “I”–Prof. Scanlan will definitely say something about that.)
This is a great essay，one of my suggestion is to maybe fine 2 line next to each other，that will more easy to explain the meaning.
second is the meaning of the star，it can mean more.