Monday, February 27, 2012

What are the senses in "Fireworks" by Amy Lowell?

When we refer to the senses, we are talking about how the
author or poet uses imagery to make what they are describing come alive to us by
appealing to the five senses: sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing. Obviously it is
slightly difficult to use all of these in literature, but good images will try to appeal
to more than just a visual description of what is going on. In this excellent poem,
which uses an extended metaphor of firewords to describe the love-hate relationship
between the speaker and her partner, note how the senses are appealed
to:



But
whenever I see you, I burst apart


And scatter the sky with
my blazing heart.


It spits and sparkles in the stars and
balls,


Buds into roses--and flares, and
falls.



Note how we have a
strong visual description of the speaker "bursting apart" on the sight of her partner.
The firework of her "blazing heart" is said to "spit and sparkle," giving us the sound
of what happens, combinesd with the "stars and balls" transforming into "roses" as they
explode. Through such appeals to the senses Lowell has created a very strong poem full
of images that, by appealing to the senses, allow us to imagine and see what she is
describing in our mind's eye.

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