Bitterness

In the past and present, there have been numerous poets who have composed similar pieces to those of other poets. In 1859, Emily Dickinson produced “Success is counted sweetest.” In1923, Robert Frost wrote “Fire and Ice.” That same year, Wallace Stevens created “Gubbinal.” These three poems share much in common. They contain many of the same elements of poetry, such as connotative meaning, imagery, symbolism, and tone.

First, the three famous poems all possess a connotative meaning . Within the poem “Gubbinal,” Stevens wrote, “The world is ugly”. In the quotation, the word ugly isn’t merely used to describe what the world looks like. It has a deeper meaning. Ugly represents the evil and corruption of the world. In “Fire and Ice”, Frost’s first two lines are “Some say the world will end in fire,/ some say in ice.” This excerpt also has a greater meaning. In the first line, fire represents the desires of the world. Like fires, our desires burn and are hard to put out. The ice in line two, stands for the hate in the world. Similar to ice, hate is viewed as something that causes people to be rigid, unmoving and cold. In “Success is counted sweetest”, Dickinson wrote, “the purple host/ Who took the flag today.” She is saying the members of a victorious army, are not able to define victory as well as the defeated men, who hear the sounds of the victors, from a distance.

Next, each of these poems has imagery. In “Gubbinal,” there are various examples of

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imagery. “That strange flower, the sun,” is the first example. A picture of a flower appears in the

readers mind. Because the author describes it as strange, a picture of an unusual flower, like a sunflower, is formed. In line six and seven, Stevens writes, “that tuft of jungle feathers, that animal eye.” When reading this, a picture of tropical bird feathers clumped together begins to appear. A picture of an eye of a strong, powerful animal, like a tiger, also appears. The last form of imagery in this poem is, “That savage of fire, that seed.” The two pictures that form are, a fire burning out of control and a seed that keeps on growing. In the poem, “Fire and Ice,” there are a few examples of imagery. In the first two lines, Robert frost wrote, “Some say the world will end in fir,/some say in ice.” These two lines appeal to the readers sense of vision. A picture of the world completely engulfed with fire and a picture of the world entirely covered by ice arises in the readers mind. In this poem, Frost applies the sense of taste, when he says “From what I’ve tasted of desire.” The reader imagines themself eating something pleasurable and delicious, like chocolate. In the poem, “Success is counted sweetest,” there are some forms of imagery. The first is, “to comprehend the nectar.”. When reading this line, the reader imagines drinking a beverage that is delicious, sweet, such as orange juice because nectar is considered something delicious to drink that a consists of fruit juice and pulp. The last form of imagery, is in line seven, when Dickinson wrote, “who took the flag today.” A picture of an army winning a battle, is envisioned.

In addition, all three poems have symbolism. Within “Gubbinal”, Stevens wrote, “That savage of fire, that seed.” The line illustrates the corruption, violence, and evil in the world. This violence and corruption keeps spreading like a fire and growing like a seed. In the poem, “Fire and Ice,” Robert Frost uses symbolism in line eight. Frost wrote, “..to say the destruction of