ENL3 FINAL EXAM - Close Reading Section

Batter My Heart – John Donne

Summary: The speaker pleads to God to free him from sin, describing the struggle of faith with intense passion. The poem depicts spiritual conflict, yearning for divine intervention, and the desire to be “ravished” by God, highlighting the tension between human weakness and divine power.

Effect of Poetic Devices: The sonnet form, iambic pentameter, and caesura emphasize urgency and emotional intensity. Biblical allusions and sexual metaphors intensify the speaker’s desperation, making the reader feel the internal battle vividly.

Connection: The poem explores themes of faith, redemption, and human vulnerability. Donne’s use of passionate imagery underscores the speaker’s need for transformation, illustrating how devotion and desire for absolution are intertwined.

Only Until This Cigarette Has Ended – Edna St. Vincent Millay

Summary: The speaker reflects on the fleeting nature of memory and relationships, using a cigarette as a metaphor for the ephemeral quality of love. She mourns the fading intensity of a past romance, emphasizing longing and impermanence.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Imagery of shadows and embers evokes the sensory experience of the cigarette, reinforcing the transience of memory. Metaphor and sonnet structure give form to emotion, while word choice highlights nostalgia and resignation.

Connection: The poem connects to themes of impermanence and the passage of time. By linking memory to physical objects, Millay shows how love and loss linger, yet inevitably fade, capturing the bittersweet nature of human attachment.

America – Claude McKay

Summary: The speaker addresses America as “she,” exploring the country’s harsh realities alongside admiration for its potential. The poem contrasts bitterness and cruelty with hope, acknowledging systemic racism and societal challenges while affirming strength and resilience.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Personification gives America human qualities, enhancing the emotional critique. Imagery and simile (“like priceless treasure sinking in the sand”) emphasize both oppression and hidden potential, creating tension and complexity for the reader.

Connection: McKay critiques societal injustice while expressing love for the nation. The poem explores themes of resilience, identity, and hope amidst adversity, reflecting the immigrant and Black experience in America during the Harlem Renaissance.

How Do I Love Thee? – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Summary: The speaker expresses profound love for the auditor, enumerating its intensity, scope, and spiritual depth. She emphasizes that her love transcends life and death, portraying enduring devotion in a personal, intimate tone.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Anaphora (“I love thee”) emphasizes consistency and intensity of emotion. Metaphors and similes convey the immeasurable and idealized nature of love, while iambic pentameter adds lyrical musicality.

Connection: The poem examines themes of eternal love and spiritual devotion. Browning highlights the power of love to define identity and connection, suggesting that true love persists beyond physical existence.

Sea Rose – H.D.

Summary: The poem compares two types of roses: the common spice-rose and the resilient, rare sea rose. The speaker admires the sea rose for its strength, endurance, and unique beauty, challenging conventional standards.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Imagery and symbolism distinguish the two roses, emphasizing individuality. Enjambment and sparse syntax create intensity and focus. Second-person narration draws readers into identification with the sea rose.

Connection: H.D. explores themes of uniqueness and resilience. The sea rose symbolizes women who defy societal norms, demonstrating how true beauty and value emerge through struggle and survival.

The Garden – H.D.

Summary: The speaker admires a rose’s strength while reflecting on oppressive heat that cannot be changed. The poem conveys tension between admiration and struggle, using vivid natural imagery to express human experience and limits.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Apostrophe, personification, and hyperbole amplify the speaker’s engagement with the rose and the environment. Imagery conveys both beauty and intensity, creating a palpable, immersive experience for the reader.

Connection: The poem examines resilience and human limitation. H.D. suggests that strength exists within natural order, yet humans face forces beyond control, reflecting themes of endurance and confrontation with adversity.

The Bus – Arun Kolatkar (Jejuri)

Summary: The poem narrates an ordinary morning bus ride to Jejuri, observing the environment and passengers in vivid detail. Everyday life is described with sensory attention, highlighting motion, sound, and atmosphere.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Imagery and personification make the mundane compelling, engaging readers with the sensory details of movement and wind. Kolatkar’s word choice conveys immediacy and intimacy with the setting.

Connection: The poem explores themes of travel, observation, and the interplay of self with environment. By emphasizing ordinary moments, Kolatkar reveals the subtle beauty and rhythm of daily life.

The Door – Arun Kolatkar (Jejuri)

Summary: The poem describes an old, decaying door barely held in place, symbolizing fragility, decay, and temporary support. The imagery conveys both deterioration and resilience.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Symbolism and imagery emphasize impermanence and vulnerability. Vivid description of the door’s physical state evokes reflection on time, decay, and survival.

Connection: The door represents broader themes of memory, fragility, and endurance. Kolatkar highlights how even failing structures or individuals can persist, offering a meditation on resilience in imperfection.

The Old Woman – Arun Kolatkar (Jejuri)

Summary: An elderly woman relies on tourists for survival, reflecting poverty and vulnerability. Repetition and imagery capture her persistence and dignity, showing human resilience amid hardship.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Similes and repetition (“crack”) create rhythm and emphasize the woman’s struggle. Imagery allows readers to visualize her interaction with the speaker, enhancing empathy.

Connection: The poem examines social inequalities and human dignity. By highlighting individual hardship, Kolatkar critiques societal indifference while exploring compassion and connection.

Haiku – Natsume Sōseki

Summary: The haiku depicts a winter forest bare of leaves, emphasizing loneliness and the harshness of the season.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Personification of the wind (“winds howl in rage”) conveys emotion through nature. The 5-7-5 syllable structure sharpens focus, giving weight to imagery and atmosphere.

Connection: The haiku explores themes of solitude and seasonal impermanence. By reflecting nature’s harshness, it mirrors human emotional experience and the universal feeling of isolation.

Haiku – Yosa Buson

Summary: The haiku depicts one candle lighting another at twilight, symbolizing transition, continuity, and renewal.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Symbolism conveys the transfer of energy and life metaphorically. Imagery evokes a quiet, meditative tone, encouraging reflection on transformation.

Connection: Buson emphasizes themes of growth, transition, and interconnectedness. The poem shows how continuity allows renewal, linking human experience to cyclical natural processes.

Haiku – Matsuo Bashō

Summary: The haiku captures an old pond’s stillness until a frog jumps in, producing ripples. This moment emphasizes the beauty of nature and the suddenness of change.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Imagery and onomatopoeia create sensory engagement, bringing the pond and frog to life. The brief haiku format intensifies focus on a single moment.

Connection: The poem explores themes of impermanence, nature, and observation. It reflects the fleeting beauty of life and highlights mindfulness in the present moment.

The Story of Your Life – Ted Chiang

Summary: Linguist Louise experiences time nonlinearly after learning Heptapod B. She reflects on love, loss, and mortality, particularly in relation to her future daughter.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Repetition emphasizes emotional cycles; metaphors and similes convey complex alien language and thought. Imagery bridges human and alien experiences, immersing the reader.

Connection: The story explores themes of fate, love, and perception of time. Chiang suggests that understanding time differently shapes human experience, including grief and relational depth.

In the Forests of Memory – E. Lily Yu

Summary: Sunny Caballo lives among holographic graves in a futuristic cemetery, marginalized by society. She is eventually murdered and forgotten, highlighting loneliness and societal neglect.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Imagery and symbolism convey isolation and invisibility. The dystopian tone emphasizes emotional and societal weight, eliciting empathy and reflection.

Connection: The story critiques class inequality and societal memory. Sunny’s death symbolizes how marginalized individuals are erased, reinforcing themes of neglect, loneliness, and injustice.

The God of Small Things (Chapters 1–7) – Arundhati Roy

Summary: The Ipe twins, Rahel and Estha, navigate trauma, family dysfunction, and caste divisions in Kerala, India. The narrative moves between the 1960s and 1990s, portraying grief, love, and societal constraints.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Imagery, symbolism, and anthropomorphism emphasize corruption, innocence, and memory. Figurative language conveys the emotional intensity and cultural context of the twins’ experiences.

Connection: The text explores themes of forbidden love, social inequality, and generational trauma. Early chapters establish emotional stakes, illustrating how caste and tradition shape individual destinies.

The God of Small Things (Chapters 13–End) – Arundhati Roy

Summary: Sophie Mol’s drowning and Velutha’s beating highlight societal injustice and familial collapse. Rahel and Estha navigate trauma, and forbidden love is punished, revealing systemic oppression.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Symbolism, imagery, and metaphors depict innocence lost and injustice. Figurative language communicates tragedy, evoking empathy and moral reflection.

Connection: The narrative critiques caste, patriarchy, and corruption, exploring forbidden love and family dynamics. It underscores the consequences of societal norms and injustice on vulnerable individuals.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas – Ursula K. Le Guin

Summary: Omelas is a utopia sustained by the suffering of a single child. Citizens must accept this moral cost or leave.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Imagery contrasts vibrant city life with the child’s misery, creating tension and moral discomfort. Symbolism of the child forces readers to confront ethical dilemmas.

Connection: The story examines utilitarian ethics, innocence, and complicity. It prompts reflection on societal structures and personal responsibility in the face of injustice.

Lihaaf – Ismat Chughtai

Summary: Begum Jan suffers emotional and physical neglect from her husband and finds comfort with her maid, Rabbu. The story is narrated from a child’s perspective, observing intimacy and secrecy.

Effect of Poetic Devices: Symbolism (the quilt), metaphor (itch), and imagery depict repression, desire, and rebellion. Irony of child narration intensifies contrast between innocence and adult realities.

Connection: The story explores female sexuality, patriarchy, and rebellion. Chughtai critiques societal constraints on women, emphasizing desire, secrecy, and defiance within oppressive structures.