The Apparition

The biggest thing to get from this poem was definitely the tone. I felt as if I could actually hear this man's threat to his lover. This man is saying that if his lover goes off with this imaginary man and thinks she is free, she won't be because he is going to come and haunt her. The speaker gives off this foreboding and creepy tone which makes him almost seem like a stalker or something. He goes far enough to say that this new and imaginary man will not even be able to protect her.

Donne also has some imagery that contributes to this eerie theme. "Then thy sick candle will begin to wink." This text gives this creepy mental image of a candle flickering in the silent darkness, but the use of personification here just adds to the creepiness. Winking is just an uncomfortable action in general. It can freak people out and it is just awkward.

The City is Alive

" Down the river was Notre Dame squatting against the night sky." (pg. 83)

Growing up in a Catholic school system in Indianapolis, Indiana has made it almost impossible for my eyes and ears to ignore or skip over the words "Notre Dame." When I spotted the words on page 83, I also spotted an example of personification that went along with them. In France, the Notre Dame de Paris is a cathedral. Jake here describes this building as "squatting." Hemingway gave this human characteristic to the cathedral to try and show the reader that this city had a way of almost appearing alive. Ernest wanted to emphasize how graceful and beautiful this city was at night time. I believe he used the Notre Dame because it is a well known building. After he mentions Notre Dame, he further explains how the city is alive by bringing up couples walking and a river flowing.

Revisiting the Past

"This little field, I thought, had swallowed so much. My best friend. My pride. My belief in myself as a man of some small dignity and courage." (pg. 176)





Here O'Brien uses personification and gives the field the characteristic of being able to swallow. He speaks as if the field was striving to consume the only things he had left in his life. All of these things were sucked away into the mud and disappeared. When he returned, I think it had to be weird knowing that so many items and feelings were lost under his own two feet. I would be a little scared if I was in his position. He had to know that he was literally stepping on belongings and maybe even people.

It is hard for me to think that the field he described when Kiowa died was the same field as the one that was now grassy, flat, dry, and full of butterflies. I think Tim wanted to make a point that even though things can seem horrific, there is always a possibility for change. I am sure Tim was glad that his daughter got to imagine him walking around on this field, rather than the field he could still remember 20 years ago.