IN TO THE VIRGINS TO MAKEMUCH OF TIME BY ROBERT HERRICK AND THE MAN HE KILLED
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Michael W. Hoston
04/27/2004
Diction and Tone
In the two poems To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, by Robert Herrick and The Man He Killed, by Thomas Hardy, the authors used diction to paint pictures in the readers mind. Even though everyone retrieves their own meaning from poems, the more the reader understands the use of diction, the easier it will be to relate to poems. With the use of diction the author can put the readers mind in an era or location where he, the author, wants it to be.
In the first verse of the first poem Robert Herrick catches the eye with the refreshing use of the word rosebuds. Instantly giving the reader a comfortable familiar feeling of being in a rose garden or meadow. The way the author used the words "Old Time" gives the reader the impression that he the author is also old. The pause at the beginning of each second sentence and the rhyming of every-other last word makes the poem sound not so serious; even though it's about a serious subject. Politely the author gives you the reader a quick glimpse life in a few words," And this same flower that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying"(pg.693)...