Poem Analysis Essay Example: They Say Plant Do Not Speak by Rosalia de Castro

Rosalia de Castro is one of the titleholders of the Galician Renaissance. She was well-known author novelist and a poet. Her poetic pieces of poem contain Cantares Gallegos, which are both written in her language. Examples of her famous poem are: They Say that Plants do not Speak and The atmosphere is Incandescent. In most of her poetry, she has used narrated about the power, the spirit of the Galician people-their vivacity, their wisdom and myth, their bitterness of Castilian domination, their love of their motherland, and the distresses of deficiency and migration. From 1867, nevertheless, Castro began to write more personally, unfolding in verse her own deepest feelings-regret, suppressed desire, the suffering of living, the unhappiness of spiritual seclusion, fear of death, the briefness of love, the belief that entirety is in vain. They Say Plants do not Speak is a perfect example of a poem that she wrote to express her feelings of old age, where she gives plants human nature to speak what was on her mind, also gives the objects more prominent ability. However, the author uses cliches to express the broadness of growing old.

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In this poem, Castro personifies plants while criticizing the notion held by people about plants. Only human being and animals can alter sound and world from their mouth. She ironically goes against the law of order by saying "they say plant do not speak nor the brook, nor the birds, nor the waves with their roars they whisper against me." However, in this poem, plants have been given human characters and ability to speak up their mind. She uses plants to express her innermost fear of old age. The plants criticize her as she passes it: "there goes a madwoman, dreaming of everlasting springtide of life and field.... "she uses this approach to tell her audience the bitter truth of life that is at some point in human being grows weak. This approach moreover, captures the attention of the reader; using plants hold more water that uses human beings (Connolly, 609). However, this poem goes against common use of flowers in poems, many other use flowers to display theme of romanticism, but Castro in this poem uses flowers to express the message of fear." The emotion of the reader is further deepened by the use of Onomatopoeia Ah there goes a mad woman"(5). 'Ah 'as used captures one of the five senses of human being, precisely, the sense of voice.

Moreover, she uses hyperbole to demonstrate the magnitude of her fears and to create humor. Padilla (1) explains hyperbole as has the characteristic that is an exaggeration or says something more significant than the real. Examples of hyperbole in the poem are waves roar (2) they whisper (2), and will not murmur. The poet is this case has used hyperboles to make the object become moon, waves, and plants to be bigger than a real object, to give a special effect. Furthermore, they are used make the reader develop pictures in mind to comprehend the actual intended meaning from the sentences and finally to drive the sense of the purpose of the title of the poem.

However, Castro uses cliches words to express her hostile attitude of old age. She uses words such as grey hair, which from the past, white hair as always being associated with old age. From a broader angle, it expresses here bareness with the old age, which is characterized by trembling and frozen. This cliche has been used conveniently to match up with the terrible situation since there is a better way of expressing the old age rather than associating it with grey hair and weakening of the body.

Castor is one of the poets that have employed personification, hyperbole, and cliches effectively to express her inner thoughts in an interesting in the poem: They Say Plants Do not Speak to capture the attention and develop the imagination of the readers as she passes her message.

Works cited

Connolly, Tristanne. "Flowery Porn: Form and Desire in Erasmus Darwin's The Loves of the Plants." Literature Compass 13.10 (2016): 604-616.

Padillah, Evi Nur, Hendro Firmawan, and Endang Purwaningsih. "SIMILE, HYPERBOLE, PERSONIFICATION AND METAPHOR USED IN GAYLE FORMAN'S IF I STAY." Journal of Language and Literature 4.1 (2017).

Stevens, Shelley. Rosalia de Castro. Vol. 118. Tamesis, 1986.