Contentment: Escaping Materialism

Contentment: Escaping Materialism Oliver Wendell Holmes gives an intriguing illustration of humble animation in Contentment. The speaker drug abuses metaphor to trivialize the status symbols that kinship group strive to acquire. Alliteration is effectively used to place tenseness on items that the speaker considers luxurious. In each stanza, Holmes uses elaborate optical imagery to engage readers and highlight the materialistic desires of individuals. The speaker intelligibly states his appreciation for modest living and his displeasure with a life aimed at acquiring material possessions. Metaphor, alliteration, imagery and tone are the devices that make this poem successful. Honors are silly toys (Holmes 1445, 20). Silly (20) gives readers the cast that these honors have no benefit for society. The assertion that honors are toys (20) makes these honors steer unimportant and childish. The enjoyment derived from them is as brief as from a childs plaything. Th e person being admired skill play with the idea of being honored as a child plays with toys. The speaker says, titles are plainly empty label (21). He contends that only the holder or seeker of a title assigns significance to it.

Holmes uses these metaphors, honors are silly toys and titles are exclusively empty names, to expose the arbitrary nature of status. Perhaps, for just a single spurt,/Some seconds less would do no appal (42-43). The S sound is repeated four times in quick succession to draw attention to the speakers assertion that a rapid or gaudy buck is not necessary for travel. Even though hors es are no longer used for transportation, th! e reader can draw parallels amongst them and the luxurious automobiles that serve as status symbols today. Three much than uses of alliteration, some little extravagance there/Of red moroccos empyreal gleam/And vellum rich as country cream (53-55), suck up in a collection of finely veneered books a luxury majestic what is necessary for contented living. The most important use of...If you trust to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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