Poetry is a type of literature that expresses emotions or an idea through poetic devices about a genre. Through powerful devices such as imagery, metaphors and similes, the reader deciphers the poem from the literal meaning to what the poet is actually trying to say. ‘The Loom of Time’, written anonymously, and ‘Package for the Distant Future’, written by Sylvia Kantaris, express emotions about time.
‘The Loom of Time’ explores time as a significant part of each individual’s journey through life. Time is metaphorically perceived in this poem as the fabric used to weave one’s pre-determined destiny. The language choices throughout help convey the tone of optimism. This poem pushes the reader to persevere through the hardship they may be going through in the present to witness the greater things that God has in store in the future. As seen in stanza five, “God only knows its beauty…The threads so unattractive, As well as the threads of gold”, the anonymous poet writes about how God knows the plan of life, which contain some ugly chapters, as well as beautiful parts of each individual’s life. The poet uses metaphors and imagery to allow the reader to interpret the deeper meaning to this poem.
‘The Loom of Time’ inputs poetic devices to create an optimistic mood. The anonymous poet cleverly uses metaphors to describe the “…(shuttles) filled with silver threads”. This stanza can be interpreted to mean that some people’s lives are filled with good fortune, as silver is associated with prosperity. In the last stanza, the poet uses a metaphor to imply that until each choice in one’s life that leads to the inevitable death is chosen, only then “Shall God reveal the pattern and explain the reason why. The dark threads were as needful… As the threads of gold and silver”. That is, until one’s life is ended, only then will they realize that the bad things were necessary to see the better parts of life. The imagery and metaphors in this poem present feelings about time and how each person has their own destiny to fulfil.
‘Package for the Distant Future’ by Kantaris is a letter to the future that relates to time by talking about the past and the future. This poem has an underlying tone of guilt that makes the reader feel like they should realize the state of the Earth that it is presently in. The narrator in this poem has sent a container of items to the future, the items include “evidence of our existence”, such as a carving of a child, a violin, some lilac seeds and the Song of Solomon. This letter insinuates that the time that the person writing this letter is living in has been ruined and knows that the future is ‘unimaginable’. They have sent these things to remind the future that they must fix it or else the past will catch up to them again. The figurative language conveys the tone of defeat and the sense of true reality, unlike ‘The Loom of Time’. “We had a lot of things we did not like and could have lived without”. This metaphor is referring to how superficial people once were and how if they were not so caught up with shiny new things, they could have focused on the more important events happening around the world, hence “… did not like and could have lived without”.
The use of metaphors in addition to other poetic devices has helped form the mood. The use of imagery in the last stanza allows the reader to picture how the Earth would look if they planted the lilac seeds. Compared to the rest of the poem, the last stanza brings out the most hope “and if they grow and flower, and if you can, smell them after rain”, this gives the reader a pinch of confidence that the future might be able to be saved. Unlike the previous poem, Kantaris portrays life as being unpredictable with an unhappy ending, while the anonymous poet writes about how God has a carefully crafted plan. This is contradicting because if God has prearranged a great destiny, then the Earth would not be destroyed.
Anonymously written ‘The Loom of Time’ refers to time as an important medium that helps people through life, whereas in ‘Package for the Distant Future’, written by Sylvia Kantaris, time is destined to be doomed. These poems have addressed time in two different ways, but have proved their point through metaphors and figurative language.
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Theme of Time in the Poems ‘The Loom of Time’ and ‘Package for the Distant Future’’: Critical Essay.
(2023, September 19). Edubirdie. Retrieved April 27, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/theme-of-time-in-the-poems-the-loom-of-time-and-package-for-the-distant-future-critical-essay/
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2023 Sept 19 [cited 2024 Apr 27].
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