Contrasting the Natural and Mechanical Worlds in Hathaways Oh, Oh Essa

Contrasting the Natural and Mechanical Worlds in Hathaways Oh, Oh The cut poet and essayist Louis Aragon, in his Paris Peasant, wrote that light is meaningful only in relation to darkness, and truth presupposes error--we only exist in terms of this conflict, in the z genius where black and white clash (Aragon 18). Aragon noted that the beingnessness is blanket(a) of contrasts, and it is through those contrasts that we live and understand who we atomic number 18 and why we are here. Without an understanding of light, Aragon argues, we cannot understand what darkness really is. Or, without an awareness as to the concept of truth, one cannot possibly error, for the act cannot be defined. In William Hathaways poem Oh, Oh, the poet uses language, word choices, images, onamatopoeic descriptions, and charge up the title of the poem to define the intrusion of the robotlike harshness of the world into the carefree land of nature. The images, content, and focus of the poem change with the intrusion of the train. forwards the protagonists girl notices the train, the two characters are concerned with the cattle, grass, and simply ambling down a country lane. But, as soon as the train approaches, and as it passes, the characters are no longer concerned with nature. Rather, they suddenly begin dreaming of being president (11) and of wonderful, faraway places (14). This switch from the serenity of nature to the dreams of the world lastly ends with the poems last line -- a punishment or at least a warning. The tranquil and peaceful nature suddenly becomes filled with cubic decimetre Hells Angels (17). But, more than simply motorcycles waiting at a railroad crossing, Hathaway has personified the motorcycles creating the automatic Hell... ...orld where two universes are defined through their contrast. Through his world choices, images, and even his title, we are transported to a picturesque country landscape with moo cows chomping daisies (2) and maple dappled summer sunlight (7). Standing at a stark contrast to this land is the lit headlight (8) of a expiration train and growling ... Hells Angels (17). Hathaway, through his firm grip of language, has recorded a poem that, through contrasts, gives us an understanding of both the natural and mechanical world in an attempt to show us how we can estimate / eagerly to the road ahead (16-17). Works Cited Aragon, Louis. Paris Peasant. Oxford Oxford UP, 1926. Hathaway, William. Oh, Oh. The Bedford Introduction to publications Leading, Thinking, and Writing. Ed. Michael Meyer. 4th ed. Boston Bedford, 1996. 593-94.