SYNECDOCHE

SYNECDOCHE

Synecdoche

meaning "simultaneous understanding", is a figure of speech in which a term is used in one of the following ways:

WHAT IS SYNECDOCHE?

WHAT IS SYNECDOCHE?

WHAT IS SYNECDOCHE?

WHAT IS SYNECDOCHE?

WHAT IS SYNECDOCHE?

WHAT IS SYNECDOCHE?

“BONSAI”

BY: EDITH TIEMPO

EDITH TIEMPO

Edith L. Tiempo (April 22, 1919 – August 21, 2011), poet, fiction writer, teacher and literary critic was a Filipino writer in the English language.

Tiempo was born in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.

Her poems are intricate verbal transfigurations of significant experiences as revealed, in two of her much anthologized pieces, "Lament for the Littlest Fellow" and "Bonsai." 

As fictionist, Tiempo is as morally profound. Her language has been marked as "descriptive but unburdened by scrupulous detailing." She is an influential tradition in Philippine literature in English.

Bonsai

All that I loveI fold over onceAnd once againAnd keep in a boxOr a slit in a hollow postOr in my shoe.

All that I love?Why, yes, but for the moment ---And for all time, both.Something that folds and keeps easy,Son’s note or Dad’s one gaudy tie,A roto picture of a young queen,A blue Indian shawl, evenA money bill.

It’s utter sublimationA feat, this heart’s controlMoment to momentTo scale all love downTo a cupped hand’s size,

Till seashells are broken piecesFrom God’s own bright teeth.And life and love are realThings you can run andBreathless hand overTo the merest child.

4 STANZAS

FREE VERSE

25 LINES

BONSAI

The poem is an example of a

work that is objective-

correlative wherein the ideas

depicted are abstract. In this

work of literature, love is the

abstract idea.

Bonsai

FIRST STANZA

All that I loveI fold over onceAnd once againAnd keep in a boxOr a slit in a hollow postOr in my shoe.

.

Enjambment,

free verse,

repetition,

alliteration.

-Line 1 and 3 are made up of 4 syllables

-2 and 4 are made up of 5.

-the word “once” is repeated twice (line 2 and 3) in the same stanza 

2nd stanza

All that I love?Why, yes, but for the moment --- And for all time, both.

Something that folds and keeps easy,Son’s note or Dad’s one gaudy tie,A roto picture of a young queen,A blue Indian shawl, evenA money bill.

OXYMORON

SYMBOLISM

- repeats the first line in the first stanza but this time the speaker uses a question mark and the question word “why” in the second line.

3rd stanza

It’s utter sublimationA feat, this heart’s controlMoment to momentTo scale all love downTo a cupped hand’s size,

Free verse

repetition in line 3,

metaphor line 4 and 5.

4th stanza

Till seashells are broken piecesFrom God’s own bright teeth.And life and love are real Things you can run andBreathless hand over

To the merest child.

APHAERESIS

SYNDETON

PERSONIFICATION

METAPHOR

ANALYSIS

The poem tells us that the

things we hold dear may give

us happiness and security but

the happiness and security

they offer are but temporal

yet life on earth is so short. 

It takes some sacrifice and pain for the bonsai to be trimmed and to be cut off of its main root in order for it to show its real beauty. Indeed, it is not easy to give up what we hold so dear for the sake of others but as the poem suggests it can make our life sublime like the bonsai.

SOURCE:

http://nicethoughtsnthrills.blogspot.com/2009/08/whats-in-beatiful-poem-bonsai.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Tiempo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche