th of the paper. Readers are often disgusted by the acts of the gardener upon the plants. They are even more shocked, however, when they learn that the poem is really about a woman. Piercy is successful in her use of metaphor to contribute to deeper levels of understanding womens issues. Through metaphor, Piercy is able to cleverly develop a complete message voicing her opinion on a complex issue in a short poem. Metaphors and symbolism allow writers to develop comprehensive ideas and stories in a short literary work. They are often imperative devices when writing a short story or poem.Writers of short stories and poems often use irony to strengthen their message in a condensed composition. Irony is sometimes more effective than outwardly stating the intended message. It often forces the reader to think about the writing or issue more intensely than when simply receiving a point of view. Ironic elements of a story can also communicate lengthy messages in a single idea through the fact that the reader is not expecting the ironic twist. It allows the reader to hypothesize the reason for the unexpected action or result. Irony is a very clever literary device that authors of short stories and poems furthermore use to communicate often-controversial ideas without offending the reader. The story of a young boys unexpected death in Grace Paleys Samuel (p. 12) delivers that authors harsh opinion through the use of irony. Paley tells the story of some young boys trying to exhibit their fearlessness by riding on the platform area between the subway cars. The story is filled with irony that adds to the tragedy. The irony also communicates a major problem in society without outwardly placing blame. The more obvious ironic aspect of the story is that a young boy dies in trying to exhibit his invincibility. But the narrative is filled with less obvious ironies. As the boys are jumping and playing around on the unenclosed platform of the subways, a tr...
