Figurative Language

“The Scarlet Ibis”, there is a multitude of figurative language used to underline the theme that is repeated in Naomi Long Midget’s poem “Woman with Flower”, ultimately enlightening the reader with a true moral of don’t be exceedingly prideful and work something before it is ready. “Woman with Flower” introduces readers to a woman who is trying to shelter her flower and make it perfect, rather than letting it take its own path and literally letting it grow into a beautiful flower.

The poem reflects the short prose “The Scarlet Ibis” via figurative language. An example would be, “Much growth is stunted by too careful prodding. ” This personifies the flower with human like attributes of being sheltered and protected, like many youth are in present time. “The Scarlet Ibis” can also relate to that because of the narrator’s need for Doodle’s success, not so much for Doodle, but for the narrator’s own pride. “The things we love we have to learn to leave alone. Demonstrates the underlying thought of the prose’, when do we leave someone to Geiger life on their own terms, and when do we Intervene and help out? The narrator in “The Scarlet Ibis” struggles to find the answer to this query as he teaches Doodle to walk and become what society views as a normal little boy. In the end of the prose, he makes an irrational decision due to his dwindling patience.