Perspectives Of The Speaker And The Listener example essay topic

357 words
The poem is a dramatic monologue which uses an implied interlocutory function to depict changing perspective as a positive concept tempered with uncertainty and aims to encourage timid readers to take action to free themselves from restraints and explores the myriad of possibilities which may lie beyond this metaphorical gateway. When the context is considered a subverted political layer is distinguishable; although originally banned from publish ment, Holux wrote The Door during the 1950's at a time when the Communism reign over Czechoslovakia was at its most powerful and oppressive. A contrast is created between the perspective of the inside and outside worlds which are separated by the door, this regime's barrier to political thought, freedom and possibilities; something which confines and limits our perceptions of the worlds. The poem uses a simple vocabulary and steady repetition of imperatives, "Go and open the door" and "Maybe" to create an emphatic tone which implores readers to take necessary action to remove this constraint and reveal a wide scope of positive possibilities.

These are then listed and refer to a liberated world of variety and fresh outlooks on everything from the ordinary, "a tree", "a face", to the more fantastic "magic city" or the abstract "a picture of the picture". Thus the door is a dual metaphor for restrictions placed on us as well as being a gateway to opportunity and change. The perspectives of the speaker and the listener are markedly different; the first is released and attempts through it's impassioned monologue to arouse the curiosity, "Maybe" in italics stresses the tempting though uncertain nature of the possibilities and the following list of the virtues of change inspire the second to remove the barrier to the world of wider experience. The listener is timid, imprisoned by typical fears, such as discovering a stark "nothing" which enjambment emphasises through isolation. The speaker allays through the soothing repetition of "even if" as well as reassurances that the "fog" of confusion "will clear" and at least the way to new experiences and perspectives will be clear, symbolized by the metaphor of the "draught.".