The hand that signed the paper felled a city

The hand that signed the paper felled a city; Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath, Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country; These five kings did a king to death. The mighty hand leads to a sloping shoulder, The finger joints are cramped with chalk; A goose's quill has put an end to murder That put an end to talk. The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever, And famine grew, and locusts came; Great is the hand the holds dominion over Man by a scribbled name. The five kings count the dead but do not soften The crusted wound nor pat the brow; A hand rules pity as a hand rules heaven; Hands have no tears to flow. ~Dylan Thomas This poem has many examples of Metonymy. Metonymy is a word or phrase that is used to describe part of a whole.  For example, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”In that excerpt from Shakespeare's, Julies Caesar, Mark Anthony doesn't want their ears, but he wants them to listen to him.        In the first stanza it talks about a person who murdered another king.  In the second stanza it talks about the murderer and describes how he looks and how he made good laws.  In the third and fourth stanzas it says how he has no pity.  He counted the people who died from the famine but didn't care about them at all.  In this poem it talks about a hand doing things, but behind the hand there is a person.

Metaphors and Similes

A long braid of hair - The braid was a rope of happiness. Metaphor

An old woman's hand - The woman's hands were a scarred and wrinkled story of her life. Metaphor

The smell of a coming rainstorm - The air smelled like a party waiting to happen with all of creation holding it's breath. Simile

A Corvette - The smooth and shining sides sparkled like the sun. Simile

A cat's tongue - The rough, pink tongue of a cat is like a built in comb. Simile

The sound of a chainsaw - The chainsaw was a lion purring. Metaphor

Fish eyes - Wells to nothingness. Metaphor

Fire - The red, orange and yellow looked like a forest at sunset undulating rapidly. Simile

Morning mist - The mist was a white blanket. Metaphor

Umbrellas in a crowd opening all at once - The umbrellas looked like sunflowers searching for the sun. Simile