Tuesday, June 26, 2018

In the first stanza of "He Is More than a Hero," what imagery is used to show the high regard of the speaker toward the man? How can a man become a god to one's eye in real life? Cite examples based on experience or observation.

In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker says that the hero is in fact "more than a hero." A hero is somebody who is usually virtuous, brave, and honorable, so being "more than" this implies that the speaker thinks of the hero as perhaps perfect or ideal. The speaker then says that the hero is "a god in my eyes." Gods are associated with omnipotence as well as omniscience and benevolence, and so comparing the hero to a god implies that the speaker holds the hero in very high esteem.
A man—or a woman, for that matter—can sometimes seem like a god if they do something which seems extraordinary or preternatural. For example, a magician like Houdini might have seemed to some people to possess godlike powers. Some sports fans worship athletes as if they are gods (perhaps because they score lots of goals or win lots of championships for the team that those fans support).
There are also people who set up cults and convince people that they are in fact gods or emissaries from God. A recent example is Michael Travesser, a cult leader who managed to convince people that he was the messiah before being sentenced to prison for ten years for sexual contact with a minor.

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