Study Like a Boss
Poetry is the time old form of expression that allows one to explicate him or herself using very little words. A single poetic line can provoke a variety of emotions and send the reader to another place. Many scholars and English professors will tell you poetry consists of rhyme and meter, form and rhythm. They … Read more
William Blake was a social critic of his time yet his criticism also reflects society of our own time as well. He mainly communicates humanitarian concerns through his “Songs of Innocence and Experience” which express two opposite states of the human soul, happiness or misery, heaven or hell. “Innocence” expresses the state of childhood, into … Read more
There is a great similarity between the three elegiac poems, The Wanderer, The Wife of Lament, and The Seafarer. This similarity is the theme of exile. Exile means separation, or banishment from ones native country, region, or home. During the Anglo Saxon period, exile caused a great amount of pain and grief. The theme is … Read more
Lamentations, written by the prophet Jeremiah, is a poem mourning the passing of Judah by the Babylonians in 586 B. C. E. (Bailey, 82) through siege and battle. Prior to the destruction, Jeremiah had warned or rather prophesized that Judah must change its ways or suffer the consequence of the Lords wrath. Before the Babylonians … Read more
If you had a choice on how the world would end, what would you choose? Would your choice to be go painfully but fast? Perhaps you would rather it be so slow and painless you do not even realize it is happening? Thats what I believe Robert Frosts poem Fire and Ice is meant to … Read more
A half century ago, American poetics redefined itself when it made some organic changes. Traditional verse, as its force-fed rhyme and meter schemes often restricts any accurate report, was subdued and chastised in favor of a more-realistic, a more human-excretory approach to writing verse. Both the Projectivist and the Beat poets, led by Charles Olson … Read more
The epic poem Beowulf describes the most heroic man of the Anglo-Saxon times. The hero, Beowulf, is a seemingly invincible person with all the extraordinary traits required of a hero. He is able to use his super-human physical strength and courage to put his people before himself. He encounters hideous monsters and the most ferocious … Read more
All people are travelers, all choosing their paths on a map of their life. The great thing about man for Frost is that he has the power of standing still where he is. There is never a straight road there are always curves and turns in which one must encounter and act upon. Readers can … Read more
The poem, “Barbie Doll,” written by Marge Piercy tells the story of a young girl growing up through the adolescence stage characterized by appearances and barbarity. The author uses imagery and fluctuating tone to describe the struggles the girl is experiencing during her teenage years, and the affects that can happen. The title of this … Read more
I think that your production of a new book “Anthology for a Warred Youth”, the content it should include is of three sections. The three sections should consist of “Sending Men of to War,” “Horror within War” and “After effects of War”. The five poems you should include are “The Send-off,” “The Going of the … Read more
Prima ab origine mundi, ad mea perpetuum tempora carmen, from the very beginning of the world, in an unbroken poem, to my own time (Metamorphoses 1. 3-4). Publius Ovidius Naso also known as Ovid wrote Metamorphoses, which combines hundreds of stories from Greek mythology and Roman traditions. He stitched many of them together in a … Read more
Edgar Allan Poes renowned poem The Raven shows the turbulent thoughts and feelings racing through the mind of a person who has lost a loved one. The narrator of the poem has recently lost his lover to deaths unyielding grasp. As a result, he is struck by the grief that accompanies such a death. Poe … Read more
Born in Joplin, Missouri, James Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was born into an abolitionist family. As the grandson of James Mercer Langston, the first Black American to be elected to public office in 1855, Hughes attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, but began writing poetry in the eighth grade, and was selected as Class Poet. … Read more
In William Shakespeare’s sonnet number one hundred and forty-nine there is a very clear case of unrequited love. In a somber tone he outlines the ways in which he selflessly served his beloved only to be cruelly rejected. His confusion about the relationship is apparent as he reflects upon his behavior and feelings towards her. … Read more
Emily Dickinson was raised in a traditional New England home in the mid 1800’s. Her father along with the rest of the family had become Christians and she alone decided to rebel against that and reject the Church. She like many of her contemporaries had rejected the traditional views in life and adopted the new … Read more
Suicide was not a widely discussed topic in the 1800’s although, it commonly appeared as a theme in many literary works of that time. The action of killing one’s self is not a classified psychological disorder, but there are many disorders where suicide is the end result. This is why suicide is a commonplace subject … Read more
There is a noticeable comparison between the poem “The Mirror” By Sylvia Plath & the article “Barbie” that appeared in the Newsday Tuesday November 18, 1997. The comparison is about how people look, and how society could reflect how you may feel about your looks. In the poem “The Mirror” it tells about a lady … Read more
In the twentieth century, the name Walt Whitman has been synonymous with poetry. Whitmans most celebrated work, Leaves of Grass, was the only book he ever wrote, and he took a lifetime to write it. A large assortment of poems, it is one of the most widely criticized works in literature, and one of the … Read more
“I cannot live with You”, by Emily Dickinson, is an emotional poem in which she shares her experiences and thoughts on death and love. Some critics believe that she has written about her struggle with death and her desire to have a relationship with a man whose vocation was ministerial, Reverend Charles Wadsworth. She considers … Read more
Unlike the one in Songs of Innocence, “The Chimney Sweeper”, in Songs of Experience is very dark and pessimistic. This poem also seems to be very judgmental and gives motives for everything, but unlike Song of Innocence, the sweeper in this poem does not free himself from his misery. In the first two lines, Blake … Read more
Throughout much of Robert Frosts poetry, he as a writer uses much of natures aspects to allow his readers to get a better perception of life itself. He refers to nature as well to help explain the various levels of life. Much of Frosts poetry relates to the major concerns of life such as the … Read more
Langston Hughes enchanted the world as he threw the truth of the pain that the Negro society had endured into most of his works. He attempted to make it clear that society in America was still undeniably racist. For example, Conrad Kent Rivers declared, Oh if muse would let me travel through Harlem with you … Read more
Have you ever heard adults talking about their spouses and all the troubles they have to put up with because they love them? In the poems “The Trouble With Women Is Men” and “What Almost Every Woman Knows Sooner or Later,” Ogden Nash talks about the troubles women go through daily with men and how … Read more
Throughout the years and to all different walks on the face of the earth, heroes exist with various meanings to each individual. It is extremely hard to put one definition to this word. What one may see as a hero, another may not. Some definitions include, a brave man, a superman, a champion, a conqueror, … Read more
In 1798, a poet named Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote the poem called Kubla Khan. In his preface, he stated that he had dreamt the poem, and wrote it down just as it was preserved. The speaker also stated that the poem is merely a fragment, it is not complete. With the exception of about eight … Read more
“Celebration of the lizard” by James Douglas Morrison is a helpless labyrinth of insanity. The poem is a murder that results in insanity. The speaker is the murderously insane madman. In this outrageous maze, the poet is running from his chaotic problems. In the first three stanzas, it starts out as a bad dream that … Read more
Emily Dickinson’s poems, “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” and “I Heard A Fly Buzz-When I Died,” are both about one of life’s few certainties, death. However, that is where the similarities end. Although Dickinson wrote both poems, their ideas about what lies after death differ. In one, there appears to be life after … Read more
The imagery depicted in T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men” evokes a sense of desolate hopelessness and lends to Eliot’s generally cynical view of civilization during this period in history. A reaction of deep and profound disappointment in mankind around him is made evident in this poem, first published in 1925. In this short … Read more
The Anglo-Saxon society was a combination of the Jutes, the Anglos, and the Saxons. It was through this combination that the values of this one culture evolved. Anglo-Saxons lived their lives according to values such as masculine orientation, transience of life, and love for glory. Contradictory to the belief that the Anglo-Saxons’ values are outdated, … Read more
In my opinion the poet which best exemplifies modernism is Walt Whitman. Walt Whitmans stylistic preference is not exactly mine, but it is definitely a good example of modern poetry. He has broken down many walls of traditional poetry, using the style of long, free verse prose. In which he praises everything. It is impossible … Read more
The poetry of Langston Hughes, the poet laureate of Harlem, is an effective commentary on the condition of blacks in America during the 20th Century. Hughes places particular emphasis on Harlem, a black area in New York that became a destination of many hopeful blacks in the first half of the 1900is. In much of … Read more
The poetry of Sylvia Plath and Bruce Dawe differ considerably in style, context and language, yet offer unique perceptions of the issues surrounding society and themselves. Born two years apart in different countries, both poets demonstrated great promise and talent at a very young age, especially Plath who regarded herself as, dangerously brainy. ‘ Their … Read more
I think Robert Frost is a understandable, but yet an unconventional poet. Frost wrote in his own style, and as a result, he took quite a bit of heat from the critics of his period. Frost has an elegant style of writing descriptive and understandable poems. I am going to tell you about the five … Read more
Robert Frost takes our imaginations to a journey through wintertime with his two poems “Desert Places” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. Frost comes from a New England background and these two poems reflect the beautiful scenery that is present in that part of the country. Even though these poems both have winter … Read more
The works of George Gordon, Lord Byron have long been controversial, nearly as controversial as his lifestyle. Gordon Byron was born with a clubfoot and his sensitivity to it haunted his life and his works. Despite being a very handsome child, a fragile self-esteem made Byron extremely sensitive to criticism, of himself or of his … Read more
Poetry is one of the most ancient and widespread of the arts. Originally fused with music in song, poetry gained independent existence in ancient times-in the Western world, as early as the classical era (6th century to 4th century BC). Where poetry exists apart from music, it has substituted the lost musical rhythms with its … Read more
While much of Emily Dickinson’s poetry has been described as sad or morose, the poetess did use humor and irony in many of her poems. This essay will address the humor and/ or irony found in five of Dickinson’s poems: “Faith” is a Fine Invention, I’m Nobody! Who are you? , Some keep the Sabbath … Read more
From the later 1800’s (1874) to the middle 1900’s (1963), Robert Frost gave the world a window to view the world through poetry. From ‘A Boy’s Will’; to ‘Mountain Interval,’; he has explored many different aspects of writing. Giving us poems that define hope and happiness to poems of pure morbid characteristics; all of Robert … Read more
poem tells a story within its words, even if it is not directly stated. Nearly every word and phrase in a poem, and even its punctuation has a meaning and a message that the author is trying to send across to the reading or listening audience. Not always is it easy to immediately understand what … Read more
Symbolically, the use of the hand in literature often represents varying concepts depending on what the author needs to portray. When depicting the aging process, the hands reveal the diminishing youthful appearance of the physical body and thus denote death’s approaching grip. Not to mention, time melts away as the hands of the proverbial clock … Read more
Emily Dickinson was a woman who lived in times that are more traditional; her life experiences influence and help us to understand the dramatic and poetic lines in her writing. Although Dickinsons poetry can often be defined as sad and moody, we can find the use of humor and irony in many of her poems. … Read more
Two of Emily Dickinson’s poems, Because I Could Not Stop For Death and I Heard A Fly Buzz-When I Died, are both about one of life’s few certainties: death. However, that is where the similarities end. Although both poems were created less than a year apart by the same poet, their ideas about what lies … Read more
One of the most influential writers of the Harlem Renaissance was Jamaican born Claude McKay, who was a political activist, a novelist, an essayist and a poet. Claude McKay was aware of how to keep his name consistently in mainstream culture by writing for that audience. Although in McKay’s arsenal he possessed powerful poems. The … Read more
Upon a first reading of Emily Dickinson’s poem’s I found them very difficult to understand due to her unique style of writing. Once I was able to comprehend the general theme of her poems, they became clearer with profound meaning. Dickinson’s writing style, leaving words absent and not completing sentences, allows the reader to fill … Read more
Often compared to the American poet Edgar Allen Poe, the French poet Charles Baudelaire has become well-known for his fascination with death, melancholy, and evil and his otherwise eccentric yet contemplative style. These associations have deemed him as a patron saint of modernist poetry while at the same time closely tying his style in with … Read more
Emily Dickinsons poem entitled I felt a Funeral, in my Brain is directed towards a death in the speakers life. This death could have been a romantic love that had left him or her behind. It seems that they go through a type of struggle that is sort of bound to them. The first line … Read more
Although she lived a seemingly secluded life, Emily Dickinsons many encounters with death influenced many of her poems and letters. Perhaps one of the most ground breaking and inventive poets in American history, Dickinson has become as well known for her bizarre and eccentric life as for her incredible poems and letters. Numbering over 1,700, … Read more
William Shakespeare, in his Sonnet 73 and Sonnet 116, sets forth his vision of the unchanging, persistent and immovable nature of true love. According to Shakespeare, love is truly “till death do us part,” and possibly beyond. Physical infirmity, the ravages of age, or even one’s partner’s inconstancy have no effect upon the affections of … Read more
The post civil war era was wrought with sexism and backwards thinking. Emily Dickinson was born in 1830, wrote 1800 poems in her lifetime. She has become known for unfolding the social boundaries surrounding women in this time period. Most of her life was shrouded in seclusion and mystery. In the realm of poetry, authors … Read more
This sonnet is by far one of the most interesting poems in the book. Of Shakespeare’s sonnets in the text, this is one of the most moving lyric poems that I have ever read. There is great use of imagery within the sonnet. This is not to say that the rest of the poems in … Read more