Study Like a Boss
Comedy, Courtly Love, Drama, Fiction, Novel, Protagonist, Short Story, Tragedy, 1984, A Raisin in The Sun, Animal Farm, Beowulf, Fahrenheit 451, Frankenstein, George Orwell, Hamlet, Into The Wild, Lord of The Flies, Macbeth, Of Mice and Men, A Modest Proposal, All Quiet on The Western Front, Allegory, Antigone, Between The World and Me.
Home The poem “Home “by Warsan Shire focuses on the importance of home and demonstrates how the connotation of home is experienced by refugees. The poem urges the west host countries to show modest receiving attitude to welcome the refugees and understand their suffering and pain. The speaker uses powerful imagery and metaphor to evoke … Read more
Everyone has dealt with troubled times, which can accurately be described as ‘dark times’ or ‘internal storms.’ In the poem “Storm Warnings”, Adrienne Rich organizes the poem’s main statement in the middle of the poem in order to mimic the buildup and aftermath of a real storm, provide the division between her external and internal … Read more
Seamus Heaney’s “Casualty” is written as an elegy for a friend who was killed in a bombing in Northern Ireland shortly after Bloody Sunday. His friend, who was a Catholic, failed to obey a curfew set in place by the Irish Republican Army. He was consequently killed in the bombing of the pub he often … Read more
Compared to the poetry prior to the 20th century, the poetry of T.S. Eliot rings vibrant, unconventional and inventive. Eliot’s poem “Journey of the Magi” is typical of his style and illustrates how Eliot’s poetry changed the genre forever. In its compression of image and language, “Journey of the Magi” is a complex poem, reflective … Read more
The title of Wallace Stevens’ poem “Nuances of a Theme by Williams” implies that he intends to comment on, possibly celebrate, and almost certainly explore the potential distinctions and variations available in the poem by William Carlos Williams titled “El Hombre.” Stevens includes “El Hombre,” in its entirety minus the title, in the opening four … Read more
Love is a subjective and special word to each individuals. Each humans has their own thoughts and notions about love. This intense feeling of affection and bond can be the most incomparable and priceless state that one can ever be in. However, there is a fine line between love and obsession. This passionate intensity can … Read more
In 1973, a 10-year-old African American boy named Clifford Glover was shot and killed by Thomas Shea, a policeman for the NYPD. In the days that followed, riots and protests tore through the surrounding area in Queens. Then, a year later, Shea became the first city policeman to stand trial for a murder committed on … Read more
In presenting the concept of the closed door, it advocates the very opposite idea that, once, the door was open. With this knowledge there comes a possibility that perhaps a closed door can be opened again, suggesting that there are two sides to a doorway. If this metaphor is continued, the ‘closed door’ can be … Read more
The Sufi musical tradition, or Sama’, has been used as a way to connect with the divine for hundreds of years by incorporating poetry, song, and dance to praise God. For many mystics, this blend is the single most powerful link to God, and is considered an even more elevated form of worship than prayer. … Read more
‘The Tollund Man’, as is his ‘sad freedom’, seems tellingly paradoxical in death – ‘naked’ and exposed, yet somehow venerated as a ‘trove’ and a ‘bridegroom to the goddess’. He is destroyed, but elevated as a sacred symbol of serenity after this sacrifice. This peaceful death is emblematic of Heaney’s concerns in this poem, as … Read more
In his famous essay “The Poet,” Emerson claims that men who are skilled in the use of words are not true poets, saying, “…we do not speak now of men of poetical talents, or of industry and skill in metre, but of the true poet” (qtd. in Richards, 103). And slightly later, he adds, “For … Read more
‘Lines’ opens with a celebration of natural life and its exuberance, ‘the red-breast sings from his tall larch’. Here the singing robin is portrayed through metonymy giving a sense that it is something accessible and familiar to the common people. The singing ‘red breast’ and ‘tall larch’ are dual symbols of joy and renewal, linked … Read more
Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a work about transience, and perhaps no two things in the natural world are more fleeting than life and beauty. Artists aim to preserve these two qualities in their work by simultaneously imitating the natural world to give the appearance of life to static creations and also looking to transcend and outlast … Read more
Coleridge’s Poetry in “Conversation” Nothing about Samuel Coleridge’s “conversation” poems is conventionally conversational. These poems do not create a dialogue between two characters, but instead focus on an internal dialogue that Coleridge’s personas have with themselves. For Coleridge, conversation is a personal, individual action. In “Sonnet to the River Otter” and “Frost at Midnight” the … Read more
Welcome back to another lesson on ‘Poetry and Society’. My name is Cody Kemp and I will be your lecturer for today. Over the past few sessions we have been analysing how poetry is a product of the period in which it was created. Today we will be moving on from romance poetry and taking … Read more
The central role of religion in Hopkins’ life gives it a similar significance in his poetry. The later poems by Hopkins, collectively generalised as the ‘Terrible Sonnets’, emphasise how religious doubt and faith, affected largely by personal circumstance, formed the foundation of Hopkins’ late work. As the ‘Terrible Sonnets’ were mostly written at a time … Read more
Enclosure or entrapment is a prominent recurring mode throughout the poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. This essay largely focuses in the implementation and development of enclosure in The Lady of Shalott and then explores the relationships and diversity that is shared within other uses of forms of enclosure in the poems of Ulysses and The … Read more
In the poem, “If You Forget Me” by Pablo Neruda there is an overwhelming amount of hidden textual messages. Neruda exaggerates his conflict between his unconditional love for a woman, and his rigid attitude toward her if she does not return his affections. Neruda writes this poem with several emotions that are changed within each … Read more
In the poetry collection Gardening in the Tropics, Olive Senior instructs readers in the traditions of the Caribbean, like the traditional uses of Annatto and Guinep in her poem ‘Annatto and Guinep’ and the traditions of immigrants in her poem ‘Stowaway’, while abandoning the conventional poetic structures of meter and rhyme in most of her … Read more
Autumn is one of the most charming seasons due to a variety of reasons. People all over the world choose it as their favorite time of the year because of its mildness, quiet beauty, golden leaves, and grey sky, as well as exciting holidays, such as Halloween. It inspires and motivates people to create art. … Read more
The poem “The Secretary Chant,” by Marge Piercy, holds many characteristics that are meant to pull the reader in. As with any poem, the words mean more than they appear to. Each line is written with a purpose. Every word is there for a reason; otherwise, the poem would not be the same. “My hips … Read more
The poem “My Father’s Song” is based on the wisdom and values, as well as traditions passed from old generation to new one. The speaker uses his life experience between him and his father to depict the variation of values and traditions between the old and new generation. In emphasizing his theme, the writer has … Read more
‘Dockery and Son’ is a reflective, pensive and uncertain poem in which Larkin produces a sense of life drifting away and considers “how much had gone of life, / How widely from the others.” Although it cannot be assumed that the narrator is Larkin, the tone, ideas and reflections in the poem support a biographical … Read more
The zeitgeist of Romanticism, while notoriously broad in its philosophy, had definite universal views upon the concepts of the individual, nature and imagination; which constitutes the basis of what today are known as the main aspects of the movement. Such aspects, addressed in Samuel Coleridge’s “The Lime-Tree Bower My Prison”, include the focus upon the … Read more
The message of “Leda and the Swan” is often interpreted in drastically different ways due to the ambiguity of the text. Much of this ambiguity can be attributed to intentional contradiction by the author, William Butler Yeats. This contradiction emphasizes the nature of sexism, for sexism is often portrayed as a misdirected view of the … Read more
Zeus is certainly not a person to trifle with, especially when it comes to his sacred fire. The punishments dealt out by Zeus are probably anything but fair but are all very metaphorical and symbolic if the reader reads between the lines. Prometheus, creator of man and thief of fire, is punished by having his … Read more
In Theodore Roethke’s poem, “In a Dark Time,” the speaker crosses over into the undiscovered world of insanity and communicates perceptions that others have disproved. Likely representative of Roethke’s own personal struggles with schizophrenia, “In a Dark Time” displays the thought process of a disturbed individual. Through Roethke’s use of deceptive rhyme, constant paradox, and … Read more
Fidessa’s character in Edmund Spenser’s “The Fairy Queene”, introduced in the second canto of book 1, is essential to the understanding of one of Spenser’s main messages in the poem: the Roman Catholic Church is corrupt and falsely interprets Christianity. Through Fidessa’s and her Saracen’s names, Fidessa’s characterization and dress, and the relaying of the … Read more
The work of T. S. Eliot frequently presents society as degenerate and infertile. The deterioration of the post-war world is represented through the oppression and suffering of women – a concept explored most notably in Eliot’s 1922 work The Waste Land, but also in a number of his other poems. Eliot uses anonymous characters and … Read more
Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” and Andrew Marvell’s “To his Coy Mistress” offer powerful examples of sensual, carpe diem Renaissance poetry. In both poems, the poet-speakers attempt to spur their beloveds into action through various compliments and rhythmic patterns that create a hurried tone. However, the speakers’ tactics diverge at this point. … Read more
Among the fragmented layers and voices of T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land there is a distinct cry for humanity to accept the comfort of a greater level of intelligence – God. This is dramatically reinforced in the lamenting howl of The Hollow Men. References to religion and differing cultures is a consistent theme within … Read more
When T. S. Eliot wrote The Waste Land in 1922 he was a self-proclaimed atheist. Some six years later, he described himself as an adherent to anglo-catholic Christianity and thus wrote the Four Quartets. As is possible to postulate, some scholars believe that there is an innate Christian-ness in The Waste Land and have hence … Read more
To His Coy Virgins The concept of carpe diem or “seize the day” is a popular poetic credo. Seventeenth century poets Andrew Marvell and Robert Herrick address carpe diem by admonishing young virgins against coyness and procrastination. Despite differences in device, motive, and narrative voice, Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” and Herrick’s “To the Virgins, … Read more
In a rapidly developing and consumerist world, humanity has fallen deep into the rabbit hole of materialism. The root of man’s estrangement from nature stems from the ongoing issue of the wasteful trappings of society. Believe it or not it seems that the inevitable forces of materialism was also present—if not created—in the early nineteenth … Read more
Power exists in many forms: weapons, threats, size, and even words. Amidst the violence and volatile power that exists between Israel and Palestine, Mahmoud Darwish attempts to influence people’s feelings through his poetry. In Darwish’s politically charged poems, he utilizes a combination of common symbols familiar to both Jewish and Arab peoples, and carefully chosen … Read more
Admirable qualities of men in Virgil’s The Aeneid include bravery, honor, and courage, but a woman’s value is based less on their power, wit and brains and more on their beauty, or lack of beauty. There are many instances within The Aeneid where both male and female characters value a woman based on how beautiful … Read more
The Romantic Era was a time when people embraced imagination, emotion, and freedom – quite a contrast to the preceding Neoclassic Era, which emphasized the values of reason, judgment, and authority. The values of the so-called Romantics are embodied in the poetry which developed during the period. Romantic poets, such as William Wordsworth and Samuel … Read more
In both Porphyria’s Lover and Andrea del Sarto, Robert Browning explores the notions of love and its capacity to corrupt an individual’s character and potential through his signature diegetic form; the dramatic monologue. While the form of these two poems is based around an implied audience, the primary agent and core subject matter is the … Read more
“Requiem for the Croppies”, written by Seamus Heaney in 1962, describes the Irish Rebellion of 1798 as seen through the eyes and narrative voice of one random, deceased Irish soldier. The term “croppies” refers to the rebels, attributable to their short hair – a style adopted from French revolutionaries of the same period. In this … Read more
In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, the interpretation of the poem depends on the readers perspective. It is a great poem that can give different ideas to different people. Some people believe that this poem has a hidden message of parental abuse. But other people think that this poem is one of happy moment … Read more
A Poem of Notions and Resolutions This Be The Verse This Be The Verse – By Philip Larkin? In Philip Larkin’s “This Be The Verse,” readers see a swing of three different emotions and opinions from Larkin, in just a short three stanzas: finger pointing, acceptance, and a suggestion. By instantly roping readers in with … Read more
The title ‘televistas’ indicates that our perspective of the world is seen only through our television sets, that our experience of life is limited and controlled. In the poem ‘Enter Without So Much as Knocking’ we are only identified in terms of the brand names we chose to buy, but in ‘televistas’ we are only … Read more
Out of all of the poems written by Carl Sandburg, an early twentieth-century poet of the Imagist school, “Fog” may be his most famous. This may seem surprising; it’s a deceptively simple poem, only six lines long, with no real discernible meter or rhyme scheme. However, the significance of this poem lies not only in … Read more
In Shakespearean plays, women have always played important roles. Whether their purpose was to create the base of the play, main conflicts, or generate moral and cultural questions, women are always put in arduous situations. Often, the role of women surpasses the role of male heroes in Shakespeare’s writings, it is almost unfathomable and almost … Read more
In Literary Theory: The Basics, H. Bertens asserts that even in the works of culturally and sexually liberal male writers such as D.H Lawrence and Henry Miller, male characters are “denigrating, exploitative, and repressive in their relations with women.” In the poems Goblin Market and No, Thank You, John, Christina Rossetti subverts the idea that … Read more
The song “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday is a jazz ballad which can also be attributed to the blues style. Before Billie Holiday released the song, it was a poem, written by the American teacher Abel Merropol. This poem was a response to the lynching’s going on in the south due to racism and Jim … Read more
In his essay, “The Philosophy of Composition,” Edgar Allan Poe writes that in an ideal poem, “two things are invariably required first, some amount of complexity, or more properly, adaptation; and, secondly, some amount of suggestiveness some under-current, however indefinite, of meaning.” While he claims to use this statement to justify the “suggestiveness” of the … Read more
The poem ‘A Tempest in a Teacup’ is an idiomatic expression which means “a great commotion over an unimportant matter”. A. Van Jordan, the poet was hit on with this big idea from the Play “The Tempest” to poeticize his train of poetic thoughts. He received his BA in English literature from Wittenberg University in … Read more
An event marked by sex and celebration, the wake in Wallace Stevens’s “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” is inescapably bizarre. Though one might expect an air of sobriety, importance, or – at the very least – reflection to characterize a discussion of death, the poem’s language and content are instead suffused with an almost nonsensical air … Read more
In his poem “The Waste Land,” T.S. Eliot presents multiple relationships between men and women, both historical and of his own creation. The interactions that he describes allow the reader to infer how Eliot views relationships, sexuality, and gender. He presents relationships as dysfunctional while only focusing on their negative aspects. Through description of various … Read more
