Poetry

The speaker of this ironic monologue is a modern, urban man who, like many of his kind, feels isolated and incapable of decisive action. Irony is apparent from the title, for this is not a conventional love song. Prufrock would like to speak of love to a woman, but he does not dare. The poem … 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

The Poem titled “A Kite is a victim” written by Leonard Cohen contains multiple tropes. Through my own analysis I propose that the author’s central focus concerns life. Cohen discusses the relationships and accomplishes that we make throughout our lifetimes. In my opinion, the kite is a metaphor for the essence of life and living. … Read more

In these poems the poets explore the theme of relationships. One poem deals with grief about divorce whilst the other tackles the taboo topic of death. While “Long Distance” is a poem about the abundance of love, conquering even death, “The Sick Equation” is about the total lack of it. Both poems share the themes … Read more

The poets of the nineteenth century wrote on a variety of topics. One often used topic is that of death. The theme of death has been approached in many different ways. Emily Dickinson is one of the numerous poets who uses death as the subject of several of her poems. In her poem “Because I … Read more

In the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T. S. Elliot uses a vast amount of symbolism to depict the fantasy feelings of his character. Of the many he chooses, I feel the epigraph is the most important in setting the overall feeling of J. Alfred Prufrock. T. S. Elliot chose to take … Read more

In Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats, the author and narrator, used descript terminology to express the deep-rooted pain he was suffering during his battle with tuberculosis. This poem has eight paragraphs or verses of ten lines each and doesnt follow any specific rhyme scheme. In the first paragraph, Keats gave away the mood of … Read more

Edward Estlin Cummings was an American poet – the second most widely read poet in the United States, after Robert Frost – born in 1894. He was immensely popular, especially among younger readers for his work; he experimented radically with form, punctuation, spelling and syntax. The majority of his poems turn to the subjects of … Read more

On first reading, this poem seems quite incomprehensible. Out of context, the poem appears to be about love and relationships. “Apology for Impatience” was written in 1963 (wife dead? ) and it was written for Gloria, his wife. Dawe rarely uses a first person persona and it is through his use of the first person … Read more

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem, \”Ode to the West Wind\” and Sylvia Plath’s poem \”Mirror\” both employ the poetic tools of apostrophe, the address to something that is intangible, and personification, the application of human characteristics to something inanimate. However, they form a paradox in the usage of these tools through the imagery they create. Both … Read more

One of the most famous poets in literary history is that of William Wordsworth. He lived between the years of 1770-1850. He was a very strong poet and many of his works have some degree of a pessimistic view to them. They could be understood after the hard life he led. He saw the French … Read more

Before it was written, The Iliad was a poem told orally by the Greeks. The Iliad presents modern day readers with information about the Greek society many years ago in the B. C. time period. This poem portrays the important values of the Greek society during a heroic age. This heroic age is conveyed by … Read more

Several poems attempt to address social and political issues. In several of Langston Hughes’s poems, he expresses sociopolitical protests. He portrayed people whose lives were impacted by racism and sexual conflicts, he wrote about southern violence, Harlem street life, poverty, prejudice, hunger, hopelessness. Hughes’s poem a “Dream Deferred” was published in 1951. The poem speculated … Read more

Each person brings a special quality and gift to life that creates an individualistic style to the world that we live in. The poem Perfection Wasted was written by John Updike in the year 1990; this poem accentuates the flair that can never be replaced when a loved one dies. One way to better understand … 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

This poem is about Hayden who hears a boy being beaten, recalls his childhood when he too was subjected to the same and notices that this form of punishment has been handed down from generation to generation. He uses visual and auditory imagery together to take the reader to different moments in time, where the … Read more

The poem Fire and Ice is a poem written by Robert Frost, and published in 1923. This is a nine-line poem: Some say the world will end in fire, This is one of Robert Frost simplest poems. When I initially read this poem, the first thing that came to my mind was the biblical theory. … Read more

Shelleys elegiac poem, Adonais, is in his own words, a highly wrought piece of art (Abrams, 718). In creating this sweeping homage to John Keats upon learning of his death, Shelley faithfully adhered to the classical pastoral form of the Greek tradition. Honoring friends who have died young with the pastoral elegy is a poetic … Read more

Robert Frost takes our imagination 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 our part of the country. Even though these poems both have winter … 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

Elizabeth Bishop was as simple as she was complex. The lucid and uncomplicated images she created with her seemingly elementary style were anything but; in fact, the complexity that resides within her characteristically simple prose, which demonstrate a purity and precision like no other, are known only to those who can see beyond their fa?ade. … Read more

The Iliad is a poem divided into twenty-four books, about Troy, written in the late eighth or early seventh century B. C. by Homer. The saga is about the tenth year of a war between the Greeks and the Trojans, around 1200 B. C. , and takes place before the city of Troy. While the … Read more

The Road Not Taken can be interpreted many different ways. Depending on the past, present and future attitude one has at the time he read it determines the way the poem may be interpreted. As the title indicates the central theme of this poem is choices. Most people agree that in the poem that Frost … 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

The poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is about the choices that one makes in life. It tells about a man who comes to a fork in the road he traveling upon, he feel sorry that he can not travel both paths as one person so he must choose one. Frost uses this … Read more

Every human throughout the course of their life is forced to make decisions. This aspect of life is true everywhere and has no time or cultural barriers. It is a fact of humanity. People are presented certain choices. Some much more significant then others. The choices people make distinguish who they are and give them … Read more

Geoffrey Chaucer, the worlds greatest poet, lived in fourteenth century Europe. Like most great people he too was influenced by something, French poetry, which I will Prove. Europe at that time was not rich or poor, happy or sad; it was mixed with wealth and poverty. Chaucers literary works broke away from conformity and set … Read more

In T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” the author is establishing the trouble the narrator is having dealing with middle age. Prufrock(the narrator) believes that age is a burden and is deeply troubled by it.. His love of some women cannot be because he feels the prime of his life is … Read more