Larkin is often portrayed as being obsessed by death, but High Windows is as much about life as it is about death. How true do you find this statement?
Larkin is often portrayed as being obsessed by death, but High Windows is as much about life as it is about death. How true do you find this statement? Larkin was 52 when High Windows was published and the collection is dominated by poems about the loss of youth, time passing and the imminence of death. Even in poems not explicitly based on these themes, they are still hinted at. Although some of the poems are about youth, some about aging and some on death, in a way all these are referring to mortality. I agree that there are poems, such as Show Saturday and To the Sea, which celebrate aspects of life but there are far fewer poems about life than about death. The Building is one of the bleakest poems, where Larkin describes a hospital and the stark inevitability of death. The poem builds up an atmosphere by the enigmatic treatment of the building; Larkin avoids spelling out that the building is a hospital but treats it as an atheistic cathedral, left in the atheistic society. Larkin begins the account outside the building. It can be seen from far away and resembles a 'lucent comb', emphasising the busyness of the workers and the way in which individuals are depersonalised, like bees in a hive. Its height is repeated in the 4th stanza as evidence of its importance within today's society. The comparison with the 'handsomest hotel' suggests that is far more important to
Look again at Ulysses and write about Tennysons narrative techniques
A: Look again at "Ulysses" and write about Tennyson's narrative techniques In "Ulysses", Tennyson presents the characteristics and attitudes of the eponymous central character through the dynamic form of the dramatic monologue. Through an adroit blending of literary techniques including those of structure, form and language, he seeks to clarify much of the mystique behind the mythological background of Ulysses, and reveal his persona of desire and heroism, alongside his undesirable traits of contemptuousness and hubristic pride. Throughout the poem, its form and structure allow Tennyson to reveal the character of Ulysses as he wishes him to be portrayed. "Ulysses" takes the form of the dramatic monologue, with Tennyson adapting the persona of his mythical character and using this form to reveal Ulysses' character through his own words. This choice of form, combined with the structural use of unrhymed iambic pentameter, or blank verse, allows the poem to adopt a rhythm that is one of the closest imitators of human speech in verse. This makes the words that Tennyson, writes and Ulysses "speaks" take on a much more personal tone and a deeper meaning, fully disclosing his character and attitude in a way that a more artificial and structured form, for example the Spenserian, simply could not achieve. This effect is added to the by the extensive and contrasted uses of enjambment
Analysis of Does It Matter? by Siegfried Sassoon
Analysis of "Does It Matter?" by Siegfried Sassoon "Does It Matter" is an angry, heavily ironic war poem written in 1917 by the famous World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon. On first read, it appears that the poet is addressing an injured soldier who has returned from the trenches, asking this man whether or not it is important that he is missing limbs and sight, instead highlighting the virtues of the world and offering these as a remedy for his pains. The poem is written in a nursery-rhyme-like structure, where there is an obvious rhyming pattern and distinctive rhythm, and where many lines even have an equal number of syllables. For such a complicated subject matter, the poem is also rather brief - very succinct at just three stanzas comprising of five lines each. The opening lines of each stanza begin similarly with a question asked but never answered: Does it matter - losing your legs?... There is a lot to discuss even here. Firstly, we notice that the question itself is not answered - Sassoon does this very deliberately. Of course he goes on to back his rather naïve point by highlighting the constructive aspects of living without the use of one's legs, but he leaves a great void here, like the unfilled silence after a particularly awkward question. We, as readers, can easily answer the question of whether or not it matters in our own minds - of course it matters, and
Analyse the poem "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath
Analyse the poem "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath The title "Daddy" evokes images of nurturing fathers, willing to do anything for their children; it suggests innocence and protection. Plath could be using this in a number of different ways. It may be ironic - she uses this word to describe her father because he should have been a model for her, and he was the precise opposite of her ideals. It also suggests a longing for her father to have been this model. It may relate to the feminist issues at the time Plath wrote "Daddy" - fathers were all believed to be a perfect model for society, and women and daughters who were victims of them were mostly ignored. The repetition of "you do not do" gives the persona an assertive edge; she is standing up to her father. It also makes her sound a little immature, as though she has to express herself in this way. Indeed, the syntax throughout the poem is stilted, with little complicated vocabulary, giving the persona a childlike quality. Plath writes that she "lived like a foot" in the "shoe" of her father. It implies that her father, as the "shoe", surrounded her. It could suggest that she could not escape him, and she "wore" him - he was a burden to her. She also writes that in her father's presence, she is "barely daring to breath" - she is terrified of him. This ties in with the shoe point made earlier - her father seems a tyrant, overbearing
A Comparison Of 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' And 'Suicide In The Trenches'
A Comparison Of 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' And 'Suicide In The Trenches' The lies and illusions promising glory in war were cast aside by two poets during World War One, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. These poets have written many famous poems but when comparing the two most famous poems of the poets, Siegfried Sassoon's "Suicide in the trenches" and Wilfred Owen's "Dulce Et Decorum Est", an immediate conclusion can be drawn about the contents of the poems. "Suicide in the trenches" which gives an impression of despite being in the trenches, men were not only being killed by the brutal pounding of enemy fire but were killing themselves. Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" however seems to give the opposite impression at first as the Latin saying translates into: "It is fitting and honorable to die for your country," but, ironically, the meaning of the poem is the opposite. The poet has chosen this title deliberately so he can display it in a sarcastic manner. The poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" is, therefore, not about dying gloriously or patriotically for your country but instead the horrors of the way the soldiers died. "Suicide in the trenches" focuses on the meaningless life in the trenches and that a quick death ends it all where as "Dulce Et Decorum Est" focuses on the suffering and torture of a slow death. Sassoon's style of poetry and language is simplistic
Tear, idle tears. analyse, with close reference to the poem, how the author deals with the subject of loss
Tears, idle tears Analyze, with close reference to the poem, how the author deals with the subject of loss. Sadness and despair often accompany loss, particularly if the item lost is held dear to one’s heart. Memories are held all the more dear, as they represent a life that is past, a life that is no more. Vivid images of a past life may create a current of turbulent emotions that sweep one of one’s feet, be it lamenting with bottomless grief or cackling with joy at humorous scenes The former seemed more apparent in the poem, where fond remembrance of the past drives the poet to tears. The tears were described as ‘idle’, suggesting that they were bothersome and viewed with annoyance with the poet, which isn’t surprising, really, as tears were a sign of weakness, a portrayal of emotion often shunned by men. ‘I know not what they mean’, however, seemed to convey that the poet experienced an overwhelming sorrow, that he would not like to experience again, numbing his mind such that he is unable to comprehend what the tears meant .It is also the retort of a wounded angry pride, the poet is ashamed at himself for crying over such a trifle. The tears had ‘depth’, ‘rise[ing] in the heart’ suggesting that the tears weren’t shallow and feigned, the tears weren’t shed without meaning, instead, they were caused by an irrepressible sadness from the depths of
'Carol Ann Duffy's poetry is mainly concerned with the politics of sex'
'Carol Ann Duffy's poetry is mainly concerned with the politics of sex.' How far do you agree with this statement? 'Delilah' by Carol Ann Duffy has an undeniably sexual element running throughout - an element which is highlighted by its suggestive language and presentation of gender roles between the characters 'Samson' and 'Delilah'. Many of Duffy's poems have a similar element running through them such as in 'Salome', 'Little Red Riding Cap' and 'Pygmalion's Bride' therefore it can be said that her poetry is mainly concerned with the politics of sex. However, Carol Ann Duffy states in an interview in 2005 that 'Delilah' is not about sex but is a love poem exploring the nature of Samson's wish to become 'gentle', 'loving' and 'tender'. This would therefore suggest that the main concern of the poem is more to do with love, power and gender. There are several references to sex throughout the poem, however the most direct reference comes in the fourth stanza where Samson 'fucks' Delilah. This is in stark contrast to his request in the third stanza only three lines above of wanting to learn how to 'care', or 'be gentle or loving or tender''. Despite wanting to become gentle, Samson 'fucks' Delilah rather than 'makes love' to her, implying that his wish was only a half-hearted one i.e. a wish he only makes but not something he would act upon. 'He fuck(s her) again' further
Compare and contrast the ways in which the theme of Human Suffering is presented in the novel Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks and the poems of Wilfred Owen.
Compare and contrast the ways in which the theme of Human Suffering is presented in the novel Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks and the poems of Wilfred Owen. World War One has often been described as the destruction of a generation; indeed for those who lived through the first large-scale war that Europe had ever seen, life would never be the same again. Of the sixty five million men that fought in World War One over thirty seven million died, were captured or went missing before the end of the war, that means that thirty seven million families had to grieve for the sons and brothers they had lost. However, whatever mental torture the families at home who received the worst kind of news endured the suffering of the soldiers was worse. During the war, which lasted four years from 1914 to 1918 soldiers witnessed atrocities that they had never before imagined and received injuries so terrible that they were often unable to recover from the physical and mental scarring of what they lived through. Many of these soldiers were only seventeen or eighteen years old when they signed up for war and because there had never before been such a massive war so close to home the soldiers believed the widespread government propaganda that told them war would bring them glory and that they would be loved by the nation. However, when they got to the front lines these men found they had been lied
The causes of world war one
This is a map of Europe before 1914, as you can see the Austro-Hungarian Empire dominates what is now much of southern Germany and the Balkans. Germany is what we know presently as northern Germany and Poland. You may also have noticed that England, Scotland, Wales, and Eire made up the United Kingdom. Russia has a vast empire, a massive army (even though it is extremely poorly equipped, and trained). This was all changed by the First World War. The causes of world war one There are many reasons as to why the First World War actually took place, hardly any of them seem of great consequence when examined individually, however when examined together they do seem fairly major, but in my opinion don't merit a world war. Germany and France had a great rivalry after the wars of 1871 in which France lost the colonies of Alsange and Coraing to Prussia. France and it's people bitterly wand to have their revenge over Germany. Great Britain and Germany were also engaged in a hostile race to have the larger navy. This was heightened when Britain released a fleet of dreadnaughts which were the most lethal ships of warfare that the world had ever seen. The five major powers Great Britain At the start of the twentieth century Great Britain had the richest and largest empire in the world. Britain had the most trade and the largest navy on the planet. This had all happened under the
Presentation of Suffering in Dulce et Decorum est and The Sentry
How does Owen convey the suffering of the soldiers in the Sentry and Dulce et Decorum est? In both the poems "The Sentry", and "Dulce et Decorum est", Wilfred Owen create a strong impression of the suffering of the soldiers involved, both at the time of the incidents portrayed, and the time lapsed since those incidents. Dulce et Decorum est tells the story of the death of one of Owen's men in a gas attack. In the first stanza, the use of hyperbole is a strong technique illustrating the torment of the soldiers. For example, lines such as: "Men marched asleep." And "All went lame, all blind" are blatant exaggerations, but subsequently convey the overwhelming nature of the soldiers' exhaustion and pain. Consequently, I feel that the use of such ideas as "Men marched asleep" gives the impression of the soldiers' psychological detachment from their own bodies - they have been subjected to so much stress and trauma that their minds no longer work in the same way as their bodies. This is a clear symptom of shell shock, and is evident in The Sentry also: "And splashing in the flood, deluging muck - / the sentry's body; then his rifle". The selection of the words "The sentry's body" rather than simply "The sentry" gives the idea that the man's body fell down the steps first, and that his mind may have followed later, as if he were in a trance, or were particularly panicked. Owen
