Analysis of poem "Praise song for my mother" by Grace Nichols.
Critical analysis of praise song for my mother I believe praise song for my mother by Grace Nichols is a poem honoring the attributes of a mother. Thus the title praise song for my mother. She was born and brought up in the town of Guyana then moved to London where she still lives up till today. The mixture in her race is as a result of her Caribbean heritage where most people tend to be of mixed race. This then influences her use of English and Creole (a language resulting from the contact of many languages) in her poetry. Her Caribbean heritage also influences the images of the poem immensely. Praise song for my mother is a metaphoric poem using imagery to describe the intense emotional relationship she had with her mother. The poet is thankful and rejoices her mothers' presence using the term 'praise' in her poem title. The poet describes the importance of her mother in her life. the poem is one of short and simple stanzas. She uses natural imagery perhaps as a memory of her childhood days. She says that her mother was 'water' to her. This is a symbol of bringing forth life. She continues to describe her mother as 'deep and bold and fathoming' and this only emphasizes on how intense, emotional and true their relationship was. How confident, courageous and brave she was and at the same time she was a able to portray the quality of understanding making her easy to talk to.
Critical appreciation of the poem "Old Ladies' Home" by Sylvia Plath with reference to the presentation of old age
Dealing with old age and loneliness can be both complicated and perplexing. Sylvia Plath shows us this through her poem "Old Ladies' Home, where she shares her views on the harsh reality of growing into old age and awaiting death alone. In this poem, the omniscient speaker employs a detached tone to describe the old ladies in the home as fragile, lifeless and neglected. The poem takes place in a home for aged women, as can be inferred from the title of the poem and contains several images and metaphors that bring out the poem's main theme of death. Several symbols are used to represent death in this poem. A few such examples would be "black fabric", "ghosts" and "coffins". These symbols present death as dull and eerie, rather than as the celebration of a life well lived, hence building a sombre and gloomy atmosphere in the poem. This in turn reflects the old ladies' melancholic state as they await their death in the home. Death, for these old women, is also presented as being unpredictable and as an issue that lingers in their mind every night. For example, the last stanza of the poem says, "And Death, that bald-head buzzard, / Stalls in halls where the lamp wick/ Shortens with each breath drawn." Metaphor is used here to compare death to the buzzard which is a scavenging bird, similar to the vulture. Death is described as something that lurks within the home, waiting for
By close examination of "An Irish Airman Forsees his Death" and one other appropriately selected poem, discuss the effectiveness of the poetic methods used by Yeats in his presentation of heroic figures from his own lifetime.
By close examination of "An Irish Airman Forsees his Death" and one other appropriately selected poem, discuss the effectiveness of the poetic methods used by Yeats in his presentation of heroic figures from his own lifetime. Consider * Why Yeats chose to write about these figures * The ways in which the form and structure of the poems contribute to Yeats' presentation of heroic figures * Yeats' language - including imagery - and tone in presenting heroic figures. The poet W.B Yeats lived and was writing during a period of Irish history which is infamous for its rebellious historical characters and figures of public admiration. Yeats expresses his feelings with regard to a personal heroic figure in "An Irish Airman Forsees his Death". Yeats then similarly tackles this subject in poems such as "Easter 1916" where he addresses his attitude more broadly towards the heroic, but public figures involved in the rising of 1916. Yeats reveals his explicit admiration for the men whom he writes about in these poems through his dignified and respectful tone. Through his effective use of poetic methods - imagery, language, form and structure Yeats allows the reader a clear insight into his personal reaction to these heroic figures. "An Irish Airman Forsees his Death" expresses Yeats' glowing admiration for his recently deceased friend Robert Gregory, son of Lady Gregory of Coole
A Comparison of "Who's for the Game" and "Dulce et Decorum est".
A Comparison of "Who's for the Game" and "Dulce et Decorum est" For this essay I am going to compare and contrast the two poems "Who's for the game" was published by the daily mail. The poem was designed as a propaganda poem to encourage men to join the army in the war effort. This addressed the men of Britain and reassured them that if they joined it would be nothing to be scared of. It makes the war sound easier by comparing the war to a game throughout the poem. In contrast to this view of war a totally different attitude is given by "Dulce et Decorum est". Throughout the poem Owen describes to us about the tragedies and horrors of war. In the poem Owen tells us about a group of soldiers that have been at the front line for some time and are falling back as they desperately need rest, they then are attacked with gas. Owen then describes the soldiers rush for their masks, however one soldier does not get his mask on in time. Owen explains to us the feelings and emotions he felt as he had to go to war and fight. This poem is his experience and he saw the soldier dying." Dulce et Decorum est" was written in response to poets such as Jessie Pope as Owen did not agree to the way that the war was portrayed in their poems. "Dulce et Decorum est" was addressed to the people of Britain to give a realistic truthful view of war. Both poems have the same theme of war but have
Write a critical appreciation of Mending Wall exploring how far you think that Frost uses his observations of a simple rural event to make a significant conclusion.
Write a critical appreciation of Mending Wall exploring how far you think that Frost uses his observations of a simple rural event to make a significant conclusion. In Mending Wall, Frost assumes the character of a farmer who has the task of rebuilding a wall which separates him and his neighbour. The poem can be viewed from two very different angles, both which raise very different conclusions. At first glance, the poem seems harmless and innocent, whereby Frost's character questions the need for a wall to be in place - a wall that he feels symbolises the barriers of communication that people put up around themselves and other people. This idea of innocence is repeated throughout the poem. He appears to see that repairing the wall as the labour of love, gaining no reward from his efforts, but continuing anyway. He begins by fantasizing about how the wall has become broken, creating naive images in his head, such as the idea of rabbits breaking it during the spring - the 'mischief in [him]', and gives the sense that he believes that repairing the wall is a game to him; in line 21, he states that it is "just another kind of outdoor game" and incorporates the childish idea of magic into his 'game' - claiming that he needs to use "a spell to make [the stones] balanced". In this simple and gentle view of rebuilding the wall, comes an element of sadness, when Frost must
Examine how the authors of Regeneration and Journeys End show how the stresses of war affect the main characters
Examine how the authors of Regeneration and Journeys End show how the stresses of war affect the main characters 'Regeneration' is a fictional novel written by by Pat Barker. However, some of her characters in the novel like Owen and Sassoon did exist. The play 'Journeys End' is also fictional and all the characters are Sheriffs creation. 'Regeneration' is a serious and moving novel typical of war, as it shows war in a realistic way, whereas 'Journeys End' is full of black humour, in an attempt to make the play less morbid then it actually is. The writers are trying to achieve the views of the officers; they never actually saw mental ill health as serious as it was. They kept sending men back to war whether they had recovered or not. In the first chapter of 'Regeneration' we learn of the 'soldier's declaration' written by Sassoon. "I believe the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it". To other men in war this would be seen as "wrong and wimpish" because men weren't expected to do that, if you went to war you weren't seen as a coward. To Sassoon this declaration was the bravest thing he had ever done. For someone in war to write this they must have had enough and this shows the stress he was under. Barker could have used the declaration to portray her point on the futility of war. Another example of the stresses of war on Sassoon in
Journeying in Hardy's "At Castle Boterel"
After Emma's death Hardy embarked on a journey to some of their old haunts in Cornwall to rediscover their old love. Considering in detail one poem, discuss ways in which Hardy uses the symbol of journeying in his poetry. "At Castle Boterel", one of the greatest of Hardy's Poems of 1912-13, is an intensely personal poem, yet expresses universal truths on the subjects of loss, reclamation and time. An example of Hardy at his most emotionally evocative and philosophically profound, it chronicles his spiritual, intellectual and emotional journey following the death of his wife. The background to the composition of "At Castle Boterel" is that of a physical journey itself - Hardy's pilgrimage to Cornwall. In the poem this journey is juxtaposed with a past journey, separated by time but not space, taken in a parallel March many years before. The comparative weather conditions belie Hardy's nostalgia for the past: the bleakness of the present "drizzle" and "fading byway" draws a sharp contrast with the "dry March weather" of the former journey. The use of the vivid present in "We climb the road" emphasises the clarity of the memory, blurring, as in many of the Poems of 1912-13, the boundaries between past and present, memory and reality. Hardy's pilgrimage was not just a literal journey, for it was a quest to overcome the boundaries of Time and death through his poetry, an
Happy is England Now
'Happy is England Now' Sophie Thompson The poem 'Happy is England Now' was written by John Freeman in 1914 at the beginning of the First World War. The poem shows significant evidence of patriotism and propaganda which were common in the early war poems before the realities of the brutal war were known about. John Freeman was a Georgian poet who was influenced by inter-war literacy circles. The poem has a formal structure of four stanzas and has a regular syntax of six lines in each stanza with lengthy sentences. In the opening line we immediately get a sense of the tremendous patriotism in the poem 'There is not anything more wonderful, Than a great people moving towards the deep' the phrase has a patriotic attitude of proud, glorified people sailing out to the sea to war. Freeman uses the word deep to describe the journey to war as an unknown adventure which is supported in the third line 'Of an unguessed and unfeared future,' The phrase is suggesting that the soldiers are curious to explore and do not fear for what is to some. The theme of idealism can be seen in the phrase 'As the new passion stirring in their veins, When the destroying dragon wakes from sleep.' In the phrase England is personified to have passion building in its blood and body which is also ironic as during war there is a lot of blood shed. There is use of alliteration in 'destroying dragon' which is
Compare and contrast the ways in which the horrors of war are presented in Regeneration by Pat Barker and Journeys end
Compare and contrast the ways in which the horrors of war are presented in Regeneration by Pat Barker and Journeys End by R.C Sheriff. Both Regeneration and Journeys End, explore the horrors of war in similar ways and also in different ways. They both challenge assumptions about the war and the horrors the soldiers have to face. These horrors involve horrors of trench life, death of soldiers and the suffering the soldiers endured both physically and mentally. These horrors are conveyed by the use of characters that evoke flashbacks and also the mental state of the characters. Regeneration is told through Rivers who is the protagonist of the novel. Rivers is the psychiatrist at Craiglockhart which is a war hospital. Barker uses Rivers to enable the reader to gain a deeper insight into the horrors of his patients and the horrors of war. However in Journeys End this insight is achieved through an examination of men, in a trench, at the front line. The different genres of literature, the time the texts were written and the diverse styles used by each writer, together, provides a contrast, which helps to show many presentations of the horrors and effects of the first world war. The chosen medium for Journeys End is the theatre and this has benefits, but also creates problems. The staging on the theatre can show dim lights, flashes, sounds of trench fighting and no mans land,
Compare: 'The Soldier' by Rupert Brooke, 'Futility' by Wilfred Owen, and 'Anthem For Doomed Youth' also by Wilfred Owen, are all on the theme of war.
Kathryn Garnham 10T April - May 2002 English Literature Coursework: A Comparison of Three Sonnets on the Same Theme A sonnet is a poem fourteen lines in length. Sonnets follow various rhyming patterns, such as the idea of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet, as was promoted by the sonnets written by William Shakespeare. The Iambic Pentameter, the idea of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, is a common feature of sonnets, as are elevated themes such as love, death, war and honour. The three poems I have chosen to compare: 'The Soldier' by Rupert Brooke, 'Futility' by Wilfred Owen, and 'Anthem For Doomed Youth' also by Wilfred Owen, are all on the theme of war. The most striking difference between these three poems is the manner in which they portray war. Whilst 'The Soldier' seems to glorify war, making the soldiers who fought appear as heroes, the other two sonnets depict the apparent pointless of war. In 'Anthem for Doomed Youth', the title alone presents a feeling of the worthlessness of war: the word 'doomed' shows that the young soldiers are not yet in danger, but by fighting in a war they are approaching an imminent death. The word 'anthem' is a contradiction, an example of irony. Anthems are glorious, celebratory songs, and by no means is the poem joyous. Naturally, the title 'Futility' also leads the reader into an expectation of a poem
