Compare and contrast Sylvia Plath 'Blackberrying', Sylvia Plath 'Mirror' and Elizabeth Jennings 'My Grandmother' using the theme loneliness and depression
Compare and contrast Sylvia Plath 'Blackberrying', Sylvia Plath 'Mirror' and Elizabeth Jennings 'My Grandmother' using the theme loneliness and depression I have chosen two poems by Sylvia Plath called 'Blackberrying' and 'Mirror'. Plath was a manic depressive most of her life, she was married to Ted Hughes who later became poet laureate, but despite this marriage she claimed never to feel truly loved nor that she could give all her love to one person. She committed suicide at the age of 30 leaving two children and her husband so bereaved he did not write poetry for 3 years after her death. The other poem I have chosen is called 'My grandmother' by Elizabeth Jennings, she also suffered a mental breakdown at the age of 40 after the recovery from a serious illness. Like Plath the years of asperity in her life were enhanced in her poems and the comparisons between the two ways of expressing this loneliness and sadness are to be compared and contrasted in this essay. In the poem 'Blackberrying' Plath talks about walking down a lane towards the sea whilst picking blackberries in a milk-bottle. The first verse of the poem starts by describing the fact that she is alone 'nobody in the lane, and nothing', does this imply that she is often on her own? and is she happy like this, or does she feel no-one knows the 'real her' that she has no-one she is really close to that she can talk
Comparing and contrasting two poems Mirror and Blackberrying by the Author Sylvia Plath.
Comparing and contrasting two poems Mirror and Blackberrying by the Author Sylvia Plath In this essay I shall be comparing and contrasting two poems by the author Sylvia Plath. The two poems are 'Blackberrying' and 'Mirror' Sylvia Plath born in Boston, Massachusetts 1932 was the wife of another famous yet complicated poet Ted Hughes. Many of Plath's poems were based on her inner pain yet also other celebratory poems about motherhood aspects of nature etcetera. In addition to writing poems she wrote one autobiographic novel 'The Bell Jar'. Sylvia Plath had a very short and tragic life, after suffering from years of depression and mental illness from living under pressure she took her life in 1963. She is now laid to rest in a little church yard grave in Heptonstall, West Yorkshire. The first poem I am going to be describing is to be Mirror. I see Mirror as a lonely and heart filled poem. I believe that it shows Plath's unwillingness for growing old. I believe that she looks into the mirror and sees her youth dipping away uncontrollably. She sees the mirror as honest and not one to tell lies by using personification expanding that the mirror swallows the images and is ominisent in knowing everything for example like a god. The poem seems schizophrenic, she is searching for who she really is, but cannot see her value in herself. She shows this in the poem by saying;
A Comparison of Two Newspaper Articles - September 11th
A Comparison of Two Newspaper Articles In this essay I will contrast a pair of articles from two different English papers, The Times and The Mirror. These articles were published on 12th September 2001, the day after the terrorist atrocities hit America, so had a huge amount of influence and needed to provide the reader with as much information and explanations as possible, as this was a very confused time for everyone. The Times is a broadsheet paper, that is to say a larger paper of about 'A2' size, and The Mirror is a tabloid, a smaller 'A3' size paper. Their sizes are not their only differences though. Broadsheets and tabloids are aimed at different markets and therefore have very different manners of writing. The Times is expected to be bought by middle-class persons with a reasonable income and who are well educated. The Mirror however aims at the working class people who may not be as intellectual as 'Times' readers and who possibly have a lower income. Therefore the articles will vary in their style, presentation, structure and details according to who is expected to read them. One only needs look at the headlines to have this confirmed. The Times 'Bloody Echoes of Pearl Harbour' title works on many levels and expects a certain level of understanding from the reader, whereas The Mirror's 'WE ARE ALL F***ING DYING IN HERE' only has a level of shock. It is a
"My Grandmother" by Elizabeth Jennings - summary of structure & theme
Steven Gatesman "My Grandmother" Poetry Coursework In the poem entitled "My Grandmother" by Elizabeth Jennings explores the relationship between the poetic voice and her grandmother. It focuses on the remorse and guilt she felt, and perhaps does still feel. The poem is divided into four parts. The first stanza describes her grandmother working in the shop, the second the incident which causes her guilt, the third stanza shows her in retirement. In the final stanza, after her grandmother has died, the speaker reflects on herself and her grandmother's life. The first stanza sets the scene; the antique shop reflects the character and life of the grandmother. The words 'it kept her' suggest that it seems, to the speaker, her only reason for living; the grandmother's concern is with surface appearance ('polish was all') not with deep human feelings ('there was no need of love'). Her solitariness is suggested in the fact that it is only 'her own reflection' she sees reflected in the antiques. It is these she lives 'among', not people. The antiques themselves create an oppressive atmosphere - they are 'faded' and 'heavy' in this stanza, and in the final stanza the 'tall/ Sideboards and cupboards' in the 'long, narrow room' take on the air of coffins. Even the sounds of the words the speaker uses contribute. The sounds in 'the brass/ Salvers and silver bowls' are
The two articles are about war, one is taken from the front page of the The Daily Telegraph, Saturday January 11th 2003 and the other is from The Daily Mirror on the same date.
Comparing two newspaper articles The two articles are about war, one is taken from the front page of the The Daily Telegraph, Saturday January 11th 2003 and the other is from The Daily Mirror on the same date. The articles are structured differently: The Mirror has three neat columns with one large picture taking up about 50% of the space. Whereas The Telegraph has the text in just one column but still has a large picture. The Daily Mirror's headline is sensational, 'Off To War' is written in large, capitalized font. The headline misleads the reader as the article is actually about 'brave teenage sailors' getting ready for war not actually going to war. The purpose of this technique is to persuade the reader to buy the article. The headline in The Daily Telegraph is different as it's a lot smaller, it is very simple and uses sibilance, which is the repetition of the 's' sound. They both appear on the front page and use the same picture, but from two very different angles. The picture of Donna Fleming in The Mirror is a close up, showing a pretty young female to appeal to the male readers. The picture of Donna Fleming that appears in The Daily Telegraph puts her on half of the page and the union jack on the other half; this picture is more patriotic and is in line with what the article is about. Newspapers all appeal to a certain age, class or profession of person.
To measure the speed of light in an experiment available to do at school.
The aim of this experiment is to measure the speed of light in an experiment available to do at school. The principle is quite simple. Let a ray of light strike a rotating mirror that reflects the light three meters away to a second mirror, so that the light is reflected back at the rotating mirror and back to the laser. The rotating mirror has during the time it took for the light to travel the six meters to the second mirror and back rotated some degrees and the light spot has moved from the origin. And if you know how fast the mirror is rotating, you can calculate how fast the light is traveling. The apparatus is set up like the figure below shows. When we did the experiment and measured, x was measured to approximately 3.0 mm - 3.5 mm. So we know that the velocity of light is the distance it travels divided by the time it takes ( c = d / t ), and the distance is 30 meters since the light should travel to the second mirror and back. The how do we know how long time it takes? Well, if we use a tuning fork we can set the mirror to do 512 rotations per second. And since we know the distance between the rotating mirror and the laser, and the angular velocity of the rotating mirror, we can calculate how long time it takes. So q = x / 10 = 3 E-4T = 1 / 512 " 0.001953 t = q / 2p * T = ( 0.3E-4 m / 2p ) * ( 1 / 512 ) = 9.32E-8 Then, c = d / t = 30 / 9.32E-8 " 321719678 m/s
Through the Mirror At Midnight
THROUGH THE MIRROR AT MIDNIGHT Granddad had just past away and Mum was cleaning out the house. Granddad lived in a rickety old house at the end of Wood Lane. There was nothing special about the house, only that on a pitch dark night the milky white moon would rise right above it and it would look so close to the roof you would think if you climbed up there you could actually touch it. It was ten o' clock at night and I decided to visit Granddad's house. I really missed him. If I could not get to sleep I would ring him and he would tell me a story, usually an urban tale. The night was icy cold. The stars were flickering in the moonless sky. The darkness engulfed the whole town. An owl hooted from beyond the trees, besides that everything was silent. As I opened the door a gust of wind blew my long brown hair back. I looked towards the window and found that it was open "How odd" I said to myself and climbed over a pile of boxes to close it. I decided to go up to Granddad's bedroom, where I last saw him. Granddad was my best friend; in fact he was my only friend. My classmates at school would not accept my superstitious personality. I pushed open the dilapidated door and it gave a slow creek, "Huh!" I gasped out in fright. "Oh it's only my reflection in the mirror." I assured myself. The strange thing was that I should have known that mirror would be there, I
How to define literature?
If you want to see your face look at a mirror; If you want to see your soul look at a work of art. HOW TO DEFINE LITERATURE? Finding an exact definition of literature has confused and baffled many literary theorists throughout history. Even now, a precise definition of literature has not been reached despite countless theories developed. However, if we focus on the main function of literature by consulting ancient Western literary theorists, we will see from their diverse theories that literature is a mirror, which reflects the human soul with its good and evil sides. By looking at this mirror, societies have had the chance of observing their situations objectively and as a result of this, they have felt the need to change and renew themselves. In the Western tradition, the first known theorist to think about the functions of the literature is the Greek philosopher Plato, who raised fundamental and enduring questions about the role of literature and its justification in his famous book The Republic. Although he is notorious for being severely critical against literature, he made a great contribution to the development of literary criticism because many thinkers have produced literary theories to refute Plato's arguments. One of his central arguments against poetry is that it is harmful to human soul, for it addresses to the inferior part of the soul, and encourages us
Creative writing - Through The Mirror at Midnight.
Through The Mirror at Midnight I should have known it was going to be a bad day when I saw the brown slab plop on my plate. I was hoping for fried chicken or pizza, anything but meat loaf. "All right! Meat loaf," my best friend, Connor, said from behind me. "My Favourite." Connor eats anything and everything. It's sick. I shook my head as I moved down the line. "I can't believe you're excited about meat loaf. What planet are you from?" Connor shrugged and brushed his long blond hair out of his face. "The planet of hunger, its lunchtime and I'm starving." No one would ever expect us to be best friends. Conner is a foot taller than any other boy in the seventh grade. I'm a foot shorter. He has straight blond hair. Mine is dark and curly. Conner is a math wizard. I'm better at English. To Connor everything seems to have a logical explanation. I don't agree. I think life is a lot more mysterious. Well, I live on Fear Street. I believe in vampires, ghosts, monsters and that entire sort. Mysterious and supernatural things happen on Fear Street. I even know people who have who have seen ghosts on Fear Street, and even worse. As I picked up my lunch tray, I stared down at the meat loaf as I moved away from the lunch line. Thick brown slime drip down it. I guess they call it gravy. To me looked more like what my cat threw up. I scanned the lunchroom for a
Daddy VS Papa - In the two poems "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath and "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke the father is the main subject.
Daddy VS Papa In the two poems "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath and "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke the father is the main subject. "Daddy" is set in a hatred tone, while "My Papa's Waltz" is humorous. Sylvia Plath seems to be letting out anger towards her father while Theodore Roethke is setting a tone only he can understand. The little boy in "My Papa's Waltz" does not resent his father in anyway. While "Daddy", shows Sylvia as hating her father for what he did. In "My Papa's Waltz", Theodore Roethke seems to have been manhandled as a child. While Sylvia Plath in "Daddy" was never physically harmed but emotionally. Written in the 1960's "Daddy" seems to have taken place in the 40's. As a child Sylvia Plath grew up to think of her father as God. He was the head of the household and ran the house with an iron fist. Her father was a German who came to the United States from Poland. Sylvia refers to her father as a Nazi, when in fact he was not one at all. Otto Plath, Sylvia's father, was in fact a Republican, not a Nazi. Her mother may have been partly Jewish. So, as she finds out her father was German and a very domineering man she resents him for what his nationality did to her mother's nationality. Sylvia Plath's father died from gangrene when Sylvia was only 8. It seems as though the girl in the poem is not Sylvia at all but a person she made up whom is similar to