Death Came Out of a Clear, Blue Sky.
Death came out of a clear, Blue Sky. That is where the story begins-the only story we can tell, the only story we want to hear-with the kind of clear, blue sky that you only get in autumn in New York City. The day was crisp and cloudless and made you feel glad to be alive. A day when anything seemed possible. Then death came out of that clear, blue sky, changing everything, tearing apart all those lives, and we learned just how much the people of the western world are hated. A passenger jet had just crashed into the north tower of the world trade centre in New York when a packed 767 appeared on the horizon. It was 18 minutes after the first devastating impact. Fire fighters, ambulance crews and rescue teams were swarming the area in desperate bid to save the thousands of workers trapped in the blazing building. They looked to the sky in confusion as the plane got closer, and closer. When it was within a few hundred feet it turned sharply, dipped and crashed into the tower a third of the way from the top. A half-mile wide fireball erupted from the tower in all directions. Tonnes of concrete, glass and steel rained down. The cascade of white-hot debris killed and maimed dozens on the ground. Within an hour, as thousands of people struggled to evacuate, the two huge towers collapsed. Reports came through soon after that the planes had been hi-jacked. Trapped workers could be
To compare 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' with 'The Destruction of Sennacherib'
To compare 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' with 'The Destruction of Sennacherib' In this essay we are going to be comparing two war poems. They are 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) and 'The Destruction of Sennacherib' by Lord Byron (1788-1824). 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' is set in the Crimean war. It is about the British cavalry getting the wrong orders and going straight at the enemy's cannons. 'The Destruction of Sennacherib' is a biblical story. The story tells us about a whole army being wiped out really quickly as they slept by the 'Angel of Death'. The first poem we are going to look at is 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). In this poem Tennyson describes the valley that the cavalry had to gallop along as 'The Valley of Death'. This makes you think that as they go along the valley the soldiers will die. He describes the soldiers as heroic and he admires their courage because the soldiers did not question their orders even though they were likely to be killed. To emphasise this point Tennyson wrote 'Into the jaws of Death'. This tells us that if the soldiers do die, their death would not be pleasant. Only once in the poem does Tennyson mention that a mistake has been made by saying 'not though the soldier knew. Someone had blundered'. As the soldiers rode through the 'valley of death'
There appears to be overlapping themes running through these poems. Identify the symmetry and divergence, explaining how the poets have used language to emphasise their message. After studying the two poems named ". 38" and "The Hangman"
English G.C.S.E Coursework Assignment Modern Poetry/Other cultures There appears to be overlapping themes running through these poems. Identify the symmetry and divergence, explaining how the poets have used language to emphasise their message. After studying the two poems named ". 38" and "The Hangman" it has become clear to me that they are both very well written, good, effective poems. The two poems both have short, sharp, attention grabbing titles. Both titles are death related and eye catching, although The Hangman is an actual person who takes lives but the .38 is the name of an object, which takes lives. But you could also see the Hangman as a type of object as he comes across that he just easily takes peoples lives every day and does not care, and does it as if he is a weapon. Not all readers of the poems will know what a .38 is though, until they read further on into the poem where has "The Hangman" is a title where everyone knows what it is So that's one difference between the two. My opinion as having the .38 as the title is that it's a good idea because people want to read it so see what it's about. And "The Hangman" as a title is eye catching too because its interesting and you know its about a person so you want to read about that person. In the .38 the narrator is unknown, The sentences begin with I hear, I could be anybody but the poem is about a man
All Souls' Morning by Eamon Grennan
Yr 11 IB English: Dianna Gu All Souls' Morning by Eamon Grennan All Souls' Morning by Eamon Grennan is a delightful poem of lyrical warmth and contrast. It is a poem of love, commenting not only on love between human beings but between 'man's best friend', dogs and humans as well. As an Irish Poets, Grennan writes it with a sense of mystery throughout the poem's rhythmically fast run-on lines and circular motion. Grennan writes in both the ancient tradition of mournful remembrance in attention to the natural world and the modern impulse to seize and preserve the moment. He is a religious writer and once quoted: "In the poetry I write there's a certain attempt at reanimation. Particularly if you're a lapsed Catholic, you look for versions of reconciliation, consolation, something to hold onto in the face of disappearance. . . As far as I'm concerned, poetry is about elegy. Every poem is a memory of some kind, a celebratory elegy. Poems are like shells. Something is gone and that's why you write." Grennan writes this poem by working their way from the interior, domestic scene outward, thus successfully widening the scope of the poem. The title of the poem is 'All Souls' Morning". All Souls' Day, in the Roman Catholic church, a festival falling on November 2, the object of which is, by prayers and almsgiving, to assist souls in purgatory. Purgatory, in Christian
Death, Yet but a Word.
Paul R. Judia Jr. Dr. Filippidis, Engl. 2322 November 21, 2003 Paper 2 Death, Yet but a Word Throughout man's history only one constant act has remained; death. No matter how one looks at life, or what era one is in, death has been there. Death is an act mankind will never be able to avoid, or conquer. However, religion has been a savior for man against death by supporting the idea of death only being a new beginning. Also, some in society have sized death up and realized it is not something a person can control. Both of these concepts and ideas can be seen within William Shakespeare's sonnet "146" and John Donne's sonnet "10" from "Holy Sonnets." Both Shakespeare's and Donne's sonnets embrace and after life and question the true power of death, working death down to nothing more than a faint figure. These ideas and concepts can be seen through the author's use of theme and imagery shaped within the structure. While one author uses the theme of life after death and imagery of Death having no power, the other uses a theme of death having no power and the imagery of an afterlife to support. Both convey the same feeling, yet in two distinct ways. William Shakespeare was a man who believed in an afterlife. His use of a theme involving this belief in the afterlife conveys a since of hope. To create this hope, Shakespeare focuses on the concept of a soul to support the idea
Alabaster Chambers and Hope's Feathered Wings: A Contrast/Comparison of Two Dickinson Poems.
Alabaster Chambers and Hope's Feathered Wings: A Contrast/Comparison of Two Dickinson Poems ENG 311A Summer 2001 In a world of literary geniuses such as Emerson, Whitman, Poe, and Longfellow, it is Emily Dickinson who is considered to be one of the greatest nineteenth century poets of all time - perhaps even the greatest. Her simple yet elegant use of the English language has captured the imaginations and hearts of innumerable readers for well over a hundred years. Within her writing career, Dickinson quite literally wrote thousands of poems on many different topics. Love and hate, life and death, hope and hopelessness - Dickinson explored all of these and more in her often-short poetic works. Though each poem is unique, she employed many of the same literary techniques throughout them all. Dickinson's poems "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers" and "'Hope' is the Thing with Feathers" are two poems worth studying. Both have quite a bit in common, and further examination of their language, structure, and meanings is worthwhile. Perhaps the most obvious difference between the two poems is their contrasting themes. "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers" is a dark poem. The subject of discussion is immediately obvious upon even the first reading; it is a poem about death. Oftentimes the meanings of poems can be difficult to decipher, but not this one. Each line is clear and
'The Woman at the Washington Zoo'
'The Woman at the Washington Zoo' The poem 'The Woman at the Washington Zoo' is written by Randall Jarrell. Commentary written by Kristoffer Alsvik. It is not only physical jail cell bars that can keep a person in captivity, also the bars of one owns body and the limitations set by a way of living that could be the worst kind of prison. This poem brings up the topic of imprisonment, being trapped in ones own body, conscious of age and lack of importance. The poem suggests from the very start that this woman feels very alone. It doesn't seem like she relates to other people, only describing them as exotic or off this world clothing such as, saris (L 1) and "cloth from the moon" (L 2), and "cloth from another planet" (L 2). She instead of relating other people to herself, she instead relates them to the animals at the zoo where they are looking at the leopard "like the leopard" (L 3), saying that they are just like the leopard. Another case of the woman distancing herself would be the print of their clothing. If we would make the connection of the print and pattern of the "saris" (L 1) and the print on the leopard, an exotic colorful pattern, this is of contrast to the womans "print" (L 5) which is described by as "dull null navy" (L 6-7). I believe she feels her life is only going around in circles, a life of repetition, where she is not going anywhere. This feeling of this
The Veterans Apprehension
The Veterans Apprehension He scrambles through the drenching fields like a snail drowning at deep sea. He hears the voices from the trenches; the souls speak as they drown in their own blood. He climbs the only tree left standing to see his men at the front lines. He is close now, a feeling of despair as he wipes his cold sweat. His heart throbbing with uncertainty, the wretched look on his face influences untruth. It seems the veteran is at war. He looks on with disbelief, to find that his men lay there helplessly. He realises he is the only one that remains. There is no chance of survival. His futurity is lost. They promised him success but they knew only false expectation. He has to return now, as there is nothing left. To desert would be to betray his land. Though he was now defenceless and would return in dishonour. He limps across the abandoned field with a feeling of criminality. He returns to his trench to collect the remains. Dust fills his lungs, an evil feeling of adversity as he mourns over the bodies. He stays low as enemy troops patrol the bloody fields. He must flee now to risk virtuous death. And so he climbs out the trench and again crawls to safety back to the dark forests. Now the day has reached its end, dusk falls in as the horizon's light shines upon this battlefield of betrayal and fidelity. As he keeps his guard he comes across another ally trench
'In the Snack-bar' - Evaluation.
'In the Snack-bar' Evaluation by Amy Naumann Recently in class we have been studying 'In the Snack-bar' by Edwin Morgan. In this essay I will be discussing the various literary techniques and language the poet uses to bring across the misery of old age. The poem is about someone helping an old man to the toilet in a snack bar. The old man's severe disability turns the seemingly simple task into a quest where everyday objects become problematic obstacles and each step takes a lifetime. The old man's helplessness makes the poet philosophical about old age, disability and the very nature of life. 'In the Snack-Bar' is probably set in Scotland as that is where the poet is from, and also because it is wet in the summer, 'these rains of August', as it often is in Scotland. It sounds like it is in a large city such as Glasgow as it's a 'crowded' snack bar. It is most likely to be set in the last thirty years, as before then coffee machines would not have been commonplace. The narrator is the man taking the old man to the toilet. We can tell this from phrases such as 'I take his arm' and 'I put his right arm on the stick'. This narrative style is effective as it allows the reader to feel more as if they are in the situation. One way the poet brings across the old man's helplessness is through visual imagery. One simile is 'Like a monstrous animal caught in a tent'.
In Gwen Harwood's poetry, the changes in an individual's perspective and attitudes towards situations, surroundings and, therefore transformations in themselves, are brought on by external influences
The Glass Jar Gwen Harwood Gwen Harwood was born in 1920 in Brisbane, Queensland. Her family was affectionate and loving and as a child she was immersed in music, philosophy, religion and language. She was raised in a family of strong women, her grandmother lived until she was 80, and her mother was a feminist who was into community issues. It was Gwen's grandmother that introduced her to poetry. Her father played the piano and violin. Both Gwen and her brother were given piano lessons. She then became a music teacher, organist at the All Saints Church of England in Brisbane and a member of the Handel society. Then she became actively involved in religion, as she had always had a fondness for the Old Testament. She began writing poetry in 1950 and in this time, Australia was predominantly white and middle class. Men were still dominant, and only very few women entered the work force. Gwen was of upper middle class, and many of her poems are based on her Christian beliefs and society's beliefs. However, Gwen did not adhere to strict social rules, instead challenging the beliefs towards motherhood and many other issues of the time. Every time she attempted publishing her poetry most of them were rejected due to the marginalization of women at the time. This is where she began using pseudonyms such as Walter Lehmann and Miriam Stone. In 1945 she married linguist William
