Trickster: Shaman of the Liminal.
Trickster: Shaman of the Liminal The Native American Trickster is a figure who defies category. He is at once the scorned outsider and the culture-hero, the mythic transformer and the buffoon, a creature of low purpose and questionable habits who establishes precedent, dabbles in the creation of the world that will be, and provides tools, food, and clothing to the people who will inhabit that world. He may assume an array of contradictory personae in the course of a single narrative, moving from one to the other with the skill of a practiced shape-shifter while tripping on his tail at every turn. Trickster creates through destruction and succeeds through failure; his mythic and cultural achievements are seldom intentional. "Defining such a various creature," writes Jarold Ramsey, "is a little like trying to juggle hummingbirds" (26). Ramsey attempts to reconcile Trickster's inconsistencies by pointing out the tendency of Native American myth-narrative to carry out "a plurality of significant and interrelated functions simultaneously" (24), and goes on to outline an inductive/deductive approach to Trickster study that is "attentive to character features and role" (27). However, any effort to arrive at a more complete definition of this most illusive of characters must eventually leave the search for definition behind. Even Ramsey's emphasis on cultural perspective and
Duffy's Style
Duffy's Style In her poems Carol Ann Duffy explores many subjects and themes including love, a female's perspective of well known legend, dream-like poems, other people and poems from her own experience. Some poems with these themes include, 'Valentine', 'Mrs. Midas', 'Dream of a Lost Friend', 'War Photographer' and 'Originally'. Many of Duffy's poems are in a speaking voice (monologue). Some are humorous, some serious and others are very realistic. The poet uses images and imagery, sensory and emotional writing to convey ideas. To make the reader aware of an important part of the poem or to keep an idea with them, Duffy uses a variety of sentence structures and different styles. She often uses narrators. A persona (which most of her poems are set in) allows Duffy to express an idea from another point of view. The structure that she uses in her poems contains regular stanzas and both internal and external rhyme. In this essay I will be discussing the poems Valentine, War Photographer and Prayer. I have chosen Valentine, as it is a poem that has a touch of humour but also brings about a serious point about love. It makes the reader think about love from a different angle and it challenges people's ideas about valentine. War Photographer is a poem that is written from a serious view. I have chosen this poem as it makes the reader think about someone who has had
Compare the poems 'Mid-Term Break' by Seamus Heaney and ' 'Out Out- ' ' by Robert Frost
Compare the poems 'Mid-Term Break' by Seamus Heaney and ' 'Out Out- ' ' by Robert Frost After reading the poems 'Mid-Term Break' by Seamus Heaney and ' 'Out Out- ' ' by Robert Frost I am able to point out many similarities between the poems but also a number of differences. The first of these similarities is the theme. Both poems focus on the death of a young boy. However both offer very different treatments of that theme. 'Mid-Term Break' focuses on the aftermath of a terrible accident where Seamus Heaney chooses to focus his attention on the emotional responses of his friends and family while ' 'Out Out- ' ' shows the reader the accident as it happens in almost a running commentary style. 'Mid-Term Break' offers a much more emotional outlook on such a bleak subject, emphasising on the importance of life. ' 'Out Out- ' ' is hard-hitting in a different way. The lack of emotion in the poem is used effectively to help portray the much more negative message that Robert Frost is trying to express. In 'Mid-Term Break', Seamus Heaney tries to tell the reader about everybody's rite of passage, the importance and sanctity of life. Heaney emphasises throughout the poem that his brother's life was thrown away, he was cut off in his prime. The poem starts off by describing Heaney in his college sick-bay. At this point in the poem we don't know what has happened but it is clear that
Seamus Heaney : Comparisons
Explore Seamus Heaney's treatment of bog bodies and how he relates their history to his own time. Seamus Heaney was a great poet who was influenced by his surroundings and the mystic secrets of the landscape. He was taken in by the idea of the beautiful peatlands that could preserve almost any object or person it swallowed. Over the years the peatlands has been used for a variety of things. In this essay I will explore the links between Seamus Heaney and how he relates through his two poems 'Bog Queen' and 'Punishment' the historical links from the bog bodies era to today. As I previously mentioned the peatlands was used for a variety of things, these things consisted of the construction of building materials, filters, fuel, and peat moss. Not only did the peatlands provide hard materials but also it was a habitat for many mammals, birds and it even provided a reasonable home for plants to grow such as wild berries. During the iron ages these natural organisms provided a way of life to the people who lived off the peatlands. Not only does Seamus Heaney link the historical features in his poems but we can also see these features for ourselves when things such as, when the stone age people brought over animals for grazing because the land was rich in minerals and nutrients, this is still done in Irelands society today. Many people believed that the peatlands was much like
Wilfred Owens World War poetry Dulce et Decurum est and Mental Cases
Zuhair Crossley English Coursework Mr Lockwood Wilfred Owen's World War poetry 'Dulce et Decurum est' and 'Mental Cases' In 1914 war broke out in Europe and on both sides it was greeted by jubilation from the general public. It was commonly believed by the British community that the war would be over by Christmas, ending in a huge battle and glorious victory. It was a similar scenario in Germany, where thousands lined the streets to celebrate the announcement. There had not been war in Europe since 1871 and even that had been a lightning victory for Germany against the French forces. The result of this was Germany gaining the Provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, traditionally French territory. Throughout Europe young men were gripped with war fever. Newspapers and propaganda showed images of brave soldiers charging the terrible enemy. They believed that they would sign up to be part of a magnificent encounter and go home afterwards. In Britain alone, half a million young men signed up in the first four weeks. Propaganda is "The organised dissemination of information and allegation to assist or damage the cause of a government or movement." Britain used propaganda to great effect throughout the war. A sense of duty was fed to readers of papers, encapsulated in Horace's poem ", Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori: mors et fugacem persequitur virum: nec parcit inbellis
Compare and Contrast "Lamb To the Slaughter" with "The Speckled Band".
Compare and Contrast "Lamb To the Slaughter" with "The Speckled Band" For this piece of course work I have been set the task of comparing the two stories mentioned in the title, "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "The Speckled Band". The popular and highly successful author Roald Dahl wrote the story "Lamb to the Slaughter". The story was first published in 1954. The author Roald Dahl is a famous author and he is most famous for writing stories such as "James and the giant peach" and "The Twits" but as not a lot of people know that he also writes more adult stories like "Tales of the unexpected". In his books he mostly rights about fictitious characters that are doing strange things with or strange things happening to them. The author of "The Speckled Band" was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Story was first published in the year of 1892. In this story the main character is a detective called Sherlock Holmes. This character has been in all of this author's books and Sherlock Holmes is a purely fictional character. The character Sherlock Holmes is a Scotland Yard detective and he has a very good friend and partner in the police force, Dr Watson. The detective Sherlock Holmes is a very adept detective and he has had lots of famous cases, "Hound of the Baskervilles" keeping in mind that he is a fictional character, thus so are the cases. The fact that both of the authors wrote about
How does Wilfred Owen in Disabled treat the subject of exclusion? Including comparisons with how W.H Auden in Refugee Blues treats the same theme
Jordan Carp How does Wilfred Owen in Disabled treat the subject of exclusion? Including comparisons with how W.H Auden in Refugee Blues treats the same theme ________________ Both poets explore a form of exclusion and are similar in the respect that the exclusion was brought about by war. They have face exclusion due to similar circumstances and this is outlined in both ‘Disabled’ and ‘Refugee Blues’ respectively. Wilfred Owen explored the theme of exclusion by taking a fine young man who was fit, healthy, attractive and full of exuberance for life, and turned him into a disabled soldier who lost various limbs in the First World War. The exclusion he faces is from normal, able-bodied society. He can no longer perform the acts that made him seem so appealing in the past and he is excluded from everything that previously defined him and made his life worthwhile. W.H. Auden also based his theme around exclusion. However he focussed more on the aspects from The Second World War in his poem, when a number of races were excluded from their basic human rights on a national and worldwide scale. In both cases the people who had been excluded have felt that they have lost their humanity, due to the way they are treated like items, who can just not be involved or turned away without a second glance. The sympathy that is drawn from the poem appeals to the reader’s feelings
In this wide-reading piece I will compare two murder mystery stories: 'The Speckled Band' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and 'Lamb to the Slaughter' by Roald Dahl. My first objective will be to offer a definition of a murder mystery.
Comparing 'Lamb to the Slaughter' and 'The Speckled Band' In this wide-reading piece I will compare two murder mystery stories: 'The Speckled Band' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and 'Lamb to the Slaughter' by Roald Dahl. My first objective will be to offer a definition of a murder mystery. A murder mystery is a story in which a murder has occurred and detective try to solve who committed the crime. People sometimes identify murder mysteries by the famous phrase 'who dunnit'. The three most important things in my opinion that need to be in a murder mystery are; a murderer, victim and a detective. Without these three things it cannot be a murder mystery. Usually the murderer carries his/her attack with are murder weapon. There is normally a motive behind the attack and clues and information are given to the reader throughout the story, sometimes via a sidekick of the lead detective. The reader has opportunities to guess and suspect the murderer. The setting of a murder mystery is usually a typical murder house gothic mansion with broken windows and set alone on a hill top. There are many twists and turns in the investigation and all is revealed at the end of the story. 'Lamb to the Slaughter' is a murder mystery written by Roald Dahl in 1954. The story is written in third person narrative. Dahl is particularly famous for his children's novels but he also wrote many adult
Comparing and contrasting of poems 'Woman Work' and Overheard in County Sligo'
Comparing and contrasting of poems 'Woman Work' and Overheard in County Sligo' We have been studying two poems in class. One of the poems being 'Woman Work' which is by Maya Angelou. Maya was born in the year April 1928. She is not only a poet she is an author, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer and a singer. So she is very talented at various things. Maya is a very inspiring and real writer, when I say real I mean that her poem, particularly this one is true. Women are made to do a lot of work, even in this day. Perhaps the poem woman work was based on how she had to work a lot when she was younger before she had become a poet. The second poem we are studying is called 'Overheard in County Sligo'. This poem is written by a woman call Gillian Clarke who is again not just a poet but she is also a writer, editor, lecturer and broadcaster. A lot of Gillian's poems are about childhood, womanhood, Wales and how fragile life is. Her poetry reveals that she is really empowered to make women's contribution to society noticed as much as men's. She doesn't want to see men ruling the world when the women are trapped at home. She wants women to live free and follow their ambitions and dreams. She really cares for the women on the earth, as does Maya Angelou. Neither of them wants to see women being ruled over. They both feel very
If you were directing 'Educating Rita', how would you seek to achieve the humour for an Audience?
Elegy What is this? In a simple sense it's a text about a dead person, or, in this case, persons. Before we look at this particular elegy I want us to think about memorial writing in general. It's clearly quite an important part of a social organisation-the way we control and manage death. And it's also an insight into the way we think about individuals in a wide variety of social contexts: * Grand memorial elegies * Small personal ones we place in newspapers, little poems * Obituaries * Letters of consolation in which the writer sets down memories of the dead person * Epitaphs on headstones and plaques We can recognise in all of these there is no direct contact between the writing and the dead person. We can see this in three ways: . Our awareness that this is a special kind of writing that cannot exist without the absence of the death person 2. Our acceptance of the intertextual nature of this writing: that there is a way of doing it which takes its meaning from other similar kinds of writing. An official obituary is very formal and stylised. The more unofficial kink in the newspaper columns is also extremely generic. 3. Our sense that the death of a person distances us from them and allows us to make sense of them as a person But what if we thought about this from another angle. Suppose we consider the possibility that memorial writing is not really a
