Discuss the way in which Wordsworth and Heaney present nature and rural life in their poetry.
GCSE English coursework Assignment Pre 20th Century Poetry Discuss the way in which Wordsworth and Heaney present nature and rural life in their poetry. Born 1770, in Cockermouth, William Wordsworth spent his early life and many of his formative years attending a boys' school in Hawkshead, a village in the Lake District. As can be seen in his poetry, the years he spent living in these rural surroundings provided many of the valuable experiences Wordsworth had as he grew up. At the age of 17, Wordsworth moved south to study at Saint John's College, University of Cambridge. Later, in 1790, two years after the French Revolution had begun; he took a walking tour through France and Switzerland on vacation. France obviously captivated Wordsworth's attention, because a year later he made a return visit. This time he met a French woman, named Annette Vallon, with whom he had an illegitimate daughter. As rivalry and conflict between England and France continued to grow, Wordsworth made the decision to settle in Dorset with his sister, Dorothy. There he met fellow poet and future colleague, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Three years on, Wordsworth and Dorothy moved again, this time to Somerset, which was closer to Coleridge. This resulted in the publication of 'Lyrical Ballads' in 1798, which was a joint collection by Coleridge and Wordsworth. A year later, William and Dorothy
Compare The Treatment In The Poems 'Sonnet 18' And 'The Sun Rising'.
Compare The Treatment In The Poems 'Sonnet 18' And 'The Sun Rising' In 'The Sun Rising' by John Donne, the poet is awakened by the sun's rays streaming through the curtains into his bedroom, where he lies with his lover. Wishing to prolong (to lengthen in duration) the pleasure of lying in, cuddled beside her, he tells the Sun not to disturb the peace of the bedroom. The fact that the Sun's other duties are, amongst others, to wake "late schoolboys" and "call country ants to harvest offices" suggests that the day is already well established, and the poet must soon accept to part from his lover's embrace. But love, he argues, is not ruled by time or the natural order, and is quite independent of them, and therefore he is annoyed that the Sun should meddle in the affairs of lovers and cause this parting: "Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime, Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time." Indeed, in the second and third stanzas, Donne questions the natural order, and claims that the love between himself and his girl is superior to the Sun's, and all other rulers', power: He can "eclipse and cloud" the Sun's beams "with a wink", and his lover's eyes will blind the Sun, so beautiful are they. In short, he concludes, the lovers' embrace is the real centre of the Sun, and only they two are important in the world: "Since thy duties be To warm the world, that's done
A Comparison of two poetries - Like a Flame and The Thickness of Ice
A Comparison of two poetries - Like a Flame and The Thickness of Ice In this essay I am going to analyse two different poems. I am going to analyse the subject matter, language, rhyme / rhythm, form, ideas and attitudes and the overall tone of each. The two poems that I will be analysing in this essay are "Like a Flame" by Grace Nichols and "The Thickness of Ice" by Liz Loxley. "Like a Flame" is a modern poem written in the 20th Century. The title "Like a Flame" is implying that the atmosphere is very hot and is full of youthful spirit around it. The poem is about one girl falling in love with a man. It is written in their first meeting, giving her first feelings between being a girl and becoming a woman. The whole poem has no rhyming pattern, but some structure is evident. The first four verses, which have three lines in each, they set the scene as well as the mood. It uses the suggestion in the words "ripening cane" to describe herself grow up quickly, already of riper years. His eyes attracted her when she first met that man. As the second verse "my eyes make four with this man." But the third and fourth verses are written she only laughs and feels so confused. She doesn't know she is falling in love because she does not understand the feeling of love. The last four verses of the poem reveal the girl has some sweet feelings when she starts to talk with that man. And it
Compare Shakespeare's Sonnet 12 with Shelley's Ozymandias
Task: Compare Shakespeare's Sonnet 12 with Shelley's Ozymandias Both of these Sonnets have been written to show the effect that time has on everything in this world. Though each of these sonnets have been written about completely unrelated subjects, they still both portray the message that everything changes with time. On writing about mutability, Shakespeare has used nature and human life as the basis for his sonnet and the reader is told of how the passage of time changes everything beautiful to destruction. Shakespeare begins his sonnet by giving an obvious example of mutability, describing the daily process of when day turns into night, taking away the brightness and joyfulness of the day, and leaving the world in the brutal darkness of night: "And see the brave day sunk in hideous night." He also gives the example of youths losing their beauty and appeal as they age; "And sable curls, all silver'd o'er with white." This line describes a young man or woman growing up, and how their black curls have turned silvery with age. The first eight lines of the sonnet, describe and give many examples of the destruction that time has on the beauty of nature. In the next quatrain, Shakespeare has come to the conclusion that everything in the world eventually loses its splendour and beauty and will die. "Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake, And die as fast
How Mise -en - scene creates meaning in Gladiator.
How Mise -en - scene creates meaning in Gladiator The sequence of the movie that I have decided to focus on is the battle scene at the beginning of the movie in Germania. In total the whole battle takes approximately 7 - 8 minutes. I decided to use this scene because it is my favourite section of the film and it also has so many elements for me to discuss. The battle scene in Gladiator is a great example of how mise - en - scene can create meaning within a motion picture. The director, Ridley Scott, has given a greater meaning to the film using his techniques that he has used so many times before in other block busters such as Alien and Blade Runner . These techniques such as clever uses of camera work, lighting styles, sound effects, computer generated images (CGI) and editing have added to the scene in making it more emotional and moving. The scene begins with the troops along with Maximus preparing for the battle. Immediately you feel a sense of eeriness because of the colour of the surroundings. Everything has a touch of blue about it making you feel very cold and wet. The music from the start is moving, you can tell that something important and frightening is about to happen in the not to distant future The use of the music in this scene is an example of parallel sound where the music you hear is reflecting the narrative and what's going on within the scene, I believe
Using a selection of pre-twentieth century verse, compare and contrast the ways in which different poets approach the themes of love and loss.
Task: Using a selection of pre-twentieth century verse, compare and contrast the ways in which different poets approach the themes of love and loss. "When We Two Parted" written by Lord Byron, "Remember" written by Christina Rossetti and "My Last Duchess" written by Robert Browning are three pre-twentieth century poems about the ups and downs of love. "When We Two Parted" is a poem about Lord Byron's own secret relationship that failed secretly and tragically when he called it off, yet he feels heartbroken when she finds someone else, breaking their promise to wait for each other. "Remember" also describes how the plans of lovers can go wrong. Rossetti tries to prepare her lover for her impending death. She asks only that he "remembers" her. Likewise, "My Last Duchess" includes the theme of death, as a paranoid Duke tells the story of how and why he killed his wife. While the poems vary in terms of style and techniques, all three poets tackle the issue of love and loss. "When We Two Parted" is a first person narrated poem written for a specific audience. Byron uses the poem as a means by which to send his ex-lover a message in secret. In the poem he reflects upon the break up as he speaks in the past tense. He tells us that they met in "secret", which could mean there relationship was ethically unacceptable; this is what may have caused the break up. Byron says that their
Les Murrays Widower in the country
Les Murray's "Widower in the country" Les Murray's poem "Widower in the country" is a portrait of a man whose wife has died. The poem is the daily routine of a countryman who is depicted as still grieving for the loss of his wife, his sense of liveliness disappeared and the absence of feeling. The man's schedule is very ordered and quite tedious, no excitement in the menial tasks, he is almost robot-like as he trudges around the property labouring. The poem, written in iambic pentameter starts with a moving image of the man's bed that presumably was occupied by a wife before she passed away, this impression of the unmade bed makes the reader think about what was in the marriage. Through the first stanza, not only is the man fixated on him by using first person narrator, in addition he is putting things off until later, "I'll get up soon...I'll go outside". This notion of putting off tasks reveals that the countryman is depressed, he never feels like doing the job at that time. As the narrator reveals, there once could have been a family, the "Christmas paddocks" indicates that there would have once been a joyful time during Christmas with a family. As the widower is gazing over the paddocks, delaying his duties, we notice that he has no direction in his life, there is an absence of force or being involved, this has been portrayed through "the windless trees". Then there is
Which of 'The Sun Rising' by John Donne and 'To His Coy Mistress' by Andrew Marvell do you believe to be the most successful poem?
Which of 'The Sun Rising' by John Donne and 'To His Coy Mistress' by Andrew Marvell do you believe to be the most successful poem? John Donne and Andrew Marvell were two of the most outstanding of the English Metaphysical poets of their era. In both of the poems to which this piece of extended writing refers, highly intellectual and complex imagery is used to make us discover the hidden meanings behind their unconventional love poetry. Both poems were written at a similar period, and though both authors were similar in ways, there are also points of diversity. John Donne was a renowned clergyman, loved and respected greatly for his ingenious fusion of wit and humour he injected into both his sermons and his poetry. Donne's work was widely published during his life and though shunned by his family for renouncing the Roman Catholic tradition, attending both Oxford and Cambridge and receiving no degrees and a shocking secret marriage to Anne More, Donne managed to make a healthy living and laugh at his mishaps. The poet, in characteristic pun later summed up the latter experience as, 'John Donne, Anne Donne, undone.' By way of contrast, Andrew Marvell was the son of a working vicar. He attended college but after the death of his father, he decided to travel from country to country in an unsettled manner. Not much is known about Marvell as prior to his death, very few of his
With close reference to the two poems which you have studied, show how the poets have approached the theme of romantic love.
With close reference to the two poems which you have studied, show how the poets have approached the theme of romantic love. In your response, you should refer to: ) The poets' use of language, style and imagery. 2) Your personal response. For this assignment, I have chosen to analyse two contrasting poems. The first poem is "To His Coy Mistress" which was written in1650 by the English poet Andrew Marvell, and it is surprising how modern the subject matter is. This poem uses language to persuade the poet's mistress into shedding her coyness. The second poem, "Valentine" by the contemporary poet Carol Ann Duffy sets out to show how the poet casts aside the traditional artificial values of love, to place instead her own truthful picture of love. "To His Coy Mistress" is a classic seductive poem, a carpe diem poem, in which the poet expresses his sadness at the thought of time swiftly passing by and the brevity of love. It comes across as a private meditation, giving a persuasive argument to his mistress, relating to the passage of time and the fading of earthly joys. In the first part of the poem, Marvell presents us with images of time and space. He tells his mistress what they could achieve in their relationship if they had sufficient time. "Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness Lady, were no crime." Marvell uses the word "crime", in order to suggest
Comparing Poems "Eve of Waterloo"
Sunday, 12 May 2002 Sam McDevitt Comparing Poems The "Eve of Waterloo" is about a surprise attack on a British army. The soldiers and commanders are enjoying a party when the French attack them interrupting their celebrations and forcing them to defend themselves. War soon followed. The poem is organised into eight stanzas with an "ababbcbcc" rhyming scheme. Looking over the poem, we see that it starts off in a very cheerful mood, but stanza two's latter lines, the mood begins to swing. They suspected noises but nervously denied them until they heard the cannons "opening roar". Paragraph 3 changes drastically and an all out battle unfolds. The "Battle of Waterloo" took place on June 18th 1815. Waterloo is situated in Belgium but the Britain's and French soon changed the place into a battlefield. The battle was a very significant one in historic context. It meant the end to the Napoleonic Wars. Infantry, cavalry and artillery were used in these wars. Throughout the poem there is an emphasis on tension. It starts off quite slow but by line 15, the tension begins. "That heavy sound" got the British denying the sound until the canon fires. This builds up the tension incredibly and urges the army into battle. Lines such as, "He rushed into field, and, foremost fighting fell", creates a scene of tension, excitement and speed. Napoleons attack is very quick and unnoticed
