William blake
Rajit Shail English Literature Coursework April 2007 How does William Blake portray childhood in Songs of innocence and Experience? William Blake was a late eighteenth century poet who became famous for his two anthology of Song of Innocence (published in 1789) and Songs of Experience (published in 1794). He focused his poems mainly on children and religion. Several of his poems were written for children as it was easy to understand, used simple vocabulary, simple verse and some were happy and optimistic. However most of his poems had a deeper meaning. Blake lived during the Industrial Revolution. This was a period of immense social, political and cultural change in many areas of the world. He saw child labour and blamed the Church and wealthy people for not doing anything about it. He lived poor, therefore was unable to do anything himself. His poems like 'The Chimney Sweeper' and 'Holy Thursday' show the hardship put upon the orphan children of the time. They did dangerous jobs to get their daily bread and many died. Blake saw this and wrote countless of his poems based on this. Songs on Innocence was Blake's first collection and it demonstrates how people are often blind to their own reality. Most songs are from the viewpoint of a child implying their innocence. This can be seen in 'the Chimney Sweeper' where it is written: 'When my mother died I was very young.'
William Blake -
Jose Acosta December 10, 2003 AP English - Mr. Fidemi William Blake - "The Lamb" William Blake's "The Lamb" is an attempt to bring up life's ultimate questions through the voice of child-like speaker. The poem is structured with the question as the first stanza and the answer as the second stanza. Blake initially introduces a naive child asking simple questions but later dives into deep philosophical theories regarding life and creation as the child in turn tries to answer those exact questions. "The Lamb" in trying to convey the answers to certain philosophical questions exhibits basic Christian creedal statements and relays certain images concerning Jesus and also tries to explain His relation to common man. The opening line of the poem embodies every human's curiosities surrounding creation and the origins of human existence. The speaker naively questions the lamb regarding its nature and also its creation. The speaker is representing a child and childish inquiries, yet is addressing the notions of our existence that every person questions at one point or another, be it a child or an adult. The childish inquires carry on as the speaker mentions if the lamb knows who "Gave thee clothing of delight...[and] Gave thee such a tender voice." The poem is enveloped in a sea of naivety as well as humor as the speaker is directly speaking with an animal seeking profound
William Blake
William Blake I am going to compare and contrast three of William Blake poems, where he shows his feelings about the way people treat children: The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and London. The Chimney-Sweeper is about a child who sweeps chimneys. William Blake sets this poem in the winter. The children worked in the cold. Blake says, "A little black thing among the snow," "The little black thing," Is the child who is dirty from cleaning the chimneys who stands out in the snow. He also looks like a black mask on the landscape. Like a dirty stain. "Crying weep, weep in the notes of woe!" Blake hears them crying a song. As children do when they are sad, the notes of woe are notes of extreme sadness. "Where are both father and mother? Say? They are both gone up to the church to pray" this sounds as if someone is asking the boy questions and he answers. The child's parents are missing. They don't know where their parent are, they could be praying at church. The church back then was in possession of a lot of land, building and laid down guide lives for people's life styles. It also seems as if the church supports the parents and does not consider that they have done any thing wrong. The parents are sending the children to work at early age, and in dangerous conditions (chimneys). In the second verse William Blake talks about the child as a happy child, but since
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright. He was born in the small market town of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire. Shakespeare worked in London and held his private life at home in Stratford. Shakespeare died in the year 1616 in the town of his birth. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? This is a sonnet which incorporates 14 lines. There are 3 quatrains and a rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme of the poem is "ABAB CDCD EFEF GG" and is made up of iambic pentameter which includes five strong stresses in each line. The sonnets are broken up into octaves and sestets. In this poem the octave is an introduction to the young man who is admired by the poet. The sestet develops the topic of the young man. The octave uses the summer season as a way of describing the young man. He describes the summer sunshine and the colourful flowers as a way of in directly describing him. I think he does this because he is afraid to show his true feelings at the start of the poem, but as we come to the sestet end he starts to reveal his true feelings for this man. He starts to talk about how his love will never fade and as long as he is breathing he will love him. This is love poem and I thing he is trying to describe love as the most beautiful thing imaginable. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" This line is repeating the title and
Write a comparative analysis of 'Shall I compare thee...' by William Shakespeare and 'The Flea' by John Donne from the Best Words anthology.
Write a comparative analysis of 'Shall I compare thee...' by William Shakespeare and 'The Flea' by John Donne from the Best Words anthology. 'Shall I compare thee...' by Shakespeare focuses on romantic love, whereas Donne's poem, 'The Flea' is all about seduction and sexual love. The situations in the two poems are very different. In 'Shall I compare thee...', the poet is shown as a lover who is addressing his lady. His tone is gentle and romantic. He starts with a rhetorical question to which he must answer and therefore he does not put demand upon the lady. The poem gives the impression that it is set perhaps in his room, where he is composing his poem. One thing is for sure and that is that the woman he is addressing is not with him, because all the way through the poem, there is no response from her. Shakespeare wants to emphasize her beauty. In 'The Flea' the poet is directly appealing to the woman or his mistress. They seem to be in bed together with a flea, but no sex seems to have taken place. If it had, then the situation would be very different. The poet has seduced her as far as the bedroom and at this point, it seems as though he is going to try a new strategy. The woman does not appear to be very keen and is resisting his advances. Compared with Donne's poem, in 'Shall I compare thee...' the poet is simply flattering the woman and wants her to like him. It
Write an essay on the variety of ways in which Chaucer treats the subject of love
Write an essay on the variety of ways in which Chaucer treats the subject of love. Within ten stories in the Canterbury Tales, men and women on the way to, or in marriage provide the ostensible subject, with six tales expounding largely on love and its counterpart in marriage. In comic tales, sexual activity is constantly relished, especially in the Miller's Tale and the Reeve's Tale, where love is defined and motivated by animalistic physical desire and relationships clouded with lies and deceit. In contrast, romances like the Knight's Tale and the Franklin's Tale have a high ideal of relaxed and trusting harmony, "Thus been they bothe in quiete and rest", relying also on the poetics of courtly love. Then we have the blend of characters who hold views from all parts of the scale, like the amorous Wyf of Bath who affirms the above view of harmony in marriage, but feels her sexual organ is for use than moral control- commitment is intertwined with twisted Biblical fact to be a hindrance in love rather than a necessity of it. Chaucer not only introduces us to the various traditions and angles of love (formal courtly love to cynical fabliaux), but also examines the contrast in relationships, and the motivations of love within the tales. By doing so, he makes us realize that love is not a single compartment of perspectives, but like real life, is embedded with different angles
War Poems
"Grand Old Duke of York" by Anonymous This famous nursery rhyme has an interesting history. This poem has remained anonymous since the 15th Century. It was written during the War of The Roses between York, the White Rose, and Lancaster, the Red Rose. The poem has obviously been designed by either someone who supported Lancaster or didn't have any respect for York because there is no trace of a positive remark about the Duke of York. Over time, the reality of the writer's view has been lost and the once bias poem has become a popular nursery rhyme. Not much detail has been put into the poem as the basic plot is the Duke of York leads his men up and down a hill, having no purpose whatsoever, which makes this a perfect candidate for young children to get used to and memorise. There are several features of the language which help the reader get used to the poem. Firstly, the poem has a very regular metre that matches the soldiers marching in sync and rhythm. Another point is the regular rhyme scheme fitting in with the soldiers repeating their actions and doing the same thing all the time. The repetition is mildly hypnotic for the soldiers as the marching is supposed to push them into a fighting mood but with simple movements, the writer evidently thought that York had small limits and couldn't change their simplicity. A further aspect is the total omission of blood,
Why is the battle of the Somme regarded as such a great military tragedy?
Why is the battle of the Somme regarded as such a great military tragedy? The battle of the Somme was a major military tragedy as well as a great human heartbreak for the British. The battle of the Somme was fought in France on the river Somme hence the name battle of the Somme. The Somme was fought for two main reasons firstly the British commander sir Douglas Haig made a plan to alleviate strain from the French troops, who were under intense pressure from the Germans in Verdun, where in all 315,000 French soldiers died which meant the planned battle which was originally organised for October was forced forward by three months, without the help of the French as they were still occupied by the Germans in Verdun. The second reason the British attacked on the Somme was to regain the lost land from the Germans. This all meant that the battle of the Somme began at 7 30 am on the 1st July 1916. The word tragedy to me means a sad, unhappy event inevitably causing death. The new penguin dictionary's definition of the word tragedy was - i a disastrous event; a calamity ii a serious drama in which destructive circumstances result in adversity for, and usually the deaths of the main characters. I consider that the battle of the Somme could be regarded as a military tragedy because of the outrageous loss on the first day of the battle. The British suffered the loss of 57,470 of
Why is the battle of the Somme regarded as such a great military tragedy?
Haig Coursework Q1. Why is the battle of the Somme regarded as such a great military tragedy? The Battle of the Somme was an attack launched in order to relieve pressure from the French army at Verdun; it was a way of diverting the Germans. The Somme valley was chosen as its river marked the junction of the British and French armies on the Western Front. The Battle of the Somme has gone down as the biggest disaster in British history. There is no doubt about this in a historians mind that this battle was a tragedy because this it saw the death of 57,000 British soldiers in the first day of the Battle after the heavy bombardment on July 1st 1916. The main aim of the Battle of the Somme was to commence a five day bombardment, obliterating the German trenches, killing all the soldiers, cutting the barbed wire defences and destroying the fortified villages along with the German machinery. The Allies realised that any attack that was made on the Germans would have to be proceeded by a heavy, accurate and lengthy bombardment. Just prior to the attack it was planned for some mines under the German front line to be exploded. Aerial spotters was intended to locate and put out of action the German artillery batteries by guiding the bombardment to them. The bombardment was supposed to begin on June 24th 1916 and was supposed to last five days. After the bombardment it was
Why is the Battle of the Somme regarded as such a great military tragedy?
Why is the Battle of the Somme regarded as such a great military tragedy? After the Germans Schieffen Plan had failed both sides tried various attempts to make a break though. These were made mainly by the allied troops. Many of the breakthroughs in 1915 included Chapelle, Ypres and Loos, however only small areas of land were gained. In 1916 the German army tried to destroy the French at Verdun; for they knew that the French would pour men into protecting it. Their aim was to "Bleed France dry". The battle lasted six months, and the French did not collapse. However they needed help so they asked the British to bring forward the attack on the Somme in order to relieve the pressure. The aim of the Somme was to "kill as many Germans as possible". As this battle had been moved forward from August to July because of Verdun it became a mainly British fight. The Somme is regarded as a great military tragedy because it had a huge death count and this was the turning point on the view of the war at home. The Somme had a huge effect on the attitudes at home and of the views of the generals and the leadership of the war. These are some of the main points. There were many factors that affected the success or failure of the battle of the Somme. These were the weapons, tactics, leadership weakness, human cost and the morale of soldiers. One of the important factors
