The Withred Arm
Paige Pidcock Discuss how Hardy creates a world that is different from ours today in 'The Withered Arm' I aim to explore how the writer, Thomas Hardy creates a world that is radically different from ours today. My impression of 'The Withered Arm' is that I believe that Hardy has been unfair and harsh, especially on the women. The relationships are based on people's social status and the fact that men believed to be superior to women. Social structure is probably the biggest influence on life in the times that was set; Rhoda is at the bottom of the hierarchy. Hardy portrays the character of Rhoda Brook as a woman who relates to her reputation as a discarded woman continuously and as a woman who isolates herself from the surrounding people. "Where a thin fading woman of thirty milked somewhat apart from the rest." This states that Rhoda is lonely but of her own accord, she could try to socialise with her co-workers but chooses to do her work alone and away from anybody else. Rhoda is a "thin fading woman", this suggests that she is gradually losing her strength; this is indicated by the word "fading". I believe that she is gradually losing her strength because she has had to raise a child by herself. A couple of workers concentrate on Rhoda for their gossip "Tis hard for she"; This establishes that Rhoda has great strength because many women would move away if they were the
Compare and contrast, with close textual reference, 'Cousin Kate' by Rossetti and 'The Seduction' by McAuley.
Compare and contrast, with close textual reference, 'Cousin Kate' by Rossetti and 'The Seduction' by McAuley. 'Cousin Kate' is a pre-twentieth century poem, which was written by Christina Rossetti. It is about a young woman who works as a cottage maiden, she falls in love with a lord and sleeps with him. She finds out that she is pregnant with the lord's baby but is dumped for her cousin. The second poem, 'The Seduction', is a more modern poem. It is about a teenage girl who meets a boy at a party, they get on well and leave the party together. The boy gives the girl lots of alcohol and start to caress her, once they had slept together the boy left. After a short period, the young girl finds out that she is pregnant and is distraught. Both Cousin Kate and 'The Seduction' deal with unplanned pregnancy. In 'Cousin Kate', Rossetti tells us that she "has a gift". The term "gift" implies that she likes the fact she has a baby. It makes it sound precious to her, as she says "cling closer, closer yet". She repeats the word "closer" to emphasise how much she loves it, so despite being unplanned, the baby is wanted. However, in 'The Seduction' the poet writes, "...when she discovered she was three months gone..." The mood created is one of denial. She won't use the term 'pregnant', as she is unable to accept it. It suggests that three months of her life have been wasted. In each
Compare Wordsworths view of London in Composed Upon Westminster Bridge with that of Blake in his poem London.
'Compare Wordsworth's view of London in 'Composed Upon Westminster Bridge' with that of Blake in his poem 'London' In the late 18th century and the early 19th century there were two poets named William Blake and William Wordsworth, who came from different backgrounds, but had similar ideas. They were both classed as Romantics. Romanticism means revolting against established social and political structures and against the scientific rationalism of nature and literature. However the late 18th century and early 19th century was a time of historical and social change. It was the time of Revolution. These events had an impact on the work of Blake and Wordsworth. William Blake's poem, 'London,' deals with the difficult and hard life of the working-class people who live there. He describes how dirty the streets are and how the poor people suffer hopelessly and how they are treated in a bad way by the government and monarchy. William Wordsworth however deals with the wealth and glory of London. Blake was born in London in 1757 and had spent most of his life there. He came from a working class family. His parents made stockings for a living. Because Blake came from a working class background, this might have reflected in his later work, as his subjects are often about poverty and hardship the working class has to deal with. However Blake did not go to school. His mother taught him
Is it sweet and fitting to die for ones country?
"It is sweet and fitting to die for ones country" What are Tennyson's and Owen's views on this? 'The charge of the light brigade' was written in 1854 by Alfred Lord Tennyson, to honour those who died in war, in the battle of Balaclava. The poem was written during the Crimean war and published in the Times, newspaper. Tennyson's attitude towards war was based on what he read in the newspapers. He was a poet laureate. Wilfred Owen's also wrote a poem called "Dulce et decorum est" he was born in 1893 and died at a very young age in 1918. He died during the battle; therefore his poem reflects his experiences. Both poems were written in different decades, and therefore are about different wars, and consequently, clearly illustrating the changing attitudes to war these poems are describing. One author saying how war is such a great thing and how brave the soldiers were and how it was a thing they just had to do. In contrast the other author is saying, how terrible war is and also emphasizes the death and injuries. Tennyson describes the glory and heroism of war, rather than the death and stupidity. Starting with the 'Charge of the Light Brigade' Tennyson uses imagery and figurative language creates the tone of exhilaration and the theme of honouring the Light Brigade. 'Charge of the Light Brigade' can be divided down into three different parts, the charge towards the battle, the
War Poetry Coursework
2.9.06 Before Agincourt and Dulce et Decorum est War has always been perceived to be glorious and honourable, when in reality it is brutal and futile. Many poets have depicted war in different ways, at different times. Two poets who have depicted war in completely different ways are: William Shakespeare with Before Agincourt and Wilfred Owen with Dulce et Decorum est. Before Agincourt was a poem in the play "King Henry V" written in 1599, although the actual battle of Agincourt occurred in 1415. At that time wars were common and the lucky men who survived were named as heroes. Recruitment drives were also common, and people volunteered to defend their country. Propaganda was used as well as songs, hymns and persuasion by the soldier's families to get them out onto the battlefield. Conscripting was not used at this time. Dulce et Decorum est was written during World War One. By this time media had improved and people began to realize the realities of war, television could now show the death, destruction and horror that war actually brought. Recruitment for the army during WW1 often took place after men had finished school, during a party in which army officials used press-ganging to forcibly recruit young men into it. People who didn't want to join the army at that time were called Conscientious Objectors and were given a single white feather to symbolize their weakness.
Romeo and Juliet
Paige Pidcock Explore the various ways in which Shakespeare portrays the developing love relationship between Romeo and Juliet. The romantic tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" follows the relationship rollercoaster of the lives of two teenagers as they fall in love. Both children of two feuding families, their love is not to be. We know right from the beginning that their love is a time bomb just waiting to explode. Romeo and Juliet's first meeting is at the Capulet party where its obvious Romeo is infatuated by Juliet's beauty. You can see that both Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight. As it seems they lose all thought of the party going on around them. The prologue sets the story against a backdrop of violence, bitterness and feuding. In the prologue, Shakespeare introduces the play with the opening sentence "Two households, both alike in dignity" He explains right from the beginning that there is a lot of anger between the two families as they are so alike. Shakespeare describes Romeo and Juliet as "A pair of star crossed lovers..." and then tells us "Who take their lives..." Shakespeare explains to us that their relationship is doomed from the outset and that their deaths are inevitable. Shakespeare describes the love of Romeo and Juliet as "Death-marked." This creates a sense of foreboding as it becomes clear that their love is destined for death. Shakespeare uses
Comparison Essay between "Out-Out" and "Disabled" by Wilfred Owen and Robert Frost.
Comparison Essay Of “Out-Out” and “Disabled”. Both Wilfred Owen and Robert Frost use techniques such as careful diction, imagery and sentence structure to convey their agendas. They both outline how a single even can end the childhood of a young man prematurely and what effect it has on both of their lives. The two poems stimulate a sense of pity within us and furthermore, Owen stimulates a sense of outrage that men are allowed to join the army below the set age. Both poets use graphic description and effective diction as a means to stimulate a sense of horror within the reader. Both poets use an omniscient narrator to give the reader a larger overview of all of the events. By using an omniscient narrator it enables the reader to know all of the characters’ feelings and this would not have been possible by using a first or second person narrator. Interestingly Frost changes the speaker during his poem to the first person. This change in narrator is very effective as it highlights the sudden harsh realisation of the situation the young man is in. It is also a very dramatic change in direction within the poem because before this change in narrator, the poem had been neutral and non-judgmental but now, the narrator’s own opinion comes to the fore and this changes how we view the poem. For example, the narrator says: “I wish they had said” which is an opinion of
How is the idea of love represented within "Twelth Night"," Sonnet 130" and A woman to her lover by Christina Walsh?
How is the idea of ‘love’ represented within the Shakespeare play 2 poems that you have studied? The play ‘Twelfth Night’ was wrote between 1601 and 1602 by a famous poet and play-writer William Shakespeare. Around the time the play was written, women were known as their fathers or husbands property. This meant that they were often to sold off to men who had the highest bid, so that either they had a security net and their fathers knew they would have what they wanted OR because their fathers new they had the chance of getting some of the money, perhaps in a wedding dowry. Woman barely had any rights back in those days. Twelfth night is a celebration that certifies the end of the twelve days of Christmas. In Tudor England this was a winter festival that started on Halloween. During This celebration, the kings and peasants would swap roles; this meant that peasants would act like royalty and vice versa. This influenced Shakespeare and many other play writers at the time for men and woman to swap roles in plays. Another poet called Christina Walsh was influenced by how Shakespeare portrayed love and wrote her poem ‘A woman to her lover’. Unfortunately we don’t know much about Christina Walsh because she was only famous for that one poem. Christina lived from 1750 to approximately 1800. The twelfth night is based in a beautiful country named Illyria. It is the
The two poems, Dulce et decorum est and Charge of the Light Brigade both convey strong opinions about conflict.
Poem Comparison Essay by Tom Cornall The two poems, "Dulce et decorum est" and "Charge of the Light Brigade" both convey strong opinions about conflict. In Wilfred Owens case, that was the horror and gore of life in the trenches during World War One, which he saw at first hand. In contrast to this, Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote about the almost childish failure of the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. However, unlike Wilfred Owen, Alfred Lord Tennyson was not actually there, but was in London, and devised the poem from an article which he read by W.H.Russell in the Sunday Times. In Stanza 1 of "Dulce et..." Wilfred Owen used a lot of metaphors and other imagery to portray the horrific, gloomy atmosphere for the rest of the poem. He begins by saying "Bent double like old beggars under-sacks" from this quote, we can see that the soldiers were extremely tired, often carrying huge, heavy bags. Or some of the troopers may have been wounded during conflict and unable to walk properly. "Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we trudged through sludge" this is a quite important quote, because it uses the word, 'we' this confirms Wilfred Owen was there, "trudging through sludge" with his fellow soldiers. "Coughing like hags" this coughing could be imagery, or it could be from a previous gas attack in the last battle. "Trudging through sludge" shows that the weather was
Compare and Contrast Four Sonnets Essay - 'Let Me Not'; 'Death Be Not Proud'; 'Shall I Compare Thee'; 'Anthem for Doomed Youth'
Compare and contrast four sonnets A. Cahill 'No mockeries now for them, no prayers nor bells;' Owen shows himself to be cynical of the Christian religion, as he can not see how a loving God could have anything to do with so many deaths. In fact, Owen served three years as a parish assistant. Wilfred Owen died aged 25 on 4th November 1918, a week before the end of the Great War. He was completely unheard of at the time of his death, and only five of his poems had been published. Now he is revered as one of the greatest war poets of all time, and has been nominated the national poet of war. In this essay, I will be comparing one of his most celebrated works, the sonnet 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' with two of Shakespeare's sonnets (the renowned 'Shall I compare thee ...?' and 'Let me not) with John Donne's 'Death Be Not Proud'. These poems are all sonnets, and for the most part follow a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure. Sonnets are often employed when writing about a solemn subject, which is common to all poems I will be looking at, as the formal structure can often echo the mood. In both of the Shakespearian sonnets we are looking at, he wrote in the form, which is so much associated with him, known as 'the Shakespearian sonnet form'. This celebrated form has fourteen lines and is written in three quatrains, these with a regular 'a,b,a,b, c,d,c,d, e,fe,f,' rhyming