An Essay Comparing ‘Medallion’ and ‘Snake’
An Essay Comparing 'Medallion' and 'Snake' This essay will compare two poems, 'Medallion' by Sylvia Plath, an American poet, and 'Snake', by D H Lawrence. The title of the poem 'Medallion' automatically conjures up the image of a gold medal with a picture on it, usually awarded to commemorate an achievement. The first stanza, comprising of three lines, sets the scene for the rest of the poem. There is a gate with a moon and a star carved into the orange wood. Next to the gate, a bronze snake lies in the sun, dead, 'inert as a shoelace' the second stanza continues. The actual setting could show the snake is stuck between life and death, one half of the snake in the sunlight, or life, and the other in the shadow of the gateway, or the shadow of death. The orange of the wood could represent the sunset of the snake's life. The snake is ' Dead, But pliable still,' Showing it is only recently dead; rigor mortis has not set in yet. The semi-colon after the word 'shoelace' emphasises the death. The snake is happy in death, it is grinning, almost as though death has perfected it. In line seven, 'Tongue a rose coloured arrow' is a metaphor. This perfects the snake further. Since the snake is so beautiful, the narrator picks it up to examine it in more detail. Its 'little vermilion eye' represents the fires of Hell where the snake is going, as it
Compare and contrast 'Last Lesson of the Afternoon,' 'The Best of School' (both by D.H Lawrence) and an extract from William Goldsmith's 'The Deserted Village' called 'The Schoolmaster'.
English Literature Coursework Assignment C Look closely at 'Last Lesson of the Afternoon,' 'The Best of School' (both by D.H Lawrence) and an extract from William Goldsmith's 'The Deserted Village' called 'The Schoolmaster'. Compare and contrast the ways in which the two poems convey the world of school and of the schoolmaster. The first poem I will look at is Oliver Goldsmith's 'The Schoolmaster', which is an extract from a poem published by Oliver Goldsmith called 'The Deserted Village.' It is about how Goldsmith returns to his birthplace to find the population has emigrated. The village called Auburn is a fictional town but is believed to be based on the town where he grew up. Goldsmith grew up on a town called Lissoy in the South West of Ireland. In 'The Schoolmaster' Goldsmith conveys the schoolmaster as an all knowing and a well-respected individual in the local community. I think that the way the Schoolmaster is described in the poem is exaggerated. Throughout the poem Goldsmith speaks from idealised memories. From these memories he paints a portrait of a person and a community this compares with Brian Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come. Although Friel's play is a portrait from the insider, were he speaks of his idealised memories. While Lawrence gives the point of view of the observer, from the outside. Goldsmith begins by giving us a description of how well
D.H. Lawrence's 'Snake'.
Aside from the reality of a mysterious, occasionally poisonous predator is the archetypal image of the serpent, latent with mythological, biblical, and historical symbols. Among the most common phobias is ophiaphobia, or fear of snakes, despite the unlikeliness of one to encounter a snake in the urban world (Rapoport 195). Lawrence, though does encounter "Snake", and while fear is, without a doubt, entangled in the web of reaction to and regard of the serpent, it is not the only dominant emotion. Intimidation is immediately established from the dawn of the poem, where Lawrence's narrator is "in pajamas for the heat", in the company of a visiting serpent (2). In such casual attire as pajamas, one is left feeling vulnerable and exposed, susceptible to social attack. Lawrence's character is, of course, vulnerable to the snake's venomous predation, but he is also susceptible to society's and human nature's convictions of the slithering snake, which effectively influences the narrator's judgement. Naturally, this intimidation is absurd. It continues throughout the poem while the narrator "like a second-comer" waits, but the snake, throughout the incident, proves to be harmless (15). The true daunting forces of the narrator's sentiments are the "voices of [his] education" (22). While the said voices remain mysterious, foreboding, and unnatural in Lawrence's realm of natural thought
D.H. Lawrence - A personal review.
D.H. LAWRENCE Name: Shem Mankey Teacher: Ms. Hall Due Date: 25/08/03 Good morning/afternoon everyone, today I am here to speak to you all about D.H. Lawrence. D.H. Lawrence was born David Herbert Lawrence in 1885, he died in 1930. On of his most popular pieces of work is LADY CHATTERLY'S LOVER, it tells of the love affair between a wealthy, married woman, and a man who works on her husband's estate. The book was banned for some time in both the UK and US and deemed as pornographic. SONS AND LOVERS was another of D.H. Lawrence's well-known pieces of work, this novel was based on his childhood. D.H. Lawrence is one of the greatest figures in 20th-century English literature and his work is still taught, used and studied in education today and holds an important place in our society today. His principles of sexual freedom began many obscenity trials, which are still part of the connection between literature and society, his work is still relevant in modern-day society because of it strong link to society and the way we live and feel. D.H. Lawrence's work is comparable with the work of contemporary poets because of its link to society and the way we live. D.H. Lawrence was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, in central England. He was the fourth child of a struggling coal miner who was a heavy drinker. His mother was a former school teacher; she was seen to be greatly
Compare and contrast the different attitude to animal shown by the poet in the poems I have read.
Compare and contrast the different attitude to animal shown by the poet in the poems I have read. The poems that I am going to write about about in my English coursework are Snake by DH Lawrence. Also Medallion and The arrival of the Bee Box, which is written by Sylvia Plath. The last poem that I have to write about is Horses, which is written by Edwin Muir. In the coursework we were set two poems, which we had to do were Snake and Medallion, which are both about snakes. So I got the choice of which other two poems I had to write about in this topic. The other two poems that I picked were Horses by Edwin Muir and The arrival of the Bee Box by Sylvia Plath. I picked these two out of the list, which we could pick as the both showed signs of fear that the animals can have other people in certain situation. Also in the Arrival of the Bee Box the writer's attitude changers because of what the bees do. In horses the writer is looking back from when he was a child and how that he was scared of the horses that ploughed the fields as they were very large and the writers language in the poem changers as for certain times of the day that he sees the horses they look different to him. The reason why this happens is because he has a very vivid imagination, which makes him think that these are very dangerous. Snake is about how that DH Lawrence has an encounter with a snake. The
Explain how the opening three paragraphs of “Tickets Please” create an appropriate atmosphere for the rest of the story.
Rishi Saran Explain how the opening three paragraphs of "Tickets Please" create an appropriate atmosphere for the rest of the story. The first sentence of the story sets the scene for the reader. The author describes how the journey on the tramcar is continuous and boring. It is monotonous and describes how the route is set and it does not change from set route. Negative words are used to describe the village, to give the reader the impression there is a sense of darkness and decline, "...the black industrial countryside." The village is described as "grimy", "cold", "gloomy" and "industrial." There is only one sign of human presence, the "workmen's houses." This sentence is continuous for eleven lines with twists and turns just like a tramline might be continuous. DH Lawrence himself was brought up in the Midlands, in a mining town during world war one. He was therefore brought up in the same sort of town as in the one in which he has set the story. His father was a miner and he has obviously drawn upon his own experiences of the views of the surrounding area to help to help create the atmosphere for the setting of the story. Lawrence was also a moralist who believed that "Modern day man was in danger of loosing the quality of life." This becomes very evident in the description contained in the first paragraph where he is almost saying that life in this village is as black,
Tickets, Please
English Q1: Lawrence creates the impression that the world of tramways is dangerous and exciting by numerous ways. The setting of the mood at the beginning, first from the title- "Tickets, Please" Sounds too formal and the reader is expected to read a formal story. The first line starts off - " There is in the Midlands single-line tramway system..." Which follows the formal idea but then a feeling of being in a tram begins to commence. "... which boldly leaves the county town and plunges off into the black industrial countryside... Due to the sentence structure, a rhythm develops and entices you to read on, a cold chill appears in the mind as gloomy, depressing descriptions of buildings- stark, grimy cold little market places. The rhythm made by DH Lawrence compromised of three long sentences wielded to make the drastic journey of the expeditious tram; full stops deciphered to be the actual tram stops and commas to change the direction and mood of the tram. We read about the buildings but in our minds, they just flick past as if like on a real tram where everything is continuos and nothing is still. DH Lawrence personificates the tram by saying it purrs, suggesting some form of cat and somewhat daredevil. There is a notion of a race against time as "But in a few minutes- the Co-operative Wholesale Society's Shops gives us the time- and away it starts once more on
Studying the two poems "Beautiful Old Age" and "Winters Tale" I am going to comment on D H Lawrence's attitude to old age and Death.
Poetry Essay In this essay I am going to be looking at two poems by the late D.H Lawrence. Although an accomplished poet, Lawrence is sometimes said to have a cynical and negative outlook on things, this is evident in the poems that he wrote. By studying the two poems "Beautiful Old Age" and "Winters Tale" I am going to comment on D H Lawrence's attitude to old age and Death. The First verse of the poem "Beautiful old age", is potentially quite a positive out look but, almost instantly there is a negative shadow cast upon it. Lawrence has added the word ought. " It ought to be lovely to be old" but it isn't is what the poem says in not so many words. The word "ought" says, it should be this but it's not. This changes the readers out look on the poem straight away and it shows Lawrence's cynicism. This first line sets the mood for the rest of the poem. The words "peace" and "fulfilment" in the last two lines of the verse suggest that Lawrence thinks that you should be satisfied with old age but he, is bitter because he's not going to make it and he'll never know what it is like to be old. The first part of the second verse gives the reader the impression that Lawrence has had a hard life and to some extent is quite bitter about it. In the middle part he is saying that people take so much rubbish on board in their lives that it becomes a kind of twisted normality,
Refer to D.H. Lawrence's 'Last Lesson of the Afternoon' and B. Patten's 'Dead Thick.' Compare and contrast where appropriate. In your concluding comments, say which you prefer and why.
English Coursework Task: Refer to D.H. Lawrence's 'Last Lesson of the Afternoon' and B. Patten's 'Dead Thick.' Compare and contrast where appropriate. In your concluding comments, say which you prefer and why. 'Last Lesson of the Afternoon' and 'Dead Thick' are to poems by D.H Lawrence and Brian Patten respectively. 'Last Lesson of the Afternoon' expresses a mood of bitter desperation at the thanklessness of an English teachers' work and details his thoughts as he yearns for the conclusion of the lesson. He conveys his thoughts in a unique and entertaining way. Patten also uses an English teacher as his subject in 'Dead Thick'. The teacher is very hypocritical and seems to be answering a series of questions. The title 'Dead Thick' illuminates the teachers' ironic lack of intelligence as a teacher and his lack of passion is evident. In 'Last Lesson of the Afternoon' the teachers weariness, 'I can haul them and urge them no more' and negative state of mind, 'No longer now can I endure the brunt of the books...' are highlighted throughout by the choice of verbs. He seems to be totally exasperated and seems only to be in the job for the money and promotion. The teachers' mood also changes throughout the poem. In stanza two he is in utter despair, 'I am sick, and what on earth is the good of it all?' which turns into anger, as he reflects on their 'Dross of indifference' and
David Herbert Lawrence - review of The Rainbow
David Herbert Lawrence was born on September 11, 1885 at Eastwood in Nottinghamshire, the son of a coalminer and a woman who had been a teacher. He spends much of his childhood ill and confined to his bed, on one occasion due to contracting tuberculosis. His parents would argue constantly and Lawrence tended to side with his mother, to whom he grew very close. Living in near poverty his mother was determined that he should not become a miner like his father. Instead she encouraged him academically and Lawrence was persuaded to work hard at Nottingham High School until the age of fifteen when he had to seek employment in a surgical goods factory. This period of his life and his friendship with Jessie Chambers is reflected in Sons and Lovers, a novel published in 1913 and its character Miriam. Saving the necessary £20 fee, Lawrence attained a scholarship to University College, Nottingham where he worked to get a teacher's certificate from 1906 onward. His first novel was The White Peacock that was published in 1911, followed by The Trespasser in 1912. Sons and Lovers was the third novel that he wrote in 1913, The Rainbow in 1915. And the he managed to release Women In Love which is a sequel to The Rainbow. Ursula Brangwen In The Rainbow, Anna and Will's eldest daughter, Ursula, witnesses drastic lifestyle changes resulting from the transformation of the English countryside.