Critical Appreciation of the Darkling Thrush with Particular Emphasis on Time and Change.
Critical Appreciation of the Darkling Thrush with Particular Emphasis on Time and Change "The Darkling Thrush" was written by Thomas Hardy on the last day of the nineteenth century. The subject of the poem is about the transition of one century to the next in time and change. The atmosphere is set in the first stanza because we see that it is set in a cold winters day; "When Frost was spectre-gray/And Winter's dregs made desolate". Hardy deliberately personifies the season and frost because it makes the weather more powerful and it also gives it human qualities. Further more, the use of winter gives the idea of depression and death which is what Hardy is trying to tell the reader. This stanza is obviously setting the atmosphere of the poem; it shows Hardy is not looking forward to the future and the only thing he knows will happen is death. A good example of this is in the quotation "The tangled bine-stems scored the sky/ Like strings of broken lyres". This demonstrates a vivid image of brambles cutting through the sky; showing an idea of death coming from the writer's imagination. Hardy is trying to show the reader that the turn of the century offers no hope. In the first stanza he only thinks of cold, gloomy, and death as what happens in the rest of his life. A reason for this attitude might be because he is alone. We know this because in the poem it has the lines "And
Mending Wall
"Mending Wall" by Robert Frost In "Mending Wall," Robert Frost portrays the ideas of barriers between people, communication, friendship and the sense of security people gain from barriers. Frost conveys his perception by using poetic techniques such as the structure, imagery, tone, and revealing a metaphorical as well as a literal meaning throughout the poem. He uses the mending of a solid wall as a symbolic representation of the barriers that separate the neighbors in their friendship. The scene is set by the routine of two neighbors who are constantly mending the wall that separates their properties. The theme of the poem is about two neighbors who disagree over the purpose of the wall. Not only does the wall act as a divider in separating estates, it also as a barrier in the neighbors' friendship, separating them as well. The neighbor with the pine trees believes that the wall has great significance. He believes that the wall provides a sense of privacy and security. "Mending Wall" is an open form, long one-stanza poem that is written in blank verse and has a narrator. Frost uses the poetic technique of imagery to portray his ideas. Imagery is a device that uses certain words and meanings so that a mental picture is painted. Frost uses imagery to let the reader no what it happening within the poem. In the first part of the poem a description of the wall is
The Darkling Thrush
The Darkling Thrush The poem entitled "The Darkling Thrush," written by Thomas Hardy, has a very appealing connotation. The work can be separated into two parts; the dismal part pertaining to the beginning of winter and the second part focusing on one small aspect of good in all of the dismal surrounding it. The general idea of the poem is that the dismal winter is approaching, but there are some incidences of goodness in this depressing time. The first part can be sectioned into the first and second stanzas. The poem opens with "I leant upon a coppice gate." This is the moment when the author enters the small wood and begins to narrate his thoughts and feelings. The next line, lines two and three, talk about "The frost was specter-gray and winters dregs made desolate." This describes that the author feels that during this season, the idea of frost and no greenery, makes the winter a very desolate season. The fourth line is very interesting. It states "The weakening eye of day." This displays that during the winter, the time of day shortens. The author relates this shortening of daylight to the weakening of the eye. Lines seven and eight also help to describe the desolates of the winter months. It states "And all mankind...sought their household fires." This line suggests that the narrator views the summer months as a time of friendliness and togetherness. During the winter
In the poem The White Horse, Gwendolyn MacEwen uses imagery, contrast, and symbolism to bring out the ideas of her work
Path to Peace In the poem The White Horse, Gwendolyn MacEwen uses imagery, symbolism, contrast, and some punctuation to bring out the ideas and style of her work. Throughout the poem, MacEwen also utilizes religious ideas from the Bible in order to provide insight and depth. These techniques and ideas are used to help to imply the search for everlasting peace in a corrupt world of war and conflict. The first stanza introduces the style of the author's writing and how her use of symbolism and imagery are used to present the basis of the poem. The first line mentions of a "[white] horse [coming] into the world". This can relate to an event in the Bible, where in the book of Revelation, Jesus rides a white horse down towards the earth. Jesus and the colour white can be symbols of divinity, peace, and purity. The imagery created from the phrase "field of dizzy sunlight" is confusion and unstableness in the world; an unclear vision of peace and tranquility. The statement the horse's eyes "huge with joy and wisdom" may exemplify the all-knowing and just character of Jesus. The purpose of Jesus coming to earth may be the proclamation of a path to eternal peace and paradise - affiliated to the stories in the Bible. The part where it says, "wondering why you are wondering" may suggest thought of the horse, referred to as Jesus: Why are you, the people, surprised that I am here? This
The Emperors Ice Cream
Ice Cream Rules All The poem "Emperor Ice Cream" by Wallace Stevens, takes place in the funeral of a women. However, you will not know this until the second stanza because it is portrayed as a happy celebration. The theme of the poem is death. The narrator implies that people always look for explanations beyond what something really is, like death. In other words, we don't let "be be" (line 7). One can gather that there is nothing more to life than humans seeking pleasure out of every opportunity. I will explain how Stevens uses formal elements like symbolism, imagery, rhyme and figurative language further reinforce the theme of the poem. In this poem the author uses symbolism to reinforce the theme by deglorifying death. The speaker says that the only "high mighty" or "emperor" of humans is our desires, like eating ice cream. Ice cream in the poem symbolizes something pleasurable and fun, usually associated with children. The author begins both stanzas with playful language and uses sexual riveting vocabulary until the last couplets. For instance, in the first stanza the poem uses words like "the muscular one," "concupiscent curds," and "wenches" which are all language that might distract a reader into sexual thoughts, from the serious theme of the poem: death(line 2-4). The speaker's choices of words symbolize how easy it is to place the reader into a pleasurable state
Modernism - T.S. Eliot's Preludes & Prufrock
Modernism was the cultural movement in which innovation and experimentation of art and literature was celebrated and explored as a reaction against the formality and optimism of the preceding Victorian period. Thomas Stearns Eliot was a Modernist literary figure who contributed significantly to the movement in the early to mid 1900s. In Eliot's "Preludes" and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," T. S. Eliot reveals some of the major concerns of his context linked to happenings on the cultural and industrial fronts; that is, urban decay, social entrapment and the fragmentation of Victorian England. He examines the effects of these on the lives of human beings and laments the emptiness, futility, destructiveness and cynicism of life in the modern world. Eliot's Preludes conveys the mundane and repetitive nature of people's lives in 1911. The title itself is ironic in the sense that a prelude is and introductory piece which precedes something of higher importance, however in Eliot's Preludes, this is not the case. Thus, one interprets that the titles acts as an ironic allusion to society, questioning whether the repetitive, impersonal lives that people lead will get them anywhere. The poem consists of four descriptions of urban life at different times of the day. Within this day the monotony and futility of human existence is highlighted. Prelude I depicts a rainy
The Holocaust was a time when countless Jews, and others deemed "undesirables" by Hitler and the Nazis, underwent the most cruel and inhumane persecution while trapped in concentration camps under the power of the Third Reich. Elie Wiesel's Night is an ac
Night The Holocaust was a time when countless Jews, and others deemed "undesirables" by Hitler and the Nazis, underwent the most cruel and inhumane persecution while trapped in concentration camps under the power of the Third Reich. Elie Wiesel's Night is an account of his unimaginably shocking experiences in and traveling to such concentration camps as only a young boy. While Wiesel does not specify in the book why he chose the title Night, it can be assumed that it is in reference to a number of Wiesel's most disturbing memories of events that occur at night. However, there also seems to be an underlying denotative meaning, as the Holocaust for Wiesel and his fellow prisoners is one long night of both physical and emotional pain, suffering, and death. Wiesel is incurably traumatized as a young boy undergoing this appalling experience that is the Holocaust. As well as everyday life in the camps, this is due largely to many particular events that happen to Wiesel at night, the first of which is the ordeal with Madame Schächter and the nighttime fires. A group of Jews from Wiesel's hometown are packed into a cattle wagon by the Nazi's and taken away from their homes. None of them knows where they are going or what awaits them when they arrive, yet a family friend of Wiesel's named Madame Schächter rouses every night to shriek about the fires she sees outside the cattle
How far is 'Haymaking' typical of Thomas' poetry?
James Williams How far is 'Haymaking' typical of Thomas' January '03 poetry? 'Haymaking' is very typical of a poem by Edward Thomas. This is shown through many common devices that are present in 'Haymaking' as well as many of his other poems. I shall outline and elaborate these on these devices in this essay. 'Haymaking' is a description of a snapshot in time. There was a thunderstorm the night before and the reader is initially led to believe that the storm is the reason that everything is so still in the poem, but half way through the poem, Thomas begins to describe the activities of the Haymakers who are having a break in silence as they "leaned on their rakes". So the stillness of the poem can work on many levels. There is the idea of the 'calm after the storm' and the Haymakers having a rest. Also, however, there is the fact that the poet, Edward Thomas, is writing his poem from a snapshot in time where if he was describing a photograph, everything would be still in the picture. One of the most recognisable devices that Edward Thomas uses in his poetry is referring to England as "old". This could imply many things. Thomas could use the term "old" in the literal sense that it is 'ancient', 'unchanging' and with a 'sense of permanence' in the world even though it has been threatened by war. It could also mean that England has grown wise due
To many linguists, literary creativity refers to the way people uses literary-like features in everyday discourse. It traditionally associated with poetry and other forms of literature, which includes playing with the sounds and structures of language rep
To many linguists, literary creativity refers to the way people uses literary-like features in everyday discourse. It traditionally associated with poetry and other forms of literature, which includes playing with the sounds and structures of language repetition, metaphor, rhyme and rhythm. These could be found in everyday conversation that have connects with everyday creativity and literature. According to Maybin and Pearce, literary creativity involves the breaking rules of normal language uses, asserting and strikingly different local norm, for example, deviation. In other words, it is distinct from ordinary language (Swann, 2006, p.3). Literary language has a higher valued form of language where words and phrases are carefully chosen for the artistic effect and responded to aesthetically by listeners and readers. People could see the literature as a distinct way of using language. There are different approaches to look up to the study of creativity in language (or literature). According to Michael Toolan, literary creativity may involve the breaking rules of normal language use, asserting and strikingly different local norm, for example, deviation. In other words, it is distinct from ordinary language (Swann, 2006, p.3). In terms of literature, a textual approach can be used to language study, i.e. the analysis of concerning with the formal properties of spoken and
The Natural Cycle of Humanity and the Decay of Modern Society in The Wasteland
Anya Dyurgerova ENGL 3060 Van Gerven Paper 1 Re-write The Natural Cycle and the Decay of Modern Society in The Wasteland There is no romance, no passion, only a mundane circular sequence of events, "crowds of people, walking round in a ring" (56). In The Wasteland, by T.S. Eliot, the society of the twentieth century is described as detached, dreary and monotonous. It is a collection of dysfunctional relationships and tedious tasks, saturated with an anxiety about death. There is a parallel between the atrophy of society and the land destroyed during the Second World War. To escape a routine and apathetic existence, humans strive for the unattainable, to overcome the limits of humanity. However any departure from the natural cycle of the human world leads to the emergence of the wasteland. Although death haunts the speakers in the poem, it is liberation in comparison to the horror of the wasteland. There is persistent angst and fear of death in the poem, yet death is everywhere. The many speakers in the poem wish for immortality and to overcome the confines of humanity. In "The Burial of the Dead" the woman, anxious about her fate, goes to see the fortune-teller, Madame Sosostris, who pulls out the "Hanged Man" tarot card and warns her to "fear death by water" (55). The fortune-teller's words reoccur later in "Death by Water", a description of the grotesque death of