Dylan Thomas' The Hand that Signed the Paper
Victor Randolph Brent Russo English 28A 0 March, 2009 How Can You Mend A Broken Heart? The poem that I have chosen to work with, "The Hand That Signed the Paper," seems especially potent to me. The poem was written when Thomas was only nineteen, and his youth shows. The poem is painted in broad strokes and is not as nuanced as his later poetry, but still comes from a sophisticated mind. It is an elegant example of the kind of historical knowledge and awareness of tradition that T.S. Eliot argued any good poet ought to have.1 Ezra Pound described the artist (and poet) as "The antenna of the race, the barometer and voltmeter" 2 Allen Ginsberg described himself as "the Defense Early Warning Radar System." 3 "The Hand That Signed the Paper" is written with qualities of both characterizations of poets as social detectors. The poem was written in 1933, a year after Germany began re-armament4 after its military was deconstructed by the Treaty of Versailles. The poem challenges the political and social attitudes of Western Europe as it reframes Weimar Germany as victim to the synecdochic hand. The consequence of those attitudes (Thomas as "Early Warning Radar System" would argue) is Germany's rapid reorganization towards Nazism. The content of this poem is of a much greater depth than the form. The poem is organized simply: four sentences as stanzas, each with four lines. The
Does the simplicity of Simon Armitage's work detract from the complexity of the social issues he deals with in Kid and Killing Time
Does the simplicity of Simon Armitage's work detract from the complexity of the social issues he deals with in Kid and Killing Time Born in 1963 in Huddersfield Yorkshire, Simon Armitage is often grouped with Tony Harrison, Ted Hughes not only because of his heritage, but also because of his style. Many of his poems are social commentaries with a straight forward and somewhat cynical outlook, typical of the 'northern poet'. Armitage uses a simplistic style of writing, common lexis and usually quite overt subject matter. His anthologies range in topics, including the largely biographical Book of Matches which incorporates numerous stories about his childhood, both serious and light-hearted. Armitage was commissioned to write Killing Time for the millennium and it was later dramatised and shown television on the 1 January 2000. It is a thousand line poem reflecting on the previous years events; sometimes comic, satirical and dry, and at other times extremely powerful and serious. It is questionable, therefore, how Armitage can combine his simple style with a poignant and sombre subject matter with any degree of success. His collection Kid contains similar style poems, as well as some more optimistic poetry, so by comparing Killing Time with a selection of poetry from Kid, Armitage's methods of merging two seemingly opposing factors will become apparent. Perhaps Simon
A critical analysis of Philip Larkin's 'Mr Bleaney'.
Rachael Ward Tutor: Mr R. Pooley Twentieth Century Literature: 20% Exercise A critical analysis of Philip Larkin's 'Mr Bleaney'. Richard Davie once claimed that whilst he "recognised in Larkin's [poetry] the seasons of present-day England, [he also] recognised...the seasons of an English soul".1 In fact Philip Larkin's very interest in human nature, together with his dislike of "...self-indulgent romanticism..."2, contributed to the character and final draft of 'Mr Bleaney'. By pulling the life and personality of the ordinary English bachelor with that of the poetic personae who is about to buy into Mr Bleaney's apartment, not to mention his life and ways, Larkin is able debate whether 'how we live [actually] measures our own nature', a fear that plagued the author as well as the poetic personae. As we are escorted around Mr Bleaney's apartment the landlady describes how he stayed there 'the whole time he was at the Bodies'. To be at 'the Bodies' suggests that Mr Bleaney's stay in the apartment and even on this earth was only temporary. His body appears to be just a casing, thus implying that Mr Bleaney was simply the shell of man who was waiting to die. His life is empty, lonely and predictable. The poem's simple 'AB' rhyming scheme also emphasises the predictable, routine and limited life of Mr Bleaney, hence a life with only one pattern. Through the
Some critics suggest that Larkin portrays human existence as bleak in his poetry - to what extent do you agree with this view in Mr Bleaney?
Some critics suggest that Larkin portrays human existence as bleak in his poetry - to what extent do you agree with this view in Mr Bleaney? On the surface, 'Mr Bleaney' is a poem about a man that has come to live in a home formally occupied by Mr Bleaney. The subtext of the poem is concerned with a man's fear that his life has become a routine - in the way that he believes Mr Bleaney's life had been. Throughout this essay, I shall discover whether the themes in 'Mr Bleaney' conform to the view of some critics - that Larkin's poetry is a portrayal of bleak human existence - whilst analysing the undertones of the poem. The title is very important for revealing the nature of the poem. 'Bleaney' has connotations of the words 'bleak' 'mean' and 'dreary', which could convey a lot about Mr Bleaney's personality but also give a clue to the content of the rest of the poem. The first stanza begins 'This was Mr Bleaney's room'. This establishes the precise setting for the rest of the poem. The use of caesura and enjambment help to control the pace within the first stanza. Mr Bleaney obviously used to work for a car manufacturing company 'the Bodies, till they moved him'. This could either mean that the company moved him elsewhere or that Mr Bleaney is dead. Larkin then begins to describe the surroundings 'Flowered curtains, thin and frayed, Fall to within five inches of the sill'.
Cutting A Better Man Out Of The Hedge: a discussion of the relation of land, landscapes and nature to Seamus Heaney's sense of Irishness as laid out in his poetry.
Cutting A Better Man Out Of The Hedge: a discussion of the relation of land, landscapes and nature to Seamus Heaney's sense of Irishness as laid out in his poetry. Seamus Heaney has long been recognised as one to truly epitomise the sense of Ireland in his poetry, from the vantage point of the individual as well as from a more universal perspective. However, criticism up until now has mainly focused on the relationship between Irish identity and language. While the link between land and identity is not discredited as such, it is not given the critical attention of the relationship between language and identity, and it is thus not investigated nearly as much as it deserves. The identity:language:land: identity cycle is at best ignored by the critics - a dreadful prospect when one considers how inherently and inextricably Heaney considers language and land to be linked too. Consequently this paper will explore this relationship using a variety of Heaney's work, from his earliest collection to his later poems, including his most recent collection, District and Circle, released in 2006. I will also briefly examine links between Heaney's poetry and some of that of his principal predecessor, W. B. Yeats, in order to reveal further where the link between land and identity originates and in order to contrast the poets' different approaches. Although it is acknowledged that at
Critical Essay of 'In the Snack Bar
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A Critical Appreciation of Campos De Castilla
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In What Way Imagist Poetry Influences Modernists
Table of Contents . Introduction 2 2. The Return to Classicism 2 3. Unconventional Form: Vers Libre 5 4. Innovative Content and Language 6 5. Image and Consciousness 9 6. Conclusion 11 7. Reference List 12 In What Way Imagist Poetry Influences Modernists . Introduction The England-based Georgians had been attacked by the modernists as "unoriginal and slack in technique, shallow in feeling, slight in intellect...and weekend escapism" (David 1976, p.204). The American-based Genteel Mode, on the other hand, was also criticized as "...in its Romantic spiritual elevation it did not grapple with experience..."(David 1976, p.204). Modernist writers contended that the society had undergone enormous changes at the beginning of the twentieth century and that the carefree and relaxed attitude, which was representative of Georgian poetry and the Genteel Mode cannot present the real situation of the society and demanded that people should break away from traditions. Imagists were such a group of poets who refused to obey and challenged the traditions of poetry composition (some of these practices, though, were disapproved by some of the critics). As David put it, "imagism has been described as the grammar school of modern poetry," which means that it plays a fundamental role in influencing the way along which later modernist writers followed to create their work. Reviewing how
"Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note Analysis
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