Piercy's Barbie Doll tells the short life story of a specific girl. How does this poem help to illustrate or dramatize some of the ideas we find in A Work of Artifice?
Maggie McDonald Dr. Sanders ENGL 227C - Visions of Childhood April 28, 2002 FINAL #1: 6. Piercy's Barbie Doll tells the short life story of a specific girl. How does this poem help to illustrate or dramatize some of the ideas we find in A Work of Artifice? The bounding of the feet, crippled brain, and the hair in curlers mentioned in the poem A Work of Artifice are all things that women do to look good. The bounding of the feet is an old Chinese custom because small feet were considered beautiful. Some girls pretend to act ditzy, or having a cripple brain, because they think men will like them better if they are that way. Many women curl their hair to be more beautiful. All of these things relate to the poem Barbie Doll because the girl in the poem is trying to achieve the perfect looks because someone once told her she had a big nose and fat legs. Barbie Doll exemplifies some of the concepts that we see in A Work of Artifice because like the girl in Barbie Doll the bonsai tree in A Work of Artifice is always trying to achieve the perfect look or shape. The gardener is always tending to the bonsai tree each day to make sure that it is pruned properly and that it is only 9 inches tall. The girl in Barbie Doll tried to achieve her perfect look by "cutting off her nose and her legs" and offering them up. The gardener in A Work of Artifice is the one that makes
Two poems by Archbishop Jien.
Two poems by Archbishop Jien (Carter, p. 171, poem 327; p. 172, poem 330) and two by Shunzei's Daughter (Carter, p. 175, poem 341; p.176, poem 342) "plumb the depths of your intent without laying it [the situation] bare" (Kamo no Chomei, p.3, No. 6) to depict mankind's paradoxical approach to the moon: seeking reassurance and companionship in its permanence and predictability, despite it being an uncertain mystery, inaccessible directly and impossible to control nor fully understand. The poets merely provide a stark glimpse of the situations in which the speakers find themselves, so that the reader must fill in with his or her resonance to complete the poetic experience. The speakers' attempts to escape their predicament by seeking fulfillment in the deceptive permanence of the moon are left hanging incomplete, creating in turn for the reader an atmosphere embroiled with lack of fulfillment and the mystery of the moon, which probes the reader's depths of intent to understand as best he can. The sense of lack of fulfillment upon which the poems end creates a vacuum into which any careful reader fills to restore the equilibrium. The lingering sense of incompletion creates an atmosphere that "hovers over the poem" (Fujiwara no Shunzei, p.3, No. 7), "plumb[s] the depths of [their] intent", thereby extending the reader's frame of mind into a realm "distinct from its words"
With reference to two or three of Donne's Holy Sonnets, consider the similarities between his religious poetry and his romantic / love poetry.
With reference to two or three of Donne's Holy Sonnets, consider the similarities between his religious poetry and his romantic / love poetry. In two of Donne's romantic poems 'Valediction: Forbidding Morning' and 'The Sun Rising' The Narrator utilises several techniques and styles that are not dissimilar to those used in his Holy Sonnets ,two examples of which being Sonnet 10 and 1. These similarities stem from many separate sources throughout the poetry. These include an arresting first line, defiant tone and a strong sense of personal feeling on the part of the narrator, a hallmark of a metaphysical poet. In many of Donne's pieces its is apparent that each is begun with an arresting first line that immediately sets the tone for the rest of the Sonnet or Song , a tone that is usually unexpected and in direct contrast with the conventional way in which the subject matter , in this case romanticism or religion, is approached; "As virtuous men pass mildly away," (Valediction: Forbidding Morning line 1) "Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?" (Holy Sonnet 1 line 1) Lines such as these grab the reader's attention, immediately drawing them to the strong sense of personal feeling felt by the narrator, highlighted by such an abrupt opening. Throughout both holy sonnets and the narrator's love poetry, strong personal feeling is apparent. The use of 'I' and 'me' is
Discuss the significance of the term metaphysical poetry in relation to three of the poems you have studied this term. You should also look up the word metaphysical in the OED and use some of the information given in your ess
Metaphysical poetry Analysis and comparison of three poems and their relation to the term 'metaphysical poetry' This essay will revolve around the genre of 'metaphysical poetry' and some of its most prominent poems, specifically 'Holy Sonnet X' and 'A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning' by John Donne and 'To His Coy Mistress' by Andrew Marvell. 'Holy Sonnet X' and 'To His Coy Mistress' will be analysed together and will undergo an investigation to find parallels and contrasts. They will primarily focus on the subject of death. 'A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning' will also be analysed and used to describe John Donne's authorship and his impact on metaphysical poetry. Lastly, this essay will try to explain the key features and aspects of the genre and, thereby, relate to the genre in a historical context. The term 'metaphysical poetry' was coined by the critic and poet, Samuel Johnson. Under its heading, Samuel Johnson gathered a large group of unaffiliated British lyric poets who had a common interest in the rising new sciences, debauchery, and the changing times. Despite their being unaffiliated, the group of poets shared a collective way of investigating and portraying their interests, namely through inventive ways of applying metaphors. This inventiveness in using metaphors has resulted in the genesis of the term 'metaphysical conceit'. Metaphysical conceit is 'a
What is a Metaphysical poem?
Metaphysical poetry What is a Metaphysical poem? There are many definitions of Metaphysical poetry. "Metaphysical" when applied to poetry usually involves Love, Science, Geology, Romance, Sensuality and man's relationship with God. Metaphysical poems are lyrical poems usually containing intense meditations, characterized by striking use of wit, irony, and play on words. Underneath the formal structure is the underlying structure of the poet's argument. Metaphysical poetry usually contains conceits, which is an image which you extend, which you develop; an extended metaphor. The Metaphysical poetry follows the structure of a strong first line; these "strong lines" brings attention to other elements in metaphysical poetry. The term is used in connection with prose as well as with verse and so invites us to look at metaphysical poetry in a wider context. At the time Metaphysical poetry's definition was 'An equal of ideas yoked by violence together.' However, it is very difficult to define a Metaphysical poem because at the time the writers were not writing under the category of a "metaphysical poem." So I have therefore attempted to describe the characteristics of a 'Metaphysical poem' rather then endeavour to construct a definition. The following three poems all fit into the Metaphysical category. You can tell this by looking at the characteristics of Metaphysical poetry.
John Donne 'Songs and Sonnets' - Secular or Sacred?
Word Count: 2,574 Essay 2: Seventeenth Century John Donne 'Songs and Sonnets' - Secular or Sacred? John Carey states in his book, John Donne: Life, Mind and Art, that: "The first thing to remember about Donne is that he was a Catholic; the second, that he betrayed his Faith". 1 Carey's argument continues with heavy emphasis on Donne's religious tendencies and implies that the perpetual worry about fidelity, falseness and the permanence of human relationships contained in the 'Songs and Sonnets' is a transference of Donne's apostatical guilt to women. However, Barbara Hardy in her essay 'Thinking and Feeling in the Songs and Sonnets' contradicts Carey's emphasis on the spiritual and religious, stating that: "Physicality...is the rule in Donne"2 These two critical views oppose each other and take extreme standpoints on the meaning and content of Donne's poetry. However, the common theme in Donne criticism is that there is a strong element of paradox and an overriding impression of ambiguity in his poems, and I believe that this prevents a definitive conclusion that the 'Songs and Sonnets' are, in a mutually exclusive sense, either secular or sacred. Donne's 'Songs and Sonnets' are complex. His use of philosophical, theological and scientific illustrations and analogies, captured in a colloquial language "such as men do use"3 make it extremely difficult to tease out the
The muses garden with pedantic weeds o'erspread, was purged by thee....." Write an apppreciation of
The muses garden with pedantic weeds o'erspread, was purged by thee....." Write an apppreciation of Ben Jonson is reputed to have said that "John Donne was the first poet in the world in some things" That he was radically different from his predecessors is unmistakable and in this essay I will explore the probable reasons for this singularity and look at how it is chiefly manifested in his poetry. Probably the single most significant factor that differentiated Donne from his fellow poets and undoubtedly had a profound effect on his work was his Catholicism. Belonging to this faith in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries meant at best that one could not attend university, hold public office or attend Court. At worst it meant persecution, imprisonment, torture and execution. Donne was educated at home by Catholic tutors, reputedly anxious for a martyr's death themselves and he was often taken to see the public hanging, emasculation and disembowelling of priests supposedly in the hope that it would instil in him some sense of the heroicism of martyrdom. He was in his own words "ever kept awake in the meditation of martyrdom" and had "(his) first breeding and conversation with men of suppressed and afflicted religion, accustomed to the despite of death and hungry of an imagined martyrdom" There appears, however, to have been little of the martyr in Donne
Essay on "The Broken Heart" - The imagery in John Donne's poetry is not just a vital part in his works,
Essay on "The Broken Heart" Mrs. Jauregui 09-22-02 Essay on "The Broken Heart" The imagery in John Donne´s poetry is not just a vital part in his works, it's essential in combining his feelings and emotions so that he is able to write them down and create poems like this one. ´The Broken Heart´ is an example of how John Donne uses wordplay to construct images in the reader's mind, enveloping them in every word which was meticulously put to make his poem perfect. The tone he uses also gives the impression he was almost desperate to be understood. He makes the poem personal to him by asking rhetorical questions like "Who will believe me, if I swear, That I have had the plague a year?" and "Who would not laugh at me, if I should say, I saw a flask of powder burn a day?" When revised carefully, these questions have a feeling of extreme anxiety and grief. The images and the tone of all of Donne´s poetry is what gives him his own classic, artistic approach. When Donne wrote this poem, evidently he was heartbroken. Otherwise, he would have never had such antagonistic feelings towards love and never would have described it as being something like a monster. He writes "but us Love draws, He swallows us, and never chaws." This makes one imagine a viscous beast enticing you to come forth, but then when his grasp is fixed, he swallows you whole, with no mercy, and ´takes no
Characteristics of metaphysical poetry.
Introduction John Donne, whose poetic reputation languished before he was rediscovered in the early part of the twentieth century, is remembered today as the leading exponent of a style of verse known as "metaphysical poetry," which flourished in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. (Other great metaphysical poets include Andrew Marvell, Robert Herrick, and George Herbert.) Metaphysical poetry typically employs unusual verse forms, complex figures of speech applied to elaborate and surprising metaphorical conceits, and learned themes discussed according to eccentric and unexpected chains of reasoning. Donne's poetry exhibits each of these characteristics. His jarring, unusual meters; his proclivity for abstract puns and double entendres; his often bizarre metaphors (in one poem he compares love to a carnivorous fish; in another he pleads with God to make him pure by raping him); and his process of oblique reasoning are all characteristic traits of the metaphysicals, unified in Donne as in no other poet. In Donne's 'The Flea' in-between each stanza we have to imagine that an event has taken place. Normally this is the woman's part of the poem to reply to the speaker's thoughts and views. So the openings to each stanza are quite dramatic and shocking, them being
The Persuasive Tone of The Flea
The Persuasive Tone of ¡§The Flea¡¨ John Donne, a member of metaphysical school in the Seventeenth century, exhibited his brilliant talent in poetry. In ¡§The Flea,¡¨ he showed the passion to his mistress via persuasive attitude. The tone might straightforwardly create playfulness or sinfulness; yet, the poem contains none of either. What impress readers most is situation and device. The situation between the speaker and the audience is persuasion, love or marriage. As to device, the notable parts are diction and rhetoric skills. Furthermore, unique characteristics of this poem are also an important element of his persuasive tone. First of all, the situation created by Donne is remarkable. Although there is only one speaker in ¡§The Flea,¡¨ the poem itself reveals a profound interaction between speaker and audience. Here is an example: ¡§Mark but this flea, and mark in this,¡¨ (line 1) and ¡§Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,¡¨ (line 10). In line one, the poet asked his coy mistress to notice a flea and explain that the flea symbolized the combination of their love. Whereas, when the poem goes on to the first line of the second stanza, the lady ignores Donne¡¦s enthusiasm by intending to slay the flea. From the two lines, it shows the female¡¦s emotional reaction to Donne¡¦s persuasion, which provokes his urge by applying poetic device in the