Poem Literature Reviews Samples For Students

Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy

Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy is a freeverse poem written in the first person. The voice seems to be that of the poet, speaking to her lover. However, the poem is universal in that the ‘I’ and the ‘you’ characters featured could be of either sex. On the surface, the poem is about the presentation of an unusual gift on St. Valentine's Day. However, the deeper level explores the love between two individuals. Valentine uses the onion as a strong central image and metaphor for love. This concept is then expanded on throughout the poem. Duffy uses the poem’s ...

William Shakespeare considered the greatest English writer has developed a vast work, approaching various themes in the plays or poems that he created. Another highly appreciated English poet is Andrew Marvell, who besides poetry was also a politician, which is visible in his work, as many poems approach politics as the main theme. This paper takes a closer look at the two poets’ literary works, focusing on two of their poems, respectively “Sonnet 18: Shall I compare Thee to a Summer Day” (William Shakespeare) and “The Garden” (Andrew Marvell), identifying the common themes between the two poems, depicting other similarities, as ...

Introduction

The short story Country’s Lovers by Nadine Gordimer and the poem What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl by Patricia Smith are masterpieces in terms of their content and the themes that both pieces present to the readers. The overarching theme within both stories is the plight of the black woman in her social life. Country’s Lovers for example explains the vulnerability of the black woman in her romantic life. On the other hand, Smith’s poem explains the social hardships experienced by the black woman right from her tender age. This shows that there are ...

Time does not only shape the world; it shapes the ideas that are created by the human mind. There are different ideas that can be expressed in writing, poetry offers one of the best genres in literature whereby people are able to express their ideas and make them known to the world. When writing there are different issues that influence a writer to write about a certain topic or issue. Many writers are influenced by issues that take place within the society, they develop their ideas from this issues .Another key factor that influence a writer or a poet the period in which ...

“The Fish” talks about the interesting journey of the narrator who at first was just out to catch a fish, but ended up developing a deep understanding of nature and life through the fish. With the use of vivid imagery and abundant description, Elizabeth Bishop took the readers to the past struggles of the fish in order to stay alive, how its physical disfigurement reflecting those struggles translated into images of beauty and victory, and how these mental pictures elicited respect and admiration from the narrator.

True to its title, the narrator begins telling the story by talking about catching a fish.

I caught a tremendous fishand held him beside the boathalf out of water, with my hookfast ...

Question One

Values of the Odyssey There are many values that have been embraced by Odyssey. Odyssey is firsts of all, depicted as that, which acknowledges the return of one of their own. When Odysseus returns from the war that had just concluded, he receives a warm welcome. Their regard for togetherness hallmarks all societal aspects. It is an inclusive society which accommodates affairs of all people who ascribe to its traditions and values. The hospitality nature of this community further arises from the fact that, it accommodates and cares for strangers. They could knock on any door and would ...

Introduction

Background of poet Thomas Stearns Elion was an American-British scholar. The man was a jack of all trades with influences as an essayist, publisher, social and literary critic, playwriting and a major poet of the twentieth century. His work has been widely acclaimed with the pinnacle being the Nobel Prize in Literature, an accolade that was bestowed upon him in 1948 in recognition of his pioneer and outstanding contribution and influence on the present-day poetry. Other pieces of work written by the poet include the Waste Land, Murder in the Cathedral, The Hollow Men and Four Quartets among others. The ...

Poems are literary forms that use rhythmic and aesthetic qualities of languages. They often use ambiguity, irony symbolism among other stylistic devices which leave the poem to numerous interpretations. Some poems may be specific to particular cultures, religions or genres. This paper intends to analyze Maya Angelou’s poem “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. The paper shall also highlight the themes addressed in the poems, use of symbolism, and the message of the poem. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiography of Maya Angelou that he uses to explore various themes of racism, ...

Theme

The Vacuum is a poem by Howard Nemerov that focuses on the central theme of loneliness caused by the death of a loved one. However, Nemerov took a very different twist in writing the poem, mainly because its entire structure is composed of puns that tend to reference the word “vacuum” in two ways – the space the wife of the speaker left when she died and the appliance, the vacuum cleaner, she once frequently used when she was living. Given such a rather sad yet creative expression, Nemerov was able to vividly embody the emotions of the speaker, who is missing his wife ...

Violence of colors in “The Raven” and “Lenore”

In the poems “The Raven”, “Lenore” Poe inquires the loss of ideal beauty and the difficulty in getting it back. These two poems are narrated by a young man crying over the untimely death of his beloved. In “The Raven,” Poe successfully unites his philosophical and aesthetic ideals. In this piece, a young scholar who is emotionally exhausted of the phrase “Nevermore” repeated by a raven in answer to his question about the probability of an afterlife with his deceased lover. “Lenore” shows different ways in which the dead are best remembered, either by mourning or celebrating life beyond earthly ...

Introduction

The poem “To be of use” by Mercy Piercy had the theme of hard work. The idea that the poet conveyed was premised on how people should work hard because it is rewarding and satisfying. The poem talks about the sacrifice that people make so that there is food and that people remain happy. Those who work hard have a tendency of being loved and please everybody because they notice the void that would be present if the work is not done. They then enjoy the benefits of their sweat, and the poem observes that it is a good feeling. Moreover, ...

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (“Prufrock”) was first published in the June 1915 issue of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse (“Poetry”). It was written by American-British poet T. S. Eliot (“Eliot”) (1888–1965). Eliot first started work on the poem in February, 1910. As the Overseas Editor of Poetry, Erza Pound (“Pound”) had instigated the whole business (n.a., n.d., “Bio,” 2014; and McCoy, 1992). Prufrock has been studied by many, many talented scholars. In fact, what makes it such an outstanding piece of poetry is the fact that people can read so many meanings into it. ...

Area 51 at night and Area 51 by Joe Rosochacki are both small poems that are written about an imaginary place. To date, it is unclear who the author for ‘Area 51 at night was. Although the two poems address the same issue, the diction employed and the manner that the authors choose their words is different. The two poems share a lot of similarities as well as differences. Analyzing the two poems, one gets the idea that they were intended for. One is written in a simple language which is appealing, free-flowing and enjoyable. On the other hand, the other ...

Edgar Allan Poe is a prominent American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, whose works are popular with the readers all over the globe. The timeless themes of Poe’s stories and the struggles of his characters are indeed remain relevant nowadays. His cocktail of death, love and suffer is of an undying combination. His short stories and poems are sodden with darkness, agony, mystery and obsession of inevitable death, they thrill and excite. The Pit And The Pendulum, The Black Cat, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Fall Of The House of Usher are only a few of his ...

Analysis of the Poem A Red Red Rose by Robert Burns

Robert Burns is one of the most celebrated poets of all time. He has several poems to his name in which he employs a number of poetic devices and aesthetics of poetry. In the poem A Red Red Rose he immensely uses rich literary skill and knowledge to bring out aesthetics beauty in poetry. The poem uses a couple of literary devices and form in bringing out its beauty and true meaning. The overall structure of the poem takes the traditional ballad that contains four stanzas that contain four lines each. All the lines in the poems can be broken ...

Henry Charles Bukowski (1920 – 1994) was an original poet in that he could write very profound poetry without sounding pompous or condescending. Although best known for his humorous works, he mostly wrote on serious topics like love and death. One of his best poems encompassing both of these issues is “For Jane” which is widely assumed to be a lament about the death of his first love. Bukowski compresses his bewilderment, his fear, his rage and his new-found knowledge in the final stanza of the poem. The stanza begins “what you were” and that’s basically an apt summary ...

I Came to buy a smile — today — by Emily Dickson Emily Dickson has a mastery of poetic form and rhetoric that places each reader can directly connect with. In the poem “I came to buy a smile-today,” is one of the most critical rhetoric poems of all the time. In The poem, Dickson desires to buy a smile an indication of happiness from a vendor. She claims to have gold, diamond, and rubies, the precious metals that all humans wish to have, but for sure, no one can buy happiness. She wonders how much she can bargain to get the smile for ...

People are either given or seek empowerment from various sources. Some situation that offers empowerment can be viewed by society as morally wrong. Other types of empowerment could be seen as a source of inspiration. In Richard Wright's "The Man who was Almost a Man" and Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son," readers are presented with two very different views on empowerment that they can compare. In "The Man who was Almost a Man," the reader is introduced to Dave, who is seventeen years old. He lives in a world that is dominated by other people who do not view him as a man. ...

Robert Frost depicts the life and landscape of New England in his poetry and uses traditional verse forms and metrics. At the same time, Frost is more than a country poet. He develops universal themes through dark thinking, and psychological portraits. His works are filled with uncertainty and irony. In poems “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” "Acquainted with the Night," “Desert Places,” Frost presents solitary lyrical heroes wandering in natural scenery. Their meeting or observation of the nature, another human being or an object arouses understanding of their link to others or isolation from the world. The poems research ...

Question 1

In the poem, The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by the renowned poet Randal Jarrell, the poet tells about an unnamed gunner serving in war for his nation. The poem is one of the works about war and its horror. The protagonist of the poem is a gunner serving in the war. He was forcefully made to come to war by the government, disturbing his satisfied life. Three characteristics of the protagonist are discussed as follows. First of all, the protagonist is not much of a patriot. The protagonist is not in the war on his own will, or ...

A Comparative look at the theme of nature in the poems “The Oak” Alfred Lord Tennyson and “The Road Not Taken” Robert Frost Both Alfred Lord Tennyson’s The Oak and Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken deals with the theme of nature. Both poets incorporate each word in a specific manner that adds literal and figurative meanings to the overall essence of the poems. Robert Frost and Alfred Lord Tennyson use symbolism, figurative language, and rhyme to convey their views of the road that Frost cannot choose and the oak tree that develops from a human perspective. Tennyson ...

‘Name’

‘Instructor’s name’ ‘Subject’ The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot, is a poem that revolves around the alienation and disintegration tendencies of human existence. The poet elucidates the inanities of the modern world by employing many ideas borrowed from diversified sources such as Hindu mantras, Buddhist teachings and ideas of Existentialist thinkers. In The Waste land’, Eliot has conveyed to his readers the post-modernist version of Existentialism through fragmented narratives, and has delineated the meaninglessness and absurdity of life in the modern world. The poem has 364 lines and is divided into five main parts. Eliot employs ...

The poem is a narrative, giving a close encounter of how life has been in her sphere. Millay narrates how she wasted out her love after an encounter with numerous lovers. Though a change occurs in the poem where Millay applies comparative image in expressing her personal feelings of love loss. Millay indicates” I cannot say what love have come and gone”, this indicates that never loved her young lover men by enjoyed with them. She has lost all the lovers since she changed from one lover to another. From the line, it’s clear that she feels a lot of loss after ...

Maya Angelou’s “still I Rise’ is a poem dealing with the theme of suffering or struggle. The poem puts in the consideration of the conditions encountered by America. The contrast and comparison between the two citizens enable the poet to prompt her own attitude and emotions about isolation and freedom. The poem applies symbolism throughout with hidden messages. Symbolism assists the poet convey her feelings and emotions regarding freedom and isolation indirectly. The White American citizen symbolize the freedom in people. She applies verbs such as `floats’ and `leaping’ as a sign of joy, happiness and energy that the citizens ...

Wilfred Owen, the poet who poured his heart out in the lines of the war-poem, Dulce et Decorum Est, was himself a soldier who faced the harrowing experiences of war and was left with an everlasting scar on his mind. He could never get over the trauma and tragedy of warfare and his poems are among the most emphatic piece of literary works which denounce warfare and exemplify the brutalities of violence and the ultimate futility which leads to irreplaceable loss of lives and psychological strain. The poem is a first-hand account of the mental effect of war on the mind ...

Introduction

The poem “Magic of love” by Helen Farries is a simple and plain poem whose theme is love. The poem comprises of four stanzas each bearing four lines. The following is an explication of the poem.

Elaboration of the poem

In the first stanza, Farries begins by acknowledging the presence of a gift that can lighten up someone or “give a lift”. She goes on to state that, that gift which is love, is a blessing capable of bringing about happiness and comfort. In the second stanza, Farries likens love to a star in the night stating that love can brighten someone’s faith. She also states ...

Analysis of the Poem Do Not Get Gentle into That Good Night

Dylan Thomas wrote the poem titled Do Not Get Gentle into That Good Night in 1951. It is one of the most popular and well-known poems by Thomas. It is dedicated it to his dying father. Therefore, the main theme of the poem is death. Yet the poem goes beyond the classical understanding of death. It is full of feelings, full of energy and even “gives a sense of rising hysteria” (Kendry).Thomas uses a special poetic form of villanelle for his work. This form contains two repeating rhymes (night/light/right and so on) and this repetition helps the author to create ...

Writing is an extremely critical task. Authors always try to come up with presentations that make them extremely relevant in the literature field. Their relevance in writing is usually defined by use of various elements. These are values that give any form of presentation taste as well as the definition of the issue being addressed. Stevie Smith remains relevant in presentation of “Not Waving but Drowning” poem. This is a hub of elements to make the poem attractive as well as meaningful to readers. The first element that defines the relevance of the poem is an excellent choice of ...

Introduction

In this piece of work we see the author tackling the issue of consciousness and the impermanence of existence. The author of the poem being a catholic uses the scripture to justify how this has affected his upbringing. Golden eternity is used paradoxically to mean the existence of everything and nothing at the same time. The author through this classical poem tries to meditate his beautiful quest for peace love and join which is brought in oneness by the universe. When one reads the poem it cuts the mystic hearts of all paths. It transcends rational thought and the author ...

Introduction

Those Winter Sundays," by Robert Hayden and bilingual bilingue by Rhina Espaillat address the past events as they appear in the memories of the authors. Notably, there are certain issues, which occur in our routine lives at our tender ages, which indeed have significant impacts in our memories even in future. Some occurrences should be kept as preserve for future reference as they indeed play significant roles in our lives. Ideally, it is quite important to compare and contract these two poems because this will give different and similar experiences that people have in their young age compared to ...

Presentation and Analysis of two literary works – Reflections on the way both literary works ‘The Road not Taken’ and ‘A Worn Path’ representing different writing kinds, a poem and a short story respectively, approach the same thematic core, the one of a Journey’s Symbolism – Comparison and contrast of both works in terms of their context, writing style, underlying meaning [The author’s name]

Abstract

This paper will present you with a comparison and contrast of two literary works. Both the literary works which have been chosen, belong to the same theme, the one of a journey’s symbolism. The first work which will ...

Introduction

The world’s view of the image of a woman is subjected to different directions due to cultural and perceptional variations. The women situation is not yet better even though the world has made a remarkable progress in terms socialization. At different geographical areas of the world, the position of women is always undermined (Johnson & Wilson, 1995). Without a respect to their various economic and political statuses, women always bear the negative consequences of being a ‘woman’. It is evident that no customs or cultural values that favor feminism. Even though some women fall into middle or upper echelons of the society, they ...

Summary and critical review of ‘To His Excellency General Washington’

Introduction I do not think Phillis Wheatley should have written a letter to George Washington praising him for fighting for America’s freedom. I believe she should have addressed the fact the she was brought to America from Africa as a slave. She should have written about the freedom for the African’s that were enslaved for hundreds of years, instead of worrying about George Washington’s fight for America’s freedom. In the following analysis of the letter of introduction, and the subsequent poem, Phillis Wheatley comes across as a poet who was out of touch with her roots and ...

Analysis - "The Mother" and “Daughters”

Poetry about family can often reveal fascinating dynamics in these omnipresent and complex relationships. In Gwendolyn Brooks' "The Mother," the regret and guilt that a woman experiences upon reflecting on the various abortions she has had throughout her life is presented in an intriguing and haunting way. The suffering that the mother expresses in this poem is done through Brooks' expert use of figurative language and repetition, as the potential these children had before her abortions, as she sees them, is made clear. Meanwhile, Lucille Clifton’s “Daughters” allows a young woman to imagine the grandmother she never met, and the ...

Introduction:

For this paper, the two literally works selected are the road not taken and I used to live here once. The theme of symbolism of the journey will be analyzed for both pieces of literature. Below is a critical analysis that compares and contrasts how the theme has been portrayed in both works.

Road Not Taken:

The poem Road Not Taken by Robert Frost was published in 1916. It has been described as one of the best known poems worldwide. The setting of the poem is unique; it immediately engages the reader and captures their attention from the start. It is one of ...

Beowulf is an epic Greek poem based on a great hero named Beowulf. It is an epic poem because it emphasizes heroic actions of Beowulf who is the protagonist. The central character struggles between human feelings and heroic ethos in his adventures. It is a universal story of a life’s journey from adolescence to adulthood and to old age. Beowulf who is the hero in the poem grows in wisdom through pain and at the end of the epic tale, he triumphs through personal experience. In the poem, Beowulf is portrayed as the hero of the people for saving them from ...

Poetry is a genre in literature that concerns itself with presenting and communicating ideas and moral teachings in a way that evoke feelings and conscience of readers to aspects of society addressed by the poet. To understand and appreciate a poets work one need to appreciate the setting and language used to deliver the theme and teachings. These literary elements include themes, poetic use of language and character traits of the persona in deliverance of the literary work (Rath, 2003). The poet also uses themes in the poem to convey his message. A theme can be defined as the focus of ...

Paper #2 - Draft

Life’s Journey The poem ‘Ithaca’ by Constantine Cavafy written in Greek in 1910 and first published in its original language in 1911, is a dramatic monologue written in five stanzas and characterized by its lyricism, rhyme in its original language version, and symbolic meaning. The poet addresses his audience in second person, thus making the poem easily accessible to and individually adopted by his readers, talking immediately to their souls. The thematic core of the poem is the journey that every individual is to fulfill in his / her own life, having chosen or drawn his/her own path. ...

My Father's Lunch My Leader’s Pool

Saturday afternoon, End of the month, he'd sit at the kitchen table he’d float on the water, in khakis and a workshirt. in a blue swimming short White napkin, a beer, the serrated knife. Body guards, waitress, trainers.

Pieces of prosciutto or headcheese Amarula at his disposal or Ciroc

or kippered herring all in fancy and curved glasses layered on slabs of black bread. brought to him by a beauty

Outside, the ripe hayfields Awaiting, the media guys

or the stacks of shutters
 or the angered citizens or the forest needing to be cleared
 or the policy waiting to be argued or the snow needing to be pushed aside or the opposition waiting to scold ...

Abstract

Jane Kenyon’s poem Let Evening Come is an appeal to the innumerable readers to embrace the inevitable which awaits human beings at the end of the journey of life. The poet uses quintessential literary elements to express her emotions. The form, language and content of the poem make the literary work stand apart and converses the central theme of the poem metaphorically. The simplistic structure and language appeals universally and beings forth the message that human beings should submit to the impending “evening” and should let go of their inhibitions. The poem describes the transformational phases of various ...

In the poem “Snowy Egret” by Bruce Weigl, a man comforts his neighbor’s son, who has just killed an egret with a shotgun and is filled with regret. The poem itself is a wonderfully written piece that plays with the notions of childhood innocence, our culpability for our actions, self-deception, and more. The use of an egret for the bird that the boy kills is very apt, as it reminds the reader already of the word “regret”; it becomes a symbol for that regret the boy has in killing it and disobeying his father. The poem also plays with themes of death – ...

Even though Muriel Rukeyser writes her poem, “The Poem as a Mask,” in the first person, she is speaking for all women who feel intimidated by a stereotypic society that expects them to fade in the background of political issues and expression of self. This poem is her way of waking up women and giving them a voice. Muriel Rukeyser was an undaunted political activist. She was born on the thirteenth of December, 1913 and died on the twelfth of February 1980. She attended Ethical Fieldstone School, Vassar College, and Columbia University Despite the fact that slavery was abolished and women ...

This paper entails an anthology of three poems. These poems include Langston Hughes’s Poem As I grew older, Shakespeare’s Sonnet #4, and Emily Dickinson’s "Nature" is what we see. These three poems are crafted by poets with great experience about life and nature. The overarching message that is presented in these three poems is that life is difficult and has numerous challenges. Every opportunity that comes our ways should be exploited to its fullest. Our lives should be simple so that we can sustainably protect resources for future generations. The rationale of this anthology is ...

Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat is a poem written by Gwendolyn Brooks and published in her famous collection of poems known as The Bean Eaters in 1960. Set in Bronzeville, where the poet is believed to have grown up, the poem narrates of the experiences of a black woman looking for a job as a housecleaner. The Bronzeville lady undergoes humiliation at the hands of a white family, and this is what the poem is all about; exposing some misconceptions the society might have on some of its members. On the other hand, Telephone Conversation is a poem written by Wole Soyinka, and it depicts a ...

The portrait of “The Guitar" by Federico Garcia Lorca is of a bleak and unfriendly place. Its fares are so awful that even the inanimate are affected—hence, we have weeping guitar. The depression of this instrument is not inexplicable as examples are provided of detached relationships. What is worse is how the tender despair is ignored, and pried at by uncaring fingertips. If it were not for the title, I would not have realised that the poem was, in fact, actually about the guitar. As in, Guitar the main subject, instead of guitar the supporting character. Very soon ...

John Milton, in the poem On His Blindness, talks of the frustration of the speaker who is blind and hence unable to serve God. The speaker’s frustration finds a reply from “Patience” who tells that the Almighty does not really require man’s work. All he asks for is the perseverance to bear with the “mild yoke” and embrace what the God asks for with faith in heart. The poet puts to use the form and his quintessential touch in language and content of his work. The poem is considered one of Milton’s immortal literary works. A close ...

Organization

Literature Review (Snapping Beans)

In the poem, “Snapping Beans”, Lisa Parker has portrayed the story of the speaker and her conversation with her grandmother. The speaker is assumed to be a girl because the poet has used a distinctively feminine voice. The speaker and her grandmother are snapping beans while sitting together on a porch together. The poem then goes on to explore the series of emotions sparked in the mid of the speaker when the grandmother asks her a simple question, ‘How is school a-going’? (Meyer, 141). Upon being asked this question, the speaker embarks on chain of thoughts regarding the ...

If I should die, think only this of me:That there is some corner of a foreign fieldthat is forever England. There shall beIn that rich earth a richer dust concealed;A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,A body of England's, breathing English air,Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.And think, this heart, all evil shed away,A pulse in the eternal mind, no lessGives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;And laughter, learnt of friends; and ...

Anne Bradstreet, the poet of In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess, Queen Elizabeth, was the first female poet of America who poured her heart out in her literary pursuits echoing the perfect mesh of Puritan thoughts and feminine emotions. Her poems provide an insight into the exuberant feminine self who longs to be free of the imposed passivity and take a flight of freedom and glory. She defied the normative of the age and penned her poems which explore the inner spirit providing it apt expression through her rich vocabulary and panache. This poem in particular is typical ...

Introduction

One of the darkest plays of William Shakespeare, “Macbeth” is a poem that holds a significant artistic and symbolic power, striking by the brutality and violence of the murdering acts committed by Macbeth and his wife, which are, in the end, the results of uttered prophecies. The poem imposes a note of dark mystery and an estate of anxiousness, because of the murderers committed by Macbeth, which indicate the force of evil taking over the human nature through rage, despair, thirst for power, violence and agony. Likewise, the presence of the unnatural elements (the three witches and their prophecies, the ghosts of ...

The poem that one chose is “How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43). This poem was written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning in 1845 while Robert Browning, an English poet, was courting her. It is part of the “Sonnets from the Portuguese”, which is a collection of 44 love poems written by Elizabeth, with Robert as his inspiration. Sonnet 43 is the most popular love poem of Elizabeth. One is drawn to this poem because of its universal message, and that is love. Although, there are a plethora of love poems written, one thinks that this poem is one of the ...

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind

Blow, blow, thou winter wind Thou art not s o unkind as man's ingratitude; Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. High-ho! Sing, high-ho! Unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: Then high-ho, the holly! This life is most jolly. Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky, That does not bite so nigh As benefits forgot: Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As a friend remembered not. 2 High-ho! Sing, high-ho! Unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving ...

What are the possible interpretations of the title of Langston Hughes’ poem “Cross,” and how do these interpretations affect the way we read the poem? There are many possible interpretations for the title “Cross” of this poem. One interpretation is about the speaker’s anger that he is of a mixed racial descent. He is a “cross breed” between a white and a black race. The speaker is undergoing an identity crisis. Another possible interpretation of the “cross” is that the speaker considers being a product of a mixed race a cross or a burden. He probably considers himself like Christ who was crucified on a cross. ...

Analysis of the poem, “For My Daughter”

The poem "For My Daughter" expresses a man's fear for her daughter. In this case, the author mentioned in his last line that “I have no daughter" and that "I desire to have none." What could drive a man to not want to have a daughter when a lot of men do desire to have one? The poem written by Weldon Kee’s during a time of extreme hardships in the 1940’s uses figures of speech, voice and imagery to reflect his reasons for not want to have a daughter.

“Looking into my daughter's eyes I readBeneath the innocence of morning fleshConcealed, hintings of ...

John Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is one of the most lasting and unforgettable poem of the Romantic Period. Through this poem, Keats absurdly conveys the message that the true language of art is speechless (Hofmann 251). By doing this, Keats is able to move readers of the present time, which is a universal trait of all 19th century poets Bloom and Trilling 494). Although Keats coherently develops the meaning of the whole poem to achieve this effect, but he especially emphasizes it in the concluding lines: “'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all/Ye know on earth, and ...

In the 1923 modern Italian sonnet, “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why” Edna St. Vincent Millay narrates how numerous loves in her life ultimately came to an end and how miserable she felt because of those losses. Millay depicts the explicit meaning of sonnet by using many of different aspects of its form, such as its mood, structure, turns, and particularly the powerful metaphor. This sonnet is centered on two major themes, namely change and loss. The season imagery used by Millay makes the theme of change most apparent. Although most of the sonnet revolves ...

Both the Edwin Arlington Robinson poem 'Richard Cory' and the song of the same name by Paul Simon tell the tale of the titular Cory, a rich but benevolent man who seems to have it all. He is wealthy, but he uses his wealth well, giving to others when he can, and is polite to others - "He was always human when he talked" (Robinson, line 6). However, this benevolence and his being on top of the world makes his suicide at the end of the poem/song confusing to all. While Robinson focuses on the quiet dignity of the man, ...

This paper focusses on the subject of deferred dreams and we study three poems in this regard. The poems ‘Wild Nights’ by Emily Dickinson, ‘Harlem’ and ‘Let America be America Again’ both by Langston Hughes, all highlight the pain of deferred dreams in different ways and related to different circumstances. Emily Dickinson’s poem ‘Wild Nights’ is a love poem expressing sexual passion and love. The poem falls into the genre of lyric poetry, there are three stanzas in the poem and each one has a quatrain. The poem expresses ardent affections and yearning to unite with the lover. The ...

Readings: The poems used for the lesson plan are namely: “America” by Claude McKay, “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop and “Coal” by Audre Lore. Objective of lesson: Psychological criticism in literature observes the text and the author. The symbolism used in the writing is scrutinized and observed as workings of the human mind that are for interpretation. These writings are analyzed according to the author and the characters of the literary piece. This kind of approach uses theories of those in the field of psychology. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis is often used in literary criticism. His theories are ...

The poem entitled “The Brain - is wider than the Sky-“ written by Emily Dickinson uses different literary elements that would assist readers in understanding its meaning. At the start, the reader could perceive that Dickinson uses simple vocabularies that are easy to comprehend. However, when taken in its entirety, the reader needs to examine the structure, form, symbols, choice of words and figurative language to enhance audience appeal and to solicit the use of cognitive and analytical skills to unveil the author’s meaning. The structure of the poem perfectly conformed to a numbered pattern: eight syllables for ...