A commentary on William Shakespeare's Sonnet 29, including a look at various stylistic devices, the tone used, and the poetry themes focusing on self-alienation and denial.
Abstract A short and concise essay analyzing Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 with textual examples of personification, assonance, repetition, symbolism, simile, comparison, and shift.
From the Paper In ?Sonnet 29,? Shakespeare illustrates the speaker looking back on his life, and the lack of faith during it. The speaker finally realizes how he has had no faith in his life up to the present, and his lack of faith causes to be angered towards himself and then to realize that it is never too late. Because he was so selfish in his early life, he is angry with himself throughout the first eight lines, "desiring this man's art and that man's scope", and leaving no room for divine guidance.
Abstract This paper discusses the differences between Samuel Taylor Coleridge's two poems: "Frost at Midnight", and "Pains of Sleep". These two poems are of different themes and forms and yet exhibit the creativeness found in Coleridge's works. The author also explains how Coleridge was also a literary critic who defined the category of conversation and imagination poems.
From the Paper ""Pains of Sleep" is another literary work from Coleridge, and it was written in 1803. Contrary to the melancholy tone yet positive outlook of the poet's behavior in "Frost at Midnight", "Pains of Sleep" shows the agony experienced by the poet in his struggle to overcome his opium addiction and its after-effect. The poem discusses Coleridge's fear of sleep, and of dreaming. It is evident in the poem's anguished tone that it Coleridge describes his agony in descriptive detail. "Pains of Sleep" is categorized as an example of an imagination poem, a poem that contains brilliant imagery and supernatural elements, and is "far-off" from the ordinary world of people. Imagery during the Romantic period is a powerful tool to express a message in creative and descriptive detail, and is often referred to as "the sensations that language creates in the mind" "
Abstract This essay provides an analysis of Matthew Arnold's haunting poem "Dover Beach." It examines the way in which the internal structure and rhythm of the poem, literary devices such as anaphora, alliteration, and assonance, and the symbolic images of the land and sea interrelate. The overall result is a profoundly melancholy tone that mirrors Arnold's theme that darker currents of despair flow beneath even the most placid of facades.
From the Paper "Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach" (1851) centers on the image of the moonlit waters of the English Channel, an image that transcends its immediate physical setting to reflect broader themes of human struggle and private grief. In the mind of the poem's speaker, the ebb and flow of the tides come to symbolize much more than simply the pull of Diana's orb on Neptune's waters. The rhythm of the tides reflects the oscillation of the speaker's emotions, which range from peace and tranquility to passion and joy and finally to the overarching sentiments of melancholy and despair. The structure of the poem itself mirrors this ebb and flow of emotional currents, and its symbolic imagery builds throughout to culminate in the theme that for the speaker, all things bright and beautiful in this world merely belie darker currents of destruction, violence, chaos, and sorrow."
Abstract This paper first examines the meaning of Robert Frost's "The Wood- Pile" and then examines the structure of the poem, including Frost's use of poetic devices such as rhythm, meter, rhyme, alliteration, consonance, assonance, and simile.
Abstract This analysis of Ginsburg's poem, "A Supermarket in California", examines the work line-by-line. The paper discusses Ginsburg's linking of Garcia Lorca and Walt Whitman to himself, identifying with their homosexual tendencies, imagination, and writing skills. Also, the paper looks at the structure of the poem, citing alliteration and assonance, where present. The supermarket is presented as the American Dream and not Ginsberg's ideal.
From the Paper "Ginsberg mentions the carefulness in which Walt Whitman checks out of boys working at the store in lines 10 through 12, in which the narrator, spying on Whitman, discovers his wandering eyes. ?I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.? Whitman is acting interested in all the flashy images, while only truly finding interest in what he most likely cannot have: the grocery boys. Ginsberg's narrator, following closely behind, perhaps has the same desires, for he has forgotten about the "hungry fatigue" (line 4), which brought him into the supermarket to begin with."
Abstract In addition to describing Blake's artistic and creative life, this paper reviews two of Blake's greatest poems, "Laughing Song" and "The Lamb". The paper explains the different approach to each poem that Blake took and analyzes his use of literary elements, such as metaphors, similes, alliterations, allusion, apostrophe, analogy, assonance, hyperbole, irony, paradox, and personification in both writings. The paper also attempts to explain how and why Blake used the style, themes, ideas, and topics that contributed to his work being associated to the Romantic period.
From the Paper "William Blake's life spanned from 1757 to 1827. In that period, Blake was known as a successful English poet and artist throughout London circles. ?In the visionary imagination of William Blake there is no birth and no death, no beginning and no end, only the perpetual pilgrimage within time toward eternity'' (Ackroyd) Blake was known to have had a great influence on the English romanticism period. But he went beyond any such school, movement, or period. Blake's poetry was an insight into the realities of human condition of the time. William Blake was born in London November 28 and as was the custom of the time christened around the eleventh of December of the same year at a local church called St. James's Church."
Abstract This paper studies James Merrill's poem, Annie Hill's Grave", in terms of its sounds and how the sounds relate to the subject matter of the poem, death. Through an analysis of Merrill's use of assonance, alliteration, rhyme and iambic and trochaic feet, the paper explains how the sounds reflect and represent the meaning of this poem.
From the Paper "In the first stanza much alliteration exists; "s" sounds predominate. Also, the "k" in "casket" is repeated in "like"; there are "t" sounds in "casket," "visit," "airtight," and "comfort"; there are "n" sounds in "Necropolis" and "not," "nice," and in a way in "amen," "streamlined," "one," "want," "underground," and "round"; and "w" sounds are found in "would," "one," and "want." Interestingly, a particular consonant sound tends to repeat within the same line."
Abstract "The City in the Sea", written by Edgar Allan Poe, tells the tale of the legendary Fall of Atlantis. The poem, divided into four stanzas comprising an introduction, two bodies and a conclusion is a wonderful representation of many poetic elements. This paper examines how, in the poem, Poe uses several of these elements of poetry to strengthen the integrity of his work and convey the story and tone of the poem. The paper also points out that through his use of key poetic elements, particularly through the use of repetition, allusions, figurative language, alliteration and assonance, Poe manages to create a wonderful poem which recreates the ancient legend of Atlantis in vivid and formal detail, a strong poem of extreme clarity and integrity.
From the Paper "Edgar Allan Poe particularly utilizes the repetition of key words and phrases to achieve great clarity in "The City in the Sea". Through the use of repetition, Poe highlights the importance of the phrases which become central to the poem. "Lo!" (line 1) appears not only as the very first word of the poem, but also at the beginning of the last stanza. By repeating the word "Lo", Poe introduces not only the suddenness of the first portion of the poem, but also introduces the conclusion. The two stanzas are, in fact, tied together by the common word, and thus readers are encouraged to use their imaginations by comparing and contrasting the sad reverence of the introduction with the fiery inferno which becomes the end of the city. Such an encouragement ties the poem in its entirety into the reader's mind and allows easier, clearer recollections of the events depicted in the poem."
Abstract The paper shows that Ondaatje's techniques used in the poem, "To a Sad Daughter" are designed to reveal two very different points of view. The two perspectives are supported by the images of masks and forsythia which is a hedge. A number of the metaphors and similes fit while others have little meaning. However they result in a poignant and nostalgic tone. The paper shows that personification and especially assonance and alliteration are used to express the father emotions. The emotion of fear is just as important in this poem as that of love.
From the Paper ""To a Sad Daughter" is a difficult poem since Ondaatje has used a number of images that contain multiple meanings. The theme of this poem is a father's love for his daughter and his desire to protect her from reality. He is the one who is obviously fearful of that reality. The poem contains many contradictions, with metaphors that do not seem appropriate, and it ends with what seems to be a major contradiction. Ondaatje's techniques are designed to reveal two very different points of view."
Abstract In this article the writer discusses the symbolism of the fish in Elizabeth Bishop's free-verse poem "The Fish". The paper examines Bishop's use of similes throughout the poem. In addition, the writer looks at her use of alliteration and assonance as a means to enhance the impact of the poem. The paper suggests that the fish primarily serves as a symbol of resiliency and survival and that it is a common symbol of Christianity and Christ.
From the Paper "A common symbol of Christianity and Christ, the fish serves as a multi-layered symbol in Bishop's poem. Because the fish has been hooked and is bloody and also because the fish emerges from the water a "venerable" creature, it readily symbolizes Christ. Moreover, the fish's attitude toward its captors is passive: "He didn't fight. / He hadn't fought at all." He "hung a grunting weight, / battered" just like the dying Jesus on the cross. Further Christian symbols include a simile referring to the "ancient wall-paper" of the fish's scales. The fish is also a foreign creature, who cannot survive on land just as human beings could not survive under water. His "frightening gills" labor at inhaling the "terrible oxygen" that provides sustenance to mammals but not to fish. Thus, the fish is exotic in its denotation of Christ and in its otherworldly appearance."
