Analysis of Sharon Olds, "Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941" In the poem, "Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941," Sharon Olds describes a cemetery during World War II. The 900-day siege on Leningrad began in September of 1941 and ... that the gravediggers are too weak to dig and they are also very hungry because food is scarce during war. The poem is vividly describing how horrible war can be. The language used in the poem is strong and descriptive. The corpses are described as being transported by children's sleds. This description shows how all innocence ... during wartime is lost. The sad...

• Word Count: 294
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

Comparison Analysis of "One Perfect Rose" by Dorothy Parker and "Go, Lovely, Rose" by Edmund Waller. For many centuries, young men have been telling their sweethearts about fleeting ... of how the rose is used as such a symbol in the poems "One Perfect Rose" by Dorothy Parker and "Go, Lovely, Rose" by Edmund Waller. Waller's poem is shown to use an interesting variation on the usual theme by addressing himself directly to the rose, telling it to bear his message to the woman he admires, ... whereas, with Parker's poem the speaker reveals her feelings about receiving one rose from her beau. T...

• Word Count: 719
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The poem "Wind" by Ted Hughes is a free verse following a quatrain pattern. It has a direct title which gives some idea of what the poem is going to talk about. The basic idea of the poem is a description of a storm by the narrator who is stuck in house during the fierce storm. The poet gives a very detailed description of the storm and throws a negative light on it. The poet uses various poetic devices but the recurring use of enjambment suggests that the poet is having an outpouring of emotions and is not able to decide where to end his sentence. The poet maintains a neutral tone throughout ...

• Word Count: 788
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

English 101 Poem Analysis The poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas shows us the authors feelings about death. The phrases "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" and "Do ... " or "dying of the light" which symbolize dying. Someone he was close to was near death. Perhaps it was his father, or someone else he looked up to. Throughout his poem he gives reasons one resists death, and shows the different type of people and their reactions. Lines 4 through 6 shows that when near death, wise men know it is right. Everyone ... revelations in dying. Then both closings are ...

• Word Count: 498
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Softly breathing, cries from the bedroom, and soft tears falling are all feelings that can be felt by humans around the world. The poem by Billy Collins, entitled Days illustrates the same of feelings. In the poem's entirety, life is not the only thing being portrayed, but instead it contrasts the beauty of life, with the short, but sweet, amount of time that is given for all humans. The poem addresses how our lives are drastically changed both emotionally and physically, by the loss of something or someone so close to our heart. Throughout this essay, life, time, and the missing ingredients t...

• Word Count: 1499
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The poem that I chose to analyze is titled Incident written by Countee Cullen. I chose this poem because in so little words it says so much. It conveys so much feeling and emotion. Incident was written in the 1920's at a time when people of color were greatly discriminated against. Many public places like schools and restaurants were segregated. Through the experience of an eight-year-old boy Cullen illustrates some of the things black people encountered during that time period. The character in this poem begins his trip to Baltimore full of joy and excitement. He sees a boy from Baltimore abo...

• Word Count: 617
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Reading this poem brings with it many emotions. The strongest I found was a sense of melancholy, sadness and loneliness, which in turn is the theme I found most obvious. With these emotions came a sense of beauty. Lines 13-14 of the poem read "With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in". It seems like Arnold is finding a reflection between the Sea, and the sadness he feels in the world. The rhythm of the tides and the calmness and tranquility of the water bring an escape, but at the same time a reminder to the sadness that is his reality. On line 9 of the poem, Arnol...

• Word Count: 370
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

Within the poem "Dark Pines under Water," Gwendolyn MacEwen describes an internal journey, in the mind of the reader, through a mysterious dream. This whole dream is shrouded by thought-provoking ideas that clouds the mind on what the final destination is or what the reader's soul wants it to be, for it is never defined. In reality, mentioning the internality would steal its potency. Of course, this happens only because MacEwen approaches the idea indirectly. This is done by means of connotations and imagery inherent within the landscape; therefore, utilizing these concepts to create an alien,...

• Word Count: 552
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

For my poetry essay, I have chosen Dulce et Decorum Est because it is based on reality. It is about World War I and the constant nightmares that a former soldier lived during that time. He is re-living those awful days by the constant nightmares and memories that will never fade. Imagine having to go through life with the burden on your back of all the people you saw die. Your friends, your comrades, and all those young souls that were lost for defending our country. Imagine the pain and suffering that went on them. And then, compare it to now. Sadness all around us, and we can't help but to l...

• Word Count: 710
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

T.S. Eliot's "Gerontion" is a very haunting poem that takes the reader through the mind of an "old man" (1). The interpretations that I was able to come up with lead me to two different meanings. The "old man" is either Eliot himself having some sort of writers block ("I have lost my sight, smell, hearing and touch" (60)). Or that the poem itself is a dream that Eliot had; which would describe the cold descriptions and vacant windy references. At the end of stanza one, Eliot introduces the motif of wind and whispering. The old man is "a dull head among windy spaces" (16) and "in a draughty hou...

• Word Count: 427
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Analyzation of T.S. Eliot's Rhapsody on a Windy Night This poem seemed to have no purpose but to tell a story at first, but after rereading it, I found many interesting things that point to something bigger, however, I am not sure what. I particularly liked how Eliot announced the time at the beginning of each descriptive section. The poem starts with the words "Twelve o"clock." This sets sets the scene and shows the main character's obsessive nature. The diction in this poem is greatly descriptive and allows the reader to really see things through the narrator's eyes. The first stanza illu...

• Word Count: 470
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born in 1809 in Somersby. He didn't come into fame until 1842 when he published Poems after his "ten years silence." Tennyson's "ten years silence" was Tennyson's withdrawal from society where all he did was write and spend time with his family. In Memoriam was published in 1850, and are a collection of 131 poems that deal with death and the grieving process of death. In these poems, Tennyson comes to terms with the death of two close people in his life: his father and his best friend Arthur Henry Hallam. In poem 7 from In Memoriam, there are images of darkness and lo...

• Word Count: 530
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

While reading Oedipus the King it is hard not to think about the poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. The Road Not Taken is all about making choices in your life that you may or may not want to make but there is no other way to go about it, you must make a decision. The poem describes roads that are available to go down but only one may be chosen and there is no turning around to change your original choice. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry that I could not travel both- Even if you think you may have chosen the right road to go down you may not realize it until the end that...

• Word Count: 872
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Since youth, we've been told that there are certain expectations that need to be met, and certain morals that must be followed throughout one's life. This has always been especially true for women in the 1900's. The roles of women in the early 19th century were mainly at home, where they were expected to cook, clean and care for the children. However, going into the 1940's, roles of women were changing. If women were not married and taking care of their household, then they were expected to be educated and working. Otherwise, they were often shamed and frowned upon in society. Often, people ge...

• Word Count: 654
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

During the course of watching movies in the gangster genre, one will encounter characters that are very different but similar in various ways, in respect to their motives and their beliefs. Rocky Sullivan from the movie Angels with Dirty Faces and Clyde Boner from Bonnie and Clyde are such characters. They are outwardly different, yet they have similar views and do what they have to do in order to get by. Rocky Sullivan gives the outward impression of being a real tough guy, and he is, but at times he appears to be nothing more than a great friend to his child hood friend Jerry Connelly, who a...

• Word Count: 777
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

What is in That Good Night? One of the forms of analysis and criticism that is best used with many works is the analysis of archetypal images. Many words and objects are images that have much deeper meanings and values than you, as a reader, take at face value. Many of the words ... passage gives the reader an unmistakable image of darkness in the lives of even those who are wise. A second image that portrays this theme is the fourth stanza of the poem. "Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, and learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, do not go gentle into that good night." ... ...

• Word Count: 429
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Analysis: Visitation Kathy Fagan's Visitation, is a poem with a lot of symbolism that can easily be disregarded as irrelevant because of lack of attention to minor details. The poem expresses a sense of an epiphany, a moment of truth. It speaks about both the arrival (visitation) and the departure of something or someone. Everyone and everything dies; nothing last forever. The ... Visitation is and should be treated as a special moment, for it only last a while. I consider Visitation a deeply felt poem because when I read it I envision different scenes in which a visitation occurs. Referring ...

• Word Count: 657
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School