... youthful optimism of the first stanza is juxtaposed with the sombre tone of the following verse; reflecting its more serious subjects of death and grief. The ominous mood of the second stanza is immediately established by the word "flood", as if the speaker ... ;parable of [the speaker]" and as a symbol for their wish to "rise above their humble station" elucidates their desire to overcome death. Through Harwood's utilisation of this pumpkin metaphor she portrays the degeneration and eventual decay of the speaker's body into a "skinful of elements", ... "flesh" in a "settle[d] shape" â€...

• Word Count: 856
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... ravenous hawk" is a very striking one, as the adjective "ravenous" has connotations of greed and in this case, an insatiable hunger for death. After the death of the two pigeons, Rosetti ends the second four-line quatrain with a mournful, prayer-like statement: "So farewell life and love and ... love and unbreakable devotion, however the fate of its characters does indeed suggest that Rosetti here could not prevent herself from her inclination towards death and suffering. This suggests that the claim that she leans toward the "dark side" is to an extent justified. The second poem I ... ...

• Word Count: 2526
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... narrator's descriptive, but elusive and often contradictory, phrasing. This Ode examines the question having to do with the inherent union of life and death, pain and pleasure, actual and ideal from the perspective of a narrator wishing to live immortally or die easefully. The way that music functions ... cycle of repression, transference, and return that the narrator's psychology delineates through music of several forms. The music of life, music of death, and the music of immortality are all part of the whole of the play, the preference for one over the other changes, sometimes slowly ...

• Word Count: 1517
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... enough time and the synthesis of "now" that time is still available why don't we make the most of it before they both succumb to death succumbs. This argumentative structure is also highlighted in 'a dialogue between body and soul' as Marvel appoints individual stanza to the 'soul' and & ... is apparent when he recites that "and yonder before us lie, deserts of vast eternity." His connotation is used to make an indication that death is what lies ahead. It is lifeless and barren, essentially a place where love is not expressed. He has no confidence in an afterlife and the ... a...

• Word Count: 1427
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Sonnets "18" and "73" include; the mythical nature of eternal love experienced by mortal lovers (Sonnet "18"), and the reality of time as a bringer of death (Sonnet "73"). These implications are used by Marvell in "To His Coy Mistress" to effectively create an interesting theory on life and how it should be lived. ... love: "This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long.". Thus is suggested, that death, or passing away makes love more strong with the knowledge of certain grief and mourning is to follow. The last stanza of Marvell...

• Word Count: 1243
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... deeply divided self. The odes, as Hollindale (1998:57) states, show this to a magnificent effect as Keats rejects notions of diminished consciousness and turns away from the "escapist consolations of death, narcotic slumber, drugged unconsciousness and forgetfulness". Keats appeared as a poet who, through his art, escaped the "sordid and disturbing environment of nineteenth century life". In its place he created and ... which in fact are very close together. These truths are those of poetic imagination and those of observable realities. The narrator is pulled in conflicting directions "...

• Word Count: 2837
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... his own fatal disease of his own fatal disease forced him to return home, where his poetry had been harshly criticised in his absence After the death of his brother, he moved to Hampstead Heath, where he met the beautiful Fanny Browne. Absorbed in love and poetry, he exhausted himself mentally, ... his work that I conclude this essay. It is quite and exceptional trait to behold, to be able to deal with and accept death as another of life's experiences, that is exactly what Keats death as another of life's experiences, that is exactly what Keats achieved. Andrew Motion, celebrated biograp...

• Word Count: 1359
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... different from today. Shakespeare was an infamous poet and playwright who wrote many sonnets and plays- tragedies, comedies and histories, whose common themes were love, life and death. "Fear no more", is derived from the play Cymbeline, one of his later comedies. It is a Dirge or funeral song for the heroine Imogen. In ... , and does this using numerous poetic devices. Shakespeare exercises complex metaphors to depict the struggles one undergoes in life, and to contrast between life and death. Through this he creates meaning-to "fear no more" life for everything will come to an end. He ...

• Word Count: 522
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... (the) human body, many other "taboo" subjects and common objects and people, Whitman and Dickinson address the larger matters of life, namely death and religion. Although they often deal with the same themes, their approaches differ and both pioneered their own unique style of writing. Whitman's style of free ... Leaves of Grass" Whitman's masterpiece is certainly "Leaves of Grass", an anthology of poems he first published in 1855 and kept revising till his death. The title is the first element showing how grass is a fundamental symbol in Whitman's poetry: 'leaves' refers both to leaves...

• Word Count: 2619
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... for2, is presumably deceased. The use of seasonal-change in most works of literature is generally used as a metaphor to represent life and death; winter brings death and destruction and spring bequeaths restoration and new life. In line 4, the poet paints quite an ominous scene of the withering leaves of autumn ... to Duffy's words in line 2, the leaves embrace the wind in "[adoration]"; they seem to be completely receptive to the idea of death in the author's use of the term 'adore'. Perhaps the natural element in the poem could be an allegory for the addressee of the ... poem, a...

• Word Count: 1990
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... and form, Emily Dickinson takes a short poem and manages to eke a tremendous amount of meaning out of it, likening light to the reminder that death will be upon us eventually. Dickinson's level of descriptiveness in these passages helps to evoke the weariness and weight of winter; the kind of light ... existential and "imperial affliction" that brings her no happiness no matter what light is shone on her (line 11). The specter of death looms over her, especially as something that robs life of meaning; the "seal of despair" is that permanent understanding that everyone will die ... the a...

• Word Count: 562
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... themes were the result of his many beliefs, mainly that it is best to live in hope that love is powerful and can transcend even death. By looking at Poe's life filled with the death of almost every woman he ever loved; his mother, his wife, and his wife's mother, it is safe then to read his poetry ... though, "Annabel Lee" is a tragically beautiful love poem where the speaker woefully recounts the beauty of his lost love. This poem of his lost love whose death the speaker describes as being taken away by envious heavenly beings, is the only physical trace of the love they once shared. Y...

• Word Count: 2199
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... got her into trouble in the first place: Trying to replace her father and marry him rather than actually dealing with and getting over his death. This primitive coping mechanism brings to mind a child who makes up imaginary friends when she lacks them in reality. Another example of the ... to her husband, Ted Hughes, the man she tried to replace her daddy with, the aforementioned "model." Unfortunately, this attempt to deal with her father's death backfired when it turned out that Hughes was, in Plath's eyes, an authoritative figure that Plath repeatedly compares to a Nazi and a vampire...

• Word Count: 1245
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the misunderstanding of other people is also explored in the second verse. It becomes apparent that people did not realise how the dead man felt, putting his death down to a practical joke gone wrong "he always loved larking". The word "larking" has connotations of frivolity and light heartedness and yet it is clear ... notice what was happening beneath the surface. The cold factual tone of "And now he's dead" shows that the people felt little real remorse over his death and so had no good relationship with him, which emphasis the isolation of the man. The line "It must have been too co...

• Word Count: 893
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... melancholic setting parallels the morose discontent of the soldiers, who have surrendered themselves to the destructive and vindictive hands of war. In the second stanza, the witness of an actual death of a soldier draws the reader further into the soldiers' struggles, to allow the reader a closer connection with the experience of war. Initially, frantic diction is employed to capture the ... deteriorate before him. The poet was, in effect, "helpless- to do anything to save this man. The repetition of "drowning- accentuates the poet's sympathetic remorse in having witnessed the soldier's...

• Word Count: 1389
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... language, or shock attached to the words; which we can use to interpret as Frost's intent to make the protagonists seem indifferent to the sudden death upon them, which could have been signified as the preferred method of grieving. The rhyming scheme also helps in normalizing the alarming incident; displaying how ... way" (20) on their journey. In the way the poems' mannerism is phrased, it could be said that Frost wanted to show how death is meaningless, or how it is inevitable no matter what you do in life. The symbolism that can be taken from the meaning of the poem is ... by seein...

• Word Count: 943
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... carefully selected words and phrases to develop the theme of Aunt Jennifer's Tigers. The idea of death is explored at the beginning of the third stanza in showing that even Aunt Jennifer's death will not bring closure nor change to her role in a patriarchal society. Death is eternal and the idea of her terrified hands lying still ringed with the marriage she was ... which Rich is presenting the reader with the consequences of living as a subordinate in a marriage that is a burden "ultimately the woman will be unhappy, and will remain so until death, which is not a release. Another examp...

• Word Count: 1074
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

An Explication of William Carlos Williams' "The Widow's Lament in Springtime- Death is an insatiable force that mercilessly alienates individuals from their passions and from that which they have derived joy; it brings with it great despair and uncertainty. It ... those flowers and to "sink into the marsh near them- (27). This is a simple yet incredibly sad statement expressing her desire for relief, perhaps a relief as final as death, from those disheartening beauties. The widow is overwhelmed by her emotions a final time in line twenty-seven; Williams captures this once again and finally sol...

• Word Count: 978
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the universe he so dislikes, the irony is that he absorbs everything he so dislikes and renders his total aloofness, impossible. The first stanzas of the poem deal with the death of the speakers fahter, which is htrough suicide. We are told that villainy is afoot, that it is Maud's father who has remotely caused this tragedy. Throughout the poem, we ... fears that a suicidal fate is what he will suffer. In the Speakers view, mental affliction is in fact an infliction, which is hereditary only in so far as the Father's death affects the son and vice versa. This tenuously reflects Tennyso...

• Word Count: 782
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to withhold her poems from the world until they could be valued as unique artistic creations, even if this meant postponing fame until after her death Key word: KEY WORDS: Reluctance, Sorrow, Publish, Poetry . At her death in 1886,Emily Dickinson left behind over 1700 poems, of which only 7 were published anonymously while she was alive .certainly then, the woman York Winters ... of her worth, which deliberately chose to withhold her poems from the world until they could be valued as unique artistic creations even if this meant postponing fame until her death. Beginning in her mild-twen...

• Word Count: 706
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... hyperbolae, "let not to that, selfe murder added bee, / And sacrilege, three sinnes in killing three". Here another religious reference, concerning the prominent death of the flea, is used. He compares this with "sacrilege, three sinnes in killing three"; the lady will incorporate three sins into one. This ... intelligible religious imagery depicts, through the death of the flea, the destruction of a union between two people. However the lady is obviously accustomed to ignoring the suitor's arguments and kills ... argument appears to have little effect as she asserts herself in preparat...

• Word Count: 1246
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... more personal than the "fearful symmetry" of Blake's tiger. This poem, one of four "Lucy" poems included in the second volume of "Lyrical Ballads" (1800), describes the poets premonition of death as he travels towards Lucy's house. The language immediately creates a sense of foreboding, or dark prophesy: "strange fits" of passion of which the poet "dare's" to tell. The movement of ... in the night sky, which the narrator constantly tracks, mirrors the movement of the poet towards the dread emotion revealed at the end of the poem: the fear of the death of his love. The natural path of th...

• Word Count: 1115
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the struggles of African American's and also touched on the topic of being bi-racial in a prejudice society. Chesnutt published 8 books before his death in 1932; he also received a Springarn medal for his works in 1928. By the late 1800's and early 1900's, African American poetry hit ... did just that with her contributions to the Women's rights movement and her involvement as superintendent of Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) before her death in 1911. 20th century African American writers mainly focus on Post-Reconstruction, Jim Crowism, The Great Migration, The Harlem Rena...

• Word Count: 2200
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... final work to explore an unfamiliar theme of guilt and culpability. In this case, the adoption of a responsive confessional style to challenge his guilt as the supposed cause of the death of Sylvie Plath is significant in its use of familiar ideas and concepts to explore the unfamiliar. In Birthday Letters, Hughes makes extensive use of the images in Ariel, familiar ... blame for the nature of his daughter and her capacities as an infatuated 'god-seeker', it is to him that guilt has been ascribed in the wake of her death. Hughes has thus used generally familiar themes as well as th...

• Word Count: 2183
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... beauty of his lover, presumably a girl, and eternalizes it to a great extent. Through the technique of personification in "thy eternal summer shall not fade" and "Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade," Shakespeare's lover embodies summer itself implying that her beauty will never "fade" and even ... death cannot cease it. Love, as a theme exists in poems, however differently, implying the many facets of this emotion. Since Sonnet 18 was written in 1609 and sonnet 43 in 1850, ... love. The beauty of Shakespeare's lover is immortalized in this sonnet, hence as long as mankin...

• Word Count: 1172
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate