... ends are inherently insufficient because each method spurns greed and each gain is immediately followed by an increase in desire. The author believes this cycle of greed and desire will never end and cannot lead to contentment. She asserts that if men lead respectable lives in their country estates, and treat people well, they will have all ... live to constantly gain cannot escape their desires even when they sleep while the countryman rests peacefully undisturbed (14-18). She also concludes that even if all men's dreams are fantastic inventions they do not frighten the innocent men who ...

• Word Count: 1938
• Approx Pages: 8

... swells 94 With the paean of the bells! "The Bells" begins with a happy thought, but ends with a sad one. As the bells moan and groan" the poem is telling us that the bells have supernatural control over people"s thought that extend beyond memories of past situations." ( 52) " The City in the Sea" explores Death through ... the listener to be saddened by "melancholy waters" in lines 11 and 25. In this poem, the poet has created a dreamlike setting where Death has control. Three well-known poems, "Ulalume," "Lenore," and "Annabel Lee" are obviously about young women, and certainly about t...

• Word Count: 1648
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... " (24), where there is so much suffering and hardship. The misery and sorrow that he feels is emphasized further by the theme of darkness, night, and shadows that is carried throughout the poem. He says, "here there is no light, / Save what from heaven is" (38-39). On earth all he sees is the harsh reality of existence, and the only hope is the ... promise of an afterlife. He "cannot see what flowers are at [his] feet, / Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs" (41-42). He only sees the pain and suffering in the world and has difficulty believing that such a horrible existence ... c...

• Word Count: 1754
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... a brook and where these flowers, in turn, direct his attention to signs of work having been done by another man with "A spirit kindred to my own; so that henceforth I worked no more alone. The Tuft of Flowers' was a kind of signature, a greeting and communication- (Poirier 143). The butterfly is a significant symbol in ... speaker says, whether they work together or apart. The meaning is that we are never alone, even if there is no one physically present with us at the time. We are one in spirit, as well as being united by our work. We all can appreciate beauty. Most of us share a respec...

• Word Count: 1806
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... ] streak the silence'. There is also the use of alliteration: flights', flowing flakes that flock' and we watch wandering the wind', so that all of the sounds culminate to produce a flurry of activity. It is interesting to note though, that Owen at the end of this description of sudden movement, ends this stanza (as he does most of the stanzas in the poem) with the ... fruit. For God's invincible spring our love is made afraid; Therefore, not loath, we lie out here, therefore were born, For love of God seems dying. (lines 35-39) suggest that the soldiers believe that only by fighting and...

• Word Count: 2437
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... and serious. The morbid tone shifts again as Venus also sends the lovers "supernatural sympathy" and "universal love and hope"; welcome well-wishes from the goddess of love. In line 15, the specific reference to the literary character Venus, Auden thus mixes beauty and love with death and ... problems humanity faces – the world, and its mortality and imperfections, bring more than enough comfort. (Lullaby n. pag.) In lines 37 to 39 the speaker says that his beloved will never experience any earthly harm. In times of draught, he will be fed, and the insults of humanity will always pass ...

• Word Count: 1813
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School