... to the simple fact that he or she has no idea what happened in the author's life to cause him or her to write a particular literary piece and what the author is trying to pass on to the reader. There are many factors that affect the way an author writes his or her literature including experiences that took place in his or her ... order to understand a text, the reader must first have an understanding of the author. By this, I mean that the reader must seek to identify with the author and try to read the text as the author intended. This involves the reader learning some things about the...

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... , both of them are African American, they both had tensions in their life, both of them was anger, and sad { pg# 231, 233}. They differences are that author Lucile Clifton born in 1936 and no one knows when she died and her tones was all of her works were generations is honest but rarely batter {pg 231}. And ... the other differences was author Langston Hughes born in 1902-1967 his all works were poetry and play in theater and he was in his life sad, positive and anger{ pg-233}. The ... peels {1-4}) So it explains her, In Mother to Son is that ( life for me ain't been no crystal stair)...

• Word Count: 546
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... moon being represented by the doe. The representation of the hunter to the sun is conveyed through subtle references throughout the poem. For example, the author introduces the hunter "behind a length of yellow light", or personifiying the sun. She then mentions the hunters arrow, illustrating the suns rays, she says, ... of the hunter or of the sun as it defeats the stag or the dusk. The victory is depicted by the the imagery put forth by the author, such as the " swifter the Sun's fierce arrows race" (53). As well as " his blood upon the crisp blue burns, reddens the ... mounting spa...

• Word Count: 421
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... otherwise bolted door leading to the deeper comprehension and interpretation of a literary work. Literature has more meaning and depth when we understand circumstances which prompted the writer to write. An author's experiences, along with many other factors, help to shape his writing. Furthermore, a work of literature holds more importance to readers if the writer has credibility for writing on a certain topic ... 2174)." It is of the utmost importance that the reader knows the circumstances surrounding the composition of the piece of literature. This helps the reader understand the in...

• Word Count: 529
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... play at first, it still received very good ratings and reviews, even by critics today. Elyse Sommer did one review of the play "Death of a Salesman". In this review, the author talks about several different versions of the play. One about the 1984 film directed by Volker Schlondorff starring Dustin Hoffman, and the other about the 50th anniversary production. Sommer states ... great performances from all the cast members, the most prominent ones being Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich. A third review of the play "Death of a Salesman" was conducted by an anonymous author on the actual pl...

• Word Count: 715
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... play at first, it still received very good ratings and reviews, even by critics today. Elyse Sommer did one review of the play "Death of a Salesman". In this review, the author talks about several different versions of the play. One about the 1984 film directed by Volker Schlondorff starring Dustin Hoffman, and the other about the 50th anniversary production. Sommer states ... great performances from all the cast members, the most prominent ones being Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich. A third review of the play "Death of a Salesman" was conducted by an anonymous author on the actual pl...

• Word Count: 686
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography

... of time, place, and props- (374). Even though the setting in a literary work proves successful in achieving the author's desired outcome, readers often neglect its importance. Using realism, the author brings the reader into his work and the environment feels natural to him. Setting can influence what the character does. ... values, attitudes, and problems. Organization provides the familiarity of a setting, allowing the reader to form a mental picture of the scene. Through detailed illustrations the author sets the atmosphere or mood of their work. Irony in setting allows the reader var...

• Word Count: 1114
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... Sea of Stories than the cover would lend to believe. It would be difficult to try and clarify the meaning of this book - the author's meaning - but the superficial nature of its story certainly puts it in a category of post-modernist writing. Rushdie has painted a picture of ... fabric for Rushdie to weave this metafictional work. The color, the pattern, and the soul of his piece comes from "a self-reflexivity prompted by the author's awareness of the theory underlying the construction of fictional works" (Waugh 2). From a philosophical standpoint Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the founders ...

• Word Count: 1165
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of My German Soldier and The Drowning of Stephan Jones. Different literary elements often have a huge effect on how the piece fits together. I feel that the author, setting, and characters have a rather large impact on the theme of the two books. In a lot of aspects, these two books were very similar. Both ... of them being written by the same person has a lot to do with how the theme is affected. Bette Greene, the author of the two books, is a southern woman. She was born in a small town in Arkansas. Greene was born and raised with the ideas of the ... city such as New York, I do not ...

• Word Count: 625
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... imitation in his book on poetics. In his discussions of imitation, Aristotle continues the examination of literature's effect on the audience begun by Plato. Aristotle, a formalist critic, claims that the author gives the work its true meaning, and that meaning is never-changing. Derrida and his controversial deconstructionist philosophy, on the other hand, sees the words as giving other implications. In ... of the parts of which a poem is composed; and similarly into whatever else falls within the same inquiry." All forms of poetry are imitation, and differentiate only by how the autho...

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... prejudices. As education is an important function of literature, it is apparent that literature's primary function is for it to be a medium with which the author can put across a belief or an observation that he or she feels needs to be made, or to inform the reader and inspire them into wanting ... Paul Sartre, he challenges anyone who thinks literature can be seen as separate from history or society, as this is a major characteristic of literature; to reflect the author's opinions of culture and it's past. The areas of life commented upon are as varied as politics, war, and show busin...

• Word Count: 1122
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• Has Bibliography

... the opening chapters of her thesis was severely criticized by her supervisor because it was "merely descriptive". In the first chapter the student had recounted the personal life of the author she was studying. Her next chapter consisted of a detailed summary, with long quotations, of a short story he had written. The next chapter was a summary of a novel, and so on. Her ... in which she had been trained. The job of the literary critic, she explained, is to make the life and works of an author available and understandable to a wider public; the way to do this is to summarize the author'...

• Word Count: 455
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... . Typically, a metaphor asserts that one thing is another or suggests that the one acts like the other in some way. In the poem, Swan Song, the author calls the mast of the gillnetter a "crazy metronome cutting the air." A metronome helps a musician keep exact tempo by the clicking metal arm that moves back and ... He does this so we verbally see what that would look like. A metaphor has the power to stir feelings. The Ice-Floes is another poem where the author uses metaphor. He describes the seal hunters racing across the ice after the baby seals as travelling with "the speed of hounds o...

• Word Count: 484
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... eighty-seven days trying to catch represents beauty, strength, and the battle everyone eventually faces at some time in their life. This one of the many examples of how an author uses his/her characters and objects to symbolize other more significant ideas or meanings. In great literature, the syntax and diction of the entire work has symbolism and deeper meaning ... to objects or the ideas of the time period that the literature is written although some authors allude to past symbols from very different time periods. For example, if an author was writing in the romantic period (1790-183...

• Word Count: 898
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... live" ("Suicide" 2). This is often considered the most famous poem of Dorothy Parker among her over 400 poems that she composed during her lifetime. What does this say about an author who thinks and feels this way, who expresses her every thought in her poetry? Words were nearly her whole life and she expressed her ideas through these words. Since she ... everyday life by subscribing to mortuary science journals and wearing tuberose perfume that is a scent used by morticians. She herself suffered much scrutinizing by her many critics which inspires one author to describe her as "One sol...

• Word Count: 1242
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... writing to the point. One can easily define the tone or mood of Chekov's short story right from the beginning of the story. For instance, the very first sentence the author writes in the story, "People were telling one another that a newcomer had been seen on the promenade-a lady with a dog", signifies us of the way people were acting and what ... not inform us of what happened to Gurov and Anna's secret relationship. It leaves us trying to paste a conclusion of ours in the story. By what is given from the author, one can predict two things. Anna and Gurov continued their secret relatio...

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... apparent when they refuse to leave any prisoners behind and Chingachook sacrifices his life for his son, the last of the Mohicans. Innocence is yet another theme revealed in the author's vision of the land. He associates the Native Americans with the pure lands before the European civilization's influenced them. While these protagonists are being depicted and developed through good themes ... , Magua and his tribe of Hurons are shown as cold blooded and malicious by the author. They are cohesive with the murder of innocence and the other horrific violence throughout the story. One exampl...

• Word Count: 475
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the room, I said. And that new pen I bought makes a funny noise. Bullshit, said Poetry. Bullshit, sad I. The poem is tapping into the subconscious of the "I- and by going so the author is now forcing the reader to think. As the reader we must look at our own lives and recognize the demons that we've put a mask over simply to communicate ... convince you of to finally, giving into what makes you feel comfortable being you. A distinction between the word usage/phrases and religion are evident in stanzas nine and ten. The author is playing on the person's conscious by having him or her fig...

• Word Count: 838
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... biographical and historical truths, to obey the right of privacy and to display normative models of personhood. (Eakin) Each memoir is different in there own rights because it is the author's point of view. Two examples of memoirs that are different styles of writing would be Dakota by Kathleen Norris and Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas. Dakota is a memoir ... ...

• Word Count: 430
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... its climax and outcome. Setting is the effects of time and place that connect to allusions and characterization. Theme is the meaning, moral message, or didactic purpose portrayed by the author. While writing The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway focused on many different literary elements, but Hemingway mainly focused on the literary elements of plot, setting, and theme. In The Sun ... next war dispersed them. Ernest Hemingway strongly presented the literary element of theme in The Sun Also Rises. Theme can be the meaning, moral message, or illustration portrayed by the author. The majo...

• Word Count: 659
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... ambiguous. There are many great authors who wrote many great books that did not contain a hint of rebellion. The most famous of these is unarguably Shakespeare. There is no other author who has classes taught in every high school in the country devoted solely to his work. Like all other romantic comedies by Shakespeare, the world of A Midsummer Night's Dream is ... social commentary, however, its message is not that of sedition. There is, in fact, a wealth of great authors who also wrote many pieces of non-subversive, quality literature. One such author is Virginia Wolf who wrote import...

• Word Count: 897
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... making the best decision that he or she thinks is right. Through the use of repetition and other key elements such as alliteration, the author is able to express the individual's feeling and perceptions. In line seven the author uses alliteration when he states, "break, blow, burn,"" to signify the individual's inability and struggle to do what he or she thinks is ... ...

• Word Count: 547
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... that deeply move the reader. I have learned from Mrs. Mullen that writing is not enjoyable if "energy" is not included. "Good" writing comes from deep within the author. "Good" writing is what the author knows best. This is because when one writes about what they understand and have experienced the most, they are able to compose a "good" writing that is thoroughly enjoyable ... ...

• Word Count: 772
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... or a certain notion. If the words are assembled into sentences, with a concern for clarity, the reader doesn't have to go by intuition but will be able to recognize what the author had in mind. After reading the handout entitled, What is Literature? What is Writing?, I became enlightened about some important aspects between literature and writing. The writer of literature focuses to ... and the context in which the writing is written, as well as the purpose of the writing, are all important to the reader's understanding of what has been written. The author of the text wants readers to u...

• Word Count: 575
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Literary Themes of Animal Dreams Any certain novel may contain a number of different themes and general major ideas. The theme of a story conveys the idea of the author, but it is not usually clearly stated in the novel. Many times, critics disagree on the general intention of the theme. The critics of Animal Dreams have conflicting opinions on ... important for everyone, and can provide closure in earlier relationships. The purpose of a theme is to reach across the pages of a book and illustrate a certain idea or concept that the author wishes for the reader to see. Each critic may look at ...

• Word Count: 1050
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School