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Creating Life Through Poetry

            Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales are timeless in the sense that more than 600 years have passed since their creation and their literary rewards are still being sown. A great author seems to rise above time when they have created a masterpiece; their work does not feel the effects of age. Time continues on and the bulk of the work remains unabashed. Certain aspects fade as the world changes, however, literary value is often enhanced. Chaucer did not write The Canterbury Tales strictly to comment on the Medieval times. The characters that he has infused with so much vitality and depth existed during this time where they occupied certain social roles, but that which makes them human also allows for their eternal existence as individuals. Chaucer's beautiful, flowing words and his unique character insight were great innovations relatively unattempted before his time and unmatched since. The fact that nothing like The Canterbury Tales has since come out of modern literature does not detract from its brilliance; it simply means modern literature has failed to match Chaucer's abilities in capturing the true essence of individuality and as a poet. That which has established The Canterbury Tales as the cornerstone of modern literature is undoubtedly Chaucer's ability to create his characters with more than a job and social rank, but with a spark of life. His efforts were more than mere criticisms against stereotypes he had encountered during his life. He wished to capture the essence of man. He wished to uncover the driving force behind human nature. He did so by establishing himself as a narrator recalling a pilgrimage underwent in his past. Chaucer begs the reader "in courtesy, Not to condemn [him] as unmannerly If [he] speak[s] plainly and with no concealings . . . Or else the tale he tells will be untrue." Therefore nothing he says can be pinned against him. Understanding The Canterbury Tales as a whole involves realizing what Chaucer is trying to say, seeing his obsession with the individual, and hearing Chaucer's own overtones.


Essays Related to Creating Life Through Poetry

1. Poetry

... heroes; most were religious in some nature. Poetry is an art an ancient one at that. Types of poetry very different, they can rhyme or emphasize one thing while saying another. The word poetry itself derives from a Greek word "poesis" meaning "making" or "creating." There are also many poets with different styles ... major influence on American thought and literature. In 1855 Walt Whitman issued the first of his many editions of "Leaves of Grass" a volume of poetry in a new kind of versification, far different from sentimental rhymed verse in the 1840's. Walt loved the human body itself ...

  • Word Count: 882
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Gwen Harwood's Poetry And How It Appeals To Me

... recent poems using verse forms with more flexibility.) Gwen Harwood has created a multitude of poems, which, while being quite philosophical, are still very emotionally powerful. The two aspects of her poetry which I find most appealing are; her subject matter and themes, dealing a lot with women's issues, and also the mood and atmosphere which she effectively creates. Her use of language in ... , almost as if it is a portrait of this woman. We immediately see her relationship to her children and her partner through the use of language and imagery, creating an atmosphere of despair and h...

  • Word Count: 1594
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Poetry of Victorian Era Poets

... metrical form, it deals with different subjects such as: profound spiritual experiences, nostalgic reminscence, philosophical speculation, Romantic fantasizing and even occasional verse. Through the analysis of some sections of this poem, it can be taken into account the relations to the romantic vision of nature and religion ... may die" (8.22-24). At this point he is considering the possibility of life continuing, at least through his poetry. Yet he does not seem to care about this possibility strongly. If there is no life within his poetry, then he feels its proper place is dead w...

  • Word Count: 5237
  • Approx Pages: 21
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Amy Lowell's Life and Poems

... from her father's estate, transforming the house and the stables into a compound totally devoted to her two greatest endeavors: creating and promoting modern American poetry and breeding dog's. Mostly she lived the life of a wealthy socialite. She began a lifelong habit of book collecting. She accepted a marriage proposal, but the young ... a Dreamer. She enjoyed writing. Her first poem Fixed Idea was published in 1910, in Atlantic Monthly, when she was thirty-six: but subsequently her poetry production was as proflic a her reading was voracious. (). She published on average a volume a y...

  • Word Count: 2046
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

5. The Poetry Of Linda McCarriston

... and family abuse at the hands of her alcoholic father. In an interview with Bill Moyers, Linda McCarriston states that "poetry allows the individual experience to strike like lightning through the collective institutional consciousness and to plumb the depths of actual communal experience so that what people don't want said in ... (pleading, sobbing) you can feel the rhythm of the rape that is occurring (voice-over body over hers). These words sway the reader back and forth creating a swirling sensation that has dragged young girl into a vortex. A semi-colon to pause; then "laughter", "...

  • Word Count: 3020
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Feeling Poetry Of

... and family abuse at the hands of her alcoholic father. In an interview with Bill Moyers, Linda McCarriston states that "poetry allows the individual experience to strike like lightning through the collective institutional consciousness and to plumb the depths of actual communal experience so that what people don't want said in ... (pleading, sobbing) you can feel the rhythm of the rape that is occurring (voice-over body over hers). These words sway the reader back and forth creating a swirling sensation that has dragged young girl into a vortex. A semi-colon to pause; then "laughter", "...

  • Word Count: 3020
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

7. The life of Emily Dickinson

... of her father and the church. These challenges she met would later contribute to the strength of her poetry. Dickinson's father was a prominent politician in Amherst and enjoyed an exciting public life and much popularity in their community. Dickinson, on the contrary, did not enjoy this and began to ... for allusions and references. Many of her poems were not completed and were written on scraps of paper, such as old grocery lists. Eventually when her poetry was published, editors grouped them into classes- Friends, Nature, Love, and Death. They also arranged her works with titles, rear...

  • Word Count: 1665
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Good Poetry Explores Iteresting Ideas in Interesting Ways

... life such as the choices people make, futility of human isolation, the futility of human endeavour and death, in a way in which the responder can relate too. He gives us an insight to human behaviour, metaphorically raising thought provoking ideas by personifying life through inanimate things. Frost's poetry is an excellent example of good poetry ... as he explores these interesting ideas of humanity through the use of poetic devices of symbolism and imagery. The work of Robert Frost ... isolation and separateness of human beings. The composer uses the image of hunters to symbolize the p...

  • Word Count: 2071
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Metaphysical Poetry

... and Body" addresses the dichotomy between one's body and soul and the mutual entrapment they feel as subject to each other's whims and needs. The idea of metaphysical poetry is depicted through the various techniques such as paradoxes, symbolism, figurative language and poetic techniques which he uses to represent his focus on the broader concepts of human (being) existence. These ( discussed ... strong argument which is used in the pursuit of the persona trying to persuade his mistress. The persona uses the thesis to convey to his mistress that "if" life wasn't so short he would spend ...

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

10. Life and Times of Langton Hughes

... was the African American artistic movement in the 1920's that celebrated black life and culture. Hughes's creative genius was influenced by his life in Harlem, New York. His literary works helped shape American literature and politics. Hughes, like others active in the Harlem Renaissance, had a strong sense of racial pride. Through his poetry, novels, plays, essays, and children's books, he promoted equality, ... Italy, France, Russia and Spain. One of his favorite pastimes whether abroad or in Washington, D.C. or Harlem, New York was sitting in the clubs listening to blues, jazz and wr...

  • Word Count: 2112
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

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