Futility means that something is destined to fail. “Futility” is Owens’s belief in the worthlessness of both God and war. The poet begins the poem talking of a certain “Him” It is obvious that the poet is talking about the soldier. (Lack of identity.) "Move him into the sun".
This is why the relationship is seen as very rare because of the dependency and how they were uncommonly united by their shared dream of a better life on a farm, where they can “live off the fatta the lan” as Lennie puts it. George articulates this vision by repeatedly telling the ‘story’ of the future farm to his companion; Lennie who believes unquestioningly in their dream and his faith enables George to imagine the possibility of this dream becoming reality. However, George’s belief in it depends upon Lennie, for as soon as Lennie dies, George’s hopes for a brighter future
The subject of ‘For the Fallen’ is an elegy reminding us how many men died so that we may live. ‘The Soldier’ by Rupert Brooke is about a soldier’s relationship with his country whilst at war. Brooke was an active soldier who was writing about his own patriotic bond. The title ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ implies that there is no chance for the generation coming of age during World War I. The word ‘Anthem’ is used because it is a song of praise, which celebrates the soldiers’ heroism.
John Keats writes “What I have fears that I may have cease to be,” as a vehicle to express his concerns that encompass both time and death. Keats structures his poem as two major thoughts. He not only expresses his fear of dying before he can fulfill himself as a writer, but losing his love. Though Keats’ emphasizes his greatest fear of death, he offers his own resolution by asserting that love and fame lacks any importance. In the first four lines, Keats’ concern with the passing of time is indicated by the repetition of “when” at the beginning of each quatrain.
Through the use of allusions Hamid illustrates to the reader the extent to which Changez is nostalgic towards a past that happened over a thousand years ago (I still need to find the quote though I believe its 3,000 years ago) and how this same nostalgia has trapped him inside of a world of nationalistic fundamentalism and has led to him holding a resentment of others and a feeling of cultural superiority. The ambiguity of the novel established through the use of a framed narrative leads to its ultimate failure in truly addressing the feelings of Changez in relation to foreigners.
The second step is that the character is faced with a devastating problem as a result of this change. The third and final step is that the character comes to a realization about himself or life and shows aspects of the human condition. In John Steinbeck’s three novels, he establishes the common theme of how experience can bring out different emotions of the human condition, but he goes about it in different ways for each book. In the first step of The Moon is Down, Lieutenant Tonder is characterized as hopeful through the change of occupying an isolated town. When he arrived at the town they were occupying, Tonder said about the farms, “if four or five of them were thrown together, it would be a nice place to settle, I think” (Down 29), and this characterizes Tonder as being hopeful and
The phrase ‘Fear death by water’ is used in line 55, preceded by reference to ‘The Hanged Man’ which alludes to the self-sacrifice of the fertility god whose resurrection will bring fertility to the land and people. Like many of the intertextual references in the poem, this relates to both the idea of regeneration and legend of the Fisher King. Eliot’s first line is about April being the cruellest month contrary to the popular notion of April representing spring and growth. The speaker here longs for winter again, claiming it to be ‘warm’. It is clear here that the speaker finds it difficult to accept the new start or regeneration which spring offers because they find it hard to let go of the past which winter holds on to.
Ancestral Photograph ‘Ancestral Photograph’ is written by the Irish poet, Seamus Heaney. It is a poem in which Heaney reminisces about his father’s and his father’s uncle particularly. A man who was in the agricultural industry. Everything is from his own memories and there is a clear contrast between past and present. Eventually, the agricultural life that his father and great uncle knew eventually and people were making a living in different ways.
‘Digging’ is very much like ‘Follower’, in the sense that it shows how the young Heaney looked up to his elders - in this case both father and grandfather. Seeing his father (now old) “straining” to dig “flowerbeds”, the poet recalls him in his prime, digging “potato drills”. And even earlier, he remembers his grandfather, digging peat. He cannot match “men like them” with a spade, but he sees that the pen is (for him) mightier, and with it he will dig into his past and celebrate them. Heaney challenges the stereotype of ‘Paddy with a spade.’ The stereotype contains some truth - Irishmen are justifiably well known for
When late at night the child's body is returned Heaney sees this as “the corpse” (not a person). Back to top This contrasts wonderfully with the final section of the poem, where he is alone with his brother. Note the personal pronouns “him”, “his”, “he” - as opposed to “the corpse”. The calm mood is beautifully shown in the transferred epithet (“Snowdrops/And candles soothed the bedside” - literally they soothed the young Heaney). The flowers are a symbol in the poem, but also in reality for the family (a symbol of new life, after death).