Carla Villarreal AP English Ms. Slomski 4/8/13 “The Last Night that She Lived” In “The Last Night that She lived”, Emily Dickenson portrays the speaker to have an attitude of indifference towards the death of the woman. The speaker narrates the poem with details that aren’t quite vivid or show too much emotion. The attitude put forth in the last two paragraphs contrast the first paragraphs of the poem. In the beginning of the poem, it seems as though the speaker is sad. An illusion of confusion is created by the structure of the tone of the poem that throws the reader off.
The opening line of the poem says, “I felt a funeral in my brain.” This statement gives reference to her feelings to set up the metaphor. Then she describes details of a familiar event throughout the entire poem instead of personalizing it with details of feelings. In the end she gives reference to herself again to remind readers that it is in fact her feelings that she speaks of. In the poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas, is directed at an unknown listener, making in an apostrophe. Thomas uses sustained allegory to describe death.
Simon Armitage's poem 'Manhunt' talks about a relationship being different after the husband returns from war, and the wife is trying to get them back to how they were before hand. This poem is also known as 'Laura's Poem' because it was originally aired as part of a documentary called 'Forgotten Heroes: The not dead' which looked into the lives of soldiers and their families affected by war and injury. It was read by Laura, the wife of a soldier who was discharged due to injury and depression. Armitage writes 'after passionate nights and intimate days', this suggests that the relationship is sexual because of the word 'passionate' however 'intimate' suggests that they're taking their time. This makes me think that the speaker is trying to get to know her partner again, like it's a brand new relationship with a brand new person.
Reading her poem about preferring to be isolated quickly transited to being a lot more depressing in her latter poems. “I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain” shows a darker side to Dickinson’s writing. “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,/ And Mourners to and fro “ (1-2). Dickinson writes about a funeral and describes it as if it were her own. Her dark tone speaking of death lead her literary mentor Thomas Higginson to “ advise her not to publish her work because of her violation of contemporary literary convention” (Dickinson 1).
The narrator tells the story in a certain way and the way he sequences the events were not told in chronological order, which at times became confusing. The narrator begins the story by telling us of Miss Emily's death and how everyone in the town attended her funeral. In “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, Resistance to change is the underlying theme. You can see that Emily Grierson relates easily with the society that she is living in. Moreover, it is also a story about a woman who must live in the presence and shadow of her overbearing father.
Because of this, poetry allows us to understand social issues that are revealed through the authors words. Since many of these poems were written hundreds of years ago, the social issues are fairly dated but important nonetheless. Poetry allows us to understand social issues of the times. Epistle from Mrs. Yonge to Her Husband is a poem by Lady Wortley Montagu which is a letter from an oppressed wife to her husband. The husband has treated his wife poorly and accuses her of adultery, when he himself is the one committing such acts.
Some people deal with their grief by closing others out of their process, and others revisit old memories, reminisce about their loved one, and re-experience the pain they went through (Hansson, Stroebe). Death is not something people tend to think about. It is often either far away, or not fully understood (Jones, page 94) In Connie Webb’s poem, “Loss” she uses punctuation to ask questions. “How do you go on?” and “What makes you go on?” are two questions asked in this poem. These questions show the reader that the speaker does not understand why their loved one passed on.
Explore some of the ways in which Tennison powerfully uses language to explore feelings grief and loss in “in Memoriam” Tennyson wrote “in Memoriam” after death of his friend Hallam that died unexpectedly and unpredictably. They were so close friends that Hallam was fiancé of his sister, but after death of his friend he felt so bad, so miserable, he felt alone and he was asking himself about significance of man’s existence, and he started working on the short poem’s “in Memoriam” for 17 years. The poem “in Memoriam” starts from expression how valuable the problem of death of his friend followed by memories of happy past spent. Then he confuses why did Hallam died because he is so good person also his best friend. Furthermore death of his friend gives him way to more general reflections on the meaning of life.
The couple deals with feelings of grief, frustration and anger while trying to cope with the death of their child. Robert Frost wrote the poem “Home Burial” after he and his wife suffered the tragic loss of their son. Through Frost's experience he shows that men and women have different ways of grieving. “Home Burial” illustrates the emotions people feel after such a loss, and how they face those emotions. Throughout “Home Burial” Frost also illustrates the conflict of a married couple’s life and the struggle with grief and with the strain it puts on their marriage.
The theme of death is prevalent in this novel, and it is often tied to a loss of attachment to the past. Each of these characters are thought of as windows to the past. When one of these people dies, they close off the windows to their memories, and everyone loses a piece of the past Douglas has become aware of death, and he doesn’t understand it. He believes that death is something that happens to other people, and he refuses to acknowledge that death will happen to him. After his great-grandma dies, Douglas realizes death is a part of life, and loses his fear of death.