“Explore the ways in which a poet manages to create profound significance beneath an apparently simple form of poetry” William Blake was a truly revolutionary, who utilised his talent and made art that has remained relvant up until today, almost 200 years after his death. Blake managed to unconventionally create works that embodied existentialism, anti-establishment, and satire. Blake is able to craft meaning through seemingly simple forms and expressions, while using complex imagery that belies the outwardly simple structure of the poems. For example, on the surface ‘The Sick Rose’ is a simple – albeit slightly ominous poem about a rose being infested by a parasitic insect. It is comprised of simple, four-lined stanzas – couplets; beneath the apparently simple form however, lies an intricate web comprised of many layers.
The Paradox of Language: An Explication of P.K. Page’s “Cook’s Mountains”* As the title of the poem suggests, P.K. Page’s “Cook’s Mountains” is a poem about possession. It is also about the transition from a pre-verbal state to a “named” or verbal state. The poem points to the paradox of naming: while naming is creative and powerful, it is also limiting.
The syntax of the poem is structured into a series of dependent clauses forming incomplete thoughts such as “And absent yet enjoys the bloody day”, and is common throughout the work. More than likely, Wilmot portrays these incomplete clauses in order to indicate the central theme of the speakers’ ultimately unfulfilling life of pleasure. Comparisons are necessary in this poem in order to format a sense of good and bad coinciding together. To make these comparisons, Wilmot’s fills his poems with similes such as “As some brave admiral, in former war”, and “As from black clouds when lightning breaks away”. These comparisons add a sense of non-linearity and complexity to the poem.
In the early seventeenth-century, English poets used metaphysical poetry to enlighten highly intellectual and often abstruse imagery in their works, which further advanced the poetic style of John Donne. Donne’s poetry makes use of complex images, which are remarkably convincing to the reader. Despite the use of extensive techniques and varying images, the greatness of Donne’s poetry is the simplicity in the ideas expressed. John Donne’s poem, “The Triple Fool,” suggests unrequited love and folly through his use of creative imagery, sorrowful diction, and assertive tone. Firstly, Donne's poetry is highly distinctive and individual, adopting a multitude of images.
“Compare the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about time and it’s passing.” In your response, you must include detailed critical discussion of Love Songs In Age and one other poem by Larkin. Many poems in Philip Larkin’s ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ are connected through one common factor: Larkin’s rather dismal attitude towards time and the passing of it. In many of his poems Larkin presents time as a menial entity resulting in an inevitable mortality. However, on further examination Larkin reflects back on time in a nostalgic manner. In order to emphasise Larkin’s outlooks onto time and it’s passing, one can highlight the similarities and differences between Larkin and Abse’s poetry.
Sailing to Byzantium is a critically claimed poem by W.B. Yeats. Highly regarded as one of the greatest 20th century poets, Yeats wrote the poem as a metaphor for a spiritual journey, exploring timeless philosophical issues such as art, human spirit, coming of age, and immortality. In order to analyse Yeats’s presentation of value in Sailing to Byzantium, we must first define literary value; however, value is one of the most subjective and pliable issues within English Literature, definitions of value literally change from person to person. However, this essay will attempt to apply some aspects of value to Yeats’s work.
This adds a sense of surrealism to the poem as wells as being Transtromer’s method of commenting on the abstract nature of the human condition and showing that true intimacy transcends the physical level. He further describes human intimacy by extending the simile of the meeting of ‘two colours’ by stating that they meet ‘on the wet paper of a school school’s painting’. This is used by Transtromer to show the chaotic and sloppy nature of intimacy in relation to the human condition. The third stanza of the poem explores the judgmental nature of society towards privacy and intimacy in relation to the human condition. Transtromer description of town as ‘pulled closer tonight.
Charlie Stack Mrs. Polomeni English II 27 October 2011 “Fire & Ice” The poem “Fire and Ice” written by Robert Frost was first published in the 1920s. Robert Frost is considered the bard of New England. He wrote in great depth that appealed simple to readers, but there was deeper meaning if you looked closely. Although poetry has many different interpretations because it is structured on opinion not fact, the poem “Fire and Ice’’ may seem to come off as the geological hell of the world, but if you look closely it portrays the theme of hatred and desire. The poem has a rhyme scheme of A, B, A, A, B, C, B, C, B.
In the poem “Introduction to Poetry” by “Billy Collins”, language techniques are used, including similes, metaphors and extended metaphors. These features are used to contribute to the overall meaning of the poem, which is to enjoy poetry for what it is rather than trying too hard to find the hidden meaning of poems. In the opening stanza of the poem, a simile is used to compare a poem to a colour slide. The speaker says: “I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a colour slide.” When you hold a slide up to the light, you can see the detail and meaning of it. This relates back to the main idea of the poem, and not trying too hard to find the hidden meaning of poems.
Rationale for ‘Love Song’ by Ted Hughes Painting on canvas Medium: Mixed This painting is based on the poem ‘Love Song’ by Ted Hughes. It is our interpretation of the poem expressed through a painting made my mixed medium. The main idea of the painting is to bring out the gist of the poem and transfer it onto a completely different medium. The painting is divided into four parts, each part signifying a piece of the poem. The first part of the painting portrays lines one to seven.