However this soon breaks up as we see the form of the poem reflect its meaning. Edward Thomas uses the breaking up of the rhyme scheme to symbolize his own damaged state of mind and sense of dissatisfaction. Edward Thomas makes contrasts between the simplistic beauty of nature and the impossible difficulty of expressing this beauty in words. “Sublime vacancy” symbolises the immense emptiness he feels but also suggests that he is so overwhelmed by the beauty of the morning that he struggles to describe it as sometimes you have to be there to appreciate the actual moment of beauty or else it’s gone forever. The simplicity of the “sky and meadow and forest” and the purity of the “untouched due” in comparison to himself leaves Edward Thomas “scorning” and feeling insignificant as he can’t match his emotions to the glory of the scenery.
Philip Larkin and Dannie Abse have very different and contrasting attitudes to relationships. On the whole, Larkin presents the concepts of love and marriage as very superficial and meaningless, whereas Abse appears to be less such nihilistic and more open and positive about such topics. Throughout Wild Oats, Philip Larkin uses various literary techniques, such as imagery, structure and symbolism to convey certain aspects of love and the passing of time. Larkin's poetry often relates to the social and cultural views upon love and marriage in his time. In Wild Oats It explains that a person, over the course of time, comes to realise that his greatest desires of love, are unattainable, and second best things will have to suffice.
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.
Moral Ambiguous Characters Throughout Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the moral ambiguity of the central character, Dorian Gray, becomes more and more distinct. The story starts with Dorian being venerated by the artist Basil Hallward, and throughout the story the reader learns of Gray’s several wrong doings. Meeting Lord Henry almost straight away negatively influenced Dorian. He had started out blameless and innocent, but by the conclusion had been the cause of numerous deaths, all because of his selfish wish to stay beautiful forever. “His actions show a character who insists the soul is real, but loves the gaping chasm between the beauty of his body and the corruption of his soul” [ (Wilde 105-123) ].
Although both poets seem to portray God as grand, personal force of energy in their writing, their personal view and relationship with God oppose one another. Hopkins was “Reverend father Gerard Manley Hopkins.” He was a Roman Catholic and a Jesuit priest. Thomas Hardy was a Victorian Realist who had mixed feelings on religion. The irony and struggles of life and a curious mind led him to question the traditional Christian view of God. Never the less they both believed in a greater power and the evidence is in these poets writing.
As for The Great Gatsby, symbolism is exposed in “the valley of ashes,” this place is no hope, no future, and where everything is covered in grey dust, even the people. “This is the valley of ashes, a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the form of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air,” (F. Scott Fitzgerald 23). This would be a place where you wouldn’t want to be. Both stories may have symbolism, but they don’t represent the same way. In Helen the symbolism is love, and as for The Great Gatsby, symbolism is the ashes in the valley.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a female composer in a patriarchal society that is hi ghly religious and traditional, wrote reluctantly about her love for Robert Barrett Browning throughout her poems. Sonnet XIII specifically reflects on parochial Victorian age values and shows how Barrett Browning does not conform to female expectations as she wrote spontaneously about her obsession with love. Similarly, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals the consequences of obsession with love and the impact of non-conformity in social and historical contexts through the characterisation of Gatsby, who refuses to conform to expectations of immorality and develops an obsession with this. Thus, the issue of different context and forms is significantly ineffective as the consequences of obsession relatively have the same effect even if the influence was different. Barrett Browning presents positive consequences of obsession as her sonnets, whilst being heavily influenced by religion and spirituality, also
This novel was written during romantic times and because Mary Shelley was a romantic writer, and was in favour of nature and God. She makes references to nature and God e.g. life, sky, etc, to promote her romantic ideals. Although the monster is hideous it is still Shelley’s hero. Chapter 4 becomes extremely preoccupied with Victor’s obsession with galvanism; a belief which is thought to be that you can ‘infuse life, into inanimate body’.
He likes being in love, but he does not like the thought of love and finds it confusing. He is talking about love when he says, “Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms! Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is! This love feel that feel no love in this" (1.3.184-187). Romeo is talking in paradoxes; he does this to emphasize that love is confusing.
Analysis of ‘Rhapsody on a Windy Night’ by T.S. Eliot ‘Rhapsody on a Windy Night’ demonstrates the protagonist’s alienation from society by using complex imagery to evoke a response from the audience. It is a typical Eliot poem, portraying the hopelessness of society, and how it slowly degrading to be empty, desolate. There is a’ crowd of twisted things’, including a broken spring (symbol of resilience), of which the persona recalls that “rust clings to the form that the strength has left.” This particular line creates a lasting image of a society sapped of moral and physical energy. The persona of the poem is walking, alone on a street and neglected from society.