Rebecca Hernandez Mr. Thompson AP English September 6, 2013 In Sonnet 130 by, William Shakespeare, the tone of the first twelve lines contrast the tone of the last two lines, and the theme of this entire work is recognized because of this difference. In this sonnet the woman is not compared to a pleasant appearance, but is being praised for her flaws. Shakespeare presents the turn in the final couplet by stating that no matter how much is wrong with his mistress; he still loves her and thinks she is beautiful. The comparisons usually given in other love poems and sonnets are literally impossible because it is a false image compared to Sonnet 130. In the first twelve lines, the sonnet mocks the form, content, and typical petrarchan metaphors by representing a speaker who decides to tell the truth about his mistress’s appearance.
In this essay I am comparing Tennyson’s ‘Ulysses’ with ‘Mariana’. Both poems explore how despair and a feeling of isolation can manifest from different causes and the unique way it can affect every individual. For instance, when Mariana feels deserted by what we assume to be her lover, she becomes listless with a repetitive routine. In contrast to this, when Ulysses feels unfulfilled and unsatisfied by domestic life, he becomes restless and energetic, keen ton escape the bounds of a suburban lifestyle. Ulysses was inspired by Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ and Dante’s ‘Inferno’, which suggests that Tennyson wanted to portray ‘Ulysses’ constant desire for adventure as a character flaw rather than a heroic instinct.
She reminisces about when she was ‘fragrant and young’, illustrating her complete lack of confidence. The poem ends with ‘Look at me now’, which could have two different meanings. It could be a cry of despair or as a threat because in Greek mythology if you looked at Medusa you would turn to stone (and ultimately die). The poet
I will discuss Sidney’s “Come sleep!” whose major theme is sleeplessness, Wyatt’s “Whoso List to Hunt” whose major theme is the renunciation of love, Spenser’s “Of this World’s Theatre” whose major theme is the fire of the speaker’s feelings versus the ice of the beloved’s feelings, and Spenser’s sonnet 75 “One day I wrote her name upon the Strand” whose major theme is the beauty of his beloved and the eternity of his poetry. In Sidney’s sonnet “Come Sleep”, the speaker unable to get any sleep that will release him from the evil wars inside him, that is from his feelings of despair. After composing sleep to enjoyable things such as a knot of piece, a balm of woe, the wealth of the poor etc., and after saying that sleep comes to all, the speaker asks sleep to come to him and release him from his feelings of despair. He is trying to bribe sleep promising to compensate him with soft pillows, a comfortable bed, a calm and dark room, a festoon, and a tired head. Then in the sestet, there is a turn in the sense in a way that when we are awake, our mind is busy working, so sleep imprisons the mind to free her from her continuous thinking so the mind will enjoy relax and will be able to see Stella’s image livelier than anywhere else.
He polarises her life into red and white, saying “In the pit of red, you hid from the bone-clinic whiteness”, using negative metaphorical connotations for both colours. He feels that when she gave up blue, she lost normality, symbolising blue as a precious “jewel” which she lost. Hughes’ view of the colour blue is conflicted in Sylvia when Plath suicides. By wearing dull blue-grey clothing in this scene, Plath’s happiness is paralleled with vibrant red colours. Sombre non-diegetic music sets the mood, while an extreme close-up focuses on her fumbling hands.
Sight Poem Essay Edgar Allen Poe and Hilda Doolittle present contrasting views on Helen of Troy, whose abduction was the cause of the Trojan War. Each poem speaks of Helen in very opposing ways. Edgar Allen Poe presents Helen nearly as a goddess in his poem “To Helen”. Poe uses a gentle, tranquil tone in his poem. He expresses admiration for Helens beauty, comparing her beauty to “Nicean barks of yore.” (line 2) He continues comparing her hair to beautiful flowers, which apparently held a wondrous smell according to Greek mythology.
He doesn't try to empathise with Romeo about his love for Rosaline, 'If love be rough with you, you be rough with love.' He is very opinionated 'dreamers often lie.' Aswell as his hostility towards love it branches out towards women. He lists Rosaline's body parts in a crude monologue using the poetry technique blazon. 'I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes, by her high forehead and her scarlet lip.'
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 emphasises that even though she does not have the title ‘Mrs.’, she may feel that she has left behind her unmarried identity, and this is all she stands for. The poem starts with a powerful oxymoron ‘beloved sweetheart bastard’. The combination of love and hate is a key theme in the poem, the emotion of the jilted woman a confusing mixture of her passion for her fiancée, and her anger of what he has done. There’s also a juxtaposition of formal language of the period in the ‘beloved sweetheart’ and the more modern use of ‘bastard’. It sounds initially as though this is a direct address to the man, but it soon becomes clear that this is a classic dramatic monologue, the speaker explaining herself to the listening reader.
The initial exposition is extremely sympathetic towards Miss Gee. “Now let me tell you a little story about Miss Edith Gee” is a cruel way to open the narrative as Auden instantly belittles her character and makes her seem insignificant, whereas she is actually the main, if not only character we meet in detail. This technique is effectives the reader then feels that she is insignificant, and although it is she who lends her name to the poem, is an outcast and a quiet individual. She is continually referred to as small, further lowering the impressions of the character to the reader. Auden establishes the setting of the poem in the introductory stanza, as would be done in a story “She lived in Clevedon Terrace/ At Number 83”.