Virginia suffered from tuberculosis and died in 1847, two years prior to the writing of Poe’s poem; her death caused Poe to enter a deep depression. Just as John Cowper Powys comments in Marie Rose Napierkowsk’s book, Poetry for Students, “Poe expresses ‘a certain dark, willful melancholy,’ a cold mood that Poe ‘must surely himself have known.’ Powys's suggestion may spring from Poe's experience with loss, and in particular the death of his child bride, Virginia Clemm” (Powys as qtd Napierkowski 19). In the poem the narrator mentions, “she was a child” and “-my life and my bride,” which refers to Virginia as “his child bride,” since Poe married her when she was thirteen years old. (Poe 7-39). As Powys describes it, the mood of Poe’s poem is lamenting the death of his wife, Virginia.
I think that both poems display a kind of shock or realisation at the loss of a parent. In Harmonium, Armitage presents the shock of a son at the realisation that one day his father will die. In Praise Song, Nicholsâ character realises she must come to terms with her motherâs death and move on. I think that Nichols is much more open about the love of the narrator for her mother, simply stating the importance, presenting a stereotypical mother and daughter relationship which is open and honest. Whereas, Armitage shows a son who finds it harder to describe his feelings for his father, and shows it by using an extended metaphor of a harmonium, in order to show the reader all the memories he has had because of his father, and how he loves him.
The Manhunt by Simon Armitage This poem is about a wife who is trying in vain to care for her husband who has been severely injured in war, and she is talking about his injuries. First off this type of poem is known as a ‘Laura’s Poem’, because it is written from the point of the wife, the use of ‘The’ in the title of the poem is a definite article, rather than just calling it ‘Manhunt’. The first and second stanza are suggestive of the story, the structure of the poem, is progressive, as each stanza is made up of two lines, a couplet. The progressive nature of the structure suggests that he is slowly coming to trust his wife to look after him, and she says ‘after the first phase, after passionate nights and intimate days’, this suggests that he has only just come back from the front line, and that she will still love him no matter what he looks like, as the poem uses strong metaphors to describe the injuries that he has injured. In the second stanza, she says ‘only then would he let me trace’, this tells the reader how sever his injuries are and how he is only now coming to trust her enough to look at his injuries, and she describes a ‘frozen river which ran through his face’.
Carter English 8 8 May 2012 “Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop. -Anonymous” Love takes us down paths of bliss or paths of sorrow, which can determine our entire fate. John Greene, author of Looking for Alaska, shows the audience how a male teenager finds love for the first time. Miles Halter, Pudge, finds love in a boarding school in Alabama. Greene brings us down Pudge’s path of falling for Alaska Young then having to deal with her death.
Effect of Voice in Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” there is many terms to suggest that this poem is dark and scary. However, I will discuss how this poem is actually humorous and seen through the eyes of a boy who loved his father. I will show that through the tone of his voice Roethke was reliving a loving childhood memory. This poem is about love for a father, and how the boy remembered his father through a wonderful childhood memory and used his voice to convey such love. My first example of how this boy loved his father is found in the verse “But I hung on like death” (3).
• Why did Rip go there? • What were the signs he was asleep for so long? • Historical context/significance Richard Cory (song by Simon & Garfunkel, poem by E.A. Robinson • Compare and contrast • Responsibility within both the song and poem “Ichabad” – John Greenleaf Whittier • Author’s message • Literary devices The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan • The auntie’s concerns (central message) • The origin of the Joy Luck Club • Relationship between AnMei and her mother • Symbolism of the color, red and the red candle • The sense of self and belonging of an Asian-American woman • Responsibility within the text • The conflict in “Two Kinds” A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Williams • Relationships between characters • Themes & motifs “A Rose for Emily” – William Faulkner • Characters • Theme • Plot • Literary devices “Ain’t I a Woman” – Sojourner Truth • Pillar of fairness – why does the poem fit? • Civil rights • Women’s
The wife is desperate and inconsolable, she cannot stop grieving, and this distances her from her husband, who is seemingly more stable. Underneath this structure, the emotional action unfolds, which reveals the author’s message. Poem Analysis The structure of the poem is designed in the form of a dramatic dialogue with scarce author’s commentaries. This dialogue performs several functions: firstly, it sketches the plot, giving a flashback into the past; secondly, it draws a picture of the relationship between the husband and the wife. It also unveils the essence of their feelings and emotions related to the loss of their child and how this tragedy affected their life.
Susan L. Barlow Professor Erin Leach English 113-0 28 September 2012 A Love Story After reading “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, one has to ask the underlying question of whether this is a story of a mother and son’s love, or is it about one family’s demise because of a broken relationship existing between a mother and a son? Upon further analysis of this short story, it is easy to see that the relationship between mother and son is a key element in the tragic ending of an entire family. Throughout the story the mother son relationship connection is continually brought to the reader’s attention through underlying communications. O’Connor paints a story of a domineering mother and a weak son, but the love that connects them is apparent in the story as they are the only members of the family that actually seem to have an emotional link. In the opening line of the O’Connor story, the focus is placed on the mother’s
This poem is Duffy’s modern interpretation of the story in the New Testament in which Christ raised Lazarus from the dead. Duffy focuses on Mrs Lazarus and how she dealt with her husband’s death and the shock of his resurrection. Duffy is giving a voice to women whose voice hither to have not been heard. Duffy makes the women how are invisible, visible. Immediately Duffy portrays to us the suffering Mrs Lazarus is going through; “I had wept for night and a day,” from this we also see Duffy is speaking on behalf of Mrs Lazarus, with her voice and narrative, showing she is giving Mrs Lazarus a voice.
What do we learn about the great aunt in the story, “Secrets” In the story “Secrets” by Bernard MacLaverty, the author conveyed loss and suffering as the theme of the story because the great aunt passed away. “Secrets” conveys how life can change so suddenly, from happiness to loss and suffering. The story is written in a form of a flashback, and as it continues, it introduces the Aunt and the boy. At the beginning of the story, the author introduces the dying aunt and her nephew who she seems distant from. The reader discovers that the boy and the aunt were not always distant, but they used to share a very close bond.