English Poetry Essay Choose a poem which appealed to you because it was striking – show which techniques the poet has used to capture your interest and engage your feelings “To His Coy Mistress” is a piece of metaphysical poetry written by Andrew Marvell. This poem, like most metaphysical poetry, makes use of original images and has a very profound meaning behind it. “To His Coy Mistress” is particularly striking because of the deeper themes that it deals with, such as mortality and the idea of “carpe diem”, as well as the unique imagery used throughout and the interesting structure and progression of the poem. The use of the image “vegetable love” is very effective in capturing the reader’s interest. “Vegetable” is not usually the
Again she is metaphorically speaking about love. Love is irresistible at the same time the pain from which love invokes makes it bittersweet. Although people may not understand its purpose, mankind lives their life around love. Living is growing and experiencing both love and pain. Although, the word bittersweet creates a contradiction it is, probably, quite a suitable definition of love.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge the author of ‘The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner’ wrote his ballad using key factors to emphasize the power and abnormality of the piece. Coleridge applies contrast to an unconventional narrative through setting and action. He also uses linguistic and structural devices to create a dynamic atmosphere. Coleridge uses specific literary terms in his poem for effect. For example he personifies death, which accentuates the sense of fear in the writing and adds potency.
In The Abundance Of Katherines, Green says “You can love someone so much, he thought. But you can never love them as much as you can miss them.” As humans we call feel this longing for someone love and connect with. The platoon in The Things They Carried and Colin in The Abundance Of Katherines are proof that a part of this longing belongs to all of us and it’s a mutual story we all share. They say love isn’t just for lovers, but also for friends. In The Things They Carried a The Abundance Of Katherines this is proven to be true.
Compare the ways controlling characters are used in Les Grands Seigneurs and My Last Duchess Dorothy Molloy and Robert Browning, the poets of Les Grands Seigneurs and My Last Duchess respectively, both create a significant and controlling character in their poems; using similar techniques and themes to illustrate the power and dominance to portray a specific message. Firstly, both Malloy and Browning frequently embed the personal pronoun ‘my’ into their controlling characters narrative. For example, the controlling character in Les Grands Seigneurs quotes ‘men were my buttresses’ in the opening line, whilst similarly, in the opening line of My Last Duchess, ‘that’s my last duchess painted on the wall’. This use of ‘my’ enables both characters to develop a sense of possession over their loved ones to the readers immediately; thus allowing their retelling of love to their audiences to be easier. This sense of control is only further strengthened by another technique used by both poets, the regular inclusion of caesuras.
Ghazal is a sexually stimulating love poem that hints on powerful imagery and metaphors in an attempt to capture the passion of love. The speaker uses a wide range of arguments, to persuade their loved one, each of which explores different aspects of love. Love is represented as calm and reflective which is clear by the use of natural imagery, ‘grass’ and ‘breeze’ which symbolises natural love. It is clear from reading Ghazal that it contains numerous images of violence and pain, when speaking of an ‘iron fist’, and an ‘arrow.’ This could suggest the violence and passion of the lover’s feelings. Although there is a lot of reference to violent and aggressive behaviour it does not make her hesitant, one could even say she was blinded by her love for him.
It is comprised of simple, four-lined stanzas – couplets; beneath the apparently simple form however, lies an intricate web comprised of many layers. On one hand, the poem is a parable about love and “the howling storm” of repressed sexuality and the consequential effects of such repression. Therefore, ‘The Sick Rose’ can be read as both a symbolic as well as literal poem about the destruction of innocence. Phallic symbols like the “invisible worm” and yonic imagery like the “bed/ Of crimson joy” used throughout the poem support this. On the other hand, the poem could be read as a metaphorical criticism of the industrial revolution.
I had to read this poem a couple of times to get an understanding in what he was actually saying. That is a strong reason why I was drawn to this poem due to its hidden meaning. I like a challenge and seek deeper understanding as I analyze an author’s work. Some of Langston poems can leave you with different ambiguity in his writings but on the other hand it will make you think and process your feelings. In this poem the beat that the author is talking about is not a happy beat as the author is using a metaphor of what people were feelings about the situation they are in at that time.
What is the purpose of the Poetry Essay? The College Board wants to determine your facility in reading and interpreting a sustained piece of literature. You are required to understand the text and to analyze those techniques and devices the poet uses to achieve his or her purpose. There are various types of prompts and questions asked in this section of the exam. For example, -How does the language of the poem reflect the speaker’s perceptions, and how does that language determine the reader’s perception?
Because of the centrality and power of love in human experience, men and women throughout the ages have felt the compulsion to sing songs, to write verse, and to tell stories about this ineffable and mysterious force which leads them to the peaks of felicity, and to the depths of despair. Love indeed is an ultimate, if not the ultimate, human concern. It is the universal principle undergirding all human activity, the object of all human striving, resulting, naturally, in the need to examine and discuss it carefully. Plato’s Symposium is one such example.1 The venerable author in this ancient treatise records the speeches of some six prominent Athenians who employ both story and verse to convey a variety of myths and motifs about the nature and function of love (eros). 1 Most commentators on the Symposium agree that its subject matter is love.