The narrator imagines climbing his grandfather using the extended metaphor of his grandfather as a mountain and himself as a climber. The narrator may have imagined this or recounted this, picking out details from observing his grandfather. Ideas and Themes: Family relationships Getting older Structure: Poem highlights the child’s progress from bottom of mountain to…
The narrator imagines her mother’s life before she was born. The speaker says the mother was her happiest in the 10 years before she was born. She remembers glimpses of her childhood. She realizes her mother was deprived of her happiness and glamour after she was born. Ideas and Themes: Family relationships Memory Structure: Begins…
The father recounts watching his son play football for the first time and feels worried about his son as he watches him walk away from him. 18 Years later he still feels upset but realizes that it’s part of nature and he must accept it. Ideas and Themes: Family relationships Getting older Memory Structure: The…
The poet recalls the day he parted with his lover. She never had any affection for him. He believes the sadness he felt then foreshadowed the sadness he feels now. A lot of time passed but even the sound of her name hurts the narrator. He hears about her other affairs and feels hurt. Even…
A couple goes for a walk in the park after days of bad weather. They walk separately as their relationship is troubled. They stop at the sight of swans who mirror their relationship and walk away hand in hand suggesting they have reconciled. Ideas and Themes: Distance Fulfillment Nature Structure: They are both separated for…
In the Renaissance era, people looked to religious leaders for advice on their lives. Some religious advisers think they are qualified to give advice to the youth, but they may not be as qualified as they seem. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, “The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”, Friar Lawrence is a…
Charles Dicken’s ‘Oliver Twist’ shows how an individual’s opportunities in life can be both restricted and improved through their interactions to a large extent by showing us the different types of people that you could come across in Victorian London. The plot is about an orphan who sets out into London looking for a way…
“We know what we are, but we know not what we may be.” -William Shakespeare. In the poem of Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, the main characters, Romeo and Juliet, described as “star-crossed lovers”, die tragically. In the plot, the Capulet and Montague families have had an ancient grudge against each other which…
The two poems written by William Blake feature animals that are antithetical, one symbolizing the goodness, peace, harmony and unity in the world whilst the other the presence of darkness in the world. Blake makes a similarity between a lamb and a child which are both gentle, mild, and crooning, giving us the sense of…
The poem is a monologue in which the poet talks to himself, the spirit of the nature and at times to his sister. Wordsworth’s ”Tintern Abbey” takes on an opulence of ideas regarding nature’s ability to conserve memory, and grasp the past and the present. Through his writing, Wordsworth conveys his experiences with nature to…
Many writers, artists, and poets have a very specific style that is unique to them and resonates throughout their work. Although there are many similarities between their works, there are apparent differences between each one. William Blake, a poet, wrote two books, first one being ‘Songs of Innocence’ and later on wrote another one named…
The nature of unexpected discovery entails a journey that is transformative and concerns one’s relationship with one’s self or one’s world. Discoveries can be either sought or serendipitous and can lead to good or bad consequences, but ultimately they are all concerned with the acquisition of greater knowledge and a new perspective. In William Shakespeare’s…
As said by Tony Dungy, “The secret to success is good leadership, and good leadership is all about making the lives of your team members or workers better.” But what makes a great leader? Many other people would agree that for a leader to be a great one, they must be chosen based on key…
Within the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, there are several inanimate objects which relate to the development of the main character but also the overall story. These inanimate objects reflect several aspects of the setting and of the time period in general. One of these inanimate objects is the mule…
Nathaniel Hawthorne Believed that evil was a dominant force in the world—his work is dark, gloomy and pessimistic. Born in Salem, Mass., descended from a prominent Puritan family. One ancestor was a judge at the Salem Witch Trials, another was known for his persecution of Quakers. For twelve years secluded himself in his mother’s house…
A novel in which a character grows is ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, by Harper Lee. This novel is about the story of a Southern American family, living in a small county in the 1930’s, from the perspective of a young girl called Scout Finch. At this specific point in time, racism was at its peak…
In ”Pygmalion”, Henry Higgins is Shaw’s Pygmalion and Eliza Doolittle is his Galatea. Henry Higgins teaches Eliza how to speak proper English and shapes her to fit into the middle-class morality from a ”guttersnipe” just as Pygmalion creates a beautiful statue from an ugly piece of rock. While the transformation of Eliza is in process…
Titles influenced by Shakespeare. There are a number of books, novels and collections whose titles were directly taken from some of Shakespeare’s lines from his plays or poems. Islam (2010), a Bangladeshi author, wrote an article about works titles by being influenced by Shakespeare. He has identified some writers like Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Somerset…
As a novel that explores numerous complex themes. A Lesson Before Dying teaches that never give up even under a brutal system of racism, which is shown through the character of Jefferson, Grant and Miss Emma. Jefferson, a black man who is falsely accused of murder, is compared by his defense attorney to a hog…
Steinbeck’s opening to his novel; ‘Of Mice and Men’ is an interesting and captivating beginning. It introduces many of the novel’s key themes as well as having an intriguing introduction to the main characters with considerable foreshadowing even in those first few pages of the book. Steinbeck introduces his authorial technique from the start of…