This poem is about a man who loves his country dearly. The country is England. He believes that if he should die in a far away battle field that people should remember of him only that he was English. Brookes says in his forth line, “In that rich earth a richer dust concealed.” This means…
The play “Death of a Salesman” shows the final demise of Willy Loman, a sixty- year-old salesman in the America of the 1940’s, who has deluded himself all his life about being a big success in the business world. It also portrays his wife Linda, who “plays along” nicely with his lies and tells him…
In the “Astronomer’s Wife” by Kay Boyle, something as simple as a conversation with a plumber about a stopped elbow is enough to trigger an awakening in Mrs. Katherine Ames. When Mrs. Ames realized that the plumber was talking about something she understood (the stopped elbow), she realized that her marital problems were not the …
Soft Voice of the Serpent, a short story by Nadine Gordimer tells of the most bizarre relationship which a man, who has lost his leg, has with a wounded locust. When the man who is still trying to accept his own injury, notices that the locust has also been handicapped by the loss of a…
In Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice the antagonist of the play is Shylock. Shylock is a wealthy Jewish moneylender. Shylock is probably the most memorable character in the play because of Shakespeare’s excellent characterization of him. Shylock is the antagonist in the play because he stands in the way of love, but this does not necessarily…
John Masefield’s poem “Sea Fever” is a work of art that brings beauty to the English language through its use of rhythm, imagery and many complex figures of speech. The meter in “Sea Fever” follows the movement of the tall ship in rough water through its use of iambs and hard hitting spondees. Although written…
In Mary Wilkins Freeman’s “The Revolt of ‘Mother’” Mother is the typical woman of the late 1890s, who was brought up to be subservient to men, as was common during the era. America was a completely patriarchal society at the end of the nineteenth century. Women had always been perceived as lesser beings than men;…
The poets of the nineteenth century wrote on a variety of topics. One often used topic is that of death. The theme of death has been approached in many different ways. Emily Dickinson is one of the numerous poets who uses death as the subject of several of her poems. In her poem “Because I…
In Anglo-Saxon literature and most likely in Anglo-Saxon times, men were measured by many of the same aspects of life that men are measured by today. Men of that time period were godless, fearless, fame seeking, and most of all, courageous. Warriors, sailors, exiles, and even gods were in search of these things and often…
“Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird” by Wallace Stevens is a poem about what it means to really know something. In this poem, Stevens shows this connection by writing a first person poem about a poet’s observation and contemplation’s when viewing a blackbird. He does this by making each stanza an explanation of a …
In Allen Ginsberg’s Poetry Allen Ginsberg started his infamous life as a revolutionary and poet of the beat generation when he began attending Colombia University. While at Colombia Ginsberg met friend and mentor Jack Kerouac whom he would later join to form the School of Disembodied Poets. During his education at Colombia University Ginsberg started…
A shot was heard throughout the Keller home as Joe ended his guilty, worthless life. Miller criticizes that American society has become corrupt- a place of selfishness, where people care too much about themselves, and that which benefits them, and will go to any lengths to achieve that goal; even if the repercussions of their…
In the story “Misery” by Anton Chekhov, I identified despair and misery as a theme. The surroundings amplify the sentiment of the main character, Iona Potapov. Cold and gray surrounds’ Iona Potapov and he is extremely miserable. Iona Potapov wants to speak to another human about his son’s death but no one will listen. Failing…
All Fur is a 19th century German tale written by the Brothers Grimm. The tale deals with incest and how a young lady can escape an abusive father. When the King’s wife dies it becomes imperative that he was to marry again. However, he would not settle on any woman unless she was as beautiful…
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston shows how the lives of American women changed in the early 20th century. Zora Neale Hurston creates a character in her own likeness in her masterpiece, Their Eyes Were Watching God. By presenting Janie’s search for identity, from her childbirth with Nanny to the…
Catch 22, by Joseph Heller, is a critique of the society that we live in. Whoever is proud of what we have advanced to, and is unwilling to look at it in a negative light, would find this book very subversive. It threatens and criticizes the way of living of most who pride themselves in…
Alice Munro’s short story, “Boys and Girls,” has a very interesting detail written into it. The narrator’s brother is named Laird, which was carefully chosen by the author. Laird is a synonym for lord, which plays a important role in a story where a young girl has society’s unwritten rules forced upon her. At the…
“A Woman Mourned by Daughters”, by Adrienne Rich, is a very descriptive poem in which two women are speaking to their dead mother. There are several parts to this poem starting from the when the mother dies, and moving gradually backward to when the daughters were young girls. It begins with the daughters sitting in…
In “Ode to the West Wind,” Percy Bysshe Shelley tries to gain transcendence, for he shows that his thoughts, like the “winged seeds” (7) are trapped. The West Wind acts as a driving force for change and rejuvenation in the human and natural world. Shelley views winter not just as last phase of vegetation but…
This story takes place in London, England. The time is winter and it starts the day before Christmas, also known as Christmas Eve. The settings of the book include Scrooge’s Counting House, Scrooge’s Home, Bob Cratchit’s home, assorted places throughout Scrooges childhood like the schoolhouse and the Fizziwig’s place where Scrooge was an apprentice, this…
