“The sky was the limit” This is a quote taken from Tom Petty’s Into the Great Wide Open.…
Michael Dransfield was a contemporary Australian poet in the late 1960’s early 1970’s, he was recognised for his first published collection ‘Streets of the Long Vouge’. His poem “outback” is a typical of his ability to explore the Australian environment and how it is rapidly changing. In this poem Australians are represented as short-sighted and greedy individuals. Using poetic techniques and dramatic language, Dransfield looks into the truth of Australia present and future.…
Reginald Rose has been a juror before, and he has used his experience to write a play in which he portrays the case of a murder of a boy’s father being put into the hands of people that do not take their responsibilities seriously. One of these characters includes the 7th juror. The author’s use of idiom suggests that in a democracy, there are often citizens that don’t take their role in a democracy seriously. When the writer states, “He’s a bull, this kid. Shoooom. A real jug handle”, (Rose, 2-5)., Rose is conveying his perspective through the 7th juror. The juror’s lack of interest in the case illustrates that there are people in a democracy that have a serious and important role but do not care, and only slack off. Holbrook has a similar…
Believing in one’s self is common, and it thrives throughout the novel, Freak the Mighty, by Rodman Philbrick, and the poem, “Ability,” by Selina E. Matis. There are several lines in the poem, “Ability,” that relate to the novel, Freak the Mighty.…
As I read the poem Theme for English B, I couldn’t help but notice this was a personal narrative about a young black man life, where he was born, where he attended school. He was born in Winston Salem, North Carolina during the time of the Jim Crew era when there were only few blacks’ men who were educated. He started his education in Winston Salem North Carolina and some in Durham North Carolina. Later moved on to New York City where he attended college where there were only a few blacks who could afford to attend the colleges. He was the only colored in his class, he realized that even though his skin was different the other students like some of the same things, eat, sleep understand life and listen to music.…
In Situations much like Richard Cory's, we as outsiders don't know how they are and what they are truly going through. It's one of the scariest things, one day we see a person and the next we find out that they're gone. We hear things like: ‘Oh she/he was such a happy person, they had everything.' But what we fail to realize is that everything is nothing when a person isn't internally happy.…
In the poem named Man on a Fire Escape, written by Edward Hirsch, the author presents a unique eye-opening experience when a devastating tragedy arises. Throughout, the poem Man on a Fire Escape, Edward Hirsch uses third person point of view as if he is addressing his poem to someone. Furthermore, the poem slowly reveals the mass chaos and destruction of a fire outbreak that engulfs everything in its path. On the contrary, towards the end of the poem, after witnessing all the mayhem everything was back to normal as if the fire did not happen. Edward Hirsch uses lexis, literary devices, and his poetry to illustrate to his audience that poetry is never-ending because poetry will always portray “the true voice of feeling.” (QUOTE).…
This song gives the story of one young man who through the outbreak of war takes a new path which ultimately leads him to Vietnam fighting for his country. As is “the story of Tom Brennan” the main character experiences a fear of what lies ahead but rather than the clique fear of death and destruction which the character seems reasonably naive to it is rather a fear of the ramifications and aftermaths of an event that changes the young mans life for ever. “And I can still hear Frankie, lying screaming in the…
Much like poetry, “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.” Music and poetry are two platforms in which artists from the beginning of time have chosen to circulate their ideas, feelings, and opinions. Although different in popularity, these mediums are alike in various ways. Nonetheless, not every song you hear on the radio can be properly analyzed using procedures that you would follow to evaluate poetry. A song has to contain certain literary elements essential to poetry, such as the song “From Eden” by Hozier, in order for it to be analyzed. Hozier is recognized for his sentimental lyrics and use of poetic elements to add musicality and rhythm to his music. Through symbolism, repetition, and…
Randall Jarrell, poet, critic, essayist, and former Poet Laureate of the United States, was born in 1914 in Nashville Tennessee and attended Vanderbilt University in that same city. There, Jarrell received his BA and MA studying under John Crowe Ransom and Robert Penn Warren. His poetry is influenced by W.H. Auden and Robert Frost and often uses what poets call “the common dialogue of Americans.” He passed away October 14th, 1965.…
The song starts out with a strang questioning of reality: “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality, Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see”. They first two lines are rhetorical questions. They help establish the state of mind needed in order to continue with the song. The third line is a metaphor. It means everything is crashing down on him, and he cannot escape it. It seems to conclude that he is caught between a dream and awakening. The next couple set of lines are being used as transitions into the main part of stanza one, “I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy, Because I’m easy come, easy go, Little high, little low, Any way the wind blows, Doesn’t really matter to me, to me”. In the third and fourth line repetition is used in order to keep the lyrics flowing. The boy thinks his life doesn’t matter to anyone, his life is meaningless and the Earth does not care what happens to him. He does not care what happens next, he just wants it over; “any way the wind blows” him, he will go and it “doesn’t really matter” to him anymore. The next three lines show intent to kill by the boy, “Mama, just killed a man, Put a gun against his head, Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead”. The boy has finally come to terms of what he has…
People have individual strengths, weaknesses, and individual capabilities, all of which are dependent upon human nature. While these characteristics are often difficult to alter and influence, humans, nevertheless, wish to change them. They are never satisfied with their appearance, never content with their lives, forever attempting to change, but in the end, always find themselves at the starting point, realizing that they, in fact, have not changed at all, for they have not accepted what they want. The citizens in David Wagoner’s narrative poem, “The Man Who Spilled Light” are no different. How do they face change which they cannot accept?…
of twenty-two years old, they should have noted his death as a casualty of war.…
In a Journey, a traveller can gain new perspectives of themselves and the world around them by taking on opportunities to learn. The novel ‘Raw’ by Scott Monk demonstrates these ideas by writing about a young boy named Brett, who hates authoritative figures such as the police. A change is perspective is shown in the late chapters when Brett is at the farm, meeting new friends and learning how lucky he is. What also changes Brett’s attitude to himself, other people that are the friends that he makes during the novel and a girl that he is willing to meet, even if he goes the prison. Brett’s punish for escaping from the Farm has change view of making decisions. Instead of judging and disliking a person, Brett has shown to change his views of other people on his journey. The Poem, ‘The road not taken’ by Robert Frost also exhibits the opportunity to gain new perspectives in the poem, through the use of an extended metaphor about the journey of life. This is shown in the poem when the persona apologises for not being able to take both sides of the road. Disappointment is shown when the persona gives a ‘sigh’. This shows how melancholic he is by giving a deep audible breath. A personal voice is used in the poem to create immediacy.…
Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston on May 25, 1803 and died on April 27, 1882. According to Encyclopedia.com and other sources such as poets.org, Emerson’s family was “fairly well-known.” It also states that his father passed away when Emerson was just eight years-old, leading his family into poverty. Although he was faced with a financial need, Emerson attended Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the age of fourteen, enlisted under a scholarship. After graduating, he began to teach and later moved into the ministry, at Boston’s Second Church. He then wedded Ellen Tucker in September of 1829. Their is one major experience that might of had influenced Emerson’s writing, which was…