Theme and Symbols of “I used to live here once” ENG125 Introduction to Literature Instructor 10/1/2012 Theme and Symbols of “I used to live here once” The story “I used to live here once” is a short story based on a woman’s journey returning to a place she once called home. The author uses symbols throughout the story to demonstrate to the reader that the woman is no longer alive. The ultimate theme is not discovered until the end of the story. The purpose of this paper will be to discuss
Premium Sociology Family Mind
Sunny Prestatyn by Phil Larkin The poem Sunny Prestatyn presents a bleak picture of reality against a deceiving advertising imagery in a melancholic‚ yet entertaining manner. The semantic field of sex is used throughout the poem. In the first stanza we are presented with a picture perfect holiday resort’s advertising poster‚ carefully composed around an alluring and beautiful‚ pristine girl. Symbolism‚ in tautened white satin‚ is used to emphasize her alleged purity as she symbolizes the
Premium Semantics English-language films Symbolism
This Be the Verse by Philip Larkin They fuck you up‚ your mum and dad. They may not mean to‚ but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra‚ just for you. But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats‚ Who half the time were sloppy-stern And half at one another’s throats. Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can‚ And
Premium English-language films Poetry Linguistics
In the poem “Toads” by Philip Larkin‚ a man who never makes himself known begins to talk about two toads. Although not being literal‚ the man uses toads as a metaphor for objects within his life which hold him back from feeling purely accomplished. The first toad that he speaks of is the influence and pressures which society forces on individuals to work. The second toad is one which he finds within his subconscious which prompts him to work and never quit‚ despite how bad he wants to. The man soon
Premium Poetry The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock T. S. Eliot
Larkin Poem Commentaries Here My feelings for ‘Here’ have much to do with the recent video prepared for the Larkin25 anniversary‚ which should be seen in conjunction with what I have to say here. Sir Tom Courtenay’s reading together with the images of Hull and its surrounding areas‚ leave me with the sense that while this is not just a hymn to Hull‚ although it is certainly that – and written when Larkin had first come the city – it is a place which is constantly surprising the poet by the interplay
Premium Philip Larkin
Death in Larkin and Abse Death pervades The Whitsun Weddings and in Ambulances is reflected on in terms of the significance of our response to seeing an ambulance stop. Passers-by view them as ‘confessionals’‚ secretive‚ mysterious places where we confront our deepest nature. They are impersonal and unpredictable‚ resting ‘at any kerb’ and reminding us of our mortality because ‘All streets in time are visited’. The contrast of the mundane reality of a visit to the shops with the ‘wild white
Premium Poetry
Alex Kotlowitz’s book‚ There are No Children Here‚ is a story about two boys‚ Pharaoh and Lafeyette Rivers growing in the late 1980’s in Henry Horner‚ a housing project in Chicago. The boys try to retain their youth while they see constant gang violence‚ death of close friends‚ their brother in jail and their dad struggling with a drug addiction. In Horner‚ there are two gangs that claim it as their turf‚ and the Rivers family is constantly ducking from shots of gunfire there. They live in
Premium Gang Sociology Crime
and juvenile delinquency. The film There Are No Children Here tells the story of two boys growing up in a housing project in Chicago infested with crime and a shortage of money‚ guidance‚ and tranquility. Knowledge of the struggles of the residents of Chicago‚ in particular African Americans‚ is essential to the history of the city. Were these struggles possibly dreams deferred? Both Pacyga’s novel and the film There Are No Children Here convey the trials and tribulations of the African Americans
Premium Crime Gang Criminology
The theme of journeys is present in Philip Larkin’s poem‚ A Study of Reading Habits. However‚ it is not a physical journey that we see‚ but a metaphorical journey about the speaker’s life progression through his changing escapisms created by books. The title is a mock‚ serious title for it sounds like a piece of academic research Larkin uses first person persona to give expression to things he would prefer not to have attributed to himself. The structure of the poem divided into three stanzas; school
Premium Stanza Poetry Present tense
Philip Larkin – The Trees Commentary by Merve Hilal Taş The Trees by Philip Larkin is a 3 stanza poem observing the rebirth of trees. The trees are used as a metaphor for life in general symbolizing our hopes that we try to achieve to be reborn before eventually dying. There’s also a message within the poem implying that even though we as humans observe the trees to be reborn‚ they actually grow older. This poem shows that growing old and changing is inevitable. It also has a rhyming scheme of
Free Stanza Poetry Connotation