Genre Essays

Ever since man has been able to script and speak they have been able to express their emotions. Love poetry has been passed down and become part of our cultural and literary heritage. In the following essay I will be using 2 different poems: “The Barrier by Claude Mckay” and “Long Distance by Tony Harrison”; […]

“The Battle” by Louis Simpson is a poem about a battle during the Second World War. This poem uses strong imagery and sensuous appeal to project its message. In this essay I am going to analyze some elements of imagery in “The Battle” and their relevance to the plot of the poem. One of the […]

I Shall Paint my Nails Red, by Carole Satyamurti, is another poem that, to me, shows insecurity and unknown identity. The poem is describing how she shall paint her nails Red, and why. She writes in every line a different reason for why it should be done. Red being the key word, as it is […]

Wole Soyinka, a Nigerian, and Brenda Agard, a West Indian, are both black poets. They want to portray their views and beliefs on colour prejudice. Although the poems are written in different decades they have many other similarities in the theme and message. ‘Telephone Conversation’ was written in the 1960s. Peoples’ views, beliefs and opinions […]

In the Wasps’ Nest, there are two wasps that have come to the poet’s mailbox to build their home. We know that this is the poet’s mailbox when he says “… my mailbox’s metal hold” in line 5. These two wasps are busily building their nest with paper and mud. Even with the “displeasure of […]

Gillian Clarke, born in 1937 in Cardiff, is known for writing poems about nature – and this one is no exception. Also, if we consider Clarke’s Welsh roots, it’s also no surprise that ‘Miracle on St. David’s Day’ features numerous references to the Welsh celebration. Furthermore, this poem is “Ars Poetica”: it is about poetry. […]

Eternity and immortality are phrases to which it is impossible for us to annex any distinct ideas, and the more we attempt to explain them, the more we shall find ourselves involved in contradiction – Wiiliam Godwin, Political Injustice. The writers of the Romantic period found in immortality a topic which was not only of […]

In this essay I will compare and contrast the treatment of relations between men and women in the poem ‘Indian Woman’s Death Song’ by Felicia Hemans and an extract from ‘Don Juan’ (Canto 1, stanzas 8-36) by Lord Byron. Hemans created a narrative poem in a serious tone of voice as befits the lament she […]

The term ‘Romanticism’ is related to a period of European history during the end of the 18th Century and the beginning of the 19th Century. The romantic age of poetry was dependant on various features atypical to their time, for example a reaction against previous literary styles, arguments with eighteenth century and earlier philosophers, the […]

It is a common view that poetry is often the result of a deeply felt reaction to one’s life and society. Hence, over 100 years on since Dickinson died, this would lead us to assume that her poetry can hold no value to us as now: society must have changed beyond all comprehension to that […]

Composed between 1912 and 1917 Antonio Machado’s Campos de Castilla describes the beautiful landscape of the Castile lands and through them Spain’s political and social state during these years. Tunon de Lara aptly puts ‘la obra de un autor pertenece… al periodo en que fue escrito’; there is no exception in Machado’s poetry which is […]

Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936) is a Spanish poet and artist who, along with others like Dali and Picasso, became well-known during the inter-war period. While their predecessors in the late 19th century occasionally maintain a satirical view of human existence – even Ibsen plays, in their bleakest moments, possess a touch of playfulness – Lorca’s […]

Metonymy doesn’t substitute like metaphor something like the thing that is meant for the thing itself, but substitutes some attribute or cause or effect of the thing for the thing itself. As an elaborate and repetitive device, it fulfils two functions in modernist poems. It depicts a fragmentation of perception – which it in part […]

Anton Chekhov once said “Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.” Clearly, this line suggests that knowledge lies not in knowing, but rather in its application. Despite Chekhov’s views, people have always prioritized on the accumulation of knowledge. The question then is not how much knowledge one can have, but instead […]

Christia Rosetti–“Uphill” Poetry Analysis “Uphill” in Depth Symbolism, by definiton, is an artistic imitation or invention that is a method of revealing or suggesting immaterial, ideal, or otherwise intangible truth or states. Symbolism in poetry has and still is used as an inspiration to write and sometimes can become the sole purpose of a poem. […]

Ispahan carpet is a four stanza poem written by Elizabeth Burge. From the title, you can see the poem is set in an eastern country and this becomes obvious as the poem evolves. The poem is set in a rug making factory, this is suggested by the way the narrator describes how she is with […]

Owen looks at what ceremonies will commemorate those who die in battle. Title is ironic. Anthem is praise and this poem in no way praises the war. The sonnet asks questions about what will be done to commemorate those who die in battle. Octet says they will have only sounds to accompany their funerals, and […]

‘Night of the Scorpion’ is a poem by Nissim Ezekiel that utilizes Indian English to capture the essence of Indian culture and ideology. The poet employs the ‘Poetry of Situation’ style to depict the selfless maternal reaction when bitten by a scorpion – ‘Thank God the scorpion picked on me and spared my children’. This […]

The poem They Eat Out by Margaret Atwood transforms the somewhat mundane experience of dining out at a restaurant into a powerful and somewhat caustic message regarding gender roles. Atwood employs potent literary techniques such as enjambment, symbolism, and metaphorical references to highlight her vision of female strength and the illusion of male progressivism. Writing […]

The poem “Shooting Stars” by Carol Ann Duffy, is written in the perspective of a Jewish woman who was killed during the Holocaust. The woman speaks to another woman about the atrocities they had endured as Jews, and how despite all hardships faith still remains.Structurally, the poem is very uniform. It has a title followed […]

The poem ‘At the San Francisco Airport’ by Yvor Winters is a heartwrenching poem written by a father to his daughter, upon sending her off at the airport terminal. The poem takes on a dramatic tone as it explores a father’s opinions and responses toward his daughter’s departure.In the first stanza, the speaker begins with […]

The Enfant Terrible Master of Poetry: W. H. Auden He has been described as “W. H. Auden, for long the enfant terrible of English poetry . . . emerges as its undisputed master” (Samson 227). W. H Auden is one of most influential poets of the Twentieth century, having written over 400 poems and countless numbers […]