Literature Essays

“Alienation is defined as emotional isolation or dissociation from others … it is the feeling of not belonging” The theme of Alienation is explored in both TS Eliot’s, The love song and Preludes and it is explored though many poetic techniques including repetition and animal imagry. In both of these poems the persona is alienated […]

“Ballad of Birmingham” – the familiar refrain of parents everywhere, “No, baby, no you may not go.” Despite our protests, mothers always believe they know what is best for us and make decisions they claim are in our best interests. Although it’s not always the case, the “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall demonstrates a […]

Alfred Tennyson was born on August the 6th 1809, in Somersby, Lincolnshire. Alfred was the forth out of twelve children of George and Elizabeth Tennyson. Alfred’s father, George Clayton Tennyson suffered from depression and was absentminded. In the late twenties Alfred’s father’s physical and mental condition worsened as he became paranoid, abusive and violent. Tennyson […]

Drama dominates our syllabus but the Renaissance was a Golden Age not just for English drama, but also for English poetry. But what was English poetry? George Puttenham’s The Arte of English Poesie (1589) and Sir Philip Sidney’s The Defense of Poesie (1595): early attempts to think about English poetry as a distinct national tradition. […]

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an esteemed author in 19th century America, has been widely recognized and deemed as one of the leading writers of this era due to the various compelling aspects of his poetry. Longfellow’s natural grace of writing is showcased through the effortless rhyme and meter in his poetry, which leaves a lasting impression […]

Henry James’s novella, The Turn of the Screw, has held readers captive with its intricate and ambivalent plot for over one hundred years. Through the years, many have attempted to evade getting caught up in the elusive nature of Henry James’s work. A wide range of interpretations has been offered by scholars, critics, and readers […]

Pie Glue: The Sanctimonious Institution of Marriage Gregory Corso’s poem “Marriage” is a lucid example of how John Clellon Holmes described the Beat Generation: a display of “moral degeneration. ” The speaker of the poem is torn between submitting to the non-conformity of the Beats and conforming to society’s strict views about marriage and social […]

The earliest recorded Spanish cantar de gesta, known as El Cantar del Mio Cid, was orally transmitted before being transcribed in 1142 by Per Abbat. The sole remaining copy is a 14th century codex located at the Biblioteca Nacional de Espana in Madrid; however, some pages are missing resulting in an incomplete version. The medieval […]

Emily Dickinson’s (1830 – 1886) poem titled “Success is counted sweetest” conveys that success holds the most worth for those individuals who have experienced failure. This can be in the form of tangible or intangible success. Dickinson cleverly manipulates the meaning of the poem by altering its viewpoint after the second stanza. This alteration suggests […]

In Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut uses satire in the topics of war, aliens, fate and the reasons for life itself. In Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, the author uses many literary devices to bring across his point including black humor, irony, wit and sarcasm. He mainly uses satire throughout the book. Satire is a literary device […]

Ovid’s use of the domina amoris and servitium amoris as the foundation his Amores was not unique, but rather reflected a theme created in the time of Plato. Plato wrote of the idea of a “love lady” in his The Symposium. Ovid was just one of the many writers in the history of the Western […]

Wordsworth’s beliefs about good poetry are reflected in the main ideas and style of writing found in his poems; such as The Solitary Reaper and I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. The essence of his poems follow Romantic themes that reject industrialisation, celebrate individuality, hold nature and its beauty in high respect, and encourages readers […]

305 Reasons to Love Emily Dickinson Poem #305 The difference between Despair And Fear—is like the One Between the instant of a Wreck And when the Wreck has been— The Mind is smooth—no Motion— Contented as the Eye Upon the Forehead of a Bust— That knows—it cannot see— Dickinson’s poetic accomplishment was recognized during her […]

The Rise of the English Novel English literature has a long and colorful history. From the masterfully written old English tales of Chaucer to the countless Shakespearian dramas to the poetic verses of Tennyson, England has produced some of the richest treasures of the literary world. Not until the eighteenth century, however, did a type […]

When reading the title, we often associate a love song as something jaunty,pleasureable, and celebrating, or its other extreme, regretting, nostalgic, and full of pity for the singer’s troubles in love. With Williams the singer, the main idea revolves around the concept of an incomplete union in first person point of view, which makes the […]

Analysis of Millay’s “Not in a silver casket cool with pearls” Edna St. Vincent Millay’s unconventional childhood, growing up without a father because her mom kicked him out and having to learn independence and responsibility by the age of twelve, influenced her poetry and shaped her as an motivated and self-sufficient individual. By the time […]

Death is a popular theme in poetry and is present in both Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and Robert Frost’s “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Night”. However, although both poems deal with death, they have distinct differences. While Frost’s poem depicts a person on horseback stopping to appreciate the surrounding […]

Mary Oliver’s poetry constructs and represents the American Indians as a group disenfranchised and dispossessed of their land, culture and language by the authoritative and dominant discourses fabricated in Western society. Her representation of the American Indian cultural identity in her two poems, Learning About the Indians and Tecumseh, is one of lament, but also […]

Sonnets 50 and 51 paired together depict a theme of travel. Specifically, the speakers travels on horseback. These travels cause him great despair because he is leaving behind his beloved young man. Shakespeare begins the poem with “How heavy do I journey on the way”. Heavy is describing the emotional burden he feels as he […]

Wordsworth’s Romantic Values The Enlightenment, a period of reason, intellectual thought, and science, led some writers to question those values over emotion. Instead, as the Romantic movement gradually developed in response, writers began to look at a different approach to thought. The Romantic period, roughly between the years of 1785 to 1830, was a period […]

‘The Sun Rising’ poem analysis by John Donne The poet addresses the sun as a person and rebukes the sun because it has wakened him and his lover from their sleep. He demands to know why lovers should obey time. He also shows his dominance over the sun, calling it a ‘saucy pedantic wretch’ and […]

Virginia U. Jensen – “The actions of righteous women ripple on through time and space and even generations. ” In “The Prologue,” Anne Bradstreet writes a poem that seeks to understand her role as a female poet in a male-dominated Puritan society. She knows that her poetry is perceived as inferior because it was considered […]