Literature Analysis

“Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest) / Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles/ The rushing amorous contact high in space together… ” so begins Walt Whitman’s descriptive divulgings of The Dalliance of Eagles, a poem which relates and indulges on the details of the aptly mentioned […]

Henry James’ Daisy Miller is characterized by the author’s most frequent theme in his earlier works: the expatriate American living overseas. Daisy Miller capitalizes on the Gilded Age, the period from 1865-1900, a time of great industrial growth and wealth with the result that many Americans travelled to Europe. (Cashman, 1993, xii)  It is the […]

“The Great Gatsby” by Scott Fitzgerald is one of the greatest works of the 20th century with a number of dynamic and round characters representing the key theme of the novel: the triumph of materialism and selfishness over true feelings. The character of Daisy Buchanan is chosen as she is true personification of the main […]

Doubles and opposites: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, (…)” In the first chapter of A Tale of Two cities, Dickens emphasizes the fact of how bad the people lived. “It was the worst of times,” due to mistreatment from the third estate. But it was also the “best […]

In the book Gorgias Socrates finds himself in an argument with Polus and Gorgias about whether oratory is a knack or a craft. Socrates’ opinion is that oratory is not a craft but rather a knack. When looking at the distinction between a knack and a craft it is commonly agreed upon that a knack […]

In the essay “Chicken Hips” by Catherine Pigott, she discussed the pressure of society, and how, in context, they were pressured to think that the only way they could be appreciated was to succumb to society. I disagree that, for Catherine, joining the gym was a good idea. First of all, Catherine claims that while […]

Samuel Johnson’s preface to The Plays of William Shakespeare has long been considered a classic document of English literary criticism. In it Johnson sets forth his editorial principles and gives an appreciative analysis of the “excellences” and “defects” of the work of the great Elizabethan dramatist. Many of his points have become fundamental tenets of […]

In Persepolis, the powerful graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, and Animal Farm, George Orwell’s eternal satirical fable, both authors use their books to tell stories of the oppression and manipulation of powerful states. Their approach to this similar theme is, however, entirely different. Satrapi’sfirst person narrative employs simplistic diction and black and white comic strips […]

Joseph Campbell, a renowned mythologist, states that a hero is someone who sacrifices their life for a cause greater than themselves (Campbell 151). He further divides heroic acts into two categories. The first category encompasses physical bravery like engaging in courageous battles or saving lives (Campbell 151). The second category involves spiritual accomplishments where the […]

The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is greatly affected by his mother’s decisions. Hamlet’s response to his mother’s swift marriage to Claudius following King Hamlet’s demise serves as the catalyst for their tense bond. According to Hamlet, his father, who had a profound love for his mother, felt betrayed when she […]

Dame Muriel Spark was an award-winning Scottish novelist. She spent several years in Central Africa, returning to Britain during World War II. Until 1957 she published only poetry and criticism, including studies of Mary Shelley and the Bront sisters. Her fiction uses satire and wit to present serious themes, often questions about good and evil. […]

West Side Story transfers Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to present-day New York. The love story of Romeo and Juliet becomes that of Maria and Tony. The feud between the houses of the Capulets and the Montagues is re-created in one involving two teen-age gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. The famous balcony scene of the […]

Reyita tells the story of Maria de los Reyes Castillo Bueno, a black Cuban woman living through several pivotal moments in Cuban history as a member of perhaps the most disenfranchised group of people in Cuban society; Reyita was poor, she was black, and she was a woman. The story begins with a recounting of […]

The novel “Broken April” by Ismail Kadare, has given me a deeper insight of how violently the Albanian’s culture is, as my experience is exposed to its context, themes, and ideas. Ismail Kadare presents us a close up view through a character, Gjorg, to show how the isolated people of the High Plateau live under […]

The extract given to us was taken from “As I walked Out One Midsummer Morning” written by Laurie Lee in 1969. From the passage we are not able to tell whether we are dealing with a fictional or non-fictional text, hence it could be an autobiography, however this does not affect my interpretation of it. […]

The song ‘Paradise’ by Coldplay is very unique and special to me in numerous ways. One of the main reasons I enjoy it so much is because there is so much room for interpretation. Anyone can have a different perspective on what it means to them. The song to me represents the attempts by a […]

In the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, the residents seem to have all been infected by the same disease. Harper Lee, the author of the very famous novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has used several ways of portraying this idea and is able to convince readers that her characters really do have some sort of […]

Religion is woven into the everyday life in Salem of the play. Meanwhile it was abused abruptly as an excuse to rule salem, the ones who thought they were doing god’s work later found out that they are doing the opposite. That they are killing innocent people. Well at least some did change and some […]

Frye’s Green World model is a literary concept which allows for critical literary analysis. His model states a norm for which Shakespearean comedies follow. However there are clear limitations of the boundaries of Frye’s Green World within ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. According to Frye, the Green World “begins in a world represented as a normal […]

Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines a hero as “A mythological or legendary figure of great strength or ability”, or “A man admired for his achievements and abilities”. Although he has his flaws, Okonkwo from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart fits this definition of a hero. As a true historical person, Okonkwo is not a mythological figure, […]

It is believed that reading literature affects the social beliefs of man. In fact, according to the book The Moral Laboratory: Experiments examining the effects of reading literature on social conception and moral self-concept by Jemeljan Hakemulder, literature-based treatments affect the readers’ attitudes, norms, values, beliefs, self-concept, social abilities and level of moral and critical […]

Of Mice and Men is a novella set on a ranch in the Northern western state of California written by Californian novelist John Steinbeck and then published in the late 1930’s. Set in the time of The Great Depression and The nationwide effective Wall Street Crash the book features characters all around who have depressing […]