Despite the acceptance and the love shown in this poem, we cannot deny that there is also a sense of bitterness throughout. Death is also presented as something which is incredibly emotional. Jonson uses a variety of structural techniques to show this. In the first quatrain Jonson seems to accept the death of his son, in the second, we see him trying to convince himself that he went some place better, and by the third quatrain he seems to have a bleak outlook on the future. This structural progression we see, suggests that Jonson is struggling with his emotions and perhaps becoming overwhelmed with it all.
The title “Tears” suggests despair. Nevertheless, that proves untrue. Hölderlin titled the poem “Tears” to convey his tenacious preservation of hope while being surrounded by nothing but despair metaphorically. These messages are indirectly hidden, as the poem is enriched with metaphors that hint at his optimism. Hölderlin begins “Tears” by describing his dispirited situation: “By fire and thick with ash, and before then.” By specifically using “fire with thick ash,” Hölderlin is explicitly describing the demoralized and pessimistic environment he is engulfed in.
No one truly knows the purpose of life, why there is death and suffering. The purpose of life has many meaning and is different for everyone. Good people tend to suffer more because others get jealous and use violence to end the good. In the poems, “Antigone” and, “Prometheus Bound”,and the book, “Gospel of Matthew”, express why the good people suffer and what the purpose of life really is. The poem “Antigone” shows how the good people are suffering and the purpose of life.
A modern writer and forbearer of postmodernity in poetry, T. S. Eliot’s poems are dark, existential, and gritty. They take a deep look into the human mind and condition and paint Eliot’s perspective on humanity in general. Poems like “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and “The Hollow Men” take a look into the bleak potential for humanity to amount to nothing. The poems confront the reader with the harsh reality that much of life is squandered or lived superficially. To gain value from these poems, one must examine the criticism that each offers.
The title; ‘Valentine’ sets up expectations in the reader about the type of poem they are about to encounter. The poem begins rather romantically but the tone gradually becomes more sinister as the imagery begins to suggest violence and pain. Although, the main theme is love and relationships, but this poem is written without the use of the traditional, clichéd displays of love and candidly attempts to offer a truthful and honest account of their feelings. If you notice, the first line itself; “Not a red rose or a satin heart”, instantly diminishes the clichés of Valentine’s Day and destroys the expectations set up by the title as it ia an usual way to start a so-called romantic poem. Katie: There is a lot of imagery based on an onion.
Excusing the Inevitability of Death The reality of death is complex to understand and even harder to respond to. The news of the death of someone close is hard to accept. The methods of coping with death differ from person to person and depends on how the person who passed away is related to the receiving person. Poets over the time have explored the coping mechanism to the idea of death by their poetry. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 6, Dylan Thomas’ Do not go gentle into that good night, and Stevie Smith’s Not Waving but Drowning are examples of poetry that revolve around the theme of death and mortality.
Robert Hayden a poet who uses the tragic world around him to write his version of the truth. The work that Hayden has published contains several different meanings, but in almost every poem there is a small reference to the conflict of humanity. He does not want to believe that human decency is dead, he wishes to see the good in the world, but it is difficult when history contradicts his beliefs. He writes the truth and tells the world what he thinks without ever stating it directly. Robert Hayden, a man of many words, struggles with the conflict between the evil and the tiny shred of human decency that society still contains throughout his works or poetry.
The world is filled with hypocrisy, prejudice, and hatred that spreads and festers like a disease that no one can contain. Some individuals see this and choose to look in the other direction while others choose to bring it to a focal point. Tracy K. Smith is a poet who chooses to bring awareness to some of these issues through her work. One of Smith’s poems that focuses on these worldly problems is, “They May Love All That He Has Chosen and Hate All That He Has Rejected.” In this poem, Smith elaborates on the four steps of forgiveness to emphasize the themes of discrimination, hatred, and forgiveness. Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith’s work can be commonly described as ambiguous and abstract to its readers.
The rhetorical questions in the first and second stanza 's emphasise the speakers inner emotional struggle, although she knows she 'll receive no answer they are still disconcerting. The poets use of assonance unifies the speakers experience of death, sorrow, life and joy. As stated by (Gezari, 970) "Remembrance" ends with a rhetorical question that holds the speaker 's options in equipoise and with a word that emphasizes continuation, not termination. The sense of "again" and the rising inflection of the question are in tension with the meter and a reader 's sense of having come to the end of the poem. The central argument of the elegy is not so much about death but of the external hopelessness of
The hollow man seems to ask himself, “Is it like this in death’s other kingdom, walking alone at the hour when we are trembling with tenderness, lips that would kiss, form prayers to broken stone.” (Eliot, para. 4). The hollow man from this section of the poem shows a feel of loneliness and wonder of death's other kingdom, meaning hell. He wonders if it is just as lonely as purgatory, or if it could, in a way, be better. The main idea of this section, the idea that stood out anyway, is the hollow man’s loneliness and longing to be apart of something, and not be an outsiders that everyone passes by.