Analysis Of The Chimney Sweeper
“Blake has the unpleasantness of great poetry” T.S. Elliott. There is undeniable truth to this remark particularly when Blake uses his poem to protest social oppression. Children of the 1800’s had few rights. Blake dedicated his work to giving maltreated children a voice which would lead to freedom. Blake’s modern stance on childhood and belief that children are articulate and should be valued in society shape his poetry. He utterly denounced the oppression of children and that is clear from his stylistic poems. In the poems “the chimney sweeper” from songs of innocence and then songs of experience and “the little lost boy” I found a recurring theme which critiqued the way society cared for its youth. In “the chimney sweeper” we are introduced to an orphaned labouring boy, stripped of dignity and a childhood. I found this poem to be the loudest protest of social oppression of Blake’s work. From the outset, the scene is set of a child who’s “father sold” him after the passing of his creator as if a motherless child was worthless. For the modern reader the future of this child is already incredibly bleak as he is stripped of every component of childhood. The repetitive and alliterative “weep” only echoes the depressive tone of the poem and the empathy felt by the western, new age reader towards this child. Blake utilizes the first three stanzas to demonstrate the harsh, hazardous conditions the young boys had to endure. The entire poem depicts an environment of continuous
Li-Young Lee A Story Analysis
786 Words | 4 PagesFor the entire duration of the poem, the reader is able to infer how the complexity of the relationship changes and how the father feels about his son through the techniques and methods stated above. Within A Story, Lee uses point of view from both characters to convey the idea that the father’s relationship with his son is indeed, increasingly complex. The reader also learns from this point of view technique that the time of thought within the poem constantly changes. The boy’s young age is shown clearly in the beginning of the poem as: “His five-year-old son waits in his lap.”
Enough By Suzanne Buffam Summary
876 Words | 4 Pages“Enough”, by Suzanne Buffam is an odd tale in the form of a poem, showing how someone is questioning life while in a depressing mood. The first few stanzas include melancholy lines and a sense of indirect somber portrayed through an action and a statement. A major tone shift follows with a feeling of equivocalness with the narrator questioning one’s self and life. Buffam uses strange metaphors, questionable line placement and the feeling of doubt and curiosity to portray “Enough”. The poem includes several different tones and examples of imagery to give the reader a true sense of what this poem is supposed to mean.
Halo That Would Not Light
491 Words | 2 PagesBeginning with the title Brock-Broido sets the tone as being bittersweet in that our precious moments as infants are short and at any second it can all disappear. Furthermore, her foreboding diction along with her indentations of each sentence an abandoned haunting scene especially when she mentions the “ swings [that] go back and forth with no one in them;” it’s almost as if she is describing some ghost town heaven for kids that will never be able to grow up. Then towards the end of the poem another shift in tone takes place, one that leaves the whole ordeal lingering in the mind and poses contradiction. Probably the most beautiful oxymoron, “the spectacular catastrophe of your endless childhood is done,” to describe just how quickly life can take an unexpected turn, and the tragedy of forever being stuck in childhood. Even though death is a tragedy, this shift in the poem gives us a sense of peace.
Poem Analysis Of Anthem, By Jim Daniels
1047 Words | 5 PagesAnthem Anthem, written by Jim Daniels, is a free-verse poem, and this essay examines thirteen lines of the overall poem, which comprise two stanzas. Within the first stanza, a daughter or son uses a reflective voice to consider how his or her father’s work from when the speaker was a child affected their relationship. The second stanza describes the present, still strained relationship, that the father and now grown-up speaker admit they want to improve. Though not particularly evident in these thirteen lines, the second stanza takes place as the speaker and father stand before the start of a football game, singing the national anthem.
Religious Allusions In The Raven
961 Words | 4 PagesThis assonance begins the poem by setting the scene. We are able to interpret that the unnamed narrator is in a terrible mood, is fearful, and his anxiety is skyrocketing. This is set at midnight, which gives a feeling of uneasiness. These dark terms are emphasized by the assonance to give the
Indian Boarding School The Runaways Analysis
913 Words | 4 Pages“Indian Boarding School: The Runaways” by Louise Eldrich bears overwhelming notes of running away from what could be what one assumes to be the Indian boarding school and returning to home. The beginning few lines provide the idea of wishing to return home on boxcars and an escape in their dreams. The next line, “the rails, old lacerations that we love/ shoot parallel across the face and break,” indicate a guiding force in memories and pain, but also a longing for what the lacerations represent in the phrase ‘old lacerations that we love.’ The lacerations refer to emotions and memories of home, and using the imagery of train tracks cutting through the ground like lacerations, show how home might not be a particularly perfect idea.
Literary Analysis Of 'Blackberries' By Yusef Kounyakaa
863 Words | 4 Pages"They left my hands like a printer’s or thieves before a police blotter" (line1-2), which begins the poem with an unforeseen dull meaning. This makes an unmistakable picture of his hands recolored purple, in each niche and wrinkle on his hand. The words in this poem influences it to appear that the boy considers himself nothing superior to a criminal. The boy fending for himself denies him of that sweet youth purity. However, "almost needful as forgiveness"(line 12-13), gives the feeling that the boy is waiting for pardoning.
Miniver Cheevy Allusion
716 Words | 3 PagesThe poem “Miniver Cheevy,” is about a man who spends his days wishing that he had been born in a different era than the one he spends his days in. Looking back on the olden days Miniver Cheevy feels that the olden days were much better than modern times and the poem goes on to show his love for the past. However, instead of doing something about his love and curiosity for the past he chooses to reminisce about the past and drink his misery away. Throughout this paper I will discuss the poem’s central purpose and its attitude towards its subject matter, and how the author uses allusion to reinforce the poems central purpose and attitude. First, I will begin with the poem central purpose or theme.
Compare And Contrast Sylvia Plath And My Papa's Waltz
846 Words | 4 PagesComparing and contrasting Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”, one finds the two poems are similar with their themes of abuse, yet contrasting with how the themes are portrayed. Furthermore, the speaker 's feelings toward their fathers’ in each poem contrast. One speaker was hurt by the father and the other speaker was indifferent about how he was treated by his father. The fathers’ feelings toward the children are also different despite how each treated the child. Both poems accurately portray the parent-child relationships within an abusive home, even if they have different
My Wicked Ways Analysis
693 Words | 3 PagesThe tone of the poem seemed to stay constant throughout the poem. Scansion of this
Eating Alone Li Young Lee Analysis
437 Words | 2 PagesThe techniques, such as, imagery and tone, help create the theme of memory and loneliness throughout the poem. The poem is very simple and complex as the same time where the speaker is using simple everyday objects to represent life and death. Using those literary techniques, Lee creates a tone and image of grief over the father’s death where the speaker lives through his memories leaving him forever
Those Winter Sundays Analysis Essay
784 Words | 4 PagesThe final stanza incorporates a lot of emotions from the speaker such as unconditional love, fear, regrets, compassion, and hatred. This then opens the reader to a type of coldness that appeals on a totally emotional level. For example in the first line of the last stanza “speaking indifferently to him” meaning that child is being cold towards the father very much like the weather outside. Then in the third line of the last stanza “polished my good shoes as well” is his father showing love once again. Although kisses and hugs are nice showing a sense of compassion his father shows his love is a different way he shows his love by doing his manly duties and making their home is warm before the rest of the family awakes and making sure they look good.
Analysis Of Planting A Sequoia By Dana Gioia
1100 Words | 5 PagesThe agony the writer is feeling about his son 's death, as well as the hint of optimism through planting the tree is powerfully depicted through the devices of diction and imagery throughout the poem. In the first stanza the speaker describes the setting when planting the Sequoia; “Rain blacked the horizon, but cold winds kept it over the Pacific, / And the sky above us stayed the dull gray.” The speaker uses a lexicon of words such as “blackened”, “cold” and “dull gray” which all introduce a harsh and sorrowful tone to the poem. Pathetic fallacy is also used through the imagery of nature;
Simon Armitage's Harmonium, My Father, Mice And Snakes
1779 Words | 8 PagesOut of the numerous poems Simon Armitage has written throughout his eighteen years of writing, there seems to be a common reoccurring concept in many of his poems. In several of his most famous poems - such as Harmonium, My Father, Mice and Snakes, and Mother Any Distance – the relationship between a parent and their child, and the idea of growing up is portrayed skilfully to show the transition from a child to an adult. Through describing these two ideas in his poems, Armitage highlights the responsibility that comes with newfound independence as an adult, making his poems extremely popular and influential in education facilities as well as to the wider audience. An analysis of his works therefore seems appropriate and interesting.
Literary Analysis Of Maya Angelou's 'Still I Rise'
715 Words | 3 PagesThis poem teaches readers that all humans have strength within them that can help to overcome any obstacles. “Out of the huts of history 's shame…/ I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide…/ Into a daybreak that 's wondrously clear…/I rise…” (29-43) generate a glorious ending and reflection of being the hope and the dream of slaves as reflected in the freedom and opportunity of the present day. The message drives a point that no matter what, the protagonist will be triumphant.
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