Images of London in Contrast: Analysing Wordsworth and Wilde The poems “Lines Written upon Westminster Bridge” by William Wordsworth and “Impression du Matin” by Oscar Wilde both describe each author’s view of the city of London. Wordsworth, who wrote during the Romantic period, is known for his appreciation of nature, while Wilde, who wrote during the Victorian period, is not as concerned with nature. Wilde is concerned with finding a balance between ideas that creates a more realistic image, while Wordsworth is not concerned with being realistic. The poems explain not only what the authors see, but also the impact the sight has on them and their overall impression of the city. This impression is based on the distinctions noticed by each. Wordsworth’s view of London is much more idyllic and centered on the aspects of nature present in the city, but Wilde’s view of London is more somber with an emphasis on sources of light in the city. Wordsworth’s “Lines Written upon Westminster Bridge” presents an idyllic image of the city of London. Throughout the poem, Wordsworth 's word choices convey the idea that the …show more content…
Throughout the poem, Wilde’s word choice deliberately casts the city in a more negative light as compared to Wordsworth 's vision of the city. Wilde uses words such as, “chill and cold”, “creeping”, and “shadows” to describe the city (Wilde 4-5, 7). All of these words can be associated with the genre of horror. Specifically, the words creeping and shadows conjure images of scenes from classic slasher films which is the exact opposite of the picturesque and beautiful world presented in Wordsworth 's poem. The setting of a slasher film is not exactly an ideal place; most people in that type of situation would be agitated and looking for an escape. Unlike the picturesque scenes from Wordsworth 's poem, the images created in Wilde’s poem are much more
Hurst improves the grim mood through foreshadowing. At the story's beginning, the narrator describes his surroundings by saying, “The last graveyard flowers were blooming, and their smell drifted across the cotton field and through every room of our house, speaking softly the names of our dead” (Hurst 462). When the narrator says, “last graveyard flowers were blooming,” it introduces the feeling of darkness just by the single word graveyard. A graveyard is where the dead rest, and when thinking of a graveyard, the image of a dark and sad environment fulfills the air. Also, when the narrator brings up the smell of the flowers softly speaks the name of the dead, as in Doodle.
Words being used such as ripped, ghosts, and rain-rutted gives the poem an ominous tone. The poem helps better understand conditions at the march because it gives from first point of view.
In literature, the setting poses itself as a vital element in literature. When characters interact with the world encompassing them and respond to its atmosphere, we unearth various underlining traits and secrets that ensconce betwixt the pages. Ann Petry's 1946 novel The Street accentuates the relation between Lutie Johnson and the urban setting by employing figurative language, such as imagery and personification conjointly with selection of detail. Petry promptly exploits imagery and figurative language to navigate us to a bustling town where an astringent wind is "rattl[ing] the tops of garbage cans, suck[ing] window shades out through the tops of opened windows and [sending] them flapping back against the windows.
one of the many times he uses imagery throughout this story is when the narrator says, “on his way he would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking through a graveyard where only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in flickers behind the windows” (Pg 1). By using imagery to compare walking through the neighborhood as walking through a graveyard shows that it is completely silent and there is no activity in any of the houses. Most people wouldn't describe their neighborhood as a graveyard, this also develops the mood. Another time he uses imagery is when the narrator says, “The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk in mid-country” (1). This shows mood because the narrator describes him as a hawk in mid-country, that means that he is all alone in what he feels to be like a barren or abandoned place.
Some see the ugliness in the most beautiful things but others see the beauty in the most hideous of things. The poem William Street by Kenneth Slessor demonstrates this thesis statement as he talks about how he sees the beauty in the street that is renowned for its ugliness and the unsightly surroundings it is engulfed with. This poem's literary techniques and imagery gives the readers an insight into the environment and the surroundings that are seen vividly even though they are described through the use of foreshadowing. Each stanza gives the readers a different understanding on what is going on during the poem.
Prose Analysis Essay In Ann Petry’s The Street, the urban setting is portrayed as harsh and unforgiving to most. Lutie Johnson, however, finds the setting agreeable and rises to challenges posed by the city in order to achieve her goals. Petry portrays this relationship through personification, extended metaphor, and imagery.
Jack London 's writing is harsh poetry. He describes scenes in such detail. Reading his work makes you picture how the scenes look in your head. He shows a deeper meaning in the events of his stories(Napierkowski). The point of view of the story is third person limited omniscient.
The days, which were once spent in the serene of the outdoors, are now filled with “getting” the material things that only make the hearts of man grow more selfish. The money as well as youth of people is being “spent” away on items that ultimately will not bring true pleasure to the soul. The materialism that Wordsworth encounters is not much different from that which can be seen in society today. Throughout the poem, diction is also used to explicitly show how the shift to materialism was a cognizant decision made by the society as a whole. These growing material desires did not
Billy Collins appropriately created the title “Schoolsville” for this poem. The title is broken down and is imagined by readers of a little town occupied by former students who still act as they did in high school. From the beginning line, it is clear to the reader that the speaker is reminiscing his past by “glancing over my shoulder at the past,” (Collins 534). By stating, “I realize the number of students he has taught is enough to populate a small town,” also adds to the image created by the title (Collins 534). The speaker has taught so many years that his former students could populate a town.
Other poems such as “Mutability” by Shelley expressed how it was perfectly okay for humans to see change and how thoughts were always never going to be the same. But “London” by William Blake showed the anger and sadness of people through a high monarch. In both poems, nature and emotion was the element greatly used and it expressed the power of how things around humans can dramatically change their perspectives and their thoughts or eventually have the outmost effect on
Wordsworth also uses imagery to expresses a similar experience. In the first stanza he describes “A host, of golden daffodils; /beside the lake, beneath the trees, /Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” (Wordsworth Ln 4-6). Words such as “host”, “golden”, “Fluttering” and “dancing”, all appeals to the reader’s sense of sight, hearing, and smell. It brings us into the scene.
Not to mention how the entirety of the title is a metaphor, little additions and comparisons strategically placed by Hawthorn expose readers to the much deeper meaning to each of the scenes. It is amazing to see Hawthorne’s ability to use metaphor in beautiful ways, such as comparing children to flowers, as well as dark serious ways, such as Chillingworth’s resemblance to Satan. As previously mentioned, there is high importance placed on the underlying meanings of the natural world within the novel. Comparisons to season such as Spring represent growth and plentifulness all while Hawthorne is not afraid to represent suffering and death through relation to the decay or a garden once abandoned. It is common for Hawthorne to use people on the other ends of a metaphor in order to give insight into their true personalities.
Edgar Allan Poe is an influential writer who is well known mainly for his dark and mysterious obscure short stories and poems. Throughout this essay I will analysing how poe uses a series of literary terms such as diction and anaphora in order to convey a bleak, eerie mood and tone. Poe uses these terms in order to contribute to his writing in a positive way, creating vivid images and a cheerless mood. In Poe’s poem, “The Raven”, he uses words such as lonely, stillness, ominous and fiery to add to the building up apprehension within the poem. In addition, he also uses repetition to create fluent yet unruffled, tragic feel for the reader.
Early in the novel, the reader gets the impression that the painting is pervaded by the longing for the youth that one has lost as well as the frightening deficiency of human life. In chapter eight this painting is described as: “the most magical of mirrors.” (Wilde 98). The portrait works
Imagination is one of the most prominent aspects of Romantic poetry. Wordsworth defines imagination as “the means of deep insight and sympathy, the power to conceive and express images removed from normal objective reality”. Imagination is a way of seeing the world through a different lens. Imagination could be a different way of seeing the world as it