The defense questioned the witness on their views of the characters in the poem such as Odysseus and Telemachus. The Odyssey answered stating that the characters in the poem are not the poem itself. What a character has done does not account for the beliefs and views of the poem. This statement disproves the first part of the charges saying The Odyssey is is guilty of the degradation of women. It is not the poem that degrade women, but the characters in the poem that degrade, objectify, and misrepresent women.
Ecocriticism is one of the significant theories in literature which helps to understand the relationship between literature and physical environment. The interpretation of ecocriticism or environmental criticism takes different shape in American literature and British literature. In the name of ‘ecocriticism’ American literature celebrates nature whereas British Literature on the other used the term ‘green studies’ to focuses on the threats and dangers of nature. Anthropocentricism is the philosophical view of nature from human-centered by rejecting
During the plot of the poem, mythological gods and goddesses are present in people’s lives to aid them when problems arise. In the text, the gods play a prominent role in helping Odysseus travel safely home, blessing men and women, and aiding during a war between two powerful leaders. Even though these stories were written thousands of years ago, they are still applicable to many societies
In “The Song of the Mud,” Borden describes the major role mud plays in war and reveals the huge impact it has as it covers the soldier, corpses, clogs the machinery, and restricts the soldiers from their value.“of vile, incurable sores and innocent tongues,” "a devil's sick of sin,” the blood coming from “bitter as the cud,” and “obscene as cancer” are all examples of imagery that help readers perceive the agony of war and fully express the repugnancy to war. Moreover, Mary specifically uses evocative words such as “invincible,” “inexhaustible,” “intrusive” and “impertinent” to illustrate the dreadful state of the fighters due to the mud and to generate a powerful tone. Similarly, Owen used words such as “guttering” and “froth-corrupted” to create that same tone as he described the gas attack he experienced and the resentment he has of war in this last stanza. On top of that, both poems contain irony to signify the opposite of what is said, set an ironic tone and to bring forth the authors’ aversion to war indirectly. For example,“The Song of the Mud” contains the line “covers the hills like satin” which is pleasing and makes you feel at ease which contradicts the fact that war is destructive and horrifying.
Weather conditions can make people vulnerable to the effects experienced. Examples of his hardships transformed into poetry can be seen with, “The Elements of San Joaquin Valley”, Too many tamales, “Where Sparrows Work Hard”,. Although his theme is visible in many poems, one in particular is, “The Drought” recognizes and conveys the hardships that were faced. Several poetic devices were used to aid the noticeable theme, such as simile, personification and hyperbole are used in order to successfully convey the powerful theme. Gary Soto uses personification for readers to relate to and to
The Odyssey and the poem about regret have similar and different views and meanings of regret. The Odyssey is a story about a man named Odysseus and him on a journey on the way home. This story is called an epic poem in literature. The poem is about someone who is regretting not spending time with a deceased friend but in the end realizes that it is ok because he knows that he will see him again when he passes away. Odysseus on his journey home has some feelings of regret.
The poet and artist William Blake spoke about the role of Jewish literature in shaping western civilization he states that "the Old and New Testaments are the Great Code of Art." Northrop Frye, whose Anatomy of Criticism is the third most frequently cited twentieth century work in the humanities and arts, states that in a sense all his critical work, beginning with a study of Blake which was published in 1947, and formulated ten years later in Anatomy of Criticism, has revolved around the Bible." Starting from Dante’s The Divine Comedy to John Milton 's Paradise Lost and Thomas Mann 's Joseph and His Brothers, the Bible has directly or indirectly inspired many of the greatest masterpieces of world literature. The Joseph cycle from the Book
“Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng and “Lament” by Gillian Clarke are the two poems I am exploring in this essay, specifically on how the common theme of human destruction of nature is presented. In “Report to Wordsworth”, Cheng explores the damage of nature caused by humans and man’s reckless attitude towards this. In “Lament”, the idea of the damage of oceans from the Gulf War is explored. In “Report to Wordsworth”, Boey Kim Cheng explores the theme of human destruction of nature as a response to William Wordsworth, an romantic poet who celebrated nature’s beauty in his poetry. Cheng writes this poem ironically in sonnet form, as sonnets are typically written about love.
As part of Romantic Faction, Wordsworth’s description of nature entails a lot more than the strict pastoral landscape. According to him, nature is often social. In other words, nature proffers a conduit to relate to other people and the world as a whole. For Wordsworth, the interconnection that subsists between nature and human perception depends on location. For instance, few lines composed above the Tintern Abbey about the revisiting Wyne during a tour on 13th July 1798, the title of the poem itself illustrates the particular occasions and space that deemed to be unique to Wordsworth projects.
Discussion of existentialist/ nihilist philosophy, discussing linear narrative vs. circular plot structure, idea of ‘breaking the fourth wall ', the idea of language being an insufficient tool for communication etc. provide proper contextual basis. One interesting addition I have tried and which works very well is to give a link to the films like Goddard’s Breathless, Bergman’s Wild Strawberries, and Woody Allen’s Annie Hall in which there are thematic and stylistic congruencies. For example, to introduce the concept of breaking the fourth wall, clippings from Bergman’s film Autumn Sonata have been useful( so is Annie Hall). I also draw from modern Indian theatre- references to plays of Sriranga, Badal Sarkar and Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana enrich the discussion.