In both texts, the Universal Theme is that war takes away the things we love and hold dear to ourselves. We can see an example of this in Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, the sonnet-ballad
The Voices of War Student Joshua Hosking has a knack for the study of war and poetry and has in the past had a one on one interview with a veteran from the Vietnam War (1954 - 1975). War: it’s a bloody, brutal and cruel experience for all sides. One minute you’re peering out of your trench; then the next, you have a bullet torn through your skull.
Humans are a fragile species, and we are capable of dying at any moment regardless if we are ready or not. In Sherman Alexie’s “War Dances”, he illustrates the narrator’s coping with death and compares it to that of those around him. Upon figuring out that his death is no longer a looming threat, the narrator goes back to living life as if nothing happened cementing the idea that the threat of death is ever present but we choose to live as if it is not. Throughout the short story, Alexie utilizes the narrator’s experiences with the deaths of others and with the threat of his own to demonstrate the theme that death is always a possibility and there are many ways of coping with it. The narrator is hopeless about fighting his own death but utilizes humor to cope with the idea of dying.
Angel Garay Estefes Professor Dayna Castle 2333 3 February 2016 A Comparison between Two Sonnets In “Mezzo Cammin”, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and in “When I Have Fears”, by John Keats, the two poems express, through metaphors and symbolism, how each of them feel about the limited time that they have left and both of the authors take death as something that is inevitable. However, Keats has an overall attitude of negativity and hopelessness over the thought of him dying too soon while Longfellow expresses a positive attitude which shows that he is willing to do his best until his death.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow uses imagery in “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” and “A Psalm of Life” to show his outlook on life and death. He uses footprints as imagery in both poems. In “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” Longfellow shows how the tide washes away footprints. In “A Psalm of Life” he shows that footprints stay and other people can see them. Though they are different outlooks, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow shows his outlooks on life and death in “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” and “A Psalm of Life.”
One of the things that happened in World War I that changed poets opinion on war was the mass death that occurred in the war. In total the casualties add up to about 37 million. That is more than half of the soldiers that were mobilized. The total number of deaths shows how much pain there was for so many people when they found their loved ones to be dead. That had to impact a lot of people all over and poets must've seen how badly War had hurt not only soldiers but everyone.
Many of his poems used a magnificent rhyme and rhythm pattern that captures the audience in a way that singing a song does in the modern world. In his poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” he uses different elements to pull in the reader. Symbolism is mostly noted in this poem, and in the poem says “The fate of a nation was riding that night" this pushes the American audience into thinking that they too are fighting in the war. Longfellow creates this dynamic setting by using every American’s inner patriotism to get the reader to engage deeper into the story. Further in this story you read “And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight”, giving a great example of metaphor.
Whitman and Dickinson share the theme of death in their work, while Whitman decides to speak of death in a more realistic point of view, Dickinson speaks of the theme in a more conceptual one. In Whitman’s poems, he likes to have a more empathic view of individuals and their ways of living. For example, in Whitman’s “Song of Myself”, the poet talks about not just of himself, but all human beings, and of how mankind works into the world and the life of it. Even though the poem mostly talks about life and the happiness of it, Whitman describes also that life itself has its ending, and that is the theme of death. For Dickinson, she is the complete opposite of happiness.
Comparative Essay How can different perceptions about one topic be expressed in poetry? The main theme that the two sets of poems convey is war, but it’s expressed in different point of views through the use of diction that builds tone. The tones of these poems play a big role in conveying the differences between the different eras that these poems are written in, and shows how societies have changed from the Victorian era till the time of World War I. The diction and tone in Borden and Owen’s poems is so much different than the diction and tone in Lovelace and Tennyson’s poems due to different perspectives and point of views. In all four poems the main idea is war, but each set conveys a perspective of war, a positive perspective
Write a poem (36 lines minimum) or three poems (12 lines each) about life during the war as a soldier. You may include as many of the following topics as you wish (you must include one): hope, despair, justness of the war, the experience of being wounded, death, poison gas, artillery, or machine guns. I left my children to protect their future, Although I thought about them in my sleep. They went to school but there was no teacher, So all they could do was weep.
In Longfellow 's “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” and “Cross of Snow” the power of nature is shown through the incorporation of repetition and metaphors, which reveal truths about human life. For example, the repetition of “the tide rises, the tides fall” (5,10,15) at the end of every stanza helps reveal an important truth of life. The truth that is revealed by the use of repetition is that life
In the poems “Disabled” by Wilfred Owen and “The Bright Lights of Sarajevo” by Tony Harrison, both poems present the truths of war. However, both differ in terms of setting and contrast that help depicts the similarities between their theme. Disabled takes place within World War I as Owen vividly describes the subject’s amputation, but the poem is centered around the subject’s adjustment to civilian life after war. In The Bright Lights of Sarajevo although Harrison discusses the consequences of partaking in war in the town, he illustrates the way in which life goes on regardless the horrific impact. Through use of setting and contrast, both poets contribute to presenting the theme of the realities of war.
The poem that stood out the most while reading this assortment of Emily Dickinson poems, was her poem numbered 656/520. This poem used imagery in numerous ways throughout in order to show the audience the important themes and the overall meaning of this work of literature. The poem’s main theme was about a walk on the beach that the poet encountered in the early morning. Although the poem is about a beach it can also give the audience contextual clues into other aspects of life.
In this poem Henry Longfellow describes a seaside scene in which dawn overcomes darkness, thus relating to the rising of society after the hardships of battle. The reader can also see feelings, emotions, and imagination take priority over logic and facts. Bridging the Romantic Era and the Realism Era is the Transcendental Era. This era is unusual due to it’s overlapping of both the Romantic and Realism Era. Due to its coexistence in two eras, this division serves as a platform for authors to attempt to establish a new literary culture aside from the rest of the world.
The Transcendentalist movement specifically focused on the potential of the individual. A reaction to poor working conditions due to the Industrial Revolution, the Transcendentalist movement called for a return to nature and a forging of one’s own destiny. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life” mirrors these ideals. Longfellow celebrates the beauty of life and reminds his readers of what the lives of great individuals before them have showed to the world. He encourages boldly “Let us, then, be up and doing. . .