The fragmentary poem “Christabel” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is an enigma--full of descriptions that may simply be adding to the atmosphere of the poem, or may actually be symbolic references to the potentially supernatural nature of Geraldine. The relationship between Geraldine and Christabel is full of ambiguity as well--is the reader meant to interpret Christabel merely wanting to help Geraldine, or could she possibly have romantic feelings for her houseguest? Because of these many questions and ambiguities contained within the text, “Christabel” is a good poem to look at through the theoretical lens of Deconstruction, which is a school of literary criticism concerned with double readings and multiple meanings.
“Double reading” refers to the way that Deconstructionists analyze a text. The way in which they do this is starting out with a single way to interpret a text, but then going on to show how the language is unstable and does not adhere to one single meaning, thus showing there’s not a single way to interpret the text (Parker, 89). The purpose of this practice is to show how there is not a single meaning for anything, that everything has multiple meanings, and the systems that language is based on is already broken (Parker, 87). In “Christabel”, there are sections that a Deconstructionist reading would be interested in, particularly near the beginning, and after Geraldine is brought to the castle. There
In these scenes, there are specific moments that can lend
While the number of sentences in a paragraph varies – sometimes six, sometimes ten, sometimes more – their length changes to give the essay an almost musical rhythm. Even in the longer sentences the mind’s eyes is tickled by Parker’s constant use of figurative language, humor, description chock-full of metaphors and adjectives, and allusions to the biblical, the supernatural, and the historical (especially so in paragraph five). All of these elements work in tandem to slowly but surely illustrate and finally reach Parker’s point as they hold an audience member’s attention and give him a way to slip in facts and citations without boring the
Imagine darkness, sin, and the desire to keep it all hidden from yourself and the outside world. Together Poe and Hawthorne paint this picture of traits which consist of suspense and darkness. Within the stories “Tell Tale Heart” and “Ministers Black Veil”, the two authors writing styles are vividly comparable. With the comparison of these short stories, it becomes more than feasible to feel the true emotion and movement that Poe and Hawthorne wished to give to their readers.
The interpretation is important to the story because it shows that the perception of a person is not always who they are, leading to the realization that it is necessary to not be blinded by first
Ambiguity or fallacy of ambiguity is a word, phrase or statement, which contains more than one meaning. Ambiguity is usually a technique used in a text to generate confusion for the reader. For instance, " The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen is a short narrative that shows this previous characteristic, since it can be interpreted in several ways such as: it is a ghost story or it's simply about a mentally unstable protagonist ( Kathleen). Personally I believe it is just a story about a mentally unstable woman for reasons such as : trauma for having her husband lost and presumably dead, trauma for the war and several other descriptions in the text.
It is important to state that losing a loved one, especially the person you share your life with, is a much dramatic if not traumatic event.
Some poems are lengthy, and some poems can be very short, however when analyzed, they all express a deeper message. For example, when examining the poem, "The Changeling," by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the reader can easily spot the important message which the author is trying to reveal to the reader through the use of poetic devices. When closely reading this poem, the language and the terminology applied by Cofer enhances the readers ability to make connections between the theme of this poem and how it can be applied to real world scenarios.
The poetic devices incorporated into the poem, "The Changeling," reflect on how young children interpret gender roles in their own way.
Through the words reflecting melancholy and sorrow, we can sense the narrator's self destruction due to the death of the woman he loved. As one examines the figurative language of the poem, one finds that its form and
In the “Minister's Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne looks to convey the wrongs of the Puritan faith through a character in his story. Hawthorne effectively does this through his use of Mr. Hooper, a man who embodies all of the Puritan faith and a man who would be admired by many of his religion. Hawthorne uses both Mr. Hooper and the veil Hooper wears to portray and criticize the issues of sin and morality within the Puritan faith.
Before diving in to all that Hawthorne exposes of the Puritan faith, historical context is vital to understanding Hawthorne’s purpose of writing his story.
A great part about analyzing things is that there is no one right answer. Literary works can be interpreted in many ways, none of which are flat out wrong is you can explain your
In Gothic literature, authors use ambiguity to create suspense and add scary details to their stories. Ambiguity defines the Gothic genre by developing questions and have the audience wanting more. The author of “Where is Here?” uses ambiguity more effectively than other Gothic authors like Edgar Alan Poe and Josie Couterez because of the use of fear of the unknown and the frustration of unanswered questions.
The poem, “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe dramatizes the theme of everlasting love. The use of contrasting diction effectively conveys this message. For example, the speaker states, “That the wind came out of the cloud by night, / Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee” (26-26). Poe uses the wind to represent a disease, such as tuberculosis. In addition, the choice of the words, “chilling” and “killing” and the use of cacophony emphasize Annabel Lee’s death and the effect it had on the speaker.
One perspective of the message of the film could be the power of media. The controlled town Seaheaven could symbolise our society. Peter Weir, the director of the film, could be using Seaheaven to portray our environment as controlled by media. In that case would Christof symbolise the media. Weir is pointing out how far the media is willing to go to gain an audience.
With this, readers could sense that the narrator is jealous, grouchy, and angry that Robert’s presence affects the narrator’s wife because of the connection between both the wife and Robert. The author prepares readers for the enlightenment when Robert came for a visit and that is how cathedral came about. The narrator explains, “The TV showed this one cathedral” (110). In this scene, the narrator and Robert bonded about the appearance of the cathedral. Instantly, the narrator says to Robert, “Do you have any idea what a cathedral is?
Rhetorical Analysis of Jonathan edwards’s
Sinners in the hand of an angry god: jeremiad
Jonathan edwards, is known as one of the most important religious figures of the great awakening, edwards became known for his zealous sermon “sinners at the hand of an angry god”. During his sermon he implies that if his congregation does not repent to christ they are in “danger of great wrath and infinite misery”. Throughout this sermon edwards uses literary devices such as strong diction, powerful syntax and juxtaposition to save his congregation from eternal damnation.
Throughout Edwards’s sermon the use of turgid diction is exceedingly prevalent.
‘Annabel Lee’ by Edgar Allan Poe is an eminently beautiful yet tragic poem centred around the theme of a forbidden love between two people, and the many obstacles that they overcome in order to be together. At the same time the poem relates back to a man’s undying love for his wife in which even death is unable to hinder.
From the beginning of the poem, I realized Poe to be an articulate person who has a beautiful way with words, as he describes the origin of his love story between himself and Annabel Lee. This was shown in Stanza 1 where I identified him to be a kind and doting person, as he continues to talk about a maiden from the kingdom by the sea whom only wished to love and be loved by Poe. As this was written by Poe and shown from
Historical criticism strives to cognize a literary work by examining the social, cultural, and intellectual context that essentially includes the artist’s biography and milieu. Historical critics are more concerned with guiding readers through the use of identical connotation rather than analyzing the work’s literary significance. (Brizee and Tompkins). The journey of a historical reading begins with the assessment of how the meaning of a text has altered over time. In many cases, when the historical context of a text is not fully comprehended, the work literature cannot be accurately interpreted.
