Poetry is a literary medium that allows the author to put their heart on a piece of paper without the rules of writing applying. Happiness, anger, depression and hate all passed through the pen to give the reader a glimpse of the world that they may normally not see. A Modest Proposal written by Jonathan Swift in 1729 and Ulysses written by Alfred Lord Tennyson in 1833 are prime examples of the passion that can be conveyed with the word. Swift and Tennyson write from a vastly different spectrum of emotion. Even with both authors taking a passive stance on their subjects, Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a satirical essay that conveys a sadness and anger at the station gap and poverty in 1700’s Ireland while Tennyson portrays the depression
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He portrays Ulysses as a ruler who spent the majority of his life at sea and the turmoil he felt at returning home. In the first verse Ulysses is portrayed as an idle king, who spent the majority of his life away while life in his homeland and loved ones continued to move on. He barely recognizes the laws of the land and the citizens who live there. (Tennyson 1-4) Ulysses feels out of place on land, since he spent the majority of life at sea, and finds himself falling back into the memories of his adventures and the soldiers he shared his life. (Tennyson 6-10) Ulysses had lived a full life, one that many would have envied and seen more of the world and experienced everything that a mariner would dream of. (Tennyson 11-15) The problem arises, however, when that adventure stops. Ulysses laments on how hard it is to leave that life. “How dull it is to pause, to make an end.” (Tennyson 22) Ulysses starts to realize that this life has passed him by. He no longer is fit to rule his people and determines that his son, Telemachus, is destined to take his place. Telemachus is a mild man who is prudent and vanilla while he does not share his father’s wandering spirt. (Tennyson 33-41) With a successor, who is better to lead his people, Ulysses feels less useful than ever. Since he spends the majority of his time living in the past, the ghosts of his fallen comrades start to …show more content…
These common themes of poetry are delivered in two different ways. Swift chose the approach of overt extremism of using children as a cheap renewable food source like cattle in his satire piece A Modest Proposal. That obviously controversial topic would emit an emotion from the reader, most likely outrage, at first. Upon further reading, the reader would start to realize that the story is not about children but more about the class differential of Ireland and the unfair state that the lower class lives in. Tennyson used more of an indirect aggressive approach in the first person life story of Ulysses. Once again this story mirrors life in general. When a worker reaches a certain age and leaves the only life they ever know, there is a feeling of emptiness and fear of the future. The world is different and the worker does not fit in anymore. Both authors use a depressing tone of their works, in the end however Tennyson ends on a note of hope. Once your time is coming to the end, you have two choices. You may roll over and die in a heap of nothingness or you can fight and go out with a
He portrays Ulysses as a ruler who spent the majority of his life at sea and the turmoil he felt at returning home. In the first verse Ulysses is portrayed as an idle king, who spent the majority of his life away while life in his homeland and loved ones continued to move on. He barely recognizes the laws of the land and the citizens who live there. (Tennyson 1-4) Ulysses feels out of place on land, since he spent the majority of life at sea, and finds himself falling back into the memories of his adventures and the soldiers he shared his life. (Tennyson 6-10) Ulysses had lived a full life, one that many would have envied and seen more of the world and experienced everything that a mariner would dream of. (Tennyson 11-15) The problem arises, however, when that adventure stops. Ulysses laments on how hard it is to leave that life. “How dull it is to pause, to make an end.” (Tennyson 22) Ulysses starts to realize that this life has passed him by. He no longer is fit to rule his people and determines that his son, Telemachus, is destined to take his place. Telemachus is a mild man who is prudent and vanilla while he does not share his father’s wandering spirt. (Tennyson 33-41) With a successor, who is better to lead his people, Ulysses feels less useful than ever. Since he spends the majority of his time living in the past, the ghosts of his fallen comrades start to …show more content…
These common themes of poetry are delivered in two different ways. Swift chose the approach of overt extremism of using children as a cheap renewable food source like cattle in his satire piece A Modest Proposal. That obviously controversial topic would emit an emotion from the reader, most likely outrage, at first. Upon further reading, the reader would start to realize that the story is not about children but more about the class differential of Ireland and the unfair state that the lower class lives in. Tennyson used more of an indirect aggressive approach in the first person life story of Ulysses. Once again this story mirrors life in general. When a worker reaches a certain age and leaves the only life they ever know, there is a feeling of emptiness and fear of the future. The world is different and the worker does not fit in anymore. Both authors use a depressing tone of their works, in the end however Tennyson ends on a note of hope. Once your time is coming to the end, you have two choices. You may roll over and die in a heap of nothingness or you can fight and go out with a