The Book Of Hours Poem Analysis

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Rainer Maria Rilke masterfully used language throughout his volume, “The Book of Hours,” to draw on many existential questions pertinent not only to his time, but they are still relevant today. Some of the major themes of his work include questioning the concepts of God and death. Rilke is writing close to the beginning of World War 1, a time which F. Scott Fitzgerald claims consists of “a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken.” Although this quote came after World War 1 and “The Book of Hours” was published prior, this illustrates the type of generation that Rilke is growing with, and the influence of these dilemmas are central to Rilke’s works. I believe this idea is central to discovering the meaning behind Rilke’s poetry and deciphering his message. …show more content…
The two that primarily come into play with Rilke’s poetry are hieroglyphic and hieratic. Hieroglyphic language primarily consists of metaphor, language is used to literally translate some idea. Frye writes “All words inn this phase of language are concrete; there are no true verbal abstractions.” However, hieratic language is primarily categorized by allegory, and language is used to express internal ideas. Both of these forms of language play a large role in deciphering the purpose behind Rilke’s poetry. There are moments of both direct diction as well as symbolic representation within the work, and to truly grasp what Rilke intends, both must be

One's Self I Sing Poem Analysis

Whitman’s inspired poetry does not reliably fit within any specific classification of traditional form. He wrote with variable feet, stress, rhyme and rhythm but he uses many poetic devises that give his poetry shape. In an excerpt of “I Sing the Body Electric” Whitman describes the human form but asserts that the form is not the whole of a person, merely collection of parts. When taken together these parts are inhabited, Whitman insists, and become imbued and inseparable from the soul. In this way Whitman maintains that the shape of the soul is the sum of its parts – while still being greater.…

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E. E Cumming Poem Analysis

e.e. cummings to hell with literature – we want something redblooded lousy with pure reeking with stark and fearlessly obscene edward estlin cummings, commonly referred to as e.e cummings satirises the use of literary pretentiousness in his 1935 volume titled No Thanks from which the above lines are taken. Although this is not the poem being focussed on, it is a clear summarisation of e.e cummings and his outlook on poetry. Already we are given a clear idea of his stance and unique view on poetry. Not to mention the fact that most of us can surely relate to the line to hell with literature after this assessment piece.…

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Poetry And Narrative Poetry In Robert Wrightson's Ludlow

According to poet Rita Dove, “Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.” This quote helps us understand why poems come in so many different styles, forms, and subjects. If one thinks of poetry as a whole, perhaps the first poem that surfaces the mind would be a poem in lyrical verse. This more general form of poetry is indeed how the vast majority of poems are written. However, the more classic form of poetry, or perhaps the more ancient form of poetry, is found in epic form, which is known as narrative verse. Poetry in narrative verse simply tells a story, and it is often objective and will dramatize the crisis or climax.…

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Cleanth Brooks And Robert Penn Warren's Poetry As A Way Of Saying

(1253) Instead of breezing right through the poem, the reader tends to pause and absorb each line and the meaning she is trying to communicate within it. Thomas, on the other hand, uses very powerful, fast-moving words such as “Rage, rage” and “Curse, bless” to give his poem strength and intense impact (1182). This togetherness, or verbal sound, in each poem makes it easier to follow and hear, which, in turn, is “another aspect of the ‘naturalness’ of poetry that Brooks and Warren claim is needed within the poem (3). Brooks and Warren suggest that metaphor in poetry is a “natural—even essential—way of expression” and that although it can be considered a “way of saying,” it can also be what is being “said” (4-5). Dickinson uses several metaphors in her poem.…

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Homer's Illiad And The Trojan War

The Homer’s of Illiad is one of the first best books to talk about suffering and loss of war just like the war in Iraq. War is inextricably bound up by human-kind to tell stories about how they defeated and concord the mission, but losing your life to do so is pointless. Loss and suffering have affected many soldiers, and caused great grief to the hearts of the soldiers love one. In addition, to fighting for a task and wanting to restore takes on many years of countless battles against their enemies, which could be done in a different way instead of war. Fighting is leading into killing decrease the population of both parties, therefore families can’t see their love one nor the soldier can’t express what emotional impact one’s family member has made on his or her…

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Importance Of Imagism In Poetry

Incorporating direct speech into poetry, or straight talk as Pound called it, was also one of their main goals. By turning poetry into a spoken art, common speech became their new unit of rhythm. Trivial, commonplace topics were as valid as precious Greek urns or elusive nightingales. Abstraction was to be avoided at all costs” Harmer mentions that, “The exact word does not mean the word which exactly describes the object in itself, it means the exact word which brings the effect of that object before the reader as it presented itself to the poet’s mind at the time of wiring the poem” (p.46). What is important is to use the word that brings out the effect of the object to the reader.…

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An Analysis Of Borges's 'The Mirror Of Ink'

Ink, conversely, is muddled and opaque. A mirror of ink seems inherently problematic. One can’t see themselves in ink, and unlike a mirror, ink absorbs light and image rather than rebounding and reflecting it. However, ink serves as a metaphorical mirror both to the soul and the world. Ink, when used to create stories and poems, speeches and letters, and other forms of the written word, is perhaps the most profound and reflective of all mirrors (literal or otherwise).…

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Wilfred Owen Futility Poem Essay

Since his death in 1918, at age 25, many have come to believe that Wilfred Owen is the greatest poet of the First World War. Through personal experiences as a soldier and his struggles with battle induced psychological trauma, Owen’s poetry revealed the brutality of World War I. Nature, religion, and the horrors of warfare were key pivotal components in Wilfred Owen’s writing. Owen considered the horrors of warfare as a loss of innocence because men were not prepared to fight and did not understand the insanity of war. Owen explores the lived experience of the soldiers in his poems by contrasting the events of war itself against a backdrop of the natural world.…

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Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, My Bondage And My Freedom

It takes a certain writing flare to strongly communicate or give color to a text. Anyone can write, but it’s more about how you communicate to your audience versus just plain old writing. Alliterations, metaphors, similes, and so on can help in creating a vivid narration. Frederick Douglass uses a variety of figurative language in his pieces, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and My Bondage and My Freedom. His use of figurative language, strong verbs, and the fact this his collection of writings is a narrative style format is also the reason it is so effortless to read and understand his literature.…

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Three Aspects Of Poetic Poetry In Hegel's Lyrical Poetry

He says of lyrical poetry the general idea of a poem is individual in situation and concerns, and of the poet, his or her mind is of subjective judgement on feelings and through such experiences the mind comes to consciousness of itself. The contents of lyrical poetry are extreme in variety and touch life in every direction. Lyrical poetry, Hegel believes is inherently universal, and touches on the depth of human faith, ideas and knowledge. From this, any single idea, though it must be the whole soul of a feeling, is seized in its deeper essential character and made permanent in its expression. The soul of the feeling is only what matters, not through which it embodies.…

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The Book Of Hours Poem Analysis

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