Elegy

reading about the “self,” in the three essays by Chee, Oates, and Diaz, the reader can see the mask they all wish to hide behind. In “Ordinary Girl,” Jaquira Diaz writes about her childhood and how she got away from it in the end. In “Lost Sisters: An Elegy,” Joyce Carol Oates talks mostly about her autistic sister and how Lynn was a gift, yet an accident. In “Girl,” Alexander Chee writes about his first and last time dressing in drag. In each of these essays there is some type of mask being…

effect. All three titles; The Parting, When We Two Parted, and Love’s Last Lesson have a negative impact when initially read with the loss of love instigated with the words ‘parting’, ‘parted’ and ‘last’. Drayton’s, Byron’s and Landon’s poems are elegies about the loss of a loved one, this can be seen through the use of solace language in each which is going to be elucidated. Drayton uses the format of a Shakespearian Sonnet in iambic pentameter with an ‘AB’ structure throughout, apart from the…

chances are you won’t live to tell the tale” (THT 242). One can know oneself only in adversity is a theme that is classically explored in Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness. Even Rilke could not write a word for years, and then he wrote The Duino Elegies in a couple of…

‘The rites of Cousin Vit’ is an elegy in the form of a sonnet. At first the poem seems to simply tell us that it is unbelievable Vit is dead as she was so lively. However upon a closer reading see the voice expressing her displeasure with her place in society through her admiration of Vit. Brooks explores the themes of mortality, vitality and femininity using techniques such as the meter of the poem and even the name of the character alongside the language of the poem in order to convey these…

Shakespeare uses various forms of poetry throughout the narrative. He begins with a prologue in the form of 14 online Shakespeare sonnet, spoken by a Chorus. Most of Romeo and Juliet was written in blank verse, and much of it in strict iambic pentameter, with a difference of less rhythmic than in most of the drama and Shakespeare. In choosing forms, Shakespeare poem against the character who uses it. Friar Laurence, for example, the use of sermons and form sententiae and nurse using a unique…

Charlotte Smith’s Sonnet III, ‘To a Nightingale’ could be considered to be a mournfully romantic tale of a nightingale singing a song of such sadness that the poet begins to question the tragedy of the nightingale, and then to consider a cause for its song of such profound despondence. The narrator then admits to being envious of the nightingale for its freedom to sing the song. The meaning of this sonnet will be explored through key elements of prominent moods, language and figurative language…

Richard Wilbur’s, “The Death of a toad” emulates on the exhibition on how even a toad goes through the passage of life or death. Through distinct diction and vivid imagery, wilbur gradually unfolds the feelings of the speaker from the speaker’s point of view. The toad’s death begins as a simple butchering but leads towards enlightenment. The sequence of events proceed from the transition of the speaker’s attitude as the poem progresses/ The poem starts off with the speaker containing a more…

only community left for him is in heaven. The “swan’s song” is echoed throughout the elegy, particularly in the first line, “I can sing a true song of myself” (“The Seafarer” l. 1). This “song” tells of the titular seafarer’s exile, his revelation that community is the most important part of life on earth, and his subsequent death that ends the elegy. In order to understand how the swan’s song impacts the elegy, it is important to understand how the Anglo-Saxons viewed swans. This Anglo-Saxon…

After being kidnapped from West Africa and enslaved in Boston, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American woman to publish a poetry book in 1773. Phillis Wheatley was born in West Africa in 1753. She was captured by slave traders and was brought to the U.S in 1761. Upon arriving in America, she was sold to the Wheatley family. Wheatley’s owner, Susannah Wheatley, and Mary wheatley began to educate Phillis in theology, literature, and history. Furthermore, within sixteen months of her…

The last line of anonymous’ Beowulf, “the best to his people, and most eager for fame” (1382), shows Beowulf’s character in that he always strived for the best reputation, and how he seemed to his people. Beowulf is the kind of person who is all about their reputation. Everything he does is to better how others think of him. To Beowulf, “death is better...than a life of shame” (2900-2901). Him being “most eager for praise” (1382) is shown any time he goes up against a foe. His honor is most…