Emily McLaughlin

William Blake’s five-stanza poem “The fly” tries to see humanity in a fly. It narrates the poet’s act of thoughtlessness in brushing away a fly which leads to the contemplation of the act and its implications, which further reveals the essence of life as “thought is life” and the lack of it, death. As the stanzas proceed from observation，contemplation, and conclusion to revelation and liberation, I get an understanding of Blake’s philosophical system. In my essay, I will argue that Blake uses a…

Kamala Markandaya was born in 1924 a well educated and modern Brahmin family in a small village in South India. She was brought up in a healthy atmosphere with traditional and cultural values. She was the student of the University of Madras where she studied history between the years of 1940 to 1947.12 Besides studying at the University, she also worked as a journalist, wrote short stories and fiction. She has a good opportunity to travel through India and Europe; this helps her to get the…

In the villanelle structured poem, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,” written by Dylan Thomas is a transparent, yet raw expression of animosity and utter brawl towards annihilation of one’s life. Dylan Thomas embodied complex analogies, naturalistic imagery, and repetition to correspond to the elemental, impassioned theme of bereavement and fatality. While the poem advises one to be unyielding and relentless as death approaches until the last second, the author implies that death is…

Wuthering Heights is a “wild” place with wide open areas, a wet place and also with infertile land. Furthermore, Wuthering Heights can be: The Moors. At the beginning of the novel Heathcliff and Catherine lived there. Later in the story Catherine marries Edgar Linton and started living at Trushcross Grange. On the other hand, Thrushcross Grange its a more advanced area, with people with better manners. Its a town were we can call people: civilized. At Thrushcross Grange, we have the Linton’s.…

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and The Death of the Moth by Virginia Woolf can be compared and contrasted in only a few ways, I believe. Although short stories, both dive deep into the big questions of life. More importantly, they both question the significance of life itself. While The Death of the Moth is showing, at first, the playful and less significant side of life, being swept away by forces much greater than the moth which comes off almost as pathetic. The Story of an Hour starts…

How is the theme of tragedy presented in Lament and MId- Term Break? The poem lament is a famous poem written by Gillian Clarke. She was born in Wales and she was a poet but also a playwright, editor, and a translator. The poem lament is about the gulf war, which happened in August 1990 to February 1991. This is when Iraq invaded Kuwait; soon the USA and UK interfered by bombing Iraq. The word lament is an elegy this word is an expression that is used to show sorrow or grief. The title of the…

On the other hand there is Plath. As it was earlier mentioned critics define Sylvia Plath as a confessional poet, pre-feminist, suicidal poet who is obsessed to a certain extent with the theme of death. In Lady Lazarus the narrator is in 1st person this is shown through the use of “I”. The narrator is a narcissist who is obsessed with the idea of death and makes herself be undefeatable against death as she is “a sort of walking miracle.” This is one of the reasons why critics associated it as…

“Beautiful in the mind, Like a word we are waiting to hear”. Adrienne Rich was an amazing poet, her two poems I chose, “A Ball is for Throwing” and “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” not only captured my attention but required genuine thought while discussing them. In both of her works, Rich uses her work to show the importance of seizing the meaningful moments in your life. Both works have metaphors helping the reader understand what she truly means. In “A Ball is for Throwing” Rich uses the ball to…

The theme of death is a potent idea portrayed across a range of poems, throughout these poems it is presented in various different ways. It is portrayed as simply a part of the cycle of life, or a tragic and sorrowful event when happening to loved ones, or a great evil that should be fought with every ounce of strength left in your body until everything in life that you wanted to accomplish has been fulfilled. These themes are portrayed throughout the 3 key poems that I will be focusing on: ‘A…

the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace.” This was similar to how Emily Dickinson viewed death, it was not something to be feared, but something to be embraced. Many of Emily Dickinson’s poems focus on this theme of death. Emily Dickinson’s early life and encounters with death led to the themes of death and dying in Dickinson’s works “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Felt a Funeral…