Harley Allen

Mushrooms Poetry Analysis A quiet revolution: perhaps oxymoronic sounding upon first glance. However, this poem paints a picture of a story about exactly that, doing so through a subtle metaphor and simple but powerful visual imagery. Though a poem about the oppression of a group of people, it does not tell a story of despair. Quite the opposite, speaking instead of an uprising of a different sort, of hope as modest as mushrooms themselves. Mushrooms may seem at first like a very peculiar…

Gary Snyder’s “Axe Handles,” is a short poem, it gives a description of a small domestic story in which it extends into a meditation on parenting, a transmission of cultural knowledge, and the actual importance of old fashion wisdom to ordinary, everyday life. Mediate parenting was the actual intention that author, Gary Snyder, tend to accomplish. The poet (who speaks the poem), tells about teaching his son Kai, on an April afternoon, how to throw a hatchet so deftly that it will lodge into a…

post war. The Origin of the Beats was in 1943, Allen Ginsberg meets Lucien Carr at Columbia University. Carr introduces Ginsberg to Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs. From there, the Beat Generation arises and their movement was faced with criticism along the way. The Beats received harsh criticism and negative backlash from the public, critics, and other observers. Despite the negativity, The Beat Generation prevailed throughout their journey. Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl was banned due to…

In the poem “London,” William Blake uses imagery to elucidate political and religious corruption, condemning both church and state while accentuating the utter hopelessness and despair of the city’s prevailing social condition. This poem was written during the Industrial Revolution, when the changing times were leaving the poor behind to suffer. There was also great tension due to fighting with France that resulted from the French Revolutionary Wars. The overall experience provided by the…

Walt Whitman is considered one of America's most influential poets. Many of his works celebrated democracy, nature, and love. Whitman’s work aimed to mirror the potential freedoms to be found in America through traditional epics. His love for America and its democracy can be attributed to his upbringing and his parents. During this time, the topic of change was uppermost in Whitman’s mind as the America of the 1850s drifted inexorably towards civil war. The America Walt Whitman lived in was…

William Blake was one of the great first-generation Romantic poets. In his poetry, Blake uses many variations of archetypes, which are basically symbols and represent a specific idea. Although Blake did not use the word 'archetype,' he understood the concept very well. Blake was very interested in philosophy and had an amazing view of nature and life. In his poetry, he often uses animals as his archetypes, such as in “The Lamb” and “The Tyger.” The archetypes he uses in his series of poems…

The poem “America” by Walt Whitman has a respectful tone. Whitman appeared to have great respect for American Society. There are some words throughout his poem that contribute to the respectful tone. The first word that contributes to the tone is equal. Whitman observed that there were “equal daughters, equal sons.” Equality appeared to be important to Whitman, so the fact that America provided the opportunity for everyone to be equal was something that Whitman showed his respect in the tone of…

Alcatraz Alcatraz was the most remote prison in the world. The worst criminals that no other prison could hold were sent to Alcatraz. It is supposed to be nearly impossible to escape.There are only three prisoners in the world that have proven that theory wrong. The problem with these three is that no one has complete proof that they survived or if they drowned on their way. Evidence has shown that Frank Morris and Clarence and John Anglin survived their escape (Hopkinson 6). This paper is…

In the poem “I Hear America Singing,” Walt Whitman, in his traditional patriotic style, tells a story about America during the nineteenth century. At first glance, the poem seems simplistic—incongruous with the complex works of other poets of the day such as Emily Dickinson. Although the poem does not have a specific rhyming scheme or require a large amount of imagination, it still communicates a powerful story to its readers. The message that Whitman delivers in eleven short lines is one that…

Howling at the Skull: An Analysis of the Intellectual Institutions in Allen Ginsberg’s Famous Poem There were many events in the 1950’s that cause poverty to the community for instance; there were rebellious youth, wars, and government system issues. Society was very unorganized like the Howl mentioned some of the events that occurred that time period. In addition to this, there were also some other issues that became popular during the 1950’s. The beat generation, for example, became popular…