Holy Sonnets

An analysis of Billy Collins poem, The Best Cigarette written in the 1990s, Collins' was Americas poet laureate from 2001 to 2003. In this poem The Best Cigarette, Collins' recounts some of his mainly positive memories that reflect him doing something that is associated simultaneously with the habit of smoking a cigarette., for example in the scenario after having sex with his partner he talks of the 'heralded' cigarette, to him this cigarette is his prize, something he likes doing. The act of…

It must be mentioned that, "Housman was a person for whom poetry, instead of being a complement to, was a substitute for music."3 Housman, despite his disinterest in music and song, granted permission to composers to set his poetry on the condition they could not print his poetry 1. John Sparrow. "Poet," in Alfred Edward Housman (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1937) 75. 2. B. J. Leggett. Housman's Land of Lost Content: A Critical Study of a Shropshire Lad (Knoxville: University of Tennessee…

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a narrative poem by T.S Elliot. It portrays the puzzling and obscure phrenic conceptions of the protagonist, Prufrock, as he guides the reader to what appears to be a peregrination. Throughout the poem’s irregular timeline, an alienated Prufrock repeatedly insists that there is something important he needs to tell the reader, but he continually states that he has time. The poem’s title insinuates that Prufrock is addressing someone he admires, or loves,…

William Wordsworth “The Daffodils” “The Daffodils” by William Wordsworth, this poem is a typical romantic poem that reflects the essence of romanticism, Now after this being said, I will discuss how the poem embodies the features of romanticism and how it illuminates the personal life of the poet whilst transcending the private into a human public experience, also the importance of the context in inspiring this poem and the secret collaboration of writing between Wordsworth and his…

Paradise Lost holds some of the greatest literary elements throughout its series of books. This work, by John Milton, showcases many persuasive skills and rhetoric. Aristotle once stated that rhetoric classifies as “the ability, in each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion.” Among the three main arguments in Paradise Lost, each carry, at least, one form of Aristotle’s rhetorics: Ethos, Pathos, and/or Logos. Whether it be Eve persuading Adam, or Satan persuading Eve, each…

In a scene where a character is confronted with frailty of life, George RR Martin's, A Game of Thrones, touches on the fear of death. However, unlike the book series people have not always been able to simply tell death "not today," and have a talented swordsman defend their life. In fact, from Everyman to modern day texts death is constantly studied. Thomas Gray's poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," shifts between a seemingly political poem to a in depth exploration of the concept of…

Tetrarch fastened his eyes on her with desire. However, Salome hated everything in the palace and was sick of those gazes full with lust. When hearing of the voice of Iokanaan (John), the Prophet, Salome was attracted by him. He was so special and holy that Salome fell in love with him immediately. However, she was rejected ruthlessly for she was the daughter of Herodias, the women of iniquity and sin, though Salome herself was sinless and her love to Iokanaan was pure. The lonely princess…

In the poem “Once We Were” from the book “Histories” by Charlie Samuya Veric, the poem sheds to light a couple whose tenderness which can also be considered as love in this regard was already present even at the beginning or the very start. It was a kind of tenderness or love that was eminent in a sense that it required no small gestures such as a ‘rose’ or a ‘kiss’ to prove it was there as stated in the poem in the lines “needing no white roses or such gesture as a kiss”. A white rose…

"Whate'er the critic says or poet sings,/'Tis no slight task to write on common things." This is a quote by Horace which was used in Byron’s satire, Don Juan. Byron connects the difficulty of his art to his unimaginative nature of his medium, being poetry. The words he uses have no magic in themselves. Byron writes poetry not with the use of individual words but with how the words form a relationship together and create poetry. Byron was a leading figure in the romantic era of poetry.…

“Miracles” is a poem that stresses that everything is in life is a miracle. From A cubic inch of space to animals feeding in the field are miracles. Every second in life is a miracle and some people don’t understand that. 2. The poet is addressing the world of what miracles are to him. It begins with a rhetorical question of,” Who makes much of a miracle?” The author shares his ideas of what miracles are after he says,” I know of nothing but miracles.” I know it is in the author's point of…