Jill Bolte Taylor

Introduction One of the vital challenges which mankind has always faced is alienation. The nineteenth century gothic novels, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1845-46), artistically demonstrate the never ending cycle of being an outcast in society and share the common point in presenting the character’s sense of disjunction and alienation. Frankenstein is the petrifying account of a brute which was given life and fabricated by Victor Frankenstein and…

Romanticism, originating in Europe around the 18th century, is a period of art and literature that was created in retaliation against intellectualism and the rigidity of social structure during the Enlightenment. Romanticism was characterised by specific features directly countering the ideals of The Enlightenment including, celebration of the individual, awe of nature, interest in the common man and strong senses of emotion, all these of which I believe analyzation is necessary. Although all…

What is the function of the trope of the fall in literature? In W.H. Auden’s poem “Musee des Beaux Arts”, the trope, abiding by convention, illustrates a metaphoric fall. In his poem, Auden refers to both mythology and the bible to convey the suffering of man and humankind, exemplified through the tale of Icarus. Though Auden succinctly addresses the suffering of humankind, Auden most notably highlights the fallen nature of bystanders to said suffering. In his poem, Auden uses both rhetoric and…

Diving into William Wordsworth’s Life Love for nature, strong emotions about life, and a wild imagination are all traits of the Romantic era. The people in the Romantic era enjoyed writing poetry about the things listed. The greatest poet of the Romanticism era is not Emily Dickinson or Walter Scott, even though they are great too, but it is William Wordsworth. Wordsworth is known as the Father of the Romanticism period. He has many famous literary works such as The Prelude, “I Wander Lonely…

Throughout the play of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, things always have a twist to them. Deception, which is defined as “the act of tricking someone by telling them something that is not true”, can be seen in the play through the main characters of deception, which are Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the witches. Women characters are portrayed as manipulative and deceiving characters throughout the play. In the very first scene, it begins with the witches saying “Fair is foul, and foul is…

Besides captivating readers through the retelling of past events, Tennyson used his poetry to consider social issues of the Victorian era. However, unlike his rival Elizabeth Barrett Browning, he never outright proclaimed his stance. Alternatively, Tennyson’s poems rely on an active participation from the reader to provide them with meaning. Instead of telling the reader what to believe, Tennyson’s mission was to encourage discussion about Victorian social issues. Similarly, in his poem, The…

Mortality versus immortality. These two aspects are portrayed together in Sonnet 25. The poet is trying to convey the message of how happy he is in his current state of love. He may not be one of the noblemen who have great riches and fame, but he is content. The fame will not last forever, but his love will. Nothing can compare to the love state that he is currently in. Though sonnet 25 is not one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets, I wanted to take the time to find a deeper meaning in this…

Theseus and the minotaur. in this story theseus takes place of one of the people who are chosen to be sent off to another island to be put in a maze and face their death. his dad waits for his return while theseus is there. when thesus arrives there is seen by the kings daughter which she immediately picks him out over all the other men due to his looks. when theseus is put in a holding cell with the rest of his village mates the kings daughter comes to pay him a visit. while she is there she…

The late 19th century gave rise to the “Positivist Age”, a period experienced in both Europe and America in which scientific progress and rational thought was beginning to be widely accepted and trusted. This transformation in political and religious ideals was paralleled in the arts through the rejection of Romanticism because it did not show accuracy of the real, observable world. Konstantin Makovsky’s painting The Russian Bride’s Attire, is a decorative piece that depicts the revival of…

“Diving into the Wreck” is a poem that is an experience, rather than a poem about an experience. The diver has read a book of myths and decided that she must go on a journey alone to discover the past, whether it is her own past or everyone’s past. Adrienne Rich uses a book of myths, a ladder, and the ocean as symbols to illustrate the quest an androgynous narrator who ventures off to discover the truth. The book of myths is the first and last image of “Diving into the Wreck”. It is given the…