John Taylor Gatto

In many stories and poems, there is always another story that is similar to or relates to that poem or story, but there are also many stories it completely differs from. Whether both stories or poems are from the same author or not they have similarities and differences. Kubla Khan and Rime of the Ancient Mariner are two poems that compare and contrast in the most touching way. Kubla Khan is the poem of Xanadu it is a poem that talks about the Kubla Khan and visions he has while listening to…

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner The Rime of the Ancient Mariner has many symbols in the story, the most prominent being the Christian symbolism, especially with what the mariner does to the albatross and how it affects the seafarers and their journey. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is different from many of Coleridge 's works, especially with the archaic language, length, and the strange moral in the story. The story begins with a simple, unnamed man who is going to a wedding before the…

body of God”, or “Human existence itself. His paintings and poetry have been characterized as part of both the Romantic Movement and “Pre-Romantic” movement. William Wordsworth: William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1978 joint publication Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth magnum opus is generally considered to be The Prelude a semiautobiographical poem of his early years which the poet…

CPE Bach’s Fantasia in F Sharp Minor and the 18th Century Sublime This is going to be an essay about how CPE Bach’s Fantasia in F Sharp Minor could relate to some of the 18th century ideas of the sublime. In the eighteenth century, there were a lot of differing ideas as to what, exactly, the sublime entailed. I shall mostly be concerning myself with those of Edmund Burke, as written in “A Philosophical Inquiry Into The Origin Of Our Ideas Of The Sublime And Beautiful”, though many of the other…

While it is easy for one to give up on their goals and move on, one can truly show strength by conquering the various challenges on their way to success. Homer’s, The Odyssey, is able to depict how persistence can lead to fulfillment. Homer’s purpose in the epic poem The Odyssey is to show society that though there are setbacks in life, one can overcome them with perseverance by employing katabasis by emphasize the various struggles Odysseus faces. Homer utilizes katabasis initially to…

Introduction This essay is a critical analysis of the poem Shower by the Australian writer Les Murray. Les Murray was born in 1938 in New South Wales/Australia. He grew up in a poor farming family, and his love for nature and the Australian landscapes, which shows in his poetry, developed early. Murray writes about his “love of the land, the tensions between rural and urban life”, and “the struggle for an independent means of expression” (Poetry archive, date unknown)1. The poem Shower is, as…

“Dover Beach”: In his “Dover Beach,” Matthew Arnold employs images related to the ocean to establish a theme relating to the cyclical nature of human life. Specifically, he refers to the continuation of misery throughout an individual’s life. This allusion to cycles is supported throughout the poem through the use of tidal imagery. For example, he refers to the French coast and how “the light gleams and is gone” (3-4) This is significant as light often works as a symbol of hope. Therefore, this…

Samuel Butler once said, “Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with 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…

The Scarlet Letter: Prompt 2 Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo Emerson were among a group of authors known as the Romantics that valued feeling over reason, imagination over science, and nature over civilization. These ideals are commonly displayed in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Like any writers of the same time period, Hawthorne and Emerson may have never completely accepted each other's beliefs, however the characters that Hawthorne creates agree with Emerson’s advice, “[d]o not go where…

Isolation in Frankenstein “Solitude was my only consolation – deep, dark, deathlike solitude.” In chapters 9 and 10 Victor Frankenstein isolates himself from his family and all the people that reminded him of the monster that he has created. We also see isolation in the creation of Frankenstein’s monster in chapters 11 and 12. Isolation is the state of being separated from other people. Victor Frankenstein and the monster isolated themselves from society, but for different reasons and it…