Randall Jarrell

The poems “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy, “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen and “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell all have an anti-war theme. They all have different settings of where the war takes place. Hardy’s poem takes place during the Boer War where many of the women and children died in camps. Owen’s poem takes place during World War I on the battle field and Jarrell’s poem takes place in a B-17 bomber during World War II. All of these authors have similar…

to take part in what could be known as “homicide” as they would go on to kill their enemies, most of them belonging to same age. It is no wonder that the horribleness and atrocity of war is a common theme among poets. The literary works of Owen, Jarrell, and Komunyakaa asserts that war causes severe damages to humanity and no one should go through its ruthlessness. In Wilfred Owen’s poem, “Dulce et Decorum Est” the poet uses his own war experience to strongly argue against the idea that war is…

Poets’ work shape their careers and are almost always influenced by their backgrounds or experiences that changed their lives. During high school, E.E. Cummings was educated in what was thought to be “the last generation to be educated in precisely this manner” (Docherty) of a “sound classical education” that resulted in him adopting many poetic strategies. E.E. Cummings then attended Harvard University where he was introduce to the avant-garde writers of Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. These two…

literature to their own life experience. Although reading into a biography of an author hits one limitation of formalism, it helps readers better their understanding of the message in the text. In the poem, “ The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” Randall Jarrell writes, “ I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters/When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.”(5-6). Instantly reading this, readers cannot indicate a clear message or understanding from what is written. Formalism…

Technology is such a big part of our lives that we often forget that there is more than one way to remember the past or any event for that matter. When we see a picture for example, we are immediately taken back to that moment. Right in front of us we have the surroundings, the people, or even the things that were there the day it was taken. Although we do not realize it, when we read a poem there is a very similar effect. If we close our eyes we can can see the picture that the poet is trying…

“The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams is an example of a classic tragedy. However, the characters in the drama do not encounter death. The characters encounter family instability, abandonment, and resentment. The title of this drama accurately represents these characters. Amanda, the mother of family, refers to her daughter Laura’s collection of glass figurines as a glass menagerie. This means her collection acts as a glass zoo filled with animal figurines. Yet, “The Glass Menagerie” could…

The Death Motif in the Poems of Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson is one of the few still popular female American poets of the nineteenth century and she is the only woman, who has been admitted into the poetry canon. Why is that and how does her poetry differ from the poems of her contemporaries? I argue that her unconventionality, especially her interest in the death motif, is the key to her lasting popularity and success. First of all, I want to talk about women´s role and their poetry in the…

One of the driving forces for today’s rising rates of depression and suicide are the dozens of stigmas that pollute the field of psychology. However, one of the most potent and overlooked stigma is that of one’s nation. Most notably, first world countries all have different unspoken standards for coping with emotional conflict. Infamously so, Ireland and the US have stricter, more judgmental expectations for how individuals should manage their mental states. Veritably, "65% of [native Irish]…