Sonnet 130

In 1633, John Donne published a metaphysical poem titled The Flea. This poem consists of an erotic theme where a flea is used as a metaphor in order to demonstrate the affair between the speaker and their lover. In the same year, The Altar was published by George Herbert. This poem illustrates the religious notion of how one must sacrifice themselves to God through the use of an altar. In the following, The Flea and The Altar will be compared and contrasted in terms of the physical shape of the…

Themes are often expressed by poets through voice and tone. These elements play a major role in the overall outcome of how successful the poet is at revealing the theme he or she is trying to convey. For instance Dylan Thomas’ ‘Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night’, is in third person narrative, giving a general idea of what ‘old age should’ do to ‘wise men’ , ‘good men’, ‘wild men’ and ‘grave men.’ However, towards the end of the poem, it changes into second person and Thomas starts to address…

“How do the selected poems present the idea of infancy or childhood?” - Infant Joy - Infant Sorrow - Prayer Before Birth* - One Upon a Time* - You’re - Piano* Childhood, is the part of life where humans remain innocent and pure, and are distant from corrupted society. ‘Infant joy’ by William Blake, and ‘You’re’ by Sylvia Plath all portray an optimistic view on infancy and childhood. Blake presents infancy in an affirmative tone, whereas Plath conveys positivity in a more obscure way resulting…

Color can influence our emotions, our actions, and how we respond to various people, things and ideas. Throughout literature, color symbolizes a variety of different things. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway tells us a tragic story of a helpless romantic, Jay Gatsby, desperately trying to get his long lost love back. Gatsby does everything in his power, such as becoming rich and throwing parties every weekend, just to get back Daisy Buchanan, a married woman who he is…

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey. “Identity.” PoemHunter.com, PoemHunter, www.poemhunter.com/poems/identity/page-1/524149/. Loss of identity is shown in a unique way in this poem by Thomas Aldrich. His poem entitled "Identity" briefly describes his interpretation of identity after death. An extreme loss for the deceased. The subject of spirituality and its connection to identity is difficult to communicate in writing but as a poet, Aldrich produces profound ideas that are open for interpretation to…

William Wordsworth once wrote “There neither is, not can be, any essential difference between the language and metrical composition” (147). In his book, “Preface to Lyrical Ballads”, Wordsworth argues for a poetry in which the poet puts an emphasis on emotions, rather than intellect, and on resemblance to common life. He uses these ideas about poetry to claim that prose is essentially no different from poetry. However, many readers might find this idea troublesome; certainly short stories differ…

Book 1: What is the theme expressed in the first line of the poem? What request does Chryses make of Agamemnon? What is the reaction of the Achaeans, also known as the Greeks, the Danaans, and the Argives? What is Agamemnon’s response? Why does Chrses pray to Apollo and what prayer does he make? How does Apollo answer his prayer? What advice does Achilleus give to Agamemnon in the midst of the plague? What does Kalchas fear? What effect will Achilleus’s promise to protect Kalchas have on…

One art in particular, the sonnet, was a literary art form that gave beautiful poems a rich and powerful expressions for the readers to interpret. Many of these sonnets would be formed into sequences. A sequence in which a collection of sonnets formed to create some kind of unified work by a poet to convey a theme. There was one poet who could do this best than any other and that was the genius that is known as William Shakespeare and his sonnet sequence of sonnets 12,15,18, and 19, depicting…

try to give us a little bit of a new feeling to this topic of death, three poems in particular that really help us overcome the fear of death that of “I heard a Fly buzz” and “Because I could not stop for Death” both by Emily Dickinson also “Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud” by John Donne. Yet other than the beautiful content of these poems we also need to note what makes a poem good, and the three main points that simply breakdown poems would be theme,wording, and meaning. Now let it begin the…

Whereas many people experience love only as different mental, as well as emotional states in contemporary times, John Donne’s Songs and Sonnets do not simply characterise one constant view of love, but include a vast variety of attitudes and emotions. One could almost think that Donne tried to depict his knowledge of love with the help of his poetry. Love is able to be experienced with the soul, the body, or even both. Moreover, it can also be a religious experience, it can further increase the…