Essays on Poetry and Poets

... Much of these people's respect come in response to Hrothgar's generosity to everyone. This generosity can be seen towards Beowulf, when the king gives his thanks for the heroic deeds of the warrior. Hrothgar rewards Beowulf with priceless material as he says to the warrior, “You shall lack no earthly riches I can offer you.” The people of the land also trust their king, who holds a strong belief in God. In the scene where Hrothgar celebrates Grendel's death, he holds the monsters hand as he says, “Let us give thanks at once to God Almighty for this sight.” The followers of the king both respect and trust their ruler, and through his generosit ...

... Nazareth is referred as God's Lamb. There are a few themes developed in "The Lamb." Blake describes the lamb as symbol of childhood innocence. He also questions about how the lamb was brought into existence, which mentions another theme of divine intervention and how all creatures were created. The poem is nothing but one wondering question to another (Harmon, p. 361). "The Tiger" by William Blake describes the tiger as being an symbol of evil. This is displayed when Blake says "What an anvil? what dread grasp, Dare its deadly terrors clasp?" By repeating variations of the word "dread" in the poem, he emphasizes the evil of tiger and the evil t ...

... Nature, in many Romantic sonnets, is in direct parallel with the emotions being conveyed. Smith, for example, uses the water to aid the reader's comprehension of the speaker's state of mind. Included in this traditional natural setting is the use of the sea as stormy, deep, extensive, and dark which ties the speaker in with the setting as the scene applies to the tone of the poem as well. Also characteristic of the Romantic sonnet is the retreat from the neo-classical age and its significant historical references into a new age where it becomes common to speak of "nothing." In William Wordsworth's "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge," there is no deeper meaning t ...

... I'd say - ` I used to know his father well; Yes, we've lost heavily in this last scrap.' " of casual language attempts to make the war seem carefree and nonchalant. The word "chap" conveys an casual attitude towards the heroes as people. It seems to elevate the status of the majors to a false superior position. "Scrap" makes it seems as if the soldier's death occurred on a playground, not a battlefield. It seems to trivialize war in general. "And when the war is done and the youth stone dead, I'd toddle safely home and die - in bed." The poet's last lines give the reader an insight into the true wishes of the soldier. The youth stone dead allow ...

... to stress the old people's adherence to traditional values as well as their lack of saintliness. They are unexceptionl, whatever message they have for readers. The isolated routine of the couple's life is something Brooks draws attention to with a separate stanza: Two who are Mostly Good. Two who have lived their day, But keep on putting on their clothes And putting things away. (5-8) Brooks emphasizes how isolated the couple is by repeating "Two who." Then she emphasizes how routine their life is by reating"putting." A pessimistic reading of this poem seems justified. The critic Harry B. Shaw reads the lines just quoted as perhaps desparing: "t ...

... of chivalric conventions of the surrounding social climate. He demonstrates throughout the work a need for balance. As symbolied by the pentangle worn by Sir Gawain, representing the balanced points of chivalric virture, each being codependent of the other in order to remain a whole, the narrative could be considered as a What accompanies an appreciation for the seemingly sudden shift from the typical romance at the end of the piece is the raised awareness that the change does only seem to be sudden. Careful exlporation of the plot, setting, and character descriptions illuminates several deviations from the established convention of the ideal society existing w ...

... this process; “things fall apart” indicates that the runaway war has sparked disorder in the public. “The centre cannot hold,” signifies that the obedience to God has lost its value. Even though there may be more than one interpretation, the metaphor points up one socio-religious theme that society has lost order and in turn lost faith in God. The second metaphor conveys Yeats’ idea that anarchy has taken over. The metaphor begins with “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed," suggesting that the purity of the soul has been corrupted by the destruction that accompanies chaos. Yeats uses the second line of the metaphor, “...and everywhere the ceremo ...

... in the seventh stanza: "Come, fill the cup. . ./ The Bird of Time has but a little way/ To flutter-and the bird is on the Wing." The entire ninth stanza describes the summer month "that brings the Rose" taking "Jamshyd and Kaikobad away", and so forth and so on ad nauseum. Again, in the fifty-third stanza: "You gaze To-Day, while You are You-how then/ Tomorrow, You when shall be You no more?" The poet seems to be in an incredible hurry to get this life going before some cosmic deadline comes due, and more than willing to encourage any of the laiety he encounters in the course of the poem to do the same. Another recurring motif throughout the poem is the time- h ...

... his first, then ultimately conclusive belief, one must delve into his earlier works. In the first poem of "Drum Taps", "First O Songs For A Prelude" the poem indicates to the reader that Whitman is staunchly enthusiastic towards the first battle: The tumultuous escort, the ranks of policemen preceding, clearing the way, The unpent enthusiasm, the wild cheers of the crowd for their favorites…War! Be it weeks, months, or years, an arm'd race is advancing to welcome it. As we can see, like most Americans, Whitman was proud of the engagements to come because at the time, war was only viewed by those who had never seen the ugly side of it. Like a diary of pr ...

... it in that they had lost so many children. It’s almost like it was his fault that all of this was happening. The husband seems to not be phased by the great loss that they have endured. Later on in the poem the husband begins to talk again, stating: “We could have some arrangement, By which I’d bind myself to keep hands off, Anything special you’re a-mind to name. Though I don’t like such things ‘’twixt those that love. Two that don’t love can’t live together without them. But two can not live together with them.” Right here he is saying that he should have just stopped having children with her. That people can not live with nor without ...