3 essays for midterm

Bright Star by John Keats is an embodiment of a style of poetry known as Romanticism. Characterized by an unmistakable theme of nature, the poem uses the imagery of a steadfast star to demonstrate one man’s desire to be just like it. The poem also incorporates another major theme which is reflective of its Romantic nature, the idea of love and genuine human desires for a significant other. Likewise another poem, Fire and Ice by Robert Frost, written almost two centuries later incorporates similar attributes. Like Keats, Frost incorporates powerful imagery, fire and ice, that pertain to nature.  Frost’s poem embodies the human capability to experience and learn from both love and hate. He presents the idea that both of these human emotions are strong enough to kill and bring destruction.

Bright Star displays a major factor of Romanticism, which is the ability for man to connect with nature. This whole idea is evident by the fact that throughout the entire poem, the Speak is talking to a Star which thus becomes personified;  Keats writes “watching, with eternal lids apart”. Keats who was an environmentalist, and nature lover himself, incorporates multiple vivid descriptions that paint what the Star gets to see while looking down. For example, “moving waters at their priestlike task”, “round earth's human shores”, “snow upon the mountains and the moors”. The Speaker’s desire to be like a Star serves as a greater symbol for the idea that he wants to be “eternal”; eternal in the idea of loving his beloved. Lines like “Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast” and “still to hear her tender-taken breath” invoke the idea of blossoming vegetation and harmony which nature has the ability to offer to those who immerse themselves in it.

Frost who was inspired by nature and rural environment expresses his Romantic style powerfully in this short, yet captivating poem. Fire and Ice incorporates the human ability to experience both love and hate, as a result of a previous relationships and experiences. Fire and ice serve as the greater metaphor for these two emotions. The Speaker of poem can be characterized as cautious and experienced because he knows that consequences of both “Icy” human emotions, as well as “Fiery” desires. Although the poem doesn’t present many descriptions that pertain to nature, its main “Fire” and “ice” have the ability to carry the poem, and give it greater Romantic significance. Words such as “destruction ice” and “perish twice” add to the intensity that the title invokes.

In the novel The Stranger, main character Meursault is a man that is isolated from most of society in terms of feelings, thinking, and actions. His neutral and dispassionate attitude on life usually causes the reader to see him as an immoral character that lacks a true grip on what is important in society. However it is after society takes on him in a murder case, that the readers’ opinions about the one detached Meursault start to change. Meursault’s existentialist thinking become justified, and the reader gains respect and sympathy towards his detached, yet persistent nature.

In society, one might view the actions of smoking at a mother’s funeral, not knowing her age, not wanting to see her in her casket one last time, and showing no evidence of tears as immoral and coldhearted. These are just some of the few actions that Meursault takes from the beginning that paint him in a negative light. He does not give the reader the opportunity to think anymore highly of him as the following day he goes to see a comedy and has sex right after. As a society, we are bound to judge another quickly on the basis of decisions and actions that we feel stray from the norm. In order to have more of an unbiased perspective on a character one must place more emphasis on one’s mentality, than simply just actions.

Meursault gives the reader this opportunity towards the end of the novel, during the period of time he spends in jail, and days preceding his execution. Meursault makes the argument that he has stopped caring about how society perceives him to be. This displays his ability to stand as his own person without the negative influence of society,  that is quickly to place judgment on his personality. As a reader, one sees Mersault have his voice and reasoning stolen from him, as his defense lawyer is quick to enforce whatever reason the court will find plausible to clear his name. Meursault is also constantly badgered as being the antichrist by a priest who tries to enforce religion on him. Who is to say what religion one should follow? The simple fact that Meursault remains persistent in his atheistic views and unlike the priest doesn’t force or try to follow a religion paints him in a better light. Finally when Mersault approaches his death penalty and tries to conjure up an idea of a penalty that would only kill the victim 9 times out of 10, shows that he still wishes there was a single hope for him to survive. Although he is a killer, one might still sympathize with him as the question of the death penalty comes into play. Who has the right to truly take a life away? Does then Meursault, who wasn’t given a fair trial, justly deserve to die?

In the novel Metamorphosis by Czechoslovakian write Franz Kafka, the main character Gregor Samsa turns into a bug overnight. His position of being the family provider quickly changes as his appearance becomes a hindrance to the ability to perform and live a normal life. Mentally Gergor outlook on life changes significantly as the cruel influences of the outside world shun him into oblivion and potential death.  

Gregor’s horrid appearance becomes the main factor around which the entire Samsa household revolves around. His mother and father no show real compassion and eagerness to help him overcome his new troubling life. Gregor’s sister is the only person that seems to take any initiative in helping him. Her actions seem to be compassionate at first however overtime her antagonistic behavior and true colors shine through. She is disgusted at his appearance, and annoyed by the sole responsibility of having to take care of him.

From the start, Gregor only has the best intentions in mind, as he realizes that he won’t be able to support his family financially. However his family shows no real genuine emotions in return and slowly Gregor starts feeling isolation and depression. He hopes to get on good terms with the family by even placing a cloth over himself to cover up his body. However he never once receives acknowledgment, or a thank you.  Overtime Gregor becomes the by-product of everything that has been exerted upon him. As a result he himself begins thinking that his family would be better off without him. Although he takes on the world to the best of his abilities, he ends up dying in the end, proving that without a strong support system one cannot survive in society.

clocks and lover revised

Clocks and Lovers

The 1983 poem Clocks and Lovers by W.H. Auden presents two different takes on love that of the actual Lovers (the speaker) and the Clock the(voice of wisdom).  Both characters offer distinct points of view on the matter through their narration in the poem. While the first is marked by sincere infatuation, happiness, and caution, the second narration from the clock offers a more pessimistic, wise, and analytical attitude. Overall the use of these two differing perspectives works to forewarn of the dangers and inevitable end that all lovers face due to time.

The Lover initiates the poem’s narration. The way he views love reflects the Romantic genera of the poem. He is fixated on the idea that he will love his beloved for eternity. Dreamy imagery from lines nine to twenty reinforce this idea. For example the poet writes I’ll love you, dear, “ “I’ll love you Till China and Africa meet” and “I’ll love you till the ocean of folded up to dry”. The lover also uses many symbols, and impossibilities to demonstrate his unexplainable means and vast capability of loving another person. This can been seen with dreamy lines such as “Till China and Africa meet/ And the river jumps over the mountain /And the salmon sing in the street.” These impossibilities show that he believes that he can and will love forever. The lover also makes use of animal motions imagery such as “squawking like geese about the sky./ The years run like rabbits...” to show the impact time has on his relationship and innocent feelings. This imagery of rabbits and others such as “flower of ages” are reflective of the formulaic love cliques that are apparent in more poems of this Romantic genera.

Midway into the poem the lover dives further into the idea of time (the Clock) having an impact on his relationship. His once quixotic imagery shifts to a more realistic and cautious one. The poet writes, “O let not Time deceive you, You cannot conquer time”. Time transforms into a symbol of the enemy which the lover cannot escape. No longer does the lover bask on praising his beloved, but paints Time with darker imagery of a “Nightmare” that “watches from a shadow/And coughs when you would kiss.” With this perspective and imagery in mind, the poet introduces a second voice of reason to narrator, the Clock, to counter shine light on the Romantic utopia envisioned by the lover.

The Clock urges the Lover to come to grips with himselfand reexamine his love life. The commanding imagery, “plunge your hands…stare in the basin” invoke just that. The Clock helps reinforce the stressful imagery that come with love overtime such as “headaches” and “worry” which is conflicting imagery of that spoken by the Lover previously. In a sense, the use of the Clock’s language solidifies the idea that the Lover’s relationship may not have been, in fact, perfect, which is supported by “the crack in the tea-cup opens/ A lane to the land of the dead”. The Clock (time) is what leads to further deterioration in the tender relationship of the Lover. Whether it be simply a matter of dwindling time, aging, or loss of attraction, the “look.. look in the mirror look in your distress” imagery makes it clear that time is a challenging factor in a successful relationship. The final stanza and its language fully affirm the Clock’s superior power over love. “Late in the evening the lovers they were gone” confirms that despite the eternal love one may have for another, the feeling itself never outlasts time.

essay test

In the play Richard II by William Shakespeare, the Queen eavesdrops on a conversation taking place between two commoners, Gard and Serv, who are tending her garden. The Queen has to disconcertingly learn about the statuo quo of the king’s affairs, which are reflected in the corruption of his nation’s system. The simple conversation of the commoners serves as a startling an eye opener for the Queen. By means of figurative language, and other literary techniques, Shakespeare emphasizes the overall play, as well as dramatizes the king’s situation in the selected piece.

After being urged to go pluck the apricots, Serv wonders “Why should we in the compass of a pale,  Keep law and form and due proportion,  Showing, as in a model, our firm estate,  When our sea-walled garden, the whole land.” In this case the garden serves as a metaphor for their nation. It’s ironic that the Gard and Serv have to keep a material thing such as a king’s garden in pristine shape, when their outside world in in shambles. In turn this also portrays the king as lacking initiative and control, by allowing his garden/ country to get so out of hand. The references to “weeds” serve as a symbol for all the corruption that sprouts up within the land, often having a strong influence upon the king. One could also argue that tending and fixing of the garden is also reflective of today’s world, of how the masses are burdened with the challenge of repairing the mess and debt enforced on our nation by an ineffective leader. In both cases, the lower classes have to take responsibility for the authority’s mistakes.

Midway into the passage and on, metaphors and figurative language are used to further develop the king’s outcome. Lines “ Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf: The weeds which his broad-spreading leaves did shelter, That seem'd in eating him to hold him up, Are pluck'd up root and all by Bolingbroke,” present the outcome of the king and his affairs. Meeting with the fall of the leaf signify a type of closure in the king’s life. His supporter or “weeds” are plucked which symbolize a sudden death in his source of confidantes, potentially leading to the king’s own demise.  Finally Gard examines the symbolic idea that if the king had been a better gardener, he would still be alive and have control of the crown. Shakespeare writes, “Hath seized the wasteful king. O, what pity is it   That he had not so trimm'd and dress'd his land , As we this garden!.... Had he done so to great and growing men,  They might have lived to bear and he to taste Their fruits of duty.” In this case, the fruits of duty is a metaphor for all the privileges that come with being king.

Finally the Queen reacts to the eavesdropping, after hearing of the king’s potential removal from the throne. “Thou, old Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden, How dares thy harsh rude tongue sound this unpleasing news? What Eve, what serpent, hath suggested thee …Divine his downfall? Say, where, when, and how, Camest thou by this ill tidings? speak, thou wretch.” The figurative language which alludes to Adam is significant on the irritated Queen’s part because she feels that the end of the reign of her husband is worse than the sin and downfall of Adam. In addition the anger she holds toward the loss of the King seems to ironically be directed at the “wretch” , the Gardener who should assume no responsibility in the king’s downfall.