...Thesis: In the poem “There is No Frigate like a Book” Emily Dickinson’s use of figurative language, sound devices and denotation and connotation show us how literature allows use of our imagination to go on a journey. At first glance it may seem that Emily Dickinson has written a simple poem in “There Is No Frigate like a Book”. However, further analysis reveals that she believes reading is a gift to all. Through observation of the poem we find her fascination with reading and the poem’s ability to take her reader on a journey; as well as reveal how reading can take us on any journey we wish to embark. The theme of the poem is that when we use our imagination while reading anything is possible, even travel to distant lands. The first clue that reveals this poem is about traveling through literature lies within its title. A frigate is a U.S. warship used mainly for escorting. The clever comparison of a frigate and a book set the tone and create excitement about where we will go. It is also this comparison that allows us to compare the necessary physical means required to take us on our adventure. The first thing that is noticed is the use of figurative language. The figurative language used in this writing is referred to as simile. A simile is a phrase that compares two different things. In lines 3 and 4 “nor any coursers like a page… of prancing poetry” we find the most obvious use of simile when comparing a horse to pages in a book. The other use of simile...
Words: 837 - Pages: 4
...the grain of humdrum normalcy, are central to “Gryphon”, whose key symbol (Miss Ferenczi) support its central theme: life is dreary and uninspiring without a sense of imagination and wonder. Tommy’s classroom is the typical fourth grade setting with arithmetic, spelling, and history lessons. The classroom itself doesn’t change throughout the story, but everything new to Tommy and his classmates is introduced in the classroom by Miss Ferenczi, whose thought provoking instruction techniques set “Gryphon” into action. Liken to a container, the classroom is filled with information, of which, the children pick and choose to take their “knowledge”. Before the substitute, the children’s teacher forced knowledge upon the students through memorization. Mr. Hibner’s teaching methods, selection of material, or mandated school lessons have exiled Tommy and his classmates into a conventional educational system that produces run of the mill people through mind-numbing fact recitals dubbed “knowledge”. For Tommy, the classroom is his world and he attempts to make the most of it, prompted by the unorthodox Miss Ferenzci. Miss Ferenczi challenges her students to take her information for what it’s worth. Whether to agree or disagree with the literal meaning is of secondary value, but most importantly, actively engaging in the imagination marauding necessary to invoke self-actualization and...
Words: 1215 - Pages: 5
...Terms and Empire. 1. What technology does the author emphasize? Why does he place such importance on it? 2. Do you agree with his analysis of it’s importance? Explain your answer. 3. What statistics does the author use to emphasize his point? Do you believe these statistics still hold true today? Or have they either increased or decreased? Give evidence to support your answer. 4. What does the title of the essay suggest? Give your interpretation of the terms empire and republic in the context in which they are used. 5. Who are the authors discovered by Bellow when he was young? What characteristics do these authors share? If you have read any of these authors, what do you think of them? Would you recommend them to your friends? 6. In paragraph 9, what does the author say about the movies? Do you agree or disagree with him? Explain your answer. 1- The author emphasizes the modern form of technology and the struggles of holding reading is having with so much easier ways to get your entertainment. The author places emphasis on it for two reasons. First, it is so much easier with today’s technology to watch a movie which explains everything to you and provides a picture for you to see without using your imagination. It is also a social form of entertainment compared to reading which is done mostly isolated. The second reason is to show that no matter how much technology advances there will always be a desire in a minority of the population that...
Words: 670 - Pages: 3
...Literature Analysis Noah Serna Western Governors University Humanities C100 January 15, 2016 Personal Observations of the Work The work of literature that I chose to do my initial observations on is a poem written by Phillis Wheatley, called “To S.M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing his Works.” This poem was written during the enlightenment period. I particularly chose this poem because I always had an interest in reading about African literature and how over time equal rights for everyone became a success. Upon reading this poem, which was slightly difficult to understand, Wheatley communicates about how powerful imagination can be. She mentions how imagination can give an artist the ability to go beyond their limits to the point were there are no longer any more limitations. She points out a painter several times which I am not sure who she is referring to yet. I am assuming it is an African painter at that time. The one aspect of the work that really sparked my interest was when Wheatley said, “But when these shades of time are chas’d away, and darkness ends in everlasting day” (To S.M., A Young Painter, n.d., para. 2),which I think she implies that when this era of slavery and racism passes the darkness (harsh times) will end and there will be daylight or good times. Analysis of the Work Phillis Wheatley was a writer who greatly differed from other writers in American literature mostly because...
Words: 702 - Pages: 3
...Reading Reaction 4 Tom Wujec made famous a simple design challenge which morphed into a worldwide phenomenon. Actually, Tom borrowed the idea from Peter Skillman, which asks participants to build the largest free-standing structure with only twenty sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. Over the course of many marshmallow challenges, Tom has seen some astounding results. In fact, the most dramatic results were from those who seem to perform best on these types of challenges. Notably, it is not business managers, corporate leaders, lawyers, teachers, or engineers, but kids between the ages of four and six. So, what is at the heart of kindergarten-age students outperforming adults with so many more years...
Words: 1027 - Pages: 5
...usually consist of two individuals who decide to have sexual interactions with each other. The idea of friends with benefits is that two friends want a sexual partner, but do not want to have a romantic relationship. Can two friends have a sexual relationship without romantic feelings occurring? Can friends with benefits maintain their friendship? Questions involving friends with benefits arise from a myriad of readings involving cross-sex friends. It can be deduced from modern culture that the practice of having sex with someone other than one’s significant other is a commonality. I personally feel that many men and women, when young, are more willing to explore their sexuality. Young adults often don’t want to settle down as soon as possible; they may like to enjoy the pleasures out of life. There are many factors, such as feelings of love and the prospect of marriage, which can change the relationship between friends with benefits. The outcome of the relationship will depend on the individuals involved. There are multiple readings that discuss or portray the outcomes of friends in sexual relationships. For instance in Sula, a reading that involves different relationships between friends, the author used literary analysis to portray the effect of a sexual friendship between a man and a woman. Sula is a Native American woman who is sexually promiscuous. Even though she has slept with many men, she has never created any type of relationship with them. One day Ajax, a Native American...
Words: 3940 - Pages: 16
... Phenomenology of Reading A number of poststructuralist movements such as deconstruction had challenged the formalist and New Critical assertion of the objectivity of the text. But it was not until the 1970s that a number of critics at the University of Constance in Germany, the Constance School, began to formulate a systematic reader-response or “reception” theory. The leading members of this school were Wolfgang Iser and Hans Robert Jauss. Such phenomenological theories deal with the important role of the reader in the overall structure of any given literary text. The reader plays a great role in shaping how the work will be understood and what meanings it will have. Each new generation and each new group of readers in a new setting brings to a literary work different code for understanding it. Does writing require reading? What does reading do for writing that writing cannot do for itself? Different schools have different answers, but for phenomenology of literature, the answer is YES. Reading is ontological requirement for writing. Since writing in itself is not complete and indeterminate, it ontologically requires reading completement. So, reading, as prof.A.V.Ashok, from EFLU, defined, is “the compeletization of incomplete textured meaning into actualized meaning”. Text, for realistic theory of reading, is nearly getting written, the text exists as a body of complete meaning. In other words...
Words: 3298 - Pages: 14
...Compare and Contrasting Literary Works Foundations of literature are important because it consists of the structural makeup of a poem or short story. This foundation includes the content, style, and form of each piece that offers insight to a deeper and personal understanding for the reader. Poetry by Pablo Neruda and You, Reader by Billy Collins are not the exceptions to the rule. These two poems share a common bond; a thread that takes the reader on a journey of discovery, through their creativity and creative process. An author has the ability to use their imagination in a way like no other; to share thoughts and feelings about real or imagined experiences. It is through the use of wording these thoughts and feelings come to life, allowing the reader a glimpse inside the mind and heart of the author. This is where the bridge between the author and audience connect. In most cases, reading material is selected because of a first page or introduction that speaks to the reader. This content is what hooks the reader into a world that is interesting or oddly familiar, causing them to want to know more. When literature, whether it is a story, poem, quote, or even a movie script can speak to us on a deep level, it is a well written piece. It carries the ability to stir the emotions that can make us cry, laugh, get sad, or even upset. These words either cause us to want to remember or plead with us to forget. The writers of any piece of literary work have a...
Words: 3309 - Pages: 14
...APA CITATION: Fox, H. (2003). Eager. New York City, NY: Yearling. AGE JUSTIFICATION: This chapter book is suitable for children in the grades of 3th through 7th, age ranges 8 to 10+. It is a great imagination motivator for children and allows for them to ask questions about what the future of the story holds—which is fitting for their cognitive development at this stage. The book also allows for children to apply abstract concepts—like the ones presented in this book—logically. CRITICAL ANALYSIS: This book creates a world for children that allows them to think. They question things presented in the book like, what does it mean to be a human? There is also a present question of how much further will the advancement of technology take us?...
Words: 1431 - Pages: 6
...C. Wright Mills' Sociological Imagination Works Cited Not Included In 1959, C. Wright Mills released a book entitled ‘The sociological Imagination’. It was in this book that he laid out a set of guidelines of how to carry out social analysis. But for a layman, what does the term ‘sociological imagination’ actually mean? In his own words, Mills claimed “it is the capacity to shift from one perspective to another…the capacity to range from the most impersonal and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the human self – and to see the relations between the two of them.” . Mills believed that being able to see the relationship between the ordinary lives of people and the wider social forces was the key to the sociological imagination. Fundamental to Mills’ theory is the idea of ‘public issues’ and ‘private troubles’. An individual’s troubles are personal when they occur because of the person’s character. Public issues, however, are a direct result of the problems within society, they affect people hugely but often the individual will assign the problem as their own personal downfall rather than as a societal problem. An ordinary man may get depressed about being unemployed and automatically accept it as his own personal trouble. He will be condemned as being ‘lazy’ or ‘work-shy’ and labelled simply as a ‘scrounger’. However, if there are thousands of other individuals also unemployed, Mills argues...
Words: 2286 - Pages: 10
...June 5, 1910) The text under analysis is ‘The ransom of red chief’ written by O’Henry, one of the most famous American short story writers of 19th century. O. Henry’s real name was William Sydney Porter and he was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. Let me start from the summary. The story runs about two crooks - Bill Driscoll and Sam. They decided to pull off a "fraudulent town-lot scheme” but for this scheme they needed money. So, they decided to kidnap a little boy of the wealthy man of town of Summit. But they couldn’t imagine what was waiting for them. This story opens with PROLOGUE where the author introduces to us the beginning of the story. And in the prologue two characters are presented to us: the narrator Sam and his friend Bill Driscoll. This text is written in 1st person narration. O’Henry uses it to create the atmosphere of the situation itself and to give us the opportunity to be involved and to feel ourselves as participants. In the very beginning the author keeps us in suspense with the words: but wait till I tell you. The setting of the story is town of Summit in West Illinois. Further go RISING ACTIONS which include selection of the victim, hiding in the cave, games with the boy and writing a letter to the father of the boy Johnny. Here we meet other characters: a little boy of 10 years, who is described directly and his father, Ebenezer Dorset. But Ebenezer is opposed to Bill, Sam and Johnny as a minor character. While reading the story we can easily notice...
Words: 678 - Pages: 3
...realism. Though Hartley’s works have a lot in common with realism, he created his own genre following the English tradition of Gothic novel and E.A.Poe’s horror stories. Henry James was a master he always revered; and, like James, he was frequently possessed bys ideas of guilt and solitude and evil. As a contemporary reviewer remarked, "not only does he portray the exterior of social life with a novelist's sharp eye for detail, but he also explores the underworld of fears and fantasies through which we wander in our ugliest dreams." L.P.Hartley is a keen and accurate observer of the process of human thought and feeling; he is also a sharp-eyed chronicler of the social scene. But his picture of both is transformed by the light of Gothic imagination. In the story titled “W.S” the author dwells upon the problems of writing and the author’s responsibility not just to his readers, but to his characters as well. The message of the text is that the literature should be created by talented writers only. As for the plot structure of the text, we should mention that there’s no exposition as such, the expositional elements are scattered about the story. As it proceeds we learn the answers to some of the typical questions: “who” – Walter Streeter and the anonymous correspondent, “when” – in November (“he threw the postcards into November fire”) “why” - is a mystery up to the end, “where” – “in a large West Country town about ninety miles from Coventry”. The rising actions starts from the...
Words: 2168 - Pages: 9
...Bachelor2 Literary Analysis of Riders to the Sea The chosen work for this literary analysis is Riders to the Sea, by J.M. Synge (1903). This piece is written as a classical drama. This form of writing is written with direction for setting creation and stage direction for characters included as its form is to be set into action. What is so delightful about this type of writing is that when reading, your imagination is taken to the scene enfolding before you. The characters need not speak every word to portray their emotion to you. Their subtle movements and changes in set symbolically convey visual meaning. After reading the play, it is just as interesting to see it performed. You will want to see if the director of the play has picked up on the subtleties that the playwright has included that have already captured your own mind or emphasized symbolism that you did not absorb. There are several portions of this play that stood out to me as saying more than what most would glean important. The first is a soliloquy made by the two daughters concerning the death of Michael. They are clearly worried how the impact of the news of Michael’s death will impact their mother. They are worried most about her and not of their own loss of their brother. This leads to dramatic irony, as now the audience knows more than the protagonist about what is the sisters believe has happened. The dramatic irony is further proven when the daughters inspect the stitching and fabric of...
Words: 913 - Pages: 4
...Historically, people have used literacy to obtain political power. In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, it is evident that books, reading, and words themselves represent power for different characters in different ways. Close analysis of Liesel Meminger and Max Vandenburg reveals that power can be achieved through literacy in a context where literacy is severely limited. Literacy plays a major role in Liesel’s adolescence. Liesel obtains power through literacy as it gives her a sense of comfort and control. The act of reading and writing gives Liesel the strength to cope with and heal from her emotional trauma. Reading and finishing the book The Gravedigger’s Handbook helps Liesel find the courage to move on from the loss of her brother. Although Liesel does not yet know how to read when she arrives at the Hubermann’s on Himmel Street, she keeps the book to comfort her, as it is the last object she has relating to her brother. When papa and Liesel finish reading the book, Liesel “trot[s] out, involuntarily” (Zusak 87) by explaining to Hans that her brother’s name “‘was Werner’” (87). The act of Liesel’s words being spoken involuntarily suggests that “she is finding some freedom in the effects of her disturbing experiences” (Lee 14). Liesel does not have to force herself to speak to Hans about her brother as she has gained emotional stability. Additionally, literacy helps Liesel recover from her distress as Hans reads to her nightly. Hans reads to Liesel “to soothe...
Words: 2006 - Pages: 9
...Book Banning I stand here today to address is the issue of book banning in school libraries. The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) defines censorship as: “The removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary, artistic, or educational materials… of images, ideas, and information…on the grounds that there are morally or otherwise objectionable in light of standards applied by the censor”Though parents may choose to discuss what their children are exposed to the idea of removing it from access to the public is absurd. By removing books from school libraries concerned members of society are now limiting children and their potential to expand their horizons. I firmly believe everyone has the right to be exposed to knowledge. By limiting the literature that a young mind is exposed to limits the ability to understand and become open minded. On that note I understand that some books should not be hand to children until they have the mental capacity to comprehend the language and the meaning behind some books as not to see these books as simple stories or to be taken literally. I understand that people have reasons for their censors but it does not mean they are always right. There are four motivational factors that may lie behind a censor’s actions. Those factors are family values, religion, political views, and minority rights. On the basis of family values, the censor is usually threatened by changes in accepted traditional ways of life. They view sexual...
Words: 2671 - Pages: 11
