...The Lady of Shalott The Lady of Shalott is cursed to stay in her tower, weaving the sights she sees in her mirror. The appearance of Lancelot prompts her to turn and look directly upon the world. She leaves the tower and, as she floats down to Camelot in a boat, dies. What does Tennyson make you feel about the Lady in his poem The Lady of Shalott? Support your ideas with details from the poem. What does Tennyson make you feel about Lancelot in The Lady of Shalott ? Refer to details in the poem in your answer. How far does Tennyson make you feel sympathy for the lady in The Lady of Shalott ? Support your answer with details from the poem. In what ways does Tennyson capture your interest in his poem, The Lady of Shalott? Support your answer with details from the poem. How does Tennyson make The Lady of Shalott such a memorable poem for you? Support your answer with details from the poem. How does Tennyson’s writing make the story so intriguing for you in either The Lady of Shalott or Mariana? Support your ideas with details from your chosen poem. How does Tennyson make the setting so vivid in The Lady of Shalott ? Support your answer with details from Tennyson’s writing. PART I On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And thro’ the field the road runs by To many-tower’d Camelot; And up and down the people go, Gazing where the lilies blow Round an island there below...
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...and foreign countries were even authorized to cross the national boundaries into China. Not only did China experience this exceptional social and economical triumph during the Tang dynasty, creative essence also flourished like never before. The Tang dynasty is known as being the Golden Age of Art and Literature for the Chinese. It is no question why poet Li Bai arose from this period, or why he was-and still is- praised and treasured by so many people. Taking traditional poetic form to a newfangled and unknown height, Li Bai created over 1,000 poems that modeled and celebrated the simple pleasures of life and the beliefs of Taoism (a philosophical and religious system that emphasizes harmonizing with the Tao.) This can be recognized in many of his writings, such as in “Drinking Alone in The Moonlight” and “Chuang Tzu and The Butterfly.” After the turmoil and unrest that all of China had faced previous to the Golden Age, Li Bai’s poems that reflected every day topics or themes such as romance, nature, beauty, natural death, and geographical destination, were particularly soothing to ingest. As Walt Whitman, the renowned American poet and journalist had also acknowledged, “simplicity is the glory of expression.” Although the exact date and location of Li Bai’s birth remains unknown, many speculate that he was born in the Central Asian country that is now known as Tajikistan in 701 A.D. Legend also has it that his father was an affluent trader along the Silk Road (the trade route...
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...in Tithonus The purpose of this essay is to discuss narrative methods and techniques used by Tennyson to tell the story in the poem Tithonus. Tennyson uses the theme of light to effectively illustrate the intense love Tithonus felt for Aurora but simultaneously this also highlight the love Tithonus will never feel again. This is shown by constantly mentioning the East where the sun rises, and also by the words ‘Thy sweet eyes brighten slowly….yet they blind the stars’- by saying her eyes blind the stars Tennyson could also be saying how he (Tithonus) too was at one point blinded by his love for her. The use of imagery within the poem like ‘glimmering’ and ‘lights’ gives readers the idea that his life was happy with her in it yet, the contrast of language, ‘gloomy’, ‘shadows’, ‘twilight’ underlines the fact that he is no longer joyful as he is now without her. Another reason we could argue that he is no longer happy is that he may be envious of how she is immortal and forever youthful but he is immortal but consistently aging; this interpretation is supported by the continuous mentioning of immortal youth ‘To dwell in the presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth’. Also the use of the word twilight suggests that Tithonus state is that he is caught in the middle, forever watching the circle of life without him in it – ‘the woods decay…dies the...
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...weaving a magic web. People pass the island all the time, but have never set eyes on the fair lady, occasionally, her mystical songs will drift to the people working in the nearby islands. She is encumbered with a curse that forbids her from looking outside, thus she views the world only through the shadows in her magic mirror. The lady represents the artist, above ordinary life, practicing her art and observing the world below but never mixing with it directly. Once she is drawn back to real life, her art is destroyed, and she dies. In The Lady of Shalott, Lord Alfred Tennyson uses visual imagery, contrasting sound devices, and...
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... Dreamland “A poem is a communication from one soul to another that makes one or both hearts sing” (Mayes, 1998). A good poem should be written with a concise and accurate use of diction and connotation in order to accurately portray a meaningful theme or hidden message. Poetry has the ability to encapsulate broad ideas with a minimal use of words through the use of different literary and poetic devices. Edgar Allan Poe’s unfortunate loss of both parents and upbringing with adoptive parents were his inspiration for his many poems and short stories, which reflected on his alienation, loneliness, grief and sorrow. I believe the poem “Dreamland” by Edgar Allan Poe is the best poem in the world for the reason being that it uses an effective form and rhyming scheme and effectively uses literary and poetic devices such as allusions, personification, and hyperboles in order to convey the message of grief and one’s search for their “dreamland”. The form of the poem Dreamland is written in Iambic Tetrameter couplets that are separated into different stanzas. Poe uses an A-A-B-B rhyming scheme during every stanza, which focuses on making the last word in the end of a verse rhyme with the following line’s last verse. Poe effectively captures the poetic device of allusion as he uses references to mythology such as El Dorado to capture the essence of paradise and hope. In the poem, “Tis a peaceful, soothing region/Tis-oh, ‘tis an Eldorado”...
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...meanings poetry offers its readers to touch us on a deeper level. Content In the story “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, content is developed through a complex series of descriptions. The story begins with a description of the setting which is a cold December morning in a far off path through a pinewood forest. The character is an old Negro woman who is described as being very old and small and wearing a head tied red rag. The woman is further described as wearing a dark red stripped dress and apron and carrying a cane and an umbrella. These descriptions of the setting give the reader a clear picture of the setting and character in the story as well as how the character moves when the author describes her as moving slowly through the pine shadows and moving from side to side like a pendulum in a grand-father clock. These descriptions also offer undisclosed images. Cold December brings to mind the long end of a journey. The path alludes to a “far off path” much like the African American journey of her slave ancestors’ from their captivity to their enslavery. The old Negro woman is then introduced...
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...Beowulf: The Mother Poem Beowulf is an important work of the Anglo-Saxon culture. In the poem it depicts Beowulf as a famous hero, full of endless courage and infinite strength. Through his vigorous journeys, he encounters many treacherous obstacles and monsters, but never feels distress. As leader of the Geats, he shows superb leadership skills, taking pride in both his and his peoples’ name. Nonetheless, he boasts about his achievements and heroic battles that he has encountered. The author’s style differs from that of any other due to the unique kennings being used throughout the poem. The tone interchanges throughout the entire work; gives countless numbers of kennings, and has graphic imagery. Beowulf, the “mother poem” of England, explains the import values of diction, tone, imagery, and style, it also informs us about the Geat culture and characteristics of honor, kinship, and courage....
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...The poems in Frank Stanford’s Constant Stranger do not adhere to a fixed form or pattern, ebbing into big stanzas and switching abruptly to small stanzas as the tone and narrative of the poems change. I thoroughly enjoyed how Stanford used these arrangements to give the poems a certain rhythmic beat, pace quicker and almost staccato when the stanzas were long, and drawn out when the stanzas were short. I also noticed how he employed single-line stanzas to punctuate the tempo of the poem. This can be seen in the following lines: 1. “I wanted his legs.” in The Boathouse 2. “You cast your shadow like dice” and “I got sick on the voyage” in Blue Yodel Of The Desperado 3. “Death let a bid” and “Death can afford whatever he wants” in Death And The Arkansas River 4. “Your bed is a sad café” in Eyelids Noticed Only In The Seventh Minute Of Twilight There were many more, but these were the most striking lines to me. Stanford’s mildly chaotic arrangement of stanzas in Directions From A Madman was rather interesting – it seemed to display the disorderliness the title of the poem implied. I noticed how the 7th to 10th stanzas were couplets, lending the poem this degree to uniformity amid the commotion that was the general arrangement. It is also interesting to note how all the couplets’ first line focused on a single person: love, you, an old man and a young girl, while the last three couplets incorporated the word love into it. Almost half the poems in Constant Stranger were...
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...WITH REGARD TO THEMATIC PRE-OCCUPATION, DICTION, SETTING AND PLOT, ASSESS THOMAS HARDY “TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES AND MORAL”. THOMAS HARDY- TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES (NON-AFRICAN) Pre-Occupation Thomas hardy first in his career became an apprentice to John Hicks. A Dorchester Architect for several years, his practice architecture in Dorchester, he also simultaneously studied Greek and Latin. It was during this period that he began written poetry. In 1862, Hardy moved to London ad worked as a Architect for Arthur Bloomfield. He continued to write poetry but was unsuccessful in getting it published. In 1871, his first novel, Desperate Remedies, was published, and a year later, under the greenwood tree was published DICTION Diction entails the use of words or language style use in the poetry. The style use in this poetry is narrative technique employed by the writer is the third person or omnipresent, through this technique the writer is able to present the various, no matter where they occur. • Imagery Bird: Image of bird recall throughout the novel evoking their traditional spiritual associative with higher Realm of transcendence. • Biblical Allusion The book of Genesis: the genesis story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is evoked repeatedly throughout Tess of the d’urbervilles, giving the novel a broader metaphysical dimension. • Symbols Prince: When Tess dozes off in the wagon and loses control, the resulting death of the Durbey field horse, price...
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...The Lake Poets The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge hone his craft. Troubled by debt, though, he left Cambridge in 1793 and enlisted in the 15th Dragoons, a British army regiment, under the alias Silas Tomkyn Comberbache. After being rescued by his brothers, Coleridge returned to Cambridge, but he left again, in 1794, without having earned a degree. That year, Coleridge met the author Robert Southey, and together they dreamed about establishing a utopian community in the Pennsylvania wilderness of America. Southey, however, backed out of the project, and their dream was never realized. notable quote “No man was ever yet a great poet, without being at the same time a profound philosopher.” fyi Did you know that Samuel Taylor Coleridge . . . • developed a fascination with the supernatural at age five? • was known as a brilliant and captivating conversationalist? • was the most influential literary critic of his day? • liked to write poetry while walking? Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772–1834 Samuel Taylor Coleridge is famous for composing “Kubla Khan” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” considered two of the greatest English poems. As a critic and philosopher, he may have done more than any other writer to spread the ideas of the English romantic movement. Precocious Reader The youngest of ten For more on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, visit the Literature Center at ClassZone.com. children, Coleridge grew up feeling rejected by his...
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...dash of the dictionary. ~Kahlil Gibran Ink runs from the corners of my mouth There is no happiness like mine. I have been eating poetry. ~Mark Strand, "Eating Poetry," Reasons for Moving, 1968 There's no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money, either. ~Robert Graves, 1962 interview on BBC-TV, based on a very similar statement he overheard around 1955 Poetry is what gets lost in translation. ~Robert Frost Imaginary gardens with real toads in them. ~Marianne Moore's definition of poetry, "Poetry," Collected Poems, 1951 A poem is never finished, only abandoned. ~Paul Valéry He who draws noble delights from sentiments of poetry is a true poet, though he has never written a line in all his life. ~George Sand, 1851 Always be a poet, even in prose. ~Charles Baudelaire, "My Heart Laid Bare," Intimate Journals, 1864 Poets are soldiers that liberate words from the steadfast possession of definition. ~Eli Khamarov, The Shadow Zone Poetry is the journal of the sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away. ~Carl Sandburg, Poetry Considered Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted. ~Percy Shelley, A Defence of Poetry, 1821 Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. ~Plato, Ion Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel...
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...The Turnip Snedder, in true Heaney fashion, is based on an agrarian structure on the surface. Heaney’s fondness for the fusion of the earthy and ethereal is shaped delicately yet again in this piece of his work. Being the poem that serves to launch the rush of conflicting ideas that Heaney presents in District and Circle, the Turnip Snedder has its roots in the photograph that’s reproduced on its book jacket. The photograph found by the Irish painter Hughie O’ Donoghue, contains the image of a man in his Sunday best, standing beside an antique contraption of wood and metal used for the purpose of crushing turnips.And despite its unremarkable personality that’s the precise object that flagged Heaney’s train of thought and resulted into another epic masterpiece. Heaney’s ability of cleverly mingling the old ghosts with the new visions and to play with satire and stark opposites is as much apparent in District and Circle as in any other of his books and The Turnip Snedder is a perfect kick start for such a piece of work. The Snedder on its examination proves to be a cumbersome and barbaric looking thing, as much a weapon as a tool. In the times when efficient and shiny battery or solar-operated machinery was not yet introduced the Snedder was a helpful mate of the farmer and his men. Despite all its ugly and hefty appearance it had the precision needed to do the job. And as a job connected to earth and harvest requires hard work, sweat and strength, it can be agreed that a...
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...thankfulness to God Almighty and thanking you for the love and affection. We are heartily welcomed, fondly cared and tenderly supported in the ministry in our Parish. Your prayer and support makes the difference. This is the time the most popular hymn of Isaac Watts, ‘O God our help in ages past’ reverberates in my mind with gratitude. “O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home. Under the shadow of Thy throne, Still may we dwell secure. Sufficient is Thine arm alone, And our defence is sure.” This hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 30, a Psalm of Moses where he grounds his faith in God Almighty. The Agony and Ecstasy in Following Christ Kathelene and David Wood are both Methodist ministers serving in Lancashire, UK. Before entering the ministry, Kathelene was a special needs teacher. Much of David’s ministry has been in theological education. Part of their life’s demands has been for Peter, their son with profound multiple learning difficulties. Kathelene and David Wood recollect: ‘Life with our profoundly disabled son has been a hard road. Love for him has meant an acceptance (sometimes very grudgingly!) of the lifestyle he brings. Yet the struggle has been life changing. We have learned and experienced so much of God, faith and joy.’ In and through the agony, there has been ecstasy. The images we come across in life are profound and the Bible gives us insights and illuminates our way marred by difficulties. Jesus said:...
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...The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (originally The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere) is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–98 and was published in 1798 in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. Modern editions use a later revised version printed in 1817 that featured a gloss. Along with other poems in Lyrical Ballads, it was a signal shift to modern poetry and the beginning of British Romantic literature. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner relates the experiences of a sailor who has returned from a long sea voyage. The Mariner stops a man who is on the way to a wedding ceremony and begins to narrate a story. The Wedding-Guest's reaction turns from bemusement to impatience and fear to fascination as the Mariner's story progresses, as can be seen in the language style: for example, Coleridge uses narrative techniques such as personification and repetition to create either a sense of danger, of the supernatural or of serenity, depending on the mood of each of the different parts of the poem. The Mariner's tale begins with his ship departing on its journey. Despite initial good fortune, the ship is driven south off course by a storm and eventually reaches Antarctica. An albatross (symbolizing the Christian soul) appears and leads them out of the Antarctic but, even as the albatross is praised by the ship's crew, the Mariner shoots the bird ("with my cross-bow / I shot the albatross"). The crew is angry with the Mariner, believing the albatross...
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..."Nature's first green is gold" ......................Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost Frost's poem contains the perfect image of Vermont's spring landscape. The hardwoods lose their leaves in autumn and stay bare through the winter. In spring, the first green to appear is really gold as the buds break open. The willows and maples have this temporary gold hue. In only a few days, the leaves mature to green. Figurative Language Figurative language uses "figures of speech" - a way of saying something other than the literal meaning of the words. For example, "All the world's a stage" Frost often referred to them simply as "figures." Frost said, "Every poem I write is figurative in two senses. It will have figures in it, of course; but it's also a figure in itself - a figure for something, and it's made so that you can get more than one figure out of it." Cook Voices p235 Metaphor A figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two things essentially unalike. To Frost, metaphor is really what poetry is all about. He is notably a poet of metaphors more than anything else. This is so important, we should hear directly from the poet. Frost said," Poetry begins in trivial metaphors, pretty metaphors, 'grace metaphors,' and goes on to the profoundest thinking that we have. Poetry provides the one permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another. People say, 'Why don't you say what you mean?' We never do that, do we, being all of us too much poets. We like...
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