...The poem “stealing” by Carol Ann Duffy is one of the most interesting poems I have ever read. It is about a common thief who steals objects with no great value, for example a snowman. You never know the thief’s gender or his or her name and this adds an air of mystery. Throughout the poem you feel no sympathy towards him. He takes enjoyment out of other people’s grief and this may be due to an unstable childhood or simply the way he feels about society. The poem is written quite sympathetically but no matter how hard you try, you find that the thief is a very unlikable character. He has an exceptionally high opinion of himself and a certain degree of self importance and this is made apparent by the way he looks at his life at a certain angle, with a third person view. It is my task to describe how far Carol Ann Duffy, in her poem “Stealing” reveals the persona and encourages a degree of sympathy on the part of the reader. In the first stanza the thief begins as if repeating a question someone has asked him. This makes me think that the thief is perhaps talking to someone or being interviewed. “The most unusual thing I ever stole?” It is also a rhetorical question and the thief makes it quite clear that he is not new to the world of thievery by saying “I ever stole”. His answer was “A Snowman.” And by keeping his answer short you feel that he wants to get straight to the point. I feel that it starts to become clear now that he cares more about the affection from inanimate objects...
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...worship. The themes of a variety of poems depend on the time and date the poem is written and published as well as what the poet likes and if there are any significant political or societal events happening. Sometimes, themes are easy to analyze and other poems are written in a way that the poet hides the message by using different languages. Death was important to poetry from the medieval times to the 20th century. Poets write about death resulting from being in love, young, and in war. The poems that strongly portray the themes of death over different centuries and cultures that will be analyzed throughout this paper are “Lord Randal”,...
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...between people have massive effects on individuals and it brings with it so many other emotions such as happiness, pain, humour, guilt, hate, jealousy and so many more. This assignment will discuss how the poems “Ballad” which is a traditional poem with an unknown author “The Sick Equation” by Brian Patten and the Short story Brackley and the Bed” by Sam Selvon, depict love and relationships the effect the writer has on the audience and also how the texts reflect social issues. In the traditional style poem “Ballad” the writer uses short regular rhyming verses to tell the story of a young maid who falls in love with a shepherd. The writer portrays the maid as the Protagonist and the victim of a love crime from early on in the poem for example. “ He stole away my liberty, when my poor heart was strange to men. He came and smiled and stole it then.” (Lines 2 – 4) The writer describes the antagonist Shepherd as “faithless” and a “rogue” who seemingly promised the young innocent maid the world but in return took her virginity, impregnated her then left her in a depressed suicidal state. “He promised beds as fine as silk, and sheets for love as white as milk. But he when won my heart astray let me to want a bed of clay.” (Lines 21 -24) The writer’s use of contrasts in this poem is very effective and paints the picture of a whirlwind romance using the seasons as a metaphor. The summer brings with it long hot days and romantic nights. While the cold bitter chill of winter, brings...
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...“Edwin Robinson” poems, which show true naturalistic behavior. Naturalistic conflict remains evident in all time periods, especially the time period of these works. These works show how naturalism can be represented in many different ways and have a deeper meaning behind them because of Naturalism. Ethan Frome, written by Edith Wharton’s, is about a young man who must come back to college and take care of his mother because his father passed away earlier in the year due to an illness. Then his mother became ill. Since he’s a horrible caretaker, his cousin Zeena comes to take care of his mother. After his mother's passing, Ethan feels obligated to marry Zeena. These two have been sucked into a loveless marriage. Zeena falls ill, Zeena’s cousin Mattie arrives at the home to take care of Zeena. Mattie finds Ethan attractive and does. They try to hide their love, but it's too powerful, Zeena finds out. Right before Mattie leaves, Ethan and Mattie ride a sled straight into a tree and Ethan becomes disfigured and Mattie becomes paralyzed. Ethan Frome’s many naturalistic conflicts, one such conflict, physical limitation. “Zeena had always been what Starkfield called "sickly," and Frome had to admit that, if she were as ailing as she believed, she needed the help of a stronger arm than the one which lay so lightly in his during the night walks to the farm.”(Wharton, Ch. 1). The adage of the adage. Ethan realizes Zeena needs an aid to actually help her with what she needs. Physical limitations...
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...place going That .. poem going That hear face glowing (repeats) She’s got wings She’s got … It seems to me so unnatural Cause it’s one thing that I don’t know She sees me so incredible She looks at me Took me by surprise When she took me by the hand To some … land Let me be your .. Way above clouds in the sky Chorus One republic - Secrets Lyrics I need another story Something to get off my chest My life gets kinda boring Need something that i can confess Till all my sleeves are stained red From all the truth that I've said Come by it honestly I swear Thought you saw me wink, no, I've been on the brink, so [CHORUS] Tell me what you want to hear Something that will light those ears I'm sick of all the insincere So I'm gonna give all my secrets away This time Don't need another perfect lie Don't care if critics ever jump in line I'm Gonna give all my secrets away My God, amazing how we got this far It's like were chasing all those stars Who's driving shiny big black cars And everyday I see the news All the problems that we could solve And when a situation rises Just write it into an album Singing straight to cold I don't really like my flow, no, so [CHORUS] Got no reason Got no shame Got no family I can blame Just don't let me disappear I'ma tell you everything [CHORUS x2] All my secrets away (x2) TRAIN LYRICS "50 Ways To Say Goodbye" My heart is paralyzed My head was oversized I'll take the high road like I should You said it's meant to be That it's not you, it's me You're...
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...grow up not knowing how the world works. They don’t understand why people are different from each other, and sometimes they react to differences with jealousy or cruelty. In All Summer in a Day, by Ray Bradbury, the children are jealous and even angry with Margot because she has had experiences that they have not, and she suffers unfairly as a result. You could write a literary analysis about the Figurative Language in this story: The children pressed together LIKE so many roses, so many weeds intermixed. Simile They were remembering gold or a yellow crayon or a coin large enough to build the world with. Metaphor They always awoke to the tatting drum, the endless snaking of clear bead necklaces upon the roof. Metaphor They turned on themselves, like a feverish wheel, all fumbling spokes. Simile She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghosts. Metaphor It’s like a penny. Simile The great jungle that covered Venus, that grew and never stopped growing, tumultuously, even as you watched it. It was a nest of octopi, clustering up great arms of fleshlike week, wavering, flowering in this brief spring. Metaphor You could write an essay about what Ray Bradbury is saying about mob mentality in "All Summer and a Day". "All Summer in a Day" shows Margot, the quiet, invisible outcast of the class, being singled out by the rest of her classmates, after telling everyone the sun would come...
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...Smiling is infectious Smiling is infectious You catch it like the flu When someone smiled at me today I started smiling too I walked around the corner And someone saw me grin When he smiled I realised I had passed it on to him I thought about the smile And then realised its worth A single smile like mine Could travel round the earth So if you feel a smile begin Don't leave it undetected Start an epidemic And get the world infected. Reason to Smile How can one smile such sweet smiles, When one is so saddened by sorrows for miles, How can I smile the same smiles, When life brings me nothing but tears, I wondered for so long, What reason you had to smile that long, To keep smiling though troubles come, And still remain sweet and silently overcome, It's such a mystery to me, Your smiles from heaven with glee, I adore and yet envy thee, But I'd rather you smile those at me, I feel happy when I see you smile, Even if I'm sad and lonely, Your smiles bring me somewhere, I don't even know where, But it was you, You gave me the reason to smile, To smile with no reason, To smile for a smile, I guess life is just like that, We need not a reason to smile, For a smile is the reason itself, To rejoice and open-heartedly give thanks, I learned to smile because of you, Because your smiles bring me joy when blue, It proves how well and powerful, A simple sweet smile can become so beautiful, Smile for the sake...
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...final "legacy" of food, laundry, and sonnets. Once upon a time there was a wife and mother one too many times One winter evening she looked at them: the husband durable, receptive, gentle; the child a tender golden three. The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again. She told the husband these thoughts. He was attuned to her; he understood such things. He said he understood. What would she like him to do? "If you could put the boy to bed and read him the story about the monkey who ate too many bananas, I would be grateful." "Of course," he said. "Why, that's a pleasure." And he sent her off to bed. The next night it happened again. Putting the warm dishes away in the cupboard, she turned and saw the child's grey eyes approving her movements. In the next room was the man, his chin sunk in the open collar of his favorite wool shirt. He was dozing after her good supper. The shirt was the grey of the child's trusting gaze. She began yelping without tears, retching in between. The man woke in alarm and carried her in his arms to bed. The boy followed them up the stairs, saying, "It's all right, Mommy," but this made her scream. "Mommy is sick," the father said, "go and wait for me in your room." The husband undressed her, abandoning her only long enough to root beneath the eiderdown for her flannel gown. She stood naked except for her...
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...experiences make up the most amazing journey of “life” that we all make from birth to death. And many of the journeys in life can be a struggle. Eudora Welty’s short story “A Worn Path” is the story of an old woman experiencing a journey in her life with countless struggles along the way. Eudora Welty’s short story “A Warn Path” gives us the journey that an old woman makes out of love for her family and the strong will and determination she has to complete the journey. Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” is a poem about having to make a hard decision during his journey of life. Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” gives us the journey on a man who has to make a decision and choose what path he wants to spend the rest of his life down. Both “A Warn Path” and “The Road Not Taken” have one particular theme which is “Journey,” but both pieces of literature have different content, form and style. While the journey is the theme of each of these pieces of literature, each author gives a different perspective of the journey through different meaning. In the poem “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost portrays the journey as the choices people take in their life and the impact of these choices to their future. Frost shows how a choice today has long term effects on what they will become tomorrow. Frost gives the reader the scenario of choosing the path that many others choose, or choosing the path that few choose to solve their choice. One path has to be chosen and Frost...
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...Hired Man,” Robert Frost uses sorrow to express the effect of death on the living. These poems show different families that are dealing with death and the ways that they refuse to romanticise grief. In “Home Burial”, a woman is unable to move on from the loss of her child, which results in the separation from her husband. In “The Death of a Hired Man,” a married couple express their different feelings toward a man who used to work for them and that had come home to die. In these poems, the husband and wife respond to death in different ways. As a result, they disagree with each other have difficulty understanding the feelings of their partner. Frost uses dialogue in “Home Burial” and “The Death of a Hired Man” to show us the way that death affects the world and the people in it. In the beginning of “Home Burial”, we see Amy coming down the stairs of her home. On her way down the stairwell she “look[s] back over her shoulder in some fear”(Frost 3) and turns away. Her husband sees her asks her what she is looking at, “What is it you see / From up there always—for I want to know” (Frost 6-7). It is clear that the wife is petrified of her husband as she is unable to look at him. She is also uncomfortable in his presence as “her face change[s] from terrified to dull” (Frost 9). The husband is “Mounting until she cowered under him” (Frost 11). In this line, we realize that the husband is controlling...
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...All the ambition of becoming in the high class she brings herself into her downfall. She hated her living society. In the story she marries a rich man that his profession is a clerk. Loisel is beautiful and charming woman. The clerk who she married he works in the ministry of education. These man during the time of the story he can afford anything, provide her only with a modest though not uncomfortable lifestyle. Later in the story she got invited to a big society party all thanks to her husband. The party was hosted by the ministry of education the place where her husband works. He hope that Malthilde will be thrilled with the chance to attend an event this sort. Later she receive these news she started to cry all because she did not have a nice dress to wear for the party, he got mad and gave her money to buy a dress. Afterwards she wanted a necklace to go with the dress she got and went to a lady named Forestier to get a necklace from her she accepts and lends the jewelry to Malthilde. In the party she was excited because every man notice her cause she looked beautiful. The party ended late they walk down the streets to catch a cab, when they got home she noticed the necklace she had was gone. She lost the necklace that miss Forestier lend her, few days pass she find a different necklace that looks similar the necklace that Forestier lend her and her husband went bankrupt to able to pay the debt that his wife made all because she wanted to go that high class society party. Both...
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...movement brought about significant change; unfortunately, not all people were willing to accept it. People’s resistance to change is usually based on ignorance or the desire to conform in an attempt to avoid becoming an outcast. In the novel, Stone Butch Blues, written by Leslie Feinberg, Jess Goldberg becomes an outcast because of her resistance to conformity. Since Jess was brought up in a straight environment, she grew up confused, without the understanding of her true nature. Her parents rejected her differences due to the fact that they were so focused on society’s view of the social norm. Having no one to confide in, Jess was forced to set out on her own to find people she could connect with and help her to explore identity. This book demonstrates both society’s demand for conformity and the pressures that queer people face in an unjust world; Jess’ success in battling this social pressure inspires people to fight against discrimination and to ensure their pursuit of happiness. At a very early age, Jess noticed that she stood apart from many of her peers. She desired to indulge in young boys’ fashions and rigorous activities. Her sister, on the other hand, conformed to wearing dresses and participating in more feminine interests. At first, Jess’ parents accepted her behavior, while under the...
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...Unit 1 Title: Flowers for Algernon Suggested Time: 5-7 days (45 minutes per day) Common Core ELA Standards: RL.8.1, RL.8.2, RL.8.3; W8.1, W8.4, W8.9; SL8.1; L.8.1, L.8.2 [Additional Tasks: RI8.8, RI8.9] Teacher Instructions Preparing for Teaching 1. Read the Big Ideas and Key Understandings and the Synopsis. Please do not read this to the students. This is a description for teachers about the big ideas and key understanding that students should take away after completing this task. Big Ideas and Key Understandings: * Students should work through the idea that different levels of intelligence, emotional and intellectual, lead to different types of interactions with people and society. * Students should evaluate moral/ethical decisions of characters. Synopsis A mentally challenged man is presented with an opportunity to have an operation that will triple his intelligence. The story chronicles the journey that he takes as his intelligence progresses and regresses. 2. Read the entire selection, keeping in mind the Big Ideas and Key Understandings. 3. Re-read the text while noting the stopping points for the Text Dependent Questions and teaching Tier II/academic vocabulary. During Teaching 1. Anticipatory Set: Discuss the following questions with students to guide deeper understanding of the main themes of the story: What is intelligence? Can a person ever be too smart? What is meant by the saying “ignorance is bliss”? 2. Students read the...
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...the pits of hell for me. After twenty years of marriage, my husband and I decided to get a divorce. I was left with nothing…no house, no furniture, a car I could not afford and the responsibility of providing for four children. All of a sudden, I was left alone to run a household and to raise four children singlehandedly. I was as green as grass, did not have a clue. I thought I could handle it all since I am a smart, educated, independent woman with a good job.I had excellent credit and a wallet full of credit cards. Never before had I been responsible for paying bills, my ex-husband paid foreverything. All of a sudden, I had a house note, car note, insurance, utilities, clothes, food, credit cards, and the list of bills just kept going on and onand on. Before I could get one bill paid the next one was in the mailbox. I knew that I had a decent job with a good pay but I was spending money faster than I was making it and pretty soon I did not make enough money to cover everything. Every time I turned around something was broken and needed to be repaired or one of the kids needed something. I began to usea credit card to purchase gas for my car to go to work. I used a different credit card to buy groceries. I paid tuition with a credit card. I bought books with a credit card. Pretty soon, I began to usea credit card to pay other credit cards. I was trapped in a vicious cycle of debt. I tried to get some relief through a bill consolidation loan but it was temporary fix because before...
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...asked what she thought made music good and her thoughts on music censorship. I interviewed Aaron who is a tremendous fan of hip-hop and his input as on why he thought censorship...
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