During the 1960s she spent five years in Africa, working as a journalist and a teacher. Angelou returned to the United States and in 1969 published I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. In 1972 she was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her collection of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie. Since then, Angelou has continued teaching, writing, acting, producing, recording (she won Grammy Awards for the spoken word for the years 1993, 1995 and 2002) and collecting honorary degrees from
Words: 997 - Pages: 4
contemplating the terrible ferocity and awe-inspiring symmetry of the tyger, the speaker is at a loss to explain how the same God who made the meek, innocent lamb could create a horrifying creature such as the tyger. This essay will provide a detailed analysis of William Blake’s “The Tyger” paying particular attention, firstly to the extended metaphor in stanza’s 2, 3 and 4, secondly, to the poetic significance of repetition, in particular to the phrase “fearful symmetry”, thirdly, to the role that the
Words: 1232 - Pages: 5
It happened two years ago as I lay sprawled out on the floor of the library lounge at the Universite de Grenoble in Grenoble, France. I was working on an explication du texte of Guillaume Apollinaire' poem "La Loreley" for my Poemes et Proses du XXe Siecle class when I suddenly put it together: this was my approach to literature. Close reading, formalism. Staying close, very close, to the text. I was certain. Certainty, however, proved rather unstable. I knew it was important not to close myself
Words: 1037 - Pages: 5
William Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 Reflection and Analysis Ashley Terreforte Introduction to Literature Instructor Danielle Slaughter March 27th, 2013 In this paper I will be explaining why I find William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29 interesting and what about the sonnet that catches my attention. I have always been a big fan of all of Shakespeare’s work only because his writing style and the words he uses to make his point within the play, sonnet, or piece of literature. The way Shakespeare writes
Words: 952 - Pages: 4
Elements of sound can be described as devices that are used by poets to reinforce meaning and themes into poetry. Poets can use sound devices such as alliteration, the repetition of two or more consonant sounds in successive words in a line of a verse or prose (Kennedy and Gioia, 2052) or rime, which is when two or more words that contain identical or similar vowel sound (Kennedy and Gioia, 2074). In the two pieces “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke the poets
Words: 1003 - Pages: 5
story can actually be. Many different opinions have been expressed as to what the poet was trying to convey in these lines; happiness, life, or maybe even death. The poem was written during the early 20th century, around the 1920s. According to an analysis done on this poem: “...Frost wrote the poem on a hot summer day...” (Gualdoni 2). Quite an interesting piece of information that questions why Frost would use a season opposite to the one he was currently writing through. The poem itself is written
Words: 1518 - Pages: 7
Jinwoo Hur EH 216 Poetry Analysis 7/7/11 White Lies Part: 1 In the poem “White Lies,” Natasha Tretheway describes a girl telling white lies as a child in a first person narrative. In the first stanza, she describes herself as “light-bright’ near white, high-yellow, red-boned, in a black place.” Red boned means a racially mixed person, and she is describing her skin as a light and near white color. The next stanza shows the readers what kind of lies she said. She told the white folks that
Words: 1269 - Pages: 6
“A Valediction: forbidding Mourning” Summary The speaker explains that he is forced to spend time apart from his lover, but before he leaves, he tells her that their farewell should not be the occasion for mourning and sorrow. In the same way that virtuous men die mildly and without complaint, he says, so they should leave without “tear-floods” and “sigh-tempests,” for to publicly announce their feelings in such a way would profane their love. The speaker says that when the earth moves, it brings
Words: 2066 - Pages: 9
an Athlete Dying Young" provides the reader with an understanding of Housman's view of death. Additional readings reveal Housman's attempt to convey the classical idea that youth, beauty, and glory can be preserved only in death. A line-by-line analysis helps to determine the purpose of the poem. The first stanza of the poem tells of the athlete's triumph and his glory filled parade through the town in which the crowd loves and cheers for him. As Bobby Joe Leggett defines at this point, the
Words: 1612 - Pages: 7
LINES COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE by William Wordsworth Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty: This City now doth like a garment wear The beauty of the morning; silent , bare, 5 Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky, All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. Never did the sun more beautifully steep In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Words: 3777 - Pages: 16