Dylan Thomas combines his vibrant imagery with his adolescent experiences in South Whales and London to produce the realistic tale “The Followers”. His interest in writing short stories like “The Followers” stems from the beginning part of his life.
Thomas spent his days growing up in Swansea, South Whales with his father, a grammar school English teacher. His father encouraged his early interest in reading and writing. Some of his early poetry was published in local literary writing journals. Thomas grew up in the late 1920’s and the 1930’s. “In the 1930’s, when the trend toward social and political commentary dominated the arts, Thomas began pursuing more personal themes that originated in his own experiences” (Gunton and Harris 358). Thomas would then incorporate these experiences into his poetry. For example, the poem “The Ballad of the Long-Legged Bait” is about a fisherman he probably saw around growing up in Swansea. In 1934 Thomas began moving between London and several villages where he started drinking a lot and “epitomized the raucous image of an artist” After WW II, Thomas began writing more short stories rather than poetry (Gunton and Harris 358).
Much earlier stories focus on a theme of either birth or death. Because of this, Thomas’s early period has been called his “womb-tomb” era (Gunton and Harris 358). As Thomas’s writing style evolved, he would begin to experiment with new techniques. He started using vibrant images and using sound as “verbal music”, creating his own poetic style (Gunton and Harris 358). However, many times Thomas will try to convey emotions that are too complex for any lyrical treatment. Other times the opposite can be true and he gives too intricate an elaboration to simple feelings (Olsen 366). These elements of Thomas’ style are evident in his poems and stories, such as “The Followers”.
The roster of characters in “The Followers” are the unnamed narrator, his good pal Leslie, and a girl whom they call “Hermoitte Weatherby”. The narrator and Leslie meet in a pub on a rainy, London night. They leave after a while, due to lack of funds and decide to have a spot of fun by following a girl they don’t know (Hermoitte) to her home. They spend the evening watching “Hermoitte” and her mom doing a lot of nothing they are discovered by them and a third unknown voice inside. They flee their window perch in a hurry and call it a night.
Dreams in A Raisin in the Sun & nbsp; Lena, Walter, Ruth, and Beneatha Younger all lived under the same roof, but their dreams were all different. Being the head of the household, Lena dreamed of the dreams of her children and would do whatever it took to make those dreams come true. Walter, Lena's oldest son, set his dream on the liquor store that he planned to invest with the money of his mother. Beneatha, on the other hand, wanted to become a doctor when she got out of college and Ruth, Walter's wife, wanted to be wealthy. " A Raisin in the Sun" was a book about "dreams deferred", and in this book that Lorraine Hansberry had fluently described the dreams of the Younger family and how those dreams became "dreams deferred." & nbsp; Lena Younger, Walter and Beneatha's mother, was a widow in her early sixties who devoted her life to her children after her husband's death.
Each literary work portrays something different, leaving a unique impression on all who read that piece of writing. Some poems or stories make one feel happy, while others are more solemn. This has very much to do with what the author is talking about in his or her writing, leaving a bit of their heart and soul in the work. F. Scott Fitzgerald, when writing The Great Gatsby, wrote about the real world, yet he didn’t paint a rosy picture for the reader. The same can be said about T.S. Eliot, whose poem “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock,” presents his interpretation of hell. Both pieces of writing have many similarities, but the most similar of them all is the tone of each one.
In The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, It says, Dylan Thomas was born on October 27, 1914, where he spent his days growing up in Swansea, South Whales. His father was an English teacher at the grammar school. Dylan Thomas left the school in 1931 to go write on his own instead of going to college. In 1933, Dylan Thomas was “discovered” as a poet by winning a poetry contest in a popular newspaper (Thomas, English 2444). In 1934, at the age of twenty he published his first book called 18 Poems. That same year he then moved to London and several other villages where he started drinking a lot. In 1936, he met Caitlin Macnamara, a young Irishwoman, who had a bad temperament just like him and they got married and had three children. He supported himself in the last years in part with the long lecture tours of the United States, during which drunk or sober he gave great readings of poems on a dozen of college campuses (Thomas 101). His drinking gradually took up most of his time, which aided him in his early death in New York City (Thomas 102).
The writing style of Edgar Allan Poe shows the writer to be of a dark nature. In this story, he focuses on his fascination of being buried alive. He quotes, “To be buried alive is, beyond question, the most terrific of these [ghastly] extremes which has ever fallen to the lot of mere mortality.” page 58 paragraph 3. The dark nature is reflected in this quote, showing the supernatural side of Poe which is reflected in his writing and is also a characteristic of Romanticism. Poe uses much detail, as shown in this passage, “The face assumed the usual pinched and sunken outline. The lips were of the usual marble pallor. The eyes were lusterless. There was no warmth. Pulsation had ceased. For three days the body was preserved unburied, during which it had acquired a stony rigidity.” page 59 paragraph 2. The descriptive nature of this writing paints a vivid picture that intrigues the reader to use their imagination and visualize the scene presented in the text. This use of imagery ties with aspects of Romanticism because of the nature of the descriptions Poe uses. Describing the physical features of one who seems dead is a horrifying perspective as not many people thing about the aspects of death.
Walter and Beneatha’s relationship is very complex. The spiraling tension between the two siblings causes confrontation to form and creep into the Younger household. Walter needs his family to respect him as the man of the family, but his sister is constantly belittling him in front of his mother, wife, and son. This denigrating treatment taints Walter’s view of himself as a man, which carries into his decisions and actions. Beneatha also subconsciously deals with the dysfunctional relationship with her brother. She desires to have her brother’s support for her dream of becoming a doctor, yet Walter tends to taunt her aspiration and condemns her for having such a selfish dream. Mama as the head of the family is heartbroken by the juvenile hostility of her adult children, so in hopes to keep her family together she makes the brave move of purchasing a house. Mama’s reasoning for the bold purchase was,“ I—I just seen my family falling apart….just falling to pieces in front of my eyes…We couldn’t have gone on like we was today. We was going backwards ‘stead of forw...
Thomas' poem made more of an impact on me because it is so much more
"Oh--So now it's life. Money is life. Once upon a time freedom used to be life--now it's money. I guess the world really do change." Mama is Walter and Beneatha's sensitive and loving mother and the head of the Younger household. She demands that members of her family respect themselves and take pride in their dreams. Mama demands that the apartment in which they all live always be neat and clean. She stands up for her beliefs and provides perspective from an older generation. She believes in striving to succeed while maintaining her moral boundaries. Money is only a means to an end for Mama; dreams are more important to her than material things, and her dream is to own a house with a garden and yard where Travis can play. The following quotation occurs in Act I, scene ii when Mama asks Walter why he always talks about money. Walter then replies "money is life," explaining to her that that he believes that success is all about how much money you have. This conversation takes place early in the play and reveals Mama's and Walter's money struggles, and it goes to show the difference in their generations.
As a child Dylan was comfortable being the center of attention, often writing creative poetry for his mother and on occasion singing. Dylan had no formal music lessons, but none the less he began to compose. Later at age 14, he took up the guitar and shortly after formed a band, one of many he played the guitar in. Always plunging ahead, performing to his up most potentional, Dylan absorbed his surroundings as a source of inspiration. Even during his early efforts Dylan responded very positivly to mainstream musicians, such as country star Hank Williams. Yet, he responded especially well to early rock stars such as Little Richard, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. In the summer of 1959, after graduation Dylan began to work at a cafe, where he began to pay increasing attention to folksingers such as Judy Collins and Jesse Fuller. Finding an instant connection with their songs, songs relevant to social issues. Dylan was drawn into both the musical style and the social message of these indivisuals.
Mama’s dreams were first deferred when she moved into the small apartment that the Youngers family stay in through out most of the play. She became too busy that she couldn’t accomplish her dream. She also could not for fill her dreams since she did not have enough money to do so. Her dreams were even more shattered with the death of her husband, but when she got the money from her husband’s death her dreams then became a reality again. Mama wants Travis to be happy and play in the garden but she cannot do this since they live in a dirty ghetto.
A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. The primary focus of the play is the American Dream. The American Dream is one’s conception of a better life. Each of the main characters in the play has their own idea of what they consider to be a better life. A Raisin in the Sun emphasizes the importance of dreams regardless of the various oppressive struggles of life.
... probably the most excited to move. This is the climax of the play, and it is at this moment that Walter, through his revived manhood, realizes which dream is the most important, and his mothers. Walter refuses Mr. Linder's proposal to buy the house back, and Mama's dream is once again carried through.
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a play about segregation, triumph, and coping with personal tragedy. Set in Southside Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the individual dreams of the Younger family and their personal achievement. The Younger's are an African American family besieged by poverty, personal desires, and the ultimate struggle against the hateful ugliness of racism. Lena Younger, Mama, is the protagonist of the story and the eldest Younger. She dreams of many freedoms, freedom to garden, freedom to raise a societal-viewed equal family, and freedom to live liberated of segregation. Next in succession is Beneatha Younger, Mama's daughter, assimilationist, and one who dreams of aiding people by breaking down barriers to become an African American female doctor. Lastly, is Walter Lee Younger, son of Mama and husband of Ruth. Walter dreams of economic prosperity and desires to become a flourishing businessman. Over the course of Walter's life many things contributed to his desire to become a businessman. First and foremost, Walter's father had a philosophy that no man should have to do labor for another man. Being that Walter Lee was a chauffeur, Big Walter?s philosophy is completely contradicted. Also, in Walter?s past, he had the opportunity to go into the Laundromat business which he chose against. In the long run, he saw this choice was fiscally irresponsible this choice was. In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Walter Lee's dreams, which are his sole focus, lead to impaired judgement and a means to mend his shattered life.
The two poems, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, by Dylan Thomas and, “Because I Could Not Wait for Death”, by Emily Dickinson, we find two distinct treatments on the same theme, death. Although they both represent death, they also represent it as something other than death. Death brings about a variety of different feelings, because no two people feel the same way or believe the same thing. The fact that our faith is unknown makes the notion of death a common topic, as writers can make sense of their own feelings and emotions and in the process hope to make readers make sense of theirs too. Both Dickinson and Thomas are two well known and revered poets for their eloquent capture of these emotions. The poems both explore death and the
He puts together all men from the wise, the old and the wild by stating that they all will eventually face death, and when that time comes he urges them to fight “rage” for longer life, rather than just accepting death. His portrayal differs from Dickenson’s as he presents death by using metaphors and imagery. (Napierkowski p49-60) He describes death as being “that good night” and the use of that metaphor causes death to become something unknown. Thomas suggests that death is like night time, it’s dark and unfamiliar. Thomas is presenting death as something that should be feared and something that we should fight against. His message in the poem is about how precious the gift of life is and he uses imagery with the phrases “old age should burn and rave at close of day. “(752) and “wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight.” (752) Thomas uses those poetic devices to convey anger and how powerless someone feels when being confronted by death. When Thomas reveals his father’s curse at the end of the poem you get a sense of passion that he feels for life and how he desperately wanted to send this powerful emotion to his
Dylan Thomas was born in 1914 of intellectual parents both being literature professors. Long before he could read, his father would recite poetry from classic authors. Many of his poems can be traced to the illustrated style of D.H Lawrence. The imagery he provides of disparity and death in many of his poems. In the span of Dylan’s life, he witnessed both Great Wars. The first war may have been the main topic of discussion by his parents at childhood. And later at service in the air defense over London. Because of his determined health Thomas was not able to enroll in an active combat role during World War II. Thomas life’s experiences played a major role in influencing his writing...