Insignificance of Existence
Forthright and cynical in tone, Gioia’s poem, “Pity the Beautiful” aligns with the author’s typical New Formalism writing style. Gioia also contends to his predictable pattern of incorporating a rather simplistic rhyme scheme, while still maintaining a stern, and meaningful message throughout the piece. The first four-line stanza emits a judgmental, patronizing condemnation towards various types of people, and as the poem progresses every aspect of Gioia’s pessimistic, yet blatantly true, remarks of our existence eventually belittle human life. It’s as if the poem’s unfortunately daunting theme- the insignificance of existence- can be explained in a sarcastic mockery of our true efforts to indeed become significant.
Within the first four lines of the poem Gioia has already condemned aspects of human nature by mocking our innate desires for wealth, attraction, innocence, and material possessions. We are subject to his subconscious berating of our greed through line three of the poem. This line suggests human’s superficial desires lead to shameful acts, such as marrying someone for money alone (3-4). Elizabeth Bishop, the late renowned poet, credited to have greatly influenced Gioia’s writing style, speaks of a similar topic in her poem entitled “One Art.” The poem suggests that our losses hurt, but it is not actually “a disaster (15),” suggesting that indeed the affections and things we adore are only temporary and, furthermore that the loss of these items is actually much less painful than we initially presume. The “golden boys” (6) who tend to prosper, acts as an allusion to Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. Ironically, in Shakespeare’s piece, the “golden boys”, (generally deemed the most worthy people with...
... middle of paper ...
...ent roughly during the time period of World War II when poetry did indeed rhyme, and was metrical (Balee, Susan). Gioia tends to avoid ornate, complex words; instead, he aims to express ideas through common words- “bloated” (14), “shine” (20), “tens out of tens” (10). This allows readers to focus predominantly on the meaning of the poem, rather than on the vocabulary. The simplistic rhyme scheme of “Pity the Beautiful”- ABCB- furthermore contributes to the ease of reading and comprehension. The balance between complexity and accessibility reinforces Gioia’s forthright tone. It is transparent without becoming flat, startling without going to extremes. The judgmental, patronizing condemnation towards various types of people is expressed through allusions, irony, and diction choices- cumulating to create the theme: the insignificance of existence.
The narrative opens with a holiday feast in King Arthur’s court. The richness of this setting is represented by the decorations surrounding Queen Guenevere described in lines 76-80. “With costly silk curtains, a canopy over,/ Of Toulouse and Turkestan tapestries rich/ All broidered and bordered with the best gems/ Ever brought into Britain, with bright pennies/ to pay.” These lines also symbolize the queen’s role in the poem of a stately symbol of chivalric Camelot and as a female ideal. In this setting women are all around, but Guenevere is positioned above them and is surrounded by expensive, beautiful things. She is clearly made superior.
and that we should help those less fortunate than ourselves. In this I essay I have shown how successful the poet was in making me share this view by using his thoughtful and intense language, word-choice and imagery techniques.
First of alll, the poem is divided into nine stanzas, where each one has four lines. In addition to that, one can spot a few enjambements for instance (l.9-10). This stylistic device has the function to support the flow of the poem. Furthermore, it is crucial to take a look at the choice of words, when analysing the language.
In school we are able to connect these types of issues, and we see that people change and conform to their peers, doing anything in order to raise or maintain their reputation. We can see that Gawain changed his perspective on his life, as well as values, which also affected his loyalty to the chivalric code. This poem as a whole can be used as an example to guide the teenagers of today to show that we all change, and that we make mistakes because of how we care about our reputation throughout our high school lives. But when we reach the end, we will not end up like Gawain and wear a sign of sin, but find our own paths about our true
Extensive work has been done on this alliterative four-part poem written by an anonymous contemporary of Chaucer. Feminists have attacked his diatribe against women at the end, or analyzed the interaction between Gawain and the women of Bercilak’s court; those of the D. W. Robertson school seek the inevitable biblical allusions and allegory concealed within the medieval text; Formalists and philologists find endless enjoyment in discovering the exact meaning of certain ambiguous and archaic words within the story. Another approach that yields interesting, if somewhat dated, results, is a psychological or archetypal analysis of the poem. By casting the Green Knight in the role of the Jungian Shadow, Sir Gawain’s adventure to the Green Chapel becomes a journey of self-discovery and a quest – a not entirely successful one – for personal individuation. The Jungian process of individuation involves “.... ...
It does this conceptually, by emphasizing human nature over chivalry, and it does this narratively through Gawain’s failure as a knight, and the Green Knight’s illegitimacy as a true villain. In traditional romance of this time, the protagonist could not have faltered in chivalry; Gawain’s “lapses of courage and honour… are highly untypical of the knightly conduct we find illustrated with such stultifying sameness in medieval story” (Shedd 245). But this occurs because the Green Knight is not the true villain; the real conflict is Gawain’s struggle against his own human nature. While the Green Knight appears to be a classic antagonist in the first part of the poem, he proves himself merciful and forgiving in the final part, stating that he does not blame Gawain because it was only because “[he] loved [his] own life” that he failed the final test (95). Rather than merely taking Sir Gawain’s head, the Green Knight gave him the opportunity to prove himself as “faultless” (95), or above his human nature, to “[purge] the debt” (96). Just as Shedd argues, the shift from external to internal conflict in the poem sets Sir Gawain and the Green Knight apart from other works of medieval romance.
The ethical life of the poem, then, depends upon the propositions that evil. . . that is part of this life is too much for the preeminent man. . . . that after all our efforts doom is there for all of us” (48).
In her poem entitled “The Poet with His Face in His Hands,” Mary Oliver utilizes the voice of her work’s speaker to dismiss and belittle those poets who focus on their own misery in their writings. Although the poem models itself a scolding, Oliver wrote the work as a poem with the purpose of delivering an argument against the usage of depressing, personal subject matters for poetry. Oliver’s intention is to dissuade her fellow poets from promoting misery and personal mistakes in their works, and she accomplishes this task through her speaker’s diction and tone, the imagery, setting, and mood created within the content of the poem itself, and the incorporation of such persuasive structures as enjambment and juxtaposition to bolster the poem’s
While the monsters of the poem are the antagonists of the poem, the author still manages to make the reader feel traces of sympathy for them. Grendel’s human depiction, exile and misery tugs at the heart of readers and indeed shows a genuine side to the figure, while Grendel’s mother and the dragon are sympathetic mainly because they were provoked into being attacked over things they both had a deep affection for. Their actions make us question whether they are as evil as they seem.
As the first poem in the book it sums up the primary focus of the works in its exploration of loss, grieving, and recovery. The questions posed about the nature of God become recurring themes in the following sections, especially One and Four. The symbolism includes the image of earthly possessions sprawled out like gangly dolls, a reference possibly meant to bring about a sense of nostalgia which this poem does quite well. The final lines cement the message that this is about loss and life, the idea that once something is lost, it can no longer belong to anyone anymore brings a sense...
The ironic use of rhyme and meter, or the lack thereof, is one of the devices Larkin uses to emphasize his need to break out of industrial society. The typical rhyme scheme is not followed, but instead an ironic rhyme scheme is used in the sonnet in the form of abab cdcd efg efg. Larkin writes this poem as a sonnet but at the same time diverges from what a typical sonnet is supposed to be. He is commenting on society’s inclination to form restrictions on those within it. By writing out of the accepted form of a sonnet, his writing becomes more natural because of a lack of constraints due to following certain rules and fitting a certain form. He breaks free and writes as he pleases and does not conform to society. Just as with the rhyme, ...
In the two poems Crabbit Old Woman and Piano, both the writers use language to provoke sympathy towards a person and their situation by using the present and the past tense to build up emotions.
Over the centuries, poetry has endeavoured to communicate human emotion and ideas. Bruce Dawe’s grave Homecoming and the saddening Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen convey the trauma in war-stricken situations and the loss involved. Significantly differing from these sombre themes, William Shakespeare is able to convey his love and appreciation for a woman in My Mistress’ Eyes which conflicts with the self-hatred and resentment apparent in Jennifer Maiden’s stark Anorexia. Delving into personal emotions, a number of the poems express despair in conflict or, conversely, aim to portray an inner turmoil.
Whether the reader sees the satire or not depends on the reader themselves. Those who see this poem may not realize they're guilty of believing that the love and patience in stanza one exists. The presentation of this argument works because it seems sweet at first glance, logical when looked at again, and satirical when looked at against the views of the society.
In Shakespeare's “King Lear”, the tragic hero is brought down, like all tragic heroes, by one fatal flaw; in this case it is pride, as well as foolishness. It is the King's arrogant demand for absolute love and, what's more, protestations of such from the daughter who truly loves him the most, that sets the stage for his downfall. Cordelia, can be seen as Lear’s one true love, and her love and loyalty go not only beyond that of her sisters but beyond words, thus enraging the proud King Lear whose response is: "Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her". Here, Lear's pride is emphasized as he indulges in the common trend of despising in others what one is most embarrassed of oneself.