Central Themes of Gilbert Keith Chesterton's Essay 'In Lying in Bed'
Gilbert Keith Chesterton was one of the greatest English authors ever to live. He wrote many essays and novels. He had much time to do this because he was a large man and could not move around easily. In Gilbert's essay, "In Lying in Bed" his deep understanding of humanity clearly evident. He speaks informally and rambles like the common speaker does. In my analysis I will describe and explain the central themes of Chesterton's essay.
The first theme that is expressed in the essay is the brilliance of what one can do while lying in bed. He explains this by giving an example of painting while lying in bed. If you let your mind relax, which one tends to do while lying down, many thoughts will enter into your mind. He expresses this as a positive aspect of lying down in bed. He also writes that you will notice many items which are completely idiotic such as wall paper, that has one particular design that is repeated.
The second theme that he expresses is the hypocrisy of people towards lying in bed. He goes on by explaining his theme by using symbolism. He says that people say that lying in bed is not healthy and is a waste of time but then proceed to lie in bed for the wrong reasons such as beauty. His theme of hypocrisy is essentially true in the world today, parents tell there children to stop lying around and do something productive, and yet they sleep in until twelve or one o'clock on the weekends.
The last theme expressed is the practice of lying in bed for the wrong reasons. People lie in bed for beauty, sloth, and for other scientific reasons. This is an incorrect practice. Unless one is seriously sick, one should lie in bed because he has the urge to relax. What he is trying to say in his theme of the "right reasons to lie in bed" is that one should need no justification or any reason at all to lie in his bed.
While the poem's situation is simple, its theme is not. Stafford appears to be intimating that life is precious and fragile; however, nothing so clearly discloses these attributes of life as confrontation with death. Furthermore, the very confrontations that engender appreciation of life's delicacies force action-all to frequently callous action.
Overall the readers may feel sad about the story of the Of Mice and Men because of the three themes that he has used in the novel. The three themes: Freedom and confinement, loneliness, and racism show the struggle that George and Lennie go through throughout the
up an overall idea of the theme of the scene. The scene is quite long,
Another theme is the ability of a person to have some dignity even when it feels like the world is against you. These themes remain important today because it teaches us what can happen to a person if their dreams are never fulfilled. For example, Walter had a dream to open a liquor store, however this dream never came true after Willy (the person Walter gave the money too to open the store) betrayed him. He broke down and felt hopeless. It also teaches us that dignity is important, Walter also portrayed his need for dignity after he rejects the offer of Mr. Linder from the“home improvement
Layamon. "Arthur's Dream." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H.Abrams. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. 122-124.
Theme is defined as the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person’s thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic. Throughout literary history, authors have been using theme to bring a story together and make a point. In order to make a story have a resounding feeling in readers, authors use themes to leave an underlying message which are usually lessons and morals that should be widely taught, such as in children’s books or in fables. In all three stories, “A Rose for Emily”, “Hills like White Elephants”, and “Harrison Bergeron” the author’s use a mutual theme of death and further show how death brings change to each of the main character’s lives in different
Abrams, M.H. and Greenblatt, Stephen eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Seventh Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.
The sleep motif is very enlightening, in that key moments of Edna’s awakening are preceded by sleep. Sleep, especially for those who are depressed, is used as a way of escape, but in this novel sleep is used mystically as a way for Chopin to show that many things happen while Edna is sleeping that leads to awakening. In this way, the reader can only guess what occurs during sleep.
in G.K. Chesterton's compelling poem, The Ballad of the White Horse. During a time when the
The overall themes of this poem are beauty, love, and destiny. The speaker constantly discusses beautiful things and how they can help us. Love can be felt throughout the entire poem. In the first stanza, the speaker verbalizes how he “came with love of the race.” He also expresses love for the beautiful things around him. The theme destiny can be seen in the third stanza when the speaker talks about staying on course. It can also be identified in the last stanza when he describes something inevitable that was about to
Finally, a plausible theme that has also been presented by Hughes is the theme of music and its importance. He goes into discussing about how music helps the man to soothe the suffering and hardships of his past. The music from the trumpet is compared to ‘honey mixed with liquid fire’ (19-20). Hughes notes that the music is hot and sweet, which indicates that music is great as opposed to weary suffering. In the last stanza, music is compared to ‘hypodermic needle/ to his soul’ (39-40). He points out that music is under the man’s skin and in his souls where it soothes him softly and relieves his burden.
...ow this dream, once big and important is turned into a merely bothersome thought. This shows how the poet is no longer inspired to achieve this dream. Moreover, the phrase ‘I’m folding up my little dreams tonight, within my heart’ further describes her desperation (7). The act of folding describes her urge to make the dream disappear and tuck it out of her sight. This obviously shows how she does not want to confront it any longer.
The poem starts off with a young girl “awake at dawn” who is dreaming by silk curtains. The young girl has fragrance “spilling” out of her hair “half sandalwood, half aloes” this sets the mood for the poem. If they did not explain the fragrance spilling out of the girl's hair and her waking up by silk curtains they wouldn't have set the calm mood for the poem. Most girls don't pay attention to there hair and the way they wake
It shows the view of how it a lie and the way you could reach the dream is survive of the fittest, to pretending to love the American dream when deep inside it something that make you feel like it is a nightmare.
Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology Of English Literature. 8th. A. W W Norton & Co Inc, 2006.