What is atmosphere? It is the use of dust and moonlight, of curtains and trailing gowns. Atmosphere is the character that is not human, the description of place and feel, all the points of the tale that are not directly products of the people in the story or poem. In "A Rose for Emily'' by William Faulkner, atmosphere seems more potent than the hastily sketched characters in the story. This is also evident in the famous poems "She Walks in Beauty'' by Byron and "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer Day?'' by Shakespeare. Note that even the titles of these poems refer more to the surroundings of the love object in the title, rather than the object herself.
"A Rose for Emily' starts as a reminiscence and ends as a horror story. Even in the starting lines, atmosphere is strongly stressed...There is a quick reference to the town's people, and then Faulkner turns to the deceased Emily's house with a clearly relished description.
It was like a big, squares frame house that once had been White, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavy light some style of the seventies...an eyesore among eyesore’s [Cited in DiYanni, 2007, p. 79]. Immediately, the reader is more interest in seeing the house than marking the passing of its eccentric owner. Even the title of Shakespeare's "Shall I Compare Thee to a summer’s Day?'' seems to refer more to the day than the "Thee.'' He goes on to exclaim the delights the "darling buds of May and "nature's changing course untrimmed.' [Cited in DiYanni, 2007, p. 874]. His loves' immortality does not lie in her character, but in the fact that her beauty allies with the nature of the day. Similarly, Byron opens his famous love poem with the line "She Walks in Beauty like the Night / of ...
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...are Thee to a Summer Day'' is less atmospheric [a bit more sexually ambiguous- is he admiring a young girl or boy?], but is still clear in its desire to have that possesses the traits of a sunny summer day. Byron brings up the rear in these works in atmosphere; it is a short happy poem.
Still, he chains his love to the night and to mystery of the dark
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
These waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face; [Cited in DiYanni, 2007, p. 1111; 1112].
Note the nameless woman has black hair, a subtle reference to the atmosphere of the night.
What else do these works have in common beyond their skill as literature? They are about women, [with the slight doubt in Shakespeare's case]. They are an interesting window into the views of the female sex in particular times of history.
“A Rose for Emily” begins with the foreshadowing of Emilys funeral. The story then takes the reader to explain what had occurred over the years leading to Emily’s death. Emily Grierson had become the last member of an aristocratic southern family who had been raisd by her widowed father. Growing up< Emilys
poem. The tone used by each poet is critical because it indicates to the reader their
Faulkner guides us through his short story “A Rose for Miss Emily”, with his own unique form of third person limited narration. This narration allows the audience to follow the opinions of the narrator and develop the mindset the author desires his audience to have. Specifically, William’s choice to begin the story with the description of Emily’s funeral gives the reader a sort of inherent sympathy for Miss Emily, which we, the readers, naturally carry through the story as we build our opinion of Emily.
We learn many things through experience as we grow older, and these experience lessons make us who we are in life. In William Faulkner's short story, "A Rose for Emily," Emily Grierson was among the higher class of people in her community, and her family acted as if they were above the other classes. Her family demanded the respect and fear of many yet, "behind their hands" (Faulkner 78) the same many scrutinized and judged Emily. This crowd grew very conscious of Emily since she became a recluse. Emily's upbringing by her father, the death of her father, and the disappearance of her sweetheart were all of the factors that contributed to her seclusion.
People who read about William Faulkner (1897-1962) know that he did not lead an easy life. He had the bad habit of drinking way too much, but above all he was very lonely. In his short story “A Rose For Emily,” Emily becomes very important because it represents in some way Faulkner himself. Even though she was perceived as an idol from the town, she felt very lonely.
William Faulker’s "A Rose for Emily", is a story told from the viewpoint of a
A Rose for Emily is a southern gothic short story about an elderly woman stuck in her ways. When we are first introduced to Emily it is at her funeral where the entire town has come to falsely pay their respects. The men only went to Emily’s funeral because they viewed her as a fallen monument and the women only went out of curiosity to peer inside Emily’s house, which had been closed up to the world and shrouded in mystery for decades. Throughout the story, the narrator gradually describes Emily’s descent into madness and her unwillingness to accept the change happening around her. The central theme of A Rose for Emily focuses on the never-ending battle between tradition and change, which is expertly portrayed by William Faulkner’s use of
Shakespeare, William. "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?." 1894. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. By X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th ed. Boston: Longman, 2010. 501. Print. Compact Edition.
In Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" the character Emily is woman who never learned to be independent. Her dependent behavior is due to her father; his overbearing behavior doomed Miss Emily's future. Emily was raised to be very dependent on the only male figure in her life, her father. The relationship between Emily and her father establishes the pattern that would lead to her future actions toward the male figures throughout her life, Colonel Sartoris, Homer Baron and Tobe. Even though there were few males in her life, Miss Emily was dependent on them at one time or another and was unable to let go of the men that she encountered during her lifetime.
In "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner's use of setting and characterization foreshadows and builds up to the climax of the story. His use of metaphors prepares the reader for the bittersweet ending. A theme of respectability and the loss of, is threaded throughout the story. Appropriately, the story begins with death, flashes back to the past and hints towards the demise of a woman and the traditions of the past she personifies. Faulkner has carefully crafted a multi-layered masterpiece, and he uses setting, characterization, and theme to move it along.
The use of figurative language and imagery in the two sonnets “How do I love thee” by Elizabeth Browning, and “Shall I compare Thee to a summer’s day” by William Shakespeare, convey complex emotions pertaining to love. The way that Shakespeare describes his feelings toward his significant other, suggests that he desires for the love he shares with his possible mistress to transcend death and last eternally. Mrs. Browning’s use of figurative language is more apparent, as she describes the various ways that she loves this particular person, expressing the extent of her intense unconditional love. Shakespeare uses personification of the Sun, during a summer’s day, to determine whether a summer’s day actually captures the essence of this individual that he loves so dearly. Shakespeare’s sonnet asks a question that he answers when he writes this person into an existence that will last for an eternity, which a limited summers day cannot. Shakespeare’s use of imagery and figurative language is more effective.
The speaker in this poem is a poet but it is not to be confused with William Shakespeare as it is not stated that the poet is indeed Shakespeare. The speaker is very full of himself and controversial as he compared summer with his lover and ultimately insulted summer throughout the poem. The speaker is very full of himself as he says that he can immortalize his lover in his poetry due to the fact that people will continue to read his work and although that is true the speaker still seems a little bit boastful.
"Shakespeare Sonnet 18 - Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day." Shakespeare-online.com. Amanda Mabillard, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. .
In William Shakespeare’s sonnet “shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” the audience is introduced to a poem in which he himself goes into depth about the person he is infatuated with. The author does not give any type of hints telling the audience who the poem is towards because it can be for both male and female. That’s the interesting part about William Shakespeare’s work which is to second hand guess yourself and thinking otherwise. Making you think and think rational when you read his work. The sonnet “Shall I compare thee to a summers day” is one of his most famous and published poem. Shakespeare’s tone of voice at the commence of the poem is somewhat relaxed and joyful because he is going on talking about the person he is intrigued by. Throughout the passage Metaphors, similes and imagery can all be found in the poem itself
The poet starts off the poem with a metaphoric Question of whether he "Shall compare thee to a summer's day?" this is a positive question asking whether the beauty of the summer is worthy of that compared to his lover/mistress. This is an effective metaphor because it suggests that the woman is either more or equally beautiful as the calm and warm summer which reinforces the idea of everlasting beauty. A summer day is calm and generally suppose to be filled with life and the beauty of the nature, which alludes to the beloveds' beauty. In line three of the poem the speaker compares the beloved to the summer day which is imperfect compared to the beloved. The summer is flawed in that it has "rough winds" which alludes to the idea that the beloved is perfect and is in fact superior to ...