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Essays on loss of innocence
Loss of innocence lotf essay
Loss of innocence lotf essay
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The bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 resulted in the death of 4 young girls. Dudley Randall was able to call upon this as inspiration and thus created his masterpiece “Ballad of Birmingham.” This in addition the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, “fueled his commitment to civil rights.” (Randall Headnote 37) In Randall’s poem, the importance of one playing an active role in society to help shape the future is explored; through the actions of a small girl. Ironically suggesting that revolutions in society which are meant to better the future for youth, affect these youth negatively. Implying that such trauma causes a loss of innocence among the society’s youth, destroying the future stability of a society. Through his symbolism and imagery, Randall is able to show the message of hope and innocence lost by tragedy.
The youth that society nurtures for the advancement of the future are the impression of innocence, and are unknowing the issues that affect society. Randall utilizes symbolism throughout the poem to outline the girl as part of this collective youth model. The reader sees many examples of symbolism in the fifth stanza. An example of this device is “Her dark night hair” (line 17). The effect of this line is to depict the girl as being young and full of life, as the reader envisions the “dark night” colour of the young girl’s hair as being the colour of a long tunnel which signifies the girl’s long future ahead of her. This shows how young these activists are, and communicates to the main idea of youth being involved in the present for their society’s future. Another instance is seen in the same stanza, describing the girl as “rose petal sweet, and drawn white gloves” (lines 18-19). The effect o...
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...ir. Despite this despair, society comes to the understanding that the loss of innocence transpires for a purpose, this event and emotions associated with this event creates the just society aimed by those youth who tragically fought for this ideal.
From the examples of figurative language and devices seen in the “Ballad of Birmingham”, the role of youth in society is ever changing. The days of youth being associated with innocence is gone and they are now driven to speak against issues in society. Yet, these youth can be lost without hesitation, concluding the cruel irony that the poem centres on a mother who wants to be sure her child is protected from the revolution, yet it is the sacred, the church where her young girl is lost, showing the merciless of society, where all is affected by the repercussions of an event, but only a few truly feel the harshness of it.
Some say women can get the worst out of a man, but in The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1485, proves it. The tales were originally written as a collection of twenty four tales, but has been narrowed down to three short tales for high school readers. The three tales consist of “The Miller”, “The Knight”, and “The Wife of Bath” along with their respective prologues. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer shows the weak but strong role of women throughout the “The Knight’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” to contrast different human characteristics and stereotypes on the spectrum of people.
...xperiences of their readers. The poems express critical and serious issues that surround the heartfelt childhood memories of the readers. The surrounding circumstances and situations are different in each household. The readers are personally drawn to feel expressions of abuse, emotional issues and confusion as the poets draw them into a journey through their own personal life experiences from childhood to adulthood. These experiences are carried throughout a person’s life. Readers are somewhat forced to immediately draw themselves closer to the characters and can relate to them on a personal level.
American teenagers are often criticized for being irresponsible and immature. Some in the older generation will also state that kids are taking too long to move out of the house. These views of young adults are pessimistic and demeaning to the current generation. While the adolescent stage has been extended, American kids are taking an ample amount of time to accept the responsibilities of becoming an adult.
Chaucer's Wife of Bath is the most fully and vividly realized of the characters in The Canterbury Tales and her lengthy Prologue and brief Tale have a force and vitality that derive from the perfect integration of character and message. The Wife's account of her own life and her tale are both, seemingly, directed toward establishing the principle that happiness in marriage results from the woman's "mastery" over her husband. Nearly everything she says runs counter to theological authority, ecclesiastical preaching, and conventional social notions regarding the relations between men and women. This has led everyone from Chaucer's fictional Clerk to many twentieth-century scholars to conclude that the Wife's opinions are heretical and shockingly unconventional. But her clash with the religious and social conventions of her own era was probably not so shocking as, superficially, it seems to be.
The tone in O’Connell’s poem is very tense, with words like rusty, splintered, sizzled, and bullets. The anxiousness that is given off in the writing is a perfect mirror of the girl in the poem’s feelings and the violent words from her father. It is not until he has passed that she finds the fierceness inside of her.
Clearly, throughout this entirety of the knights journey, it is clear of the views that Chaucer is trying to express through the tale. How women should be treated no matter what, how a gentleman should act not being born into his gentleman hood, or even to how his crime wasn’t punished accordingly but served its purpose.”So they lived ever after to the end In perfect bliss; and may Christ Jesus send Us Husbands meek and young and fresh in bed And grave to overbid them when we wed.” (Page 150 Lines 403-406).
By doing this, they are able to add more details and give accounts from specific people that were impacted by the events and may not have gotten their voices heard otherwise and portray a deeper meaning to the events that occurred. Each of the poems also address people’s preconceived ideas about various things. In Randall’s poem, “Ballad of Birmingham” the mother wants her child to go to the church because a church is much safer than the streets where the riots are taking place. The mother is calmed by the idea and in fact, “The mother smiles to know her child / Was in the sacred place,” (Randall 21-22). When people think about a church, the often associate it with prayer, peace, and many consider churches to be a safe place. This is the case of the mother in this poem, she knows her daughter wants to go out, so she sends her to the safest place a person can imagine, a church. Her ideas of churches were shattered when she heard the explosion and found only her daughter’s shoe. Knowing her daughter died at the church, the church she went to because her mother told her she would be safe, leads to lines 23-24 “But that smile was the last smile / To come upon her face” and a sense of grief and guilt that this mother would now feel forever. A similar aspect of preconceived ideas and guilt occur in “A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, A Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon.” The speaker in this poem is thinking about romantic ballads and the damsel in distress saved by the prince master plot, “Herself: the milk white maid. The “maid mild” / Of the ballad. Pursued / By the Dark Villain. Rescued by the Fine Prince. / The Happiness-Ever-After” (Brooks 6-9). These are well known by all people, however, the speaker realizes life does not follow these specific types. The boy who was supposed to be the villain was too young and innocent and her husband, the supposed prince, was supposed to
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, there are several stories told through pilgrims traveling to a shrine. Through his humorous telling of these tales, Chaucer attempts to comment on many issues that were prevalent during his life, especially religious officials’ corruption. Chaucer also presents what may seem shocking narratives of characters about their lives and the stories they will tell. In “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” Chaucer presents an early feminist model in the title character who rebukes the religious men who condemn her for her numerous husbands. Chaucer also presents a character in the pardoner, who is well aware of his corruption as a religious official and even explains to the group how he cons people to give him money.
The poem “Ballad of Birmingham”, written by Dudley Randall, is about the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. In this bombing four innocent children were killed and about 20 others injured. In this poem poetic devices such as irony, rhyme, and imagery play a major role in being able to see how far racial hatred has gone.
The poem also focuses on what life was like in the sixties. It tells of black freedom marches in the South how they effected one family. It told of how our peace officers reacted to marches with clubs, hoses, guns, and jail. They were fierce and wild and a black child would be no match for them. The mother refused to let her child march in the wild streets of Birmingham and sent her to the safest place that no harm would become of her daughter.
A knight is facing his death sentence by the Queen for raping a woman. The Queen allows the knight to search for a year and a day to figure out what women want most in the world; if he cannot find the correct answer, he will be decapitated. The knight goes on his quest for the answer, and receives different solutions from each character he meets. Some say women want money, others say love, some say sex, the list goes on. The knight is about to give up when he sees women dancing in the forest—once he approaches, the fairy-like women disappear and he is left with an old lady. The old lady promises that she has the answer that will spare his life, but in return the knight must promise to do something for her. The knight accepts and they ride to the court together to face the Queen. The knight proclaims to the Queen that women want to be in control of their husbands; the answer is accepted, and by keeping his word, the knight is forced to marry the old woman. The knight is distraught about the situation, causing the old woman to offer him the choice of her identity. The knight can choose to have her be young, beautiful, and unfaithful, or old, ugly, and faithful. The knight is so flustered that he allows his wife to choose her identity for herself; because he let the old woman decide, she chooses to become young, beautiful, and
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a collection of stories that are recited by different pilgrims who are on their way to St. Thomas's tomb in Canterbury. On their way they decide to hold a contest that would judge the best tale out of the ones recited by the different characters. The tales help the characters pass the time and entertain themselves. The different characters are from different walks of life and have very different personalities. Set in the middle ages, this novel gives us an insight into the beliefs and customs of the time including disrespect towards the women. The women have lower status than the men in all regards. They are taught to be obedient to their husbands and fathers. To keep men happy is their main aim. (Castle Learning). Women have little power to exercise their free will; hence, they are forced to use their sexuality to fulfill their desires.
Both poems have a parent that cares about them. The mother in “Ballad of Birmingham” tries to protect her daughter from potential violence by not letting her go to the freedom march. Even though the daughter really wants to go out to march and make a difference the mother sends her to safest place she knows. Chur...
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
The speaker in this poem is portrayed as being immediately joyful, which represents Blake’s larger view of childhood as a state of joy that is untouched by humanity, and is untarnished by the experience of the real world. In contrast, Blake’s portrayal of adulthood is one of negativity and pessimism.... ... middle of paper ... ...