Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
alfred lord tennyson as a representative poet of victorian age
discuss tennyson as a representative poet of the victorian age
discuss tennyson as a representative poet of the victorian age
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
“Break, Break, Break”
Religion is a powerful, prevailing entity, influencing mankind since before the inception of civilization; Christianity in particular, has had a profound impact on Western literature in modernity. Christianity defines the underlying message within Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “Break, Break, Break.” Every line of the poem can be broken down and interpreted in a religious aspect. Highlighting each Christian reference in the poem through the utilization of allusions, Tennyson relates every line to important characteristics of the Christian religion to display his piety.
The poet ingrained Christianity in this poem from the title itself throughout the first stanza. The title of the poem- “Break, Break, Break”- is an allusion
…show more content…
The speaker says, “O, well for the fisherman’s boy” (5): another allusion to the fourth chapter of the Book of Mathew when Jesus urges the men to become fishers of men. Jesus wants to capture the meaning of the word of God and spread it to the world as fishermen capture fish and spread the food their catch bears to the world. In addition, four of the twelve disciples were commercial fishermen before they followed Jesus Christ. Peter, Andrew, James, and John all stopped fishing for fish and began the fishing for men when the benignant Jesus walked out to the boat on the stormy Sea of Galilee and saved them all. Tennyson referring to the “boy” or son of the fisherman also references that Jesus was the Son of Man sent to Earth to bring humanity closer the Creator. In the following line, the poet claims that the boy “shouts with his sister at play” (6). This allusion relates to the twenty-first chapter in the Book of Mathew when Jesus shouts at the men conducting business in a place of worship. Jesus did not think that his brothers and sisters of humanity should play these games of bargaining and negotiating at the temple: a holy place. However, Tennyson did not lose hope for man and states, “O, well for the sailor lad,/ That he sings in his boat on the bay” (7-8). His declamation positively states that if the …show more content…
The speaker mentions “the stately ships go on/ To their haven under the hill” (9-10). These two lines reference the stately Ark that Jonah built to survive the forty days and forty nights of flooding on Earth to rid the world of its evils. The “haven” the ships were protected by is parallel to the protection God gave Noah and the other passenger during the terrible experience. The poet does not only refer to the destruction of the flood, but also stresses the optimistic future. He writes, “But O for the touch of a vanished hand,/the sound of a voice that is still” (12) as an allusion to the lasting effect of Jesus’ words after he ascended into Heaven. During Jesus’ short time on Earth, he spread many messages of the word of God far and wide. However, the true lasting effect of the Messiah is how he has affected the world from beyond his lifetime and after his ascension into Heaven. Since Jesus’ death, Christianity has become one of the worlds’ leading religions and affected millions of people. Jesus’ voice may be still, but the resonance of his powerful words is spread every
As society continues to change, it is important for Christians to realize that they must respond in new and different ways. The original publisher, Tindale House, published this essay as an informative measure while Baker Academic uses this essay as a way to teach how to evaluate a specific style of writing. This essay's purpose is to not only be a source of information, but also an essay that can be evaluated in order to learn about a specific style of writing.
In order to understand James Wright's intentions in writing this poem, one must first have an understanding of the biblical story that it deals with. According to the Bible, "Satan entered Judas, who was numbered among the twelve [apostles]. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray [Jesus] to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. Then he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them"(Luke 22. 3-6). The Bible goes on to document Jesus and the apostles during the Last Supper, and Jesus revealing his knowledge of Judas' plan to betray him. He tells his apostles: "But behold, the hand of my betrayer is with me on the table"(Luke 22. 21). Judas later leads the officials to Jesus and identifies him to them by kissing Jesus. "Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, 'Whomever I kiss, He is the One, seize Him...Then immediately he went up to Jesus and said, 'Greetings, Rabbi! and kissed Him"(Matt. 26. 48-49). After Jesus is ta...
Throughout time, readers have learned many different lessons from their favourite books. In The Chrysalids, John Wyndam used his story to teach his readers valuable, lifelong lessons. He makes it evident to his readers that prejudging certain people is not right. Also, he relates how change is possible, but hard to achieve. More specifically, religion often influences one’s point of view. John Wyndam’s, The Chrysalids was written with a purpose that teaches his readers about discrimination, about how change is possible, and how religion often influences one’s point of view.
Introduction: All of the three texts explore religion and its practises, but each approach it from a different perspective. Whilst Owen and Brecht refer directly to the idea of God and Jesus, Vonnegut uses a far more ambiguous approach; the opinion of God in ‘Slaughterhouse 5’ has to be read allegorically, as Vonnegut’s mentions of Christianity are seldom stated. Religion does not have to be seen as only an ideology and references to God are not the necessity needed to create the theme of Religion – it appears through spirituality and communities which follow the same belief. The Thirty Years’ War of 1618 in ‘Mother Courage’, which emerged from a disagreement between Protestant and Catholic believers, is a distinct example of religious communities
The perception of religion is different for everyone and for the grandmother in the story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, being a lady with good Christian values was how she defined herself. The grandmother’s innocence of the evil existing in the world cost her and her family their lives. The story “Cathedral” however, has a more positive outlook on faith. The narrator, “Bub”guided by a blind man named Robert was able to visualize and draw a picture of a cathedral, without really knowing what one was. This essay will examine how the outcomes of both stories were affected by the beliefs of those involved.
The Seafarer highlites the transience of wordly joys which are so little important and the fact thet we have no power in comparison to God.
Some works show their true colors right away. Gene Edward Veith’s book, Reading Between The Lines, addresses philosophical ideas, literary sub genres, and reader criticisms in order to ascertain a Christian’s role in literature. He also goes through various historical periods and examines their more prominent works and schools of thought. While a select few of his conclusions about Christianity in relation to the arts have merit, others contain more damaging implications. Specifically, his statements regarding television represent inaccurate and offensive thinking.
In Longfellow’s poem, The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls, Longfellow states “The little waves, with their soft white hands, / Efface the footprints in the sands.” By personifying the waves in the ocean, longfellow reveals the truth that all humans eventually die and their mark on the world is erased, like the waves wash away the footprints. In this imaginative way, Longfellow shows how no one lasts forever. Multiple times in other parts of the poem, Longfellow writes “And the tide rises, the tide falls.” Longfellow is expressing that the ocean is continuous, regardless of what happens. After losing his second wife, Longfellow was very depressed, and in this poem he is accepting that life goes on after someone dies. Using his imagination, Longfellow states the truth of the inevitability of death and the fact that life does not stop in the event of
The first thing that strikes me about this poem is the structure. The poem is very ordered written with 4 lines a stanza and a total of 6 stanza’s. This looks like a professional poem created by an adult, showing experience right away. The syllables are normally 7 per line but there are exceptions to this rule as all of stanza 5 has 8 syllables a line. The first stanza and the last stanza are nearly the same apart from the last line of each differing by a word. This poem uses many poetic devices well to create a vivid picture in the readers mind. There are rhyming couplets, alliteration, repetition, rhetorical questions as well as many biblical and egotistical references to the artist and poet himself. Now we will look at the poems meanings.
In writing this paper, I believe, God has given me wings, strong wings, to help me fly above common literary convention. The prophet Isaiah said, "[T]hose who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. . ."(Isaiah 40:31). Because I believe the Bible is the complete word of God, I must conclude that that "The Awakening," by Kate Chopin, is "not a healthy book"(Culley 146). The truths presented in the Bible that lead me to this conclusion are the following. "The Awakening" has a central message that is contrary to Biblical Christianity, denying the headship of Christ and making it seem that people are basically animals and should be able to do whatever they want. It would be possible to argue that Kate Chopin is simply projecting that man is an animal lacking moral obligations without bringing Christianity into the picture, but Kate Chopin made several attacks on Christianity in her fable, and her seeming obsession with tearing down Christianity opens her up to Biblical criticism.
At first he does not seem content with his seafaring life. During the early descriptions of his time there, it is painted as a life of hardship and penance. Images and adjectives of the sea and life there are harsh and foreboding-"ice cold", "hung round with icicles" , "fettered with frost". The sea is seen as cold, and not just in the physical sense .It is remote, a place of despair , an earthly purgatory, where there is "always anxiety …. as to what the Lord will bestow on him"2. The narrator is cut away from the comforts ...
In British Literature religion plays a role in a vast majority of works. Even if the role is not explosively apparent, there are a generous amount of small inspirations and distortions in the texts. Some texts are theorized to have even been altered from their original state to reflect an amount of religion in them. Other texts are formatted as a result of religious influence. Religion has an elaborate and intricate influence in a variety of ways in many works throughout the development of British Literature.
In stanza four and five, "And then as if the Hands That held the Dams had parted hold, The Waters Wrecked the Sky," she alludes to the biblical story of Noah's Ark, and how God created a flood to wipe out Earth and start anew as humans had taken for granted what he had provided and become depraved, and greedy. The animals sought safety, "Birds put up the Bars to Nests—The Cattle fled to Barns--" symbolizing the animals spared on Noah's ark, while establishing a belief in humanity's ability to start over by saving a main food
Living in a period of important religious and cultural flux, John Milton's poetry reflects the many influences he found both in history and in the contemporary world. With a vast knowledge of literature from the classical world of Greek and Roman culture, Milton often looked back to more ancient times as a means of enriching his works. At other times, however, he relies on his strong Christian beliefs for creating spiritually compelling themes and deeply religious imagery. Despite the seemingly conflicting nature of these two polarized sources of inspiration, Milton somehow found a way of bridging the gap between a pagan and a Christian world, often weaving them together into one overpowering story. The pastoral elegy Lycidas, written after the death of a fellow student at Cambridge, exemplifies this mastery over ancient and contemporary traditions in its transition from a pagan to a Christian context. Opening the poem in a setting rich with mythological figures and scenery, then deliberately moving into a distinctly Christian setting, Milton touches upon two personally relevant issues: poetry and Christian redemption. In this way, Lycidas both addresses the subject of being a poet in a life doomed by death and at the same time shows the triumphant glory of a Christian life, one in which even the demise of the poet himself holds brighter promises of eternal heavenly joy.
It is the duty of the sea to act as a navigation system, so humanity is always going in the right direction. It also acts as a way for us to get the water we need to survive, to catch the food man needs for nourishment, and provide cleanliness, which is equal to godliness. This stanza portrays water as a friend, that guides us in the right direction, and a parent that provides us with everything needed to survive and be prosperous. This once again strikes home the point that the world is an extension of God, created to bring mankind ultimate pleasure - the water that He created acts as a willing servant, and parental figure, such as God is usually