Black Swan Green and Letters to a Young Poet are stories with a central idea on the many aspects of beauty. Both of the works of literature share a character with a love for poetry. Black Swan Green and Letters to a Young Poet share a central idea but refine it differently. Each of the stories has characters who have a different opinion on the concept of beauty itself. In Black Swan Green the author David Mitchell refines the idea of beauty in a different manner than the way Letters To a Young Poet delivers its message. Mitchell uses the idea that being truthful or just the embracing the truth is beautiful. Madame Crommelynck advises Jason on truth and why it is needed in poetry. Madame says “if an art is true if an art is free of falsenesses, it is, a priori, beautiful” (p. 155). The second story Letters To a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke clarifies that beauty is not an opinion, beauty is its own entity that lives on its own. Rilke advises the young poet to quit looking for outside approval or opinion regarding his works. “I beg you …show more content…
Letters To a Young Poet and Black Swan Green develop the idea in a similar way with characters explaining it differently. In the latter of the two stories Madame Crommelynck tells Jason that “Beauty is immune to definition.” (P.148). In Rilke’s letter his last piece of advice warns him not to disturb his development as a poet by “by looking outside and waiting for outside answers to question that only your innermost feeling, in your most quietest hour, can perhaps answer.”(P.7) Both of the authors have wise characters teach a young aspiring writer trying to prove that their work is worthy. The central idea is delivered in a similar manner but with different methods of explanation. Beauty cannot be forced and it is not set upon, that is central idea developed over the course of the story with many aspects added as the idea
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke and Black Swan Green by David Mitchell introduce a central idea about beauty; Rilke’s being beauty within, and Mitchell’s being beauty is. Rilke develops it through his own narration, yet Mitchell develops it through a character’s experience (Madame Crommelynck). Individual identity is also a central idea pertaining to both Rilke and Mitchell. Rilke explains individual identity to someone else while Mitchell makes it so the main character (Jason) is to struggle with individual identity. The authors both take a similar approach to develop and refine their central ideas, beauty and individual identity, beauty and individual identity.
As you can see, upon looking at both pieces of writing from a different angle, there is always the opportunity for different interpretations. It is certain that a deeper analysis will give even more possible themes and common topics. Now that you have seen how each of these can be read in more than one way, hopefully you can read other pieces of poetry, attain different meanings for them and have greater love and knowledge for poetry in general.
know beauty in any form”(86). We are so conditioned to see female beauty as what men
The way the points of views in each different poem creates a different theme for each poems using different points diction to convey meaning for each of the two poems. In the poem “Birthday” a humorous tone shows a newborn baby in a first person point of view. As opposed to the poem “The Secret Life of Books” which uses a third person point of view for a more serious tone. The two poems would change dramatically whiteout the different points of views because without the humor of the newborn baby being the narrator the poem might take a different spin on the meaning to create a more serious tone. As opposed to “The Secret Life of Books” where the poem is a big personification which if it was not in a third person point of view it might have a a humorous tome in the background. The two poems have many things that help contrast them with each other another one of these being the theme chosen to give each poem a separate identity, while “Birthday” has some background information in some of the diction it uses to World War II “The Secret Life of Books” has no need for the knowledge of background information just the curiosity of the brain
In his preface of the Kokinshū poet Ki no Tsurayaki wrote that poetry conveyed the “true heart” of people. And because poetry declares the true heart of people, poetry in the minds of the poets of the past believed that it also moved the hearts of the gods. It can be seen that in the ancient past that poetry had a great importance to the people of the time or at least to the poets of the past. In this paper I will describe two of some of the most important works in Japanese poetry the anthologies of the Man’yōshū and the Kokinshū. Both equally important as said by some scholars of Japanese literature, and both works contributing greatly to the culture of those who live in the land of the rising sun.
In Letters to a Young Poet “Letter One” by Rainer M. Rilke, a young poet sends his poems and writes a letter to Rainier Rilke seeking advice from the poet himself. In the letter that Rilke sends to the young poet, he offers the poet advice by using specific words choices and phrases to make an impact on the meaning and the tone of his letter. By giving the young poet advice, Rilke uses a form of commands in a sincere, friendly kind of way. He advises the young poet to avoid certain things in the art of poetry and to write from within himself. Rilke’s word choices create meaning by focusing on the importance of the individual in his or her own artwork.
To provide a successful comparison of any two things, one must be able to comprehend all aspects of the articles in question. Many forms of literature are easily comparable due to the very nature of an author transcribing a piece of history or thought directly to paper; however, poetry is not one of these afore mentioned forms of literature so easily compared. This is because poetry itself is as emotionally driven, as it is ambiguous. With there being no definitive set of rules, dictating what is or is not poetry, attention to detail is paramount in fully understanding the relationships between the poems. The utilization of three different poems, by different authors, and all contained in a similar category, allows for a more broad range of analysis; moreover, the stark differences, as well as the shared commonalities between them, become more evident with a comparison of more than two works of an author or authors. The works of poetry in this comparison are “The Mother,” by Gwendolyn Brooks; “The Man He Killed,” by Thomas Hardy; and “Ballad of Birmingham,” by Dudley Randall. At first glance, each of these poems seems to have very little in common with one another. On one hand, they are unique to each specific poem unto itself. On the other hand, these three pieces of poetry are alike in many ways. The analysis of each poem in regards to the theme presented, tone being communicated, imagery used, and the rhyme scheme employed, exposes the coexistence of similarities and differences between the three poems.
“She Walks in Beauty” is a poem that uses juxtaposition to help emphasize the object of magnificence. Daniel Moran, a secondary school teacher of English and American literature, states that the object is “made beautiful by a perfect combination of opposites” (Moran 276). Uma Kukathas, a freelance writer and editor, further explains that “Byron overturns the reader’s expectations by associating beauty with darkness rather than light and also by showing how light and darkness merge to create a perfect harmony” (Kukathas 279). However, it is the object of beauty Byron is describing, as well as why, that receives debate. In Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty,” there is controversy around who or what the beauty is, and the depth in which Byron describes it.
The judgement of taste is based solely on the opinions and feelings of the person affected by the object being viewed. This judgement is and can only be completely objective depending on individual feeling. Based on person judgement, the opinion formed while viewing a subject does nothing to contribute to the area of teaching or learning since the sentiment appeals to the senses. Only our personal interest to an object will determine our reactions and emotions felt from its existence. Beauty can only be determined by a person’s own personal feelings. Our opinions are not directly formed by someone else’s or by any other aspects. If another person asks for an opinion of an object being beautiful they must also understand that this can only
People may sometimes have a misinterpretation that the concept of beauty can be defined effortlessly. They may instantly think of some beautiful objects, but not the way to explain the beauty with precise wordings as it is harder to express what beauty is than they think. The debate on how to delineate beauty remains in a stalemate. One of the major arguments is that whether there is a universal perception of beauty. This essay will argue that there are no universal concepts of beauty because people are influenced by culture and social environment.
Beauty is defined as a combination of qualities such as shape, colour or form that pleases the aesthetic senses especially the sight (Oxford Dictionaries, 2013). In today’s society, women and girls are always striving to become more beautiful and tend to use a variety of ways to achieve this. The concept of beauty is subjective to everyone as different people have different opinions, preferences and physical standard of beauty. Bjerke & Polegato (2006) stated that the
...s being anxious. Every deep reader is an Idiot Questioner.” Sometimes everyone has difficulties in understanding poetry. We are anxious for not knowing the message which the author addressed to us. We are constantly seeking the answers and reject not knowing the truth. It is that way in every aspect of our lives and is the part of human nature. Why is that so? Maybe because there are so many things to search the answer for and plenty of them to admire to. In another words, beauty is everywhere, as Keats says in one of many of his letters to Fanny Brawne: “I have loved the principle of beauty in all things”. Lester Burnham, the protagonist of ‘American Beauty’, says something similar in his monologue at the end of the film: “It's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world. “ The world is enigmatic and therefore beautiful. The same is with the poetry.
In today’s society a person’s beauty is based on the views of a society. Society over time has changed the perception of beauty, especially a woman’s beauty. Modern times wants a woman as the “whole package”, she must possess a curves body but be thin, must have color within her skin but not be too dark and other criteria that are not possible. Two poems that one can use to demonstrate beauty are written by William Shakespeare and Lord Byron. The poem Sonnet 130 written by William Shakespeare and She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron both describe a woman’s beauty of whom they have feelings for. However Shakespeare points out the flaws within her beauty while Byron focuses on his admiration of the beauty. Although these two authors speak on two
In the past, poetry affected young people even if it was to a small or large degree. It was always present in some part of their lives. Young people enjoyed writing poems of love and joy. They appreciated poetry. Today we claim not to have time on our hands. We are constantly on the run trying to keep up with the fast paced world. How the young generations view poetry is that it is a waste of their time. Because of the new revolution of poetry, the types written these days are of destruction, hate, ugliness, and depression. These cliches of modern poetry repel youths from poetry because they do not want to be constantly reminded of the negative aspects of life. Poetry is...
This quote portrays the picture of inner beauty and how it's more imperative and significant rather than external or superficial beauty and how being unpleasant or horrid looking should not be offensive, some individuals contemplate or perceive that being unpleasant looking is a bad or undervalued place in this society but, "The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a Woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she knows."(1969, Hepburn). What states or expresses one is not one's corporeal or substantial beauty but, their internal beauty is what defines one as a person and that's what makes it a special thing.