In the poems ‘The End and the Beginning’ and ‘Tortures’ Wislawa Szymborska uses an unexpected casual tone to give us a surprisingly perspective that emphasizes the awful consequences of negative human behavior by portraying the horrors of war and torture. Szymborska depicts the suffering caused by conflict using the simplicity of everyday objects or to create a contrast between the use of mundane language and the shocking emotive language in ‘Tortures’. For example, in the poem ‘Tortures’ Szymborska uses dictions such as “blood” and “teeth”, which plays an important role towards the unexpectedly casual tone that Szymborska writes in. This makes the reader aware of the severity of the situation.
‘The End and the Beginning’ captures the incongruity of war and the war’s aftermath on those innocent soldiers and citizens. Szymborska implies the overall awareness of the indomitability of the human spirit and how humanity always neglected and disregarded those who are the most significant to the country or society. Szymborska uses ‘The End and the Beginning’ as the title itself has a hidden significance and she chooses to invert the title in this way as it signifies a major change in the poem. The use of dictions “end” and “beginning” symbolize recovery and restoration and the poet shows this is a constant cycle. Szymborska illustrates a very tragic and unexpected tone in which she creates an illusion of a meaningless devastation and tragic waste of war towards the reader to feel a sense of guilt by creating vivid and a judging atmosphere. The poet uses a tragic and unexpected tone in which Szymborska makes a fantasy of a meaningless devastation and tragic waste of war towards the reader to experience a sensation of guilt by creating vi...
... middle of paper ...
...vey the aftermath of war, which is a subject we as humanity don’t understand much about. The overall impression that is given out by Szymborska is the determination to reveal the concealed truths and the indication to teach mankind a moral on how we disregard these traumatising events for the truths we have accepted. Despite the bitterness in the Szymborska words, there is an undercurrent of hope that can be found in the two poems. The poet is always contemplating onward to the future not deteriorating in the past, in likelihoods of constructing the future as a more livable place. Szymborska attempts to create a sense of engagement and empathy towards the victims of this act, she desires to commemorate their braveness by directing her poems towards those individuals by giving them a sense of respect, as she supposes it is her obligation to memorialise their death.
The poem “Woodchucks” by Maxine Kumin, is about the narrator’s attempt to eradicate woodchucks from a garden. The figurative message of the poem is how a person can change from good to evil effortlessly. The metaphor of the Holocaust is intertwined in the poem and helps enhance the figurative message. The uniform format and the implication of Kumin’s word choices creates a framework that allows the reader to draw out deeper meanings that the literary devices create. Maxine Kumin’s use of an undeviating format, word choice, and allusion to the Holocaust reinforces the purpose of her poem.
With time, tragedies become statistics. The lives lost culminate to numbers, percentages, and paragraphs in textbooks,and though a recognition of its occurrence becomes universal, an understanding of its severity dies with those who lived it. “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941” is a literary medium by which the nature of tragedy is transmitted. Set in the post-battle Leningrad, the poem encapsulates the desolation not of war and its aftermath. Paramount in this translation is figurative language. Olds’ use of simile and metaphor in “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941” allows the reader to understand the incomprehensible horrors of war and, through contrast, the value of life.
This demonstrates that the prisoners are part of a system where the needs of the collective are far more important than the needs of the individual (in both communism and in the prison.) It also reveals the corruption of the Soviet Union because it while it claims that everyone should be equal, the life of the prisoners in the camp are not valued at all. This could be due to the fact that prisoners in the camps aren’t viewed as people, but rather as animals that are being worked to their death.
“The Bielski Brothers” is a story of three amazing brothers, their journey of survival and experience they faced in World War II. Peter Duffy places this extraordinary story of survival in context by describing the Bielskis lives and experiences , quoting from Tuvia Bielskis previously unknown journal, and revealing the sociopolitical history, including the anti-Semitism of Belarus, a region the Bielski Brother’s had grown up in.
The poems Pietà by James McAuley and November by Simon Armitage are confrontational as they revolve around the theme of life. Life, death and grief are all something that every person will experience here on earth. Life… Death… Grief…The existing themes are already confronting but with the poets application of poetic techniques the two poems are able to be effective.
“Often fear of one evil leads us into a worse”(Despreaux). Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux is saying that fear consumes oneself and often times results in a worse fate. William Golding shares a similar viewpoint in his novel Lord of the Flies. A group of boys devastatingly land on a deserted island. Ralph and his friend Piggy form a group. Slowly, they become increasingly fearful. Then a boy named Jack rebels and forms his own tribe with a few boys such as Roger and Bill. Many things such as their environment, personalities and their own minds contribute to their change. Eventually, many of the boys revert to their inherently evil nature and become savage and only two boys remain civilized. The boys deal with many trials, including each other, and true colors show. In the end they are being rescued, but too much is lost. Their innocence is forever lost along with the lives Simon, a peaceful boy, and an intelligent boy, Piggy. Throughout the novel, Golding uses symbolism and characterization to show that savagery and evil are a direct effect of fear.
When all literature is written, the author or poet is influenced by the happenings of the time or era in which they live. What this does is give the reader a sense of how the author or poet perceives the time. In particular the poem entitled, “Life Cycle of Common Man” by Howard Stanley Nemerov shows a direct connection between the poem itself, and the time in which it was written. Nemerov uses his thoughts and experiences from the 50’s and 60’s to write a poem, which shows a brief overview of the life of a common man of the 50’s. The interesting thing about this particular piece is that it was written in 1960, which means that it was written when the changes of the two very different decades started to occur; furthermore, when the two very different types of thinking started to occur. The poem’s structure fits perfectly with this as well. Nemerov’s view of the 50’s is seen in the perspective view of his 60’s way of thinking, possibly even being somewhat responsible for the change in mindset from change in decade.
Poverty and homelessness are often, intertwined with the idea of gross mentality. illness and innate evil. In urban areas all across the United States, just like that of Seattle. in Sherman Alexie’s New Yorker piece, What You Pawn I Will Redeem, the downtrodden. are stereotyped as vicious addicts who would rob a child of its last penny if it meant a bottle of whiskey.
The Holocaust was a tragic event in history which instilled fear and sorrow in so many. This time can be seen as one without order, because the law at the time said the actions taken were just (epigraph translation). A poet was able, however, to take such a chaotic time in history in the poem The Book of Yolek, and create a more personal attachment (for the reader) to the topic. The poet Anthony Hecht has taken the Holocaust (more specifically the moving of Jewish orphans to a concentration camp) and made it simple and nostalgic, taking a more calm approach to the subject ("5th August 1942: Warsaw Orphans Leave for Treblinka"). By using the form of a Sestina (very precise form difficult to properly do), along with the images, rhetorical use of grammar, and the tone portrayed throughout the piece, Anthony Hecht demonstrates a peaceful outlook can be given to the most chaotic moments in human life (Strand et al. 20). However, he also demonstrates the need for emotional attachment when referring to an occurrence (in history) of the past.
...f this poem. Rhyming and rhythm bring out the musical quality of language. Music is more happy and spirited. So, if rhyming and rhythm were placed in her poem, it would make it sound delightful and happy which wouldn’t sound right taken that she is talking about escaping the holocaust. Every device that Wislawa Szymborska used has its own purposes. Some were used and some weren’t. The devices that she didn’t use also conveyed the message that this poem isn’t about delight and happiness; it’s about something more serious.
”We are the children of the holocaust. We are both Germans and Jews. We are the children of the victims. We are the children of the oppressors. We started out on opposite sides but the memory of the holocaust will join us forever. We shall never let the victims be forgotten, for if we do, we will forget that the perpetrator can be in all of us.” This poem expresses quite well the sensation that most individuals feel when they hear the word “Holocaust.” Although they may not have been there, or known someone who was, they may still feel an underlying sadness or anger due to the events that took place during World War II. I myself am neither a Jew nor have German decent, and I too become emotional at just the thought of such a devastating occurrence. It is in this sense that I will discuss how the Holocaust has affected not only the Jewish world, but other peoples as well.
War is cruel. The Vietnam War, which lasted for 21 years from 1954 to 1975, was a horrific and tragic event in human history. The Second World War was as frightening and tragic even though it lasted for only 6 years from 1939 to 1945 comparing with the longer-lasting war in Vietnam. During both wars, thousands of millions of soldiers and civilians had been killed. Especially during the Second World War, numerous innocent people were sent into concentration camps, or some places as internment camps for no specific reasons told. Some of these people came out sound after the war, but others were never heard of again. After both wars, people that were alive experienced not only the physical damages, but also the psychic trauma by seeing the deaths and injuries of family members, friends or even just strangers. In the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh about the Vietnam War, and the documentary film Barbed Wire and Mandolins directed by Nicola Zavaglia with a background of the Second World War, they both explore and convey the trauma of war. However, the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” is more effective in conveying the trauma of war than the film Barbed Wire and Mandolins because of its well-developed plot with well-illustrated details, and its ability to raise emotional responses from its readers.
War is a patriotic act where one seeks the determination to lead their country. It can be viewed noble, cruel, inhumane and can make an individual a hero or a criminal. It effects everyone in a society, hoping their loved one is safe whether fighting in the trenches or waiting at home. It has led to severe individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. Two poems in war literature “Anthem for Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen and “Facing it” by Yusef Komunyakaa, the authors’ different perspectives will be presented. Owen portrays war as a horror battlefield not to be experienced and the glorious feeling to fight for one’s country. Komunyakaa on the other hand shows an African American that serves in Vietnam War and visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. The poets’ choice of diction, setting of battlefield and various uses of poetic devices create a desired effect.
The war imagery in Pope’s poem helps define and clarify the point of view Pope has on the even that has occurred. It also gives Pope a poetic platform on which to condemn the opposite side. He uses the imagery to describe the victim of war, the way death and battle are in war, and the opposing sides of this war and why they are battling; creating a new view of the woman’s suicide and her as a soldier for love.
While sexual difference may not exist between lesbians all other forms of difference do. These include differences of identity: race, class origins, employment status, age, religion, physical abilities - and while we may struggle against these differences within our individual ‘spaces’ they have a material and institutional reality that cannot be wished away