'The Icarus Girl' is the novel by Helen Oyeyemi. It is a story of a little girl 'Jessamy Harrison' also called as 'Jess'. She is a shy girl. She loves reading books. She spends most of the time alone writing haikus. Sometimes she had a panic attacks also. She is sensitive, possessed and have powerful imagination. She was very alone because there is nobody of her age. Throughout the novel she read many books, fairy tales, novels, poetry, and plays. So, here I pick a poem 'Kubla Khan' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge which were read by Jess in the novel. She loved that poem as mentioned in the novel. I choose this poem because I think it was very similar to the character mentioned by Helen Oyeyemi 'Jess'. I also think it influences Jessamy's character. ‘Kubla Khan’ is one of the best-known poem of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This poem details of named Kubla Khan in the foreign land of Xanadu. Similarly, in the novel Helen describes about her main character 'Jess', which was going to Nigeria, which was also a foreign land for her. Nigeria is the different world for her. In this poem, poet describes the familiar themes of the powers and complexities of nature, explores the fantastical creations of the imagination. Similarly, in the novel Jess had also a powerful imagination. In the first stanza, poet describes an exotic garden, where the trees, gardens, hills, and river, together present the beautiful nature. The poet carefully observes his surroundings. Xanadu is described more romantically in the second stanza. The poet describes his own vision and power of imagination that comes only from a successful poet. 'Kubla Khan' describes in two parts. The first, describes Xanadu as if poet is actually there, experiencing the place. The poem start...
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...imagination. So, I think when she read this she also go in her imagination. For example, we can also see this type of theme in the movie 'Inception'. How dreams influence our real life and mixed with our real life. Similarly, this happen to Jess also, she was confused and stuck in the dream like she had not compare and she did not realize that what is happening, what is going on real life and what is going in her dream. She came her dream world in her real life. I also think that the entire poem "Kubla Khan" is based on Coleridge's imagination, it shows us his creativity or power of imagination. "Kubla Khan" is a poem which tells about the journey of the mind and the imagination. By this poem, we understand the power of words and how passionate and real dreams can be. Similarly, for the novel also we can say that the whole novel was based on a dream or imagination.
The exact idea on the American identity differs from each person. In Okita's poem, "Response to Order 9066," and in Cisneros's short story, "Mericans," they both touch on their own ideas on what makes an American. The poem tells of a young Japanese girl's experience as an American before and after Order 9066. It describes how the girl and her friend's relationship broke due to the negative views on Japanese-Americans soon after the order. In the short story, a young Mexican girl doe not enjoy or embrace her own culture and would rather do activities other Americans do for fun. Later in the the story, the girl and her siblings surprise an American photographer that they could speak English soon declaring that they are "Merican." Both Okita's poem and Cisneros's short story show that cultural heritage and physical appearances do not determine what it means to be an American.
The poem “Always Something More Beautiful” by Stephen Dunn is certainly about running a race, but the speaker is also arguing that pursuing something beautiful can help guide us through life. Through the title, we can see that we should constantly look for more beautiful things in life. The poem begins with the speaker describing his experience before a race. He uses words like “best” and “love.” The tone is extremely enthusiastic. In the first line, he talks about coming to the starting place. This can be a metaphor for beginning our lifelong journey. The speaker also implies that we need to approach it with a positive attitude. In the next few lines, the speaker indicates being tested in excellence
I would like to investigate the many struggles of women, whether it be race that differentiates them or an event that any woman could experience that brings them together. Beauty is not easily defined, and women everywhere struggle with not only pleasing the people around them, but themselves. Wanting to describes themselves and feel beautiful is one of the many struggles women experience throughout their lives. “Las Rubias” by Diana García from Fire and Ink represents a common example of what women of color experience while comparing themselves to the “beauty” of white women. The poem is divided into eight numbered sections, each containing their own experience or thought. This is effective because by the end of the poem, the reader has almost
The death camp was a terrible place where people where killed. Hitler is who created the death camp for Jews. The death camp was used for extermination on Jews. This occurred on 1939 – 1945. The death camps were in the country of Europe. Hitler did all this because he didn’t like Jews and the religions. The book Night is a autobiography written by Elie Wiesel. The poem called First they came for the communist written by Martin Neimoller is a autobiography.
She gets to the point and proves that in our current world we tend to say more than we should, when just a couple of words can do the same. In her writing, it is evident that the little sentences and words are what make the poem overall that perfect dream she wishes she were part of.
In the poem Circe’s Power by “Louise Glück” Circe is powerful witch trying to teach a group of men a lesson. She thinks the men are more like pigs in a sense which I interpreted as they are greedy and act like fools. The men are very materialistic and act as if there are no boundaries. There are many examples of this in the text.
In his preface to "Kubla Khan," Samuel Taylor Coleridge makes the claim that his poem is a virtual recording of something given to him in a drug-induced reverie, "if that indeed can be called composition in which all the images rose up before him as things . . . without any sensation or consciousness of effort." As spontaneous and as much a product of the unconscious or dreaming world as the poem might seem on first reading, however, it is also a finely structured, well wrought device that suggests the careful manipulation by the conscious mind.
"Compressed emotions," that is the explanation a teacher once gave to the ongoing question, "What is poetry?" He said it was someone's deepest emotions, as if you were reading them right out of that person's mind, which in that case would not consist of any words at all. If someone tells you a story, it is usually like a shell. Rarely are all of the deepest and most personal emotions revealed effectively. A poem of that story would be like the inside of the shell. It personifies situations, and symbolizes and compares emotions with other things in life. Louise Erdrich's poem Indian Boarding School puts the emotions of a person or group of people in a setting around a railroad track. The feelings experienced are compared to things from the setting, which takes on human characteristics.
Some people are born into this world without as many chances to get a better position in life. This can affect the people born into a lower class for the entirety of their life. In the poem “Saturday’s Child,” Countee Cullen uses imagery, personification, and similes to suggest the differences between people that are born into poverty and those that are born into an upper class part of society. Throughout this poem Cullen speaks about how the different social classes affect people; he does this with a pessimistic tone throughout the entirety of the poem.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “Kubla Kahn” is an example of imaginative poetry due to an opium addiction. This poem creates its own kingdom and paradise while Colridge expresses his ideas of Heaven and Hell through his own drug induced thoughts and opinions.
The speaker begins the poem an ethereal tone masking the violent nature of her subject matter. The poem is set in the Elysian Fields, a paradise where the souls of the heroic and virtuous were sent (cite). Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and
From the combination of enjambed and end-stopped lines, the reader almost physically feels the emphasis on certain lines, but also feels confusion where a line does not end. Although the poem lacks a rhyme scheme, lines like “…not long after the disaster / as our train was passing Astor” and “…my eyes and ears…I couldn't think or hear,” display internal rhyme. The tone of the narrator changes multiple times throughout the poem. It begins with a seemingly sad train ride, but quickly escalates when “a girl came flying down the aisle.” During the grand entrance, imagery helps show the importance of the girl and how her visit took place in a short period of time. After the girl’s entrance, the narrator describes the girl as a “spector,” or ghost-like figure in a calm, but confused tone. The turning point of the poem occurs when the girl “stopped for me [the narrator]” and then “we [the girl and the narrator] dove under the river.” The narrator speaks in a fast, hectic tone because the girl “squeez[ed] till the birds began to stir” and causes her to not “think or hear / or breathe or see.” Then, the tone dramatically changes, and becomes calm when the narrator says, “so silently I thanked her,” showing the moment of
His poetry is written in a natural language that speaks to and demonstrates common human emotions; called forth by readers' experiences in nature. He explains how nature has never betrayed his heart, and that is why he has lived a life full of joy. Therefore, he wishes her sister to indulge in the nature and be a part of it. That way, she will be able to enjoy and understand life and conquer the displeasure of living in a cruel human society.
The literary comparison shall explore the following pieces: Plath’s “Lady Lazarus,” Woolf’s “A Haunted House,” and Atwood’s “Siren Song,” and “Happy Ending.” The first comparison is between Lady Lazarus and Siren Song, both poems contain themes of manipulation and the role of women in a patriarchal society. Furthermore, Plath’s “Lady Lazarus” contains two major ideas to be studied: role of women and manipulation. The role of women can be seen as the speaker struggles in her life as revealed by her suicide attempts. The quotes, “I have done it again / one year in every ten” and “I am only thirty / And like the cat I have nine times to die” reveal that she has tried it, it is now a tradition for her to attempt and cause her own death (Plath 1-2,
Although the form and the beautiful language in "Kubla Kahn" were all that I could appreciate when I first read the poem, I have since come to realize that the poem has a complex symbolic pattern, as well. My own analysis may seem to be paltry when faced with the fact that there have been thousands of criticisms of this poem published, some comprising entire volumes. But the very quantity of criticism may serve as an argument that any interpretation of the poem is really an investigation of the writer of the criticism. That is to say, the poem has no outward meaning, or at least that the meaning put in by the author is of secondary importance. The subtitle of "Kubla Kahn" reads "Or a Vision in a Dream." Dreams may or may not have symbolic meaning, but it is doubtful that anyone intentionally designed symbolic meaning specifically for an individual dream.