Similarly, Kipling approaches the concept of life in a prudent manner and forms a series of advice to the reader in the didactic poem “If.” The poet informs the reader on how to balance their life and become a trustworthy leader in society. The main themes presented in “If,” are leadership and maturity. The poem is considered to be a “memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism and the "stiff upper lip" that popular culture has made into a traditional British virtue.” “The stiff upper lip,” is a phrase originated from Sparta in Ancient Greece and most commonly heard of as part of the idiom “keep a stiff upper lip,” which means to face misfortune bravely and to suppress any display of emotion. Kipling presents these two meanings skillfully in the poem. “If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you” or “If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,” are one of the many advises Kipling gives in the poem that all lead to one success; being “a Man.” Kipling has combined “Spartan toughness with Stoic detachment,” presenting not only the ideal of the “stiff upper lip” in the poem but the overall achievement of Manhood and leadership in life. “The stiff upper lip,” is a phrase that has become symbolic to the British and has particularly inspired the English public school system during the age of the British Empire where Kipling at that age had endured “harsh discipline,” at his school. Another similar poem that expresses “a memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism and the stiff upper lip” is William Ernest Henley's poem “Invictus” which means unconquered in Latin. The poem represents Henley’s struggle with tuberculosis, a lethal disease he had fallen victim to at the age of twelve. The poem depicts the true meaning of courage, ... ... middle of paper ... ...s everything beautiful in the world or even life itself. The “sun in flight,” represents the lifespan of people’s lives. “Flight” means that our lives move rapidly therefore we need to cherish and live every moment to the fullest with the time we have under the sun. A similar concept is also addressed in “To his Coy Mistress,” by Andrew Marvell who believes that life is shortly lived. The last stanza of the poem implies that the only way to influence the run of time is to speed it up and live it more intensive, “…we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we will make him run.” In “If” Rudyard as well emphasizes that we should live life to the fullest and occupy every minute “With sixty seconds worth of distance run,” this is a metaphor for life and a conceit telling us we should run—making the most of every second we have—and not waste time walking in our life time.
“Victorian poets illustrated the changeable nature of attitudes and values within their world and explored the experiences of humanity through these shifts.”
One of the best, most valuable aspects of reading multiple works by the same author is getting to know the author as a person. People don't identify with Gregor Samsa; they identify with Kafka. Witness the love exhibited by the many fans of Hemingway, a love for both the texts and the drama of the man. It's like that for me with Kurt Vonnegut, but it strikes me that he pulls it off in an entirely different way.
Nevertheless Wilfred kept the aspect of nature and humanity in his poetry. Such as the line from his poem Ducle Et Decorum Est “the green seas he is drowning in, burning his skin as if it were fire” (Owens) describing the event through color and the pleasant world. The poems Wilfred produced featured colors and scenes of nature seen in the average reader daily life. In addition to bringing the colors of reality to life in the poems he pairs the theme of discontent awakening the harsh reality of war. The discontent strived from the countless men “ flung on the cart their face hanging like the devil’s sick with sin” (Owens) thrown in a box only to be replaced a day later. Using his experiences with the men put beside him only to be blown away “show the brutality of war” (Graalman) Wilfred’s theme was dying to show. Throughout everything he encounter with the filth of the trenches, the bullets whizzing by, and the constant gas attacks we have experienced it through his
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.”-MLK Jr. In the book A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines explores the relationship between a student and a teacher in Bayonne, Louisiana, in the 1940s, and how their actions affect the society they are living in. Jefferson, a young black man, is accused of a murder, and is sentenced to death because of his race. Miss Emma, Jefferson’s godmother, wants Grant Wiggins, an educated black teacher to “make him a man” before Jefferson dies. Even though Grant was reluctant that it would amount to anything, but he gave his word that he would try, and soon after a couple of visits to the jail, Grant starts to develop a bond with Jefferson. As the book progresses, Jefferson learns that you need to take responsibility for your own actions, you should always be humble, one should never submit their dignity no matter the circumstances, and always remember that even heroes are not perfect.
One poem that is full of irony is “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen. The very title is ironic which means it is sweet and right to die for your country. His poem talks all about World War I but nothing about it is sweet or shows the honor of dying for one’s country. In this poem, he shares the harsh conditions and grim reality of war. As a soldier he witnessed his friends choking and dying by gas, no glorified death. He saw the real physical and mental exhaustion of these soldiers. He uses irony to get his point across of the truly horrific experiences of men at war.
It is a shock when the soldiers suddenly spring into action at the start of the gas attack and the responder are given a chance to realize that the soldiers are really only young men, forced to mature through mental and physical burden. Owen conveys the vastness of the gas attack by employing a simile in “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning” the word ‘sea’ accentuates the thickness of the gas and the suffocating lack of air for the soldier. The dying of the man is personalized by positioning the responder in first person; “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” to create an emotional rapport between the two to elevate the feeling of loss. “If in some smothering dreams you too could pace behind the wagon that we flung him in” Owen creates empathy and pity from the responder through embedding them into the scene. Owen criticizes the loss of innocent life in “incurable sores on innocent tongues” to condemn the use of propaganda to attract innocent youths with false glory at stake. The poem moves from the battlefield, to an attack and the death of the man, to his dying and finally to the message “The old lie: It is sweet and honorable to die for one’s
This is in such a tone, that it is suggesting that a higher being is
The words and imagery used in this poem is specifically to deter young men. Nothing in this poem will glorify fighting for your country. The speaker paints a very vivid picture of death for the readers when he says “In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”. (ln. 15-16) Not everyone wants to volunteer to see things like this. He also says “If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene at cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile,
The first fact about this poem is according to Diniejko, J. Andrzeij, the author William Ernest Henley was an editor, a critic, and a poet in 1849-1903. Also, his influence for literature was by a man named Thomas Edward Brown, who was a poet and an academic. When Henley was 12 years old he was diagnosed with tuberculosis of the bone. The doctors had to amputate his one leg because it was effected. Although, usually since one leg had to be amputated, the other one had to also, but a doctor used
Wilfred Owen portrays the atrocities of war by utilising vivid images and descriptions to give the audience a greater understanding of the hardships and loss endured throughout war. This has been highlighted throughout Wilfred Owens poems, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, ‘Futility’ and ‘insensibility’. Through the use of poetic techniques such as aural and visual imagery, similes, metaphors and alliteration, the mental, physical and emotional impact suffered by soldiers during war is being explored. [Thesis statement]
In “If” by Rudyard Kipling, the poem explains things that a boy must do to be a man. For example, one of the stanzas in the poem is, “If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;”. These are a few examples that the poet portrays as growing up. As each line of the poem goes on, it may make one believe that it is an older, wiser person, talking to a younger, “not-as-wise” boy. At the end, the poet writes, “my son”, so someone can see that the poet is a father (or mother) talking to her
Wilfred Owen draws individuals into the world of poetry simply through the first hand anguish he encountered in Somme. With the use of deliberate and skillfully thought out language conventions which explicitly denote the sights and sounds of war; Owen forces readers to feel pity and compassion toward the soldiers through his choice of language techniques to describe the suffering and carnage of war through the loss of innocent lives. Owen really pulls the audience in, through the unromanticised protest of wasted youth that are killed in war just for patriotism, nationalism and power. The themes surrounding war as well as the structure of the poems are what draws people into the world of poetry are shown in both of Wilfred Owen's poems Futility and Insensibility.
In the poem Song of Myself featured in Leaves of Grass, the poet Walt Whitman describes that everybody occupies an individual place in the universe because they are composed of atoms, also everybody has a purpose in life. Whiteman explains, “For every atom belonging to me...belongs to you.” (ll.3). This example proves that everybody is equal by saying that what belongs to him also belongs someone else. The author says that everything is made up of atoms in order to show that everything and everybody is equal.Whiteman emphases people being equal and sharing the same thing in a time where there was slavery. Additionally the text discusses,"...sprouting alike in broad zones and and narrow zones, Growing among black folks as among white..." (ll,
The Mending Wall by Robert Frost Robert Frost was not just a writer. Frost was, more importantly, an American writer whose works epitomized the Modernist literary movement, and in turn represented the mood and minds of a nation. Frost remains emblematic of a specific time in our country. Through the words of the poet, readers of his day could see a real-time reflection of themselves - visible in Frost's verses were the hopes and apprehensions that marked the first half of the twentieth- century.
...ness into one ball. What does he mean by that? Why would they roll their strength and sweetness into a ball? The “sweetness” and “strength” are used as symbols for a cannon in which the narrator uses to establish his triumphant victory in successfully persuading his mistress to give in to his wishes. He goes on saying they should vent their frustrations through the act of sex because “thus though we cannot make our sun stand still, we will make him run.” What does he mean we make our sun run but we cannot make it stand still? The allusion of the sun is used as the narrator’s vengeance against time, with him ultimately stating that instead of being controlled by time he will attempt to control it himself. His frustrations with time will be relieved as he and his mistress force the sun to race them, instead of giving in to the essence of time (Poetry for Students).