Wallace Steven's, "The Emperor of Ice Cream" uses carefree, silly sounding language to keep the reader's attention in order to prove his point that life is short and as humans we need to enjoy every moment we can and not worry about how we look. This free-verse poem elucidates this point through comparing life to death all in the same setting and time period.
The poem begins, "Call the roller of big cigars,/ The muscular one, and bid him whip/ In the kitchen cups concupiscent curds" (1-3). Cigars are usually very expensive and are saved for big occasions or special events, so the strong guy (obviously worried by appearance) that is smoking a cigar on this day is whipping something in a kitchen. The kitchen in itself shows that this event is small and intimate, as a kitchen cup would only be found in someone's house. Curds have something to do with dairy, so by this person whipping dairy, Stevens could already be talking of ice cream. These three lines also add to the silliness of the poem in the language techniques Stevens uses. "bid him whip" is an example of an assonance, and "...
To help Year Twelve students that are studying poetry appreciate it's value, this pamphlet's aim is to discuss a classic poem and a modern song lyric to show that even poetry written many years ago can still be relevant to people and lyrics today. By reading this may you gain a greater knowledge and understanding of poetry in general, and not just the two discussed further on.
All people have probably considered that immortality would be an extremely joyous experience. William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, tells of the quality of life and how man exerts it; this is in direct comparison with Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, written by Kurt Vaunnegut. Where as he also writes of the quality of life with the implication of immortality by drinking the miracle drink, Anti-Geresone. The insignificance of man from Shakespeare along with the concept of living forever from Vaunegut, draws the question of why would someone not want to die if life was so worthless. Both authors question the quality of life and as a result they express their concern in their writing.
Through the romantic characteristic of idealism, Bryant draws a tie between death and nature’s overwhelming power to soothe death. Idealism focuses on the aspects of oneself as well as world betterment. As Bryant discusses death, he explains how humans view it as making them “grow sick at heart” (13). He paints a vivid and horrific depiction of death. However, as the poem progresses, the reader is urged to “Go forth, under the open sky, and list / To Nature’s teachings…” (Bryant. 14-15). Bryant suggests that by going outside and listening to the great outdoors, the thought of death will disappear. As the negative thoughts vanish, they are replaced by a happier state of mind. This calm and joyful state of mind allows
Poetry is a part of literature that writers used to inform, educate, warn, or entertain the society. Although the field has developed over the years, the authenticity of poetry remains in its ability to produce a meaning using metaphors and allusions. In most cases, poems are a puzzle that the reader has to solve by applying rhetoric analysis to extract the meaning. Accordingly, poems are interesting pieces that activate the mind and explore the reader’s critical and analytical skills. In the poem “There are Delicacies,” Earle Birney utilizes a figurative language to express the theme and perfect the poem. Specifically, the poem addresses the frangibility of the human life by equating it to the flimsy of a watch. Precisely, the poet argues that a human life is short, and, therefore, everyone should complete his duties in perfection because once he or she dies, the chance is unavailable forever.
Overall, dwell on this process of changing throughout the poem, it can be understood that the poet is demonstrating a particular attitude towards life. Everyone declines and dies eventually, but it would be better to embrace an optimistic, opened mind than a pessimistic, giving-up attitude; face the approach of death unflinchingly, calmly.
... bruised by the poor reception of his poetry. The realizations that we all "must die", and that attempts to attain immortality through art are in vain, leave this sonnet with a lasting and overriding sense of despair.
The poem shows a scene in which a girl is cruelly judged by her classmates when she hits puberty and her body begins to change. She gains a little weight and does not meet society’s ideal body expectations which cause her to kill herself. Society’s expectations about their ideal female body negatively affect the way they look and feel about their appearance.
Death is an occurrence that is apart of the human condition which is why it’s often found in literature. The poems that have been analyzed for its use of death are “Thanatopsis” by William Bryant, “Dust In The Wind” by Kansas, and “Don’t Fear The Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult. Although each of the poem’s points are different, they have the same topic which is death.
There is an average of 823.7 deaths in a population of 100,000, 2,626,418 deaths per year and a life expectancy rate of 78.8 years. People die every day from illness, accidents, and natural causes. In this play the concept of mortality is woven throughout using comedy to get the point across. Mere Mortals by David Ives is piece made up of six one-act comedies put together to create one big play. With the first look at these six acts it is as if there is absolutely no connection to them, as if they are just six random plays thrown together. However, with further inspection it is seen that these plays have a few things in common. For one, theme, they all have a different main theme but looking more closely they have one thing in common: Mortality, life, and death. Ives also wrote all of these acts using many forms of figurative language. Mere Mortals, by David Ives inspects the concept of mortality using figurative language and a few different themes.
Death is a predominant theme in the collection of poems, all of death portrayed in the poem lead to a similar interpretation of grief, regret and despair. Throughout the essay I will discuss the similarities and differences between the poems. Although the content of the poems are distinct, the views on death stay constant.
At first, the title of the book grabbed my attention. I thought that I am going to read a book in which I can find different baklava recipes coming from the Middle East. Ironically, there was only one recipe that the author called Poetic Baklava. So where are the baklava recipes, I asked myself? If there is only one recipe for baklava what is this book about? However, after reading the book, the answer was revealed to me, and I started to fit everything together. Surprisingly, the title of the book and its content makes sense. The language of Baklava is an enjoyable book to read. One can read it repeatedly for the stories, the memories, the recipes, and obviously for the baklava. In fact, it is a story of the writer's life peppered with recipes that Bud and other family members have shared with her over the years, written in a unique way full with flavors. The book is also packed with Middle Eastern cooking methods and recipes. Though most of the recipes in the book are Middle Eastern, yet it contains some instructions in how to prepare other types of food. For example, in page 86 we can find a recipe from Italy that she called Mrs. Manarelli’s Civilized Panna Cotta. The dishes coming from her American culture are given relaxing names such as Comforting Grilled Velveeta Sandwiches, and The Tenderest Angel Food Cake, while the dishes coming from her Jordan culture are carrying nostalgic names such as Nostalgic Chicken Livers, and "Forget Me Not" Sambusik Cookies. That reflects the multicultural background of the writer, and her search for her identity.
Over the centuries, poetry has endeavoured to communicate human emotion and ideas. Bruce Dawe’s grave Homecoming and the saddening Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen convey the trauma in war-stricken situations and the loss involved. Significantly differing from these sombre themes, William Shakespeare is able to convey his love and appreciation for a woman in My Mistress’ Eyes which conflicts with the self-hatred and resentment apparent in Jennifer Maiden’s stark Anorexia. Delving into personal emotions, a number of the poems express despair in conflict or, conversely, aim to portray an inner turmoil.
William Shakespeare once said, “All that live must die, passing through nature to eternity.” A character joined by Death and Immortality in a poem written by Emily Dickinson passes through her nature right before our very eyes. The narrator reflects on the time of her death as a fond memory still as clear as the day it happened. In this shattering yet calming poem entitle Because I could not stop for Death, Dickinson uses personification, imagery, metaphors, and anaphora to express opposing themes of mortality and immortality in everyone’s lives.
"Prose and Verse Criticism of Poetry." Representative Poetry On-line: Version 3.0. Ed. D. F. Theall. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2009. .
In the literary works “Death Not be Proud” by John Donne and “Ozymandius” by Percy Shelley, the concept of death is written of, as though it was not apart of the cycle of life. Donne’s sonnet challenges death as though humanity has always had a strife with it, and Shelley’s sonnet suggests that immortality is a false ideology and observes the fact that everything follows transience. Both literary works challenge the theme of the passing of time and address the fact that immortality is an unreliable promise because nothing lasts forever, there is a cycle and it keeps moving.