Erotic fantasies often focus on the concept of sexual domination where one partner controlling the other. In Robert Herrick’s 17th century poem “The Vine”, he expresses his suggestive and dominating thoughts over Julia’s body through the use of imagery, metaphors, and symbolism.
As a poet, Herrick wrote hundreds of poems that focused on real or imaginary women that were purely written with imagery. The first example of imagery we see in the poem is in line 5. “Methought, her long small legs and thighs” (Herrick, line 5), here Herrick uses two seemingly contraindicative adjectives to describe Lucia’s lower body. However, the words long and small together in such a context make the reader envision Lucia as a tall and delicate young lady. Essentially
…show more content…
Women during Robert Herrick’s time were all viewed as the same regardless of their social rank, they were wives and mothers. Nothing more and nothing less. David Landrum states “Female submission was considered essential to an ordered, stable society, so that "as wives were subject to their husbands, so women were subject to men, whose authority was sustained informally through culture, custom and differences in education, and more formally through the law” (p. 181). Therefore, in Herrick’s poem, Lucia was silenced because that was her role as a woman. She could not have spoken up even if she had the courage to without the threat of more dominance exerted on …show more content…
Herrick uses the vine to represent his physical obsession over Lucia’s body, “Which, was crawling one and every way” (Herrick line 3). Herrick dreams that his “moral part” “metamorphoses” into a vine when then “crawls” to explore and “enthrall” his lover Lucia’s dainty body. “"Metamorphoz'd" "mortal part" of the male speaker "Enthrall[s]" the "dainty Lucia" (2, 1, 4)-giving this gift ultimately allows the male speaker to believe that he has the female beloved right where he wants her” (Hammons, pg. 40). Once again, he does not want her to leave and therefore keeps her as a prisoner caught in his
Many powers that women possessed in the past, and that they posses today, are located in the most secure vault in the body, the brain. These powers are not consciously locked up, and at times many women do not even now that they exist, and this is mainly due to the “male world” (53) in which women live in. Audre Lorde presents this ideal that one of these powers that are being oppressed by society is that of the erotic. Lorde presents the argument that allowing the desires and feelings of the erotic to play a conscious role in the lives of women will allow women to live a different life, one filled with empowerment from both past and present endeavors.
Roethke first addresses Jane by describing her, "neck curls, limp and damp as tendrils" to create this positive sense of who Jane is (line 1). In order for one to understand the comparison, we must know that a tendril is a branch of a growing plant. This simile allows to see that just as a plant, the teacher has seen Jane blossom and grow into the strong women she was before dying. The poem goes on to elaborate on the complexity of the tendrils stating how Jane no longer is, "waiting like a fern" out in the field. These two similes tie in well as tendrils are the beginning of life full of ambiance and excitement sprouting high becoming beautiful plants. While, ferns are dead sitting lonely in masses in a field waiting for the coming of a new day. We can see the speaker cares a great deal about Jane by describing such vivid imagery. The complexity of the relationship can further be analyzed showing what a blessing it was to have a passionate young women in the classroom and his life vibrant like a tendril, however, his life is gone and lonely like the ferns which gaze endlessly along the fields. The speaker is finding it unbearable to leave his memories of Jane behind for he truly loves and cares about
In the Harlequin romance Time of the Temptress, by Violet Winspear, the author seems to be trying to write an intelligent story of romance, bettered by its literary self-awareness. She fails on both counts. Winspear appears to recognize that more valued literature tends to involve symbolism and allusions to other works. It seems she is trying to use archetypes and allusions in her own novel, but her references to alternate literature and culture are embarrassingly obvious and awkward. Another inter-literary connection, though, is more difficult to notice unless the book is pondered -- something the typical romance reader is not likely to do. Although Winspear attempts to give her book literary value by tying it to Gone With the Wind, because of the limitations of her chosen genre, and her own apparent inabilities as a writer, she cannot grasp the depth that makes Gone With the Wind a highly regarded romance work.
Marcus, Mordecai. "The Lost Dream of Sex and Childbirth in 'The Chrysanthemums.'" Modern Fiction Studies 11 (1965): 54-8.
...y simple words to describe Vivian, such as beautiful, long, and slim. The metaphor that he uses to describe her legs is amazing. He said that her legs and ankles had, "enough melodic line for a tone poem" (17). After all of the simple words, this metaphor is extremely effective. Chandler used enough descriptive words that even a person who had never seen a tone poem would understand a metaphor.
Fries uses imagery to create an image to explain how beauty standards affect how an individual thinks, and how they go through variations to make themselves become what beauty wants them to be. “I want to break your bones. Make them so they look like mine. Force you to walk on twisted legs”(Fries 27-29). This quote uses imagery by creating the image of breaking someone’s bones to show that the individual wants to take someone 's legs that they see fits beauty standards and turn them into theirs. Fries uses imagery in a different way also by showing where the wanting of changing body image comes from. “Your smooth skin is no relief from the danger of your eyes” (Fries 47-50). The imagery of smooth skin shows that even though the individual has gentle skin with no imperfections there is no protection from the damage the eyes will cause when exposed to different beauty standards that will cause the wanting of alternations to be done to the skin to conform to different beauty standards. Without the use of imagery throughout the poem the reader would not be able to truly understand the image of what happens when an individual conforms to beauty standards. Without the use of imagery there would be a lack of understanding that there is no real definition of beauty, because there would be no image to show the reader that what truly matters is what lies on the
Essential yet underplayed, seduction is a means to establishing a physical union. Throughout literature the basic arts of seduction, chasing the opposite sex, have changed, but a reader of such literature can see that the motive of seduction has mostly remained the same. The metaphysical literary motive of seduction in the context of this paper is a delicate technique of intentionally tempting a person to participate in a physical union or exploitation, or to inspire or persuade a person to partake in sexual behaviors. Although the outcome of these seduction techniques are sexual, literary authors have their own ways of writing these complex ideas in a colloquial language. As time progressed, debates over the literary means of seduction has
Under the pear tree on that spring afternoon, Janie sees sensuality wherever she looks. "The first tiny bloom had opened. It had called her to come and gaze on a mystery. From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom. It stirred her tremendously" (10). Gazing across the garden...
"They turn casually to look at you, distracted, and get a mild distracted surprise, you're gone. Their blank look tells you that the girl they were fucking is not there anymore. You seem to have disappeared.(pg.263)" In Minot's story Lust you are play by play given the sequential events of a fifteen year old girls sex life. As portrayed by her thoughts after sex in this passage the girl is overly casual about the act of sex and years ahead of her time in her awareness of her actions. Minot's unique way of revealing to the reader the wild excursions done by this young promiscuous adolescent proves that she devalues the sacred act of sex. Furthermore, the manner in which the author illustrates to the reader these acts symbolizes the likeness of a list. Whether it's a list of things to do on the weekend or perhaps items of groceries which need to be picked up, her lust for each one of the boys in the story is about as well thought out and meaningful as each item which has carelessly and spontaneously been thrown on to a sheet of paper as is done in making a list. This symbolistic writing style is used to show how meaningless these relationships were but the deeper meaning of why she acted the way she did is revealed throughout the story. Minot cleverly displayed these catalysts in between the listings of her relationships.
Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. "Un-Utterable Longing: The Discourse of Feminine Sexuality in The Awakening." Studies in American Fiction 24.1 (Spring 1996): 3-23. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 127. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 May 2014.
Throughout his life... was a man self-haunted, unable to escape from his own drama, unable to find any window that would not give him back the image of himself. Even the mistress of his most passionate love-verses, who must (one supposes) have been a real person, remains for him a mere abstraction of sex: a thing given. He does not see her --does not apparently want to see her; for it is not of her that he writes, but of his relation to her; not of love, but of himself loving.
The poets integrated ?metaphysical conceits? as focal parts of these poems. Along with these, they used effective language as a basis for their convincing arguments, they included subjects of periodical importance (e.g. ?courtship? and ?religion?), and use very clever structures that are manipulated in order to make the poem read in the desired way. The very clear indication of the theme in question was strongly aided by the way in which the personas portrayed the emotions they felt and the way they showed their attitudes towards the subject. Considering all these factors, the poets made critical arguments to the mistresses in order to alter their views, thus changing their minds, on denying the poets the sex that they desired so strongly.
In today’s society, the concept of dreaming and dreams, in general, has been featured in a variety of different mediums, such as literature, film and even music. While the mediums of film and music are both prime examples of this concept, the medium of literature, on the other hand, contains a much more diverse set of examples pertaining to dreams and dreaming. One key example is William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While the portrayal of dreams, in general, plays a prominent role in Shakespeare’s play, the exploration of many aspects of nature, allows readers to believe that dreams are merely connected to somewhat unconventional occurrences.
On the other hand Brantenberg’s novel exploits the real worlds views of sexuality and applies them in th...
... is romantic and at ease, but he turns brisk and honest as time disintegrates. This image becomes crystal clear with words and phrases such as, "heart", "beauty", "youthful hue sits on thy skin", "our sweetness", "virginity", "breast", and "pleasures". All of these words provide the reader with an illustration of the man's desires. The use of imagery permits the author to fully describe the necessity of time, and allows the reader to visualize the thoughts and feelings that the characters experience.