With the lack of a mead hall comes the lack of identity for the Anglo... ... middle of paper ... ... some way adhere that “blessed is he / who after death can approach the Lord / and find friendship in the Father’s embrace” (Beowulf, lines 186-188). However different each era of literature designates man’s way of approach to God, nevertheless, the promise is the same: either by works and right living, or by grace alone apart from action, blessed is he who acknowledges the everlasting presence of God in the created world. The characters in both Anglo-Saxon and Middle English literature rightly portray this attitude, within the context of their era’s differing views toward salvation. In light of these two eras, it is necessary to glean a certain balance of views, striving to blend each position into a happy medium: one that is neither completely separate from God’s grace, but one that does not allow the individual to elapse into a state of apathetic wantonness.
Ode Intimations of Immortality by William Wordsworth In Ode: Intimations of Immortality, William Wordsworth explores the moral development of man and the irreconcilable conflicts between innocence and experience, and youthfulness and maturity that develop. As the youth matures he moves farther away from the divinity of God and begins to be corruption by mankind. What Wordsworth wishes for is a return to his childhood innocence but with his new maturity and insight. This would allow him to experience divinity in its fullest sense: he would re-experience the celestial radiance of childhood as well as the reality of his present existence. Wordsworth wants to have the better of the two conflicting worlds: childhood and maturity, divinity and knowledge; but these two existences are antitheses and the source of the irony behind Wordsworth's utopian dream.
Of the stories on the syllabus the one that I most closely related to was “The Big Two-Hearted River” by Earnest Hemmingway. During my first reading of this story it was the setting and the action of the main character Nick Adams that I connected with. Reading the opening sentences, grand visions of my childhood danced through my head. The story took me back to happy times of summers spent alone with my grandfather in the mountains of West Virginia. Like Nick, the camping and fishing trips were a welcomed relief from the city life and school for me.
He begins the story by telling readers that he is fishing from the bank of the river, “standing on quaking grass and willow roots, where the muskrats lurk”. His use of imagery in describing the pond makes the Chu 2 pond feel alive with creatures lurking all around. The imagery that is placed into every line of “Walden” makes the nature that Thoreau is observing seem incredible to read... ... middle of paper ... ...ith nature. Because the writing is all first-person, central-narrative point-of-view, it gives a feeling of authenticity to Thoreau's writing so readers are able to truly experience Thoreau's fascination with nature. The three literary devices, imagery, tone, and point-of-view, all work to help Henry David Thoreau develop a clear and vivid picture of his experience at Walden Pond in the spring.
Personal Narrative – Life in Jesus Life. My life rests in the glory of Your son. As it sets behind the distant trees across the lake, You spill Your love over me in the brilliance of the sunset. Reds, pinks, blues, oranges, and purples blend to create a sight beyond my human imagination. Streaks of color illuminate the sky above me and reflect in the lake's still waters.
Nature is a mother, a force, an inspiration, and a guide to many. People who find themselves lost from struggles of every kind can look at nature and find a peace that exudes from it. In Rudolfo Anaya’s book, Bless Me Ultima, Antonio finds beauty and serenity in nature through the guidance of Ultima. Meeting Ultima for the first time created a new outlook on nature for Antonio. He speaks about Ultima with admiration saying, “Her eyes swept the surrounding hills and through them I saw for the first time the wild beauty of our hills and the magic of the green river (Anaya 12).” I felt a similar shift in perspective because of my grandmother.
The Pulitzer Prize winning writer N. Scott Momaday has become known as a very distinctive writer who depicts the stories of the Native American life in almost poetic ways. He does an excellent job of transporting the reader from the black and white pages of a book, to a world where every detail is pointed out and every emotion felt when reading one of Momaday’s books or other writings. This style of writing that Momaday uses is very evident in his work “The Way to Rainy Mountain,” and made even more apparent by reading a review of the book House Made of Dawn found on a web site run by HarperCollins Publishers. Throughout the essay “The Way to Rainy Mountain”, Momaday uses very descriptive words, which brings the places he is describing to life in the minds eye. The essay begins with his description of the homelands of his Kiowa people, which has been given the name of Rainy Mountain.
Augustine’s distance from his father and also God serves to relate the two stories. The prodigal son is in many respects similar to Augustine. Much like the prodigal son Augustine finds God as well as a father figure after much time apart. He meets a man named Ambrose who becomes a fatherly figure to Augustine. This could be another rhetorical device being utilized.
His understanding of his own perception, especially sight, leads him to search for Jesus through both sight and non-sight, as he seeks a knowable, corporeal new jesus. The reader is introduced to Hazel’s spiritual past early in the novel, through the description of his preacher grandfather. He was “a waspish old man who had ridden over three coun... ... middle of paper ... ...t to be distracted by abstract version of Christ, but instead wishes to find God through his own experience. He does not place faith in a Church With Christ, which commands redemption from on high. The Jesus of this church offers an abstract salvation that comes through the suffering of an unknowable God.
Eventually, Nwoye leaves his father and joins the church of the missionaries. When asked about Okonkwo, Nwoye states that Okonkwo is not his father (Achebe). Nwoye’s behavior is significant because it is a result of emotional neglect by his father. He seeks fatherly love, and finds it in the divine Heavenly Father. The holes in his heart are healed by the love he finds in this new religion.