Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
personal experiences in writing
experience as a writer essay
personal experiences in writing
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: personal experiences in writing
An Essay on The Withered Arm, by Thomas Hardy
‘The past is a foreign country. They did things differently there.’
‘The Go Between’ by L.P. Hartley.
Thomas Hardy, a Victorian novelist, based his stories on experience of
growing up in rural Dorset. Growing up there, he became familiar with
the language, customs, practises and stories of the country folk.
These stories draw up on his experiences enabling him to write ‘Wessex
Tales’. Among many pieces of work is ‘The Withered Arm’. ‘The Withered
Arm’ is a well-crafted short story written in the prose format. The
quote above portrays what pre-twentieth century literature should
embrace; good literature should be insightable, realistic and
significant to all people from any era. In this essay I am going to
describe the ways in which Thomas Hardy has made his short story, ‘The
Withered Arm’ interesting to the modern reader.
‘The Withered Arm’ is about Rhoda Brook, a dark milkmaid who
retaliates on her lovers beautiful new wife, Gertrude, after her
lover, Farmer Lodge abandons her and their illigimate son. Hardy has
carefully structured all the elements of a short story making ‘The
Withered Arm’ interesting and perennial to the modern reader. Farmer
Lodge’s denial of the affair with Rhoda and the neglection of his son
causes Rhoda’s plotting revenge. Employing the character, Conjuror
Trendle, brings the involvement of witchcraft and supernatural powers,
giving the plot a paranormal twist. The public execution of The Boy
immediately grasps the interest of the reader because we learn that in
the Victorian times, committing such a petty crime, there is a massive
penalty. We also learn that the lives of the people were so habitual,
that they thought of executio...
... middle of paper ...
...led and brings out the best in his stories, yet his language maybe
a little hard to understand for a modern reader. I do not find the
character in ‘The Withered Arm’ a problem at all because although some
of those characters no longer exist, Rhoda, Conjuror Trendle, Hangman,
it is still interesting to read about their daily lives and how things
were for them; after all good literature should be giving the reader
and insight on how things were. Even though the reader may not always
agree to the philosophies hidden in his themes, it is captivating to
imagine how a Victorian writer can relate to such things. I think that
‘The Withered Arm’ is a fantastic example of pre-twentieth century
literature because not only is it interesting, but it gives us an
insight on the different lives of the different characters and yet is
still interesting to the modern reader.
According to Alan Loy McGinnis, “there is no more noble occupation in the world than to assist another human being - to help someone succeed.” Piers Anthony, the author of the book On a Pale Horse, seems to agree with that statement when he writes the book series called Incarnations of Immortality, of which On a Pale Horse is the first. This book is a fascinating work of fiction that relates science to magic and expresses that human beings might need a little more help than they expect. The potentially disconcerting view of the world Anthony takes is that there are people assigned to job titles that exist outside of our Earth, and they are the ones who watch over the Earth and its inhabitants to make sure human life goes as it should. In this book, an average man named Zane happens upon a job offer to act as Death, takes the opportunity, and adds more meaning to his life than he has ever had before. Zane encounters a struggle when he has to face Satan, the Incarnation of Evil, and through his work learns that everyone should do what is morally right because it affects us more than we know. On a Pale Horse is an allegorical piece of fiction that uses Greek and Christian beliefs, possibly along with others, in an attempt to teach that everything you do matters, so always do what is right.
Every once in awhile, a case comes about in which the defendant confesses to a crime, but the defense tries to argue that at the time the defendant was not sane. This case is no different; the court knows the defendant is guilty the only aspect they are unsure about is the punishment this murderer should receive. The State is pushing for a jail sentence and strongly believes that the defendant was sane at the time of the murder. It is nearly impossible for the defense to prove their evidence burden of 51%. The State claims that the defendant was criminally responsible at the time of the murder. By using excessive exaggeration, premeditation and motive, the Prosecution will prove that the defendant knew exactly what he was doing and how wrong it was.
questions in the lesson were sure to pass her by once she even got ten
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
The ability of women to carry children gives them an aspect of control over the continuation of humanity in gothic stories which is explored throughout Edgar Allen Poe’s, The Fall of the House of Usher. Roderick Usher’s deteriorating mental health can be considered a result of his twin sister, Lady Madeline’s, impending death. Due to their inferred incestuous relationship, Usher’s family lineage is dependent upon a child conceived by himself and Lady Madeline which is pointed out by Roderick himself that her death “would leave him the last of the ancient race of the Usher’s” (Poe 4). The power of Lady Madeline’s death in the cessation of the Usher house is reflected in the immediate decline of Usher’s mental condition, as it is recognised that immediately after her decease “the luminousness of his eye had utterly gone out” (Poe 8). A woman’s role in humanity as the carrier of children and birth giver is a significant power that underlines many tales of gothic fiction and is seen as a force that must be controlled. The fear of loss, not only of Lady Madeline but of the Usher house in its entirety, reflects the substantial power of the feminine. The consequent entombment of Usher’s sister can be seen as a result of Roderick’s angst and attempt to ignore the repercussions of her death. The oppression of women in gothic stories is in the
Ichabod left the party earlier alone that evening, riding his horse down a long road where the night became dark. The next morning Ichabod was nowhere to be seen, Our team of investigators searched where the people at the party saw him leave.
Throughout the course of her work, Persuasion, Jane Austen offers much insight into the social aspect of English life at the beginning of the 19th Century. Austen’s characters, through their lives, demonstrate how the landed aristocracy has seen their dominant grasp on the social scene loosened. In addition, through various degrees of personal illnesses, Austen’s characters portray the human body as fragile and delicate creation. Yet as separate and distinct as these two themes may seem, Austen relates them to each other in the theme of sickness; the aristocracy has taken a turn for the worse in light of the successes of the navy in the war, while the individual characters suffer through relations’ deaths and personal injury to their bodies. Within Persuasion, Austen demonstrates how sickness has pervaded the established English order of life on both the societal and personal levels.
Drabble, Margaret. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Revised 5th Edition. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1985, re. 1995. 57-59. Print.
The concerns of Victorian England about the status of faith and manhood have left a deep mark in the literature of the period. The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dracula are good examples of this concern. In both books there is an emphasis in the corruption of the body and of the soul as maladies that haunt the greatness of England. The aristocracy is pointed as the social strata from where this decadence will spread. These books show a population of youth that lacks the guidance of parents and are apparently deprived of fertility as a consequence of the disorientation that reigns among them. This corruption is shown in conjunction with a lack of religious faith and an excess of sin that will result in the transference of England to the forces of evil.
In The Rise of the Novel, Ian Watt underlines the “changed nature” of eighteenth-century mainstream literary production that witnesses a textual revolution since the inception of the gothic genre, which gains its popularity with the publication of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764) (qtd. in Hock-soon Ng 1). Contrary to the realistic narratives of Daniel Defoe and Samuel Richardson, which mark the outset of the century, gothic writers tantalize their works with fantastic events, breaking with the Enlightenment ideological discourse that values rationality (Botting 3). Yet, the gothic genre has been maligned as a ‘marginalized’ literary form in relation to nineteenth-century realistic literature. Juliann Fleenor, in The Female Gothic, further elucidates this: “The Gothic has generally had a negative critical reception. From the first it has been seen as outside the mainstream of literature […]. [C]ompared to the realistic novel, the critics maintaining that the latter is superior because it is more real” (qtd. in Anna Haningerová 14). In fact, its peripherized position seems “congenial” to that of women in the nineteenth-century patriarchal society (14). Accordingly, women novelists take up this genre that becomes an established mode in their literary texts since the eighteenth-century. Indeed, it is feminized with the literary works of Ann Radcliffe and consolidated by her female successors that participate in ‘the rise of the female gothic novel’ and the inauguration of an autonomous ‘female gothic tradition.’
The constellation I chose was the Lyra. The Lyra represents the lyre, which is a musical instrument used in a later time. The lyre is a string instrument, known for its Greek classical age. It is similar to the harp but it is smaller. There is a myth on the Lyra. Orpheus, the son of Apollo, played the lyre. Apollo gave it to him as a gift. Orpheus played the lyre so well that wild beast, the rocks, and the trees were charmed with the way he played. Orpheus fell in love with the nymph Eurydice. They got married. They weren’t married for very long. When Eurydice was walking through the fields with other nymphs, shepherd Aristaeus saw her and was amazed by how beautiful she was. When she noticed him watching her, she ran and was bitten by a snake and died of the serpent’s poison.
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe is about a man who is insane. Edgar
The Edwardian, modern and postmodern times were three essential and compelling periods in British literature. Throughout these periods prolific writers arouse and were able to write and express their feelings about their eras. Amid both of these eras society was significantly changing and there was development all over, new advances in innovation were being made and the lifestyles of individuals, families, and women were drastically changing. The changing scene brought on a hullabaloo of productive authors and artists who would write about the positive and negative things affecting their general public. Some of these amazing authors that we studied this semester included Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad, W.H. Auden, Dylan Thomas, Virginia Woolf and J.K. Rowling. These writers and poets expounded on comparable topics that were influenced by their day and age.
Thomas Hardy's The Withered Arm. Introduction ------------ "The Withered Arm" is a pre-twentieth century short story written by Thomas Hardy. This story was published in 1888, appearing in "The Blackwoods" Magazine.
Comparing The Signalman by Dickens and The Withered Arm by Hardy 'The Signalman' and 'The Withered Arm', are two short stories showing supernatural events. Authors, Dickens, and Hardy intrigue readers by using certain techniques. These techniques add suspense and mystery to the story, which makes the reader, want to read further on. The openings in both narratives begin with a short dialogue. The dialogue in 'The Signalman' begins with the narrator talking to the Signalman: "Halloa!