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Importance of nature in literature
Narrative writing on childhood
Narrative writing on childhood
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Recommended: Importance of nature in literature
In Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden nature and its fantastical elements are crucial in making their novels the iconic children literary tales they are presently. However due to these fantastical elements both authors criticized for their romanticized view of nature and idealized depictions of childhood within nature. Scholarly critics Jacqueline Rose and Humphrey Carpenter argue that in creating idealistic narrative worlds both authors lose their ability to represent childhood in a realistic way and instead let their works become escape outlets rather than true depictions of childhood. In doing so these books are no longer true children’s literature, but simply ideals born out of an authors
Sandner, David. "Romanticism and Transcendence in Nineteenth-Century Children's Fantasy Literature." The Fantastic Sublime. Westport, C.T.: Greenwood Press. 45-65, 142-147.
After a four week survey of a multitude of children’s book authors and illustrators, and learning to analyze their works and the methods used to make them effective literary pieces for children, it is certainly appropriate to apply these new skills to evaluate a single author’s works. Specifically, this paper focuses on the life and works of Ezra Jack Keats, a writer and illustrator of books for children who single handedly expanded the point of view of the genre to include the experiences of multicultural children with his Caldecott Award winning book “Snowy Day.” The creation of Peter as a character is ground breaking in and of itself, but after reading the text the reader is driven to wonder why “Peter” was created. Was he a vehicle for political commentary as some might suggest or was he simply another “childhood” that had; until that time, been ignored? If so, what inspired him to move in this direction?
The Secret Garden is a film based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's book bearing the same title. This movie is about a young girl who is literally shipped off to her uncle's English castle after her parents are killed in an earthquake. The main character, Mary, is played by Kate Maberly. She is tossed into a world where sunlight and cheerful discourse seem as rare as the attention she receives from the sour-pussed housekeeper Medlock, played by Maggie Smith. She helps her crippled cousin to see past his hypochondria and into the wonders of a long forgotten garden hidden beyond the confines of Misselthwaite Manor. While one critic dislikes the slight deviations from the book, another is content to relish in the imagery and scenery of The Secret Garden.
Seamus Heaney’s poem “Blackberry-Picking” does not merely describe a child’s summer activity of collecting berries for amusement. Rather, it details a stronger motivation, ruled by a more primal urge, guised as a fanciful experience of childhood and its many lessons. This is shown through Heaney’s use of language in the poem, including vibrant diction, intense imagery and powerful metaphor—an uncommon mix coming from a child’s perspective.
While many stories take the initiative to tell the story more innocently for children, there is a limit on how much innocence is utilized. The poems A Barred Owl and The History Teacher are two completely different poems giving off the same message, containing innocence, but not too extreme. Each poem has the adults teaching the children what is good and bad in the world without giving them fear. The literary devices utilized in each poem portray different intentions. In A Barred Owl, Richard Wilbur utilizes personification, imagery, and irony to portray the innocence being seen throughout the poem, while in The History Teacher, Billy Collins utilizes syntax, tone and theme.
There is always one aspect of life that is essential in a person. It is established in childhood; imagination. Children have the privilege of being young enough for a certain amount of time to not let any responsibilities hinder them from learning and experiencing the world in new ways. In literature, the best way to showcase a child’s imagination is through a world entirely different from their own. Two of the most prominent fantasy worlds in children’s literature are; Narnia and Neverland. These worlds are important for they do not classify children as beings lesser than others. Instead, children are glorified and treated as equals in the different worlds. In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, four siblings travel into a wardrobe and are transported to a magical realm, known as Narnia, where they discover that they must help bring the fantastical realm out of its eternal winter. In J.M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy, the story of Wendy Darling and her brothers John and Michael is explored as a young boy who never grows up takes them to Neverland; an island where the only inhabitants are pirates and the Lost Boys. In both of these stories, there is one element in both that makes these otherwise entertaining tales into inspiring coming of age stories. This element is in the importance of the role of the absent parent. Both Lewis and Barrie eliminate the security of the parents, making the children fend for themselves in a new, strange world. These worlds are able to be fully explored as children enter them, their open minds bringing about new ideas that an adult could never even dream of. The idea of growing up is identical with the idea of cutting ties with your parents and becoming your own person. Therefore, in order ...
“Growing a Lady”, a look into the development of the female main characters in A Wrinkle in Time and The Secret Garden
Are adults overprotective of their children? To what point do we protect children? Where should the line be drawn? Along with those questions is how easily children can be influenced by these same adults. Two poets, Richard Wilbur and Billy Collins, express the ideas of how easily children can be manipulated and how sometimes adults think they are protecting their innocent children, when in reality they are not. Wilbur and Collins express these ideas in their poems through numerous literary devices. The literary devices used by Wilbur and Collins expose different meanings and two extremely different end results. Among the various literary devices used, Wilbur uses imagery, a simple rhyme scheme and meter, juxtaposition of the rational and irrational, and a humorous tone to represent the narrator’s attempt to “domesticate” irrational fears. Conversely Collins uses symbols, historical interpretations, imagery, diction and other literary devices to depict the history teacher’s effort to shield his students from reality. In the poems, “A Barred Owl,” by Richard Wilbur, and “The History Teacher,” by Billy Collins, both poets convey how adults protect and calm children from their biggest, darkest fears and curiosities.
Laura Ingalls Wilder may be viewed as one of the greatest children’s authors of the twentieth century. Her works may be directed towards a younger crowd but people of all ages enjoy her literary contributions. The way that Wilder’s books are written guarantees that they have a place among classics of American literature (“So many…” 1). Laura Ingalls Wilder’s form of writing portrays an American family’s interworking in a journey through childhood.
In this book about the importance of children, imagination, and their fantasy play, written by Vivian Gussin Paley, she discusses the disappearance of creative free play in children’s school, and how it can potentially hinder a young child’s development. Vivian takes us on a journey through different classrooms around the world, in order to explore the impressive language of children during their free time, role-playing, and storytelling. In these classrooms, Vivian records the children’s stories and how they interact with each other, in order to grasp an understanding of the meaning that lies in their fantasy play. Early on in the book, Vivian states that, “There was a time when
Although Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, and Emily Bronte's, Wuthering Heights, were written in different era, they do in fact share a few similarities.
The Stolen Child,"a poem by W.B. Yeats, relates the story of a child who is lured away by fairies to a fantasy world illustrated through rich descriptions of nature and the freedom it offers. The plot of the poem becomes a metaphor for the return to innocence that the author feels is necessary in a society that is attempting to lead children away from the mysticism and innocence that characterize childhood, toward a more mundane reality as an adult. With his vivid descriptions and use of extended metaphor, Yeats is able to create a world unaffected by time, in stark contrast to the world in which we live, to illustrate his dissatisfaction with reality.
Ultimately, Romanticism is responsible for transforming the purpose of children’s literature and, as a result, society's image of children. Thus, helping to establish the importance of the imagination. Through its themes of romanticism, Carroll crafts a story that is anti-didactic by its very nature. The innocence and imagination of childhood offers redemption to fallen adulthood.
Potter’s book is, beneath its didactic Victorian narrative, remarkably subtle and subversive in its attitudes towards childhood, and its message to its child readers. Browne’s Voices in the Park, on the other hand, dispenses with any textual narrative; by his use of the devices of postmodernism, visual intertextuality and metaphor, he creates a work of infinite interpretation, in which the active involvement of the reader is key. Although The Tale of Peter Rabbit is not a ‘modern’ picturebook, and was written to a different concept of childhood than Voices in the Park, it certainly falls within Bader’s description.... ... middle of paper ...
Imagine a magnificent sunset in the gorgeous scenery of Scotland. The trees are a luscious green, the sky morphing from a soft pink-orange to a deep blue-purple. Suddenly, and without warning, a dragon appears, opens its large mouth with piercingly sharp teeth, and…it is time to turn the page. Reading is considered a learning necessity and it is right that people are concerned about the rapidly decreasing child reading habits. As children grow older, their imaginations grow weaker, as does their love of reading. Young minds become preoccupied with other hobbies, interests, or responsibilities. As a result, concern from parents and teachers increase. However, nineteen years ago, a story was born that might have held the key to getting children