A literary essay is a non-fiction essay about any literary topic. The term “literary” simply means of or having to do with literature, therefore an essay that is a
Literary Devices in "Because I Could Not Stop for Death"
Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" recounts how Death follows the narrator along her final journey and though the title insinuates that the narrator does not have time to see what her gentleman caller wants, he is patient and is in no rush to complete his task. In the poem, Dickinson personifies Death and makes it clear that she accepts death as a natural part of the life cycle and something that cannot be avoided. Dickinson uses several literary devices in the poem including personification, simile, alliteration, and anaphora to different degrees in order to demonstrate the interaction and relationship between the narrator and Death.
In "Because I Could Not Stop For Death," the narrator tells the story of how Death is one of her companions on her final carriage ride. In order to make Death more realistic and…...
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References
Dickinson, E. (1890). "Because I Could Not Stop For Death." Accessed 14 April 2012.
The poem is musical in how it reads. The rhyming is easy and, overall, the poem reads well. Clearly, the poet wanted to emphasize the beauty of the poem through song but he wanted to keep it simple.
ordsworth also utilizes several literary devices in the poem. For example, ordsworth sets the mood and tone of the poem by describing a girl is in a field singing alone. Connotation includes what the lady might be singing about or what caused her to sing in the first place. Another example of connotation occurs with the reaper, the song, and the field. These things are very real and they are significant to the meaning of the poem. Denotation occurs as the poet describes the song as a "melancholy strain" (6) and a "vale profound" (7). The poet also alludes to the Arabian sands" (12) and the Hebrides islands. The poet wonders about…...
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Works Cited
Pottle, Frederick. "The Eye and the Object in the Poetry of Wordsworth." Gale Resource Database. Accessed February 25, 2008.http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com.Site
Wordsworth, William. The Solitary Reaper." Immortal Poem of the English Language. New York: Washngton Square Press, 1965.
Because Celie idolizes Shug Avery she wants to make her a special quilt, out of affection.
At the start of this endeavor Celie writes, more fluently now to God:
Me and Sofia work on the quilt. Got it frame up on the porch. Shug Avery donate her old yellow dress for scrap, and I work in a piece every chance I get. it's a nice pattern called Sister's Choice. If the quilt turn out perfect, maybe I give it to her, if it not perfect, maybe I keep [emphasis added].
alker, the Color Purple, p. 62)
The pattern name "Sister's Choice" points rhetorically toward sisterly closeness Celie feels toward Shug and Sofia based on bonding that has occurred during their conversations together. Earlier Celie has been submissive, meek, obedient, and not at all her own person. Now though, Celie's increased fluency of both verbal and written communication corresponds to and accompanies her bonding with…...
illiam ells Brown
The ork(s) of illiam ells Brown; Clotel: or, the President's Daughter
One of the most discussed and controversial topics during the 18th and early 19th centuries were on slavery and slaves' trade. The American continent was one of the major participants in the trade. Being an American native, illiam ells Brown is one of the African-Americans who endured the bitter fruits of slavery. Born into slavery within Lexington-Kentucky and having spent much of his youthful life in St. Luis, Brown physically witnessed the slavery life and experiences, an effect, which motivated him to advocate for slaves freedom. Consequently, illiam wrote several historical works (books), addressing the factors, occurrences and effects of slavery and slaves' trade on the African-American family lives. One of his historical works and the first novel published in 1853 was the Clotel; or, The President's Daughter (Paula 197).
Most of the scholars acknowledge that Brown's novel…...
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Works Cited
Alice, Kirkpatrick. Clotel; or The President's Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United
States, by William Wells Brown. American Literary Reviews, 23:6, (2004), 172-267.
Andrews, William. Introduction to "From Fugitive Slave to Free Man." The Autobiographies of William Wells Brown. New York, NY; New American Library, 1993.
Chaney, Michael. Fugitive Vision: Slave Image and Black Identity in Antebellum Narrative.
African-American Duality of Identity:
Literary Criticism of the short story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin
James Baldwin's face, with its piercing eyes and craggy forehead, is a frequently depicted image upon anthologies and volumes of African-American literature and criticism, particularly post-colonial criticism that emphasizes the alienated sense of self and national identity frequently experienced by Blacks in America during the 1960's when Baldwin wrote some of his greatest works, including the short story "Sonny's Blues." Baldwin was an African-American, a child of the Southern states of America, a homosexual, and also an expatriate from America. He lived a great deal of his life in France and Turkey and stated that he was happiest living away from America. Yet most of his works attempt to come to grips with the African-American experience.
All of these influences upon the author's identity can be seen in "Sonny's Blues." Most particularly, Baldwin's sense of postmodern alienation as…...
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Works Cited
Baldwin, James. "Sonny's Blues." Going to Meet the Man. 1965.
Bigsby, C.W.E, Introduction to The Black American Writer, Vol. 1, Everett/Edwards, Inc., 1969.
Reilly, John M., '"Sonny's Blues': James Baldwin's Image of Black Community," in James Baldwin: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Keith Kinnamon, Prentice-Hall, 1974.
Hills like white elephants," Ernest Hemingway make use of a literary style that focuses on the appreciation the natural world by relating it to real life incidents. Space is often a literary mechanism used by many writers, and is often very symbolic in nature. Based on that assumption, this paper will first briefly provide an overview of the story follow by an analysis of the symbolic representations of space. This relationship will be illustrated by the usage of space in regards to the symbolic nature of an individual female's biological internal, self-struggle as opposed to her ACTUALLY consciously wanting to bear a child.
The genre of this reading would be that of a short story, with the setting being in a train station with a train that has a destination in Madrid. When reading the story, the narrative point-of-view remains a mystery as it becomes highly evident early on that…...
Bars Fight" is Lucy Terry's only surviving work. Transmitted orally for approximately one hundred years before going into print, the ballad is considered the first composition of an African-American citizen. Born in 1724 in Africa, Terry, later married Prince, had come to The States after being kidnapped and sold as a slave. In 1756 she became free by marrying Abijah Prince. The two settled in Guilford, Vermont along with their children. Lucy is known to have been a skilful orator, although failing to obtain admission for her son at illiams College, she managed to win a case over an attempt of thievery to which Samuel Chase acknowledged that her arguments stood before any of the Vermont's lawyers. In this paper however, we are not so much concerned with Terry's unofficial lawyer activities, rather the focus is to provide further critical attention in regards to Terry's poem "Bars Fight." In…...
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Works Cited
Olson, Debbie Clare. "Lucy Terry: Biographical Narrative." Encyclopedia of African-American Women Writers (two volumes). Ed. Yolanda Williams Page. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2007. 554-555. Print.
Terry, Lucy. "Bars Fight." PBS: Africans in America. Web. 23 June 2013.
Postcolonialism: History And an Overview
Postcolonialism is both a political orientation as well as a theory of literary criticism and a philosophy. Broadly defined, it is "a study of the effects of colonialism on cultures and societies. It is concerned with both how European nations conquered and controlled 'Third orld' cultures and how these groups have since responded to and resisted those encroachments" ("Key terms in post-colonial theory"). Postcolonial studies add an additional dimension to the realm of cultural studies, focusing on how European perspectives have misappropriated and distorted the cultures of those whom they conquered. "Post-colonial critics are concerned with literature produced by colonial powers and works produced by those who were/are colonized. Post-colonial theory looks at issues of power, economics, politics, religion, and culture and how these elements work in relation to colonial hegemony (western colonizers controlling the colonized" ("Postcolonial criticism," The Owl at Purdue).
One of the earliest and…...
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Works Cited
Brewton, Vince. "Literary theory." The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 27 Jul 2014.
Joy" in Chopin's "Story of an Hour"
When the joy of liberation turns into the shock of oppression, the life can go out of an individual. This is what happens to Mrs. Mallard in "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin. What is ironic about the story is that everyone thinks she dies from the shock of "joy" at seeing her husband is alive (after being told he was dead). Before, Mrs. Mallard had been sick and ailing, but when she is told by her sister that her husband has died, Mrs. Mallard is relieved inside and comes to life: she is tired of being his wife. However, everyone has been misinformed and the husband yet lives -- and this twist is enough to overcome Mrs. Mallard -- her sudden relief is turned to sudden grief, and she dies. Chopin uses irony to achieve a humorous and satirical twist…...
Marriage
Literary texts reflect the common beliefs and thoughts prevalent in the society. They are a mirror that acquaints the society with its prejudices, obsessions, its passions, its strengths and its weaknesses. Literature and literary texts are used by authors to help reform society and advise people on what they ought to change to flourish as a whole.
The two texts that are being compared for this project are 'The Story of an hour' and 'The Necklace.' Both short stories have women at their center and they both show a side of marriage opposite to the fairy tale image of perfect marital bliss. The two female characters are similar yet not so similar. In their flaws, their strengths and their passions they reflect the general female population of not just the era but of all time. So it can be said that the stories are the authors comment on marriage from…...
They know that they, like the child, are not free. They know compassion. It is the existence of the child, and their knowledge of its existence, that makes possible the nobility of their architecture," and the other good things about Omelas (6).
The metaphor of the child is a metaphor for our own, less perfect, but still pleasant existence. In America, while we enjoy relative prosperity, millions still suffer in poverty and want, suffering that could be eased by the price of a plasma television or a cell phone. In other regions of the world, people toil for pennies a day to make clothing we wear cheaply on our backs. It is easy to forget these people.
In LeGuin's tale, some people walk away from the pleasure of Omelas, unable to accept this societal bargain. As our own society is based upon the suffering of more than one child, the author…...
Chokshi, Carter, Gupta, and Allen (1995) report that during the critical states o emergency, ongoing intermittently until 1989, a low-level police oicial could detain any individual without a hearing by or up to six months. "Thousands o individuals died in custody, requently ater gruesome acts o torture" Those who were tried were sentenced to death, banished, or imprisoned or lie" (Chokshi, Carter, Gupta, & Allen, ¶ 6). The enactment o apartheid laws institutionalized racial discrimination. The race laws dramatically impacted every aspect o the individual's personal, social lie, and proessional lie. The laws prohibited marriage between non-whites and whites, and sanctioned "white-only" jobs. In regard to identity, Chokshi, Carter, Gupta, and Allen recount that during 1948 through 1994:
[a] white person was deined as in appearance obviously a white person or generally accepted as a white person. A person could not be considered white i one o his or her…...
Prater Violet and Eagleton's Literary Theory
Often, when writing a literary work, authors are focused so much on their personal views and intentions with the story that no literary theory comes to mind. Furthermore, writers are seldom concerned with adhering to or promoting any specific theory. Nevertheless, it is the nature of readers and critics to want to impose theories upon literary works. Much like life, literary works present themselves in an unstructured way. It is human nature, especially on the side of critics and readers, to wish to impose order where no such order is apparent. Indeed, this is the nature of critical reading and even human life in general. In Prater Violet by Isherwood (2001), for example, one might imposed various paths towards the literary theories explicated by Eagleton (2008), as followed by some of the characters in the novel b y Isherwood.
One example of such literary theory is…...
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References
Eagleton, T. (2008). Using Literary Theory. An Introduction. Minnesota Press.
Isherwood, C. (2001). Prater Violet. Minnesota Press.
The skill of Saki to utilize subtle foreshadowing is also evident as the niece reasonably develops the scenario of a fictitious tragedy, the death of the three men (and the dog) exactly a year before, which coincides to a year after the man's sister had been in residence nearby. The niece begins by ascertaining that Nuttel knows nothing of the people or place and that he would be easy to fool, foreshadowing that she is playing a trick on him. She then determines that the "tragic" events took place after the sister left and proceeds to describe exactly how the three figures and the dog looked when they left just that morning, with the supposition that they would return looking just the same.
Nuttel's shock, fear and outwardly rude reaction to seeing the three figures, with their dog come across the lawn is the climax of the work. The Niece has…...
Thus he becomes, much like the title sailor of Herman Melville's Billy Budd, a figure who is martyred as a result of intolerance. Budd draws the ire of the captain of his ship because he is attractive and charismatic in a way that defines conventional maritime rules and conventions. Budd is literally hung out to dry upon a mast, while illiams is only symbolically strung up -- but the kind of hatred of the new that both figures call upon is the same impulse depicted in both Romantic texts, of the film and the novella. "Oh captain, my captain," say the boys, overcoming the natural timidity all of them feel, as they jump up upon their desks in a show of support. By uniting in common bonds, forming a solidarity of purpose and ideological unity against tradition and by using hitman's words to embody their lives, they demonstrate a true…...
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Works Cited
Dead Poets Society." (1989) Starring Robin Williams. Directed by Peter Weir.
In August Wilson’s Fences, the author explores several themes as they relate to the central themes of race, fatherhood, and manhood in the United States. One of the themes that he tackles is the concept of fate, though the approach is less about life being preordained as it is an examination of how history, social circumstances, and upbringing can combine to make some events appear preordained or fated rather than the intervention of some type of divine or supernatural fate. This contextual analysis of manhood in a political situation that seems designed to challenge it was explored by
To write a good thesis about this, you have to first put together what you know about early America and its approach to religion. Obviously, the American colonies were initially established, in part, as a way for people to freely practice certain religions. That said, they were extremely restrictive, with punishments for people who did not adhere to societal norms. Many undesirable behaviors were not just considered undesirable, but labeled as sin. The most dramatic example of this could be found in the witch hysteria that overtook some of the colonies and the executions and general destruction that happened surrounding....
What an excellent question! In fact, one of the things we encourage students to do is make sure that they understand what an assignment is asking them to do before tackling the assignment. A critical review is an analysis of material that you are exploring, which involves you examining its strengths and weaknesses and putting those together in a cohesive argument about the merits and deficits of the material as a whole.
Critical reviews can be used in almost any area of academic study, though the approach for a critical review will vary according to the subject and....
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