Amy Lowell was a rebel, whos identity was to be different than others. Amy Lowell was interested in and influenced by the Imagists movement. Lowell earned a reputation for violating conservative standards by flaunting her obesity, swearing, smoking cigars, and having a same-sex lover. She wrote in traditional forms, as well as in free verse and polyphonic prose, often using several forms in a single poem. Amy Lowell’s work involved a combination of intertextuality, symbolism, and allusions.. I will analysis the following poems by Amy Lowell: “The Taxi” “Madonna of the evening flowers” “A decade” and “A lover”. Using these poems I will analyze her common themes, structure, and figurative imagery. Amy Lowell often Amy Lowell’s most common themes are love, helplessness, loneliness and sex. The theme of loneliness is apparent in her poem, “Madonna of the Evening Flowers.” When the narrator is distanced from her lover she feels alone and lost without the person. I call: “Where are you?” But there is only the oak-tree rustling in the wind. But the house is very quiet, The sun shines in on your books, On your scissors and thimble just put down, But you are not there. Suddenly I am lonely: Where are you? I go about searching. Then I see you, Lowell explores the theme of helplessness for love in “The Taxi.” Summed up by this quote “Why should I leave you? To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night.” This releases helplessness feeling that the narrator cannot function
Poetry as a literally work in which the expression of ideas and feelings is given strength has had great authors overtime who took different perspectives in this genre of literature. These poets used distinctive rhythm and style to express their styles, poetic themes, outlook on life, and had their share of influence on the American society. This paper uses the basis of these styles, themes, outlook on life and subsequent influence on the American society to compare three prolific poets who ventured into this literature genre: Robert Frost, Mary Oliver, and Maya Angelou. Robert Frost (1874-1963) holds a unique and almost sole position in the career span which mostly encompasses
Because of these prejudices, her poetry was harshly scrutinized compared to similar writings of her male counterparts. When her primary publication of “The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America”
In the poem “ A Bitterness”, Mary Oliver illustrates a case of crippling melancholy. Oliver depicts the speaker reflecting upon the troubled life and death of someone that they knew. The solemn tone of the speaker is maintained throughout the poem to verify their position on the matter upon which they are reflecting. By using consistent repetition and descriptive comparisons, Oliver conveys the general theme that the bitterness accompanying sadness and sorrow can envelop all aspects of life.
Unlike other forms of literature, poetry can be so complex that everyone who reads it may see something different. Two poets who are world renowned for their ability to transform reader’s perceptions with the mere use of words, are TS Eliot and Walt Whitman. “The love song of J Alfred Prufrock” by TS Eliot, tells the story of a man who is in love and contemplating confessing his emotions, but his debilitating fear of rejection stops him from going through with it. This poem skews the reader’s expectations of a love song and takes a critical perspective of love while showing all the damaging emotions that come with it. “Song of myself”, by Walt Whitman provokes a different emotion, one of joy and self-discovery. This poem focuses more on the soul and how it relates to the body. “Song of myself” and “The love song of J Alfred Prufrock” both explore the common theme of how the different perceptions of the soul and body can affect the way the speaker views themselves, others, and the world around them.
When the woman gets out of bed to investigate the wallpaper in the room, her husband says, “What is it, little girl? Don’t go walking about like that-you’ll get a cold” (319). His choice of words of calling her a “little girl” belittles the woman and amplifies her feelings of being isolated, not only physically, but emotionally. Since her husband is away most of the time and leaves her in confinement, the woman immerses herself into studying the wallpaper “[following] the pattern about by the hour” (317). She follows all the twist and turns of the wallpaper, decoding each detail and discovers what she seems to be a woman in a cage. She spends all her time looking at the paper that she eventually becomes obsessed with figuring out the patterns. She begins to identify with the woman in the cage which could signify her imprisonment in the room and her being tormented by her husband’s lack of sympathy for her condition and his dominance in their marriage. Just as male dominance is an issue for the woman in Gilman’s work, Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” details how Emily’s father and love interest dictate her life.
Love can be forever, but it is not always enough to bring people through the tough times that they face. In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, a loving father and son struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world filled with barren lands and barbaric people. During their struggle to travel South, they depict a loving, if rocky relationship. Through the irreplaceable father son relationship McCarthy reveals that love can only carry people so far.
Emily Dickinson’s poetry is hard to apprehend. She can express a variety of emotions and interpretations in just a few words. Even though she spent the last twenty years of her life isolated in her family’s house, she had a powerful imagination to write about love in ways that even her audience ever thought to express. In two of her poems, "This is my letter to the World” and "To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee," Dickinson expresses her sympathetic love for nature.
Poetry is much different than any other style of writing. Poets have a way of communicating their message in a much more indirect way than regular writers. One reader may interpret a poem in a way that is drastically different than another. To truly understand a poem, one must understand the author as well. Sharon Olds, an American poet, who is known for her morbid and unhappy poems, writes about various themes including political violence, family relationships, and sexuality (Gale). In Olds’ poem, “The Death of Marilyn Monroe” we see her examining sexuality not only in 20th century, but in today’s age as well. Olds uses the death of a famous sex icon to really show how women were, and are still being sexualized in society.
Emily Dickinson is perhaps one of the most intriguing American poets studied. The remote look in her eyes mirror her life, which she mostly spent secluded in her home in Amherst, Massachusetts. While leading an outwardly reclusive life, she unleashes the faculties of her mind in her powerful poetry. She addresses compelling themes such as death, depression, human despair, individual capability, and the art of poetry. Her feelings on these subjects emerge in her poems, but her exact thoughts are difficult to uncover since her poetry is so highly enigmatic. Likewise, the subject matter of Christianity in her poetry remains one of the most inconsistent of Dickinson’s recurring themes. Emily Dickinson posses an uncanny ability to wrestle down the perfect diction, thus creating worlds of hope, despair, faith, and endless questioning.Through her use of imagery, Dickinson displays her linguistic prowess and the intricacies of language.
Emily Dickinson is the creator of some of the most famous works in American poetry. Throughout the 1800s, the author dedicated her life to poetry. She used metaphors in an advanced way and displayed power through her unique use of diction. Emily’s immense power with words derived from her determination. Dickinson’s determination to achieve individuality and power is exemplified through her complex poetry and derived from the events that occurred in her life.
Rich, a writer extremely interested in Emily Dickinson’s life and poetry, was also deeply influenced by her. Rich composed poems, essays, and criticism about Dickinson, borrowed lines from her poetry, and even drew parallels between her own life and Dickinson’s. Similarities between the two poets also extended to style within their writing, as well as modernist themes that both advocate, especially feminism.
Today, few would deny that Emily Dickinson is an important figure in American literature. The numerous ways to interpret her poetry draws more and more readers into her publications. It's as if everyone could interpret Dickinson's poems into his or her personal life; seeing the poems the way they want to see it. This is the effect "flexible" poems have on people.
October 1902 Lowell became a poet. Her interest in verse had been expanding beyond her childhood, also fueled by her reading Leigh Hunt’s Imagination and Fancy; or, Selections from the English Poets, which she found at the very top shelf in her father’s library. The volume was a shock to Lowell it opened a door that would have remained shut. She became
The nineteenth century produced many esteemed authors, including Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman who became two of Americas most popular poets. While vastly different in style and personality, both Dickinson and Whitman relate to many people on an emotional level through their poetry, even in the twenty-first century. The works of poetry by Dickinson and Whitman can be compared on levels of style and form and both writers composed beautiful verses of high quality. Through the following comparisons, it will become apparent how Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman influenced American literature and culture both in similar and diverse ways.
Emily Dickinson is one of the most interesting female poets of the nineteenth century. Every author has unique characteristics about him/her that make one poet different from another, but what cause Emily Dickinson to be so unique are not only the words she writes, but how she writes them. Her style of writing is in a category of its own. To understand how and why she writes the way she does, her background has to be brought into perspective. Every poet has inspiration, negative or positive, that contributes not only to the content of the writing itself, but the actual form of writing the author uses to express his/her personal talents. Emily Dickinson is no different. Her childhood and adult experiences and culture form