Dorothy Parker

Childhood is portrayed as a time of safety that is often looked back upon with nostalgia from an adult perspective. Monosyllabic words are used to show the simplicity of childhood life, for example in the line “the thing I could not grasp or name”. The ‘spring violets’ are ‘in their loamy bed’ and are no longer frail and melancholy, and the memory takes place on a ‘hot afternoon’ in contrast to the ‘cold dusk’ that represents the present. Childhood is represented as a joyful, vivacious time in one’s life, and the value of a stable family life is conveyed. The unexpected integration of Australian vernacular in the line ‘it will soon be night, you goose’, adds a sense of freedom and relaxation to the otherwise formal discourse and more rigid structure of the poem, once again reflects the simplicity and innocence that is associated with childhood. The use of

Opportunities for an individual to develop understanding of themselves stem from the experiences attained on their journey through life. The elements which contribute to life are explored throughout Gwen Harwood’s poems, At Mornington and Mother Who Gave Me Life, where the recollection of various events are presented as influences on the individual’s perception of the continuity of life. Both poems examine the connections between people and death in relation to personal connections with the persona’s father or mother. By encompassing aspects of human nature and life’s journey, Harwood addresses memories and relationships which contribute to one’s awareness of life.

While both Keats and Longfellow often reflect on their own unfulfilled dreams and impending deaths, the poems however contrast on their own dispositions towards death and the future. Here, Keats expresses a fear of not having enough time to accomplish all that he believes he is capable of doing, but as he recognizes the enormity of the world and his own limitations of life, he realizes that his own mortal goals are meaningless in the long run of things. On the other hand, Longfellow speaks of a regret towards his inaction for allowing time to slip away from him in his past and is at a crossroads for the ominous future that looms ahead of him. Through the use of light and dark imagery, and personification, Keats and Longfellow similarly yet also differently, reflect on their own ideas for death and the futures that lay ahead of them.

Not everyone’s life is filled with happiness. Granny Weatherall, in “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” by Katherine Anne Porter, and Addie Bundren, in “from As I Lay Dying ‘Darl’,” by William Faulkner, are two dying poor women who recall their lives in their minds when they are laying in beds. Their tough and harsh lives are similar in several ways. Granny Weatherall and Addie Bundren both had two men in their life. Granny loves her husband, John, and George.

Gwen Harwood’s, ‘Father and child’, is a two-part poem that tempers a child’s naivety to her matured, grown up attitude. Barn Owl presents a threshold in which the responder is able to witness the initiation of Gwen’s transition. The transformation is achieved through her didactical quest for wisdom, lead by her childhood naivety and is complimented through ‘nightfall’, where we see her fully maturate state. The importance of familial relationship and parental guidance is explored in father and child, as well as the contrasting views on mortality and death. Barn Owl depicts death as a shocking and violent occurrence while the second poem, nightfall, displays that death can be accepted, describing the cyclical and

In conclusion, Gwen Harwood deals with the constant relevant issues of loss and consolation by the enduring power of poetic treatment of age and youth. In my opinion, on the most profound of universal truths, there is no certainty in life and we must deal with events and situations as we encounter them. Harwood’s poetry distinctly presents a

The jealous tone disappears at the end, however, and the poem ends wistfully and resigned stating that, “It’s an old/story—the oldest we have on our planet--/the story of replacement” (16-18). The speaker realizes that aging is part of the continuous life process, which starts at birth and ends at death. She understands that each phase of life has a specific purpose for maintaining the species. Her daughter must mature so she can create new life, just as the speaker did ten years ago. She knows that eventually her daughter will replace her and that the life process will continue to repeat itself for generations to come.

The theme of Dylan Thomas and W.B Yeats poems are about death. In Do Not Go “Gentle Into The Good Night” the author is telling his father not to die and to stay strong. He does this by repeating ”Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” In ” When You Are Old “The narrator said” And pace upon the mountain overhead And his face amid a crowd of stars.” The narrator is looking down on her from when he passed away.

After finishing the selection titled “Eighteen” by Maria Banus, I was completed surprised on how genuine the authors feelings were. Normally when I read poetry it is difficult to understand the meaning of numerous amount of it, if not all of the lines but this one was different as if it pertained to me. This poem made me feel rather sad and miserable because there are a lot of grievances that one may bring up about growing into an adult. Everyone always says how enjoyable your teenage years are, how invigorating the experience is to live life to the fullest and to enjoy it before it comes to end, but a lot of people may disagree. This analogy is incorrect to

Dorothy Day grew up without a Catholic background, but had a strong will for social justice. She was a natural pacifist which she expressed even before converting to Catholicism. She worked for the Call which encouraged her picketing and strikes against social injustices. (57) Later, Dorothy also protested with women against suffragists in front of the White House and was arrested. During her time in prison, she got involved with a hunger strike which caused the demands to be met. (82) She had a strong will for the fairness of others.

Dorothy Parker was a civil rights activist, journalist and poet of the 20th century. She unfortunately had an unhappy childhood and lost her parents at a young age. Dorothy Parker attended a Catholic grammar school, but at the age of 14 her education came to an end (Academy of American Poets, para. 1). Parker became to be known for her legendary literary figure. In fact Parker worked for several magazines and worked as a book reviewer for The New Yorker.

The poem “Forgetfulness” by Billy Collins describes the effects of growing older, and the loss associated with it. The focus of the poem is the process through which people become forgetful of things that were once important to them, and begin to experience memory loss as they grow old. “Forgetfulness” highlights that memories are delicate, and that the process of growing old and experiencing forgetfulness is a part of life. Memories, rather they be small and seemingly less significant, or larger and important, eventually leave the minds of those growing old. The tone of the poem is lighthearted, but as the poem progresses, Collins shifts to a more solemn tone to express that memories are important

The title of the poem seems to have three meanings. On the one hand, the speaker seems to have grown up since

Later on, the mood shifts yet again as the speaker weaves a web full of reluctant acceptance of fate, “I grow old… I grow old… / I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled” (Eliot 120-121). A statement full of weariness and reluctant acceptance, the speaker shows that enough time has passed to cause him to come to terms with his fate of aging. This reluctance portrays itself in the mood created by this statement, with the shift in mood from one of regret and reflection to one of reluctant acceptance. As literary critics James Persoon and Robert R. Watson say, “...Prufrock is painfully aware that he is growing old (line 120)...” (Persoon 3). This statement shows how the speaker has finally decided to acknowledge that time will continue to pass whether or not he wants it to. Yet, it is truly the last line of the entire poem that provides the best example of the correlation between the passing of time and the mood of the poem, with the speaker dramatically ending his tale with, “Till human voices wake us, and we drown” (Eliot 131). With this closing remark, the speaker manages to completely shift the original mood to a dark mood that reflects the futility of trying to escape the fate of death. As literary critic James C. Haba writes, “...drowning which is central to the poem’s conclusion as...death…” (Haba

    In Sylvia Plath’s, Mirror, the message to not be afraid to grow old is clearly shown. A young woman looks into a mirror every day, but as the years go by, this woman begins to grow older and older until she looks like a completely different person. The poem states, “Inme she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman rises...” (16). This story is told from the perspective of the mirror who is always watching this girl turn into a woman turn into an old lady. One of the great playwrights of the golden age, Sophocles, wrote, “No one loves to live more than someone growing old.” Aging is something that is mandatory in life, it is completely unavoidable. Plath clearly wrote this poem to show that growing old should not be something to fear or stop.