Flowers Of The Sky By Lynn Joseph

The author of “Still I Rise” is Maya Angelou, a well-known poet, author, and civil rights activist. This poem is about a poet who struggles to meet the social pressure and injustices of her time. Her poetry thus concentrates on two kinds of oppression – both racial oppression, and sexism. Amidst the challenges and adversities, she managed to survive and successfully claims that she will not be broken nor will she be defeated no matter how many times she is brought down by society. In this poem “Still I Rise”, I will be looking at critical works by Sandra Cookson, R. B. Stepto, and Lyman B. Hagen and stating why I agree with them.

Puritans and reformers of seventeenth century England have been given a bad name for their part in history. This is primarily because they were working against the grain and trying to create change in world that saw change as a threat. The time period was turbulent and there was bound to be resistance in a world that was dominated by Catholics and those that had reformed to abide by their King’s law. The puritans of the time were considered extreme and rubbed people the wrong way because they wanted a world that abided by their morals and ethical codes. For this, they took the blame for the misery that many suffered during this age, but as we see in Fire from Heaven, this is not a fair assessment. The Puritans of this time wanted to improve the lives of the people and society as a whole through morality and purity.

In the short story, “Marigolds,” by Eugenia Collier, the theme that is shown through the story is, “Beauty can be found even in the darkest times.” An example of this theme is represented through Lizabeth’s thoughts after she tears apart Miss Lottie’s marigolds. As Miss Lottie looms over Lizabeth, she thinks, “The witch was no longer a witch but only a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility. She had been born in squalor and lived in it all her life” (Collier 223). This shows Lizabeth’s realization that the “witch” she had known for all her childhood years was simply a woman who wanted to create beauty through her wretched condition.

Dorothy Allison’s essay, Panacea, recalls the fond childhood memories about her favorite dish, gravy. Allison uses vivid imagery to cook up a warm feeling about family meals to those who may be a poor family or a young mother. Appeal to the senses shows this warm feeling, along with a peaceful diction.

Understanding a poet’s context can greatly shape a person’s understanding of their poetry. Australian poet Gwen Harwood (1920-1995) was born into a self-sufficient family full of music, philosophy and language. Harwood can be seen to draw inspiration from her lifelong influences, primarily music and her childhood, to shape her poems. The gentle meditation, The Violets, is an exploration of the existential concerns of the poet regarding the innocence and experience of childhood. The _____ Four Impromptus conveys ideas of the power of music and the human experience. Both poems display the personal themes of music, childhood innocence, human development and romanticism, reflecting these dominant experiences in Harwood’s personal life. By

In the poem “Still Memory” by Mary Karr, the speaker, through a dream like memory, re-experiences a snapshot in time that held particular significance in her childhood. Karr focuses on the seemingly inconsequential details that made mornings in her childhood home memorable for her. She describes the morning scene with the use of sensory, imagery and onomatopoeia to make the dream particularly zoetic. Although the dream is seen from this childlike aspect, Karr highlights how dreamlike this memory is and how memories are fluid and can be easily moulded and altered by the mind-they are not “still” as the title proposes. The writer also keeps the poem very dreamlike in order to remind the reader that the memory, although it can be recollected and valued, it is never going to be repeated and that the speaker is aware that things can never be this way again. Furthermore, the relation of the poem to dreams brings in messages how of heavily a person can become mesmerized by their memories.

In the poem Summer Solstice, New York by Sharon Olds, we can identify from the title that author going to address something about long summer day because she used “Summer Solstice”. Moreover she put New York City next to it which is the busiest city in the United States. Olds started the poem by telling a story about, a man who is standing on top of the building and ready to commit suicide. As he standing on top of the building and looking down, he sees thousands of people walking, talking, and busy in their own world. Olds represent him as a person who is tired of his life, and duties. “By the end of the longest day of the year he could not stand it” (line 1). In next lines of poem author explains what cause him to commit suicide. May be because he thinks giving up with his life is easier instead of living in this world. But suicide is not always a solution to fix problems in world. The theme of this poem is prejudice, because author stated at first the man is committing suicide, but he didn’t commit suicide because police stops him and tell him the real beauty of this world.

Through this examination of the differences between past and present, wrong and right, and North and South, by Ray West Jr., the different viewpoints and conflicts that appear throughout “A Rose for Emily” are deeply analyzed. West’s critical assessment divides the characters based on who represents the old ways and who represents the changing times. However, the story shows the South’s fervent desire to keep their lifestyle the same. Emily attempted to hold her love for Homer like the South attempted to hold its love for gentile days before the Civil War. West’s asserts that Emily’s fall from grace symbolizes the South’s fall. The deterioration of Emily and the South during reconstruction parallels the slow deterioration of Emily’s house.

Mrs. Fox, by Sarah Hall was published in 2014. Mrs. Fox is a short story by Sarah Hall about a woman who turns into a fox during her pregnancy, much to the dismay of her husband. Mrs. Fox describes a woman who is not satisfied with her life with her husband, Mr. Fox. They both remain detached thorough the story. When Mrs. Fox turns into a fox, Mr. Fox does not understand why his wife was not happy or satisfied in her human life. Sarah Hall does a wonderful job of displaying out an unusually intriguing setting, a breath taking characterization of the two main characters Mr. and Mrs. Fox, and she displays a dark and modern theme, rightfully earning the BBC National short story

In the book, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, the tone of an excerpt in chapter nine is wretched. In the excerpt, Salva is seen to be walking through very hot land with almost no helpful resources, like water. This excerpt discusses Salva’s problems, like how it felt like he was walking forever. He cannot stand the climate of the area he is walking in, because the weather is scorching hot. The writing states that, “His lips became cracked and parched.”, showing that he is feeling uncomfortable in the weather, and he is hurting physically. Another example of Salva’s distress is that his toenail came off! He had stubbed his toe on a rock and then it happened. Salva has to deal with this, which makes walking through this land a dystopia.

Strains amongst Enrique and Lourdes start to rise. Enrique hates his mom for having abandoned him, and says that "cash does not unravel anything" (197). He blames her for cherishing Belky more than she did him, contending Belky got a decent home while he was left with a reckless father. He tells Lourdes that he considers his grandma, Maria, to be his genuine mother. Lourdes tells Enrique that he ought to accuse his dad for leaving, and his grandma for making him offer flavors in the city when he was a tyke. In conclusion, she says he ought to point the finger at himself for spending the cash she sent him on medications.

Cortez) if she thought he would, because she had also met with the parents before, so she knew of him. Come to find out, Mrs. Cortez was the father’s ESOL teacher years ago at Statesboro High School. She knew him better than I thought. During the process on a one on one interview with Luis Nava, my student’s father, Luis and I sat in my conference room at the school where I teach. He showed very much emotion when telling his story. It was a very humbling experience to here and watch someone tell a story first hand or something that I personally, had ever heard on movies. As he continued to talk, I couldn’t help but think of Nathan, (my student, his son) and how I had treated him as teacher. Had I been as welcoming as I could to my classroom? Had I showed understanding when he didn’t seem to understand? Questions began to overwhelm me as I thought of how I present myself as a teacher, educator, and friend to all of my students that are from a different culture than

Holding Onto the Air an autobiography by Suzanne Farrell takes the reader backstage in the dramatic life of the world-renowned Balanchine ballerina. From her childhood in Cincinnati to her retirement from ballet in 1989, Farrell's story is truly a remarkable one. The book describes at length her time with the New York City Ballet as well as her complex relationship with the legendary Balanchine. Although Mrs. Farrell goes a bit too far into the ballet descriptions, her beautiful imagery allows reader to experience the joy of performing on stage.

‘All The Bright Places’ is a story about love and depression, where a boy, Finch, helps Violet find the will to live, while he has trouble keeping his head above water. My family has gone through the stress, anger and sadness of depression, too: my cousin, Mitch, committed suicide by hanging himself. Although it has been two years, the pain has still not completely gone away.

The six characteristics of literary journalism that we discussed in class are all used to help the writer communicate with the audience in a more effective manner. Although literary journalism is a form of nonfiction writing, the audience has not necessarily experienced what the writer is talking about, or if they have, they could feel differently about the subject. Therefore, it is extremely important for the writer to use well thought-out techniques that will help the audience step into their shoes and understand their point of view. The piece of literary journalism my partner and I chose to focus on, which was “It Will Look Like a Sunset” by Kelly Sundberg, did an exceptional job of communicating to the reader the true feelings of a domestic