The dictionary definition of modernism is “a style or movement in the arts that aims to break with classical and traditional forms.” In T.S Eliot’s Four Quartets two of the poem’s, Burnt Norton and The Dry Salvages embody the defining characteristics of modernism. Two of the main themes in the group of poem’s are man and the natural world around him, and existence in life. While these poems’ are complex and hard to follow, Eliot’s use of modernism is captured and related to social elements of the 20th century western world. In Burnt Norton, Eliot stresses the need to focus on the present and less on their own goals. He supports this idea with the reference to the natural world and how it doesn’t stop or go or revolve around any of the things we as humans strive to accomplish. For example, in lines 19-22, …show more content…
Through the first gate,
Into our first world, shall we follow
The deception of the thrush? Into our first world.”
The main significance of this is the bird is giving the message that humans need to stop focusing so much on their thoughts and should rely more on only their immediate five senses. The chirping of the bird can simply be interpreted as chirping, as the author states, but instead we look for something that it could mean and complicate the simplicity of it. In this poem, “they” is constantly referred to, although it is never stated who “they” is. This could stand for the need to turn to nature instead of looking for something that isn’t there. Towards the end of the first section of the poem, the bird refers to “them” as children playing in the leaves.
“Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children,
Hidden excitedly, containing
The writer makes use of diction to express his feelings towards the literary work and to set the dramatic tone of the poem. Throughout the poem, there is repetition of the word “I”, which shows the narrator’s individual feeling of change in the heart, as he experiences the sight of hundreds of birds fly across the October sky. As the speaker effortlessly recounts the story, it is revealed how deeply personal it is to him. Updike applies the words “flock” and “bird” repetitively to the poem, considering the whole poem is about the sight of seeing so many birds and the effect this has on a person. When the speaker first sees the flock of birds in lines 8-10, alliteration is applied to draw attention to what the narrator is witnessing. In line 29, Updike
To illustrate, at the end of the poem, the music is “mercifully opening into the unforgiving new day.” The word “merciful” relates to how the notes provide a sanctuary in his mind to avoid the everlasting solitude of his “unforgiving” day-to-day life. In addition, the narrator is aware of his grim lifestyle, but he also has decided that it was never going to get better, at least when he doesn't play music. He wishes to “turn [himself] into a bird” but realizes that he is “earthbound.” As stated previously, the bird represents a calm, freeing state by using the word “earthbound,” which contrasts the ability of flight that birds possess.
Diction affects the tone of the passage. Starting from line 14, the diction evolves into a more negative view. He uses biblical reference towards the beginning of the stanza. He begins to analyze his surroundings more rigorously, and sees the differences in how they look from a distance, to how they appear close by. Once this negative connotation has begun, the flock is said to be “paled, pulsed, compressed, distended, yet held an identity firm” (Lines 20-21). The author’s choice of words as in “less marvelous” (line 25) indicates his intention for making his lines definite, giving it a solid state of meaning. It symbolizes that the feeling of someone longing for something, and once they receive it are not as impressed by it. The diction plays a critical role when the tone of the qualities of nature are exposed. The author conveys the “trumpeting” of the geese as an exaltation to the beauty and simplicity of nature. “A cloud appeared, a cloud of dots like iron filings which a magnet underneath the paper undulates” (Lines 16-18). The iron filings in this phrase symbolize the issues the man faces. Once he looks closely at the flock, he realizes that these issues are only miniscule and do not add up to life in general. This elates him, thus concluding him to lift his heart.
Poetry can sometimes allow one to explore the unknown. However, in some works of poetry, one can realise that some known ideas or values remain relevant to current society. This is certainly applicable to T.S. Eliot’s poems, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Rhapsody on a Windy Night. Eliot’s manipulation of poetic techniques in both these poems allows the responder to realise that some ideas prevail in both modern and post-modern society. These poems explore the unknown phenomena of the obscurity regarding the purpose and meaning of life. This unknown phenomena causes the persona in both texts to resort to a sense of isolation or alienation. Eliot uses poetic techniques such as metaphors and personification to convey his ideas.
Liesel Meminger is the main character and the book thief. To her words contain power, power that she thirsts for. She reads with her foster father, Hans Hubermann and often visits the library in the mayor’s house. Books are a form of comfort to her and she loves how they can fill her up. Liesel also realizes that words can be ugly things.
In the third stanza, the persona emphasizes the point that everything seems to be going wrong. He adds that the days are twice as long and the birds have forgotten their song. This only shows us that the persona probably experiences sleepless nights and awaits for morning with much eagerness - the birds seem to take longer to announce that morning has come by their singing (Johnson 1). To collaborate this with the idea that everything reminded the persona of the departed, it seems that the persona spends his days and nights thinking about the dear person or object.
When analyzing, “Sympathy,” Dunbar comprehends himself with the caged bird at the beginning and end of each stanza with the phrase, I know. While observing the bird, Dunbar shows sympathy for the caged bird by understanding how the bird copes with the constant maltreatment. Dunbar endures the bird’s pain as the bird admires the landscape ahead imagining how it would feel to beat his wings without the discomfort of the cage, but continues to do so anyways to
Mexican culture has been characterized as an accepted background of values such as: familism, respeto and simpatia (respect and kindness), curanderismo (folk healing), religion, and the importance of language are among the most significant (Cultural Responses to Health Among Mexican… 2007). Cultural foundations such as language, family roles, gender roles and beliefs play a major role in any type of diseases, which includes, symptom indicators, and treatment of disabilities. With that said cultures for example, Mexicans are almost always supportive when a child with a disability is born into the family. If not supportive many times they pity the disability. Reasons being they rather brush it under the rug and keep hush about it.
For Edna in the novel, the bird with the broken wing helps her relate to the natural cycle of a bird. The broken wing for Edna symbolizes her strength failing, and her consequences coming back weighing her down. The conversation she has with Arobin about Madame Reisz also foreshadows Edna breaking her wings. The bird at the end of the novel when Edna takes her life in the sea, broken, crashing is a picture of exactly what the Madame tells her would happen if she overestimated her strength and was not careful. A bird with a broken wing is bound to succumb to the natural cycle of life and perish if it does not gain its proper strength back. Edna lost all her strength when she decided to give her life. The bird singing throughout Whitman’s poem symbolizes the sorrow and crying out of the narrator and the grief of the nation as a whole. The bird is heard above all else in the land which is in complete calmness. The narrator says the bird sang a song of death, but also a verse for the fallen. The bird is not just singing out because of grief, but also to rejoice and celebrate the life the fallen had, out of remembrance and respect. The calming of nature, with only the sound of the bird overall is important show the importance of either crying out or rejoicing in remembrance. A bird will always sing, but to be able to relate to the narrators ability to relate to the voice spiritually shows how emotional the loss has left him and his surroundings. Not only are people effected by the death and loss, he uses the bird as a way to show everyone and everything was effected and grieving. Chopin used birds to imply people (Edna) can fly and be free from a cage (trapped in her life), but also break their wings and succumb to the brokenness (taking her
The bird is the freedom of language. If the children were holding the bird, they can choose to let it go or kill it. Children today can learn how to express themselves the right way, or they can use ignorant and violent language.
By looking through a critical lens at T Stearns Eliot’s poetry in light of his 20th century, modernist context, much is revealed about his personal and the rapidly evolving societal beliefs of that era. Through his repeating motif of time and fragmentation throughout his poems, Eliot reveals the prevalent feelings of isolation while in society along with the need to hide one’s feelings and emotions in this degrading society. His exploration of the use of ambiguity and stream of consciousness by Eliot, which is a characteristic of modernist artists, allows his work to resound over decades while being interpreted and differently understood by every audience that encounters them.
The poem Sympathy by Paul Laurance Dunbar is about slavery. The birds represent the slaves. He explains how the birds are trapped and want nothing more than to escape the cage. How they may hurt from trying to escape but will never give up in trying to escape. Like the slaves who are enslaved and cannot live life. They will not stop fighting for their freedom and will do whatever to try and get it. Professor B had the strongest interpretation while professor C had the weakest interpretation of the poem.
The poet orders his listener to behold a “solitary Highland lass” reaping and singing by herself in a field. He says that anyone passing by should either stop here, or “gently pass” so as not to disturb her. As she “cuts and binds the grain” she “sings a melancholy strain,” and the valley overflows with the beautiful, sad sound. The speaker says that the sound is more welcome than any chant of the nightingale to weary travelers in the desert, and that the cuckoo-bird in spring never sang with a voice so thrilling. Impatient, the poet asks, “Will no one tell me what she sings?” He speculates that her song might be about “old, unhappy, far-off things, / And battles long ago,” or that it might be humbler, a simple song about “matter of today.” Whatever she sings about, he says, he listened “motionless and still,” and as he traveled up the
It could perhaps be considered that Eliot’s prime objective during the early years of his poetry was to paint a picture of the uncertainty and social decay that resulted from the aftermath of WW1 and perhaps even the from the end of the Edwardian era. Consequently, readers must look upon his unpoetic diction and lexicon and remember that he is attempting to create a new type of poetry which reflects the complexity of modern living. Often the sincerity and detailed imagery in Eliot’s work results from a lot of his speakers being vessels through which he
Although nuclear power seems like a safe alternative there are many who still disagree with its safety and effectiveness. Money is a source of much backlash when nuclear power is brought up. Joseph Romm, author, physicist, and advocate for reducing greenhouse gases, says, “That means a nuclear power plant that would have cost $4 billion to build in 2000 would have cost more than $11 billion to build last October [2007]”. The budget for producing and maintaining the energy is only so much. With increasing prices, there will be no budget for anything else if nuclear power is to be kept as a source of energy. Another factor is the cost of purchase for nuclear power provided homes. The cost for purchasing nuclear power goes up in order to make a profit or at least break even. This fact is further magnified considering that the cost went up almost two hundred percent in the span of seven years. This would mean that only the very wealthy will be able to afford nuclear energy, which defeats the purpose of having it in the first place. But money is of no use if the world is put into a nuclear apocalypse. Many, who oppose, often attack the safety of nuclear power, noting that nuclear power can be used as a weapon of war. It is a fact that, “There are now more than 40 countries with civil nuclear power programmes, giving them the tools for nuclear weapons. Nuclear technology will always carry the risk that it will be used to construct weapons of mass destruction” (Greenpeace