Literary Analysis Essay - Alistair MacLeod's short story, 'To Everything There Is a Season'

When one thinks of a ballet they hear soft rhythmic notes and see elegantly dancing ballerinas softly tip-toeing around the stage. This is also what people in early 1900’s expected to see when they planned to attend a ballet. However, a couple of motivated artists in 1913 literally planned to change the design of ballet, music and dance forever. On May 29, 1913 a ballet named The Rite of Spring premiered in Paris, France. The original title as it translates from Russian to French is; Le Sacre du Printemps, meaning the rite of spring, but the literal translation from Russian to English means “Sacred Spring”. The ballet and music were composed by Igor Stravinsky, with the help of Nicholas Roerich, who proposed the general idea behind the

The mood of the speaker changes to guilt as the speaker and her mother realize they would "crawl" with "shame" and leave an "emptiness" in their father's heart and yard. The author negatively connotes "crawl," "shame," and "emptiness" to invoke a more serious and shameful tone. The beginning of the conveyed a more matter-of-fact and pragmatic tone, but changes into a more sentimental one by the end to convey family is more important than the money. The symbol of the tree represents the family, and connects it to their father's hard work and dedication to the family. If they were to cut it down, it would be symbolic of their betrayal. Imagery of the tree is used to describe the freedom and beauty of the tree as it "swings through another year of sun and leaping winds, of leaves and bounding fruit." The tree represents their family bond and how strong it is even through the "whip-crack of the mortgage."

William Carlos Williams was from Rutherford, New Jersey, born in 1883. By trade, he was both a doctor and writer. Williams published poetry, novels, and essays in small magazines. Williams started as an imagist movement poet, “which emphasized simplicity, clarity of expression, and precision through the use of exacting visual images” (poets.org). He later began to write more about the life of everyday people. His poem, “The Widow’s Lament in Springtime” follows this writing style.

The short story, “Doe Season” written by David Michael Kaplan is about a young girl’s loss of innocence and hesitation towards womanhood. In this story, the protagonist, an eight year old girl joins in on a hunting trip with her father and some friends. During this trip, Andy learns that being one of the boys may not be what she aspires after all. A few literary elements Kaplan uses helps readers better understand the story while reading such as, the characters, setting, and symbolism.

In” Winter Saturday” by Earle Birney, the poet develops the comparison between the farmers and caterpillars by visual and kinesthetic imagery. The harsh weather echoes the farmers’ empty feeling. A storm hit the town and the wind and the snow start while the farmers “find in the Ford their cocoon” (4), implying that they are alone facing the cold weather similar to caterpillars struggling to survive in the cruel nature. Their feeling of void is amplified by the chilling environment which induces their “dreams of light and sound” (7) which matches moths’ behaviour to approach light. When they arrive in the city centre where the lights are concentrated, their movement is compared to the moths beating wings as they “flutter to movie / [and] throb

Coming of age is a recurring theme that is universally known throughout many different pieces of literature. Whether it’s influenced on true experiences, childhood memories, or even based on one’s current juvenile reality, many of theses works have a correlation between them that include many similar ordeals and struggles that the character goes through in order to metamorphosize into taking their first step out of childhood. One prominent theme that often appears is how one experiences and faces a time of tribulation and other walls that stand in one’s path. In effect, hardships mature and enlighten one, causing the loss of something such as childhood innocence. Lastly, these three combined points finally lead to one’s metamorphosis out of childhood. All in all, these three factors take one out of childhood, and slowly allows one step out into the reality of this world.

“You’re bubble wrap to my fingertips” is the second time in which he shows an unconvinced attitude (7). The imagery used in this line makes all readers think of the pleasant and enjoyable act of popping small plastic bubbles repeatedly with the fingers. So once again, the partner is described positively, as a pleasure. The final line of the second stanza presents an allusion of “winters sleep”, something that refers to the act of hibernation, comparing it to the “bee dance”, a series of quick movements performed by a bee to communicate with other bees (8). When you think of hibernation you think of a bear, and although they may be exciting at times, during the winter I don’t think I would use that word to describe them. In fact, the speaker uses the phrase “winters sleep” to describe the bride’s boringness and even laziness, while a bee, the groom in this case, is always exciting and active (8).

The winter is surely when the novella’s tone goes downhill. As the nights grow longer, and the days grow colder, the mood of this book darkens . “ The sky is an empty hopeless gray and gives the impression that this is its eternal shade. Winter’s occupation seems to have conquered, overrun and destroyed everything…” This quote shows the change in mood that winter has brought.

In the novel, “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles, the seasons develop actions and characters in the story. The story takes place at an all-boys boarding school in New Hampshire during World War II based off of the author’s previous experiences at a boarding school. The two main characters, Finny and Gene, experience character development alongside different seasons. In written works, seasons are commonly used to symbolically represent a change in the character’s personalities. The nature or setting of the story is used to specifically evolve Finny and Gene in seasons such as the summer, autumn, and winter. Each season change also generates an entirely different mood.

The theme exhibits a lot of ignorance since it does not work in the interests of everybody thought, it brings a lot of meaning considering the author’s point of view. The tone bears a significant similarity to that of a teenager who is oblivious to reality. However, the mood is wondrous and happy following that the diction gives a great sense of positivity and success. The poem indicates that life seems to be a bit easy in the childhood provided that the in the childhood one has no responsibilities to worry about unlike in the old age where one has a lot of responsibilities to worry about. For example, in the sentence "cotton candy torches, sweet as furtive kisses" , it rises thoughts of huge cotton candy that tastes wonderful but furnishes as soon as a furtive kiss. The poet has used very descriptive words and numerous poetic devices to make the description in the poem very clear and effective. The tone only changes in the last line “Tossing a glance through the chain link at an improbable world.” In fact, it is the only instance where the author brings reality to light.

T.S Eliot’s poem, “The winter evening settles down” is a short, simple to read poem with several different examples of imagery. Eliot uses descriptive words, for instance, “withered leaves”, “broken blinds”, and “lonely cab-horse” (lines 7-10). He paints an extremely bleak image of a town that seems to be deserted of people. The tone of the poem plays hand-in-hand with the imagery used. This town is an unpleasant place where it has seemed to be neglected for some years now. Eliot’s use of imagery takes the reader to this deserted, torpid place; however, at the same time, his goal is to bring the life back into this grim town.

In Truman Capote’s short story “A Christmas Memory” imagery and symbolism are used by the author to show that friendship has no age limit. Truman uses very vivid details and many different types of figurative language to show his theme ,which is that friendship has no age. An example of symbolism is, “As if I expected to see, rather like hearts, a lost pair of kites hurrying toward heaven” (6). After getting the news of his friend’s death, he goes outside and almost expects to see kites. In this example of symbolism, the author shows us how deep a bond Buddy and his friend have by showing us a glimpse of Buddy’s mind and how his heart is going to heaven with his friend. Furthermore, the author uses some imagery when he gives us a vivid description

Misty dew covers the entire surface of the field. The yellowing corn stalks stand erect and proud until my grandpas tractor comes to end their growth. Autumn slowly weaves its way in and leaves a stain of brilliant color in its wake. Not everyone enjoys such colors, but when you take a second to step outside your doorstep, and look at all the wonders that surround you, you’d be surprised at how marvelous the world can truly be. To me, Autumn is a time for relishing in the colors. Soaking in the oranges and reds while sitting by a warm fire. It’s a time for remembering that everything does end, but it does not have to end in the dreadful way we think it will. Autumn is a time for the closeness of others to keep out the chill of the morning and the starry-eyed darkness of the night.

This poem that I am going to be focusing on is titled "Ode to Autumn",