Moon and Sixpence

The moon has now become ominous as it forewarns of the child’s death. Spanish culture is once again brought into the poem as the moon becomes deathly. The moon has always been a figure of death in Spanish history and continues to be represented in that matter by this poem. The moon’s sensual appeal balances its foreboding nature. The boy is enticed by the mystery of the moon and does not heed her warning. Once again the boy warns the moon, “flee, moon, moon, moon” (17), as he shows his continued persistence to save the moon he has been draw into. He warns that the gypsies are coming, but the moon will not leave its dance. The moon says, “young boy, leave me, don’t step on / my starched whiteness” (19-20). This shows her lack of concern for the boy, which exemplifies her task to only attract him to her. Her starched whiteness once again contradicts her true mission to lead him to his demise. “Beating the drum of the plain” (22) stresses the intensity of the moment leading up to the point that “within the forge the young man has closed eyes” (23).

The imagery in the poem, specifically natural imagery, helps use the reader’s senses to develop a vivid depiction of the speaker’s connection to nature and dissatisfaction with the surrounding reality. The speaker’s continued use of the “moon” reflects her attribution of feminine identity and idolistic character to the moon. As opposed to referencing herself and her personal insomnia, she uses the imagery of the moon “beyond sleep” to convey her internal struggles with insomnia and her reality. Throughout the poem, the speaker also refers to shining, reflective surfaces, such as “a body of water or a mirror”, to describe the inverted reality in which the speaker experiences reciprocated love. Reflective surfaces often invert the image that is projected into them, seemingly distorting the true nature and reality of the projected image. The speaker’s reference to this reflective imagery highlights her desire to escape the burden of a patriarchal society and assume an independent and free feminine identity. Specifically, the use of natural imagery from the references to the “moon” and “a body of water” convey the speaker’s desire to take refuge within the Earth or in the feminine identity of the Earth, Mother Earth. Feminine identities are often related and associated with aspects of nature due to the natural cycle of the menstrual period and the natural process of procreation. The speaker takes advantage of these connotations to suggest Earth and natural imagery as an escape from the man-made terrors of male dominated society. In the second stanza, the speaker uses extensive imagery to develop metaphors conveying the speaker’s experience of jealousy of the moon

Giambattista Basile’s dark rendition of “Sleeping Beauty,” entitled, “Sun, Moon and Talia,” is a story that brings the reader into a world that encompasses the idea of women being submissive creatures only valued for their beauty and at the mercy of men. The 2014 movie Maleficent, directed by Robert Stromberg, tries to subvert the notions of a male patriarchy by establishing Maleficent as an unlikely hero whose motivations go beyond the classic architype of a handsome prince claiming a one dimensional princess. Despite the movies attempts at establishing a more feminist friendly view of “Sleeping Beauty,” both Maleficent, and “Sun, Moon and Talia,” reduce the central characters of Aurora and Talia to simple props; completely devoid of

Born on approximately April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, William Shakespeare is considered by many to have been the greatest writer the English language has ever known. His literary legacy included 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and five major poems. Among his many plays is the notable, Twelfth Night, a romantic comedy, placed in a festive atmosphere in which three couples are brought together happily.

Barbara Ehrenreich used her book Nickel and Dimed to illustrate her job assignment to live in the shoes of and, write about her experiences as a minimum wage worker in America. Ehrenreich goes to live in Key West, Maine, and Minnesota and works low wage jobs, sometimes more than one at a time. The point Ehrenreich is trying to make is that it is almost impossible to live a decent life in America with one, let alone two jobs paying very low wages. It is tough to be a low wage worker in America.

Beah uses the moon in the memoir to display symbols. Before the war, he looked at the moon as an imitation of superior performance. During wartime, Beah is forced to believe the moon hides itself from witnessing the war. It's roll in the war eventually dies down. As an adult writing the book, Beah notes he can still see the images of the moon in the sky. Following the topic of the moon symbol in the book, Beah describes how war treats the moon, "Under those stars and sky I used to hear stories, but now it seemed as if it was the sky that was telling us a story as its stars fell, violently colliding with each other. The moon hid behind clouds to avoid seeing what was happening" (Beah, CH10). The moon is like a gateway to his past, and his family, and that influenced him to put the moon in his memoir.

When many aspects of a woman life are controlled for her and she can no longer make decisions for herself, she becomes a slave to her oppressor. Throughout the class, the theme of women being controlled by other oppressing forces, can be seen in many texts. Women have their decisions made for them in terms of their, food intake, appearances, and lifestyle choices. These ideas are seen in Beyond the Lights, where Noni’s mother Macy both what Noni eats as well as how she looks. Again in “The Gilded Six Bits,” Missie May’s hunger and food intake are controlled and judged by Joe, who believes because he is a working man, his hunger is more important. In Color Stories: Black Women and Colorism in the 21st Century, society controls women’s appearances by pressuring them to look a certain way to be considered beautiful. In both Not That Kind of Girl and Borderlands: La Frontera, women’s decisions about their bodies in a sexual manner are controlled by the pressures of men. Oppressing forces play such a strong role in so many of the texts covered in class this semester, it makes one wonder if this oppression and forceful control is an accurate representation of our society today.

The poem begins with a somewhat trivial inventory of a rich family's home and lifestyle. However, the tone changes abruptly with the mention of "a pistol on the cushion beside him." There is not an abundance of symbolism in the prose, but the symbols that are included are quite powerful. Along with the pistol on the cushion, there is the image of the broken bottles "embedded in the walls around the house to scoop the kneecaps from a man's legs or cut his hands to lace." Also, the moon swinging bare "on its black cord over the house" appears to be a reference to a light

John Nicholson Ireland(1879-1962) was a British composer who was consistently inspired by nature. He was born in Bowden, Cheshire, UK, and was orphaned by the time he was 15. Throughout his life, he frequently visited the Channel Islands where he was moved by the natural beauty. Rupert Brooke(1887-1915) was a poet, born in Rugby, Warwickshire, UK. Both Ireland and Brooke lived in the same time period, and were effected by the same historical events. Britain was knee deep in a world war for most of their adult lives. The war is known to have inspired some of Brooke’s most well known poems, but Spring Sorrow was neither mans most popular work.

In the third stanza there is heavy personification of the objects in her room and the moon. The room ‘it seemed, had missed her’ (10), by bringing inanimate objects to life the author draws parallels to the child missing her parent silently, silent like the items in her room. The moon has also begun to become characterized and has been framed as inconsiderate, ‘she pretended an interest in the bookcase’. This metaphor conveys how the child feels: overlooked, as if items in her room are more fascinating.

Both Sun and Moon play significant roles in this old poem, in a symbolic and supernatural way, in order to reinforce the mood that Samuel Taylor Coleridge has attempted to create in his use of old legends and superstitions. The role that the sun and moon play in this tale of cursed sailors is an old one, retold over and over the years that Coleridge adapted for his own.

Collins uses words that are fused with loss and melancholy when he says “night” and “war” which indicate a tonal shift. He then also mentions the moon “drifting out of a love poem,” an emotional memory that one will never be able to recall again. The tone shift is also seen specifically through the words denoted in the poem; such as “slip” and “float” which imply a sense of a gradual and smooth process of forgetting.

This strong metaphor compares the narrator to the elephant who feels their fate is death. The third part of line 4 is the fine timbers that directly relate to the house previously mentioned. The purpose of the house fortifies the idea that what’s inside is of value. The house is nothing without its fine timbers and it is merely for protection and shelter. Just like a pregnant woman is for her unborn child. The fifth line represents the rising loaf like a child growing inside a womb. It is a pun on a familiar saying to pregnancy of a bun in the oven. “Money’s new minted in this fat purse” plays with the idea that the purse has no great value in itself but contains valuable things inside. Line 7 explores the narrator’s feelings towards having a child. She feels like “a means”, as if she is just a way for the baby to be born. As a mother she is just “a stage” and a platform but not a performance. She is “a cow in calf,” where many cows are separated from their offspring and have little to do with their mum. The final lines seem to break away from the rest of the poem and have a tone of darkness. After eating “a bag of green apples” one might feel sick especially since green apples are considered sour. The fruit is also unripe, signifying that the narrator is not ready to have a baby. Another point that can be found is that it is easy to see the resemblance of this line and Eve from the Bible. Eve was tempted to eat an apple and was cursed with the

“The relationship between the energies of the inquiring mind that an intelligent reader brings to the poem and the poem’s refusal to yield a single comprehensive interpretation enacts vividly the everlasting intercourse between the human mind, with its instinct to organise and harmonise, and the baffling powers of the universe about it.”

poet, Playwright and an actor. He’s known as the best writer in the English language and the