Sappho's Analysis

To begin with, E.E. Cummings and Pablo Neruda in a similar way have their speakers’ feelings expressed by addressing the women they love. In this way the theme of the poems is presented properly and the speaker’s feelings are emphasized. For instance, the phrases “you of my heart” (10) in Cummings’s poem and “Bring them all/ to where I am waiting for you;” (11-12) in Neruda’s poem indicate that the speakers address their lovers in order to express their feelings in a more lively way. Another similarity in the way the two speakers cope with the possibility of a future change is the fact that they both make thoughts about the women they love related to other men either it is in the past or in the future. To illustrate, Cummings makes a hypothesis using the word ‘if’ to show the possibility of his lover’s unfaithfulness in the future and thinks about it continuously. The repetition of the word ‘if’ and also the phrase “if this should be, i say if this should be-” (9) show the intense thoughts the speaker makes referred to the probability of mistrust by his lover. In the same manner, Neruda’s speaker talks about his woman’s past, and although he says that “[He] is not jealous/of what came before [him]”(1-2) and concludes saying that “[they] shall always be

Frances Willard and Walt Whitman are two significant nineteenth century American figures. Although Willard and Whitman are famous for different reasons, they do have one characteristic in common: they have both been accused of being homosexuals. However, most people do not know this because it is not put in history textbooks or taught in the classroom, for good reason. Public school students should not learn about Willard and Whitman’s homosexuality through their textbooks and teachers because it does not affect the significance of what these two Americans had accomplished. Not only does it not affect their importance in United States history, but it also cannot be proven. Teaching public school students that Willard and Whitman were homosexuals would be disrespectful to the brave and inspiring acts they have made towards the history of America.

Poet Sappho was born in early 615 B.C. to a grand, aristocratic family on the Greek island of Lesbos. Known as “the tenth Muse” by Plato (poets.org), Sappho had much influence on Greek culture during her time. She was devoted to her wealthy life to her academy for unmarried, young women. There she made a name for herself by serving as a teacher and poet to these young women. However, majority of Sappho’s poems seemed to be targeted towards the female community, but since little information is available today, the mystery still remains. “In the nineteenth century, Sappho’s poems were the inspiration for the coinage of the modern term lesbian (book, 635). Her poems depict a community were girls were intensely involved with one another, enjoying

Ross Gay’s book Against Which, portrays his poetry to readers allowing them to gain understanding of the cruel world that one lives in. Moreover, the unusual brutalities that people are inevitable confronted with in life. The common denominators within Gay’s poems such as violence, love, fear, and loss allows the reader to visualize characters’ transformation within his poems. In a world of calamity, Gay has created poems that portray the corporal conforming to gender and sex but also human development. Using a reader-response criticism lens, I will be demonstrating my interpretation of Ross Gay’s poems and the meaning that I believe to be a common interpretation of his work. Within, Gay’s poems, “It Starts at Birth” and Angels Out of Reach” one is able to see a pattern of human transformation. By experiencing pain, love, loss, fear, and wisdom one is able to see Gay’s characters evolve through the narrators and readers gaze. In doing so, one is able to reflect on Gay’s poems and gain wisdom themselves.

Poetry is used by writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Kate Chopin to express ideas and words through a sense of writing and rhythm that is felt by the poet who is writing it. Years ago, poets would use poetry as a record of history where they told life events that was happening or how modern societies were expected to be. “The Poetry of this period forms the immediate background and matrix of their own work, so much so that unless one keeps the later nineteenth century.” (Venuti, The translator's invisibility, 2017.) Each author made poetry different by changing the tradition and outlook on poetry which is also known as the dead poet’s society. Authors from the past heavily influenced everything that was created in a poem. “Sweat” written by Zora Neale Hurston was written during a time period women didn’t have an opinion and it was frowned upon to disagree or go against your husband. This woman in the story over comes the current times cultural norms. The “Awakening” written by Kate Chopin, speaks out against societies gender roles and says women are evolving to hold more than the titles “mother” and “housewife.” It was the time of shifting order and woman gaining more rights than was handed to them. Kate Chopin used her poetry to give an insight of what limitations she might have encountered in her life as a woman and it explained her choices she chose to help the reader understand what she may have felt towards the subject during this

In the analysis of the language used by the speaker, the nature of the poem is written from a professional standpoint using medical terminology, such as parts of the anatomy. Based on the speaker, it suggests that the poem could be written in support of gay pride due to the lack of shame that he described in the patient. The patient is projected as calm and collected throughout the poem and does not seem

Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America” and Mwaganu wa Kaggia’s “Not Ashamed but so Ashamed” both explicitly address the social, religious, and political stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and homosexuality. The use of split scenes in “Angels in America” allows Kushner to demonstrate the similar ways in which both Joe and Prior respond to alienation despite having distinct personal conflicts. The two characters’ societal and personal dilemmas are most evidently intertwined in Act 2, Scene 9 of the play. In a similar manner, by using repetition of the phrases “I’m HIV positive” and “I am so ashamed”, Kaggia’s poem confronts the ironic notion that it is not the nature of illness that causes suffering; rather it is the persistent stigmatization of HIV/AIDS that continuously impedes any attempt to end this epidemic. The dramatic techniques shown in both texts are strategically used by the authors to emphasize the influences that social, religious, and political stigmatization have on individuals with HIV/AIDS and those openly disclosing their homosexuality.

Within modern-day America, there are certain societal standards based on sexual relationships. Within the poem, the narrator, a young woman, questions why she has to “wear the brand of shame; /whilst he amid the gay and proud/still bears an honored name” (Harper 26-28). Within her poem, Harper exposes the hypocrisy of the

“Atomic Bride”, through its use of anaphora and combined repetition, morphs from an innocent poem about a cross-dresser to a bitter attack on societal ideals. Thomas Sayers Ellis utilizes three distinct repetitive elements - the use of the word “drag”, the grammatical statement “A good … starts in the … and works its way …”, and the anaphora “The world loves a … ” to express this change.

Crito and Socrates dialogue on the notion of good and evil is a debate that is constantly derived in rhetorical thought. There seems to be a difficult analysis of the things that are good or bad because those thoughts are socially constructed to appeal to the circumstances of that time. Does anyone really know what equates to good or evil without laws guiding us? What exactly would the world look like if we stripped these laws out of existence? As a matter of fact, is there such thing as converting someone from good to bad? In this reading Socrates states, “I only wish Crito that they could; for then they could also do the greatest good, and that would be well. But the truth is, that they can do neither good nor evil: they cannot make a man

Opening her essays with anaphora, Gay alerts her readers that what they are reading is significant to the overall essay itself. She uses this technique throughout many of her essays. For instance, In “Reaching for Catharsis”, Gay uses anaphora in the first four sentences with the repetition of “I” (109) instantly creating a connection to the topic at hand based on her own personal experiences. By creating this personal connection she reinforces her opinion

Stone’s value of queer relocates the hermeneutic for me to a place of power; it now, centralizes power in being able to see pass the norm. It now makes queer the normative response instead of being the outlier of society. No longer does the harlot, the women or the miscreant become demonized while those who finger-pointed become heroes and sheroes because they told on the sinner. Stone gives us a new way of approaching the sinner without first condemning them prior to knowing their sin. This speaks too Dr. Ray’s book Do No Harm, where people are condemn because of they do not meet the qualification of said person who is pre-judging them. Queer perspective provides change through relationship with bodies as text without exegesis.

Although the thought of repeating history is often followed by a negative connotation, a lot of the things people do today are similar to the things people did long ago. A lot of the movies made in the 21st century are just remakes of movies made in the 19th and 20th century. Similarly, a lot of our music today is similar to poems and lyrics from long ago. Although Selena Gomez, a 21st century pop artist, and Catullus, a 54 B.C famous love poet, are separated by hundreds of years, their art is very similar. “It ain’t me” was one of Gomez’s biggest hits in 2017. Having multiple authors, including Gomez, “It ain’t me” follows a nostalgic tone with the narrative of heart-breaking past relationship. “Catullus VIII” is one of Catullus’s many poems to the mysterious “Lesbia”; however, unlike “Catullus V”, “Catullus VIII” is the chapter in which their love story turns into a hostile one. In their work, both Gomez and Catullus remember, question, and despise their love story.

Hence, the level of prejudice caused by this, where some were forced to leave the workplace, due unjust laws and morals that are stationary in Western society. History tends to bury what it seeks to reject, and lesbianism was not an egalitarian in Lorde’s time. She transforms her lesbianism into a positive trait, and does not consider it as a deviance or fault, but rather turns it into a liberating factor to achieve self-preservation and inspiration. Illustrating the way in which the “problem”, (in this case homophobia) and the concept of identity through Lorde’s writing unfolds the nature of possibility and the upbringing of a new normality. To Lorde, the recognition of difference both racial and sexual, signify a source of empowerment to the sense of self and denial tends to extract those from accepting one’s

When Sappho expressed herself through her wonderful poetry, she spoke on behalf of many women of her time. Interestingly, she lived through verbal expression and spoke about it so refined in her own poetic style. She knew what women in antiquity wanted and expressed it so well in her writing style.