A precritical response to any literature can be loosely defined as the initial raw, emotional reaction to the piece. The feeling of confusion, disgust, impassiveness, or pure joy can follow any reading. On the other hand, a critical response is a critical evaluation or, more specifically, an intellectual response to a piece of literature. Critically thinking about a piece of literature involves taking the work and breaking it down into different parts, thus aiding in understanding the work and specific parts of it to the work as a whole. However, this is easier said than done. Being able to think critically about a text takes a vast knowledge of literature and a keen eye to recognize patterns, and each form comes with its own difficulties …show more content…
Hecht’s poem employs the use of a framed narrative to tell the perspective of the woman in the room. It is from her perspective that allows the reader to see where the title of the poem, The Dover Bitch, comes into play. The speaker says, “…[she] really felt sad, thinking about all the wine and enormous beds…and then she got really angry. To have been brought all the way down from London, and then be addressed as a sort of mournful cosmic last resort…” (Hecht, lines 13-18). From here, the reader is led to understand that the woman could really care less about what the speaker from Dover Beach was saying. She was more preoccupied with missing her materialistic lifestyle in London, or being so close to France and all of the extravagancies it has to offer. In Dover Beach the speaker pleads to the woman, “…let us be true to one another! For the world…hath really neither joy, nor love…” (Arnold, 29-33). The speaker of The Dover Bitch, at the end of the poem, claims to see the woman from time to time, suggesting that he is secretly her lover. By doing this Hecht, sets up a type of dramatic irony between the two poems. The speaker asked her to be true to him, and unbeknownst to him she was cheating with the speaker of The Dover Bitch. Thus, a critical analysis of The Dover Bitch can conclude that Hecht was criticizing the idea of Arnold’s poem that love can overcome the sadness and hurt that the world produces, because in the end love can be just as hurtful
Knights and Samurai are Far More Alike than They are Different Europe and Japan are 5,313 miles away from one another and their warriors at the time were very similar. The similarities between the two started out by both empires falling and then they both developed feudalism. I think it’s crazy that they two empires so far apart can be so similar, not only their empires but those who protect them. In this essay I will discuss the feudal system,military similarities, and their feelings about death.
Carolyn Kizer’s “Bitch” is describing the unnamed woman’s feelings towards an ex-lover from an unspecified time in the past, which she has just encountered. The woman was extremely hurt by the ex and has a lot of anger deep inside towards this person, but does not want to demonstrate it. The main image is the speaker and the ex-lover running into one another and catching up. “Now, when he and I meet, after all these years, I say to the bitch in me, don’t start growling.” (Kizer 1,2). The tone of the poem is angry, sad, and reflects a relationship where she was hurt and misses the other person. The woman tries to control her inner feelings when she encounters the man, concealing her true feelings with polite conversation. Just by the tone of her inner feelings, you can see the woman thinks the man from her past caused her harm.
Critical reading involves digging deeper into the author’s creation, and being able to understand it on different levels. Throughout the book, we are given tips on how to solely concentrate on reading without getting distracted. With writing and reading together, you can judge the essay you are reading more accurately. The sample essay by Nancy Mairs, shows different examples on
Greenberg is so clever with the use of verbal irony throughout the poem. The wife is really being sarcastic to her husband, in an attempt to reveal her desires that are evidently ignored. The main line that triggered my understanding was, "Not strong, not proud, not just, not provident, my lover would blame me for his heart's distress, which you would never think to do" (630). Once again, I initially thought she was complimenting her husband and showing him great respect. This strong, proud, just and provident man seemed perfect. However, the choice of words "...my lover would blame me for his heart's distress..." is what enlightened my thinking (630). The wife wanted to be so important to her husband that she would be the only thing that causes him distress. She actually resents this prideful man who seems to make everything else more important that her.
The poem’s structure as a sonnet allows the speaker’s feelings of distrust and heartache to gradually manifest themselves as the poem’s plot progresses. Each quatrain develops and intensifies the speaker’s misery, giving the reader a deeper insight into his convoluted emotions. In the first quatrain, the speaker advises his former partner to not be surprised when she “see[s] him holding [his] louring head so low” (2). His refusal to look at her not only highlights his unhappiness but also establishes the gloomy tone of the poem. The speaker then uses the second and third quatrains to justify his remoteness; he explains how he feels betrayed by her and reveals how his distrust has led him
At first glance, Anthony Hecht's "Dover Bitch" is not only funnier than Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach", but also describes a more "liberated" relationship; the poem is as free from what some would consider stuffy Victorian morals as it is from references to Sophocles. Hecht's urbane and flippant persona tends to win over its audience, whether they find irony in the poem that adds to their appreciation of "Dover Beach", appreciate the poem as a criticism of Victorian morals, or laugh at Arnold's apparent inability to give his girl "a good time." "Dover Bitch" also seems to give more power to the lover, who is kept behind the scenes in Arnold, by bringing "her" opinions and wishes into the foreground of the poem. However, on closer
The speaker uses words such as “louring” (line 2), “deep deceit” (line 8), “grievous” (line 11) and “bale” (line 140. All of these words have sorrowful and despairing meanings to them which gives the whole poem an unhappy tone. The third and fourth lines discus that the speaker cannot even look at the beautiful face, which appears to grow more attractive daily, of the woman he loves. Moreover, the couplet tells the readers that the sorrow in the speaker’s eyes is there because of the pain he has felt due to his faulty relationship. The mouse that “lies aloof for fear of more mishap” (line 7) shows the misery felt by the speaker by using the words “aloof” and “mishap”. “Aloof” means to be stand-offish or reserved, which the speaker is because if he gets too close, he will be hurt again. “Mishap” means disaster or unfortune which altogether sounds miserable. Had the speaker used diction that was lighter or less depressed, the reader truly would not understand the misery the speaker has went through. The miserable diction depicts the deep wounds the speaker received from his love, shedding light to how much he really loved her and how bad she really hurt
There are many ways to analyze a literary work. These ways are called Schools of Criticism or Critical Theories. Schools of criticism occur when groups of readers and critics come together and declare allegiance to a similar core of beliefs. And, when they do, they ask a particular set of question about a literary work. Each different way of analyzing a literary work elicits a different set of questions.
Montag compares Mildred’s friends to plaster saints he saw in a church when he was young, because they were silent and he did not understand them. Montag goes to meet Faber, and he brings a copy of the Bible. When he begins his journey to meet Beatty Faber reads him the book of Job to comfort him. The biggest quote from the Bible is said by Montag at the end of the book. He is contemplating what to share with his new acquaintances, when he remembers the verse Revelations 22:2 “And on the other side of the river was there a tree of life...and the leaves of the tree were the healing of the nations” (Page 158). This verse implies a renewal or a cycle, in which hope is given after a disaster. Bombs destroyed the city, but now the leaves (perhaps books, or knowledge) will heal the survivors. The Bible is timeless, so by including quotes and references in the novel, Bradbury implies that the power of books is also timeless. After meeting with Faber, Montag makes his way to the firehouse, but first stops at his home. He finds Mildred and her friends, and becomes unraveled when interacting with them. Montag balks at their ignorance and nonchalance, so he recites a poem that he hopes they’ll react to. Dover Beach is a poem by Matthew Arnold, written in 1867. In the poem he laments the values that were lost in his society. Montag angrily reads it to the women, and they become visibly upset, one of them even crying. The poem forces
In the comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the plethora of comedic styles used by Shakespeare illustrate his intention to poke fun at love throughout the play. The play is notorious for its intricate and irrational plotline, mainly due to the constantly shifting love triangles. Once the powerful fairies become involved with the fate of the naive lovers – Demetrius, Helena, Lysander and Hermia – matters are further complicated. The complication inflicted by the fairies is credited to the powerful love potion that Oberon, King of the Fairies, hands over to Puck, a mischievous fairy, to use on his wife Titania, with intentions to embarrass and distract her. This spiteful attitude is due to Oberon and Titania’s argument over the custody of an
These two seemingly opposite tones and moods existing in one poem simultaneously resemble the ambiguity in the speaker that he reveals when he describes his condition very ambiguously. For instance, in the first line, he portrays himself as a “dead man”(1), but in the line immediately after, the dead man is moaning, which is biologically impossible. The unclear subject raises the issue of who the speaker is, if he should not be able to comment on himself because he is already dead. When the speaker uses the same pronouns, “he” and “him” from both the first person and the third person perspectives to refer to himself, this becomes even more puzzling; the readers are no longer sure of who the speaker is and who the subject of the poem is. One possible cause of these uncertainties is the discrepancy between the speaker’s real self and his public self; one that resembles who he
In the first few lines of the poem, the reader can already receive a feel of the irony as the poet describes the scene of a maiden left behind as her lover falls in battle. The poet illustrates a scene as to where most readers would feel sorrow and sympathy towards the maiden and perhaps have the speaker in the poem enlighten the
Small details are instrumental in seeing the bigger picture. This is apparent when reading “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop. Most often the reader experiences visual imagery in poetry. In this poem the reader encounters visual, auditory, and sensory imagery. “The Fish” is filled with minute details that paint a picture for the reader. With each new element that is introduced, it becomes easier to visualize the fish. The speaker is able to show the reader the beauty as well as the ugliness of this creature with her vivid imagery. The imagery used is so distinct that the reader can envisage being the fisherman and catching this fish. Another important element involved in this poem is irony.
To start off, a critical response needs a critical analysis. Responding to something after research and finding more information on a topic is a critical response. The response itself is putting it into a form from ideas and brainstorming to essays. That is what critical response is, for example in English 100 I was given an article to analyze on E-waste. I had no knowledge in that case nor did I put to account that we would ever face a problem like that, disposing computers and electronics. But there was more to that than you can think, the basic idea of that concept could lead to many ideas and deep thinking on what happened to that topic. After constant research I and putting it into a critical response I came up with my research essay. The response itself cannot come without a critical analysis these words cannot come to be without one another. As mentioned in class.
being, he begins to poke fun at him. He insists that the Knight was “a