William Edgar Stafford was born in Hutchinson, Kansas in 1914. He lived in Garden City, Liberal and El Dorado. After graduating from Liberal High School, he attended and graduated from the University of Kansas in 1947 earning a master’s degree in English. After leaving his native Kansas, he lived in Oregon for 45 years and taught for more than 30 years at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. During his lifetime, Stafford published more than 60 collections of poetry and prose assuming the position as the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1970. Although he left Kansas, Stafford is considered Kansas most famous writer. Stafford’s first major collection of poems was Traveling Through the Dark, published when he was 48 years …show more content…
The speaker’s tone is one of fear and regret. On the first stanza, Stafford emphasizes the fact that each person should always speak up his or her mind. The speaker emphasizes for the reader to keep in mind that you will regret it, if you do not speak up. For this, the speaker uses a metaphor on the third stanza, “And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,” to encourage the reader not to be part of an “elephants parade,” in which no one gets anywhere. The elephants represent the people who follow others blindly. In other words, no one should consider blindly following others unless first you speak up your mind, so they know who you are and you know who they are. To highlight the poem’s message, the speaker uses the line “For it is important that awake people be awake.” In other words, for the reader to be aware or conscious of the need to know others before you decide to follow them or you will be lost with them. He hopes to inspire people to develop a community like Hutchinson where he was born, wherein people create a “golden thread” of support for each other because they know each other. He believes that by speaking up, getting to know and listening to each other any town will become a great community like his community in the small town of Hutchinson, Kansas. Certainly, Stafford expresses his affection and pledges his allegiance to his native …show more content…
Although, it seems the state of Kansas was the center of his writing, his father appears as a character in his poems and his mother presence and behavior influenced his writing. He loved to write about his father, Kansas people, Kansas landscape and his mother mainly utilizing the imagery to personally connect with the reader. Stafford could not deny the influence of his native Kansas and the plains region on his writing. Thus, all the Kansas poems he wrote pledging allegiance to Kansas becoming the Kansas most famous
The Light in the Forest book was about an Indian boy, True Son being forced to return to his white parents that lived in Pennsylvania. True Son went back to his white parents and his younger brother, after being an Indian for eleven years in Ohio. With him was a white soldier, Del Hardy that spoke the Delaware language. Myra Butler, Harry Butler, and Gordie Butler were excited for his return. When he arrived home, his Aunt Kate disliked True Son and his customs. His Uncle Wilse made fun of his language and his people. Uncle Wilse hated True Son what he was, an Indian and slapped True Son. True Son got into a lot of conflicts with other whites because of his Indian mindset.
The book Night by Elie Wiesel is about a teenage boy who lives through the holocaust. Before reading the book you need to know about the holocaust. The holocaust started in 1933 and ended in 1945. The holocaust is a genocide where 6 million Jews were killed by Nazis lead by Adolf Hitler. Hitler blamed the Jewish people for anything and everything. Hitler had the nazis take Jews to concentration camps. Families were broken apart and never seen their loved one again.
Eliezer, in the book Night by Elie Wiesel was a very religious boy and always prayed to God when they were still living in Sighet and he says, "Man asks and God replies.". When they were forced to leave their homes in Sighet he says, "God alone could answer you.", which he is telling us that he still believes in God and prays to him. Eliezer said, "Oh God, Master of the Universe, in your infinite compassion, have mercy on us...", when they arrived in the Ghettos because he didn't know what was going to happen so he was praying for the best. When they arrived at Auschwitz Eliezer said in the book, "Confidence soared. Suddenly we felt free of the previous nights' terror.
Upon arrival at the concentration camps 75% of people were killed. The memoir Night by Elie Wiesel was a book about his time in the concentration camps during World War One. Elie wrote this book so we could not be quiet about what happened to the jews and so history would not repeat itself. Elie Wiesel used his faith to fight for humanity during the holocaust and the rest of his life.
The following is a summary on the short essay The Dark Night of the Soul by Richard E Miller. This short essay is an essay that has been written with a main point always in mind, that reading and writing has very powerful influences people and their imagination but, the act of reading and writing is not being utilized as much in the modern world. Richard has created an essay that proves his point by taking five very different short stories and giving each a twist that helps the reader see the power of reading. As the reader is chronologically going through the essay he or she is given many possible meanings of the essay. The meaning and the
Night Death, Sadness, and destruction fell upon Elie Wiesel a fifteen year old boy who was taken from his home in Transylvania and brought to a concentration camp where he would lose his mother youngest sister and father. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, the main character, Elie, was affected by the events in the book because Elie lost his faith, wanted to end his life, and being in Auschwitz took a toll on his emotions. When Elie first arrives at the concentration camp the reader can see an immediate shift in how Elie feels and his faith. On the day of the Jewish new year, Elie says “Glory be to God” then says "Why should I bless his name?
A mental disorder, or mental illness, can be a very serious issue in the world today. Not only today but even back many years ago. There have been many complications with studying mental illnesses, but with the basic knowledge and research of these topics, we can then understand the result of answering the question: How are mental illnesses viewed in Ireland compared to the United States? Looking at examples of mental illnesses around the world including examples from the book Reading in the Dark, written by Seamus Deane will help provide a good understanding of want a mental illness can look like in the life of a child. Although mental illness seems like a broad topic, there is a lot that can be taken away from it. Knowing a basic definition and background, and how mental illnesses were viewed in both Ireland and the United States, in the 1900’s and today, can help one understand how mental illnesses are caused in different countries around the world.
Robert Lowell is commonly regarded as a highly influential American writer during the 20th century. From our discussions in class, we know that Robert Lowell was born into a wealthy Massachusetts family that could trace its roots back to the original settlers from the Mayflower, and included many famous and influential historical figures. Because of his family’s wealth, it may have seemed on the surface that Robert Lowell had a perfect life, and was free to pursue all his options. However, his poetry gives us an insight into his life as a child and the wrecked relationship between himself and his parents. As we have discussed several times in class, Lowell’s parents were largely absent both physically and emotionally and did not give him the attention he needed as a child. This resulted in a youth characterized by rebelling against his parents wishes in a cry for help and attention. Robert Lowell also discusses in detail the relationship he had with his grandfather, and the comfort and security that he was able to feel whenever he was with his grandfather. Through several poems, such as “My Last Afternoon With Uncle Devereux Wilson”, we can see that being in the presence of his grandfather allowed him to be released from his parents and feel welcome and loved. Growing up in Boston also had a significant impact on his poetry, as most of his poems take place somewhere in New England and focus on his experiences with the people and famous landmarks throughout New England.
In his poem, "Traveling Through the Dark," William Stafford presents the reader with the difficulty of one man's choice. Immediately, the scene is set, with the driver, who is "traveling though the dark" (line 1) coming upon a recently killed deer. At first, his decision with what to do with the deer is easy; he knows he must push it off the edge for the safety of other motorists, but then, a closer examination of the deer reveals to the man new circumstances. His decision is now perplexing, and his course of action is unclear. Through his use of metaphor, symbolism, and personification, Stafford alludes to the difficult decisions that occur along the road of life, and the
William Faulkner, the eldest son to parents Murry and Maud Butler Falkner, was born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897. Although Faulkner was not a keen student in high school, which eventually lead to his dropping out before graduation, he was very enthusiastic about undirected learning. After years of studying independently, Faulkner allowed a friend of his family, Phil Stone, to assist him with his academic vocation. This relationship inspired Faulkner and after a short period spent with the Royal Air Force in 1918 he decided to go to university where he began writing and publishing poetry. In 1924 Stone’s financial assistance helped Faulkner publish a
The first stanza calls for everybody to gather together and for them to unite in this time of change. In lines 3-6, Dylan wants people to admit that times are changing and stop denying it before it overwhelms them.
Thomas Stearns Eliot was not a revolutionary, yet he revolutionized the way the Western world writes and reads poetry. Some of his works were as imagist and incomprehensible as could be most of it in free verse, yet his concentration was always on the meaning of his language, and the lessons he wished to teach with them. Eliot consorted with modernist literary iconoclast Ezra Pound but was obsessed with the traditional works of Shakespeare and Dante. He was a man of his time yet was obsessed with the past. He was born in the United States, but later became a royal subject in England. In short, Eliot is as complete and total a
In many novels and plays, one of the key components of the plot is family relationships. A family’s interactions with one another, helps the reader decipher the main conflicts and resolutions of the story. In the plays Long Days Journey into Night by Eugene O'neill and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, father-son relationships are perceived as a messy affair, full of unrealistic expectations, disappointment, resentment, and regret. These two plays portray the worst in the relationship between father and son. Both plays show how painful events can cause family members to harbor resentment and bad feeling towards one another. In both Death of a Salesman and Long Days Journey Into Night the unrealistic expectations, disappointment, and resentment
Stafford furtively conceals the profound meaning of his poem behind a story of the narrator, who stops alongside the road to care for a deer. The genius behind poem is better understood when the superficial meaning is expressed deeply.
The novel, Darkness at Noon, clearly references Stalin’s purges and the show trials that occurred during the late 1930s. Although not explicitly mentioned, it is clear that this is what the novel is truly about. By reading the book, one can gain a further understanding of the time period. The novel, Darkness at Noon, can contribute to a further understanding of the 30s in the Soviet Union through its themes of old vs. new and the use of historical fiction.