Essays on Literary Genres

2566

The Immortality of a Dead Cat

2 pages / 1102 words

Her beauty defied comparison. Her joy in life's simplest pleasures endeared her to all who knew her. Her insatiable curiosity drove her to constantly explore, examine, and engage in the world around her. All these qualities make her loss seem all the more tragic. She...

Poetry Romantic Era

2567

Isolation and Tragedy: Natasha in "Three Sisters"

2 pages / 1056 words

“Three Sisters” is Anton Chekhov’s only true tragedy, featuring a large ensemble cast of characters facing a downward succession of horrible events. Of all of the characters in the play, Natasha is the only one who seems to gain power by the end. In reality,...

Tragedy

2568

Immortality in Thomas Gray’s "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"

2 pages / 993 words

Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is a melancholic poem that considers the possibility of immortality for the people buried in the churchyard the speaker visits. Although previous sections of the poem explore different ideas, such as the speaker’s remorse for those who...

Poetry Romantic Era

2569

Causes and Effects of Adolescent Suicide: Thirteen Reasons Why

6 pages / 2721 words

In society, many problems are often ignored and stigmatized. Among these are suicide and mental health issues. These dilemmas have become more common to talk about in recent years; however, society as a whole still has a long way to go in understanding these complicated...

Novel

2570

The Trials and Tribulations of Love

4 pages / 1724 words

Junot Diaz’s book This Is How You Lose Her provides an insightful look into love and loss, mostly through the eyes of its narrator, Yunior. Within this collection are stories of Yunior’s infidelity and the relationships of those around him; this includes tales of his...

Short Story The Trial

2571

The Paradox of Self-deception in "The Sun, The Moon, The Stars"

3 pages / 1175 words

In his story “The Sun, the Moon, the Stars”, Junot Diaz presents to the reader a couple going through a tumultuous time in their relationship. News of Yunior’s infidelity had just come to light via a letter that his mistress sent to his girlfriend Magdalena....

Short Story

2572

The Descriptive and Reflective Elements of Wordsworth’s "Tintern Abbey" and Gray’s "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College"

3 pages / 1282 words

In his article On Reading Romantic Poetry, L. J. Swingle identifies the Romantic poet’s tendency to “think into the human heart” by using rustic description to explore “the naked dignity of man”. This analysis certainly holds true for William Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey and Thomas Gray’s...

Poetry Romantic Era

2573

Sterling’s Rift: Perception in The Yellow Birds

2 pages / 1105 words

In his novel The Yellow Birds, Kevin Powers takes the reader into the mind of a soldier. This work evokes not only the physical duress of fatigue and fighting, but also the emotional stress and the long-lasting trauma that remains with a soldier even after...

Novel

2574

Love and Lessons in The Zahir

3 pages / 1449 words

The Zahir is a kind of novel that helps the reader deeply understand what life is and what it has to offer to the loved, unloved, and the people helplessly searching for love. Although the word ‘love’ is repeated numerous times, the central theme, ironically,...

Novel

2575

Zola’s Use of Setting in Therese Raquin

1 page / 386 words

Emile Zola uses the setting within the novel Therese Raquin in order to deepen the meaning in the text, specifically focusing on the reoccurring imprisonment versus freedom theme. Interestingly, Zola often uses his freedom with choice of setting to display Therese’s imprisonment within her life. ...

Naturalism Novel

2576

"My Papa’s Waltz"- Roethke’s Mixed Feelings

4 pages / 1827 words

The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is a work rich in ambiguities, which are shown through the language used in the work as well as in the relationship between the speaker and his father. Readers can detect two sides to this poem. One...

Poetry

2577

The Flaws of Prometheus and The Wrath of Zeus: Major Figures in Hesiod’s Theogony

2 pages / 1026 words

Zeus is certainly not a person to trifle with, especially when it comes to his sacred fire. The punishments dealt out by Zeus are probably anything but fair but are all very metaphorical and symbolic if the reader reads between the lines. Prometheus, creator of...

Poetry

2578

The Search for Self-achievement: Abe’s Woman in The Dunes

3 pages / 1356 words

In The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe, the protagonist Niki Jumpei leaves his work and family behind in search of a new species of beetle. On his search, Niki finds himself trapped in a hole amongst the sand dunes, and he initially tries...

Novel

2579

Foreign Devils and Funny Foreigners: Approaching The Woman in White

5 pages / 2056 words

The Woman in White, with its many twists and cliffhangers, reflects the turmoil of Victorian England, which was becoming a multicultural society. London’s hosting of the 1851 World Fair, a lavish affair hosted in a massive “Crystal Palace”, reflected both this transformation and England’s pride...

Novel

2580

The Masculine and Feminine Identity in Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White

5 pages / 2133 words

Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White portrays the distinctly partitioned sexual spheres in the Victorian era, as is reflected through the weak and victimized female characters and the powerful and domineering male characters. The Victorian femininity is characterized through passivity, endurance and unassertive meekness, while...

Novel

2581

Gothic Conventions in ‘the Woman in Black’

2 pages / 1066 words

‘The Woman in Black’ by Susan Hill is often described as a ‘ghost story’ and it’s eerie and considerably terrifying narrative falls well within gothic tradition. In this essay I will explore the gothic conventions used and the effectiveness with which they are portrayed through...

Gothic Fiction

2582

Baum’s Land of Oz: a Reflection of a Corrupt America

2 pages / 1098 words

Though regarded by many as a harmless children’s tale, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was crafted by L. Frank Baum to convey an allegory of the Populist Party during the 1890s and to illustrate his concerns about the American government. Baum pinpointed the apparently negative...

Fairy Tale

2583

Sand as Representative of Community in Woman in The Dunes

3 pages / 1243 words

Sand in The Woman in the Dunes is an omnipresent force that cannot be easily escaped. In the novel, sand is defined as an aggregate of rock fragments, sometimes including loadstone, tinstone, and more rarely gold dust, with a diameter of 2 to 1/16mm (13)....

Novel

2584

Presence of Failure and Disappointment in The Whitsun Weddings

3 pages / 1509 words

‘A record of failure and disappointment’ is a reductive assessment of a poignant collection of poetry that explores the nature of existence and the conflicts, contrasts and contradictions of life. Larkin presents experience in a mixture of delicate tones (“your hands, tiny in all that...

Poetry