Essays on Literary Genres

2718

The Portrayal of War in ‘attack’ and ‘anthem for Doomed Youth’

3 pages / 1456 words

Both the poems ‘Attack’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ (AFDY) portray Word War 1 from a negative perspective. Although they are written in slightly different ways, the two create a clear image about the indignity of death in battle. In ‘Attack’, Sassoon focuses more on...

Poetry

2719

Freud’s Theory of Psychoanalysis in Shutter Island

8 pages / 3528 words

Freud’s introduction to the concept of psychoanalysis was one that provided an explanation as well as a potential solution to an issue that was otherwise untreated: hysteria. Although Freud’s theory was met with heavy skepticism, it is a theory that had enough merit to still...

Novel

2720

Bisclavret: Marie De France’s Manipulation and Why We Hate The Wife

2 pages / 1129 words

Bisclavret is the only lai of Marie de France’s that deals with a couple falling out of love (Creamer 259). The lycanthropic theme is used by the poet as a test of love and respect for one’s husband, as the baron’s wife doesn’t approve of...

Poetry Renaissance The Lais of Marie de France

2721

Comparing Tombs and Lays in "Marie De France Laustic" and "Yonec"

3 pages / 1543 words

In both Yonec and Laustic, Marie de France describes tombs that house the unfulfilled love of her characters. The tombs function to preserve the physical bodies of a love that could not be fulfilled during the characters’ lives. In both lais, the tombs are overwhelmingly...

Poetry Renaissance The Lais of Marie de France

2722

Chaucer's "Wife of Bath's Tale" as a Revival of "Marie De France's "Lanval"

7 pages / 3409 words

If one was asked to name the epitome of medieval English literature, it is very likely that the answer would be Geoffrey Chaucer. Indeed, this world-wide known poet has played a major role in the development of the English language thanks to his masterpiece The...

Poetry Renaissance The Lais of Marie de France Wife of Bath

2723

Empowering Medieval Women: Aspects of Love in "The Lais of Marie De France"

6 pages / 2829 words

During the Medieval time, a woman would generally be forced to depend upon a man for her livelihood. However, in the fictional world of courtly love – a 12th-century philosophical phenomenon, which is believed by some to have been originated as a form of goddess...

Poetry Renaissance The Lais of Marie de France

2724

Analysis of "The Lais of Marie De France"

4 pages / 1988 words

In Medieval times, women were usually forced to be dependent on a man for her safety, prosperity, and guidance. Yet, in Marie de France’s fictional tales of courtly love, men are in fact victims to women’s charm. Men are unable to live without their lovers,...

Poetry Renaissance The Lais of Marie de France

2725

The Power Within Women: a Reading of "Lanval"

2 pages / 943 words

The story of Lanval is an uncommon one for its time. A helpless, outcast knight meets a beautiful, magical woman. The one term of their love, set down by the unnamed woman, is that Lanval can tell nobody about her. When he breaks that rule...

Poetry Renaissance The Lais of Marie de France

2726

Analysis of "I Go Back to May 1937"

3 pages / 1373 words

Sharon Olds is renowned for keeping her readers on their toes and changing the direction of her poems drastically and without warning (Galens). This remains especially true in her poem “I Go Back to May 1937”. Olds’ brash style ensures that her message is clearly...

Poetry

2727

Searching for Equality in an Unequal World: Message and Historical Context in ‘shirley’

5 pages / 2180 words

Charlotte Brontë’s novel, “Shirley” was written in 1849. Although this novel is secondary in both quality and popularity, it addresses many social issues and dilemmas of Bronte’s time period, such as business, religion, and most importantly the gender inequality that females faced throughout the duration...

Novel

2728

Dark and Light Imagery in D.h. Lawrence's Short Stories

4 pages / 1645 words

The death of a man and the birth of a love affair are the subjects of two short stories by D. H. Lawrence and though their plots vary greatly, similar patterns of dark and light imagery, renewal and rebirth reinforce Lawrence’s theme of regeneration. In...

Short Story

2729

Mirages of Misconception: The Influence of Illusion in Joseph Conrad’s The Lagoon

2 pages / 726 words

It is impossible to maintain a completely objective outlook on life, unaffected by personal needs, desires, and biases. Individual perceptions, no matter how grievously mistaken, strongly influence both trivial and crucial decisions. In Joseph Conrad’s “The Lagoon”, Arsat bases the momentous betrayal of his brother...

Short Story

2730

Trapped in Exile: a Comparison Between Joseph Conrad’s "Amy Foster" and "An Outpost of Progress"

8 pages / 3432 words

Born in 19th century Poland, Joseph Conrad experienced a life out of the ordinary as a world traveller. Attracted by reading, maps and the dream of becoming a sailor, Conrad led a multi-skilled life, travelled the world and wrote masterpieces that only a man with...

Joseph Conrad Short Story

2731

Shane: The Loyal Gunman

2 pages / 759 words

Reflecting back on Shane, life in the West was fairly isolated compared to the way that we live now when many people will pass by our houses throughout the day. during the late 1800s many people were moving west, but there were not highly populated...

Novel

2732

A Responsible Western Hero in The Novel Shane

2 pages / 760 words

When Shane was published in 1949, it was considered a very unusual western fiction novel. Unlike other books at the time, the book’s hero was the title character. Still more unusual was the fact that Shane himself was not a cold-blooded killer. Instead he was...

Character Novel

2733

The Unsuccessful Overturn of Patriarchy in Sexing The Cherry

3 pages / 1516 words

How should we fight against evil? The question is an eternal one, one which will have bearing on life during all ages. Jeanette Winterson’s Sexing the Cherry is a good example of this because it crosses the lines of multiple time periods – it is...

Novel

2734

Entertaining Dread: The Contrived Aesthetic Experience of Fear in Henry James’ "The Turn of The Screw"

3 pages / 1384 words

The Turn of the Screw has been read by some analysts as a straightforward ghost story and by others as a psychologically accurate – whether pre-or post-Freudian — portrait of mental illness or repression breaking out. However enjoyable it is to consider Henry James’ short...

Fiction The Turn of The Screw

2735

A Biting Elegy: Ben Jonson on Shakespeare

4 pages / 2014 words

A master of humor and satire, Ben Jonson was a playwright, poet, and actor; he was also known as one of Shakespeare’s theatrical contemporaries, if not Shakespeare’s prime literary rival. His poem “To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare” was as...

Poetry William Shakespeare

2736

The Mole as a Three Part Metaphor in Second Best

2 pages / 911 words

In “Second Best”, D.H. Lawrence uses the symbol of the mole as the basis for three separate metaphors for dilemmas in the lives of his characters. Each character shows differences in attitude and action towards the creatures, and these differences represent the psychological disparities between...

Fiction Metaphor