Essays on Literary Genres

3668

The Seafarer: How to Preserve The Initial Sense While Translating

4 pages / 1825 words

Beginning at the time of early settlements in the 5th century and spanning until 1150 A.D., the English language and that spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons during this time is referred to as Old English or simply, Anglo-Saxon. The influence of Christianity on Anglo-Saxon...

Poetry The Seafarer

3669

Duality in "Wyrd": Paradox of The Follower

3 pages / 1451 words

In Bernard F. Huppe’s critical exposition, “The “Wanderer”: Theme and Structure”, he speaks collectively for scholarship associated with the elegiac poem, The Wanderer, stating that “the purpose of the poem is entirely Christian, its general theme being the contrast between the transitoriness of earthly goods...

Poetry

3670

The Importance of "The Wanderer"

2 pages / 768 words

The Wanderer is a staple of Anglo-Saxon storytelling and has been recited over countless centuries to new audiences. The poem follows the story of a former warrior who is currently living a life of solitude. After the loss of his lord and kinsmen, the warrior...

Poetry The Wanderer

3671

Lamenting Or Complaining: Female Authority in The Wife’s Lament

5 pages / 2218 words

In Book II of Troilus and Criseyde, the character Pandarus states: “Wommen are born to thraldom and penance, /and to been under mannes governance.”(Chaucer, line 286-7) Extracted from an exchange between the maiden Criseyde and her uncle, Pandarus, the passage speaks volumes on contemporary views...

Poetry

3672

The Wanderer: Analyzing The Weather as a Symbol

2 pages / 793 words

The weather in “The Wanderer” is reflective of the author’s view of the world following his exile. Throughout the poem, weather is utilized in an effort to paint a picture as wretched and sorrowful as the persona’s view of life. As I read through the...

Poetry The Wanderer

3673

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Analyzing Oskar

2 pages / 856 words

Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, is written using very casual language and follows the stream of conciseness narrative of a young boy named Oskar. Oskar’s extreme curiosity and childlike innocence lead him to observe, question, and comment on everything he sees,...

Book Review Novel

3674

"Ulysses" and "The Seafarer": Erasing The Edge Between Life and Fiction

4 pages / 1650 words

Both Lord Alfred Tennyson’s dramatic monologue, “Ulysses,” and Ezra Pound’s 1912 translation of the Old English dramatic monologue “The Seafarer” depict a man’s musings about seaward journeys. Tennyson wrote “Ulysses” in the wake of his best friend Arthur Henry Hallam’s death. “The Seafarer” has traditionally...

Poetry The Seafarer Ulysses

3675

Boethian Ideas in "The Wanderer"

3 pages / 1458 words

Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy and the Old English poem “The Wanderer” are both testament to the enduring quality of literature. Writing in the sixth century A.D., Boethius discusses such varied topics as happiness, the existence of evil, and the path to God while locked...

Poetry The Wanderer

3676

Everything I Never Told You: Analysis of Symbolism

3 pages / 1337 words

Introduction Water, with its myriad forms and dynamic nature, holds immense power within our world. It possesses the capability to nurture life or to extinguish it, serving as the bedrock of our planet and an essential element in human existence. Among the natural wonders of...

Literature Review Novel Symbolism

3677

Multilayered Meaning of Illumination in Everything is Illuminated

3 pages / 1375 words

In Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer the theme of illumination is explored by the triple meaning of the word itself. Foer shows how illumination may mean to clarify or explain, to produce actual light, or to embellish something. These multiple meanings of illumination,...

Literature Review Novel

3678

Foer’s Surrealism: Peculiarities

5 pages / 2246 words

The year 1924 marked the beginning of the surrealist movement. Aimed at tapping into the subconscious, surrealism became a growing art form that still influences artists and writers to this day. According to Andr Breton, author of “The Surrealist Manifesto”, surrealism is “psychic automatism in...

Book Review Novel

3679

Mankind's Dualistic Nature in The Masque of The Red Death

2 pages / 752 words

Introduction Edgar Allan Poe created an intriguing paradigm surrounding his theory on cosmic principles. He sees the universe as God’s artistic creation dispersed among humankind. Artists, namely poets, bring together the universe by breaking free of their physical world and its correlating corruption and materialism....

Edgar Allan Poe Short Story The Masque of The Red Death

3680

Why Do People Need to Confess: The Analysis of Poe’s Poetry

5 pages / 2441 words

In his essay, “The Philosophy of Composition,” Edgar Allan Poe writes that in an ideal poem, “two things are invariably required first, some amount of complexity, or more properly, adaptation; and, secondly, some amount of suggestiveness some under-current, however indefinite, of meaning.” While he claims...

Edgar Allan Poe Poetry

3681

Berenice: Why is It Obsessive

3 pages / 1318 words

Edgar Allen Poe is, perhaps, the most popular Gothic author in American history. Many of his stories show the darker side of humanity and provoke a sense of eeriness in the reader. But what exactly makes his stories creepy or uncanny? To answer this question...

Edgar Allan Poe Short Story

3682

Hawthorne’s Creativity as an Insight into Psychology and Social Sciences

5 pages / 921 words

Hawthorne’s exploration of psychological and social themes in his works offers profound insights into the complexities of human nature and societal dynamics. Through his short stories and novels, particularly in ‘The Birthmark’ and ‘Rappaccini’s Daughter,’ as well as ‘The House of the Seven Gables’ and...

Nathaniel Hawthorne Novel

3683

Misery by Chekhov, The Role of Perspective

2 pages / 1081 words

Written by master realist Anton Chekhov, “Misery” is the story of an old man’s grief for having lost his son. He keeps looking for somebody with whom to talk about the death of his child. Throughout, the use of the old man’s narrative perspective enables...

Short Story

3684

The Black Monk by Chekhov: What Does Color Palette Really Mean

2 pages / 898 words

Written in 1893, Anton Chekhov’s short story “The Black Monk” is one of the most potent and revealing works of the writer. It reflects the profound philosophy of the author, as well as the feelings of worry and anxiety which, according to the memoirs of...

Short Story Symbolism

3685

Laughing Bitterly at Poverty: Satire by J. Swift and J. Gay

3 pages / 1359 words

Writer and satirist Jonathan Swift stated that “satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own” (Swift). Such beholders, as Swift mentions, use satiric narrative to convey social and political plights. In his satire A Modest Proposal, Swift...

Satire

3686

Why The Big Sleep is Considered a Low-quality Novel

3 pages / 1309 words

Ever since its emergence, The Big Sleep has been discussed whether a detective-novel be considered serious literature. It is hard to answer this question, mainly because it raises two other questions: is there anything like “non-serious” literature, and if this is the case, who draws...

Literature Review Novel