Essays on Poems

704

The Theme of Perseverance in What You Pawn I Will Redeem, a Short Story by Sherman Alexie

2 pages / 929 words

Life is full of situations that challenge people to overcome the odds and achieve what they thought was impossible. Such is the case in Sherman Alexie’s short story, “What You Pawn I Will Redeem.” The narrator is faced with what seems to be an impossible...

Perseverance Sherman Alexie What You Pawn I Will Redeem

705

Fate and Providence in Homer's The Odyssey and Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe

3 pages / 1211 words

Both Homer’s The Odyssey and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe use fate to explain why the protagonists endure the trials they endured although in differing contexts. In The Odyssey, Fate assumes its traditional role of being puppeted by the gods, but with less rigidity. Mankind is...

Fate Robinson Crusoe The Odyssey

706

Development of Characterization in Beowulf, Gilgamesh, and The Iliad

2 pages / 891 words

What makes a character in a story different from any other character? While reading epic novels about the Anglo-Saxon culture and epic heroes, a character’s characterization and his development of characterization set him apart from the other characters in the novel. There are multiple ways...

Beowulf Gilgamesh Iliad

707

A Hero's Journey in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "The Odyssey"

2 pages / 958 words

Hero’s Journey Essay Outline Introduction Introduction to the concept of the Hero’s Journey in storytelling Mention of “The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Odyssey” as examples Claim that “The Odyssey” more clearly follows the Hero’s Journey template The Importance of Correct Order Explanation of...

Hero’s Journey Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Odyssey

708

A Lesson to Never Give Up in "The Odyssey", a Poem by Homer

1 page / 689 words

The Odyssey is a classic piece of literature. Most people know how the story goes, but only a handful of those people have read and deeply discussed the story. The truth is, most people (mainly from inexperience) feel that the story of Odysseus and his...

21St Century Never Give Up The Odyssey

709

Mccarthy’s "The Road": Post-apocalyptic Story

4 pages / 1787 words

“When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him. Nights dark beyond darkness and the days grayer each one than what had gone before. Like the onset of some...

Cormac McCarthy The Road

710

The Conflict of The Frustration of Poets in Introduction to Poetry, a Poem by Billy Collins

1 page / 561 words

Billy Collin’s poem, Introduction to Poetry, dramatizes conflict of poets’ frustration when their work is overanalyzed instead of being enjoyed. More specifically, this poem’s narrator stresses the author’s intent of providing open-ended messages when writing poetry while audiences fail to appreciate poetry properly, instead seeing...

Introduction to Poetry Poetry

711

Hero in The Odyssey: The Unheroic Traits of Odysseus in Homer's Epic

1 page / 995 words

Selflessness, trustworthiness, and sacrificial may be words to describe a hero. In The Odyssey by Homer, despite being portrayed as a hero, Odysseus’ actions seemed to prove otherwise. He shows very minimal traits of being a hero, and thinks more so of himself than others....

Hero’s Journey Odysseus The Odyssey

712

Gender in "Sir Gawain and The Green Knight and "Yvain The Knight of The Lion"

4 pages / 1761 words

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight translated by James J. Wilhelm and Yvain the Knight of Lion by Chrétien de Troyes are both Arthurian stories that focus in on the chivalrous tales and adventures of two very brave knights, Gawain and Yvain. Although the stories...

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

713

Transformation of The Redeemer: from Beowulf to The Vicar of Wakefield

5 pages / 2431 words

Within the span of British literature, it should come as no surprise that the themes and motifs which appear in written works evolve in nature. Times, cultures, and peoples change, so it is only natural that the things they write down change as well. An...

Beowulf Character Titus Andronicus

714

The Role of Father in "The Gift" and "My Papa’s Waltz"

3 pages / 1259 words

Both the speakers in “The Gift” by Li-Young Lee and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke look up to their fathers with wide-eyed admiration. Comparing these two poems, we can say that what stands out the most is the similar theme – each boy has...

My Papa’s Waltz Poetry

715

The (modernist) Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

3 pages / 1406 words

T. S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock demonstrates several Modernist ideas. In particular, by frequently employing imagery, repetition, alliteration, assonance, rhetorical questions and references, creatively shaping lines and sentences and weaving in ambiguity and uncertainty in his words, Eliot includes Modernist characteristics...

Book Review Poetry The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

716

Prufrock’s Social Anxiety

3 pages / 1422 words

Though the poem is specifically about Alfred Prufrock, it embodies the idea that every modern person struggles with these social barriers at some point in life. Eliot’s skillful use of repetition, rhyme, assonance, and imagery present a picture of a modern, single man who is...

Poetry The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

717

A Walk with Prufrock

3 pages / 1415 words

T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is the story a man contemplating emergence from his solitude into the world, a man capsized by the fear of being misunderstood. In this poem Eliot employs the quest motif in an ironic fashion to explore...

Poetry T.S. Eliot The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

718

The Self Esteem of J. Alfred Prufrock

3 pages / 1486 words

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Elliot, depicts the thoughts of a modern day Hamlet. It follows, what seems like, the typical evening with Mr. Prufrock. He is a man that often loses himself in his own mind, efficiently losing his ability...

Poetry The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

719

Prufrock, Paralysis, and Pieces of The Modern City

4 pages / 1952 words

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” depicts an image of the modern city that is marked by paralysis, alienation, decay, and repression. Prufrock is a modern man who can see the superficiality of the social values of middle class society, and yet lacks the...

Poetry The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

720

Inner and Outer Worlds; The Internal and External in James Joyce’s ‘ulysses’ and The Poetry of T. S. Eliot

6 pages / 2650 words

In the novel Ulysses, a hallmark of modernist writing, James Joyce presents to the reader a particular relationship between inner and outer worlds, blurring the distinction between the internal consciousness’s of his characters and the externality of the world around them. The two become intrinsically...

Poetry The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Ulysses

721

The Unreachable Prufrock

4 pages / 1808 words

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is at once a comic poem as well as a trenchant satire on the low aspects of urban life. Its speaker, a man going bald and self-conscious about his every gesture, represents a sexual as well as spiritual...

Poetry The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

722

Analysis of Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

4 pages / 1641 words

In T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” Prufrock is a man who is emotionally in conflict with himself. Although Prufrock is growing old, he feels the need to attract women but scares of being rejected or having an unstable relationship as in...

Poetry T.S. Eliot The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock