Category: Poetry

The one word that is repeated in Shakespearian sonnets is the word “time.” All through the works, and particularly towards the beginning, Shakespeare tries to depict the glorified excellence of the male object of the sonnets, however continually alluding to the way that such magnificence will shrivel and blur with the progression of time. Time…

Since the Greek philosopher Plato banned them from his ideal commonwealth, poets such as Sir Philip Sidney have attempted to defend their work by arguing that poetry and its use of language combine the liveliness of history and the ethical focus of philosophy while simultaneously rousing readers to virtue. Plato believed that poets stirred up…

Dalit literature, to which “The Life We Live” belongs, is essentially a type of Indian literature that voices the angst of the subaltern in India. The works of Dalit Literature are known for their stark portrayal of reality. They depart from the romantic notions of what life is and tell things in a realistic light.…

Sir Philip Sidney produced the primary Elizabethan sonnet cycle “Astrophyl and Stella”, which was published posthumously in 1591. The stylistic elements of the sonnet with which he introduces this cycle — including overlap of phrase, sensory detail, imagery, and personification — culminate to portray a speaker’s attempt to compose a sonnet for his beloved in…

Germinating in anonymous Middle English lyrics, the subversion of the classical poetic representation of feminine beauty as fair-haired and blue-eyed took on new meaning in the age of exploration under sonneteers Sidney and Shakespeare. No longer did the brown hair of “Alison” only serve to distinguish her from the pack; the features of the new…

In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, a knight’s loyalty is tested by a giant green man. The knight in this tale had many encounters that distracted him from maintaining the code of chivalry. The knight, Sir Gawain, the King’s nephew, could have handled some of his retaliations differently. One incident in the story that…

In 1973, a 10-year-old African American boy named Clifford Glover was shot and killed by Thomas Shea, a policeman for the NYPD. In the days that followed, riots and protests tore through the surrounding area in Queens. Then, a year later, Shea became the first city policeman to stand trial for a murder committed on…

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself” – Friedrich Nietzsche. As a member of society, one is encouraged – often through…

In the poem To the Welsh Critic Who Doesn’t Find Me Identifiably Indian, Arundhathi Subramaniam explores the politics of language and how it affects the identity of Indian immigrants in England. She poses questions about where and with whom language belongs and implies that it is for the English to judge. Subramaniam also comments on…

“Ant Farm” and “Running Out of Choices” express two distinct ideas. The first is how experience, knowledge, and instinct can influence our actions or view of things. The second is that a life with restriction may be more satisfying than the burden of choice. When juxtaposed, the poems can work together to provide a fuller…