Category: Poetry

Thomas Hardy’s “The Convergence of the Twain” describes the events leading up to the sinking of the Titanic as well as the aftermath; however, on a deeper level, the work explores the theme of the conflict between man and nature. These opposing forces demonstrate the superiority of nature, as it is the vanity of man…

“The problem with surviving was that you ended up with the ghosts of everyone you’d ever left behind riding on your shoulders.” – Paolo Bacigalupi Czeslaw Milosz and Osip Mandelstam are two poets who have survived many tragedies during their lives. They both lived extremely difficult lives due to the situations in their homelands. Osip…

‘Out, out’ is a poem written by Robert Frost who tells the story of a boy that had his life taken from him in an extremely upsetting circumstance. In comparison to this, “Disabled” by Wilfred Owen portrays a young man that has left part of himself behind in the war. Both poems assert ideas that…

Out Out and Disabled: comparison (essay) “Out Out” and “Disabled” are two poems that share a common theme of tragedy and loss. In this comparison essay, we will explore the similarities and differences between these two poems, focusing on how the poets use language and imagery to convey their respective themes. ‘Out, out’ is a…

Literature is not a static, fixed entity, confined to the parameters of its initial creation. Literary pieces are forever evolving, adapting to new cultural, historical and social contexts through the processes of revision and reinterpretation. The grand scheme of literature is best represented as a vast web of interconnections, where various authors and individual works…

Derek Walcott’s poem ‘The Almond Trees’ expresses the overwhelming power of colonial memory and the brutality of the colonial enterprise. Through his central image of “coppery, twisted, sea-almond trees”, Walcott justifies the critic Mark McWatt’s view that Walcott is “distanced by vocation, by a habit of perception” as he shows the intensity of his personal…

The poem “A City’s Death by Fire” by Derek Walcott is a semi-autobiographical poem, a recollection of the Great Fire of 1948 in Central Castries (the capital and largest city of St. Lucia). The Great Fire attacked three quarters of the town and left more than 2,000 people homeless. This cataclysmic event affected Walcott’s life,…

‘Poesy, therefore, is an art of imitation, for so Aristotle termeth it in the word mimesis, that is to say, a representing, counterfeiting or figuring forth – to speak metaphorically, a speaking picture – with this end: to teach and delight’. Discuss the relationship of teaching (docere), delighting (delectare) and moving (movere) in the Defence.…

Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms defines a simile as, “An explicit comparison between two different things, actions, or feelings, using the words ‘as’ or ‘like’…” (Baldick 334). In his critically-acclaimed , Omeros, Derek Walcott uses similes to connect Philoctete’s shin wound to the sea as a life giver and a life taker, thereby linking it…

In the long essay, “A Defense of Poesy,” Sir Philip Sidney responds to the attempts of repression by the Puritan Movement on poets and their work by characterizing poetry as the roots of culture and intelligence. Sidney uses mythical allusions and historical references to various cultures in order to create an all-encompassing argument promoting the…