1a) In the telling oa a story, flashbacks, reversals and digressions can add richer dimensions to events. Explore in depth no more than three instances of any of these techniques, showing how they have enchanced at least two works studied.
1b) This question wants me to discuss examples within the works in which authors use the literary techniques of flashbacks, etc to enhance the book(the enhancement can be however I want to explain enchancement- ie plot)
1c) The main literary technique is flashbacks and how they enchance the book- I would discuss how it may enchance plot or mood, etc.
1d) I would use Darkness at Noon and the Bluest Eye.
2a) Work is a defining element for peopel. Referring closely to two/three works in the light of this statement, show how writers in your study made the world of work significant in writings.
2b) This question wants you to justify the statement that work is significant with reference to the works. This significance can be based on character or plot.
2c) I would discuss how work is significant in the characterization of individuals
2d) I would talk of AS I lay Dying and Metamorphosis. I think I might also discuss Ethan Brand (Hawthorne)
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Adolescence
I. Rita Dove in the Poem "Adolescene" creates the mood of temptation and seduction, with implications of tension and fear, through the use of metaphors, dark imagery, sensual imagery, and similes in order to demonstrate woman coming of age.
II. The narrator is in the point of view of a young woman, who is unsure of the next stages of her life.
A. She is a fairly young woman noted through the implications of the imagery of "baby-breasts" suggesting that she is not completely developed. Since she is not completely developed and matured there is the implication that she is innocent and naive to the seductions of the world.
B. Similarily, the young woman waits in the the bathroom. This suggests she is hiding away due to fear as no one can enter a bathroom as it would seem immodest also the bathroom suggests that she is dealing with her woman body changes.
C.Overall, her description of the night and the imagary of the moonlight slicing through the blinds suggest that she is just coming to terms with the changes. They are the white light shinning through the darkness of her self- that darkness being the unknown- since she did not know what to expect before. This supports the mood that she is tense and fearful of what is to come in her life.
III. Dove uses metaphors and sensual imagery to create a mood of temptation/seduction for the yuong woman as three men enter into the bathroom with her.
A. The young woman is clearly fearful of what is to come and yet is easily seduced by the simple pleasures of what is means to be a woman. This is noted in the sensual imagery of the sweat behind the knees and alert breasts. Both imply arousal.
B. The three men enter the bathroom, mysteriously and sudden and just as suddenly leave. This entrance and exit is enticing to the young woman tempting her to "clutch" and miss that they are gone.
C. The Men are described as having round dinner plate eyes sharpened like prongs that imply their cunning attitude. Furthermore one has the sensual imagery from the scent of licorce implying they smell sweetly and are tempting. Also licorice can be black or red implying that the the men could give her passions as well as be dangers to her.
D. Overall, the men represent the temptation of womanhood as she has yet to "feel it" and yet she notices their sleek bodies suggesting seduction. To the young woman this is frightening because she does not know how to react.
IV. Rita Dove creates the fear filled seduction of the young girl going through the stages of woman to demonstrate the insecurities of girls during such a time. She ends the poem with the young girl wanting and clutching for the seduction and to her it is seen as darkness and she is unsure whether to embrace darkness-she is at the edge"-and she is left uneasy and unsatified-"ball of fur on tongue"- implies uncomfortable and unsure.
II. The narrator is in the point of view of a young woman, who is unsure of the next stages of her life.
A. She is a fairly young woman noted through the implications of the imagery of "baby-breasts" suggesting that she is not completely developed. Since she is not completely developed and matured there is the implication that she is innocent and naive to the seductions of the world.
B. Similarily, the young woman waits in the the bathroom. This suggests she is hiding away due to fear as no one can enter a bathroom as it would seem immodest also the bathroom suggests that she is dealing with her woman body changes.
C.Overall, her description of the night and the imagary of the moonlight slicing through the blinds suggest that she is just coming to terms with the changes. They are the white light shinning through the darkness of her self- that darkness being the unknown- since she did not know what to expect before. This supports the mood that she is tense and fearful of what is to come in her life.
III. Dove uses metaphors and sensual imagery to create a mood of temptation/seduction for the yuong woman as three men enter into the bathroom with her.
A. The young woman is clearly fearful of what is to come and yet is easily seduced by the simple pleasures of what is means to be a woman. This is noted in the sensual imagery of the sweat behind the knees and alert breasts. Both imply arousal.
B. The three men enter the bathroom, mysteriously and sudden and just as suddenly leave. This entrance and exit is enticing to the young woman tempting her to "clutch" and miss that they are gone.
C. The Men are described as having round dinner plate eyes sharpened like prongs that imply their cunning attitude. Furthermore one has the sensual imagery from the scent of licorce implying they smell sweetly and are tempting. Also licorice can be black or red implying that the the men could give her passions as well as be dangers to her.
D. Overall, the men represent the temptation of womanhood as she has yet to "feel it" and yet she notices their sleek bodies suggesting seduction. To the young woman this is frightening because she does not know how to react.
IV. Rita Dove creates the fear filled seduction of the young girl going through the stages of woman to demonstrate the insecurities of girls during such a time. She ends the poem with the young girl wanting and clutching for the seduction and to her it is seen as darkness and she is unsure whether to embrace darkness-she is at the edge"-and she is left uneasy and unsatified-"ball of fur on tongue"- implies uncomfortable and unsure.
Friday, March 27, 2009
As I lay Dying: Dewey Dell
Dewey Dell is the only daughter of Anse and Addie Bundren; she is also the second youngest on their children. Dewey Dell is first introduced as the young girl half naked waving a fan in front of her mother. From these first impressions one assumes that she is young and naive. It is also initally suggested that the other members of the family do not notice her as she is due to her insignificance in the family, this is demonstrated throughout the novel. For example she is at the side of the river during the river crossing, she is not called for on her mother's deathbed, etc. Therefore, form these actions one notices that Dewey Dell is an insignifcant child.
(Um I took a break... need food... I'll be back to finish I promise Ms. D)
Okay, so as I was saying... Dewey Dell is negligible to the family. And it is because of this that one can see that Dewey Dell does not focus on the problems of the family but rather is more focused on her own problems of pregancy. This is most noted when she says that she heard that her mother is dead, even though she was there when it happened. This implies that she was too busy with herself to take note of what was going on around her and she had to be told. This demonstrates her lack of intelligence as she lacks observation and analytical skills in realizing her mother is dead.
Dewey Dell's main focus in the novel is that fact that she is pregnant and wants an abortion. She has a deep connection with her brother Darl as she mentions how they can communicate without words and it is he who knows her secret.
(Um I took a break... need food... I'll be back to finish I promise Ms. D)
Okay, so as I was saying... Dewey Dell is negligible to the family. And it is because of this that one can see that Dewey Dell does not focus on the problems of the family but rather is more focused on her own problems of pregancy. This is most noted when she says that she heard that her mother is dead, even though she was there when it happened. This implies that she was too busy with herself to take note of what was going on around her and she had to be told. This demonstrates her lack of intelligence as she lacks observation and analytical skills in realizing her mother is dead.
Dewey Dell's main focus in the novel is that fact that she is pregnant and wants an abortion. She has a deep connection with her brother Darl as she mentions how they can communicate without words and it is he who knows her secret.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Margaret Atwood Poem 1
A Sad Child
You're sad because you're sad.
It's psychic. It's the age. It's chemical.
Go see a shrink or take a pill,
or hug your sadness like an eyeless doll
you need to sleep.
Well, all children are sad
but some get over it.
Count your blessings. Better than that,
buy a hat. Buy a coat or pet.
Take up dancing to forget.
Forget what?
Your sadness, your shadow,
whatever it was that was done to you
the day of the lawn party
when you came inside flushed with the sun,
your mouth sulky with sugar,
in your new dress with the
the ice-cream smear,
and said to yourself in the bathroom,
I am not the favorite child.
My darling, when it comes
right down to it
and the light fails and the fog rolls in
and you're trapped in your overturned body
under a blanket or burning car,
and the red flame is seeping out of you
and igniting the tarmac beside you head
or else the floor, or else the pillow,
none of us is;
or else we all are.
In Margaret Atwood's "A Sad Child" the initial stages of womanhood and adulthood are expressed through representation of a girl, not quite a woman but woman but no longer a child coming to the revelation that she will no longer be waited upon or treated as a favorite child. Atwood uses diction, imagery, and metaphor to illustrate the natural beauty of becoing and all the emotions that come from it. The poem rationalizes the stuation but also critiques society for ther inability to come to terms with the rites of passage to adulthood.
Atwood uses visual imagery to describe the childlike appearance of the girl during her revelation about her status, in order to demonstrate how the girl is changing from girl to woman and she herself has yet to come to terms with that as shown because she wears "a new dress with a ribbon. The situation at the lawn can be assumed to be a small, general situation, such that she smeared something on her new dress and was upset with it but in that moment she realized her parents would not take care of her so she had to take care of herself and thus the connotations of flushed and smear suggest anger but also an action of distrubtion within her life.
It is implied that this is the change of womanhood due to diction and connotations that refer to the menstral cycle. For example, the first thing sad is that its the age, its chemical- refering to hormonal changes. And then connotation of "flushed and bathroom" can also refer to taking care of the cycle.
The speaker begins with a cynical tone and this suggests that Atwood is in fact critiquing society and its inability to come to terms with womanhood as the speaker tells the girl to focus on other items to forget- very materialistic items or medications.
Althought the speaker also sympathizes when she calls the child darling- like a caress. And uses the metaphor of a burning car - "red flame.. overturned body..burning car.." to suggest that there are more extremes of sadness but it is yourself that put you in the situation and you can pull yourself out.
All in all, Atwood's poem refers to adulthood and the changes of it as well as our emotions. By refering to shadows, etc she tells that all of us are meaning that although we hide our feelings and think no one else feels this way, that is never true. We are all connected.
You're sad because you're sad.
It's psychic. It's the age. It's chemical.
Go see a shrink or take a pill,
or hug your sadness like an eyeless doll
you need to sleep.
Well, all children are sad
but some get over it.
Count your blessings. Better than that,
buy a hat. Buy a coat or pet.
Take up dancing to forget.
Forget what?
Your sadness, your shadow,
whatever it was that was done to you
the day of the lawn party
when you came inside flushed with the sun,
your mouth sulky with sugar,
in your new dress with the
the ice-cream smear,
and said to yourself in the bathroom,
I am not the favorite child.
My darling, when it comes
right down to it
and the light fails and the fog rolls in
and you're trapped in your overturned body
under a blanket or burning car,
and the red flame is seeping out of you
and igniting the tarmac beside you head
or else the floor, or else the pillow,
none of us is;
or else we all are.
In Margaret Atwood's "A Sad Child" the initial stages of womanhood and adulthood are expressed through representation of a girl, not quite a woman but woman but no longer a child coming to the revelation that she will no longer be waited upon or treated as a favorite child. Atwood uses diction, imagery, and metaphor to illustrate the natural beauty of becoing and all the emotions that come from it. The poem rationalizes the stuation but also critiques society for ther inability to come to terms with the rites of passage to adulthood.
Atwood uses visual imagery to describe the childlike appearance of the girl during her revelation about her status, in order to demonstrate how the girl is changing from girl to woman and she herself has yet to come to terms with that as shown because she wears "a new dress with a ribbon. The situation at the lawn can be assumed to be a small, general situation, such that she smeared something on her new dress and was upset with it but in that moment she realized her parents would not take care of her so she had to take care of herself and thus the connotations of flushed and smear suggest anger but also an action of distrubtion within her life.
It is implied that this is the change of womanhood due to diction and connotations that refer to the menstral cycle. For example, the first thing sad is that its the age, its chemical- refering to hormonal changes. And then connotation of "flushed and bathroom" can also refer to taking care of the cycle.
The speaker begins with a cynical tone and this suggests that Atwood is in fact critiquing society and its inability to come to terms with womanhood as the speaker tells the girl to focus on other items to forget- very materialistic items or medications.
Althought the speaker also sympathizes when she calls the child darling- like a caress. And uses the metaphor of a burning car - "red flame.. overturned body..burning car.." to suggest that there are more extremes of sadness but it is yourself that put you in the situation and you can pull yourself out.
All in all, Atwood's poem refers to adulthood and the changes of it as well as our emotions. By refering to shadows, etc she tells that all of us are meaning that although we hide our feelings and think no one else feels this way, that is never true. We are all connected.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Seamus Heaney Poem 2
From the Frontier Writing
The tightness and the nilness round that space
when the car stops in the road, the troops inspect
its make and number and, as one bends his face
towards your window, you catch sight of more
on a hill beyond, eyeing with intent
down cradled guns that hold you under cover
and everything is pure interrogation
until a rifle motions and you move
with guarded unconcerned acceleration--
a little emptier, a little spent
as always by that quiver in the self,
subjugated, yes, and obedient.
So you drive on to the frontier of writing
where it happens again. The guns on tripods;
the sergeant with his on-off mike repeating
data about you, waiting for the squawk
of clearance; the marksman training down
out of the sun upon you like a hawk.
And suddenly you're through, arraigned yet freed,
as if you'd passed from behind a waterfall
on the black current of a tarmac road
past armor-plated vehicles, out between
the posted soldiers flowing and receding
like tree shadows into the polished windscreen.
In Seamus Heaney's the Frontier of Writing describes the speakers inner struggle with writing as well as the struggle from outside pressures. Heaney creates a disconnected tone, of a writer torn in his writing as he uses an extended metaphor of a military interrogation/blockade to the process of writing to demonstrate a broken identity.
In the first four stanza's Heaney describes how the process of writing is disconnected of self. This is most noted in the use of "you" instead of I when referring to his difficulties. Also, in the beginning he makes the comparison of self to a car with only a make and number suggesting a loss of identity as he goes through the heavy process of writing having the pressures of "troop" or critics. Furthermore he says that there are many out the window implying that a writer is never free of critics but also internally the writer continually criticizes himself. And so by that a writer is exhausted "spent" when completing the job.
In stanzas 5 and 6 Heaney identifies the Frontier of writing, and then describes how the speaker thought he was out of the problem but meets another blockade. This emphasizes the disconnection of the speaker as he is continually stopped and unable to go forward. In the final two stanzas he is finally able to drive on uninterrupted. By this he passes under a waterfall- which connotes purification-water... and so in my opinion it is here that the speaker feels relief from the pressures but still lacks joy in his creation as to him it is only "polished", in other words finished.
Heaney's frontier of writing uses a lot of violent images to create this disconnection as the speaker struggles with himself to produce a work worthy of praise and not criticism.
The tightness and the nilness round that space
when the car stops in the road, the troops inspect
its make and number and, as one bends his face
towards your window, you catch sight of more
on a hill beyond, eyeing with intent
down cradled guns that hold you under cover
and everything is pure interrogation
until a rifle motions and you move
with guarded unconcerned acceleration--
a little emptier, a little spent
as always by that quiver in the self,
subjugated, yes, and obedient.
So you drive on to the frontier of writing
where it happens again. The guns on tripods;
the sergeant with his on-off mike repeating
data about you, waiting for the squawk
of clearance; the marksman training down
out of the sun upon you like a hawk.
And suddenly you're through, arraigned yet freed,
as if you'd passed from behind a waterfall
on the black current of a tarmac road
past armor-plated vehicles, out between
the posted soldiers flowing and receding
like tree shadows into the polished windscreen.
In Seamus Heaney's the Frontier of Writing describes the speakers inner struggle with writing as well as the struggle from outside pressures. Heaney creates a disconnected tone, of a writer torn in his writing as he uses an extended metaphor of a military interrogation/blockade to the process of writing to demonstrate a broken identity.
In the first four stanza's Heaney describes how the process of writing is disconnected of self. This is most noted in the use of "you" instead of I when referring to his difficulties. Also, in the beginning he makes the comparison of self to a car with only a make and number suggesting a loss of identity as he goes through the heavy process of writing having the pressures of "troop" or critics. Furthermore he says that there are many out the window implying that a writer is never free of critics but also internally the writer continually criticizes himself. And so by that a writer is exhausted "spent" when completing the job.
In stanzas 5 and 6 Heaney identifies the Frontier of writing, and then describes how the speaker thought he was out of the problem but meets another blockade. This emphasizes the disconnection of the speaker as he is continually stopped and unable to go forward. In the final two stanzas he is finally able to drive on uninterrupted. By this he passes under a waterfall- which connotes purification-water... and so in my opinion it is here that the speaker feels relief from the pressures but still lacks joy in his creation as to him it is only "polished", in other words finished.
Heaney's frontier of writing uses a lot of violent images to create this disconnection as the speaker struggles with himself to produce a work worthy of praise and not criticism.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Seamus Heaney Poem 1
Punishment
I can feel the tug
of the halter at the nape
of her neck, the wind
on her naked front
It blows her nipples
to amber beads,
it shakes the frail rigging
of her ribs.
I can see her drowned
body in the bog,
the weighing stone,
the floating rods and boughs.
Under which at first
she was a barked sapling
that is dug up
oak-bone, brain-firkin:
her shaved head
like a stubble of black corn,
her blindfold a soiled bandage,
her noose a ring
to store
the memories of love.
Little adultress,
before they punished you
you were flaxen-haired,
undernourished, and your
tar-black face was beautiful.
My poor scapegoat,
I almost love you
but would have cast,
I know,the stones of silence.
I am the artful voyeur
of your brain's exposed
and darkened combs,
your muscles' webbing
and all your numbered bones:
I who have stood dumb
when your betraying sisters,
cauled in tar,
wept by the railings,
who would connive
in civilized outrage
yet understand the exact
and tribal, intimate revenge.
Seamus Heaney uses dark imagery and diction to convey a regretful and disappointed tone in betrayal and punishment of a woman.
Heaney uses images of a sensual woman to depict the speaker's intimate connection and relationship to the dead woman. He describes the nape of her neck, naked front, nipples to amber beads, and frail rigging of her ribs. This visual imagery suggests that the speaker has a personal connection to the woman to know the details of her body so exactly. Also in the first and third stanza he says I can feel... and I can see.... this sensory details imply that the speaker emphathysizes with the dead woman and feels regret for the loss of her. More so Heaney uses diction to discuss the vulnerability of this woman: the frail rigging and then the idea that the cold wind blows against her implying the frailty if even the weather can hurt her and make her uncomfortable.
Heaney also uses dark nature images such as the bog, weighing stone, and floating rods and boughs, this images are depicted along with her drowned body. These images of nature suggest that although he is regretful of the loss of intimate relationship it is a natural thing to happen. To the speaker, the punishment and her death was natural and necessary and that is why her body can be found among the nature of the bog. Furthermore he compares her to a sapling, suggesting that if she was given the option to live she may have blossomed into a magnificent women, full of life. But now she is dead, a shaved head like a stubble of corn... this implies that she is bald and bland connoting empty and nothing as well as the black corn makes the simile that there is death and decay.
The speaker has some anger and compassion as he addresses her little adulteress, as though that were a pet name. He also described her once as being undernourished connoting unfulfilled suggesting that she had potential but never saw it through and that disappoints him for he was beautiful. He also calls her a poor scapegoat suggesting that maybe she was not as guilty as everyone believed, but it didn't matter because he didn't love her although they were intimate because he too allowed the stones to be cast to silence her, or let her be killed. Although he still desires her even in her death which suggests some regretfulness, when he calls himself her artful voyeur or her dead body. But once again he stood dumb, or did nothing, and let the woman's sisters, who also were apart of the act that lead the woman to her death, cry. To him it was appropriate, civilized, for her punishment to be carried out, it was tribal or traditional and accepted, and personally for him very intimate revenge; he regrets it had to be this way but accepted it for her adultery.
Seamus Heaney describes a speaker affected by the adultery of a woman in Ireland, but also the woman represents Ireland herself and the betrayal and death consuming the people due to the conflicts of religion.
I can feel the tug
of the halter at the nape
of her neck, the wind
on her naked front
It blows her nipples
to amber beads,
it shakes the frail rigging
of her ribs.
I can see her drowned
body in the bog,
the weighing stone,
the floating rods and boughs.
Under which at first
she was a barked sapling
that is dug up
oak-bone, brain-firkin:
her shaved head
like a stubble of black corn,
her blindfold a soiled bandage,
her noose a ring
to store
the memories of love.
Little adultress,
before they punished you
you were flaxen-haired,
undernourished, and your
tar-black face was beautiful.
My poor scapegoat,
I almost love you
but would have cast,
I know,the stones of silence.
I am the artful voyeur
of your brain's exposed
and darkened combs,
your muscles' webbing
and all your numbered bones:
I who have stood dumb
when your betraying sisters,
cauled in tar,
wept by the railings,
who would connive
in civilized outrage
yet understand the exact
and tribal, intimate revenge.
Seamus Heaney uses dark imagery and diction to convey a regretful and disappointed tone in betrayal and punishment of a woman.
Heaney uses images of a sensual woman to depict the speaker's intimate connection and relationship to the dead woman. He describes the nape of her neck, naked front, nipples to amber beads, and frail rigging of her ribs. This visual imagery suggests that the speaker has a personal connection to the woman to know the details of her body so exactly. Also in the first and third stanza he says I can feel... and I can see.... this sensory details imply that the speaker emphathysizes with the dead woman and feels regret for the loss of her. More so Heaney uses diction to discuss the vulnerability of this woman: the frail rigging and then the idea that the cold wind blows against her implying the frailty if even the weather can hurt her and make her uncomfortable.
Heaney also uses dark nature images such as the bog, weighing stone, and floating rods and boughs, this images are depicted along with her drowned body. These images of nature suggest that although he is regretful of the loss of intimate relationship it is a natural thing to happen. To the speaker, the punishment and her death was natural and necessary and that is why her body can be found among the nature of the bog. Furthermore he compares her to a sapling, suggesting that if she was given the option to live she may have blossomed into a magnificent women, full of life. But now she is dead, a shaved head like a stubble of corn... this implies that she is bald and bland connoting empty and nothing as well as the black corn makes the simile that there is death and decay.
The speaker has some anger and compassion as he addresses her little adulteress, as though that were a pet name. He also described her once as being undernourished connoting unfulfilled suggesting that she had potential but never saw it through and that disappoints him for he was beautiful. He also calls her a poor scapegoat suggesting that maybe she was not as guilty as everyone believed, but it didn't matter because he didn't love her although they were intimate because he too allowed the stones to be cast to silence her, or let her be killed. Although he still desires her even in her death which suggests some regretfulness, when he calls himself her artful voyeur or her dead body. But once again he stood dumb, or did nothing, and let the woman's sisters, who also were apart of the act that lead the woman to her death, cry. To him it was appropriate, civilized, for her punishment to be carried out, it was tribal or traditional and accepted, and personally for him very intimate revenge; he regrets it had to be this way but accepted it for her adultery.
Seamus Heaney describes a speaker affected by the adultery of a woman in Ireland, but also the woman represents Ireland herself and the betrayal and death consuming the people due to the conflicts of religion.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
John Donne Poem 2
John Donne "Death, Be Not Proud"
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
John Donne in "Death, Be Not Proud" creates the theme of death should not be feared as he uses an apostrophe, metaphors, and rhyme to create a hopeful mood that although death my take away our physical essence we shall be eternal. In the poem Death is personsified, through use of the apostrophe as the speaker addresses Death. The speaker's tone is poignant as he is sympathetic to death. This is evident throughout the poem particularly For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrowDie not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me which implies that Death is pathetic because he thinks he has power but really he doesn't and the speaker feels sorry for Death. The emjambment though some have called thee---Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so; emphisizes the idea that the speaker has more authority than Death,and that there is a difference between the appearance of a Mighty and dreadful Death versus the reality of death as this poor being. This is further implied through the metaphor of Death to a slave. The comparison suggests that Death does not control himself and therefore has a master; by suggesting that Death has a master one can pity Death as he has no choice in what he does, but also it reassures others that Death is not to be feared because it has no real power of its own.
This poem follows many of the same themes as other metaphysical poets in that it suggests an eternal life. In the contradiction on the last line of death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die implies that as we wake eternally, that there is an afterlife and once in that afterlife you can not die again and so for that one can see how little death is. Donne also catalogs all the different ways one can die and dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell implying how death can have many forms and it is all Fate and Chance that men die but he is reassuring and hopeful that death is not the ending but rather our sould continue forward even if our physical bodies are no more - rest their bones. Donne creates a hopeful mood as he presents death as pleasure, in the same way that one can receive pleasure from rest and sleep, it is only a beginning abd in comparisons and apostrophe one comes to accept that death will come but one does not need to fear it because there is always something beyond it.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
John Donne in "Death, Be Not Proud" creates the theme of death should not be feared as he uses an apostrophe, metaphors, and rhyme to create a hopeful mood that although death my take away our physical essence we shall be eternal. In the poem Death is personsified, through use of the apostrophe as the speaker addresses Death. The speaker's tone is poignant as he is sympathetic to death. This is evident throughout the poem particularly For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrowDie not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me which implies that Death is pathetic because he thinks he has power but really he doesn't and the speaker feels sorry for Death. The emjambment though some have called thee---Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so; emphisizes the idea that the speaker has more authority than Death,and that there is a difference between the appearance of a Mighty and dreadful Death versus the reality of death as this poor being. This is further implied through the metaphor of Death to a slave. The comparison suggests that Death does not control himself and therefore has a master; by suggesting that Death has a master one can pity Death as he has no choice in what he does, but also it reassures others that Death is not to be feared because it has no real power of its own.
This poem follows many of the same themes as other metaphysical poets in that it suggests an eternal life. In the contradiction on the last line of death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die implies that as we wake eternally, that there is an afterlife and once in that afterlife you can not die again and so for that one can see how little death is. Donne also catalogs all the different ways one can die and dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell implying how death can have many forms and it is all Fate and Chance that men die but he is reassuring and hopeful that death is not the ending but rather our sould continue forward even if our physical bodies are no more - rest their bones. Donne creates a hopeful mood as he presents death as pleasure, in the same way that one can receive pleasure from rest and sleep, it is only a beginning abd in comparisons and apostrophe one comes to accept that death will come but one does not need to fear it because there is always something beyond it.
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