The Oxen and The Darkling Thrush - Book Report/Review Example

? CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF POETRY AND PROSE College Introduction There are several stylistic and literary objects that are employed by writers when writing their pieces. The short story takes a different form compared to poetry. It is important to critically analyse the various pieces of literature in order to understand how they communicate across to their readers. This paper will give a critical analysis to the short story, Easter lilies by Jane Gordam and the poems, The Oxen and The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy. Critical analysis of Easter lilies, The Oxen and The Darkling Thrush Jane Gardam’s Short story Easter lilies is one of her best short stories in her collection, The Pangs of Love. In this short story, a strange old lady known as Mrs. White decides to have flowers sent over to their church by buying them from Malta. Mrs. White had stayed in Malta for a certain period of time. The old lady decides to abandon custom regulations and using her common sense, she has some of the flowers sent over from Malta. A rich courier drops pearls in a flower bouquet and the old lady is fortunate to pick them. She tries the pearls. Mrs. White shows the human nature by trying to save the little money belonging to the church. She orders flowers from Malta which is cheaper. When the flowers get to their church, she starts to arrange them but falls at the alter and dies. Fortunately, Mrs. White had left all her estate to the church. Her death saves the cash strapped church. Easter lilies is a story of love and sacrifice. The story makes the reader to have a sense of deep sacrifice. The story is full of religious symbols. In its effective nature of communication the message, Gardam employs the use of narrative and recurrent religious symbolism. The language used is narrative in nature making the story to be easily told. Another important style employed by the author is the use of religious symbolism. The death of Mrs. White at the alter during the Easter period is greatly symbolic to Jesus death during the Easter period. In addition to this, the death of Mrs. White saves the church through her sacrifice of leaving her estate in the church’s name. This is symbolic to the death of Jesus who died during the Easter period in order to save humanity. Mrs. White sacrifices her everything for the church just the same way like Jesus Christ did for humanity. Thomas Hardy’s poem, The Oxen is set in a childhood scenario during the Christmas holidays. The notion that cows knelt during every Christmas as postulated in the myth of the birth of Christ forms the basis by which Hardy sets his poem. Reading the poem captures the hope that children have during the Christmas period. The faith of the children is clearly portrayed by the poet when he states, “occur to one of us there / To doubt they were kneeling then” (The Oxen 7-8). This means that at that early age, the children’s faith in the miraculous kneeling of the oxen was undoubted. However, perhaps, with age, the voice in the poem has lost his faith in waiting and envisioning that Oxen kneel during the Christmas period. There is a sense of loss and exclusion in the poem. Hardy employs various literary styles in the poem, “The Oxen”. The most important style employed by hardy in “The Oxen” is symbolic imagery and use of direct speech. Symbolic imagery is found in the poem when hardy talks about the myth of the kneeling oxen. The belief in Kneeling oxen’s during Christmas and the deep belief in the myth is symbolic to the innocence that can be found in children. Direct speech is clear in the oxen where the poet quotes directly from other characters in the poem. For example, "Now they are all on their knees," is quoted to show the speech by the elderly. This helps to break the monotony in the poem. Direct speech also shows the authority of other characters in the poem by quoting directly. The darkling thrush is another of Thomas Hardy’s masterpiece. In the Darkling Thrush, the voice in the poem captures a person who wanders aimlessly in a meditative manner through the harshness of a cold and harsh winter condition. The poem employs nature to show harshness. A cold, and desolate winter period is captured by Hardy’s poem. The harshness of winter is captured throughout Hardy’s poem. In Darkling Thrush, hardy uses a number of literary styles to create a gloomy mood in the readers mind. The gloomy mood is eventually replaced by hope and a new dawn as the poem comes to the end. He employs the use of personification, wordplay and imagery to create and pass the message to the reader. The winter and other nature formations are personified and given the character of a human being. The poet uses capital letters in the words, Frost, Hope, century and Winter, to give the words a human relation making them to be actual names. Frost is described as being "specter-gray" which is a form of personification. Hardy claims that the Winter has "dregs" and "The land's sharp features seemed to be/ The Century's corpse outleant"(The Darkling Thrush 9-10). The elements of nature speak through the use of personification. The personification of these elements of nature helps to create the gloomy and sad mood of the poem in the reader. However, personification is also used to change the mood to that of hope and happiness when the poet says, "An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,/In blast beruffled plume,/ Had chosen thus to fling his soul/ Upon the growing gloom"(The Darkling Thrush 21-24). Through wordplay, Hardy manages to personify the Easter creating a certain sense or glimmer of hope. Conclusion The Easter lilies is a short story with a human perspective that is full of religious symbolism. This has made it to effectively communicate the message of sacrifice in the reader. The Oxen by Thomas Hardy is a poem that revisits the innocence of children. The Darkling Thrush is another poem that paints harshness in humanity which eventually turns into a glimmer of hope. The various pieces employ different stylistic approaches that help them to communicate their message effectively. Bibliography 1. Gardam, J (6th November 1997). The Pangs of Love. London: Abacus. 2. Hardy, T. (29th Decemeber 1900).The Darkling Thrush.London: The Graphic 3. Hardy, T. (24th December1915). The Oxen. London: The Times Read More