Literary Discussions - Essay Example

A Good Man Is Hard To Find From the very beginning of the story OConnor sets up foreshadowing. First, the grandmother has misgivings about going to Florida. She reads the newspaper about the Misfit and she instantly is afraid for the family. She talks to Red Sammy about the Misfit as well. The grandmother tries everything to get them going in a different direction. An example of this is when she woke up from a nap and tried to find the old house she wanted to look at. However, when the family takes a wrong turn, its as if she knows that something terrible is going to happen to them. When they run off the road, its June Star who mentions that no one has been killed - yet. The reader knows the "yet" is inevitable when the three men get out of the car. In the grandmothers eyes Red Sammy is a "good man." This is why OConnor tells the reader so much about him because she wants to characterize the difference between a good man and a "bad man." This is the classic "good vs. evil" theme. There are only two references to Hiram in the entire story and they are both about him and his expertise of the car. He is not described at all other than saying he has a grey hat. 5. Poetry Shakespeares Sonnet -- no information on this one. A Narrow Fellow in the Grass -- it seems that she is using personification in that she is giving a snake in the grass the title of "boy." She also uses a lot of simile -- the grass divides with a comb (like hair is divided), the shaft of "hair" that is spotted. Another simile, "Unbraided in the sun" as the snake slithers away instead of being picked up. "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass" is a metaphor because she is actually talking about a snake and not a boy. She also uses imagery because we can see the scene she points out. Using phrases like the first paragraph where she points out that the grass parts and then closes -- the reader can see this happening. Also, the fact that she gets a little scared whenever she sees a snake, though she treats the snake with kindness. Wild Nights -- it seems that the writer is comparing wild desires (aka wild sexual desire) to the way that a ship at sea is thrown back and forth when the winds are highest. It is as thought her sexual desire (maybe she has had this happen before and wants a bit more) is as tempestuous as the sea. Hopkins -- no answer as to this sonnet. 6. Black poets -- all of these men wrote poems about what they believed in and what they understood. They had many references to slavery and to the plight of the black man. All of their poems are vibrant with passion and imagery. Langston Hughes always seems to make the reader see in similes. In "Let America Be America Again" his passion shows in how he talks about the red, white, black and immigrant who all have similar situations. He also points out that he wont have any peace in this because he is a black man. Claude McKay also shows his passion about how men should carry themselves --to die honorably and not at someone elses torture or lynching. He actually says that if they are to die, they should do it with dignity even in the face of "the murderous, cowardly pack" -- they should fight back even if it means they die. This is very passionate and there is a lot of imagery for the reader. Of the three, Paul Lawrence Dunbar is the most "tame" in his passion though the reader can still feel what he is feeling. He talks about a "caged bird" which is probably a reference to the plight of the black man during his time. He seems to be talking about the endurance that some blacks have had to go through whether they are imprisoned or out and how "the caged bird sings" no matter what the circumstances. Both Langston Hughes and Claude McKay seem more radical in their ability to express their passion. Dunbar seems to be a bit afraid and speaks his mind in a more metaphorical way. Although all three men have similar passions, and they speak about their lives similarly. 7. The modernist period in literature was a time when people were coming to terms with the world around them. Poets and writers were writing about the conditions they saw in the world. Poetry was one of the writing genres where poets were attempting to make a statement and make something new at the same time and the poets were dissatisfied with how tradition had played out. Another part of modernism was to show the world as it was and show the ugliness as well as the goodness. Owens poem shows the ugliness of war in every aspect from the beggars in the street who were affected by what happened to the men themselves. However, he does make the point that it is a good thing to fight for your country at the end of the poem. Owens also employs social realism in her poem because the reader sees the ugliness of the war, but true to American tradition, the soldiers resolve that no matter what happens, it is a good thing to fight for their country. Poems of this time period were usually different from the past and many poets intentionally made their poems hard to read because they were experimenting with them. In both of the poems by Frost he is showing how people can use their free will if enough determination is evident. As an example, in "Road Not Taken" he has the narrator making a decision to go on one path vs. the other. However, the road he takes isnt the traditional one, but rather the one that may have more adventure because it is "less taken." He uses imagery in nature to make both of the paths inviting. The fact that he takes this path and it "has made all the difference" may be a hint that his life was different because he didnt stick to convention. Frost uses fragmentation in "Stopping by Woods…" so that we can feel the snow. He shows us in fragments the different pieces of the view that the man in the carriage sees as he takes time out to look at the snow. The Red Wheelbarrow uses fragmentation and imagery. The reader can see the red wheelbarrow but Williams gives a reason to be concerned about it as soon as he says "so much depends upon". It is as though he just wanted record the scene that he sees outside a window. Stevens poem seems a bit like nonsense but he is using experimentation it seems. The poem allows the reader to make their own discovery of what the poem is about and it is difficult to say. Some criticisms say the poem is about death but it is difficult to understand, which may have been the intent. Read More