If I Could tell you W. H. auden overall themes Essay Example for Free

If I Could tell you W. H. auden overall themes Essay The poem discusses a number of ideas surrounding time, and the ability to see into the future, and learn from things. It can also be seen as a love poem between Auden and his prospective lover, Kallam. It depicts a kind of wisdom, or can be seen as showing a know-it-all attitude. Conversely, it can even be seen as saying ‘we don’t know what the future may hold, just run with it. ’ Interesting Ideas/Features Time Time is vital to the poem, as it is what is discussed most. 1. ‘Time’ Time is a proper noun whenever it is mentioned in the poem; it is personified. Time can be seen throughout the poem as something which cannot be stopped, represented by the themes of repetition and death which come up throughout. Time is made to feel almost like a God, something supernatural over which we have no control. Only it knows our future, and we can never know, only in hindsight can we help others. Even then, we cannot tell them what to do. Time is over-arching and always there, it is the essence of life and surrounds you. Time can also be seen as useless, we cannot see into the future so we might as well take risks and go for things because we never know what may happen. The reference to ‘pay’ suggests death is a debt that must be paid to time, even love cannot avoid this fate – Time is inevitable. Time is indifferent to the quarrels and fears of man, it simply progresses onwards. The impersonal nature of time is presented throughout the poem. It doesn’t have a personality and stays quiet and in the shadows for most of the poem. Voice 1. ‘I’ – The poem is written in a first person narrative voice; Auden’s. This makes the poem intimate and personal, perhaps in an attempt to seduce his lover, Kallam. It also makes it intimate with any reader, almost as if he is trying to communicate a message with anyone who reads the poem. However, the ‘I’ could be seen as being anyone; it could be a wise man to a young son, warning him of the perils of time and the repetition of life, or it could be from one lover to another. The voice of the poet is dominant and contrasts with the voice of time which is simply lurking in the background, quietly doing its work. The speaker blames Time for unwanted changes in life. Poetical Structure. The structure of the poem is also significant and key to its overarching meaning. ‘Vilanelle Form’ The form of the structure is a villanelle, 19 lines long, five stanzas of three lines and one of four. Lines one and three of the first stanza appear at the end of the other stanzas. Line two in each stanza rhymes with line two in each other stanza and it ends with a rhyming couplet. This ordered structure can have a number of meanings. Firstly, it can be representative of the poet trying to make sense of time and of his relationship. Often, poets will use ordered structures to try and make things clearer and easier to understand. The poem has a definite pace, representative of the pace of time, which is constant and cannot be halted or stopped. The restrictive form of the poem contrasts against its emotional message, which is one of more unrestrictive love and a willingness to just ‘go for it’. However, it serves to remind us that time is always there and will always restrict us in some ways. The sense of urgency created from the repetition and use of enjambment conveys the true message of the poem, to love while you have the chance. Time is restrictive, so perhaps the message of the poem is that we should do our best to love and live within the restraints of time, rather than trying to supersede it. There is no definite narrative or story about the poem. The poem can therefore be seen as a skeleton or example for stories. It suggests a message though. Use of Modal Verbs, Conditionals, Imperatives and Rhetorical Questions Blah blah blah. ‘Should, could’- The use of modal verbs is very important within the poem. It gives the narrative a feel of uncertainty; that even with the passage of time and the power of hindsight we cannot truly know what will happen in the future. However, this uncertainty, to Auden, perhaps doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try things in love. He hints throughout the poem to the fact that perhaps sometimes it is necessary to try things and see how they turn out. Although, he does still hint to the fact that rushing a relationship may not be the best idea ‘perhaps the roses really want to grow’; connoting to the growth of their relationship. They also serve as a profession of honesty, as Auden himself admits he doesn’t know what will happen. It can thus be seen as a love poem which offers no frilly illusions or impossible promises but is instead firmly based in reality. This contrasts heavily to the works of Keats who was often far more romantic. ‘If we should, If I could tell you’ These conditional clauses have a very similar effect to the modal verbs. It points to the fact that again, nothing is certain, and sometimes it is up to us to make our own decisions rather than relying on others. It also seems like the battle against Time is hopeless, it will pass relentlessly no matter what we do. The use of ‘we’ in ‘If we should’ is also interesting. It contrasts with the more direct address Auden uses throughout the rest of the poem (favouring ‘I). It creates a feeling of confusion as to whether Auden is speaking to humans as a whole, to us directly or to his lover Kallam. It gives the poem a number of differing messages depending on how you read into it. ‘Will Time say nothing but I told you so? ’ – Includes both a rhetorical question and an imperative (will). This demonstrates that despite his analysis of time and his relationship, he still doesn’t really understand the essence of time, as he has to ask Time itself whether it will ‘say I told you so’. The voice of time itself is relatively silent throughout the poem, and Auden fears that the only thing it will say is ‘I told you so’, which could again relate back to the concept of hindsight. Contrasting Language ‘Weep, Decay’ This use of ‘dark’ and depressing language is used throughout the poem to give it a more sombre tone. However, this is juxtaposed next to the childish language associated with the carnival ‘clowns, lions etc’. This could be symbolic, illustrating how the reality of time would cast fear over people if it were not for the presence of love. Love, perhaps, is one thing which can stem the flow of time and stop it becoming too depressing. The overall tone of the poem does seem somewhat pessimistic on face value, and the carnival language can be seen as rather unnerving rather than comforting. However, when looked at more deeply, there is a small amount of hope professed in the poem, no matter how small it is! The verb ‘decay’ is also significant. The decaying of leaves relates to the cyclical nature of time and death. It is unavoidable and a process that happens again and again, showing the unrelenting nature of Time. Confusing Syntax ‘Because I love you†¦ I would let you know’ – This part of the third stanza uses complicated and confusing syntax in order to make the reader refrain, and perhaps read over it again. This therefore forces the reader to seriously contemplate what they are actually reading.

Quilting - Foxes in the Poetry of Lucille Clifton Essay example -- Bio

Quilting - Foxes in the Poetry of Lucille Clifton  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚   In 1942 Virginia Woolf read a paper to the Women’s Service League about "The Angel in the House." For Woolf, this "Angel" represented the voice in the back of the mind of a woman that was saying, "Never let anybody guess that you have a mind of your own" (1346). During Woolf’s time a woman was not supposed to write critically. Rather, a woman was supposed to "be sympathetic; be tender; flatter; deceive; use all the arts and wiles of her sex." Woolf writes of the need to "kill" this angel. She says, "Had I not killed her, she would have killed me" (1346). Thankfully today it is no longer considered improper for a woman to write critically and truthfully, but Lucille Clifton has her own "angel to kill" in some of her poetry. Clifton is a woman artist who uses her past experiences and those of her ancestors to write her poetry. Clifton uses the ideas of light and foxes to convey the joy she finds in being a woman poet, as well as the fear that an artist sometimes feels when first struck with an idea for a poem. The poems "telling our stories" and "the coming of fox" reveal the feelings of fear an artist may have when creating a work. In "telling our stories" Clifton compares a fox to a poet: the fox came every evening to my door asking for nothing. my fear trapped me inside, hoping to dismiss her but she sat till morning, waiting. at dawn we would, each of us, rise from our haunches, look through the glass then walk away. did she gather her village around her and sing of the hairless moon face, the trembling snout, the ignorant eyes? child, i tell you now it was not the animal blood i was hiding from, it was the poet in her, the poet and the terrib... ...ht some "terrible stories." By bringing to light these "terrible stories" a poet in effect slays the "angels" that kept her from writing. Every author has his/her own "angel" to slay. Lucille Clifton sees past the fear she has about what she might write about using her gift of poetry to "slay her angel." Works Cited Clifton, Lucille. Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir: 1969-1980. Rochester, NY: BOA, 1987. ---. Quilting: Poems 1987-1990. Rochester, NY: BOA, 1991. ---. The Terrible Stories. Brockport, NY: BOA, 1996. Rushing, Andrea Benton. "Lucille Clifton: A Changing Voice for Changing Times." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc, 1991. 79-81. Woolf, Virginia. "Professions for Women." The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women. Ed. Sandra M. Gilbert and S. Gubar. New York, NY: Norton, 1996. 1345-48.   

Warped Tour And better – Creative Writing

I gazed up in amazement at the enormous steel arch which made up the railway bridge, which I, together with the other thousands of fans, was shuffling under making our way towards the vast expanse of open fields that constituted the concert arena. I hoisted myself onto the metal barrier enclosing the mass of people and slowly inched my way toward the make shift box office to collect my tickets. By the time I reached the box office it was eleven thirty and it was 100à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½F. The midday sun was harsh and I could feel the heat cutting across my neck like a red hot rapier. The dust was incredible. The grass had been worn away by the thousands of shoes scouring it, causing a permanent haze of dust to envelope the crowd as they rushed into the field beyond. As I crumpled against a steel post forming a chain link fence, I peered down at my feet and noticed rivers of sweat cascading down my legs and evaporating into the haze. Every time I took a breath I felt an abrasive sensation in my throat, causing a painful scratching around my tonsils, which I eventually relieved by bringing up a ball of brown mucus which I spat out onto the dusty ground and rubbed into the earth with my foot. I got the tickets. Once past the tickets and through a series of security checks I ambled into centre of a cluster of around two hundred gazebos, all of them hung with eye catching decorations, selling a vast variety of music paraphernalia, however, I was looking for just one tent; the DRIVE-THRU RECORDS tent. Quickly I paced through serried ranks of displays until a glint of orange caught the corner of my eye and there in bold, black print were the words DRIVE-THRU RECORDS. I barged through the throng of people twisting and turning until I arrived at the stand and was greeted by my sister who had managed to obtain VIP entry to the venue. As I gazed over her shoulder I spied tables decked with musical memorabilia and perched on the edge of one of the tables was a large glass jug containing cool, clear water. Grabbing the jug I swigged the water down in two massive gulps and wiped my hand across my mouth licking the final few droplets from around my lips. Having been refreshed I continued my quest to find the stages, however it was cut short when a magnificent cheer erupted from my right. Spurred on by this roar of excitement I grabbed my friend and dragged him with me toward the noise. We burst through the line of the regimented gazebos and finally found ourselves in the crushing surge of people pressing towards the stage. Surveying the crowd we spied gaps and quickly manoeuvred our way between the bodies until we could squeeze through any further as it was just too packed. As the guitarists struck the first chords the crowd went wild, pulsating into life, jumping, waving, screaming and shrieking with delight. The atmosphere was electric injecting everyone with pure adrenaline and energy. The last note was twanged and like a switch it caused the horde of people to slowly flood out towards the tents and huddle around the stalls selling water. But not me, because, as if by magic, my sister appeared about 100 yards away. She was waving two thin slips of orange paper, trying to lure me towards her. I couldn't quite make out what the papers were, but I had a good idea. I signalled to my friend to head toward her. As we got closer the slips seemed to glow a much more vibrant orange and I knew exactly what they were; backstage passes. Like a deer, frozen in headlights, I stood in a trance as she handed us the passes to stick around our wrists. Once I was out of my own world, my sister and I snaked through the crowd towards the tour bus whilst my friend shuffled to the front of the crowd to watch the next band. As I stepped onto the tour bus (which my sister had been staying on for the last five weeks) I felt a blast of cool clean air hit my face and the bus almost felt cold as I felt the hairs on my arms prick up. My sister grabbed two bottles and chucked one to me. She introduced me to a few of the other people retreating from the heat and then we headed out. Over the last few weeks when my sister had been away whenever I spoke to her over the phone she would brag about how she was making friends with some of the famous people on tour. One of them being someone who I practically worshiped! And I was about to meet him. I stared in disbelief as a man who I have posters of on my wall waved and smiled at my sister. The man, Travis Barker, was under a gazebo (guarded by the biggest man I'd ever seen) behind the main stage. He was leant over a small box with pads which would light up and he would hit them with his drum sticks. My sister walked up to him while I followed trying to work out if it was dream. My sister introduced me to him and when he shook my hand it sent a shiver down my spine. My sister and I spoke to him for a while despite the fact I was so dumbstruck. Eventually we had to leave as he had to play so I got him to sign my hat even though I felt stupid asking and we headed back to the tour bus. The rest of the day seemed to go quickly after this in a blur of watching bands and staggering to the tour bus for replenishment. The last image I have of the day is looking back at all the people, the astonishing size of the whole field and how amazing Warped Tour had been, but it was nothing like looking down at my hat which was I was clutching in my hand.

Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee - 1568 Words

People often fear what they don t understand. Evolutionary psychology can be traced back millions of years, when fear was avoided because of its repercussion of death. An aversion to the unknown was usually safer. Therefore, evolution culled for human traits that feared and avoided the unknown. Fear of the unknown shows how people become narrow-minded and ignorant to their surroundings, and how people behave when they believe something will happen even though they are solely intolerant. This ideology directly correlates to Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a MockingBird. Throughout the story, the townspeople attempt to overcome their various fears by turning against each other. In Maycomb, fear enforces racism and causes the townspeople to†¦show more content†¦The whites believe they know the outcome thus they become blind and oblivious to the truth. Lee utilizes the element of fear to drive the people of Maycomb’s actions in a manner that causes them to act irration ally, ultimately going against the morality that society stands by today. BODY 1 Throughout the novel, Boo Radley becomes a figure of superstition that is feared by the Finch kids because of their fear of the unknown. Think of the Disneyland, and if Maycomb were it, The Radley House would be the Haunted Mansion. â€Å"The shutters and doors of the Radley house were closed on Sundays, another thing alien to Maycomb s ways: closed doors meant illness and cold weather only† (Lee 10). The children are only afraid of the Radley house when they are ignorant about the true nature of Arthur Radley; as long as he s Boo, he s a feared entity. Local myth holds that Boo eats live squirrels and prowls the streets at night, and the children s perception of him is coloured by such tales. With this mentality of Boo Radley’s character, they believe that, â€Å"Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work† (Lee 9). Talking about the Radley’s gives the children goose bumps, however their curiosity causes them explore and play games to discover his truth. Perhaps the kids spend so much time trying to make sense of the Radley Place, and the Radley’s,