Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement contains many obscure thematic elements. McEwan employs a number of themes found in some English romantic poems. For example, in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” a comparison is drawn to Briony’s novel that suggests that death is not the end of life. In Percy Bysshe Shelly’s “England in 1819,” the dying king compares to Briony in that they both live in shame, constantly seeking atonement. In Atonement, Ian McEwan creates themes that coincide with Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” and Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn.”…
Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not" all explain the deeper meaning of the poem. The metaphors project a message that means not all great things appear perfect when you get to know them better. The "blackberry" may stand for something lovely but it never remains lovely. The speaker uses "once off the bush" to explain that once the fruits are picked, the fruit will not remain the same. This could be a metaphor for anything in life once one takes advantage of something, then it will not last forever. By stating "I always felt like crying," the speaker shows that the event saddened and disappointed him and that he "hoped they'd keep, knew they would not" each year. This shows that as humans, we repeat ourselves or our actions even when we know the outcomes. Therefore, this shows that nothing can be perfect, last forever, or will always go our way. The similes "hard as a knot," "like a plate of eyes," and…
Keats, John. "Ode on a Grecian Urn." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. .…
In the three stanza poem, the poet commemorates the first anniversary of seeing his beloved. He begins by using imagery from the political world: the royal court of “All Kings”. He juxtaposes this image with the supremacy of the “sun”, the true ruler of all mankind – without which the human race would die; this encompasses the highest concepts of the world. However, the poet then goes on to comment that even the mighty sun and the all-powerful kings have aged “a year” since he and his loved one “first one another saw”. Thus stating that the only thing not susceptible to “decay”; is the narrator and his loved one’s “love”: “our love hath no decay”. Their passion has “no to-morrow hath, nor yesterday” suggesting their mutual love is timeless and beyond the reach of mortality.…
Throughout the poem the author uses many different words and phrases to represent love and unity. There is no doubt that love is one of the words within the poem but there are also a variety of other such words as smiling, knowing, realize, happiness, and joy. As these terms are introduced into the poem the meaning of the words become deeper showing a more interwoven…
The poet also uses imagery such as ‘lakes and ‘swans’, to symbolise the peacefulness, and also to symbolise love. You notice words that show the subject is not alone, with ‘we’ and ‘our’. These words and also the motion of the swans, the lake, and the peacefulness are foreshadowing that the poem will take a turning onto love that is more literate. However I don’t think that the poems theme is so much about love in particular, but about a natural love, a natural pull that brings two people together even after hard times.…
Keats uses this in order to show what he would sacrifice for an eternal love. The word "unrest" also contradicts the idea of being steadfast which shows the internal conflict that the speaker is feeling even though this is the resolution of the poem. Another oxymoron is used in the transition between lines 11 and 12, because while he says he would be in a state of "sweet unrest" he goes on to repeat the word still twice in line 12. This is also to show humans inevitable conflict and reconciling with the relationship our short lives here on earth and eternity. The first time he says "still" the reader gets the sense that, it is a command to be still.…
Both Keats and Longfellow were poets during the Romantic period. The two compose poems in which they reflect on their inability to live up to their creative potential and the idea that death could intervene at any moment. Longfellow is disappointed in his failures and sees comfort in the past rather than an uncertain future. Moreover, Keats fears he won’t accomplish all that he wants, but sees possibility and realizes his grievous goals won’t be important after death. While Longfellow’s tone is fearful, Keats’ is appreciative and hopeful about what life has to offer right now. In both poems, the poets use the literary devices parallelism and symbolism, to depict their particular situation in their own lives, while also using diction with characteristics of romantic poetry, reflecting their time period.…
Two specific techniques are used to convey the idea of how the woman in the poem feels about her husband and how she expresses her feelings. These two techniques are rhyming and repetition. The use of rhyming gives the poem a flow to go by. Every last word of a line rhymes with the following last word to create a greater effect of what is being tried to say. The rhymed words give the poem an accent helping to capture the romanticism of the poem. Repetition is seen in the first three lines of the poem when the speaker says, "If ever." The use of these words over and over again show how the speaker feels that it is near impossible to find another love such as the one she has at the moment. These two techniques give the poem an atmosphere of true love and compassion.…
In Wild Oats, love is conveyed in a similar fashion. It explains that a person, over the course of time, comes to realise that his greatest desires of love, are unattainable, and second best things will have to suffice. The central purpose of this poem is to show that love is one of these great desires and despite flashes of promise it contains scarcely anything that is more than fragmentary. Larkin reveals, through tone, diction,…
No river can quench her love and no love but his can ever satisfy her needs. The poet believes even after death, their love is so strong it will remain in tact. In the poem, one can experience love and longing in the line, “That when we live no more, we may live…
Both pieces have many examples of descriptive language that paint clear images of what the poets wanted us to see. For Example, "the ambiguous dread in double negative interrogation ("Did you not understand what you did was wrong?")" (Whyte, 40-41) The image of a little boy or girl being scolded by their parents for doing something wrong went into my head; reminding me of the times I dreaded those double negative interrogations from my mom. John Keats's poem was filled with descriptive sentences like, "On the shore of the wide world I stand alone, and think till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink." (Keats, 12-13) There is a dreadful tone to this phrase, like a dying man that learned that things like love and fame are nothing in the end is speaking it.…
Bibliography: Brooks, Cleanth. The Well Wrought Urn; Studies in the Structure of Poetry. New York: Reynal…
The poem is all about love in its purest form. It represents all kinds of love, love for yourself, love for you child, love for a sibling or parent, even love for a close friend. To me, this poem is a true representation of how, as human beings, we thrive on love. As a lover, I know that where there is love there is a connection to those around us and there is hope. It conveys the message that we are never alone because in the end of the beginning, depending on how you look at it, we all come from love. Even though E.E. Cummings wrote more than 2900 poems, he was also a painter and a true artist at heart. Consequently, he suffered deeply from his father’s death, which “allows” him to talk about love and losses. After this, on can first decribe this poem by this simple sentence: “no matter where you go, love is always there”.…
In John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn", a boy finds himself entangled in his dream about an ancient carving. Keats uses an assortment of techniques to bring life to the work and make it more enjoyable to read. Using these techniques helps keep the readers attention, while also helping the reader to better relate to the situation.…