Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
use of Symbolism
use of Symbolism
significance of symbolism in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: use of Symbolism
A Comparison of ‘To His Coy Mistress’ by Andrew Marvell and ‘Cousin Kate’ by Christina Rossetti
Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) was a British writer. He was a poet during
the Renaissance period. He was one of the metaphysical poets, known
for his works like ‘To His Coy Mistress’. He was an assistant to John
Milton and a Member of Parliament.
Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) was a British writer. She was one of
the greatest Victorian poets. She lived a reclusive life and was
educated at home. She was part of the Pre-Raphaelite movement in the
Victorian Period. She had a very strong Christian Faith and this was
shown several times in some of her poems.
To His Coy Mistress is a lyrical and metaphysical poem. It’s a poem
that expresses a thought, an idea or an emotion. It is also
characterised by a striking use of wit, irony and wordplay. This is a
Carpe Diem poem. We know this because all throughout the poem Andrew
Marvell talks about time. In the first stanza he says to his coy
mistress that if they had all the time in the world then she could
carry on refusing his proposal for as long as she wanted. In the
second stanza that time is passing by quickly and that soon they will
be old and she would have lost her beauty. In the last stanza he comes
to a conclusion and tells his coy mistress
that they should seize the moment and use up everyday to it’s fullest.
Underneath all the humour and sarcasm Andrew Marvel talks about a
serious subject. This is that they should seize the day and death
saying that time is running down.
Cousin Kate is also a poem about love. In Cousin Kate the cottage
maiden fell in love with a Lord who made her p...
... middle of paper ...
...ullest. It also contrasts with his ‘vegetable love’.
“Slow-chapt pow’r”
Time is eating their life away with slowly grinding jaws.
“The iron gates of life”
This gate is preventing him form getting what he wants and because it
is so hard the only way that he will be able to knock it down is if
his mistress joins him.
The narrator uses the word ‘our’ a lot. He is trying to tell his
mistress that they are united as one. They’re a team and together they
can break down the gates and conquer time. He says
“Thus, thou we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run”
He uses personification once again. They cannot really make the sun
run but what he is trying to say is that they can use their time up
wisely by having as much fun as possible, in doing this time will go
by really quickly.
In the last stanza it is explained how, even when she was a child, she
...ve for these characters was fated to be unattainable and deceiving. The attempt to seek out such represents a temptation that is pointless to pursue because the simple variable of change is unavoidable. This patriarchal society's denial to this truth is a cruel deception that, in both poems, victimizes women. The deception is maintained in the fairy-tale folklores of romantic poetry that Goblin Market and The Prince's Progress imitate, both literally and suggestively. Rossetti’s narratives illustrate a complex of immediate gratification, especially with the incorporation of romantic ideas, and they highlight that the fulfillment of these delights, however brief, leads to certain betrayal and disappointment. In this way, Rossetti oddly criticizes the romantic ideas in traditional literature while presenting a review of the beliefs fundamental to those ideas.
This line implies that there is only one thing on his mind and that is
Literature of the English Restoration offers the example of a number of writers who wrote for a courtly audience: literary production, particularly in learned imitation of classical models, was part of the court culture of King Charles II. The fact of a shared model explains the remarkable similarities between “The Imperfect Enjoyment” by the Earl of Rochester and “The Disappointment” by Aphra Behn—remarkable only because readers are surprised to read one poem about male sexual impotence from the late seventeenth century, let alone two examples of this genre by well-known courtly writers. In fact, Richard Quaintance presents ten more examples by lesser-known poets as he defines the literary sub-genre of the neo-Classical “imperfect enjoyment poem,” written in imitation of Roman poems on the same subject, which is shared by Rochester and Behn (Quaintance 190). Since Rochester and Behn are working along such closely similar lines in terms of the artistic models that their own poems aim to imitate, it is therefore fair to ask the question: what are the main differences in their compositional technique within this tightly-defined literary sub-genre of the neo-Classical “imperfect enjoyment poem”? By examining features of each poem in turn—including form (including this sub-genre they share), but also narrative voice and tone—with some examination of the secondary critical literature on both Rochester and Behn, I hope to demonstrate that there are distinct differences in compositional technique which involve the difference in sex between these two writers. But my conclusion will attempt to problematize the very notion of an authorial sex difference by raising the concept of gender, and in particular the aspect of “performativity”—...
Christina Rossetti is known as one of the primary female figures of the Victorian Period. The majority of her poetry falls into one of two categories: religion and relationships. Many of her poems on relationships included a theme of death, yet often centered on the relationship between the dead or dying and their loved ones. She wrote a number of poems on love, as well, but these often bring forth a sense of loss, avoidance, fear, or disbelief. Based on some of these love poems and the fact that she was reportedly in love twice during her lifetime, it seems clear that Christina Rossetti was no stranger to the desires of humanity. We, as people, tend to have a natural urge to be seen on a very personal level, to be understood for that which makes us unique, and to be loved in spite of these things. Rossetti’s “religious poetry acknowledged these longings and formed an outlet for them. Many of her ‘poems explore what she saw as the great danger that the Victorian cult of love and marriage posed to the souls of woman’” (Touché 4). She held very strongly to her faith and is reported to have turned down two men whom she dearly loved because of religious differences that she could not overcome. “As a deeply religious woman she was afraid somebody ‘could co...
back wall and his wheels go silent. The other one puts his foot on his
Christina Rossetti and John Keats were both poets in their own prime. Rossetti wrote the somewhat controversial poem, Cousin Kate (1879) and John Keats wrote the French named poem, La Belle Dame sans Merci, (1819) which means “the beautiful woman without mercy”.
The Victorian Era was a time of overseas expansion and domestic reform. During this period of growth and change, there is an upsurge of literary movements and technological advancements that has shaped its culture and brought forth a new direction of prosperity. We are introduced to a number of authors, each of which provides different and unique perceptions through their writing. As we read further into the unit, we start to realize that personal relationships such as love, marriage, and friendship become very important to the Victorians. However, the writers from this period suggest different ideals. Some of these writers express a darker approach, among these is Robert Browning. He is best known as one of the greatest of Victorian poets, and the techniques he learned as a playwright led him to master the dramatic monologue. Dramatic monologues are a way of expressing the views of a character and offering the audience greater insight into that character's feelings. “My Last Duchess” and Porphyria’s Lover” are among Browning’s best dramatic monologues.
In eighteenth century novels, a common means of discussing the role of women in society is through the characterization of two good sisters. The heroine of such a novel is a pure, kind young woman who also has a streak of spunkiness. Her sister may be more good and kind, but she is more submissive and reserved. I would like to look at these sisters (and their mothers) in Ann Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance , and The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole.
“To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Rober Herrick and Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” have many similarities and differences. The tone of the speakers, the audience each poem is directed to, and the theme make up some of the literary elements that help fit this description.
‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ are both poems by the Victorian poet Robert Browning. In this essay I will compare these two poems to find similarities and differences.
Literature is a form of art with many facets, many obvious and others subtle. The surface of literature can be composed of many elements such as genre, form, rhythm, tone, diction, sentence structure, etc. Time periods, authors’ personal style and type of work all determine what elements are used in the literature. The deeper more subtle side of literature is the use of symbolism, imagery and the significance of the work. In most works of literature, parallels can be drawn between the author’s personality and current life’s events through the subject matter, the characters, and the use of specific literary techniques. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s use of literary techniques in the first two stanzas of The Lover: A Ballad, are consistent throughout the six stanza ballad identifying and refuting the ways in which women were defined by literature of the 18th century era.
English literature is continuously developing into a more complex, and interwoven network of shared, or argued ideas. Proof of this goes back into all of the varieties of literature that we have discovered from times past, as well as anything new that is written today. One example of these works of art that has been studied intensely over the years includes the story of The Duchess of Malfi written by John Webster somewhere between 1580 and 1625. This is a story of tragic loss, desperate love, and vicious vengeance which all comes together to form one of the greatest tragedies of all time.
Wolfson, S. & Manning, P. 2003. The Longman Anthology of English Literature Vol 2: The Romantics and their Contemporaries. London: Longman.
Andrew Marvell in his poem describes a young man convincing his fair mistress to release herself to living in the here and now. He does this by splitting the poem up into three radically different stanzas. The first takes ample time to describe great feelings of love for a young lady, and how he wishes he could show it. The idea of time is developed early but not fully. The second stanza is then used to show how time is rapidly progressing in ways such as the fading of beauty and death. The third stanza presses the question to the young mistress; will she give herself to the young man and to life? Although each stanza uses different images, they all convey the same theme of living life to the fullest and not letting time pass is seen throughout. Marvell uses imagery, symbolism, and wonderful descriptions throughout the poem. Each stanza is effective and flows easily. Rhyming couplets are seen at the ends of every line, which helps the poem read smoothly.