The most charming beauty of romantic literature is the trait of its being intensely autobiographical and subjective. Similarly, "Essays of Elia" unfold the life history and idiosyncratic mind of Charles Lamb in a semi-factual way. The real delight for the Romantic comes from his infusion of fact and fiction as, otherwise, his essays would have become mere boring and passionless statements about his personal and private life. Our charm and fascination do not grow less, for we are never too close to the reality or surrounded by totally imaginary details and accounts. Under the thin layer of mystified names and references, Lamb lays bare his entire existence.
In fact, it is not possible for readers to trace out a true history of Charles Lamb through his essays. He mystifies the details of his personal life by giving us false names and false kinship. Even the pseudonym of "Elia" is sufficient to blur our judgment. Without additional help in form of footnotes and comments, we cannot safely connect details given in the essays with Lamb's life. Sometimes, he may make a confessi...
In comparison to other slaves that are discussed over time, Olaudah Equiano truly does lead an ‘interesting’ life. While his time as a slave was very poor there are certainly other slaves that he mentions that received far more damaging treatment than he did. In turn this inspires him to fight for the abolishment of slavery. By pointing out both negative and positive events that occurred, the treatment he received from all of his masters, the impact that religion had on his life and how abolishing slavery could benefit the future of everyone as a whole; Equiano develops a compelling argument that does help aid the battle against slavery. For Olaudah Equiano’s life journey expressed an array of cruelties that came with living the life of an
The central figures in these three works are all undoubtedly flawed, each one in a very different way. They may have responded to their positions in life, or the circumstances in which they find themselves may have brought out traits that already existed. Whichever applies to each individual, or the peculiar combination of the two that is specific to them, it effects the outcome of their lives. Their reaction to these defects, and the control or lack of it that they apply to these qualities, is also central to the narrative that drives these texts. The exploration of the characters of these men and their particular idiosyncrasies is the thread that runs throughout all of the works.
1970, pp. 7-8. Rpt. In The Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism. New York.:Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print
Through this sympathetic faculty, a writer is able to give flesh, authenticity and a genuine perspective to the imagined. It is only in this manner that the goal of creating living beings may be realized. Anything short of this becomes an exercise in image and in Kundera’s words, produces an immoral novel (3). The antithesis of liv... ...
Abrams, M.H. and Greenblatt, Stephen eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Seventh Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.
Wolfson, Susan and Peter Manning (eds.). The Longman Anthology of British Literature: The Romantics and Their Contemporaries. Volume 2A. New York: Longman, 1999.
Merriman, C.D. "Charles Lamb." The Literature Netwrok. Jalic Inc., 2008. Web. 12 Mar 2010. .
In this brief monograph, we shall be hunting down and examining various creatures from the bestiary of Medieval/Renaissance thought. Among these are the fierce lion of imperious, egotistical power, a pair of fantastic peacocks, one of vanity, one of preening social status, and the docile lamb of humility. The lion and the peacocks are of the species known as pride, while the lamb is of an entirely different, in fact antithetical race, that of humility and forgiveness. The textual regions we shall be exploring include the diverse expanses, from palace to heath, of William Shakespeare, the dark, sinister Italy of John Webster, and the perfumed lady's chambers of Ben Jonson and Robert Herrick.
There are several instances in the book Night by Elie Wiesel where Elie has an internal conflict about his spirituality. Elie is the witness of many horrors and there are times when he questions God’s presence. However, there are other times where Elie thanks and prays to God. Elie’s beliefs change throughout the course of the book and he is uncertain about what to think.
One of the most interesting aspects of Victorian era literature reflects the conflict between religion and the fast gathering movement aptly dubbed the enlightenment. Primarily known for its prude, repressed, social and family structure beneath the surface of the Victorian illusion many conflicting, perhaps even radical, ideas were simmering and fast reaching a boiling point within in the public circle. In fact writers such as Thomas Hardy and Gerald Manly Hopkins reflect this very struggle between the cold front of former human understanding and the rising warm front know only as the enlightenment. As a result we as readers are treated to a spectacular display of fireworks within both authors poetry as the two ideas: poetics of soul and savior, and the poetics of naturalism struggle and brutality, meet and mix in the authors minds creating a lightning storm for us to enjoy.
M.H. Abrams et al, eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 7th ed. NY: Norton, 2000. Pgs. 2092-2120.
...res that make these books continue to live on for centuries. Due to the constraints of the essay not all aspects of the narrative perspective could be discussed and the role they play with the novellas.
My aspiration toward a better education starts all the way back to when I started school in Russia. Out of the short educational experience that I had in Russia, I remember that almost everybody wanted to be the straight-A student (or straight-"5" by Russian grading). That, combined with the constant pressure from my family helped me get excited about school and made me want to learn. My education in Russia was cut short, however, when we moved to the United States.