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Analysis of Oscar Wilde
Analysis of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde use of language
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Most poems are about love or heartbreak, but not many are the tragedy that occurs in prison. Surely everyone who goes to jail deserves what is coming; some might even call it karma. Although, individuals do not think about how that person might have gone to jail for. The ballet depicts how Oscar Wilde and the other inmate witnessed another inmate be hanged and mocked. In section 5 of Ballad of Reading Gaol, Oscar Wilde uses diction, repetition and consistent rhyme to lay out the tone and mood of the poem. The author uses diction that ties in with the overall tone and mood of the ballad. The tone of the ballad is depressed and the mood is sympathy. Some example of the author uses diction to contribute to the tone and mood is, “...All that
In dire situations, it is common for people to seek moral guidance. William Wordsworth and Paul Laurence Dunbar did this through poetry. The two poems, “London, 1802” and “Douglass,” share a similar underlying cause, sentence formation, and the conditions of their particular country, but differ drastically in tone, use of comparisons, structure, and the author’s goals.
Etheridge Knight’s “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane” is an interesting poem spurred from his own experiences, that explores a variety of things from basic human emotions to controversial medical treatments. Knight was incarcerated for 8 years for robbery, during which he began to develop his skill as a poet, and this stint in prison influenced the settings and styles of his poetry. Knight’s poem is unique in its slang-styled diction, but brings about relatable concepts to allow the reader to connect with the text. Two prominent themes within the poem are that anyone, no matter how strong or looked up to, can be broken, and also that slavery is still alive today, even if it is not in its traditional form. Knight combines these themes with deeper meanings and an individual way of writing to create a poem that is compelling and classic.
Oliver Sacks presents this passage as a way of comparing two very stressful and manipulative places, a hospital and a prison. He uses various examples of advanced diction, tone and figurative language to compare these situations. Sacks models these areas by connecting to the audience and placing a comparison into the mind of the reader. All of these aspects of the passage add and connect to the connotation and subject of this literary piece.
He creates a vision of relief at the beginning of the passage by means of diction, similes, and an impeccable amount of imagery. Douglass also applies an approach for the application of syntax, diction, and connotative sense to amplify the feelings of loneliness and paranoia presented after emancipation. The result is the masterpiece that fluently runs from one state of mind following his escape to another. It is a masterpiece with a timeless sense of moral values being unconsciously taught to its audience, whether or not they succeed in deciphering it. Works Cited Frederick Douglass.
Though this poem is only a small snapshot of what I personally thought Douglass was going through, I could never adequately understand the frustration he must have had. My hope in writing this poem was not to provide a psychoanalysis or theoretical idea structure to any audience, but rather to show that even today, a modern audience member like me, can appreciate the struggle of a fellow human and speak against injustices, specifically in Douglass’s time.
“Billy Collins' “Introduction to Poetry” isn’t an ars poetica poem about writing poetry, but about reading poetry. The speaker is a teacher who tells his students that they should experience a poem, rather than dissect it. The f...
Indeed, the satirical tone of this poem suggests that the speaker is somewhat critical of his father. The whiskey smell, the roughness, the inconsiderate and reckless actions are under scrutiny. The mother's frowning countenance suggests she too is rather unhappy with the scene. However, the winning tone of the poem is the light and comical one.
He talks about his experience as a target and how he knew everyone looked at him and also talks about the embarrassment and repetitiveness he had towards his fellow community because he felt prejudiced and on edge because he didn’t know what would happen to him. Then when he was in jail, he starts to read a book and likes it, but that lead to his “new found hobby” writing poetry, he says “he had a place to stand for the first time in his life”. Meaning that through his writing, he could finally feel safe, judgement free. Which gave him the confidence to write poetry, by feeling redemption from his past experience of school and when he felt like an outsider. “He also says through language I was free”. Showing the reader automatically he felt free for a reason suggesting his early to teen years he felt more than uncomfortable he felt not safe or trapped by the society he lived
Celebrated by a 25th Anniversary Edition publication in 2014, Mindfulness by Ellen J. Langer explores the ideas of mindlessness and mindfulness and their implications on health and wellbeing. Langer is a very accomplished psychologist having received her BA from New York University and her PhD from Yale. She has been a Professor of Psychology at Harvard since 1977. A few of her achievements include the NYU Alumni Achievement Award, the Arthur Staats Award for Unifying Psychology, and the World Congress Award. Langer has authored 11 books and over 200 research articles on topics such as perceived control, successful aging, and decision-making. However, all of her research has a focus on mindfulness.
The boy has been so broken, in body and soul, that it’s hard to imagine him being able to free himself. It’s when another broken prison shares that Conroy’s corruption extended his sentence because he “was a favorite – just like you” (193), the boy is almost shaken into action. He wishes to escape his prison within a prison and knows he will have to make it happen for himself. Out of desperation, an idea forms, “The heart of the boy holds one last hope. It is an idea so precious, he cannot name it.
Many writers use powerful words to portray powerful messages. Whether a writer’s choice of diction is cheerful, bitter, or in Robert Hayden’s case in his poem “Those Winter Sundays,” dismal and painful, it is the diction that formulates the tone of the piece. It is the diction which Hayden so properly places that allows us to read the poem and picture the cold tension of his foster home, and envision the barren home where his poem’s inspiration comes from. Hayden’s tumultuous childhood, along with the unorthodox relationships with his biological parents and foster parents help him to create the strong diction that permeates the dismal tone of “Those Winter Sundays.” Hayden’s ability to both overcome his tribulations and generate enough courage
[…] Its deplorable peculiarity was, that it was the faintness of solitude and disuse. It was like the last feeble echo of a sound made long and long ago” (cite). Dickens uses the novel to describe imprisonment as cruel and can rob a person of their life to convey to the people of England that more people should
The ballad is a old form of verse adapted for singing or recitation, originating in the days when most poetry existed in spoken rather than written form. The typical subject matter of most ballads reflects folk themes important to common people: love, courage, the mysterious, and the supernatural. Though the ballad is generally rich in musical qualities such as rhythm and repetition, it often portrays both ideas and feelings in overwrought but simplistic terms. The dominant meter of the ballad stanza is iambic, which means the poem's lines are constructed in two-syllable segments, called iambs, in which the first syllable is unstressed and the second is stressed. As an example of iambic meter, consider the following line from the poem with the stresses indicated:
His sorrow is not meant to be recorded but lived through Wilde’s wife attempted to bring condolences for him from those who cared about him Paragraph 5: Wilde has spent three months in prison Paragraph 6: Sorrow is a sensitive topic that demolishes the sanity of its victims It creates a wound that shall never stop bleeding but will cease to cause pain once love touches it Central Argument
Diction in poetry can be used to convey that the speaker is from a certain background or age group, for instance. This use of diction, though much more common in prose, still has an important place in many forms of poetry, particularly when the identity of the speaker is essential to fully understanding the poem. For Robert Frost, tone was very important. He said, "It's tone I'm in love with; that's what poetry is, tone."