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An essay on perseverance
An essay on perseverance
Writing On Perseverance
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“Still I Rise,” by Maya Angelou, and “Invictus,” by William Ernest Henley, are both poems about Perseverance. They focus on still staying strong even after people and things in life have tried to bring them down. However the differences of the two poems may be as significant as the similarities.
“Still I Rise” is about the faith that a woman will finally be able to put off this weight from her shoulders, and stand proud. In the first stanza, she says that her oppressors have presented a false view throughout history with lies and that even if she is treated with disrespect she will still succeed. Throughout the poem she asks if what she does upsets them and is practically mocking and laughing at them. The poem also shows how her oppressors
In June Jordan's essay “Many Rivers to Cross,” Jordan explains how multiple events in her life, including her mother’s death, led her to realize that women should “stand up” and not allow men to control them. The title of the essay is very indicative of the process that she had to go through before she came to this epiphany. Jordan’s husband is a man who is a part of the patriarchy that disrespects women. Her father is another example of a man who doesn’t know better than to oppress women, while Mrs. Hazel Griffin is the antithesis to his misogynistic ideology. Mrs. Griffin is a strong, independent women who doesn't need a man to be happy or successful. Jordan believes that women should be strong, like Hazel Griffin, and not give up when they are being persecuted, rather than being weak and submitting to oppression, like Jordan’s mother.
“Rise Up” is a song written by Cassandra Monique Batieq and Jennifer Decilve. It portrays the theme of standing up and never letting go of what you believe in even if you are facing a number of obstacles. The first line of the song is, “You're broken down and tired of living life on a merry go round…” This line connects with Code Talker because Ned Begay was constantly moved from one island to another like the way the horses move on the merry go round. Not only that, Ned implied that he is sick of war and doesn’t know when it will end. In another verse, it says, “When the silence isn't quiet, and it feels like it's getting hard to breathe, and I know you feel like dying, but I promise we'll take the world to its feet.” This line shows a very relatable connection. In the book, Ned talks about the chaos in war, and how the war machinery made it hard to breathe. Death and corpses were all around him, and during that time he might have felt like he was going to die. Ned Begay and his friends kept hope, belief, and they were able to make it through. They show connection because even if the conditions get too hard, both the text and the lyrics show that you can get back up. The main chorus of the song goes like, “And I'll rise up, I'll rise like the day, I'll rise up, I'll rise unafraid, I'll rise up, and I'll do it a thousand times again.”The chorus fits perfectly with
The poem ‘Invictus’ by William Ernest Henley forms thorough comparisons regarding theme with Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ as Henley conceives themes of fate, circumstance, and struggle in his literary piece. These thematic connections are shown when the protagonist, Okonkwo, of ‘Things Fall Apart’ is faced with the task of emerging from poverty and becoming a man that is successful, yet feared, and most importantly, divergent from his father, Unoka. He is also challenged with his own inner demons as the white man reshapes his way of life, driving Okonkwo to a fate much different than what he anticipated.
Both authors present the theme of identity in different ways. For example, in ‘Still I Rise’ the speaker is conveying that she is very much confident with her identity and that she has a strong sense of who she is as she fights back against the oppression of blacks in America, however in ‘An Unknown Girl’, the poem follows a speaker who is having her hand hennaed by a girl who is unknown to the reader in an Indian bazaar whilst she is trying to connect with her Indian roots and appears alienated as she desperately wants to join the culture. The fact that Moniza Alvi is determined, almost desperate to become a member of the community is shown in her line, ‘I am clinging to these firm peacock lines like people who cling to the sides of a train.’
“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman both contains a powerful message about freedom of expression and finding strength. These two texts have different genres. In “Still I Rise,” it is poetry and sarcastic responses. The other text “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is a short story that deals with mental disorder, gothic and horror. In the poem “Still I Rise” the tone of the speaker is Sarcastic and expertly accomplishes to yield out the matter as horrific as racism and leave the reader of her poem, feeling furious and honored at the same time. On the other hand, the tone for “The Yellow Wall Paper” is anxiety and flashes of sarcasm, anger, and misery.
“Courage”, by Anne Sexton, is a poem that shows how courage is seen in different stages of life. Anne Sexton uses similes, metaphors and imagery to convey her theme, courage is used in every part of life.
In the English language, control can be defined as to determine the behavior or supervise the running of. Every person wants to have control of their own lives, no matter what it takes. Every person at some point loses control of their lives, but when they lose control, and who they lose it to, can make the difference. This idea can be seen in many pieces of texts including the following poems. “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley and “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes both convey the message that people are supposed to have control of their own fate and actions.
Still I rise by Maya Angelou is my second poem choice. Maya Angelou is a women who went through the tribulations of sexual abuse and at the same time the emotionally abusive oppression of black people {emphasized on that of black women} early in her life. She wrote this empowering poem which confronts the abusers by telling them she has overcome the hurdle and she is rising. She says: ‘You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise.’
The narrator begins the last lines in the poem again describing Miss Rosie disgracefully stating, “ you wet brown bag of a woman” (Line 13) which is still in the “breaking down” process of the poem. Surprisingly, the narrator begins to encourage Miss Rosie referring to the past saying she was, “the best looking gal in Georgia” (Line 14) and how she was called, “ the Georgia Rose” (Line 15) meaning that Miss Rosie was once a beautiful woman. Then the narrator states “i stand up through your destruction” (Lines 16-17) meaning that the narrator will learn from Miss Rosie’s mistakes and will live a better life. Even though Miss Rosie is insulted throughout the whole poem the narrator lets her know that she is a role model and that she should “pick herself back up”.
The child’s game had ended. After I nearly ran Kurtz over, we stood facing each other. He was unsteady on his feet, swaying like the trees that surrounded us. What stood before me was a ghost. Each layer of him had been carved away by the jungle, until nothing remained. Despite this, his strength still exceeded that of my own. With the tribal fires burning so close, one shout from him would unleash his natives on me. But in that same realization, I felt my own strength kindle inside me. I could just as easily muffle his command and overtake him. The scene flashed past my eyes as though I was remembering not imagining. The stick that lay two feet from me was beating down on the ghost, as my bloodied hand strangled his cries. My mind abruptly reeled backwards as I realized what unspeakable dark thoughts I had let in. Kurtz seemed to understand where my mind had wandered; it was as though the jungle’s wind has whispered my internal struggles to him. His face twisted into a smile. He seemed to gloat and enjoy standing by to watch my soul begin to destroy itself.
Finally, in the last stanza the female recognizes that she needs to act on her own, and empower her own self. So she chooses to become "a woman"(19). A woman is a source of life; a woman exists separately from a man; a woman exists as an equal to the man. The capital letter in the title of the poem tells as that as a woman she has importance, she stands out. The female becomes a "Woman", and with that transformation she finds identity and no longer needs to rely on a man. She has transformed herself and threw out her notions, she has self actualizes. While the man still refuses to play a role in her life, "Woman" decides that she no longer needs him in it, "she decided it was all / right."
One way the two poems differ is in the theme and tone of the poems. In Jessie Pope’s poem she has produced war propaganda which is designed to encourage people to go to war. This means that she is unlikely to talk negatively about war. As shown in the poem by the quotation ‘who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘go’?’ This implies that the war is a race because the signal ‘go’ is often associated with the start of a race. Furthermore, the
Throughout the poem two phrases are repeated many times, emphasizing their importance, and giving them more power. As they are repeated the reader is shown the indifference of the narrator when he says, "First they came for the ..." "and I did not speak out Because I was not a..." (Niemöller, 1-6). These phrases and their interchangeable endings show how the narrator does not care who is facing troubles as long as it is not them. This indifference is detrimental because it shows a lack of empathy and cares for others in the narrator. Niemöller's repetition of these two phrases during his poem highlights the narrator's consistent disregard for people different than them. A shift in the pattern of thinking of the narrator is seen when he says, "Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me." (Niemöller, 7). After repeatedly ignoring the injustices against others the narrator realizes their mistake when they find themself in the same situation as the people they had previously ignored. This change in how the narrator thinks shows how their lack of action to help others face their injustices was done so partly in ignorance. The narrator had not yet realized that everyone faces struggles at a point during their lives, and that the only way to get through them is by supporting and having the support of
In Antigone, a tragedy written by Sophocles, a determined sister must bury her brother, but with the challenges of corrupt king, this daring act may be her last. The two poems, Invictus and If We Must Die, have a similar, but different concepts like Antigone. Invictus captures that throughout a journey, someone should never give up pride. Comparing to Invictus, in If We Must Die, a person should find the most honorable way to die, if death approaches. If We Must Die represents Antigone the best because in both selections they’re finding honor through their deaths.
The short stanzas containing powerful imagery overwhelm the readers forcing them to imagine the oppression that the speaker went through in her short life. The tone of this poem is that of an adult engulfed in outrage and who oftentimes slips into a childlike dialect; this is evident when the speaker continually uses the word "Daddy" and also repeats herself quite often. The last two stanzas of the poem, especially, portray a dismal picture of life for women who find themselves under a dominating male figure. The passage seems to show that the speaker has reached a resolution after being kept under a man?s thumb all her life.