More handpicked essays just for you.
Critical analysis of poetry
Analysis poetry from elements of poetry
Discuss the elements of analysing poetry
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The poem ‘Carpenter’s Complaint’ by Edward Baugh was about a carpenter who wanted to build a coffin for his friend; however, the son of the dead man ‘maaga-foot bwoy’ wanted another man, Mr. Belnavis, to build his father a fancier and nicer coffin. He was very mad because he built his friend’s house, but not his coffin. The carpenter described Mr. Belnavis as a ‘big-belly crook who don’t know him arse from a chisel’, and who only got the job to make the coffin because he was a big-shot. We knew that he was in a bar because of line 11 ‘Fix we a nex’ one, Miss Fergie’. He praised his friend’s ability to drink, and be able to stand up straight and walk home ‘cool, cool, cool’. The carpenter would have built the coffin for free because the man was his friend. He believed that university turned the ‘maaga-foot bwoy’ fool, and it burnt him badly. The poem ‘Coolie Mother’ by David Dabydeen was about a hard working coolie mother named Jasmattie. She was broke and her home was so small that it was compared to a shoe box. Jasmattie did any work that she could find and these included beating clothes, weeding yard, chopping wood, and feeding fowl. She worked for every body line4 ‘For this body and that body and every blasted body’ suggested that she was frustrated and that she worked for everyone; even those that she might not have liked. She had to fetch water from the Canje River because they didn’t have running water. She worked until her ‘foot bottom crack’ and ‘she hand cut-up’, and curses swarmed out of her mouth. She was sick because she was coughing blood, but going to a doctor that would cut into her savings, so instead she mashed the blood into the ground. She saved her ‘one-one slow penny’ because in the end they added up. In t... ... middle of paper ... ...It made us see that Jasmattie’s lifestyle had shaped who she was, and it had made her a determined woman who knew what she wanted, and how to get it. Jasmattie’s life wasn’t glamorous at all, but very tough. In ‘Carpenter’s Complaint’ by Edward Baugh we were able to understand the carpenter’s lifestyle when he praised his dead friend using a simile line 15 ‘Then stand up straight as a plumb-line’. This showed us that the carpenter enjoyed drinking because he adored his friend’s ability to drink a whole lot, and still be able to walk home normal. A hyperbole was used in lines 14-15 ‘When him drink old Brown and Coxs’n into the ground’. Here he was also praising his friend’s drinking abilities, however, one can’t literally drink into the ground so that was an exaggeration. The literary elements which Baugh used in this poem showed us that the carpenter liked to drink.
The author puts into light some of the daily horrors of these people. Some of these passages are horrific. The work conditions were anything but clean and safe. The poem touches on how the people were around chemicals, inhaling poison. He goes on about the dangers of going to the canning factories with no safety or labor restrictions. Even though work conditions were
In Tim Seibles' poem, The Case, he reviews the problematic situations of how white people are naturally born with an unfair privilege. Throughout the poem, he goes into detail about how colored people become uncomfortable when they realize that their skin color is different. Not only does it affect them in an everyday aspect, but also in emotional ways as well. He starts off with stating how white people are beautiful and continues on with how people enjoy their presence. Then he transitions into how people of color actually feel when they encounter a white person. After, he ends with the accusation of the white people in today's world that are still racist and hateful towards people of color.
... This line implies that the drinking will never end and that no one can stop him from drinking no matter what you do. This poem is a poem that has beautiful imagery that consistently connects the reader to what’s going on in the actual poem like these lines from “Country Western Singer”, “And the blood I taste, the blood I swallow / Is as far away from wine / as 5:10 is for the one who dies at 5:09” (37-40). These lines have to do with the final push of the alcoholic and the fact that they lost the battle against alcoholism and did in fact pass away.
The poem Momma, written by Chrystal Meeker is a detailed poem about the the life of a struggling mother and her children. In Meeker’s poem, the main character portray the hardship and reality of her family during a difficult time. The narrator provide details about the willingness of her mother, whom she called Momma. This daughter glorifies her mom’s actions while facing financial difficulties.
Imagine you were the rose trying to grow in concrete; would you have made it out or die trying or maybe you just gave up. So think about it, what would you have really done? The poem “The Rose that Grew from Concrete” is about a rose that grew in concrete a metaphor that shows that you have to get past your problems to succeed. And the poem “Mother to Son” is about a mother explaining how hard life is a metaphor. Both poems share the theme of You have to rise above the obstacles, but the way the authors developed the theme was similar and different.
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.
The question is: What do you think the grandmother meant when she said to the Misfit, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” Why do you think the Misfit killed her when she said that? Since the question is two parts, I’ll answer it in two parts.
Similarly to the way people hold expectations for the daystar, or sun, to rise every day, mothers are expected to perform their duties like cleaning the house or taking care of the children. Both are taken advantage of and are not fully appreciated until they stop performing their duties. Throughout the poem, the woman’s daughter and husband are given names, “Liza” (line 12) and “Thomas” (line 17) respectively, but not her. The woman is only referred to as “she” or “her” which further highlights the lack of acknowledgement she receives. The mother is taken for granted by her family and is not regarded as important. Her efforts are ignored and she is never thanked for completing her tasks around the house because that is the role she is “supposed” to fulfill.
Influenced by the style of “plainspoken English” utilized by Phillip Larkin (“Deborah Garrison”), Deborah Garrison writes what she knows, with seemingly simple language, and incorporating aspects of her life into her poetry. As a working mother, the narrator of Garrison’s, “Sestina for the Working Mother” provides insight for the readers regarding inner thoughts and emotions she experiences in her everyday life. Performing the daily circus act of balancing work and motherhood, she, daydreams of how life might be and struggles with guilt, before ultimately realizing her chosen path is what it right for her and her family.
Larkin published his collection of poems ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ in 1964. The main focus of this collection is of post war Britain, but materialism and consumerism are also common themes which are evident in some of Larkin’s poetry. In Larkin’s poems ‘essential beauty’, ‘the large cool stores’ and ‘here’ all take reference to the ideology that there is a material world that the proletariat aspire to be a part of. ‘Mr Bleaney’ then shows the life of the working class, and that they don’t have these material possessions, which lead to little recognition of their lives. Over all they all suggests that because of the material world we have be born into it allows the bourgeoisies to condition the proletariat into accepting the capitalist society through creating a false
“I am a large, big boned woman with rough, man-working hands” Mama describes of herself in the short story Everyday Use by Alice Walker. Mama, who additionally takes the role of narrator, is a lady who comes from a wealth of heritage and tough roots. She is never vain, never boastful and most certainly never selfish. She speaks only of her two daughters who she cares deeply for. She analyzes the way she has raised them and how much she has cared too much or too little for them, yet most of all how much they value their family. Mama never speaks of herself, other than one paragraph where she describes what she does. “My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing” (Walker, 60). She does not need to tell readers who she is, for her descriptions of what she does and how her family interacts, denotes all the reader needs to know. Although Mama narrates this story rather bleakly, she gives readers a sense of love and sense of her inner strength to continue heritage through “Everyday Use”.
Before his debut book of poetry which contained “Digging” was published, Heaney had grown up experiencing the industrial revolution firsthand when he moved from his family farm to a Catholic boarding school in Derry. In this move, he went from living in a rural country to an urban city where he was surrounded with industrial outlooks on society. Thus, he gained a greater understanding of subjects such as writing which benefitted him in the way that he became an educated poet. Yet, Heaney admits in a lecture to a classroom full of students that he did struggle with poetry a...
However, the film criticizes the mother-figure’s social-economic status. In her essay, The Institutionalization of Motherhood in Japan: The Evolution of “Mother” Since the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Ninomiya Reiko writes: “Middle class is a matter of status as well as income and is signaled by subtler cues: how we live, what we spend our money on, and what expectations we have for the future .” Ninomiya’s comment states social class affects a mother’s ability to raise her children. Furthermore, Ninomiya’s comment implies that belonging to the middle (or upper) classes brings a status and respect the working class cannot attain. In this film, the mother has no option but to work to provide for her family. The Poet’s Life introduces the mother-figure spooling yarn during the evening while her son lies on the floor. From this short introduction, it appears the mother expects little in return from her son, as he just lies on the floor while she works. Nevertheless, tired as she may be, she keeps on working because of her devotion to her
The ironic use of rhyme and meter, or the lack thereof, is one of the devices Larkin uses to emphasize his need to break out of industrial society. The typical rhyme scheme is not followed, but instead an ironic rhyme scheme is used in the sonnet in the form of abab cdcd efg efg. Larkin writes this poem as a sonnet but at the same time diverges from what a typical sonnet is supposed to be. He is commenting on society’s inclination to form restrictions on those within it. By writing out of the accepted form of a sonnet, his writing becomes more natural because of a lack of constraints due to following certain rules and fitting a certain form. He breaks free and writes as he pleases and does not conform to society. Just as with the rhyme, ...
When humans and nature come together, they either coexist harmoniously because nature's inhabitants and humans share a mutual respect and understanding for each other, or they clash because humans attempt to control and force their ways of life on nature. The poems, "The Bull Moose" by Alden Nowlan, "The Panther" by Rainer Maria Rilke, "Walking the Dog" by Howard Nemerov, and "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop, describe what happens when humans and nature come together. I believe that when humans and nature come together they either clash and conflict because individuals destroy and attempt to control nature, which is a reflection of their powerful need to control themselves, or humans live peacefully with nature because not only do they admire and respect nature, but also they can see themselves in nature.