Black Swan Green and Letters to a Young Poet are stories with a central idea on the many aspects of beauty. Both of the works of literature share a character with a love for poetry. Black Swan Green and Letters to a Young Poet share a central idea but refine it differently. Each of the stories has characters who have a different opinion on the concept of beauty itself. In Black Swan Green the author David Mitchell refines the idea of beauty in a different manner than the way Letters To a Young Poet delivers its message. Mitchell uses the idea that being truthful or just the embracing the truth is beautiful. Madame Crommelynck advises Jason on truth and why it is needed in poetry. Madame says “if an art is true if an art is free of falsenesses, it is, a priori, beautiful” (p. 155). The second story Letters To a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke clarifies that beauty is not an opinion, beauty is its own entity that lives on its own. Rilke advises the young poet to quit looking for outside approval or opinion regarding his works. “I beg you …show more content…
Letters To a Young Poet and Black Swan Green develop the idea in a similar way with characters explaining it differently. In the latter of the two stories Madame Crommelynck tells Jason that “Beauty is immune to definition.” (P.148). In Rilke’s letter his last piece of advice warns him not to disturb his development as a poet by “by looking outside and waiting for outside answers to question that only your innermost feeling, in your most quietest hour, can perhaps answer.”(P.7) Both of the authors have wise characters teach a young aspiring writer trying to prove that their work is worthy. The central idea is delivered in a similar manner but with different methods of explanation. Beauty cannot be forced and it is not set upon, that is central idea developed over the course of the story with many aspects added as the idea
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke and Black Swan Green by David Mitchell introduce a central idea about beauty; Rilke’s being beauty within, and Mitchell’s being beauty is. Rilke develops it through his own narration, yet Mitchell develops it through a character’s experience (Madame Crommelynck). Individual identity is also a central idea pertaining to both Rilke and Mitchell. Rilke explains individual identity to someone else while Mitchell makes it so the main character (Jason) is to struggle with individual identity. The authors both take a similar approach to develop and refine their central ideas, beauty and individual identity, beauty and individual identity.
The way the points of views in each different poem creates a different theme for each poems using different points diction to convey meaning for each of the two poems. In the poem “Birthday” a humorous tone shows a newborn baby in a first person point of view. As opposed to the poem “The Secret Life of Books” which uses a third person point of view for a more serious tone. The two poems would change dramatically whiteout the different points of views because without the humor of the newborn baby being the narrator the poem might take a different spin on the meaning to create a more serious tone. As opposed to “The Secret Life of Books” where the poem is a big personification which if it was not in a third person point of view it might have a a humorous tome in the background. The two poems have many things that help contrast them with each other another one of these being the theme chosen to give each poem a separate identity, while “Birthday” has some background information in some of the diction it uses to World War II “The Secret Life of Books” has no need for the knowledge of background information just the curiosity of the brain
The concept of beauty is a subject society speaks on through many channels. Social media plays a tremendous role in how society measures beauty and how to achieve these impossible standards. People from all walks of life have become obsessed with the idea of beauty and achieving the highest level it. In many cases, those who do not meet societal views of what is “beautiful” can become very resentful to these predisposed notions of beauty. David Akst in his writing “What Meets the Eye”, is bitter toward women and their ongoing obsession with beauty.
As you can see, upon looking at both pieces of writing from a different angle, there is always the opportunity for different interpretations. It is certain that a deeper analysis will give even more possible themes and common topics. Now that you have seen how each of these can be read in more than one way, hopefully you can read other pieces of poetry, attain different meanings for them and have greater love and knowledge for poetry in general.
Letters to a Young Poet “Letter One”, written by Rainer Maria Rilke, is a letter written by Rilke which contains advice for the aforementioned poet in the title of the piece. The reason for Rilke writing this piece was that a young, inexperienced poet sent Rilke a letter along with the poet’s own poems, which were called “My Soul” and “To Leopardi.” Rilke informs the poet that he is not comfortable with giving criticism, saying that “Nothing touches a work of art so little as words of criticism,” (p. 5). Instead of giving criticism, Rilke advises the poet on what first steps he should take in order to pursue a serious career in writing literature. The tone of a piece of literature is directly dependent upon the word choice with which it is written.
know beauty in any form”(86). We are so conditioned to see female beauty as what men
In his preface of the Kokinshū poet Ki no Tsurayaki wrote that poetry conveyed the “true heart” of people. And because poetry declares the true heart of people, poetry in the minds of the poets of the past believed that it also moved the hearts of the gods. It can be seen that in the ancient past that poetry had a great importance to the people of the time or at least to the poets of the past. In this paper I will describe two of some of the most important works in Japanese poetry the anthologies of the Man’yōshū and the Kokinshū. Both equally important as said by some scholars of Japanese literature, and both works contributing greatly to the culture of those who live in the land of the rising sun.
As stated by ‘The Duchess’, Margaret Wolfe Hungerford’s famous quote “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” As a result, beauty can describe as an inspiring view present in everything that can be seen. To begin, beauty can be viewed in a building as large and extravagant as the white house to the small hometown market or even in the sight of a single flower to a field filled with a million flowers. Also, beauty can be seen in the sunrise over the peaks of the mountains and also in the sunset glowing across a calm lake surrounded by the bright colors of the fall trees. Furthermore, people have physical beauty, which can be found in a person’s features, figure, or complexion. In the poem “Beauty & Dress” by Robert Herrick he explains the beauty he sees in his wife. Herrick states,
“She Walks in Beauty” is a poem that uses juxtaposition to help emphasize the object of magnificence. Daniel Moran, a secondary school teacher of English and American literature, states that the object is “made beautiful by a perfect combination of opposites” (Moran 276). Uma Kukathas, a freelance writer and editor, further explains that “Byron overturns the reader’s expectations by associating beauty with darkness rather than light and also by showing how light and darkness merge to create a perfect harmony” (Kukathas 279). However, it is the object of beauty Byron is describing, as well as why, that receives debate. In Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty,” there is controversy around who or what the beauty is, and the depth in which Byron describes it.
...s being anxious. Every deep reader is an Idiot Questioner.” Sometimes everyone has difficulties in understanding poetry. We are anxious for not knowing the message which the author addressed to us. We are constantly seeking the answers and reject not knowing the truth. It is that way in every aspect of our lives and is the part of human nature. Why is that so? Maybe because there are so many things to search the answer for and plenty of them to admire to. In another words, beauty is everywhere, as Keats says in one of many of his letters to Fanny Brawne: “I have loved the principle of beauty in all things”. Lester Burnham, the protagonist of ‘American Beauty’, says something similar in his monologue at the end of the film: “It's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world. “ The world is enigmatic and therefore beautiful. The same is with the poetry.
In Letters to a Young Poet “Letter One” by Rainer M. Rilke, a young poet sends his poems and writes a letter to Rainier Rilke seeking advice from the poet himself. In the letter that Rilke sends to the young poet, he offers the poet advice by using specific words choices and phrases to make an impact on the meaning and the tone of his letter. By giving the young poet advice, Rilke uses a form of commands in a sincere, friendly kind of way. He advises the young poet to avoid certain things in the art of poetry and to write from within himself. Rilke’s word choices create meaning by focusing on the importance of the individual in his or her own artwork.
He admires every aspect her by comparing her to night and day. “And all that’s best of dark and bright / Meet in her aspect and her eyes” (Byron 3 – 4). She is the combination of dark and bright showing the best of both sides. As well that her eyes may sparkle despite being dark color. Byron uses this comparison throughout the poem in the stanzas constantly showing her flaws are not flaws but beautiful. She is a balance of beauty. He continues in the third stanza of showing the two sides of the coin. “The smiles that win, the tints that glow, / But tell of days in goodness spent” (Byron 15 – 16). She has a glowing smile and blushes when told but that she also has spent her life doing good things. She is not just a pretty face but her beauty goes further and is more than skin deep. She is also is a good person on the inside. Byron focuses on the wholeness of the beauty by displaying that she is seen as a good way by not just her looks but also by her actions. “Byron consistently approaches and represents the object of beauty with an indirection that locates that object 's aesthetic power in the ambience it creates and the effects to which that ambience gives rise. This suggests that although the poem 's nominal subject is the uncommon beauty of one particular lady, its real subject is something quite different: the sublime effect of the contrasts arising from the initial perception
The judgement of taste is based solely on the opinions and feelings of the person affected by the object being viewed. This judgement is and can only be completely objective depending on individual feeling. Based on person judgement, the opinion formed while viewing a subject does nothing to contribute to the area of teaching or learning since the sentiment appeals to the senses. Only our personal interest to an object will determine our reactions and emotions felt from its existence. Beauty can only be determined by a person’s own personal feelings. Our opinions are not directly formed by someone else’s or by any other aspects. If another person asks for an opinion of an object being beautiful they must also understand that this can only
In the past, poetry affected young people even if it was to a small or large degree. It was always present in some part of their lives. Young people enjoyed writing poems of love and joy. They appreciated poetry. Today we claim not to have time on our hands. We are constantly on the run trying to keep up with the fast paced world. How the young generations view poetry is that it is a waste of their time. Because of the new revolution of poetry, the types written these days are of destruction, hate, ugliness, and depression. These cliches of modern poetry repel youths from poetry because they do not want to be constantly reminded of the negative aspects of life. Poetry is...
This quote portrays the picture of inner beauty and how it's more imperative and significant rather than external or superficial beauty and how being unpleasant or horrid looking should not be offensive, some individuals contemplate or perceive that being unpleasant looking is a bad or undervalued place in this society but, "The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a Woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she knows."(1969, Hepburn). What states or expresses one is not one's corporeal or substantial beauty but, their internal beauty is what defines one as a person and that's what makes it a special thing.