“A poem is nothing but a picture painted black and white.” This anonymous quote perfectly explains ekphrastic poetry. Like a caption following a picture, a poem about a painting contains additional information relating to the contents of the painting. The information portrayed in the poem may not be the painters intended objective in painting what and how they painted. It is simply an opinionative description of what the poet sees. Paulo Uccello’ Saint George and the Dragon inspired poet U. A. Fanthrope to respond to the painting by writing the poem “Not my Best Side.” This poem isn’t just an objective, verbal description of Saint George and the Dragon; Fanthrope is taking it as an opportunity to challenge old, stereotypical positions on mythical times, by showing the stereotypes expressing their opinions. We are reading Fanthrope’s poem about how she reads the painting.
Fanthrope takes the liberty of explaining the poem through the eyes and mind of the three characters: the dragon, the maiden, and the knight. These dramatic monologues are an effective poetic device for Fanthrope to express ideas that she doesn’t necessarily want to be associated as her own. By speaking through persona, the expression of her feelings is not accepted as hers, but as the character’s feelings. In “Not my best Side,” Fanthrope proceeds to write about challenging old stereotypes by creating new ones. This is expressed through the monologues of her characters.
The poem begins with the challenging of the stereotypical dragon. In order to properly describe how the dragon was feeling, Fanthrope needed to personify the dragon. This was done to allow it to express emotions, feeling, and pass judgment; otherwise, a mythical dragon would not be seen as having feelings, having emotions, or being capable of passing judgment. This personification is obvious throughout the entire first stanza as the dragon proceeds to explain his feelings about the painting. Keeping in mind a personified dragon, the poem starts out with, “Not my best side, I’m afraid./ The artist didn’t give me a chance to/ Pose properly” (1-3). We are immediately informed of the dragon’s vain personality. Although dragons do not exist, a stereotypical dragon has no reason to be vain. He continues to complain of the artist that stuck him with these atrocious qualities, “he left off two of my feet” (5). Why would such an ugly killing machine care what anyone thought about him?
Reconstruction was a time period, following the Civil War, which focused on rebuilding the nation. Reconstruction was primarily focused with readmitting the seceded states into the Union. Another major issue was the condition of the approximately 4 million freedmen.
The greatest triumphs of the reconstruction era were the ratification of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. The most critical shortcomings of the reconstruction era were the black codes, the widespread popularity of, “Jim Crow” entertainment, and the lack of action from the United States government concerning peonage.
Reconstruction had lasted around fourteen years through the years of 1863 to 1877. The purpose of Reconstruction was to get rid of the Confederate forces from the governments and to arrange that the civil rights set the African Americans were respected. It was seen as a failure because the north was not successful when they wanted to repair the south and bring it to the Union. When Reconstruction was going on the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were established. The thirteenth amendment was approved in 1865 to revoke slavery; the fourteenth amendment was approved in 1868 to process and protect the judgements that were appropriate for all of the people; and the fifteenth amendment was approved in 1870 to forbid discrimination in voting rights on the basis of people’s race and color. There were a lot of different opinions whether Reconstruction had any positive or negative as its results.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a medieval poem by an unknown author, written in Middle English in the 14th century. This poem is uncanny to most poems about heroism and knightly quests as it doesn’t follow the complete circle seen in other heroism tales. This poem is different to all the rest as it shows human weaknesses as well as strengths which disturbs the myth of the perfect knight, or the faultless hero. The author uses symbolism as a literary device in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to give the plot a deeper and more significant meaning. Symbolism is used to emphasise the difference of this heroism story against others and therefore symbolism is of great importance in this poem. The importance of the following symbols will be discussed in this paper; the pentangle, the colour green, the Green Knight, the exchange of winnings game, the axe and the scar. This paper argues the significance of the use of symbolism as a literary device in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Reconstruction was the period after the Civil War ended, which needed to reform the government around the millions of newly freed slaves. Some say that both sides- North and South were to blame for the end of Reconstruction. Those people are wrong, it was primarily the North’s fault that Reconstruction ended.
The Civil War was a devastating war for the country, especially in the South. Rebuilding the nation after the war was more difficult than the actual war itself. The reconstruction was a success because it unified the United States once again as one country and abolishes slavery, but it also was unsuccessful because it failed to protect the blacks’ rights and discrimination against them.
In addition, sports is a common setting in which sex-segregation still exists. Many individuals reject the idea of men’s superiority, but still they find it appropriated and even necessary to portray and keep that image on sports rather than in any other institution. Historically, women were viewed as weak and fragile for athletic and physical activities especially because they were considered harmful for their reproductive health (Taniguchi & Shupe, 2012). Indeed, it is common to see more men’s teams participating in sports, but also media gives more coverage to men’s sports, use more men players for advertising and fantasy sport leagues (Love & Kelly, 2011).
This amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”(Legal Information Institute) This means all people born in the United States are citizens of America and the state in which they were born. No laws can be made to cut the privileges of citizens based on race. Life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness cannot be taken without due process of law. An example is the case of Brown vs the Board of Education. This case went all the way to the Supreme Court. The ended with the segregation of schools being unconstitutional and discriminated against races. (Oyez-ITT) During this time period, on the other hand, racial groups that did not agree with this emerged. One example is the KKK emerged in 1865. They fought for white supremacy and believed blacks should not gain equal rights. Members would go on night rides and terrorized whoever they wanted during the quiet hours of the night. The Klan members wore white robes and hoods to hide their faces, but identify as a member. They caused a lot of violence and unrest, mostly to African Americans. As time progressed, the Klan has appeared in waves. They disappear for a while, but eventually show up again. They still have members today, but are becoming weaker. In the past, they have been known for tar-and-featherings, rape, and lynchings. (Southern Poverty Law
This change in mental state accounts for the change in language from the unflattering descriptions early on to the more loving and affectionate feelings expressed later in the poem. This continued consumption of alcohol results in the speaker 's proclamation of love -- a state defined as "rare" because it will most likely be gone in the morning. It is clear in the poem that the speaker 's complex maze of attraction and derision is cyclic, transforming the unattractive innkeeper to the prized jewel of his eye on a weekly or perhaps daily basis. Through the clever use of negative descriptions and false comparisons, the author confides to paper what is effectively a bipolar relationship with the woman he both loathes and
When we first started the poetry unit, I felt that I would hate reading and creating poetry. When I heard we had to read poetry I was very disappointed. Every other year we did poetry units, I hated it. I hated every part of it. I dreaded reading poetry and answering the questions. I mostly felt this way because I am a factual person. I always have to have one right answer. I do not like when there are more than one answer choices that are correct. Poetry always has more than one interpretation.This year, however, hearing poetry and writing my own poetry has changed my opinion on poetry. Although I still hate answering questions on the poems I love to listen to poetry and write my own poetry. But, even when you read the poems that I write they are very straightforward and there are usually no other ways to interpret it.
Myths are explored and alluded to in all kinds of art forms. The tales of greek gods and heroes being echoed down through literature and art throughout the ages. These myths are even portrayed in poetry, as seen in Natasha Trethewey’s “Myth” and W. H. Auden’s “Musèe des Beaux Arts.” “Myth” makes a quick allusion to Erebus, part of the underworld in Greek mythology, while Auden’s poem references the story of Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun. The use of myths in both poems help to strengthen the message that the poem is giving, one by using it as a metaphor, while the other compares it to the concept that incidents do not affect everybody the same way.
The poem “Warned’ by Sylvia Stults, first seems to be about the ways human are hurting nature. However, when we look at the poem through the lens of John Shoptaw’s essay “Why Ecopoetry,” we see the evidence that this is an ecopoem and is asking people to take action to protect the environment. The poem is about the destruction of earth. The poet also tries to raises some awareness about the environment. Additionally, the internal meaning of the poem is that we, humans depend on the world’s resources, therefore we should take care of the natural world.
In Shakespeare’s sonnet 130, the speaker ponders the beauty, or the lack thereof, of his lover. Throughout the sonnet, the speaker presents his lover as an unattractive mistress with displeasing features, but in fact, the speaker is ridiculing, through the use of vivid imagery, the conventions of love poems and the way woman are portrayed through the use of false comparisons. In the end, the speaker argues that his mistress may not be perfect, but in his eyes, her beauty is equal to any woman who is abundantly admired and put through the untrue comparison.