Writers Page 316

            Anne Bradstreet’s poem Upon the Burning of Our House demonstrates the dichotomy between the secular and the divine and the human understanding between the two.  In Bradstreet’s poem she describes the atrocious event of her house burning.  This was in a time period when insurance was not a widely spread protective agent against such…

The powerful Medici household had a profound impact on a great many lives. but few to the extent of Niccolo Machiavelli ( 1469-1527 ) . As a taking political mind Machiavelli personally dealt with the Medici. and as a author their influence was all the weightier. exemplified particularly in The Prince and The History of…

Hence, often times as individuals we feel the need to compromise the way in which we communicate our ideas so that we can appeal to the views of the majority. Two authors explore how their attempt to compromise almost caused them to become detached from their roots. In “Mother Tongue,” by Amy Tan, Tan talks…

David Herbert Richards Lawrence, born on September 11, 1885 in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England, wrote the poem Snake while residing in Taormina, Sicily in 1920. This poem is inspired by an experience Lawrence had during his time there (Groliers). Snake is widely regarded as one of Lawrence’s most renowned poems. Throughout his life, Lawrence published 11…

Translation TroubleIn the play “A Doll House” the main character, Nora, is in a situation where she is caused to act, emotionally and physically, as a doll to please her husband. Nora has to be very sneaky and conniving in order to be perfect and talked down to by her husband. The translation of this…

In Night, by Elie Wiesel, there is an underlying theme of anger. Anger not directed where it seems most appropriate- at the Nazis- but rather a deeper, inbred anger directed towards God. Having once been a role model of everything a “good Jew” should be, Wiesel slowly transforms into a faithless human being. He cannot…

Shame is a short story by Shirley Lim, depicting the Chinese culture in Malaysia. Shame talks about how women in Baba Nyonya culture must behave according to their society’s expectation. The main character in this story is Mei Sim, 6 years old girl who was stuck in her society’s culture. The story took place in…

The novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens epitomises the social, political and economic values of Victorian England. Dickens attacks the conditions and exploitation of the workers by the factory owners, the social class divisions that favour dishonesty over honesty depending on the hierarchy of class status. He finds the utilitarian (fact) school of thought where…

Through various literary works – poems and stories included – the literary devices of imagery, point of view, and symbolism have been used to different ends. For example, symbolism is employed to allude to some widely-known concepts, entities, or places in many works. Conversely, imagery serves to bring audiences as psychologically close as possible to…

How does the writer create tension and convey sympathy for Ikemefuna in this extract from the novel? Introduction: In this extract from Chapter 7, which describes the death of Ikemefuna, Achebe has used a number of techniques to create tension and make the reader feel sympathy for his situation. Part One – Preparations for the…