Romantic Themes in Burns' "To a Mouse"

Robert Burns writes "To a Mouse" in his own Scottish Dialect. He is allows his own towns people the ability to read and understand his poem, thus breaking the rejection of the classical form and languages of poetry. Burns identifies with the kinship and equality he has with the mouse and all other humans. Burns writes this poem with a sense of such spontaneity, that readers interpret and feel that it is almost a song to the mouse. Burns captures the idea of forward thinking by the mouse, as winter approaches and he, along with other men prepare for the winter months. The mouse is able to look forward and endure the present time, where as man has to live with his actions past and present. After the farmer plows over the mouse's house, he realizes that he basically killed it, as he took away his shelter for the winter.

Satire in American Culture

The facial expressions shown by the "news" anchors gives a sense of caring about what happened to their son. The family treated the killer python snake as a member of the family. It is a miracle that the python had not eaten anyone else. Although it did it their family dog! I think it is funny hearing the parents care more about the well-being of the snake, rather than their dead son. It is imitating all of the morning news shows and telling about all of their family drama that has gotten the attention of people everywhere.


http://www.theonion.com/video/boys-tragic-death-could-have-happened-to-any-famil,17024/

“If Poisonous Minerals”

“If Poisonous Minerals”

John Donne writes the poem “If Poisonous Minerals” as a question to God in an accusatory tone. There is a complete shift in the ninth line as he becomes apologetic and knows that he should never question God and who he is supposed to be as a person. Donne was writing in an accusatory, harsh, and critical tone towards God and was asking him questions of why things were a certain way. Donne is writing about how he should not be responsible for his sins as animals are not punished for their indecencies. Examples in his poem of which he compares himself to are lecherous goats and envious serpents. Donne says he should not be responsible for his actions as his models in life are Adam and Eve, who created the original sin.
The tone shift comes when Donne writes “But who am I that dare dispute with Thee?” In the second part of this poem, he is realizing that God makes things happen for certain reasons and like the Noah’s Flood washed away all things, his tears will create a new man. He will wash his sins away with tears and forget his faults and mistaken ways before he realized that God had a plan for everyone. John Donne wants God to forget about his many blunders and favor him as a person who is doing good.
The tone shift is very important in this poem as it is the most noticeable and important aspect of the poem. Without the tone shift, the poem would be completely different and not give the same meaning to Donne or his readers.

There is no frigate like a book

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry,
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll.
How frugal is the chariot
That bears the human soul!

Emily Dickinson’s poem, “There is no frigate like a book” uses denotation/ connotation and figurative language in powerful ways. If Dickinson had used more common words in her poem, readers would not be allowed the experience to truly explore the meaning behind her poem. Using denotation, one would translate the first line into there is no ship like a book. Using the connotation that Dickinson did, she is saying that there is no escape or refuge from life that works as well as a book does and that it can take us as far away as we allow ourselves to. Dickinson means to take us into the text and truly feel and experience what she is talking about, not just traveling to another country or city. In the third line, the figurative language being used is a simile, comparing a beautiful horse and a “free spirit” to the border of a page. It means that within a page, of a book, one is allowed to see beauty in the story and experience not what is happening in the world around them, but the storyline. “Of prancing poetry” can be read as happy poetry and the reader can jump around and interpret their own view. “This traverse may the poorest take without oppress of toll” explains that the reader travels across the page and they can be the poorest person and not have to pay a fee in order to feel the greatness of a fairytale. The last lines are telling us that no matter how cheap the book or “chariot” is, we can still have the royal treatment in our lives. As long as our soul possesses the goodness and love that only the joys and mysteries of a book hold, then Dickinson did her job. Using words such as frigate, lands, and coursers, Dickinson allowed the audience the possibilities to explore her world and most importantly their own, and to truly feel the emotions of her writing.

The Hound by Robert Francis

The Hound by Robert Francis

The first understanding one might get from this poem could be the very simple translation of what Robert Francis is saying. The poem says that like a dog, life can come at you in questionable and unexpected ways. A dog can come running to some unknown person and either attack them and rip them apart, or take the time to sniff things out and lick a person in acceptance. Francis writes that you cannot tell what one is going to do in advance; you just have to wait and allow things to happen naturally. If people always knew what was going to happen next in life, we would not have mysteries, and nothing would be able to surprise us, especially when we do not expect it. When reading this poem multiple times, you are allowed to analyze different aspects of your own life and see which fits best to this analogy of a poem. One woman could use this poem as a parallel of finding love and waiting for a man to break her heart, or in the positive light, for the right one to come along and marry her. This poem identifies with many different people in the way in which one can adapt it to whatever they want to compare in life. The main point of what Francis was writing is that like what a dog is going to do, life is unpredictable and we are just along for the ride and get to stand by and watch as it happens before us.

Life the hound
Equivocal
Comes at a bound
Either to rend me
Or to befriend me.

I cannot tell
The hound’s intent
Till he has sprung
At my bare hand
With teeth or tongue.
Meanwhile I stand
And wait the event.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

William Wordsworth uses great detail and tells the reader about daffodils, lakes, trees, and the rest of the surroundings in which he looks at. Wordsworth is the speaker in the poem and he is very content in his solitude. The visual and descriptive language along with the rhyming scheme allows the reader to flow along with the poem. He enjoys looking at the world from afar and is comfortable being alone on the couch. Using words such as fluttering, dancing, twinkle, and tossing really allow the reader to visualize him or herself in the setting of the poem. When one reads,
“Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.” (7-12)
The descriptive sounds that Wordsworth writes let him fully express his contentment and happiness in his writings.

Shockingness and Sorrow

My Language! Heavens,
I am the best of them that speak this speech,
Were I but where 'tis spoken.
(1.2.433-435)

In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, this line talks about Ferdinand finding someone who speaks his language. Ferdinand had just been shipwrecked and thought he saw his father, the King of Naples, die in front of him. You can imagine, being on a foreign island and finding someone you can communicate with, let alone one who speaks of his home of Naples. It has got to be a shocking feeling for Ferdinand. Ferdinand says that he is the highest speaking person in the land, only because he is under the impression that he is now the King of Naples, even though his father is very much still alive. The fact that Miranda talks to him and the way she looks at him, her father, Prospero pulled aside and made up a plan for the two to find a way to appreciate the love they had just found for each other. Shakespeare makes this quote significant in the way that it is the turning point for Prospero, as the two have fallen in love, but now he has to prove their love. This quote is significant to the text of act one, scene two because it is the realization that the two have come together under Prospero’s plan and now it is time for Prospero to throw some curve balls in the mix, to strengthen their love and understanding for each other.

Will Prospero’s plan to get his daughter, Miranda, together with Ferdinand backfire on him, or will it always look as if fate brought them together on a foreign island?