Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there were two best friends who were inseparable. Their names were Danielle and Kenzie. Danielle and Kenzie did everything together; they walked to school together, ate dinner together every night, did their homework together, slept over at each other's houses every weekend, and much much more. They promised that they were going to be each other's maid of honors, be next door neighbors when they were older, and raise their kids together. However, one day, this all changed.
The day that everything changed was at the start of Kenzie and Danielle's senior year. A new boy had moved into their neighborhood and Danielle took interest right away. His name was Superman and he was smart, handsome, brave, and strong. Basically, he was the perfect guy who lived a normal life by day and battled super villains by night. Yet, Kenzie hated him because he was ruining her friendship with Danielle. Instead of Danielle spending all of her time with Kenzie, she began to spend all of it with Superman. They became inseparable almost immediately and fell madly in love. They knew only one month into their relationship that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. However, their family and friends were highly against this idea because Superman and Danielle were so young and came from different worlds. Danielle had lived in Smallville, Kansas her entire life, while Superman was from a far off world called Krypton. However, nothing could stop Danielle and Superman from getting married. They decided to run away to Krypton together where they could happily spend their lives together. But, Kenzie was not having this and she knew she had to stop Danielle before it was too late...
Kenzie had formulated the perfect plan to break up Superman and Danielle and get her best friend back. This plan was to tell Danielle that Superman had been cheating on her with his ex, Lois Lane. Kenzie flew out to Krypton to break the news to Danielle. At first, Danielle did not believe what Kenzie was saying, but then she realized that Kenzie would not have flown all the way out to Krypton if she was not telling the truth. Danielle broke up with Superman with no explanation and went back to Smallville with Kenzie. A few days after Danielle was back home, she saw Lois Lane at the grocery store. While eavesdropping in on a conversation, Danielle found out that Lois had been in Ireland for the past month, which meant there was no way that Superman had cheated on her! Danielle confronted Kenzie, who finally admitted to had what she had done, and Danielle quickly flew back to Krypton to live with Superman... and they lived happily ever after. The end.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd Analysis
The poem I chose to analyze is "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd." I believe the theme of this poem is that no matter how good things may seem, they eventually go bad and will not be the amazing things that they once were. The message that the author is trying to get across here is that someone can be promised all the good in the world, but this still might not be enough. The theme and the author's message can be proven by the message each of the individual stanzas gives. Each of these stanza's is addressing the promises that were promised by the shepherd to the nymph for her love in Christopher Marlowe's poem "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love." In the first stanza, the nymph says that if she knew that this shepherd was telling the truth, then she may be inclined to believe everything he is saying and accept the idea of loving and living with him. However, as shown in the nest four stanzas, the nymph cannot trust what the shepherd is saying. In the second stanza, the nymph she talks of how nature changes and that it will not always stay warm and beautiful. In the third stanza, she also talks of how nature changes, due to winter, and how sweet words give way to unrealistic expectations that die fast. In the fourth stanza, the nymph says that all of the things the shepherd has promised her mean nothing because they will all break, die, or be forgotten at some point. Finally, in the fifth stanza, she says that all of the things the shepherd has promised are still not enough to convince her to be with him. The first five stanzas of the poem help to establish the overall theme of the poem.
This poem also uses many different elements to add to the development of the theme. One element is the structure of the poem. The poem is made up of six stanzas. The first five stanzas all are used to build the theme, from the themes that each of the individual stanzas give. However, the final stanza is used as a way to question everything the speaker has said in the previous stanzas. The sudden change of events creates impact and leaves the reader wanting more and answers. This structure adds to the development of the theme because the first five stanzas build the theme while the sixth stanza allows the reader to question the poem's theme. Another element is literary devices. The major literary device this poem uses is allusion. The entirety of this poem is alluding to the poem "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe. Specific lines of Raleigh's poem that use the same words/wording and ideas of Marlowe's poem are line three and four, "These pretty pleasure might me move To live with thee and be thy love" and lines thirteen and fourteen "Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies." Another literary device that is found throughout the poem is alliteration. Examples of alliteration are seen in line three "pretty pleasure might me move," line four, "flocks from field to fold," and line 10 "wayward WInter." These two literary devices, especially the allusion, are important to the theme development because the whole theme of this poem is in response to Marlowe's poem that this poem is alluding to. The final element found in this poem is word choice. One way word choice is used in this poem is by using the sound of words to make a point. An example of this is the third stanza which uses soft and flowing smooth words, whose point is to contrast of the hashrness that the speaker is actually communicating in that stanza. The author also uses word choice to make a point in the fourth stanza when he uses simplistic non descriptive words that Marlowe used in his poem in a much more descriptive way. The point is that the less descriptive words show how unimportant these things are to the nymph. Finally the author uses word choice to put in words with double meaning. The words with double meaning in this poem are fancy, line 12, and means, line 19. These double meanings words foreshadow to the last stanza which questions everything that was said in the rest of the poem, giving the poem a second/double meaning. These are the different elements that help develop the theme.
This poem was written during the Elizabethan Era. The Elizabethan Era took on many new themes that had not been seen in poetry prior to this point. Some of these themes fit in with this poems while others do not. The main themes of this time period were love and romantic relations, passage of time, effect of imprisonment, views on happy life, old age, advice to a son, true joy, and tributes to the dead. Clearly, the themes of love, passage of time, views on happy life, and true joy are all themes found within the poem. The speaker is talking in response to someone who wants her love and she has to establish what a happy and joyful life is to her when the passing of time most often changes things. However, the rest of these themes do not fit in with this poem. I thought that "The Nymph's Reply to the Sheperd" was actually fun to analyze because of having to compare it to another poem, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love."
This poem also uses many different elements to add to the development of the theme. One element is the structure of the poem. The poem is made up of six stanzas. The first five stanzas all are used to build the theme, from the themes that each of the individual stanzas give. However, the final stanza is used as a way to question everything the speaker has said in the previous stanzas. The sudden change of events creates impact and leaves the reader wanting more and answers. This structure adds to the development of the theme because the first five stanzas build the theme while the sixth stanza allows the reader to question the poem's theme. Another element is literary devices. The major literary device this poem uses is allusion. The entirety of this poem is alluding to the poem "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe. Specific lines of Raleigh's poem that use the same words/wording and ideas of Marlowe's poem are line three and four, "These pretty pleasure might me move To live with thee and be thy love" and lines thirteen and fourteen "Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies." Another literary device that is found throughout the poem is alliteration. Examples of alliteration are seen in line three "pretty pleasure might me move," line four, "flocks from field to fold," and line 10 "wayward WInter." These two literary devices, especially the allusion, are important to the theme development because the whole theme of this poem is in response to Marlowe's poem that this poem is alluding to. The final element found in this poem is word choice. One way word choice is used in this poem is by using the sound of words to make a point. An example of this is the third stanza which uses soft and flowing smooth words, whose point is to contrast of the hashrness that the speaker is actually communicating in that stanza. The author also uses word choice to make a point in the fourth stanza when he uses simplistic non descriptive words that Marlowe used in his poem in a much more descriptive way. The point is that the less descriptive words show how unimportant these things are to the nymph. Finally the author uses word choice to put in words with double meaning. The words with double meaning in this poem are fancy, line 12, and means, line 19. These double meanings words foreshadow to the last stanza which questions everything that was said in the rest of the poem, giving the poem a second/double meaning. These are the different elements that help develop the theme.
This poem was written during the Elizabethan Era. The Elizabethan Era took on many new themes that had not been seen in poetry prior to this point. Some of these themes fit in with this poems while others do not. The main themes of this time period were love and romantic relations, passage of time, effect of imprisonment, views on happy life, old age, advice to a son, true joy, and tributes to the dead. Clearly, the themes of love, passage of time, views on happy life, and true joy are all themes found within the poem. The speaker is talking in response to someone who wants her love and she has to establish what a happy and joyful life is to her when the passing of time most often changes things. However, the rest of these themes do not fit in with this poem. I thought that "The Nymph's Reply to the Sheperd" was actually fun to analyze because of having to compare it to another poem, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love."
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Sonnet 18 Analysis
The sonnet I chose to analyze is "Sonnet 18." I believe the theme of this poem is the idea of eternity and everlasting beauty through writing. The message that the writer is trying to get across is that the woman he is speaking of is beautiful now, and she will forever be beautiful and immortal as long as his writing exists. The speaker discusses the beauty of the woman he is talking about when he says, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate." He then talks of her beauty never dying when he says, "But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou owes." Finally, the speaker discusses that death will never take her and that she will be immortal, "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee" which means that as long as people are living and his writing is still around, so is she.
This poem also uses many different elements to add to the development of the theme. One of these elements is literary devices. One literary device that is found within the poem is personification. Personification can be seen in line 3 "Rough winds do shake" which is personifying the wind and line 11 "Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade" which is personifying Death. Another literary device is alliteration found in line 7 "fair from fair." One final literary device is the kenning eye of heaven, which means the sun, found in line 5. Imagery is also used throughout the poem to allow the reader to picture what the speaker is talking about. These literary devices add interest to the overall poem, which then in turn contributes to the theme of the poem. Structure is the second element that adds development to the theme. The structure of this poem is a quatrain in which the first 12 lines are grouped in three groups of four lines and help to summarize and build the overall theme with what they are saying. The last two lines are grouped in a couplet and they provide a dramatic ending statement to the poem that leaves the reader with a lasting impression. In the case of "Sonnet 18" the couplet at the end of the poem is even set aside from the rest of the poem because, without a doubt, it is the most important two lines of the poem. The third element that adds to the development of the theme is word choice. The word choice in this poem is what helps to get the message of the poem across and communicate the theme. These are the different elements that add to the development of the theme.
The theme of this poem fits in very nicely with the themes of other sonnets during this time period. The themes this poem shares with other poems of the time period are time, death and beauty. "Sonnet 18" discusses time and death by saying that woman who is being spoken about with never die and will live throughout time. Also, this poem most obviously discusses beauty because it talks of the beauty of the woman that never fades. However, this poem also is different from the popular themes of moral integrity and love of this time. Although the speaker clearly admires the woman he is speaking of, he never claims to love her, and the idea of moral integrity is never mentioned in the poem. "Sonnet 18" is is a thought provoking and well written poem that I thoroughly enjoyed both reading and analyzing.
This poem also uses many different elements to add to the development of the theme. One of these elements is literary devices. One literary device that is found within the poem is personification. Personification can be seen in line 3 "Rough winds do shake" which is personifying the wind and line 11 "Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade" which is personifying Death. Another literary device is alliteration found in line 7 "fair from fair." One final literary device is the kenning eye of heaven, which means the sun, found in line 5. Imagery is also used throughout the poem to allow the reader to picture what the speaker is talking about. These literary devices add interest to the overall poem, which then in turn contributes to the theme of the poem. Structure is the second element that adds development to the theme. The structure of this poem is a quatrain in which the first 12 lines are grouped in three groups of four lines and help to summarize and build the overall theme with what they are saying. The last two lines are grouped in a couplet and they provide a dramatic ending statement to the poem that leaves the reader with a lasting impression. In the case of "Sonnet 18" the couplet at the end of the poem is even set aside from the rest of the poem because, without a doubt, it is the most important two lines of the poem. The third element that adds to the development of the theme is word choice. The word choice in this poem is what helps to get the message of the poem across and communicate the theme. These are the different elements that add to the development of the theme.
The theme of this poem fits in very nicely with the themes of other sonnets during this time period. The themes this poem shares with other poems of the time period are time, death and beauty. "Sonnet 18" discusses time and death by saying that woman who is being spoken about with never die and will live throughout time. Also, this poem most obviously discusses beauty because it talks of the beauty of the woman that never fades. However, this poem also is different from the popular themes of moral integrity and love of this time. Although the speaker clearly admires the woman he is speaking of, he never claims to love her, and the idea of moral integrity is never mentioned in the poem. "Sonnet 18" is is a thought provoking and well written poem that I thoroughly enjoyed both reading and analyzing.
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