Summary Of West Of Myself By Debora Greger

“The Wanderer” is an early English poem focused on a man ‘lone-dweller’, who had recently lost his lord and consequently experiences deep feelings of nostalgia and depression. The poem cycles through present events and flashbacks to highlight the drastic difference of his current life and his life prior to the death of his master. The flashbacks throughout the poem are exceptionally vivid and provide the reader with a clear idea of the joyful life the ‘lone-dweller’ had in the past. Following these flashbacks, the reader is often introduced promptly into a cold barren landscape which highlights the drastic shift that has occurred recently for the ‘lone-dweller’. Near the end of the poem the theme of regret is introduced as the ‘lone-dweller’ becomes aware of the damages he had caused to other warriors as a result of the wars he was once part of. The use of detailed differing descriptions of natural and unnatural elements throughout “The Wanderer” capture the themes of loneliness, nostalgia, and regret due to the mental images they impose upon the reader and the relation these images and descriptions have on the emotions associated with those themes.

In both “Forgetfulness” and “On Turning Ten,” Billy Collins writes in free verse, allowing him the creative freedom to convey his thoughts without the constraints of regular meter and rhyme. Consequently, the speakers of both poems are able to reflect in a stream of consciousness style in order to authentically convey their emotions in regards to the passing of time and the fading of memories. Using free verse, the speakers of “Forgetfulness” and “On Turning Ten” focus on the concept of forgetting, ultimately arguing that remembering would be a much better alternative.

Doesn’t everyone wish they could grow up faster when they are younger, but when they actually start to grow up, they just want it to slow down? Aging is a unique experience to everyone and each person deals with it differently. This theme of aging and how people see themselves can be seen both similarly and differently in “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath and “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. These similarities and differences can be seen through each author’s tone, each poem’s structure, and each poem’s overall message.

“The Lament of the Old Woman of Beare”, an Early Irish poem, is from the point of view of an old woman who has begun to reflect on her life. “The Wanderer”, is spoken by a bard who has been sent into exile after the death of his Lord. While in exile he begins to review his life, miss everything he has lost and look at life on a more spiritual level. Both speakers are experiencing what it feels like to be lonely because the people that were once there for them have either left or they have passed away. With a melancholic and nostalgic tone, both poems express the idea that people, youth, and the material world are all transient. However, both poems acknowledge that although the pleasures and good things in life are fleeting, the solutions to the problem is God.

The art of poetry speaks to people through the deep meanings represented in the words of the author. These meanings are meticulously pieced together through the mind of the writer. Readers can unveil the words to find truth within the work. The truth being presented in George Gascoigne’s poem illustrates a man that has given up on love because of his past heartbreak. It’s obvious that past failed relationships have altered the speaker’s view of love. George Gascoigne utilizes metaphors in “For That He Looked Not Upon Her”, to revel the truths that are embedded in the poem.

West of the Imagination is a collection of fascinating tales of western artists from Charles Willson Peale to Georgia O’Keeffe. Furthermore, it covers various art forms from painting to photography to sculpture to illustration and to theatrical production. This book also explores comparisons between such artists as the man who “made a momentous decision to become the latter-day George Catlin and record the “vanishing American” or “fallen foe” for posterity. This man was Edward Sheriff Curtis, a Seattle society photographer.” The authors are amply knowledgeable on the subject of life and art in the west as well as how the West is a enduring concept. The content is clear enough for the general public, but more appreciated by experts who have a background in western art and history. Specific names, locations, and events referenced, imply the reader should be knowledgeable of the context and historical significance of American history. Likewise, Robert Thacker, a book reviewer from St. Lawrence University, boldly stated that “This is in every meaning of the word a wonderful book.” Thacker expresses later that “The authoritative tone belies a wealth of information, for the authors make their analysis seem easy

Both of these poems serve to enlighten a new 21-year-old on how he should live his life, including similar messages of advice and warning. The narrators in each of these works speak of a proverbially “care-free” and affluent lifestyle, encouraging his respective

Live Life With The Glass Half Full Being predominant in careers such as a children’s poet, a cartoonist, an author, and a songwriter gives Shel Silverstein special insight into the mind of a child, helping him understand their way of thinking. Silverstein relays these understandings into many of his works, including this poem called "Where the Sidewalk Ends.". In the poem, the speaker depicts two specific places: the sidewalk and the street. During the first couple of reads, the poem is quite fairytale-like, but truth be told, this poem may not be as whimsical as it seems. Using hyperbolic language, diction, and vivid imagery, Silverstein addresses how the mundane progression from the mentality of childhood to the mentality of adulthood changes one’s perception of life.

The anthology targets two very different demographics and as such, the concept and purpose are two-fold. For young adults the poems act as a cautionary tale against going down a path that leaves one unfulfilled, whether this is a result of the direction one is going in or the vices that

In the next four lines of the poem, the speaker talks about how he feels as he imagines his childhood. Even though he is in front of this woman who is singing and playing music, “in spite of” himself, his present state, this “insidious mastery of song betrays” the speaker back “till” he “weeps” to go back to his childhood. The guileful dominance of the song the woman is singing beguiles him to think about his past experience. His heart “weeps to belong to the old Sunday evenings at home.” He really misses the time when he was little, and he used to hear his mother playing piano every Sunday evening. He wants to go back to his childhood and belong to that time again.

Poetry is one of the most significant aspects in English literature. Understanding it’s features and importance in people 's lives is vital. This study will briefly discuss six poems before analyzing the poems titled introduction to poetry by Billy Collins, Poetry should ride a bus by Ruth Foreman and Making it in Poetry by Bob Hicok.

If we’re feeling down, like the speaker of this poem, we see the world as how we feel inside; things look unpleasant, and grey and dismal. We’re unable to see a ray of hope that is coming through the window in the form of sunshine.

Although “The Road Not Taken” is also told from the view of an old man full of regrets, at the end of his life he is not. At the core, this poem is rather simple, the narrator stands in a forrest with two paths that lay in front of him, each are as worn as the other, and both have an equal number of undisturbed leaves. He knows

The poet is preparing his young friend, not for the approaching literal death of his body, but the metaphorical death of his youth and passion. The poet's deep insecurities swell irrepressibly as he concludes that the young man is now focused only on the signs of his aging -- as the poet surely is himself. This is illustrated by the linear development of the three quatrains.

In this poem Heaney writes about a death which is typical for many of his poems. James Persoon, a writer for The Facts On File Companion to British Poetry, 1900 to Present, writes that “Heaney here draws on his own experience in having an adolescent speaker reflect on the death of his four-year-old brother, for the poet 's brother, Christopher, was killed in a car accident at age four in 1953.” (Persoon). Not only can one see that Heaney’s emotions were put into this poem but also his own life experiences. Losing a family member is hard enough, and it is even harder when that person is young because no one will ever know the full potential that person could have had if they had not died. The language Heaney uses allows the reader to see the importance of the main character. It also shows the significance of the