English Poetry Essays Examples For College & High School Students in PDF

1377 total results

A Comparison of the Forms of the Poems I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and Written at the Close of Spring (297 words, 1 pages)

To compare the form of the poems I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and Written at the Close of Spring, I will examine each pieces rhythmic progression. Both the Wordsworth poem and the Smith poem share an iambic pattern every even-numbered syllable in each line is stressed, while the odd ... Read More

Are Madeline and Porphyro Responsible for Their Actions in the Poem The Eve of St. Agnes (322 words, 1 pages)

As Im not one to deal in absolutes, I do not believe that either Madeline or Porphyro are solely responsible for the events that unfold in the latter half of the poem. In fact, I think neither seduced each other at all.It does at first seem as though Porphyro is ... Read More

A Comparison of the Literary Styles of Wordsworth and Coleridge (287 words, 1 pages)

It almost seems as if Wordsworth and Coleridge were soul-mateslovers. Their styles seemed to be made for each other, and in fact they very obviously used and played off of each others ideas. For instance, Wordsworth and Coleridge were both romantics and both portrayed subject matter in line with what ... Read More

A Comparison of Two Poems Ozymandias by Percy Shelley and Horace Smith (480 words, 2 pages)

Two Ozymandias Poems by Two RomanticsShelleys Ozymandias has a cousin. Nay, a competitor Horace Smiths Ozymandias. Smith, a 19th century stockbroker, is perhaps less important a romantic poet than Percy Shelley is now, though his poem is worth mentioning in conjunction with Shelleys poem due to their similar subject matter ... Read More

An Analysis of the Poem Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats (573 words, 3 pages)

Ode on a Grecian Urn IThou still unravished bride of quietness,Thou foster child of silence and slow time,Sylvan historian, who canst thus expressA flowery tale more sweetly than our rhymeWhat leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shapeOf deities or mortals, or of both,In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?What men or ... Read More

An Analysis of the Romantic Poem The Flea by John Donne (536 words, 2 pages)

The Flea by John Donne is a romantic poem in which the speaker is addressing an individual who he desires. The first stanza reveals that The Flea is more of a tragic romantic poem in which the speaker is longing for love with a partner that he has yet to ... Read More

An Analysis of Personification in the Stolen Child, a Poem by W. B. Yeats (514 words, 2 pages)

As defined in The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, personification is a figure of speck in which human traits and characteristics are given to anything that is nonhuman. This includes abstract ideas, objects, and animals. As humans, we are able to perform a wide variety of actions, and ... Read More

The Truth in Child Labor in William Blake’s Two Versions of the Chimney Sweeper (670 words, 2 pages)

Brick CoffinsIn William Blakes poems The Chimney Sweeper (1789), and The Chimney Sweeper (1794), Blake explores the immorality of forcing children to work as chimney sweeps and how it affects their lives. Through contrasting his two poems by using paradox, diction, and metaphor, he illuminates the atrocity of child labor ... Read More

The Pains of ChristabelIn Samuel Taylor Coleridges poems The Pains of Sleep and Christabel, there is a similar motif present in both works, and this motif is the dream. While both poems contain the recurring element, the dream motif serves a different purpose in the respective poems. Through the dream ... Read More

An Analysis of Religion, Military and Prostitution in London, a Poem by William Blake (414 words, 2 pages)

Londons CorruptionIn William Blakes London, Blake takes a stance on a religious issue, a political issue, and a social issue, and through his use of irony, imagery, personification, and hyperbole, we gain insight into how Blake feels about each disgusted.While the entire poem is one that shows the suffering of ... Read More

The Author’s Feeling on the Death of His Son in the Poem On My First Son by Ben Jonson (926 words, 3 pages)

Most people would agree that the most grievous loss is that of a child and Ben Johnson does not disagree, as shown in his poem, On My First Son (Johnson 116). The poem is a depiction of what Johnson is feeling after the death of his son, and what many ... Read More

An Analysis of Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est: The Criticism of War (873 words, 3 pages)

SummaryThe boys are bent over like old beggars carrying sacks, and they curse and cough through the mud until the "haunting flares" tell them it is time to head toward their rest. As they march some men are asleep, others limp with bloody feet as they'd lost their boots. All ... Read More

An Analysis of the Power of Love in the Promise, a Poem by Jane Hirshfield (1026 words, 5 pages)

The PromiseJane Hirshfields poem The Promise describes ones desire for things to stay the same. However The Promise takes a turn as the speaker describes that nothing can stand in the face of time, not even the often glorified emotion, love. This can be seen clearly through her use of ... Read More

The Use of Imagery and Emotion in the Poems Ode on a Grecian Urn and Ode on Melancholy by John Keats (856 words, 4 pages)

Imagery and EmotionHow They Differ in Ode on a Grecian Urn and Ode on MelancholyJohn Keats, as a poet of the romantic era, makes remarkable use of imagery to convey meaning in his poems, specifically his odes. Although odes are poems of praise, Ode on a Grecian Urn and Ode ... Read More

The Idea of Memory in the Sonnet I Wish I Could Remember That First Day by Christina Rossetti (1057 words, 2 pages)

ESSAY EXAMPLE WHAT DO YOU FIND INTERESTING ABOUT THE WAY ROSSETTI EXPLORES THE IDEA OF MEMORY?The sonnet I wish I could remember that first day by Christina Rossetti explores the re-imagination and re-definition of the past in our memories. The poem is describes how she cannot recall the moment when ... Read More

The Depiction of the Water Lily in the Poem To Paint a Water Lily by Ted Hughes (519 words, 2 pages)

To Paint a Water Lily RewriteIn To Paint a Water Lily, the speaker sympathizes with the artists difficult task to depict the water lily by highlighting the disparity between the lilys gentle, lady-like beauty and the menacing, war-like characteristics of its surroundings. Figurative language, imagery, and contrast are the main ... Read More

Revealing the Hidden Meaning in the Poem Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney (883 words, 3 pages)

According to Gustave Flaubert, poetry is as precise a thing as geometry, and thus the meticulous usage of morbid motifs, keen imagery, and phonetic diction can unravel a darker, more complex interpretation in a seemingly innocent poem about reminiscent childhood memories. Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney utilizes such elements in order ... Read More

The Pleads for Guidance in the Poems London, 1802 by William Wordsworth and Douglass by Paul Laurence DUnbar (476 words, 2 pages)

Pleads for GuidanceWhen society is deteriorating, and there seems to be any signs of relief nearby, it is reasonable to seek inspiration from the great thinkers who were a part of society when it was in prosperity. In the poems London, 1802 by William Wordsworth and Douglass by Paul Laurence ... Read More

The Inevitable Death in the Poems When I Have Fears by John Keats and Mezzo Cammin by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (735 words, 3 pages)

Poets and DeathThe poems When I Have Fears by John Keats and Mezzo Cammin by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, both contemplate the inevitable death the both shall have to face. However, Keats and Longfellow each share a different perspective about what death shall bring to them when they meet it. Keats ... Read More

A Celebration of British Tradition in the Poem The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson (2291 words, 8 pages)

Sweatshops in ShalottMany scholars could read Alfred Lord Tennysons famous poem, The Lady of Shalott as a celebration of British tradition. The poem makes allusions to Sir Lancelot, King Authors renowned knight, and the British countryside. Attentive readers may even catch the allusion to early Western philosophy. Many interpret the ... Read More

An Analysis of Feminism in Mrs. Midas, a Poem by Carol Ann Duffy (887 words, 3 pages)

Mrs Midas is a revisionism version from the female perspective of King Midas story, an ancient Greek myth about a man who could turn everything to gold by a touch. This poem explores the sadness Mrs Midas feels in regards to not being able to feel the touch of her ... Read More

An Analysis of Yeats’ Poem An Irishman Foresees His Death (829 words, 3 pages)

Critics of some stature, Eliot, Auden and A.L Johnson see Yeats mature work as embodying a life-affirming poetic of enactment and presence. Yeats poem An Irishman Foresees His Death seems, however, on first reading to be a Nihilistic concession to universal futility. A reasonable proposition if one considers that the ... Read More

The Tragic Lost Potential of Common Souls in the Poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray (647 words, 3 pages)

Gray Matters Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, glorifying the unsung men andwomen of England, turns from a focus on equality in death to instead focuson the tragic lost potential of common souls. Twin rhetorical questions ofstanza eleven starting on line 41 mark a change in tone and link these ... Read More

Hunting to Complain About the Lack of Success in Courtship in the Poem Whoso List to Hunt by Thomas Wyatt (632 words, 2 pages)

Hunting For Meaning In "Whoso list to hunt" The advent of the Petrarchan sonnet introduced a new era of poeticform that would take Europe by storm. Extended metaphors used to expressnew ideas and concepts about relationships were often characteristic ofsonnets. Sir Thomas Wyatt is given much credit for bringing the ... Read More

An Analysis of the Religious Theme in Christopher Smart’s Poem Jubilate Agno (929 words, 2 pages)

Jeoffry An Example for Mankind Jubilate Agno is Christopher Smart's poem which illustrates at first glance a testament to his religious obsession and his deteriorated mental state. The other side of this poem shows a man trying to keep his sanity in an insane place. William Stead sees the work ... Read More

An Analysis of the Portrayal of Ulysses by Homer and Lord Alfred Tennyson (1036 words, 4 pages)

The Odyssey of Homer may be one of the best known classical Greek epics. It follows Ulysses, a hero of the Trojan War, journey home and his struggles along the way. Ulysses is a fascinating character that has been portrayed countless times in all forms of media and like all ... Read More

A View of Nature in the Poetry of John Keats and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (509 words, 2 pages)

Nature has always been a source of joy for humans, but there is a complex and sometimes hostile relationship between the two. Some natural landscapes are protected and others are bulldozed. The preservation of nature was a huge concern of romantic poets they saw nature as the ultimate teacher and ... Read More

A Comparison between the Portrayal of War in Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est and Lord Alfred Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade (567 words, 2 pages)

Wars have been portrayed as everything from noble crusades to horrible tragedies. The experience of being a soldier in these wars, however, is portrayed with an odd mix of nostalgia and horror, terrible things happen but for some reason they get fondly remembered. There is good reason for this, no ... Read More

A Comprehensive Analysis of Poem for My Sister, a Poem by Liz Lochhead (478 words, 2 pages)

How does Liz Lochhead vividly convey her feelings about her sister in Poem for My Sister? Your essay should be 300-500 words.Poem for My Sister by Liz Lochhead is a poem by an elder sister, who talks about her younger sisters eagerness to try on heels, and as the elder ... Read More

The Theme of Growing Up in the Poem Football After School by Patricia McCarthy (303 words, 1 pages)

How is the idea of growing up presented in Football After School?The poem Football After School written by the poet Patricia McCarthy is about how a young boy has faced many difficulties when his mother foreseeably depicts the challenges her son is yet to face. The poem portrays a vivid ... Read More

English Poetry Essay Examples