Preparing For The Test

Thesis: In Thomas Hardy's poem "The Voice" the writer uses symbolism and imagery to describe the transformation of the speakers love and relationship with their mate.

Body I: The images of nature and the changes occurring throughout nature within the poem symbolize the changing state of the person the speaker was once in a relationship with.
A. "You have changed"
B. Leaves falling
C. Thorns
D. Many images of decay and desolation in nature demonstrate the loneliness felt after the lover ceased calling.

Body II: Alliteration and repetition emphasize the struggle the speaker endures due to the changes occurring in their relationship with the lover being described.
A. faltering forward- A struggle to move on
B. how you call to me, call to me- the speaker desires to be with the lover oce again

Body III: The use of punctuation, primarily in terms to the use of question marks explains the speakers desire to feel whole again.
A. Missing information o the speaker asks questions.
B. Lack of information communicates a disconnect and brokenness of the speaker.
C. Heard no more far or near?- trying to hold on and almost convince himself there is still hope for a reunion between these lovers.

Conclusion:
A. strong use of imagery
B. Alliteration and punctuation aid in conveying a message of hope. Hope that a lover will return.
C. Love poem expressing a desire to b in communication and relations with this changed lover.

Dewey Dell

Every character of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying plays an important role in the story. While many of the characters of the story are family members or have some type of relationship with one another all character have proven themselves to be individuals. Dewey Dell especially stands out as the only daughter and now the only woman in the household after her mother Addie dies. Dewey Dell is the more rebellious child. She refuses to live within the societal boundaries of the time and sneaks off and has an affair with Lafe. During the time Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying, women were expected to find one man who was suitable, marry the man and have children with their husbands. The rest of their life would consist of being the best mother and wife the women could be. Early on in the story Dewey Dell takes a trip with Lafe to the woods. She describes how she was unable to control herself and could not help herself so she and Lafe experienced a sexual encounter witnessed by her brother Darl. Later as time goes on, Dewey Dell contemplates getting an abortion. After realizing she would be keeping her baby, Dewey Dell often refers to the life within her as the guts growing within her own guts. Dewey Dell has almost shunned motherhood and clearly is not fond of the idea of birthing to life the baby she and Lafe created. Faulkner probably creates Dewey Dell to represent the women of the time and the struggle they experience with conforming to society's standards. Motherhood is a theme of the text. What does it actually mean to be a mother and how does one word define the life of women at the time? While expressing the powerlessness words have through the constant struggle with words characters experience, Faulkner addresses how words have bound women to certain roles in life. Dewey Dell represents a woman losing herself as she becomes a mother. Many women were probably afraid to break the mold created for them to fit into. Dewey Dell explains how her baby's guts almost consume hers and have grown within her own guts. The word choice of "guts" used in this context has a negative connotation showing her dissatisfaction with the idea of becoming a mother. Dewey Dell is every young girl and mother who want to express themselves sexually without losing themselves to the life of motherhood. Dewey Dell's character is controversial and in some ways she seems immature. Dewey Dell desires to have sex, but is does not want to take on the responsibilities of that which follows sex. She fans her mother as she lies on her death bed. Dewey Dell is trying to make her mother comfortable but almost out of obligation. A rebel and selfish at times, Dewey Dell is an interesting character with interesting points of views on life and how life should be lived. She is a secret young woman, disengaged with her family and with the world and nature. She stoles away to the barn and the woods in order to be alone. Dewey Dell wants a life she is not supposed to live according to those around her and she wants the nature of life to be different so she can be relieved of the motherly duties ahead of her. Dewey Dell's isolation may be one reason she feels a child is taking from her and not including her into anything. The role Dewey Dell plays in the story and her ideas make the novel more exciting and provides a realistic view point of many women of the time who were unable to clearly state how they felt.

The Corruption of Lack

In the poem "Red Fox," Margaret Atwood examines the human life and actions as she compares the actions and life of the red fox to those of man. The struggles of living a life of need ar described through the description of a mother taking on bodily pain in order that her child may eat and Hansel and Gretel being dumped in the forest alone because of their parents' inability to care for them even in their hunger. The motif of hunger used througout the poem demonstrates how lack becomes the prominent force which drives people's actions to the point where the struggle for survival can sometimes lead to moral corruption.
Atwood uses strong imagery to demonstrate the struggle of survival. Hunger is the result of the lack of food or the lack of fullfillment of the food provided. Food is necessary for the continuation of life. The mother presented in the "Red Fox" has literally had the life sucked out of her as she attempts to give life to her child. The fox is known as a sly, sneaky animal who knows how to get what she wants. The fox has a "coat of an elegant scoundrel," sometimes using her beauty to take what does not belong to her. However, like the mother, the fox is using her body as a tool to meet a need.
In the second stanza Atwood says "she didn't get this smart for nothing." In life sometimes intelligence is used to make a gain even if it means someone else is slighted in the process. "Hunger corrupts" for when a need has to be met whether "virtious poverty" or a good suffering is experienced internally like the mother described in the poemor "trickster's eyes" like those of the fox ar used to scope out an evil means to get ahead, when struggle arrives people's reactions are sometimes those of the unexpected, corrupt.

On the Frontier of Writing

A soldier stands ready to defend, execute, ready to take on interrogation because they know the world is watching their every move. Seamus Heaney compares writing to fighting a war. The vivid images of combat and the procedures of war help demonstrate the seriousness of an author's writing process. A writer struggles to experience self satisfaction through their work while still working to please readers and publishers who somewhat control the success of a writer's career.
In the beginning of the poem, the speaker is describing being stopped while other troops inspect the make and number of his vehicle. The outside world is dissecting this writers work. They are trying to identify the writer through his work. One person leans close to he window in an attempt to see what this person is about. A window is transparent and through writing an author becomes somewhat transparent, expressing what's on the inside as in what's in the car through literature.
The speaker describes a situation where he is interrogated. People are usually interrogated by a superior like someone who has the power to determine something about their future. In an interrogation, the person being interrogated usually conforms to whatever the interrogators wants. For the writer the interrogator is the publisher and critics who edit and changes writers' work. The speaker explains how after the interrogation he feels empty as if the meaning and personal connection with his work has been stripped bare from his writing. However, at the end of the poem, the speaker explains how he has emerged from behind the waterfall. A waterfall shows an image but not clearly through the water. This image shows the writer eing able to put himself into his work clearly for all to see without is being clouded by the water of society. His work is not diluted. If he perseveres on the frontier and struggles through the difficult process of writing in the end he can stand strong behind his work.

The Worst Mid-Term Break Ever

A mid-term break during the long, very challenging college year usually creates a mood of joy. Mid-term break equates family hugs you have missed since you last saw mom and dad, home cooked meals, high school friends and simply relaxing. Judging from the title of Seamus Heaney's poem "Mid-Term Break" the poem would describe the typical going home experience of a college student. However, as soon as the speaker steps into his house he is greeted by feelings of grief. The separation from his family the speaker experiences while away at school has made him almost a stranger in his own home and he has a difficult time outwardly expressing the feelings of pain he is experiencing internally.

The speaker is at school and the bells are ringing signifying class coming to an end. The ringing bells foreshadow the life of the speaker's younger brother coming to an end. After riding home with neighbors before evening making his way into the house, the speaker meets his crying, grief filled father. "Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow." At this point in the poem the speaker specifies a funeral is occurring and Big Jim Evan's comment demonstrates the major impact the death has had on the family. While the young baby is oblivious as to what is happening, the speaker is embarrassed as he shakes the hands of old men. Heaney creates the image of people quietly whispering, behaving in the somber manner usually displayed at a funeral. The corpse is brought in and eventually the speaker makes his way to his younger brother's bedside. There his brother lies in a "four-foot box, a foot for every year". While sometimes deaths in the family, especially an unexpected death like that of a child occurs, members of the family unite to strengthen on another during the difficult time.

In "Mid-Term Break," Heaney illustrates with diction, imagery and symbols the distance between this young college student and his family. When the speaker arrives home, there are strangers in his home. Other people are already present to console his parents and yet he was away and most likely feeling embarrassed because he was unable to be present. In stanzas three and four the hands are referenced. In stanza three the speaker shakes hands with the older men and in stanza four he holds his mother's hand. Never does the speaker verbalize feelings surrounding the child's death. While in the room with his brother's corpse, candles are burning and snowdrops fall. Candles and snowdrops on window sills are materials that create the image of a home. These material objects are necessary for the speaker because he lacks a connection with his home and tries to recreate the feeling. His brother wore a bruise on his temple but did not have any gaudy scars. A scar is external and shows the world struggle and pain. On the other hand, a bruise is internal and eventually leaves. This is how the speaker's pain towards the four year old child's death is. He has feelings but the distance between he and his family and brother make showing that grief like his mother and father very hard.

Heaney uses strong images to share the story of the college student who lost his younger brother. Heaney can be describing how sometimes assuming life's responsibilities such as school distance us from those who mean the most to us.

The Bait

Is it love or lust? During the first read of John Donne's "The Bait" love may come to mind. However, by the end of the poem and a deeper look into the extended metaphor Donne presents with the fish and the bait, the poem seems to develop another theme and meaning. Through the use of metaphor and imagery, Donne demonstrates the seductive trap of a woman and the sometimes shallow relationship men and women share.
In "The Bait" the bait represents women and the fish in the sea represent the men. In the first two stanzas of the poem, there seems to be an enjoyable relationship presented. The images of "golden sands and crystal brooks" are the pleasures the speaker and his woman will share once their relationship begins. "Silken lines and silver hooks" are attractive images drawing the man towards his bait. Fish full of love are swimming toward the bait, all wanting to bite the bait and get a taste of the goodness she seems to be able to offer based upon her appearance. The bait is "warmed by the eyes, more than the sun." The women during this time in society were expected to make themselves presentable in society before men because a woman was expected to have a mate. With all eyes on the bait, she has become a symbol of lustful seduction, something easy on the eyes, catching the attention all the fish in the sea. However, a lasting relationship is not based upon outward appearance alone. Therefore, "curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies, bewitch poor fishes' wandering eyes." Donne creates the image of fish being distracted from the bait when they catch sight of the next good looking sight. The poem takes a turn at the end when the speaker explains the fish not caught by the bait are far more wiser than he. Bait is something used to deceive and catch fish in their weakness. The speaker is fooled by the bait and has been caught under the power and seduction of a woman.
"The Bait" explores the relationship between men and women. Donne may be showing how relationships were not built upon love but something else false. Bait is false and so are the relationships being formed but, once hooked it is hard to let go.

The Good- Morrow

Loves serves as the perfect theme for John Donne's poem "The Good-Morrow" because of the author's sense of hopeless romanticism. The diction of "The Good- Morrow" demonstrates how deeply in love Donne has fallen. Love has created a connection so strong between the two represented they have become one. This point is stressed through the repetition of word one. Although the author's love has developed into the passion which prompted him to write the poem "The Good-Morrow," Donne had not always experienced this everlasting love. In the past he had spent his time fulfilling his lusts and pleasures. The title of Donne's poem "The Good- Morrow" demonstrates the author's epiphany he experiences after gaining realization of the strong love he and his lady share.
The first stanza of "The Good-Morrow" tells the story of life before love. The author explains how he "sucked on country pleasures childishly" and "snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den". But the author also says "what thou and I Did, till we loved?" Sure Donne probably knows the events and decisions of his past. However, after experiencing a true love, everything else seems so minute. So, although he experienced a time of chasing after young woman, engaging in sexual activities and sleeping Donne feels as if time was wasted and spent uselessly. This realization occurs after the wakening of their souls. The title is significant because it symbolizes the awakening. Good-Morrow also means good morning. Donne has been shaken by love and awakes to find that his life before he fell in love was insignificant. "Our two loves be one" shows how strong the connection between these lovers actually is.
The author has an epiphany. Love has opened his eyes to living. Before falling in love these lovers souls were sleeping, passing the time. These lovers seemed to have almost entered into a new world together. A few different times Donne makes references to geography and their location. However, before falling in love he had not realized with love, his life would mean so much more. Donne figured e had lived the good life as he pursued his desires as most young men would. But, by the end of "The Good- Morrow" it is clear even in the title a huge awakening has occurred and love is the driving force behind it all.