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Rate My Answer Thread
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29-05-2009 4:27pm#1Can we have a rate my answer thread?
I was inspired by the comparative essay one someone posted. I think it'd be a good way to revise your answers by typing them out and also a great way to get feedback from other people! Seriously any advice would be appreciated.
I'll start, this is my personal response to John Keats' poetry.
I enjoyed the poetry of John Keats because of his universal themes, vivid imagery and detailed descriptions. I also found his personal and intimate style of writing, interesting choice of words and use of contrast very appealing.
Keats explores a wide range of themes throughout his poetry, many of which are universal and easy to relate to, for example the theme of life and death. I'n 'When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be' Keats uses a euphemism for death in the title to express his horror at the concept of mortality. He laments what death will prevent him from experiencing:'the night's starr'd face' and 'huge cloudy symbols.' He is saddened at the thought of losing his inspirations and dying before 'my pen has glean'd my teeming brain.' I think his fears of death and not fulfilling his dreams before the end of his life are understandable and common to all people. This drew my interest effectively. In 'Bright Star' Keats expresses his wish to be immortal and unchanging like the star he sees in the night sky. This poem is one of my favourites because like many of us Keats doesn't want to change with time or face the inevitable end to his life. He envies this distant star 'Would I were as steadfast as thou art.' His awareness of death led him to explore things that don't age or die such as the immortalising power of art, literature and the imagination.
In 'Ode to a Nightingale,' Keats seems to have become lost in his imagination, believing himself to be part of an unrealistic, perfect and immortal world, 'Already with thee tender is the night.' Keats looks for a means of escape though the medium of alcohol 'O, for a draught of vintage!' which I think would be a common reaction to the idea of facing your own demise. Keats' realism and honesty highlights the theme of death and immortality making it all the more effective to the reader. This is an aspect of his poetry which I found very appealing.
Another reason why I liked the poetry of Keats is due to his use of vivd imagery and memorable descriptions. Keats uses his painter's eye to acutely idenitfy and describe his images. Through this technique, he presents us with often unrealistic but still detailed and accurate images. This means that although his poetry may stretch into the fantastical at times, it is still believable and realistic through the intensity of detail. This kept me interested is his poetry.
It can be seen in 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' Here Keats describes the image of the inanimate urn, an immortal artefact holding what was once a mortal being. This contrast appeals to me and draws me into his poetry. He compares the eternal existence of this non-living urn to the image of the warm, passionate yet brief human life. He represents it 'For ever panting and for ever young' and with 'A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.' For me this description captured the excitement and emotional experience of youth perfectly, making it one of my favourite images created by Keats.
In 'Ode to a Nightingale' the image of sparkling wine is produced in perfect deatil. This image is obviously a realistic one, but this acute description gives it the same level of allure as his more supernatural images. 'Beaded bubbles winking at the brim' and 'purple-stained mouth' in the 'beaker full of the warm South.' This is a clear allusion to the fountain of Hippocrene, which I found effective. Elsewhere in 'When I Have Fears...' the night sky is referred to rather as 'the night's starr'd face' with 'huge cloudy symbols of a high romance.' While verging on the unrealistic, the detail and beauty of the image makes it seem more realistic and makes it memorable. This helped meto engage with the creativity of Keats' imagination.
Along with his vivd imagery, John Keats' poetry is enjoyable because of his use of contrasts. They litter his poetry, something I didn't find in the poetry of the other poets on the course. This made an interesting change. I liked the contrast apparent in 'Bright Star,' in which keats proceeds to contrats the coldness of the star and it's immortality with the warmth of human love, however transient. The opening octet of the poem is the complete polar opposite of the ending sestet. The octet is longer, slower and passionless in its description of the star's eternal existence, continual vowel sounds depicting it's interminable coldness. The sestet expresses a warmth, a pulse through it's lively rhythm and whisperingly soft 's' sounds. This perfectly describes the emotional experience of human life and is the octet's definitive opposite. I loved the contrast in this poem and it inspired me to continue my reading of Keats' poetry.
Keats alsos uses contrast in 'Od on a Grecian Urn' when he addresses the subject of the poem. He comments on the inanimate qualities of the urn(to contrast with the vibrancy of life) by remarking on its having no senses, so the pipes cannt play to 'the sensual ear.' However elsewhere in the poem he does the opposite, by personifying the urn through the use of the personal prooun 'thou,' such as remarking 'Thou still unrvished bride of quietness.'
I thoroughly enjoyed the poetry of John Keats due to his use of contrast, detailed, descriptive imagery and universal themes as well as his personal, confessional style. These techniques combined to further my appreciation of his poetry and increase its personal appeal for me as a reader.
My teacher gave this 76%(she's a very hard marker btw), any ideas on how I can improve it?
Everyone add their comments and their own answers too!
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[quote=blue-army;60464639The fish, like Bishop, has lived a hard life. We are told that there was “five old pieces of fish-line” hanging from “his lower lip.”
[/quote]
Does the quote not have to be exact, other wise it's not a quote, right?
I think "a five haired beard of wisdom trailing from his aching jaw" is right
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Nope...I checked the quote there.. It's right. I think you might be thinking of another poem?Does the quote not have to be exact, other wise it's not a quote, right?
I think "a five haired beard of wisdom trailing from his aching jaw" is right
Tbh, I don't think the quotes have to be exactly correct either... I looked over my answer in the pre, a few of the quotes I used weren't 100% exact, but they got a tick beside them. :cool:0 -
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This is my Elizabeth Bishop essay, it was originally written as a letter but I think Ive changed it enough to pass as a personal response essay. Critizism welcome! Oh and I hope fringe doesnt mind, Ive robbed one of your paragraphs on colour - if you dont want me too just let me know.
It is a hallmark of Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry that she writes of past pain without pathos and with precision. Her poems present accounts of events bordering on the surreal, and deal with the emotions that these memories engender. The poems I have found most emotive are First Death In Nova Scotia, In The Waiting Room, Sestina and Questions of Travel. In these poems I will be discussing her search for identity, childhood memories, the level of precision in her poetry and her comparison of the exterior world to a consideration of self.
Elizabeth was born in Massachusetts in 1911, the only child of William and May Bishop. Her father died when she was eight months old, from this loss her mother never recovered, leading to her eventual mental breakdown. From age six, Elizabeth was shifted from grandparents to aunts, and never felt a sense of having a home. From this, it is easy to understand that out of this came the strong theme of search for identity in her poetry. This theme is most evident in ‘In The Waiting Room’, and ‘Questions Of Travel’. In ‘In The Waiting Room’, I love the moment when she discovers, with sharp perceptiveness, that there is only one Elizabeth bishop, separate, unique but that unique individual self is also one of womankind on the wider scale. The line ‘why should you be one, too?’ is very effective in portraying the intentions of the child- she wants to hand on, to stay on earth, and not to tumble into space of unknown territory. I can relate to bishop here, for we have all faced situations where we do not wish to leave the comforts of what we know.
Likewise, in ‘Questions of Travel’, Bishop again addresses travel into new terrains, individuality and her search for identity, a continuity that appeals to me greatly. The poet offers us a profound reminder of the role that a place plays in forming our identity. The act of travelling beyond the confines of our surroundings not only challenges our understanding of who we are but also questions the very notion of home. The speaker in the poem poses the question of why human beings have a childish need to ‘rush’ to the other side of the world in order to see a ‘hummingbird’ or some ‘old stonework’. This question impacted on me as I feel that it is a lack of this childish wonder and awe in adults today that has led to mass materialism throughout the world, something that has affected both myself and the majority of my peers.
In typical bishop fashion, both of these poems move from considering the exterior world to a deeper consideration of self. In ‘In the Waiting Room’, Bishop begins by examining her surroundings, including a national geographic magazine. She then moves to a deeper consideration of self, proclaiming ‘But I felt: you are an I, you are an Elizabeth’. I think this complex feature is highly emotive and engaging, highlighting her distinct sense of individuality, a feature which can also be seen in ‘Questions of travel’. The poem is structured in a series of rich observations that give rise to more questions than answers, moving increasingly inwards so that the examination of the external world becomes a quest for self identity. The lyric implies that without continual risk and insecurity, there can be no spiritual growth.
Insecurity is something that, in her childhood, bishop was accustomed to. She describes painful childhood memories in her poetry, a theme which invited me to become both emotive and moved. In ‘First Death In Nova Scotia’, from a child’s perspective bishop expresses her first encounter with death, and in attempting to understand the reality makes confused, extraordinary and sometimes almost fairytale connections. Bishop links death with adults in this poem, an aspect of the poem that I find atypical. She devotes a stanza to talking about a stuffed ‘loon’ which her uncle has shot, and her mother lifts her to look into the coffin. This is one of the only mentions we have of her mother, and I think it is striking that she is very much entwined with the death of ‘little Arthur’ As a child, bishop was certainly unusual to have such an intuitive mind and a gentle, sensitive soul.
We can also see the sensitive child bishop in ‘In the Waiting Room’. To a lesser extent, we see bishop as a child trying to deal with fundamental questions such as ‘why should I be my aunt, or me, or anyone?’ the child Bishop, in response to this, faints. When she recovers consciousness, she realises she has not be submerged by ‘the black wave’. Earlier in the poem I understood bishop to be saying that as a child she has no option but to grow up to become the kind of woman she did not want to be. She is in the waiting room, metaphorically waiting too to take her place as a conscious member of the human race. I call this a painful memory because I feel that when recalling such an experience, it would be inhuman to not experience pain.
In sestina, it is evident that the memories are clearly very painful. The entire poem is steeped in an atmosphere of loss and sadness. Bishop defines this grief thought a series of precise and evocative adjectives: ‘failing’, ‘small’, ‘hard’, ‘ridged’, ‘inscrutable’. There is a poignant inevitability to the sadness that pervades the poem. Throughout the poem, the speaker chooses not to connect directly with the emotions and these memories engender. The final line of the envoi perfectly captures the sad truth that for bishop, the idea of a home is an ‘inscrutable’ or enigmatic one. The pain of recalling this childhood memory is clear in this poem.
In reading the poetry of Elizabeth bishop, it is impossible not to notice the level of precision in her work, an attractive feature that nearly demands your attention. Critic Randall Jarrell has written about bishop that “all her poems have written underneath, 'I have seen it'”. When he wrote this, Jarrell was referring to Bishop's talent for vivid description.Imagery and descriptive detail are conveyed in her poetry through a series of beautifully evoked word pictures. This is most noted in ‘first death in nova Scotia’, when the deceased Arthur is described as ‘like a doll that hadn’t been painted yet’. In ‘questions of travel’ we are given a breathtaking description of the landscape. In a series of lines that are filled with energy and movement, we learn that ‘there are many waterfalls here’. In her poetry, bishop gives us detailed descriptions of the exotic and the familiar. Sestina is a perfect example of bishop’s mastery of precise diction and detail.
Bishops poetry is highly stylised, an aspect that appeals to me greatly. Her poetry is rich is metaphors, similes, imagery and motifs. Sestina, possibly bishop’s most stylised poem, is written in the form of a sestina. It is a fixed form which relies for its structure on a strict pattern of repeated end words. I really like this form because I feel that due to its end words being repeated for thirty six lines, the sestina is well suited for subjects that require intense observation or meditation. I personally find this feature of her style captivating and interesting.
Bishop also makes use of metaphors and similes in her work. In ‘sestina’, metaphors such as ‘tears dancing like mad’ highlight the deep tragedy of her childhood. The questions of travel, bishops use of the act of travel as a metaphor symbolises her search for identity. In ‘first death in nova Scotia’ bishop uses the metaphor of the coffin as a ‘little frosted cake’ to describe her view of the coffin. She also uses the simile ‘like a doll’ to describe Arthurs pallor. There is no sense of fear or indeed any emotion beyond curiosity in this description. In ‘sestina’ , a powerful motif of tears is highlighted throughout the poem – ‘hide her tears’, ‘equinoctial tears’, ‘small hard tears’, ‘buttons like tears’ and ‘fall down like tears’. This adds to the prevailing atmosphere of sadness and loss. Bishops use of enjambment in order to move the poem gently forward is another style feature that I think works well in her poetry.
Bishop also employs the use of colour heavily. The colour helps add to the tone by evoking emotions. "The brown enormous odour" at the start of The Prodigal instantly sets a sick disgusting tone while the colour "white" helps emphasise the dead corpse in First Death of Nova Scotia. Colour, although a simple technique, is used effectively in every instance and I found it intriguing how powerful this method is.
Bishop has said ‘All my life I have lived and behaved very much like the sandpiper - just running down the edges of different countries and continents, 'looking for something'. For me, this sums up bishop, her poetry and her ideas perfectly. it highlights her theme of the search for identity, moves from an exploration of the exterior to a consideration of self, and like the jagged edge of countries, her childhood too was rough, to be soothed only by words. In this, I feel that bishop recognises and understands the power of words, and through her deeply emotive poetry, they have had a deep and profound impact on me.
very strong use of language and expression, just seems a bit academic rather than an answer, i'd shorten it and put more quotes in it and keep it a bit more discplined, but still I thought it was a good answer 0 -
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damienricefan wrote: »very strong use of language and expression, just seems a bit academic rather than an answer, i'd shorten it and put more quotes in it and keep it a bit more discplined, but still I thought it was a good answer
actually i take the quotes criticism back , works fine lol0 -
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Higher level.
Thanks for the comments, ive shortened it and left out three paragraphs. Hopefully I'll get it written in time..
Any suggestions to improve, dont be shy
Its definitely a good thing that you've shortened it, as I know it can be a pain to do sometimes. You feel all chuffed with yourself after spending ages piecing this amazing essay together, only for someone to discard it as 'too long'.. Sorry that it was me 0 -
Its definitely a good thing that you've shortened it, as I know it can be a pain to do sometimes. You feel all chuffed with yourself after spending ages piecing this amazing essay together, only for someone to discard it as 'too long'.. Sorry that it was me
I asked for peoples opinions lol, and you are right, it was way to long!0 -
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