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Katherine Mansfield’s short story Bliss is a remarkable work that lends itself to a feminist reading, particularly in its exploration of gender roles, female identity, societal expectations, and suppressed desires. Through Bertha Young, Mansfield critiques the constraints of patriarchal societies while dealing with the complexities of female subjectivity and sexuality. Gender Roles At its core, Bliss examines the restrictive nature...

Emily Dickinson’s poem I Cannot Live with You offers a rich exploration of love, individuality, and mortality while challenging societal and religious norms that define relationships. Through its introspective tone, fragmented structure, and rejection of traditional ideals, the poem lends itself to a feminist reading. The speaker’s resistance to conventional domestic roles, critique of institutionalized religion, and assertion of personal...

The title of Emily Dickinson’s poem, I Cannot Live with You, serves as a gateway to understanding its thematic complexity, emotional depth, and intellectual challenges. At first glance, the phrase might appear to be a simple declaration of separation, yet its layered meanings reflect Dickinson’s engagement with themes of love, individuality, societal constraints, and mortality. The title captures the tensions...

Emily Dickinson’s I Cannot Live With You is a masterpiece of emotional depth and intellectual rigor. This critical appreciation delves into the poem’s unconventional exploration of love, individuality, and mortality. Through a unique inversion of romantic conventions, Dickinson critiques societal and religious constraints, emphasizing the liberating yet isolating nature of love. The poem’s fragmented structure, rich symbolism, and philosophical undertones...

William Wordsworth’s concept of poetic diction profoundly influenced the landscape of English poetry. He has articulated his poetic philosophy in various essays and prefaces, notably in the “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” (1800). This essay aims to explore Wordsworth’s understanding of poetic diction, its significance, and its implications for the evolution of poetry during his time. Rejection of artificial language Wordsworth’s...

Early 20th Century Idealism in Rupert Brooke’s Peace highlights the patriotic fervour and spiritual renewal that defined the initial stages of World War I. Composed in 1914, Brooke’s sonnet captures the moral and emotional climate of a generation that embraced war as an opportunity for redemption, purpose, and glory. Unlike later poets such as Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, who...

Modernism in Prufrock serves as a powerful lens through which T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock explores identity, alienation, and existential uncertainty. Emerging as a literary and artistic movement between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, modernism reshaped art and culture by rejecting Romantic traditions and embracing innovation. Eliot’s use of techniques like stream of consciousness and...

The significance of the title in T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock lies in its ironic and multi-layered interpretation. It reflects the poet’s complex commentary on modern anxieties and human existence. While it initially promises a conventional love poem in the tradition of Romantic or Elizabethan lyrics, the title ultimately reveals its irony. It highlights the breakdown...

T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock portrays J. Alfred Prufrock as the quintessential modern man – a figure caught in an endless conflict of indecision, self-consciousness, and a disordered psyche. Through fragmented imagery, introspection, and free verse, Eliot captures the disillusionment, anxieties, and alienation that defined the modern era. Prufrock’s struggles with identity, masculinity, and purpose mirror...

In narrative style of Lord Jim, Joseph Conrad constructs a narrative framework that defies conventional storytelling, intertwining multiple layers of narrative perspectives and voices. The novel’s narrative complexity begins with an omniscient narrator in the first four chapters, setting the stage before transitioning to Marlow, who becomes the primary narrator. This shift is marked by the appearance of quotation marks...

The Problem Play, as a genre, emerged during the 19th century as part of the Realism movement in theatre, notably influenced by Henrik Ibsen. Unlike the conventional, formulaic “well-made play” of the time, Ibsen’s work focused on real characters grappling with real-world issues, spurning farcical plots, and exploring controversial social and human questions that had never been dramatized till then....

Realism, as a socio-literary movement, was a natural consequence of the Scientific Revolution that transformed European perspectives on faith, life, and religion. Realism in art portrays life as it is, without idealization or romanticism. It provides a stage for playwrights to express social views. The artist’s duty is honest observation and description of the world. Drama, a performative social genre,...

Henrick Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” is considered to be a revolutionary play primarily because of the central character, Nora Helmer. Ibsen presents Nora as a woman caught in the cocoon of social expectations, eventually undergoing transformation through her realization and radical rejection of societal norms. The portrayal of Nora is exceptional, not just on the level of characterization but also...

Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, published in 1987, is a literary masterpiece that weaves a complex narrative structure to tell a haunting and powerful story of slavery, trauma, and the search for identity. Narrative structure in Toni Morrison’s Beloved, characterized by its non-linear timeline, multiple perspectives, and fragmented storytelling, serves as a vehicle to explore the enduring legacy of slavery on...

Sethe, the protagonist of Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” is a complex and compelling character whose life has been shaped by the brutal realities of slavery. Her journey is one of enduring pain, fierce love, and, ultimately, a hard-won sense of selfhood. To understand Sethe, we must delve into the various facets of her personality, her tragic choices, and her path toward...

John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” stands as a monument of epic poetry, and its grandeur is woven not just in the grand themes of good versus evil but also in its collages of imagery. Epic similes are the most striking elements in Book 1 where comparisons expanded into mini epics of their own, enriching the narrative and elevating the reader’s imagination....

Imagine a world where a stolen hair curl sparks an epic battle, complete with sylphs, gnomes, and even a celestial coffee pot. This is not just a whimsical daydream; it is Pope’s social satire, The Rape of the Lock, a poem that takes aim at the frivolous and ostentatious world of 18th-century English society. Beneath the shimmering silks and witty wordplay...

Slave narratives are crucial not only for enhancing African-American literature but also for uncovering the complexities in conversations between Whites and Blacks. Toni Morrison noted the limited inclusion of Black voices in discussions about them. Throughout her career, she ensured that Black stories weren’t solely told from the White perspective. In her 1987 novel “Beloved,” set in post-Civil War America,...

Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses” is a dramatic monologue that tells the story of the legendary Greek hero Ulysses as he reflects on his life and adventures. The poem was first published in 1842 and is considered one of the most important works of the Victorian era. The character of Ulysses in the poem is complex and multifaceted, embodying many...

Duke in Robert Browning‘s “My Last Duchess” is a controlling and entitled aristocrat who embodies toxic masculinity. He believes that his wife was unfaithful to him, which threatens his sense of power and control, leading to his eventual decision to have her killed. The poem, written as a dramatic monologue, shows certain traits of his character and allows the readers...