Loss Of Innocence

Blake has another meaning to ‘Innocence’; He refers innocence to ignorance. This means that innocence is corrupted and full of naivety. It is the ignorance of corruption, of the real

The poet orders his listener to behold a “solitary Highland lass” reaping and singing by herself in a field. He says that anyone passing by should either stop here, or “gently pass” so as not to disturb her. As she “cuts and binds the grain” she “sings a melancholy strain,” and the valley overflows with the beautiful, sad sound. The speaker says that the sound is more welcome than any chant of the nightingale to weary travelers in the desert, and that the cuckoo-bird in spring never sang with a voice so thrilling. Impatient, the poet asks, “Will no one tell me what she sings?” He speculates that her song might be about “old, unhappy, far-off things, / And battles long ago,” or that it might be humbler, a simple song about “matter of today.” Whatever she sings about, he says, he listened “motionless and still,” and as he traveled up the

The theme of Sympathy is the oppressive treatment of both the narrator and the bird, and the imprisonment of the bird and how the narrator sympathizes with it. This is shown through the diction choices which create dark images of mistreatment and sorrow, and imagery that is strengthened in repetition. An example of diction that supports the theme is “...its blood is red on the cruel bars;” this choice of words gives image of a dark, dirty cage with a wounded beaten bird and its cage that is blood red from his wounds; this image is very oppressive and gives characteristics of the prisonization of the bird. The next example of the poem’s theme is shown by imagery and repetition, which come together convey strong flashing images of the imprisonment of the bird and its oppressive feeling. “When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, -- When he beats his bars and he would be free;”, this quote gives imagery to the reader to see a bruised, tired, and dirty bird beating against his cage for freedom. The repetition of the word “when” in the quote gives off the effect to the reader of flashing images one after the other. While the use of the words “bars”, “bruised”, “sore”, and “he beats”, give off the specific imagery characteristic of oppression to the reader’s developing images.

Loss of innocence occurs when a person first develops an awareness of the suffering, evil and injustice around them. In poignant bildungsroman To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee writes through the eyes of “Scout” Finch, recounting her experience growing up in the segregated town of Maycomb. Through Scout, you learn about her father Atticus Finch, an attorney who hopelessly strives to prove the innocence of Tom Robinson; a black man unjustly accused of rape, and of the civil rights issues and prejudice which plagues the town of Maycomb. Throughout the novel, scout loses her innocence as she is harshly exposed to the reality of injustice and racism in Maycomb. Three significant events illustrate this fact. The first example occurs when Scout

The first element our writers used to express their message of wanting to be free is form. The narrator for ‘The Caged Bird” feels alone and wishes to be able to snatch the chains that keep her tied down. Also, in the poem “Sympathy” by Dunbar as well an in “The Caged Bird” both authors used a bird to symbolize the captivity and aspiration for freedom. Both poets wrote their piece in lyric form because of obvious reasons. A lyric poem is defined as a poem that expresses personal and emotional feelings. Writing poems with this form shows the amount of deep emotion that the narrator feels toward this work. In addition, both authors wrote their poems in iambic pentameter to make the poem sound like a natural flow of speech to really show the deep feelings the poets are feeling.

“But a caged bird stands on a grave of dreams... His wings are clipped and his feet are tied/so he opens his throat to sing…” (M.A 26-29). This quote describes the birds emotions as it loses its dreams, it doesn't lose its hope so it repeatedly sings hoping it will reach a bird for assistance. It also portrays a very positive them as the reader figures out that its perseverance pays off. “...and his tune is heard/on the distant hill…”(M.A 19-20). This is validating the fact that the bird’s prayers have successfully been retrieved and help is nearer than it has been thought.

Dunbar states in the first and last line of every stanza “I know what” or “I know why” to reassure the reader that he completely understands and may be feeling the same way in relation to his life. Due to Dunbar understanding how the bird feels, he may have once felt isolated, confined, or oppressed by society at some point in his life. However, he may even understand the hope the bird feels in regards to overcoming the struggle. At the end of the poem, Dunbar concludes with, “When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore--It is not a carol of joy or glee, but a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core…” which could be insinuating the hope to be free and a plea to have his voice heard so that struggle was worth

William Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper” in his Songs of Innocence is a literary masterpiece that is still relevant and impactful in the modern world. In lovely form and description, Blake explains the atrocities and hardships of the Industrial Age in a poem suitable for school-age children and with the beautiful simplicity that only a writer like Blake could produce. The Songs of Innocence is a look into the purity and wonderful outlook on life that children usually have. While in its counterpart, the Songs of Experience, Blake uses adults as protagonist. The Songs of Experience is a look at the effects that hardships and failures have on adults, therefore having a pessimistic outlook toward life. In his these two works, Blake produces a parallel universe between childhood and adulthood where the optimism of dreams of childhood and the bitterness and stagnation of adulthood never seem to know one another.

While the poem speaks of death, the tone is very subtle and joyful because of the multiple imageries of nature through diction such as “bird,” “garden,” and “water.”

Birds are the main theme in the novel The Awakening. Many people when they read the first statement, should be perplexed and try to grasp the concept of how birds can be the main theme of The Awakening. However, throughout the novel, we see many examples of birds appearing in the text. Many great authors use the power of symbolism to establish a connection between an object that seems ordinary to a human counterpart whose actions and intentions are masked by the way the actions are executed. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses birds to represent the different parts of Edna’s life and how they relate to her throughout the text.

The bird represented Mrs. Wright. She loved to sing and was a beautiful women who loved to dress up, but her liveliness was destroyed after twenty years. Because Mr. Wright had killed the bird, or in other words Mrs. Wright’s enthusiasm for life and song, Mrs. Wright could not take it any longer and decided to take matters into her own

The bird has been though a lot. He has been restricted from all his freedom and beat itself all up. The caged bird doesn’t know anything but sadness, it is all it has experienced. In the poem the writer says, “When he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee,” making us think it is a sad song. It is in fact a prayer that it is sending to heaven.

This is where I got frustrated with trying to understand the poem. I personally think of nature I think of peace and tranquility and I originally thought that the poem had a peaceful vibe to it. However, I started to analyze the poem while looking at the “Glossary of Traditional Symbols in Western Literature”. This glossary helped me break down some of the ideas to get a better understanding. The first word I decided to look at was the world blackbird, when you break the word down, the word black basically means sad and really bad things and the word bird means freedom, the complete opposite of sorrow and death. After I had looked at each part of the poem and then looked at it as a whole I notice two different tones to the poems story. The poem start off talking of aging, death, and obstacles, then it transitions to accomplishments, calmness, harmony, and purity. To conclude, I believe that every poem can have more then one type of tone and it is important to keep an open mind while reading

The poem is about the vulnerability, innermost torment and the suppression of an emotional and fragile personality symbolized through the image of a Bluebird hidden inside the speakers mind.

The mood of “Caged Bird” changes drastically from stanza to stanza. Angelou’s specific diction choices help to reflect the change from being positive to negative with some elements of hope involved. The parts of the poem involving the free bird provide the reader with a feeling of self government.In contrast, the mood associated with the caged bird is confinment. Despite the negative mood tied to the caged bird there are still elements of hope woven into these stanzas.