Conformity And Individualism In Frank O Hara's Lunch Poems

The character grandmother in O’Connor’s story has grounds the reality of the events and drives the family into tragedy. She is a central character in O’Connor’s story and is depicted to be a dynamic character stuck in the old ways. Through her actions and the idea of being stuck in the old ways of thinking, she leads her family into tragedy. Being the main character in the story, Grandmother significantly adds to the development of the plot. The author manages to win the attention of the reader from this character owing to the manner in which she shapes the storyline. Grandmother’s reminiscing of the old ways claims a distinctive curiosity from the reader and helps in

O’Connor employs the grandmother’s selfish and manipulative character to reveal the true definition of justice. In the very beginning of the short story, the grandmother’s real nature evinces through her actions. The

In Laurie Ann Guerrero’s poem “Morning Praise Of Nightmares, One,” the speaker’s use of the poetic elements set a serious tone, use of a paradoxical title, and ambiguous language, yet attention to detail leads you to assess the poem as an interpretation of a vivid dream. The speaker’s image of the human body, between life's lushness, and death’s natural process, highlights a human behavior.

In the poem “XIV,” Derek Walcott utilizes the use of inhumane imagery that is being counterpointed with the use of happy imagery to show the view of an elderly woman with his experiences with her; the speaker recalls this information by describing his experiences with her with a sense of happiness, fear and appreciation.

In June of 1968 O’Brien was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, a war he didn’t believe in. In his personal battle the war becomes his nemesis. This enemy causes him to crack and to suffer much turmoil. “The emotions went from outrage to terror to bewilderment to guilt to sorrow and then back again to outrage. I felt a sickness inside me. Real disease” (O’Brien 780). In these few short sentences you can feel the mood of the story which is fear, despair, anger, anguish, and bewilderment.

O’Connor first expresses her views in her short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by using the literary element of point of view. Point of view is an important literary element in O’Connor’s short story, because it expresses her views on the grandmother and her “role as grace-bringer” (Bethea 2006). Point of view is expressed in her story by the main character the grandmother, a woman who lives with her son and tries to convince her family to go to Tennessee to avoid the Misfit. Point of view is especially important in this story because it lets the reader know what the grandmother is thinking and her actions that involve the main conflict of the short story. For instance, in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, the

During this work, O’Brien keeps a casual tone. It sometimes gets more formal and serious, but for the most part, it’s friendly and almost playful. When he is describing the conversations he had with his friends, he looks back on them with happiness. Consequently, when he is describing the death of one of his friends, his tone gets more somber and less playful. For example, the entire chapter of “Stockings” is devoted to describing the soldier Henry Dobbins and an interesting knack of his. “Even now, twenty years later, I can see him wrapping his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck before heading out on an ambush.” This cute, two page chapter provides a bit of relief after the chapter about Mary Anne Belle. It has light connotations and is a generally funny short story. Later in the book, however, he gets more serious when talking about the death of his dear friend Kiowa. He

Published in 1997, Marie Howe’s anthology of poems, What the Living Do was written as an elegy to her brother, John, who passed away due to AIDS. Howe’s anthology is written without metaphor to document the loss she felt after her brother’s death. Although What the Living Do is written as an anthology, this collection allows for individual poems to stand alone but also to work together to tell an overarching story. Using the poetic devices of alliteration, enjambment, repetition and couplets, Howe furthers her themes of gender and loss throughout her poems in her anthology.

Poetry is much different than any other style of writing. Poets have a way of communicating their message in a much more indirect way than regular writers. One reader may interpret a poem in a way that is drastically different than another. To truly understand a poem, one must understand the author as well. Sharon Olds, an American poet, who is known for her morbid and unhappy poems, writes about various themes including political violence, family relationships, and sexuality (Gale). In Olds’ poem, “The Death of Marilyn Monroe” we see her examining sexuality not only in 20th century, but in today’s age as well. Olds uses the death of a famous sex icon to really show how women were, and are still being sexualized in society.

The poem “Morning” by Frank O’Hara is about the poet missing someone and is unable to live without them. The poem can also mean reliving the life one used to have with someone, and suddenly doesn’t know how to go about life without thinking of them. The poem starts with the poet declaring his love for the person, but he is unable to go about life without thinking of that person. He misses the person, and he starts to think about what they are doing. He ends the poem begging the person not to leave him. The poem suggests that losing the person you love is like losing all happiness.

    “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” one of O’Connor’s best works, describes a family on a trip to Florida and their encounter with an escaped prisoner, The Misfit. Although “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is an early work in O’Connor’s career, it contains many of the elements which are used in the majority of her short stories. The grandmother, a selfish and deceitful woman, is a recipient of a moment of grace, despite her many flaws and sins. A moment of grace is a revelation of truth. When the grandmother calls The Misfit her child and reaches out to touch him, the grandmother has a moment of grace that enabled her to see The Misfit as a suffering human being who she is obligated to love. The grandmother realizes that nothing will stop The Misfit from killing her but she reaches out to him despite this. The Misfit rejects her love and kills her anyway. This moment of grace is very important

Danticat is wanting the reader to be aware of the women’s suffrage still happening in the world. Even though they themselves may not be experiencing it, the injustice displayed upon women is a real thing. She stated in the article that “my grandmother was an old country woman who always felt dis-placed in the city… where we lived and had nothing but her patched-up quilts and her stories to console her,” (Danticat). The stories shared between Danticat and her grandmother are forever etched into her memory. Since death was such a commonality, Danticat was not even fazed when her grandmother passed. The fact of the emotionless death alone should shed a light on the terribleness of the situation. Death should never be an everyday thing.

She says that the "child" had been by her side until "snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true" (line 3). Basically she is saying a trusted person “snatched” her work from her without permission to take them to England to be printed. Had it not been for her brother-in-law taking her work back to England and getting them printed they may have never been known. The intimacy and feeling she shares with her work is like that of a mother and child and that bond was infringed upon when her work was "exposed to public view" (line 4). The intrusion of her brother-in-law getting her work printed is the cause of feeling that follow. Ironically the next thing she talks is the shame she has been thrust upon her by not being able to perfect the work before it was published. This is illustrated in line five where she writes, “Made thee in rags,” as to say her work is like a child dressed in rags.

Opportunities for an individual to develop understanding of themselves stem from the experiences attained on their journey through life. The elements which contribute to life are explored throughout Gwen Harwood’s poems, At Mornington and Mother Who Gave Me Life, where the recollection of various events are presented as influences on the individual’s perception of the continuity of life. Both poems examine the connections between people and death in relation to personal connections with the persona’s father or mother. By encompassing aspects of human nature and life’s journey, Harwood addresses memories and relationships which contribute to one’s awareness of life.

Plath starts her poem out negatively, ‘barely daring to breathe or Achoo’, with a distinct repetition of the ‘oo’ sounds in ‘Achoo’, ‘do’, ‘shoe’ and ‘du’ creating a childlike, nursery rhyme style of delivery that contrasts greatly with the violent and dark themes. Harwood begins on a significantly more positive if wistful note, ‘forgive me the wisdom I would not learn from you’ positioning her mother as a wise and positive influence. The tones of the poems are very different, as shaped by the poet’s experiences with their parents, with Harwood creating an affirmative, loving description of her relationship with her mother while Plath develops a much darker and sinister view s.