Summary Of The Bagel By David Ignatow

In the poem “ A Bitterness”, Mary Oliver illustrates a case of crippling melancholy. Oliver depicts the speaker reflecting upon the troubled life and death of someone that they knew. The solemn tone of the speaker is maintained throughout the poem to verify their position on the matter upon which they are reflecting. By using consistent repetition and descriptive comparisons, Oliver conveys the general theme that the bitterness accompanying sadness and sorrow can envelop all aspects of life.

I will start with the world, “heartsick” because this word relates to the feelings that the granddaughter felt for the yarning of the comforts of her home. The sorrows drowned out by the panels of the quilt her grandmother made her. The comfort of her home away form home for those nights she felt sad and wanted to be home. The granddaughter could easily drown her fears and tears into this quilt and be reminded of the strength and the bond she has with her Grandmother. “Heartsick” was an powerful word to use to understand how the granddaughter must have felt on those miserable days. But, to tie it in to the quilt like she did was like she quilted the words together to show how and what it meant to be alone and struggled and how the granddaughter coped with her emotions. I believe that the word loose, this word was placed all the way at the end of the poem. I feel like this word speaks loudly throughout this poem significance. This poem is about the granddaughter being blown “loose” by the natural forces that cary us. In this case she is blowing “loose” of her home and her centric ideas. To explore and be “loose” in the world to experience it through her eyes to develop her own point of view by simply enacting her own beliefs and adopting others. I felt compelled to react to the word, “slant”. “Slant”, has a great meaning in this poem for it is used in the beginning of the poem. Slant can mean a

Memory is used as a powerful conduit into the past; childhood experiences held in the subconscious illuminate an adult’s perception. Harwood uses tense shifts throughout her poetry to emphasise and indicate the interweaving and connection the past and the present hold. By allowing this examination of the childhood memories, Harwood identifies that their significance is that of an everlasting memory that will dominate over time’s continuity and the inevitability of death.

Memory is presented as either a way of life or a community of change, as demonstrated in ‘Aspens’, ‘Old Man’, ‘Aldestrop’. He does this through the variety of techniques such as change in form, use of imagery and alternations in the tone of each poem to explore memory. As well as this, Thomas explicates the devastation of emptiness due to the consequence of war, which is portrayed through the use of soft consonantal sounds or the use

The Past, an ever growing pool of time, is always biting at the heels of a person. It reminds him of what they have done wrong, done right, or when he did nothing. For most people, recalling the past leads to loose ends and blanks where memories should be. No matter how much a person may want to return to the past, it is not possible. It is lost forever. These forgotten moment lead to uncertainties and confusion in the present, and chaos in the future. Forgetting the past leads to spirals, spinning downwards as people look to what they have lost. They retrace their steps hoping to find a sliver of who they are and what may become of them. In the poem, Itinerary, Eamon Grennan shows how an individual searches through his past, but can never return to it. Through the poem and with a personal experience I will explain how individuals deal with uncertainties in their pasts.

The feather tied to his hair is a prayer feather and the painting of the face is to ensure that he will be recognized in the next world by his ancestors who have crossed over before him. The colors are representative of the earth, sky, sun and water. The sprinkling of corn meal and water are said to provide the dead with nourishment on their journey to the next world. The pollen is representative of the earth’s renewal from the rainclouds that will be sent back by the spirit of the deceased. Silko frequently refers to a “red blanket” that the old man is wrapped in for burial (149). The Native American people often leave a cord hanging from the blanket which wraps the body of the deceased and is thought to provide a way for the spirit to be released into the afterlife.

The child seems to address the reader and says, “You tell me it’s too early to be looking back, but that is because you have forgotten the perfect simplicity of being one and the beautiful complexity introduced by two” (76). The child goes on to list more magnificent experiences he had as a younger child. With these lines Collins masterfully predicts what the reader must be feeling. The reader is doubtful at first that this boy is old enough to be thinking about this, but as the stanza carries on they begin to realize he has a point. Collins reminds the reader of possible memories they have and proves that what this child is feeling is valid. The boy goes on to proclaim, “It is time to say goodbye to my imaginary friends, time to turn the first big number. Collins suggests that an active and free roaming imagination must be let go as one grows older. Again he targets the readers past experiences and reminds them that growing up can be a really sad thing. The reader is also reminded of the fun childhood they lost. It is clear to see that adults who have forgotten their past are the targeted audience as the poem reminds them of old times and causes them to remember lost memories of growing

John Gardener’s ‘Grendel’ depicts the monstrous Grendel, previously portrayed as the vicious villain in ‘Beowulf, journeying through his life, attempting to achieve some kind of self-realization. Spending much of his time observing humans, Grendel develops a great disdain for religion. Gardener reinforces Grendel’s with anti-religious quotes from poets and philosophers, like William Blake and Francis Nietzsche. As his spiritual void increases, Gardener slips into an existential despair, fueled by the talk of the Shaper, who’s strangely persuasive words confuse Grendel’s underdeveloped mind. Finally, as Grendel slowly recognizes he is separate from men, his encounter with the dragon drives him to the self-realization that he is a monster

In Susan Wood’s poem “Eggs,” she describes what her mornings were like growing up and how they later affected her parenting. She discusses that if she had sat down with her father to work through their issues rather than argue, they could have been happier people in the end. To emphasize these points, she uses repetition and pattern to create a feeling of hostility toward her childhood. Wood’s use of diction and allusion illustrates the speaker’s attitude toward mornings and her upbringing to shed light on how harboring feelings can create animosity toward family members.

We have all had those memorable moments that send us back in time; a song on the radio, the smell of cookies baking, driving in the car. They make you think of good times passed. But Billy Collins’s poem, “The Lanyard”, is not only a recollection of the past, but a personal insight to about the things his mother has done for him and what he has done in return.

Although this is a short poem, there are so many different meanings that can come from the piece. With different literary poetic devices such as similes, imagery, and symbolism different people take away different things from the poem. One of my classmates saw it as an extended metaphor after searching for a deeper connection with the author. After some research on the author, we came to learn that the

The rainbow, an extended metaphor, symbolises an epiphany, a sudden realisation that is imbued with hope. The symbolism for the rainbow can also biblically allude to a more religious revelation, where the blacksmith boy has embraced ‘god’ into his life. This symbolism along with the contrast between the two images “But in front of the night the rainbow stood on the mountain”, hints to humanity’s capability of change even in the direst of times. The following lines “He ran like a hare, he climbed like a fox” are similes, to show the blacksmith boy’s newfound affinity with nature, and his rediscovered sense of self. The further similes used in the following lines, “Like a bar of ice, like the column of a fountain, like a ring of gold.” describe the rainbow, in increasing levels of brilliance, from a bar of ice to a ring of gold, this depicts the blacksmith boy’s gradual dawning on the significance of his revelation, figuratively portraying the value of humanity’s affliction with nature or biblically, the importance of god in our lives.

In the poem “After Apple-Picking”, Robert Frost has cleverly disguised many symbols and allusions to enhance the meaning of the poem. One must understand the parallel to understand the central theme of the poem. The apple mentioned in the poem could be connected to the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden. It essentially is the beginning of everything earthly and heavenly, therefore repelling death. To understand the complete meaning of Frost’s poem one needs to be aware that for something to be dead, it must have once had life. Life and death are common themes in poetry, but this poem focuses on what is in between, life’s missed experiences and the regret that the speaker is left with.

Our human condition is defined by mortality, contingency, and discontentment. This reality combined with the new outlooks of relationships between our lives and the objects that surround us in our world, have caused authors in the twentieth century to question traditional Western thought. In Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust extends these comparisons to include one's use of memory and

The narrator speaks of what could symbolise the lower or working class "the Chimney-sweeper", crying out against the system, and the upper class "Church" subduing them. Both the chimney and church are personified to symbolise the people they represent. This dominance is also related in the personification of "Soldier" and "Palace". The soldiers fight the wars that the monarchy decides, their blood on the King and Queen's hands. They sigh as to their shared plight, but their sighs only end in their deaths. This stanza's rhythm is different in that it follows a heptameter meter. Its pace is faster, which might reflect an increase in excitement by the narrator in what might be anger.