Abstract
This paper explains that "Beowul" tells, amongst other things, the story of three monsters and their battles. Grendel, Grendel's Mother, and the Dragon are the monsters who give Beowulf the opportunity to become the legendary hero he is, and they also came at important socio-political times. The paper tells us the monsters of "Beowulf" can, and should, be read as metaphors for greater meaning, not simply static characters who serve as punching bags for the hero. In addition, the authors of "Beowulf" constructed its monsters in such a way that the text could be used as a teaching tool, a piece of Anglo-Saxon propaganda to teach morals and explain defeat.

From the Paper
"By abstaining from the use of conventional weaponry in his battle with Grendel, and only using a magical sword in his fight with Grendel's mother, Beowulf symbolically rejects the domestication of civilization that Hrothgar proffers and revels in his violent heritage. The intimate struggle with Grendel in Heorot where "hand met claw" exemplifies the meeting of two forms of violence: the repressed, tabooed and latent violence of Grendel, and the open, healthy and manifest violence of Beowulf. Because Grendel is presented as the negative manifestation of violence, Beowulf wins the fight and shows the reader how the respectful application of violence is always the strongest. This idea is presented in the gristly image of Beowulf holding "Grendel's claw" "from hand to shoulder" as his war souvenir, the prize of his battle and the death of his enemy (836, 835). That Grendel's arm is Beowulf's souvenir reminds the reader of Grendel's primitive, yet terrible, weapon."

Tags:beowulf, monsters, society, morals, morality

Abstract
This paper discusses how "Acquainted with the Night" describes the persona's confrontation with 'the long, dark night of the soul', in which he stands alone in a universe that is bereft of any overarching divine meaning or even a mundanely constructed order or morality. It discusses how, far from engendering a sense of hopelessness, the indifferent ambiguity of the universe motivates the narrator's exploration of his own nature, displaying the curiosity that is the birthright of humanity.

From the Paper
"The opening stanza of the poem consists of three declarative sentences that describe the persona's ambiguous relationship with the night, as well as suggesting the commencement of a journey. By stating that "I have been one acquainted with the night" (Frost, l.1), the narrator immediately removes himself from objective time and begins to describe a relationship located in neither the past nor present, but rather a subjective temporality that is akin to the dream-state of semi-consciousness. The repetition of the personal pronoun 'I' emphasizes that he is alone in his wandering and that this is an exploration of the self and its relationship to the outer world. "

Tags:night, humanity

Abstract
This paper examines two poems: Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas and "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams. The paper explains that both poems are dependant upon their form to transmit their meaning, mirroring and reflecting one another in the interplay of interpretive possibilities and authorial intentions. The paper points out that the strict formal structure of "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" reflects the inevitability of death while amplifying the speaker's emotional experience, transcending the particular and engaging the universally human. The paper then looks at how "The Red Wheelbarrow" draws its formal structure from its object, re-presenting a complex image constructed from an interaction and synthesis of its components which resonates within the reader. The writer concludes that viewed as such, these poems illustrate the manner in which form is able to insinuate meaning into the events of life.

From the Paper
"The four mentioned 'types' of men in the five middle stanzas of the poem, though they have unilaterally failed to 'lighten' the 'dark' with their brands of enlightenment, are exhorted to yet rage against death and not accept it inevitability. The words of 'wise men' could not spark understanding in the masses, the deeds of 'good' men could but 'dance' a moment upon the overwhelming waters of this dark world, and the 'wild' men embraced the light of the sun to merely 'grieve it on its way' ineffectually. The fifth stanza sees those 'grave men near death' whose perceptions are cleansed by their reality also being called upon to abandon their joyful acceptance of inevitable death ( a poignant reflection of the acceptance of natural cycles the traditional pastoral would embrace) and also rage against this diminishment of life. Such an imploration asks an inversion of the traditional associations of light and darkness in that it glorifies this 'rage' as the light which dispels the darkness of death, as opposed to the calm acceptance."

Tags:modernisim, meaning, intention, anthology, men, life, stanza

Abstract
This paper explains that Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess"
is a dramatic monologue spoken by the Duke of Ferrara. The author points out that, given the title, the poem appears to be about the late wife of the Duke, whose portrait is being shown to a visitor, as the Duke negotiates for his next Duchess; however, the Duke reveals much more about himself and his role as a husband than he does about his late wife. The paper relates that "My Last Duchess", typical of this type of poetry, overtly is about a painting but the covert meaning is confessional. The author underscores that, in the lack of distinction between the portrait and the woman, the Duke reveals his feelings, that women are the possessions of men and are only good for their beauty.

From the Paper
"The speaker makes a shift in the poem and goes from discussing the qualities of the painting itself, to making jealous hypotheses about why the woman in the painting is blushing. He also says to his listener "not the first / are you to turn and ask thus" (12-13), but the listener did not ask. This implies that the Duke has been suppressing this jealous rant and has been waiting for an opportunity to let the beast out for a high-spirited run. The fact that he says the listener is not the first to ask is probably more likely to mean that the listener is not the first person the Duke has revealed this to."

Tags:domineering, confessional, hypotheses, arrogant, trivial

Abstract
This paper discusses Dickinson's portrayal of death as a masculine figure, reflecting the fact that, during the nineteenth century, masculinity was portrayed as the ruling force both in celestial and earthly terms. By further portraying this power as a devious Victorian suitor, the weakness and naivety of the female speaker is made apparent, especially in poems 712, 1445, and 1053. The writer describes how in these poems the speaker is won over by the charming wiles of her suitor only to be violated and then abandoned by him. This representation of Death as the "supple Suitor" and violator illustrates the balance between the desirable aspects of love and marriage, and the fearsome aspects of sex and childbirth, and probably also Dickenson's personal fears, since she spent her life secluded and unmarried.

From the Paper
"The largest twist of the poem, however, takes place in the fourth stanza as the atmosphere shifts from that of a sunny afternoon drive in the country to that of a journey into eternity. The speaker seems to have been thrown out of the confinement of the carriage, or perhaps jolted from her conception of "we" - for death is eternally solitary and belongs to no one - and especially not to her. The speaker is abandoned and left exposed to the harsh world of reality, and as the Dews cease to be inanimate, like the fields of grain in the previous stanza, they bring "quivering and chill" to the speaker which easily penetrate her flimsy garments. This personification of dew serves to illustrate the vulnerability and naivety of the speaker as she fails in protecting herself from them, and allows her trust to be violated by all-powerful death."

Tags:violation, abandonment, helplessness, submission, identity, entrapment, masculinity, assimilation

Abstract
The paper examines how Sylvia Plath's poem, "Daddy" is the performance of a mind that is finally confronting its own suffering and attempting to exorcise the influence of the speaker's father. The paper highlights the imagery, rhyme and repetition that demonstrates how Plath does not create in this poem, but only destroys and rejects her father.

From the Paper
"The poem opens with the assertion that "[y]ou do not do, you do not do / Any more" , declaring the speaker's position as one forced to confront her situation with regard to her father. The poem exists as the performance of a mind that is finally confronting its own suffering and attempting to exert a control over the idea that has long oppressed it. The speaker jumps from nursery rhyme to ritual, English to German, from longing to curse. The childlike rhyme and repetition suggests the helplessness of the child and the combination of fear and love the father inspired. Simple, insistent rhythm and rhyme schemes, coupled with repetition, lend both a sense of storybook rhythm and that of a mystical spell by which the exorcism may drive off evil."

Tags:exorcism, rhyme, ritual, repetition, father, rage, destruction

Abstract
This paper takes a look at how "Songs of Innocence and Experience" is a portrayal of the continual conflict between innocence and experience.

From the Paper
The poems of William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience" are portrayals of the continual conflict between innocence and experience. Each poem tells different links of interweaved stories. For instance, the two "Holy Thursday" poems are being told simultaneously by different narrators and with different viewpoints. The Bard in the "Introduction to Songs of Experience" appears again in "The Sick Rose" and is again calling to an individual; perhaps this individual is the same character as the narrator at the end of "The Echoing Green." By weaving through these stories and characters, Blake portrays views of innocence and experience as they appear in several characters. While these characters may not be the actual characters in previous poems, there is sufficient evidence to support the theory that the characters that are introduced are meant to represent the characters that have similar experiences to those which have been introduced earlier. Therefore, Blake defines a few different "type" of characters, whose types are defined by the amount of experience, wisdom, and maturity."

Tags:blake, william

Abstract
In the poem, "Dirge", James Shirley uses poetic techniques, such as literary device and line structure, to display the relationship between soldiers and society. This paper explains how the poem compares the fate of those who participate in war to the fate of anyone else and finds that there is little difference between the two. It also develops the argument that most soldiers are soon forgotten after death, despite their service to their country.

From the Paper
"To help display his ideas, James Shirley uses such literary devices metaphor, personification, alliteration and imagery. He also uses line structure as an effective technique. The poem is set up in such a way that the first four lines and the last two lines in each stanza contain eight syllables each, while the fifth and sixth lines have only four syllables in each. These shorter lines may have been inserted to symbolize the lives of soldiers, which have been cut short as a result of the senseless killing in war. Shirley also uses a variety of literary devices throughout the poem. The first two lines read: "The glories of our blood and state/Are shadows, not substantial things" (Shirley 347. 1-2). In this passage, the poet has used metaphor to compare the triumphs of soldiers to shadows which have diminished with time and are no longer valued by those who still live."

Tags:device, literary

Abstract
This paper examines how T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" describes how the impossibility of creating a certain identity of self leads to an unbearable alienation and isolation in the individual. The paper then looks at how the character of Prufrock exists within a world of other people who remain eternally distant from him due to his inability to communicate himself to others and how the impossibility of knowing himself without a relationship to others creates a dynamic wherein there exists no certainty to draw upon to form an identity.

From the Paper
"The opening of the poem introduces the reader to the fact that they are about to undertake a grim journey with Prufrock. The introductory quote lifted from Dante's Inferno, which describes an interaction with a man who cannot speak through his mouth and is sure his words will never be heard outside hell, parallels Prufrock's invitation to witness the broken landscape of his soul. Like Guido's tale, living ears shall never hear this 'love song'. The invitation to "Let us go" (Eliot, l. 1,12) is repeated to emphasize the fact that, though conveyed to the reader through words, these are images and emotions glimpsed within the narrator himself. Prufrock's inability to adequately communicate his speechlessness through speech is the cause of his isolation; therefore the reader is implored not to ask of the overwhelming question and as such not to engage Prufrock in speech. "

Tags:anxiety, dante, shakespeare

Abstract
In W. H. Auden's poem, "Funeral Blues," the speaker uses well-constructed poetic language and form to convey her attitude toward the subject of death. It explains how Auden manifests an extremely bitter interpretation of hopelessness and eternal sadness on the part of the speaker as a result of losing a loved one. The speaker in the poem is deeply saddened about the loss of her loved one and the fact that it was a force beyond her control. This person has been taken from her life in haste at a most inopportune time, and she feels as though her life has become pointless. It shows how, through Auden's use of tone, language, and structure, he portrays a very well-defined image of death and its effects on the individual, which is by no means desirable.

From the Paper
In "Funeral Blues" Auden makes the bitter attitude of the speaker toward the subject of death apparent to the readers through the use of symbols, imagery, personification, and the metaphor. In the first stanza Auden states, "stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone..."(Auden 1362. 1). The clock being stopped may signify the fact that he who died has run out of time and also to ask those who knew him to stop what they are doing and reflect. The telephone being cut off brings forth the idea of silence. Auden does this to show the deceased the respect they deserve. She believes in honoring the dead with a moment of silence to pay respect. In the second stanza the speaker states, "let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead."(Auden 1362. 5). She uses this metaphoric image to convey the pointlessness of her life and also her grief. What point is there for aeroplanes to fly in circles? She is comparing the pointlessness of flying in circles to her life without her partner.

Tags:interpretation, poetry, representation, theme