Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Essay Example for Free

Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Essay Question: Explore the ways in which the poets in the following poems use imagery to vivid effect. Use examples from both the poems. Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Before the Sun by Charles Mungoshi The poem, Caged Bird by Maya Angelou, dramatizes the discrimination between the blacks and the whites. As this issue relates to the life of the poet, she expresses her way of thinking through this poem. The poet speaks about two birds, one which is free, expressing the freedom which the blacks desire, and another a caged bird, articulating their actual standing. The poet puts across her thoughts in order to evoke an emotion of sympathy towards the Afro-Americans, from the readers. To give a more vivid and an effective outcome, the poet has used various imageries to convey an array of feeling. The poet talks about the liberty of the free bird by saying, dips his wing in the orange suns rays and dares to claim the sky1. This sentence gives us the impression of how the free bird opens its wings and flies around in the blue sky, without any obstructions by anyone. This is a desire which the Afro-Americans in the society had, as they were always under restrictions by the whites. In the next stanza, we see that, Maya speaks of a caged bird that can, seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing2. This image of the condition of the caged bird gives us the knowledge that it cannot fly or even walk, on top of it, the bars of the cage makes him furious. The Afro-Americans of the world were in the same position, where the limitations were raising their temper, however they could not demand and fight for their justice. There was a terror in the voice of the caged bird as the poet says that it sings with a fearful trill3. Being restrained from many matters of life, a dread of panic had entered the Afro-Americans. They were terrified of each and every move of the whites, although they longed for a day when they will gain freedom. caged bird sings of freedom4, through this sentence, the poet compares the caged bird and the Afro-Americans of the society, as both hopes for free will. A very strong imagery of the horror of the Afro-Americans is being given in the fifth stanza of the poem. Maya uses the words, stands on the grave of dreams5, to show how the hardships and frustrations of living in a segregated Afro-American community has forced the Afro-Americans to think that their wishes and demands have come to an end, as they are dominated by the rules of white people. An image of a grave tells us that the surrounding is dark, lonely and gloomy; therefore we get an impression about the kinds of thoughts which go across in the Afro-American group of peoples minds. They face so much of annoyance and dissatisfaction that, just a nightmare can make even their shadows scream of terror. The last stanza of the poem again repeats the lines in the third stanza, emphasizing on the yearning of freedom by the Afro-Americans, though having a dread in them. Therefore, we saw how Maya Angelou has used various effective imageries in conveying the sentiments and emotions of the Afro-Americans. The poem, Before the Sun by Charles Mungoshi, sensationalizes the emotions of a child who is in his childhood, but on the verge of becoming an adult. The boy is on the threshold of maturity. The poet speaks about a child, who is in his adolescence and who is very close to nature. Therefore, the poet uses vivid imageries of nature to convey the thoughts of the boy. The boy communes with nature and the universe. We read the poem through the boys voice. In the first stanza itself, we get the hint that the boy is close to the nature. We can see that, the child is waiting for the sun to come up as he says, Intense blue morning promising early heat6, so that he can have a new start of the day. The figurative meaning of this would be that, he is waiting for his manhood to come. His childhood is the night, which is innocent of the activities going on in the world, and the sun for which he is waiting is his adulthood, which will bring a new day in his life. This day is revealing, which results in a loss of innocence of the night, i.e. the boys childhood, as he will gain experience. The second stanza is an image, where we visualize the boy cutting a wood with an axe. This is a very effective image, as we actually have the vision of cutting of a tree and, the chips flying away. This is shown as Mungoshi says in this stanza, The bright chips fly from the sharp axe7. The word, arc, is very effective, as it has both, visual and an audible image, of the short span of time when the axe is whacked on the tree, and the chip of the wood, flies and settles down n the grass, making the shape of an arc in the air. The third stanza has an imagery of a, big log8, of wood being wanted by the boy to cut. A sense of achievement is being shown by Mungoshi, which the boy desires, as he is in his teenage years. The fifth stanza has again a very strong and an effectual imagery of the wood being cut, and dust coming out of the wood. The phrase, It sends up a thin spiral of smoke which later straightens and flutes out to the distant sky: a signal- of some sort, or a sacrificial prayer.9 This is a visual image, where the boy tells the readers, that how, when the wood is being cut, the smoke makes a spiral shape and moves up. The words, flutes out, tells us that the smoke makes a sound while going up, which is very similar to the sound of a flute. The boy considers moving away towards his adulthood by sacrificing his childhood, as a result he says, that the smoke which is going is, a sacrificial prayer. The wood hisses, The sparks fly10, is an imagery of log of woods burning in the fire, and the sparks makes a kind of sound. This fire can be the image of a sacrificial fire, as he imagines of sacrificing childhood. The last stanza of the poem has an imagery of the process of eating, as the boy says, taking big alternate bites: one for the sun, one for me11. The last line, two little skeletons in the sun, tells us that the two skeletons are two cobs of maize which the boy was eating, although, this image can be the remains of his childhood, which he sacrificed. Therefore, we see how Charles Mungoshi has used vivid and effective visions and sounds to portray the feelings of the boy in moving towards maturity and adulthood. In the end, it is seen that both the poems have one major theme in common, i.e. the desire of freedom. The Afro-Americans symbolized by the caged bird wants the freedom of rights and speech, and on the other hand the adolescent boy wants to enjoy the same lack of restrictions enjoyed by the adults. Both of them are impatiently waiting for their freedom. 1 Caged Bird, by Maya Angelou Stanza 1, l-3 2 Caged Bird, by Maya Angelou Stanza 2, ll-5-6 3 Caged Bird, by Maya Angelou Stanza 3 l-7 4 Caged Bird, by Maya Angelou Stanza 3 l-10 5 Caged Bird, by Maya Angelou Stanza 5 l-14 6 Before the Sun, by Charles Mungoshi Stanza 1 ll-1-2 7 Before the Sun, by Charles Mungoshi Stanza 2 ll- 5-6 8 Before the Sun, by Charles Mungoshi Stanza 3 l-12 9 Before the Sun, by Charles Mungoshi Stanza 5 ll- 20-25 10 Before the Sun, by Charles Mungoshi Stanza 6 ll- 26-27 11 Before the Sun, by Charles Mungoshi Stanza 8 ll- 38-41

Alcestis Essay -- essays research papers

Alcestis is a myth that is "the most touching of all the Greek dramas to a modern audience" (Lind 213). It is a tragicomedy by the playwright Euripides and it centers on the king and queen of Thessalia. Admetus, the king, has been fated to die yet, due to his alliance with Apollo, is given the chance to find a replacement. His wife, Alcestis, volunteers for the position claiming that she cannot imagine life without her husband. After Alcestis submits her life, Admetus discovers the pain of loss and even determines that Alcestis is the lucky one in dying. In a surprising turn of events, a friend of Admetus, Heracles, goes down into the underworld, wrestles Death, and wins Admetus back his bride.1 This tale, as mentioned above, tugs at a reader’s heartstrings. We, as an audience, want to believe that Alcestis is brought to life at the termination of this drama, yet there are those interpreters who believe otherwise. A specific example of this type of person is D.L. Drew, who proposes that the woman given to Admetus is the corpse of his wife rather than the resurrected Alcestis. Drew goes further to comment that this is Heracles’s revenge against Admetus for tricking him into believing that she who died is a stranger and not Alcestis.1 This is a terrible proposition that tends to disturb a reader and, through the examination of the text, seems to be rather incorrect. The concept that Alcestis has been resurrected can be supported, in fact, by several elements. Through the influence of the god Apollo in the drama’s entirety, through the temperament and motivations of Heracles, and through the presence of many comic elements in correlation with the definition of comedy, one can truly believe that Alcestis is brought back to life. In the onset of Alcestis, the god Apollo utters to Death an oracle. "For a man comes to the dwelling of Pheres†¦and he shall be a guest in the house of Admetus, and by force shall he tear this woman [Alcestis] from you" (Euripides 66-69). These are the last words of Apollo in this text, yet he does not completely disappear from the drama. He seems to show his covert influence through the use of light and sound.One may first examine the use of light in this drama. The characters use the concept of the sun many times throughout their dialogue. "Sun, and you, light of day†¦" (Euripides 244). A similar line... ... the above elements and then also by a rise of the protagonist in the drama’s termination. It thus follows that if Alcestis has the elements of comedy, then there must also be some sort of comic rise! There seems to be two comic rises. First, Admetus understands the true sacrifice that Alcestis has made. "No pain ever shall touch her again; she has reached the noble end of all her sufferings. But I, I who should have died, I have escaped my fate, only to drag out a wretched life. Only now do I perceive it" (Euripides 938-941). Although this does not seem to be a comic rise for Admetus, it is an enlightenment of sorts. Admetus has seen that he has been selfish and is shamed by it. The final comic rise is the resurrection of Alcestis, which seems to be an almost reward for Admetus’s enlightenment. This resurrection of Alcestis is necessary in order to fulfill the definition of comedy and is thus proven through it, through the actions of Apollo, and through the motivations of Heracles.Footnotes1. L. R. Lind (1957), Ten Greek Plays in Contemporary Translations Houghton Mifflin Company; Boston, Mass.2. Thomas Bulfinch (1855) The Age and Fable or Stories of Gods and Heroes

Huckleberry Finn: Sweet Home Mississippi

Christian Morganstern once explained, â€Å"home is not where you live, but where you understand yourself† (Morgenstern 1). The transcendentalist finds his home, and therefore himself, not in civilization, but in nature. In Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck runs away from his â€Å"civilized† home to the Mississippi River to seek refuge. Much like Thoreau going to Walden's pond to escape the corruption of society, Huck finds solace on the river. Only when he goes ashore does the peace and tranquility of the River get interrupted by people and society. Ironically, they travel down the Mississippi toward the corrupt slave culture of the pre-Civil War South. The journey on the river symbolizes Huck's escape from the immorality of society into an idealistic, or utopian home on the raft where he can develop his own moral beliefs while the southward direction represents the ultimate inescapability of society. Although the Mighty Mississippi represents Huck's sanctuary, it ironically propels Jim and him southward toward the very slave culture they are trying to escape. Resembling Marlow's adventure on the Thames in Joseph' Conrad's The Heart of Darkness, the Mississippi transports Huck toward evil. While traveling into the Heart of Darkness, â€Å"the air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed into mournful gloom, brooding motionless over†¦ † (Conrad 1). Although the circumstances differ, the idea that they are traveling down hints that they are bound for hell or in the direction of evil. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the evil they are headed towards is slavery. As they travel down the river, the world around them becomes increasingly chaotic. In the antebellum South, Huck witnesses this disarray first hand when Colonel Sherburn shoots Boggs. Sherburn explains to Huck that people â€Å"in the South†¦ think [they] are braver than any other people–whereas [they're] just AS brave, and no braver. Why don't juries hang murderers? Because they're afraid the man's friends will shoot them in the back, in the dark–and it's just what they WOULD do† (Twain 149). This passage is Twain making a reference to the Ku Klux Klan. He vicariously speaks through Sherburn, a Northerner, to convey with judgments of the corrupted South. As Huck travels further South, Twain†¦ However, as long as Huck and Jim stayed away from civilization, they were untouched by the evils of society. This suggests that maybe it is not the direction they are headed, but rather the people who lived upon the shores that are evil. As long as they stay on the raft, their own little lifeboat, Huck and Jim were untouched by the wickedness that dwelled around them. Thoreau, a Transcendental author, reinforces this reverence for nature when he explains that â€Å"Nature [is] not our foe, but an ally, not a dark force to be beaten back, but a marvelous force to be admired† (Garner 1). Nature acted as a sanctuary for Huck, and he felt more at home on the Mississippi than with the unethical people of society. Whenever Huck leaves his raft, his symbolic Walden sanctuary, and came to shore, he ran was faced with the corruption of society. The first time this occurred is when they met the King and the Duke. Not long after, Huck realizes that â€Å"these liars warn't no kings nor dukes, at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds,† but puts up with them for Jim's protection (Twain 128). These two men would put on shows and con people out of their money and then run away. As soon as Huck could, he planned on leaving them behind so Jim and he could go back to their peaceful times on the river. In addition, when floating down the river Huck is able to define his own morals away from the pressures of society. The river is not just an unknowing, unfeeling body of water, but becomes the catalyst to assist Huck with his moral growth. He learns that â€Å"a sound heart is a surer guide than an ill-trained conscience† and that he should listen himself and not the ways of his more civilized elders (Hammond 3). Over the coarse of the novel, Huck finds a home and his morals while traveling down the Mississippi River. Although the people on the shores try to civilize and make him conform to their evil ways, he refuses because the river has become his asylum.

Effects Of Marriage On An Individual - 1924 Words

Though everyone’s view is contrasted, there is a similar belief that humans are not meant to roam the earth alone. For many, there is a hope that one day someone will enter his or her life and change it for the better. When this happens, the consequences associated with marriage or a long-term relationship are not always clearly seen. The effects of marriage or a long-term relationship on an individual can help a couple to understand the right time to begin such a relationship, the change in environment within his or her new lifestyle, and the difference in emotional and physical health after that relationship has begun. As the study of marriage unfolds, many can be informed of the effects that marriage can have on an individual. For those†¦show more content†¦There are many factors that play a role in the decision to wait a longer period of time before entering marriage. A recent study explains that â€Å"In particular, many Americans are waiting longer to get marri ed due to opportunities for women to pursue careers outside the home, due to better control over the timing of childbearing, and due to the ability to be more selective when choosing a spouse† (Greenstone and Looney). This statement explains that there are those who wish for more opportunities within a married relationship. While this is not necessarily a bad idea, it is not an ideal solution to the ever-present problem in the marrying world. An aggrandized view of marriage/long-term relationships has caused many people to disregard the statement that no relationship is perfect, though many may portray perfection. With the knowledge that all marriage/long-term relationships have flaws, a solution must be found regarding the right time to marry. Focussing on waiting for the right time to marry or enter a long-term relationship causes many to wait for something that may never happen. When thinking about marriage/long-term relationships, it is imperative that one creates a balance between work and time. Sometimes, building the idealistic life can cause people to postpone or delay relationships because of concerns such as stability and family life. While it is important to build a life prepared to â€Å"take on† the future,Show MoreRelatedArranged Marriage And Other Types Of Marriage1635 Words   |  7 PagesAn arranged marriage by definition is a marriage planned and agreed upon by the families or guardians of the bride and groom. The amount of input a bride or groom has is based on the type of arranged marriage (Psychology Wiki). Arranged marriage is a sensitive topic as it involves the values, beliefs and core characteristics of many people. There are multiple views on arranged marriage, both positive and negative. I n the west, most individuals have negative opinions on arranged marriage. 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