Newest Literature Essays

What role does transcendentalism have in the world of art and artistic expression? Fixated on the reality and the truth, Fra Lippo Lippi is found in a compromising position “at an alley’s end” with “sportive ladies.” Not only does this expose the...

Yeats’s “The Second Coming” continues the age-old tradition of man’s vague plea for annihilation and subsequent rebirth. Whether in religious doctrine, political theory, or artistic movement, there seems to exist a very human desire for second...

With reference to John Keats, Sidney Colvin comments that “the spirit which animates him is essentially the spirit of delight: delight in the beauty of nature and the vividness of sensation.” Indeed, Keats’ treatment of nature- truthful to the...

Pablo Neruda’s unique style of poetry has been undoubtedly shaped by the events from his life, whether that be from his early adolescence engulfed in the nature of Chile to his political activism as an adult. Although these influences may not be...

The Oxford English Diction defines ekphrasis as “a literary device in which a painting, sculpture, or other work of visual art is described in detail” (1). While this definition suggests ekphrastic writing to concern man-made works of art...

Ready Player One, written by Ernest Cline in 2011, is set in a massively multiplayer online simulation game called the Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation (OASIS), created by James Halliday in partnership with Ogden Morrow...

Colette’s “The Pure and the Impure” is a novel that aims to be a kind of expose of French high society, along with the absurdity of societal expectations as well. Colette has a very poignant understanding of the human psyche and her views on sex...

For many years, audiences have seen art forms extend beyond their original categorisations into other artistic spheres – Pieter Bruegel’s painting inspiring William Carlos Williams’ Hunter in the Snow or Leonard Cohen’s music influenced by the...

In her poetry, Adrienne Rich employs a rather sophisticated approach and continually redefines the representation and depiction of loss. Rich, rather than upholding the traditional elegy, she unswervingly intrudes upon its traditional definition...

“Aspern Papers” lies at the boundary between the Romantic period and an emerging Modernist perspective in the fin de siècle of the 19th century. Written in 1888, James’ “Aspern Papers” holds at the crux of its content a significant message...

Emily St. John Mandel explores two different interpretations of humanity in the post-apocalyptic novel ‘Station Eleven.’ The author examines how humanity is capable of both goodness and evil in the face of catastrophe. Survivors often wonder why...

At the start of the fourth act of Shakespeare’s Henry V, there is a famous soliloquy in which King Henry ponders and laments his role as king. In the soliloquy, he complains of his big responsibility of having the weight of all his people on his...

In Seamus Heaney’s poem, “Blackberry-Picking”, an interpretation of the poem could lead one to believe that the poem is elegy to the children who will grow up and be made rotten by the world over time. The message is captured in Heaney’s feelings...

In Seamus Heaney’s poem, The Forge, an interpretation of the poem could lead one to believe that the poem is a commentary on the uncertainty of what lies ahead in the relationship between a person and religion. The mystery of what lies ahead is...

Claude McKay’s poem “Outcast” explores the fight within oneself to belong, the longing of the persona to be linked to his people, his roots. The poet employs the uncomplicated and unsophisticated sonnet fabrication as he explores the persona’s...

The Last Samurai was released in cinemas in the USA on 7 December 2003, and was directed by Edward Zwick, who cast Tom Cruise to play the protagonist. Cruise’s character – Nathan Algren - is an American Civil War veteran, who is sent to Japan in...

Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market deals with issues of sex and rape, in spite of the fact that as a Victorian-era poem, it cannot talk explicitly about any of those things. Instead, Rossetti creates an extended metaphor of monstrous goblins...

John Keats’ poems “Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art” and “When I have fears that I may cease to be” both revolve around the topics of death and the fragility of life. He writes of his desire to stay in his present state, afraid of...

In any creative pursuit, sometimes advice is given to put the project at hand down and revisit it later. In Calamities, despite struggling with writer’s block, Renee Gladman proves that she has no ability nor desire to construct boundaries in her...

The purpose of this essay is to examine to what extent Boccaccio’s insistence as to the necessity of hierarchical societies is undermined by his continual consideration of the flaws of established societal norms; as well as the motives for this...

Das Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei – the great collaborative work of Marx and Engels – is in its essence the propagandistic synopsis of the communist ideology as it stood, prefaced with a detailed and condemning account of human socioeconomic...

The purpose of this essay is to evaluate to what extent Machiavelli presents an adaptability of nature and a willingness to enact change as the key contributors to achieving and maintaining power and glory in politics in Il Principe. Contrary to...

A dark and peaceful night at the United States Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, turned into a life changing situation for Private First Class Louden Downey and Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson. The two men shown are personally given an order from...

Paris is Burning, a documentary by Jennie Livingston, focuses on the lives of New York City drag queens by providing insight into their unique culture by the use of an untraditional aspect of a documentary- she breaks the fourth wall. Livingston...