Literature Essay Examples and Topics. Page 7

8,616 samples

The Poem “Beowulf”: Prologue Analysis

Another example of kenning in the Beowulf's foreword is the phrase "mead-bench tore", which describes a sturdy man, emulating the size of the seat at the Germanic feast.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1565

“A Story About the Body” Poem by Robert Hass

The poem has several powerful meanings on the one hand, it shows the difference between infatuation and genuine love as the basis of human relationships and the ability to see the person's inner world.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 546

“Heaven” by Cathy Song, an Asian Writer

Since her grandfather worked on the railway, the poet imagines that their household was similar to the untamed West of the past and that he never imagined that this would be the place where he [...]
  • 5
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 843

“This Is Water” by David Foster Wallace

On the other hand, Wallace felt that most people were mistaken and that it was the mission of liberal arts education to tell them they were wrong Liberal arts education was designed to make people [...]
  • Subjects: Concepts in American Novels
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1143

Symbolism in “Désirée’s” Baby by Kate Chopin

After Desiree walks into the desert, instead of walking back to the Valmonde family plantation, Armand sees that all her clothes and belongings at the Augbiny's are placed in a bonfire.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1447

“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden

Overall, after the analysis of the poem, a conclusion can be made that the poet's tone in it is characterized by a shift of mood from sadness and regrets of childhood to understanding his father's [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 750

Love in a Fallen City

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the strategies that the author uses to depict the characters. According to the author, the conflict between the two characters was a result of the two being [...]
  • Subjects: Romantic Literature
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1151

“I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen

Olsen, portrays the hardship and low status of women in society, poverty, and the realities of working poor women. Olsen's mother understands the aimlessness and pointlessness of her life caused by the necessity to work [...]
  • Subjects: Gender in Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 584

Frederick Douglas: Learning to Read and Write

Learning to read and write was Douglas' ticket out of slavery but this is not the main point of the story, it was the process of learning that opened his eyes to slavery in America [...]
  • Subjects: Writers
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 954

“Obasan” by Joy Kogawa

These events form a background to demonstrate the process of identity development of the later generations of the group through the protagonist Naomi and her brother Stephen.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1781

Ovid’s Metamorphoses Analysis

In the course of the transformation of humankind that is depicted in 'Metamorphoses' as different ages from the golden age to the bronze age, the literature might have taken shape before the golden age, and [...]
  • Subjects: Mythology
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2644

The Road as the Cave: Concept in Literature

This progression toward enlightenment can be most clearly seen by making a comparison between Plato's Allegory of the Cave and the situation in which the man and boy find themselves within McCarthy's novel, particularly in [...]
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 9
  • Words: 2450

“Black Venus” by Angela Carter

The Poet is a co-tenant of Jeanne's in the apartment, where Jeanne receives customers, and who also owns the pussy cat that the woman wanted to strangle and kill.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1943

Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caulfield Comparison

Both are realists, intelligent and intuitive, especially when it comes to unearthing the pretense and fakeness from the people and society around them, and they experience immense amounts of such shams the more they interact [...]
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1688

Analysis of Robbie Burns’ Poetry

It is a tribute to the honesty and faithfulness of the peasant to master and to God. It shows the value that Burns placed on family, and most of the poem is spent telling us [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1523

“North and South” Novel by Elizabeth Gaskell

This paper is a review of the main character, Margaret Hale and will also look at the social and economical and political transitions/issues that occur in the story.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1863

Rasism in “No Telephone to Heaven” by Michelle Cliff

This complexity comes even more difficult when the topic of race and identity is involved in literature."No Telephone to Heaven" by Michelle Cliff is the piece of literature dealing with this topic, and the present [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 572

“Legend of Good Women” by Geoffrey Chaucer

The Legend of Good Women written by Geoffrey Chaucer is considered to be a significant poem having the dream vision form; it is a kind of testament to female disparate views being prevalent at the [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 814

Postmodern Age: Philip Larkin’s “Here”

The format of the poem also serves to create a sense of isolation and disconnection. The swerving described throughout the first stanza is adopted by the mind of the reader and is never fully brought [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 878

Women, Friendships, Marriage in Lynn Nottage’s “Poof!”

Maybe Loureen and Florence treat their problems a little differently depending on the fact of having children or the degree to which the husband's attitude can be tolerated. The general opinion about women and their [...]
  • Subjects: Gender in Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 554

History of China in Novel “To Live” by Yu Hua

On the whole, the novel is an example of intersection of personal and historical aspects of life depicting an individual and his changes under the impacts of the political history of the country.
  • Subjects: Historical Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1376

Sexuality in Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Additionally, the poet's description of beauty, satirical approach to love, and the construction of gender roles reveal his interest in the issue of sexuality.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2243

Literature Comparison: A Raisin in the Sun and A Dream Deferred

Despite the seeming difference in genre, stylistic choices, characters and settings, the novel Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and Langston Hughes' poem A Dream Deferred have a lot in common; in fact, one [...]
  • 2.3
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 848

“A Passage to India” by Edward Forster

The other characteristic about the presentation of the setting is that the author uses symbols to direct the leader to the theme of the story and the meanings.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 12
  • Words: 3318

Literature Studies: Every Little Hurricane by Sherman Alexie

Talking about the relationships between Americans and the Natives has never been easy, mostly because of the notorious historic events that took place during the colonization of America, and the following misunderstandings between the Native [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 847

A visit to Grandpas Dylan Thomas

That is the point in the story, where the artist develops the character of the narrator, who is among the characters of the story, and more than that of the artist writing the story, thus [...]
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 1985

Feminism in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Mary Wollstonecraft expressly makes her stand known in advocating for the rights of the women in her novel, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, but her daughter is a bit reluctant to curve a [...]
  • 3
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2266

Analysis of Poems by Dorothy Parker

For most people reading the works of Parker they always seem to remark that her outlook on relationships is from a dark and cynical point of view and as such most of them would be [...]
  • 1
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 920

Time as a Theme in The Great Gatsby

The embodiment of these negative aspects comes in the form of Gatsby and his life, which in the end is seen as hollow and empty, just as the morals and values of the characters seen [...]
  • Subjects: American Novels Writing Style
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 896

Drama Analysis: A Doll’s House

This paper analyses the position of a woman in society, the aspect of social life as well as the importance of responsibility in the drama A Doll's House.
  • 5
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1938

The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Death and the Afterlife

The main purpose of the Gilgamesh myth is to illustrate the weakness of man in the face of destiny. By the time this dream appears in the story, the reader is already aware Enkidu is [...]
  • 3.6
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 582

Blindness in Oedipus Rex & Hamlet

Therefore, in this play, the sighted like Oedipus and Jocasta are 'blind' to the truth whilst the blind like Teiresias can see the truth.
  • 4.7
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2788

Burning Chrome by William Gibson Analysis & Summary

This is also a reflection of the impact of modern technology on the lives of the young as they grapple with new ways to survive and thrive in a world controlled by things that are [...]
  • 5
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1589

Innocence of Frankenstein’s Monster

The name of the novel as Frankenstein conceals the major occurrence of the novel, hence, masking the intentions of the writer at first.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2984

Critical Analysis of Oedipus Rex

The advancement of art in the Greek cities cannot be compared to any in the other civilizations that existed at the time. Most of Sophocles' plays emphasize the tragedies of life and the pain inherent [...]
  • 4.3
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1189

The Tent Delivery Woman’s Ride Poem by Mills

Arguably, the central theme of the poem is the personal journey of self-discovery and the events that influence the decisions made on the way. Therefore, she managed to overcome the traumatic experience and return to [...]
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 658

Literary Techniques in “The Dead” by James Joyce

The focus of this paper is to analyze the juxtaposition and symbolism used by James Joyce in "The Dead" to convey deeper themes and meanings."The Dead" is a short story written in 1914 and included [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1390

An Archetypal Analysis of Hermann Hesse’s “Demian”

The theory of Carl Jung is perfectly superimposed on the work of Hermann Hesse Demian, where the plot is saturated with psychologism and symbols of acceptance of oneself and one's experience.
  • Subjects: World Philosophy Literature
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2863

Family, Duty, and Betrayal in “Fences” by Wilson

Cory's swinging of his dad's bat is a symbolic action that represents his desire to fill his dad's shoes, despite the fact that he struggles and is not confident in his ability to do so.
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2223

Literary Devices of “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker

The plot tells about the lives of a single mother and her two daughters, Dee and Maggie. The latter is further illustrated through Wangero visiting her mother with her partner and addressing the topic in [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 510

Culture in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku, the god of yams" Ibo culture is shown through the world look of the Western society that is why the aspect of behavioral brutality was [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 14
  • Words: 3939

“The Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare: The Play Analysis

Introduction The play of William Shakespeare Twelfth Nightis one of his most performed pieces. The romantic comedy tells the story of a woman who disguises herself as a man and thus changes the foundations of gender roles and romantic relationships. The central themes explored in the piece are love, disguise and deception, and gender confusion. […]
  • 5
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1229

Mark Twain’s Excerpt From “Life on the Mississippi”

As a result of working continuously in the steamboat on someone's payroll, the author is astonished at his failure to appreciate the marvelous qualities of the great river since he was being desensitized to its [...]
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 846

“Under Milk Wood” Play by Dylan Thomas

One of the interesting structural points of the play is that narration in the play is being led by two voices: one presenting the listener with the real day life activities of the character and [...]
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 553

The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Ancient Egyptian Culture

The Epic of Gilgamesh and the culture of the ancient Egypt have their own similarities and differences based on the historical events that took place in this cultures and the religious beliefs of the two [...]
  • Subjects: Mythology
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 679

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 20 Analysis

In the literal sense, the poet's master is having control over him, and in the figurative sense, the Lord is both male and female.
  • Subjects: Poems
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 437

“Seven Fallen Feathers” by Tanya Talaga

The existing residential school system is one of the examples provided in the text as it contributes to the deterioration of the institution of family and the native culture of people.
  • Subjects: Historical Literature
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1761

Act 1 Scene 2 of the “Hamlet” Play by Shakespeare

The use of honorifics, stichomythia, and imagery is discussed, as well as the aside, the motif of spying, and the overall mood of the scene will be discussed and evaluated. The overall mood of the [...]
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 577

Lamb to the Slaughter: Movie vs. Book

In this analysis, it is clear that mood in the two pieces of literature is enhanced by the characters and how they act and speak, the manner in which the author advances the plot and [...]
  • 2.3
  • Subjects: Comparative Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1384

The Archetype of Sacrifice in Literature

Sacrificing oneself for the benefit of the whole society is one of the main archetypes of the past. Reading Sophocles' Oedipus the King, it is possible to find the examples when Oedipus is referred to [...]
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1380

The Story ‘Winter Nights’ by Pai Hsien-Yung

It requires the readers to be critical in their analysis of the literature to be in a position to understand the message that the writer is trying to put across.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 7
  • Words: 1975

“One is not Born a Woman” by Monique Wittig

This is one of the main problems that should be considered since it can throw light on the identity of many women. This is one of the main points that can be made.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 827

Frankenstein: The Theme of Birth

Frankenstein is a ruthless man who can stop at nothing in his pursuit of knowledge, and when he discovered the secrets of life, he uses it to create a monster.
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1474

Wordsworth’s Vision on Childhood and the Basic Themes

As a result, the poet refers to the representation of the Fall, the metaphor that allows Wordsworth to render the transition between youth and adulthood, reason and emotion, gain and loss, experience and innocence.
  • 5
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2157

Sailing to Byzantium by William Butler Yeats

It needs to be studied and that is why the poet travels across the seas and decides to arrive at the "holy city of Byzantium": the holy city is a sort of paradise that the [...]
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1561

To Live: a true story or biased fiction?

The third episode from the novel to support that Yu Hua is not biased against the nationalist period is that the civil war ended in the victory of the communist ideology.
  • Subjects: Historical Literature
  • Pages: 12
  • Words: 3276

Modern Tragedy

An analysis of trends in tragedy from the time of Sophocles and Euripides to modern times is therefore important. This could explain the absence of features such as oracles and ghosts in modern tragedy.
  • Subjects: Plays
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 637

William Blake’s A Poison Tree Essay

At the end, the persona in the poem justifies the tittle of the poem that trying to conceal anger is like cultivating a poison tree.
  • 4.3
  • Subjects: American Literature
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 581

“Fire from Heaven” by Mary Renault

The setting of the book is in a Greek society where Philip is the king. The king enlists the services of the well-travelled Leonidas to be young Alexander's teacher since he has attained the age [...]
  • Subjects: British Literature
  • Pages: 14
  • Words: 3889

Sympathy for the Frankenstein’s Monster

The author describes the monster as a yellow-faced creature of enormous stature, with watery eyes and a black mouth, which, in the tradition of literary Gothicism, is intended to instill fear in the reader.
  • Subjects: World Literature
  • Pages: 1
  • Words: 449