Close Reading Of Jane Eyre
Through a close reading of the selected passage of Charlotte BrontГ«'s Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, a reader can see that Jane attempts to separate herself from her decisions by personifying her emotions and giving them a specific voice, which strongly reflects the societal views of the time. At this point in the story, Jane has discovered, on her wedding day, that Mr. Rochester is still married to awoman named Bertha, and that woman still lives in his house. Distraught, Jane locks herself in her room and tries to decide what she should do. When she wakes up the next day, she is again confronted with what she needs to do in the wake of her discovery. When Jane awakens, she asks herself what she should do and receives the answer "Leave Thornfield at once" (343). She describes this as the answer her mind gives her,...show more content... It instead shows Jane's inner struggle to do what is "right" versus what she desires. The separation between the voice of herself and her thoughts exhibits her helplessness to change her path from what her mind has already decided. This displays the heavy influence society has on Jane, which is further proven by the personification of Jane's two strongest rivaling emotions. The heavy influence of a patriarchal dominated society is evident in her "Conscience" being a strong male figure, whereas her "Passion" is a weaker, feminine figure. Similarly, the strongest reasoning for Jane to leave Thornfield is driven by the patriarchal demand for a female to remain "pure" until holy marriage, rather than Jane's own desire to leave, further solidifying the idea that the voice given to her mind is not just her own internal thoughts, but also the demands and expectations of
Honors Close Reading Essay In the 'timeless classic' Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the author brilliantly utilizes several literary devices to convey the motif that true love cannot be stopped. He does this by using many opposing ideas such as love vs. pain, day vs. night and In the passage spoken by Friar Laurence Act IV, Scene V, he says "For though some nature bids us all lament, Yet nature's tears are reason's for merriment". This says that nature may bring reason to mourn, but we must be happy when all seems lost. Which may seem weird because mourning over death should not bring merriment, but rather bring a time of sorrow. Which relates to the motif, because Romeo and Juliet loved each other so much that they were willing to die to be with one another. I'm sure this brought physical pain to themselves and mental pain to their friends and family, but in the end they would be happy with their tragedy, together. In this story sometimes things that may seem morbid, are actually quite virtuous. In another passage spoken by Friar Laurence in Act II, Scene III, he pronounced "The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb; What is her burying grave that is her womb". At first analysis of this sentence, it seems macabre, being that one dies where they are born. Yet upon further examination the exclamation becomes more meaningful and sort of joyful. The thought of one peacefully dying where they belong doesn't seem morbid at all. That is what Romeo and Juliet do,
A Close Reading of the Sonnet 78. In Shakespeare's sonnets the invocation of a muse is not an infrequent topic. In this particular one, the muse is not invoked to paint a picture of someone special, but rather quite the opposite, which is the invocation of that someone special as the muse of the poet. Throughout the poem Shakespeare paints the picture of the way someone specific and close to his heart affects and inspires him. It is done in very deliberate ways: sometimes the description is overrun with emotions, while other times it is very precise and calm. A lot of the help comes from the usage of many rhetorical devices, specifically imagery and simile. Obviously, use of other devices, like metaphors and epithets, is necessary for assisting...show more content...
It is important to note that each four–line stanza comprises a single sentence each and that way, the different ideas and themes that Shakespeare used are a lot clearer. The usage of strong words, such as "invoked", "faire", "poesy" and "alien", in the first stanza of the sonnet really helps to suck the reader into the poet's beautiful world and keep them there until the very end. The author acknowledges the fact that the person in the poem is his direct inspiration and indirectly thanks them for bringing him into the light amongst other poets who now take after him in being inspired by the person. The second quartet of lines discusses the true power of inspiration and beauty. Again, the author is writing in strong words, even exaggerating in some cases, using metaphors, such as the metaphor of an ignorant person becoming virtuous and an educated person being raised even higher in their knowledge (...heavy ignorance aloft to flie, / Have added feathers to the learned's wing...). According to the author, the eyes of the person alone have made the mute ones sing the highest notes and made the most elegant even more
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The poem 'During Wind and Rain' by Thomas Hardy looks at his late wife Emma's fond childhood memories and the contrast of what the passing of time brings. My essay will explore the devices Hardy uses to communicate the idea of passing time and what literary evidence suggests that Hardy could be deemed as a Victorian and a Modernist writer. Thomas Hardy was interested in creating images and was regarded as a lyric poet by Wordsworth whom in the preface to [1]The Lyrical Ballads (1798), describes as a successful poet who shows [2]'the relation between the human imagination and the natural world' Karadas (2008: 162). Hardy makes use of various figurative devices to communicate this idea: for example, in the first stanza of the poem he...show more content...
The imagery used to describe Emma's childhood reflects both happy memories and the passing of time. The family are enjoying an evening filled with entertainment, 'they sang their dearest songs' (line 1). This is a powerful image because it builds a picture of family life, Hardy also uses the words Elders and Juniors (line 9) and a description of a candle 'with the candles mooning each face' (line 5) to describe the youthfulness in the family, Hardy later describes the same family members as 'Men and Maidens' (line 16), signifying that the same children described, have aged over time. In addition the regularity of the theme of time is reinforced by the structure of the poem, as there are four stanzas, suggesting a month and seven lines suggesting a week. Hardy also flips between past and present, the first five lines of the stanzas suggest memories from Emma's past, for example 'And they build a shady seat...'(line 12) followed by 'Ah, no; the years O!' (line 6). The exclamation mark emphasizes Hardy's grim vision of the present. Hardy's poem also has a rhyming scheme of ABCBCDA. This regular rhyming pattern and the broadly iambic tetrameter
"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" written by Randall Jarrell is a poem that introduces three major ideas in only five lines. These ideas are birth, death, and war. Jarrell is able to accomplish a lot in this short poem by using diction and syntax such as metaphor and figurative language. The title of the poem automatically shifts the reader's mind to expect a poem about war and death. However, after reading the title and seeing how clear it is, when taken literally, line one of the poem is very confusing. If we try to understand the poem at a basic literal level, here's what's happening: There is a gunner in the ball turret, underneath a bomber plane. It is so cold up high that the lining of his wet jacket is being...show more content...
The speaker's life before war is left far below and even feels like an illusion. Like a "dream," it is gone. When the speaker "woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters", he woke up to his worst nightmare, enemy fighters approaching the bomber. If we take a close look at lines three and four together, there is a stark contrast. Line three is very peaceful and serene, the words "dream", "life", and "earth" usually have positive connotations; while line four is certain death, with words like "nightmare" and "black flak". The last line of the poem is very straightforward, and is almost prose. It tells us exactly what we need to know. When the bomber got back to the base, they cleaned the speakers remains out of the turret with a hose. If we continue the metaphor of the bomber being the mother, we can conclude that the speaker is being born into death through the womb of "the State". "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" by Randall Jarrell is able to accomplish so many thing with so little lines–mainly through the use of metaphor and diction. It explains the terrors of wars in gruesome detail and explains the ways in which wars, in a sense "breed" and "birth" death. To some, this poem is seen as the ultimate poem of war, and rightly
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October 21, 2015
A Close Reading of Oedipus Rex Ancient Greeks cared deeply about the pursuit of knowledge. Although the truth was often a terrifying concept, they still saw it as a critical virtue. The theater was one way in which the ideas of knowledge and truth were examined. Many Greek dramatists use the self–realizations of their characters to underscore the themes of their tragedies. Sophocles, for one, uses the character transformation of Oedipus, in tandem with the plot, to highlight the theme of his famous work, Oedipus the King. As Oedipus grows in terrifying self–knowledge, he changes from a prideful, heroic king at the beginning of the play, to a tyrant in denial toward the middle, to a fearful, condemned man, humbled by his tragic fate by the end. At first, Oedipus appears to be a confident, valiant hero. This is especially true during the situation alluded to at the beginning of the drama, when he solves the Sphinx 's riddle. Although Oedipus is not a native Theban, he still chooses to answer the riddle of the Sphinx despite her threat of death to anyone who fails to answer correctly. Only a man like Oedipus, a man possessing tremendous self–confidence, could have such courage. When Oedipus succeeds, freeing the city from the Sphinx 's evil reign, he becomes instantly famous and known for his bravery and intelligence. A temple priest reveals the respect the Thebans have for their king when he tells Oedipus, "You freed Get
Freud Close Reading
Freud Close Reading
After reading the story of A Fragment of an analysis of a case of hysteria, I had various difficulties navigating through the text and analyzing Freud's writing. However, there were parts that also gave me a really good understanding of the unconscious. In the beginning of the text, Freud explains to the reader how patients sometimes tend to have gaps in their memory due to their illness or they are simply frightened or ashamed to share what happened to them or what they have done. In these cases, paramnesia can occur causing the patients to confuse facts and fantasies. This passage really helped me to grasp how the mind works and how the information can be coherent or incoherent depending on the situation. In this writing, Freud gives a deep observation about how the unconscious works and how he gives treatment to his patients.
From this writing, I have gained an understanding that in many cases, people are not deliberately lying about their behavior when explaining themselves to another person, but they are actually giving what they believe is rational behavior. Personally, I believe that people tend to mix facts with fantasies because they want those fantasies to be true and they actually believe that they are true, which again, is a case of paramnesia.
As Freud explains the story of the eighteen year old girl, Dora, he analyzes the Jenks 1 conscious and unconscious parts of her mind. The reality is that this patient had physical symptoms of illnesses
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"Sonnet 116" written by William Shakespeare is focusing on the strength and true power of love. Love is a feeling that sustainable to alterations, that take place at certain points in life, and love is even stronger than a breakup because separation cannot eliminate feelings. The writer makes use of metaphors expressing love as a feeling of mind not just heart as young readers may see it. To Shakespeare love is an immortal felling that is similar to a mark on a person's life.
This sonnet has a simple and straightforward meaning. It is short, yet powerful with the perfect use of metaphors. If a partner suddenly becomes aware of impediments of the...show more content...
The writer wants to emphasize that feelings cannot turn unstable as changes happen to relationships. He amplifies it on the next line: "Or bends with the remover to remove:" (4), using this metaphor to underline that true feelings does not fade away even after a breakup. The author starts off by saying what love is not, before he says what love is. Shakespeare is using this approach to state that love is an unbreakable feeling and it can survive through changes.
In the first three lines of his sonnet Shakespeare maintains the repletion of such words as "love" and "love", "alters" and "alteration", "remover" and "remove". This way he underlies the consistency of feelings that prevail over other conditions in his poem. With each line Shakespeare's thought is like bouncing between unusual changes to embrace the whole meaning of love that stays strong no matter what it has to sustain. In the next few lines Shakespeare is using metaphorical associations of love to give the reader the impression of majesty of love. "O no! It is an ever–fixed mark" (5), in this essence the meaning of mark pertains to sea–mark, which is a lighthouse, "That looks on tempests and is never shaken;" (6). The author is giving love metaphorical meaning of strength which is like a lighthouse never shaken with tempests. The next metaphorical close: "It is the star to every wandering bark," (7), in
Eujean Oh AP Literature and Composition Close Reading–Jane's Character First Setting: Gateshead Throughout the book Jane Eyre, the protagonist Jane goes through a variety of stages in her life where the setting/environment of where she lives in forms a part of her character and who she becomes as a person. The first setting in the novel is the Reed family's home in Gateshead, England. As an orphan with no parents, she is taken in by Mrs. Reed who promised the late Mr.Reed to take care of Jane. Playing the role of the "mean stepmother", Mrs. Reed as well as all of her cousins John, Eliza and Georgiana treat her as if she was a lowly, undeserving girl. At the fragile age of ten, Jane develops an almost rebellious character and has a lot of anger built inside of her because of feeling wronged by the unfortunate deeds of the Reed family that drives her to become lonely and miserable as a child. Being locked up in the red room also gave her a superstitious side that also proves as a part of the prejudices that form around her when people don't...show more content... She makes her own decision to leave Lowood after a solid ten years and earns a job with her own abilities and is determined to venture out into the world away from Lowood. When she meets Mr. Rochester, he encourages her to express herself in her own way when he admires her drawings. But as Jane falls in love with Mr. Rochester Jane learns about new emotions that she has never felt before as she finds love and learns how to suppress them. As she falls in love with Mr. Rochester, the master, she learns to conceal her feelings instead of breaking out in emotional outbursts like she did at Gateshead. They eventually fall in love and decide to get married but Jane makes a wise decision to leave Thornfield even though her decision is distressing and heartbreaking she does it for her own
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Close Reading of "The Miller's Tale" Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are some of the most widely read and anthologized pieces of medieval poetry. These tales are generally celebrated and enjoyed because of the author's use of wit and satire, as Chaucer often uses word play and characterization to deliver hard–hitting, yet entertaining truths about his time period. This is the case in "The Miller's Tale," which portrays the story of a carpenter with an adulterous wife and the shenanigans that take place during and after one of her affairs. After closely examining "Absalom's Revenge," the last section of this tale, it is clear to see that Chaucer uses language, puns, and other writing techniques to provide a commentary on the lewdness of some who lived during the Middle Ages. In "The Miller's Tale," John, the carpenter, is married to a lady named Alison. She is not the virtuous...show more content...
By using funny descriptions and puns within his diction, he creates a satire that is both entertaining and political in nature. For example, the imagery he uses when describing the flatulence scene is both vulgar and timeless. He writes of Nicholas and Absolon's interaction, "This Nicholas anon leet fle a fart,/As greet as it had been a thonder–dent,/That with the strook he was almoost yblent;/And he was redy with his iren hoot,/And Nicholas amydde the ers he smoot" (lines 3806–3810). Chaucer manages to compare the sound of Nicholas's passing gas to thunder and says that it was so toxic that it almost blinded Absolon. The way Chaucer words this selection is so matter–of–fact and simply stated, that it increases the hilarity of the whole incident. Although Chaucer is entertaining his audience, he is also seeking to show the immorality of the every day people who surround him. This satirical use of language sets a tone that is both jovial and constructively
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TASK 1: PLANNING COMMENTARY Respond to the prompts below (no more than 9 single–spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the brackets. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored. 1.Central Focus a.Describe the central focus and purpose of the content you will teach in the learning segment. The central focus of this learning segment is to read and understand act 2, scenes 3–6 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and to use this understanding to interpret deeper character motivations and characterization. Students will use close reading to find evidence to support their interpretations and will write short paragraphs on characterization. Close reading is the process of critically analyzing a text and focusing on significant details without referencing or referring to information outside of the text in order to develop deep and precise understanding. The process of summarizing, interpreting, and using evidence to support the interpretation will be repeated multiple times during this learning segment. The purpose of this learning segment is to prepare students for the summative essay at the end of the unit. b.Provide the title, author (or, if a film, the director), and a short description (about a paragraph in length) of salient features of the text(s) that a reviewer of your evidence, who is unfamiliar with the text(s), needs to know in order to understand your instruction. If there is more than one text,
The Yellow Wallpaper Close Reading
The narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman discovers that the woman trapped in the yellow wallpaper is really herself and reflects that there are countless other women trapped and oppressed by society just as she is. Through her descent into madness, the narrator is able to finally free herself, but not without losing her sanity in the process. When the narrator states: "I pulled and she shook, I shook and she pulled" (Gilman 517), this goes to demonstrate that the woman in the wall that she's been trying to free is really herself. The woman trapped in the wallpaper is a significant metaphor to represent that the narrator is trapped in an oppressive society, and more specifically...show more content...
While, the narrator refers to the room as a nursery, the circumstances suggest that the room was really used to "treat" women like the narrator from similar illnesses. The room has a bolted down bed that "is fairly gnawed" (Gilman 517), which the narrator bites a piece off of in frustration, suggesting it was under similar circumstances that the bed came to be gnawed. Therefore, the narrator's creeping inside the room is the only way for her to be part of society, as in the room she can "creep smoothly on the floor, and [her] shoulder fits... so [she] cannot lose [her] way" (Gilman 518). She has to suppress and hide her true self in front of others, even her husband, as many women had to during those times. The diction and tone demonstrate a wonderful descent into madness. The story is written in first person, allowing us to better understand the narrator's state of mind. As the story progresses, there is an abundant use of exclamation marks, giving off an erratic, exited tone. Many sentences are short and choppy, portraying the uncertain and off–balance state of mind of the narrator. Although it is clear that the narrator has finally lost her mind, the ending of The Yellow Wallpaperis still fairly ambiguous. It suggests that the narrator was finally able to free herself, although she did lose her sanity in the process. This is evident as she casually remarks that "jumping out the window would be
I cannot make other writers' creative choices for them but I can train a reader's eye. Close reading is the heart of my creative writing courses because a writer must strive to be a perfect reader; a successful writing process depends on skilled reading practices. I will encourage Emory University's creative writing students to become better readers of fiction and creative nonfiction and they will grow into better writers for it. I give my students a variety of in–class exercises. Some prompts help students generate ideas and get into the classroom headspace. With other prompts, students learn and practice specific elements of craft. For example, I asked my CWL 202 Introduction to Creative Writingstudents to write a properly formatted dialogue between a shy person and a friendly but unwitting crush using action tags and speech to convey character emotions–it's the show don't tell directive at work and was a handy way for me to gauge and address whether students were familiar and comfortable with format and grammar....show more content...
This is especially important early in the semester for several reasons. First, it helps us to get to know each other and fosters a classroom centered on cooperation and fellowship. Second, I apply the language of craft wherever possible and point out what students are doing in their responses–this gives students a lexicon based off of their own examples and demonstrates a classroom standard of discussion. This also shows or reminds students they already engage with the tools of writing, demystifying the process and intercepting any magical thinking about muses or bolts of lightning or other excuses we try to use to get out of doing the hard work. The creative process can be a breathless wonder but if writers attempt to rely only on the breathless moments, they'll
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Close Reading of a Poem
Maria Clinton
ENG 125
May 31, 2011
Tiffany Griffin–Minor
Close Reading of a Poem
ON THE AMTRAK FROM BOSTON TO NEW YORK CITY: BY SHERMAN ALEXIE
On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City is an emotionally provocative poem by the Native American Indian writer, Sherman Alexie. It describes a train journey from Boston to New York City in which an elderly white woman excitedly points out historical sites to her fellow passenger, a younger Native American Indian. The poem demonstrates how narrow minded the American Indian finds thewhite Americanculture; for, it does not go beyond any history prior to their coming to America. The white woman is only able to have a limited understanding of her surroundings;...show more content...
These immediate images provoke other images in the Indian's mind; these images are far more spectacular than those immediate images pointed out by the white woman. The two hundred year old house on the hill is linked in the Indian's mind to the structures of his tribal ancestors which he describes in stanza three as "whose architecture is 15,000 years older".
The mention of "Walden Pond" in stanza three by the white woman is linked in the Indian's mind to "there are five Walden Ponds on my little reservation out West and at least a hundred more surrounding Spokane," in stanza four. These larger images once again demonstrate the incapability of the white Americans to look deeper into other cultures and their sites surrounding them. The only reason the white woman recognizes Walden Pond is because it was made famous by a white American, Henry David Thoreau who wrote a book about his life in a house next to the pond, in which he takes on a simplistic life which mimics the Native American Indian life style. The Indian on the train, is unimpressed by this because he states that "I know the Indians were living stories around that pond before Walden's grandparents were born and before his grandparents' grandparents were born."These lines display a certain amount of disdain by the Indian for what the white Americans believe to be historically important it
A Close Reading of "Sonnet 18" "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" ("Sonnet 18") is one of Shakespeare's most famous poems. It is the model English, or Shakespearean sonnet: it contains three quatrains and a finishing couplet.. The poem follows the traditional English sonnet form by having the octet introduce an idea or set up the poem, and the sestet beginning with a volta, or turn in perspective. In the octet of Sonnet 18, Shakespeare poses the question "Shall I compare the to a summer's day" and basically begins to describe all the bad qualities of summer. He says it's too windy, too short, too hot, and too cloudy. Eventually fall is going to come and take away all the beauty because of the changes nature brings. In the sestet, however, his tone changes as he begins to talk about his beloved's "eternal summer" (Shakespeare line 9). This is where the turn takes place in the poem. Unlike the summer, their beauty will never fade. Not even death can stop their beauty for, according to Shakespeare, as long as people can read this poem, his lover's beauty will continue to live. Shakespeare believes that his art is more powerful than any season and that in it beauty can be permanent. In my close reading of "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day", the first feature I focused on were keywords. The first word that stood out the most "temperate." The word temperate has multiple meanings. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the word "temperate" can mean "Of persons,
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Gallop: "A more substantial benefit of close reading is the effect it can have upon the student's reading of her own writing. When we read our own writing, we are even more than usually prey to reading what ought to be there rather than what is. Often we don't notice that we've actually left words out or used words that don't mean what we mean or not explained something in a way anyone could follow. And that's because we know what ought to be there: we know what we were trying to say, and we read, not what we actually managed to get down on paper, but what we were trying to say." In my opinion. Gallop here is focusing how unfamiliar can affect our understanding to ourselves and thus, affecting our abilities to read and write. Her main concern
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Close Reading Throughout the entire novel the author gives us characteristics about Pi, he is the protagonist and, for most of the novel the narrator. In the chapters that frame the story and tell us everything that has happened they portray Pi as a shy, graying, middle–aged boy, whom tells the author about his early childhood and the shipwreck that changed his life, and gave him a new friendship with someone whom you would never believe a human could become friends with. This novel makes everyone question the truth which makes us wonder if Pi's story is accurate and makes us wonder what pieces we should believe. Pi emphasizes the importance of choosing the better story which makes...show more content...
Pi is an eager, outgoing, and excitable child, dependent on his family for comfort and support. In school, his few main concerns were to prevent his schoolmates from mispronouncing his name and learning as much and as fast as he can about religion and zoology. But when the ship went down Pi is torn from his family and left alone on a lifeboat with wild animals which would make anyone believe that they weren't going to even make it through the night. The disaster gives him a reality check which makes him realize that he has to become self–sufficient. He mourns the loss of his family and fears for his life, which any normal sane person would do but he realizes that he has to take this challenge and make the best of what he can. He finds a survival guide and emergency provisions. He had to force himself to question his on values and decides that his vegetarianism is a luxury, and he wouldn't make it a week without teaching himself how to fish. He manages to protect himself from Richard Parker the bangle tiger that has managed to get stuck on this boat with him and take on a parental relationship with the tiger, providing him with food and keeping him in line, to protect himself as well as keeping Richard Parker alive. The devastating shipwreck turns Pi into an adult, able to fend for himself out in the world alone. Which gives him good morals, and
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