Oliver Twist takes place in England during the 19th century, in a workhouse. Oliver Twist was born in this small institution. Oliver’s mother dies from starvation shortly after his birth. Oliver spent his first nine years in an adult workhouse, …
Month: May 2023
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) explores London at the turn of the century. Dorian Gray’s duality is a reflection of the division between east and west, as portrayed in poetry and novels. Wilde uses London’s decadence, hedonism …
To His Coy virgins
The popular poetic creed “seize each day” or carpe diam is the concept. Andrew Marvell’s and Robert Herrick’s carpe-diem admonish young virgins to avoid coyness, procrastination and other negative traits. Marvell’s “To his Coy Mistress” (to …
The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopia of the future where all women’s power has been stripped away and left with a male dominant power structure. Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, the theme of betrayal dominates the story. This is seen both …
The title of this poem is misleading. It is not a typical romantic love song. This poem shows the indecisive mind of J. Alfred Prufrock. “Love Song”, a poem by T.S. Eliot, is an exploration of Prufrock’s confused thinking processes …
Researchers have suspected for many decades that Shakespeare used his plays to comment upon the political climate in England at the moment. During the 16th-17th centuries, government persecution was not uncommon. Also, treason charges could be brought against anyone who …
What is an allusion? Cinna was the stylist Katniss. It is likely that you missed out on the major allusion when you heard this name. Allusions are not about Katniss’s gem-covered dress, or the illusion of flames. It is a …
Hemingway writes that The Old Man and the Sea, a novella, “should seem simple and easy to read and yet contain all the dimensions and depths of the world visible and the human spirit,” in a Letter to Charles Scribner …