(This post contains videos of the two poems’ analysis – see bottom of post)
Category: Poetry
How to read Romantic poetry (I): William Wordsworth’s ‘Tintern Abbey’ & John Keats’ ‘To Autumn’
Romanticism is one of those terms that seem to mean everything and nothing at the same time.
How to read the sonnet
Poems aren’t easy to read, but if there’s any poetic form that grants both pleasure and closure, it’s probably the sonnet.
What’s the difference between form & structure?
Two of the most commonly mixed-up words in the study of English Literature are ‘form’ and ‘structure’.
What’s the difference between personification, anthropomorphism & pathetic fallacy?
The poetry of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
That is the Grasshopper’s – he takes the lead
In summer luxury, – he has never done
With his delights; for when tired out with fun
He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
[…]— On the Grasshopper and Cricket (1884), by John Keats
‘The wind howled in anger’, ‘the trees danced in the wind’, ‘the keyboard said, “are you done with typing already?!”
What do these three phrases share?
How to understand obscure references in literature: your ultimate guide to allusion
If paradox is perplexing and conceit is confusing, then allusion is probably one of the most annoying literary devices out there.
How to read the dramatic monologue: comparing Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poems
Following our discussion of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, I figured that we should look at a less turbulent and more loving union of literary minds: Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
What is ‘freedom’? Reading Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath to find out
Poets are a hypersensitive bunch.
How to sock it to your oppressors: tips from two 20th century black poets
For many people, colonialism is hard to talk about.
How to write an awesome analysis on sound in poetry: your guide to alliteration, assonance, consonance
Of all the areas in literary analysis, writing about sound is probably one of the most challenging.
