Abstract
This paper analyzes various themes in "The Rape of the Lock", a poem by Alexander Pope, concentrating particularly on the theme of the "mock-epic". The paper shows the importance of the verse form and uses Pope's contemporary, John Milton, as a basis for contrast and comparison for the way in which Pope considered society.

From the Paper
"Pope's use of the mock-epic genre is intricate and exhaustive. The Rape of the Lock is a poem in which every element of the contemporary scene conjures up some image from epic tradition or the classical worldview, and the pieces are wrought together with a cleverness and expertise that makes the poem surprising and delightful. Pope's transformations are numerous, striking, and loaded with moral implications. The great battles of epic become bouts of gambling and flirtatious tiffs. The great, if capricious, Greek and Roman gods are converted into a relatively undifferentiated army of basically ineffectual sprites. Cosmetics, clothing, and jeweler substitute for armor and weapons, and the rituals of religious sacrifice are transplanted to the dressing room and the altar of love."

Tags:ages, epic, middle, milton, mock, society

Abstract
Through the analysis of various poems such as "The Lamb" and "The Tyger" and "London", this paper contends that both the 'Songs of Innocence', and the 'Songs of Experience' are simple and complex. It looks at how they exist on a number of levels, having at once simple meaning, and complex analogy symbolism to further give expression to the poetry. The paper also examines how the conflicting simple and complex natures of the poetry gives rise to more thought on behalf of the reader.

From the Paper
"The innocent child who speaks in 'The Lamb' does so freely, however, seemingly the child's innocence prevents it from grasping correctly the allusion it has made. Although obviously in Christianity God has a connection with all living things, the child makes the connection with the lamb, and then compares it with "He" who became a little child. This is a reference to 'The Lamb of God', or Jesus Christ. The aforementioned innocence of the child blinds it from understanding that 'The Lamb of God' was a sacrifice, and so in making such a comparison he is stating both the lamb and himself are akin to a sacrifice. This meaning, taken from the further, more complex reading, may make the question of the first line, "Little Lamb, who made thee?" more poignant, in the face of whether or not the Christian God is so benevolent."

Tags:Lamb, Tyger, London

Abstract
This paper analyzes Andrew Marvell's 'An Horation Ode Upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland' and explains why it is significant as a primary source of historical evidence. The writer discusses the poem's style and use of language, along with its content, and shows how it contributes to a wider sense of political, literary and historical theory during the civil war period in England. The fact the poem was never published in Marvell's lifetime is examined to question whether it can provide a reliable reflection of the public mood on the political upheaval evident during the mid 17th century.

From the Paper
"It is interesting that Charles is alluded to as 'Justice' whereas Cromwell's succession is seen as Fate. Society, as said, was clearly divided, those who aligned them selves with the 'antient rights' of the Monarchy against those who looked forward to a new age of the Republic. In this time of crisis Marvell seems to indicate that only those who are strong and true to their beliefs will prevail, whether their cause is 'just' or not. Marvell portrays an admiration for Cromwell's strength of character during such indecisive times. The regicide, although described, is never questioned as a social or moral dilemma; it is Cromwell, the man of action, who takes centre stage."

Tags:stanza tension monarchy nationalism tension culture classical, civil war, intellectual

Abstract
This paper examines the poem, "Prose pour des Esseintes," written by Stephane Mellarme. The paper suggests that this poem occupies a central place in discussion of Mallarme's works, as through it we can consider and examine his poetics. The paper shows how this poem deals directly with Mallarme's thoughts and questions on the nature of poetic composition and the role of the poet and how it produces various, often contradictory, interpretations.

From the Paper
"In summary, Prose summons up the hyperbolic power of language from the grave of mundane usage of language for its representative function. Language is so powerful in its sound and sense that the poet is stunned into silence, but the poetic voice is found at the end and expressed through the resurrection of the written word. The grimoire becomes a magic spell of resurrection, a 'grammar' of the beauty of the poetic form, and a guide as to how the poem was written as well as how it should be read. Homophony gives rise to significance, not merely sound for its own sake, and to word flowers, the signifiers of beauty found in the new poetic relationship between sound and sense. The flower poem rises musically, creating a visible and audible charme, which supports its Idees and creates a "rythme entre des rapports". All of this is caused by the hyperbolic form of the poem, as words and sounds evoke their own meanings, somewhat independently of the poet. The ideal is no longer out of the poet or reader's reach, and it is within poetry that it can be experienced, and we experience it in Prose pour des Esseintes. For what symbolises the ideal in Mallarme is the ability of poetry to create a meaning or idea out of itself, rather than expressing a given idea through language, and here beauty is evoked through the depersonalisation of poetry and through the mystere of language."

Tags:homophony, representation, interpretation

Abstract
This paper discusses and analyzes William Blake's poem, "Songs of Innocence and of Experience." The paper focuses on the extent to which the nature of illustration affords greater subversive power than text in Blake's poem. The paper describes the content of the poem and suggests that in "Songs of Innocence and of Experience," the text illuminates the illustrations.

From the Paper
"Readers today tend to feel that Blake's words could stand alone and still have complete meaning. Indeed, many publishers today include few or none of the prints in their editions of the Songs. However, illustrated books always rely on illustration to varying degrees to add something important to their meaning. Images can also be subversive in more striking and emotive ways than most text, while simultaneously being subtler. Moreover, Blake wrote at a time when the illustrated book was widely respected as a serious genre of literature, unlike today. Blake's readers would have been much more accustomed to interpreting images in complex ways, and familiar with the use of religious allegory and political imagery at the time. Therefore, in Blake's own time, although the words crystallised the meanings of the illustrations, the images would have had subversive meaning for the reader without the need for text. Blake plays with the relation between word and image in his work. Indeed, although he refers to his own work as an 'illuminated manuscript', Blake even subverts the idea of the medieval illuminated manuscript itself, by challenging the idea that the illustrations 'illuminate' the text. The idea implies that the text has meanings that the illustrations simply reflect and clarify. In Songs of Innocence and of Experience, the text illuminates the illustrations."

Tags:genre, church, text, image

Abstract
This paper discusses how in the Robert Frost poems, 'Two Tramps in Mud Time' and 'Putting in the Seed' language is used carefully to express the poet's views on work and the part it plays in his life. The paper looks at how Frost expresses a love for work using positive, emotive language and uses form and structure to represent life and how work fits into it.

From the Paper
"The poem, 'Two Tramps' is made up of nine stanzas, quite long in comparison to 'Putting in the Seed'. This represents the long time he is taking to make his decision because his love for work is so great. It also shows how life is long and that if he were to give up his job life would go on. The rhyme structure of the poem is regular to represent the regularity of his life and the same routine he has - that his work gives him a break from this routine but also how his work is regular. He has become used to working and does not want to give it up because it would have such as big effect on his life."

Tags:life, routine, sonnet

Abstract
This essay examines the manner in which Christianity had developed and was developing at around 800 AD. Through the examination of "The Dream of The Rood" the paper attempts to explain the influence Christianity had on literature and every day life.

Tags:christ, english, old, latin, crucifixion

Abstract
This paper examines the pair poems "Them" and "Uz" by Tony Harrison about conflicts, in particular between classes and snobbery in relation to attitudes regarding art. It shows how Harrison explores the ideas of classes in relation to their boundaries and the interaction between them. It also looks at how "Them" and "Uz" are two poems in which Harrison describes the attitudes of Britain towards language and his towards Britain in relation to language.

From the Paper
"Lines three to twelve are the words of the teacher, that taught Harrison as a boy, towards Harrison's accent. His description of Harrison as "barbarian" is very bestial and dehumanising along with his use of ?T.W.? instead of Tony. Lines five through to eight describe the way in which it is believed that classic English Literature should only be said in "proper English", otherwise there is not point in it at all, this is clearly enforced as is seen by Harrison only being seen as suitable for "playing the drunken porter" in Macbeth (the characters role consists of mumbling, urinating and opening a gate). From lines ten to twelve the reader realises that what is called "proper English" is in fact simply another dialect. This is shown by now not only putting Harrison's pronunciation of us in square brackets, but the teacher's as well."

Tags:class, language, society, yorkshire

Abstract
This paper relates that Robert Frost got inspiration for his poem, 'The Road Not Taken' from the walks he frequently took with his closest friend in England, Edward Thomas. This paper discusses how the title of the poem suggests that the poem is a metaphor for making decisions because it relates to taking opportunities and the road not taken is a metaphore for a missed opportunity.

From the Paper
"Frost uses only four sentences in the poem, the first one being the longest lasting for twelve lines. It seems he has done this because he wants to fit in as much information about the two roads just as he wants to go down both roads. It gives the effect he is rushing, trying to make his decision and knowing that he can only choose one. The exclamatory sentence, 'Oh, I kept the first for another day!' is used because he knows that he cannot go back on his choice, he is trying to reassure himself that he can to relieve the pressure to make the right choice - one that he will not regret. The last stanza is made up of one sentence as if he is talking about the future and how he hopes to be looking back on the decision without regret but with relief."

Tags:regrets, opportunity

Abstract
This paper explores how Alfred Lord Tennyson's poems reflect the widely accepted Victorian attitudes towards male and female gender roles by the analysis of his poems "The Lady of Shalott" and "Mariana" and references to material by the nineteenth-century writer, John Ruskin. It discusses how in both these poems, which were written between 1830 and 1832, Tennyson is essentially describing the attitudes towards women in Victorian society. It looks at how he portrays a period where women are perceived to be unable to exist in a world without men and are entirely inferior to the men in their society.

From the Paper
"This may be a subtle way in which Tennyson demonstrates that not all women are so purely and completely perfect, as it is when Mariana is alone at night in bed she feels most lonely due to her sexual longing. A piece of writing about early Victorian Britain states that a woman "was not supposed to desire sexual intercourse for any pleasure she might derive from it, but solely as a duty to her husband". In John Ruskin's famous passage, "Sesame and Lilies" (1865) he asserts that "she (the woman) must be enduringly, incorruptibly good; instinctively". The role of the woman in Victorian times was extremely disciplined and sexually restricted and here, Tennyson may be showing that women did not always conform to the rules society enforced upon them."

Tags:society, john, ruskin