Wallace Stevens's poem "The Death of a Soldier" illustrates life and death in both the natural and human world. Steven's structure and rhythm contribute to the poem. The stern tone, disorder of trochees and uncertainties: fuel the reader's awareness plus desire to know. Negative capability is effective when used to promote thought. Every stanza is in the tercet form. The rhythm of each triplet carefully slows down with shortening lines. The words act out the movements of death ("contracts," "falls," "stops"). However, they also play with an idea of continual motion ("As in a season of autumn," "The clouds go, nevertheless, /In their direction). The grim death of a soldier is shown along with the continual death of nature. .
Stevens uses references to seasons to indicate moods and feelings. Spring and summer are associated with life. The first line's use of "contracts" carries also the connotation of a mother's violent contractions in birth. Autumn, with its blood red leaves "is expected" to eventually come. It thwarts the life of spring. However, nature is only preparing to renew itself. Mutability "is expected" also in human life. The passive voice of "is expected" shows that death is inevitable. All people must pass. It has happened in the past, and is an anticipated ongoing cycle. .
When the soldier's "wind stops," his heart ceases contracting. Different from autumn, he will not have rebirth. Death for human life is final. Humans have a "contract" that runs out. "Death is absolute and without memorial," the soldier dies in war alone. He falls on the battlefield like a leaf from a tree. The second stanza importantly states how his death calls for no pomp. Left out are ceremony rituals of his culture for a proper burial. "As in" establishes a connection between the soldier's death and the death of the season. "As in autumn" is more effective than simply "in" autumn would work.
Today there are many problems that are destroying society. One of the major problems destroying society is television. The television set is shaping the way people act and think in society. Because some television shows promote harmful habits, watching television shows prevents involvement in more p...
Today there are many problems that are destroying society. One of the major problems destroying society is television. The television set is shaping the way people act and think in society. Because some television shows promote harmful habits, watching television shows prevents involvement in more p...
Turn of the Century Music During the turn of the last century, many types of music flourished. ... It developed gradually through time to what it was at the turn of the century, and to what it is today. ... Throughout the turn of the century, jazz has influenced our culture and greatly evolved into one of the greatest forms of music. ...
The book, The Turn of the Screw written by Henry James, is about a young woman taking on the position of governess to two orphaned children. ... I took the movie, The Turn of the Screw, as one of the critiques that the producer shows the ghosts of Peter Quint and Miss. ...
The main similarity between "The Turn of the Screw," by Henry James, and "The Sandman," by E.T.A. ... The governess in "The Turn of the Screw" starts off loving her job and the kids she tends to, until she begins to see, what she believes, are ghosts. ... The governess in "The Turn of the Screw" can be perceived two different ways: either completely trusted, or thought to be a crazy person. ... "The Turn of the Screw" begins with the narrator describing how "Douglas" has a very eerie story about a ghost that visits two children. ... The ending of "The Turn of the Screw" is something incredibly...
One of James' novels, "Turn of the Screw" (1898), has caused a lot of controversy among many critics, and each of them has had a particular interpretation. ... When readers react to the behaviors of the Governess and other characters in "The Turn of the Screw," it means their ego responds to the story that is the external world in this case. ... While the readers are reading "The Turn of the Screw," they feel a need to raise more and more questions as the story evolves. ... Unexpected incidents in "The Turn of the Screw" attract the attentions of the readers. ... The unexpected incidents ...
Introduction The "Turn of the Screw- was originally published as a serialized novel in a magazine called Colliers Weekly. ... In 1908, James published his complete works under the title "The Turn of the Screw: The New York Edition." The Turn of the Screw was published at a time during which the interest in Psychical Research and supernatural phenomena was very predominant. ... This and other passages in the preface of his New York edition from 1908 caused great controversy over the true meaning of The Turn of the Screw: The question was and still is: Is The Turn of the Screw a ghost stor...
One of the most difficult and challenging aspects about "The Turn of the Screw"" is how frequently the characters in the novel present fragments of hidden secrets of the overall story. ... The constant hints and veiled language of the story help to give the Turn of the Screw an ominous feeling. ... Her isolation and inability to engage with the employer she has feelings for turns her to Miles, whom she releases her sexually repressed thoughts to. ... As a whole, the Turn of the Screw is a controversial gothic tale. ... The Turn of the Screw contains amounts of sexual innuedos about forbidden r...
Henry James's - The Turn of the Screw From the moment of its publication, The Turn of the Screw has continuously been a challenge both for the common reading and for criticism. ... The value, and of course, the beauty of the The Turn of the Screw lies in its challenging and well-constructed "interpretive dilemma" which we have to face. ... A few details about the author of The Turn of the Screw should not be neglected. ... In The Turn of the Screw the details are the prevailing elements. ... Being written at the turn of the 19th century, The Turn of the Screw displays the deviation ...
