The Journey Illustrated in Four Works: The Love Song of J. Alfred Pruf

The word â€Å"journey† describes a profusion of events. These events can occur physically; physical journey or emotionally and intellectually; inner journey. It is important to define the Journey achieved, while analysing any specific text. The set text in this essay â€Å"The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock† by TS Elliot and â€Å"Of Eurydice† by Ivan Lalic can be used to create a comparison in order demonstrate the uniqueness and significance of each journey. â€Å"Sky High† written by Hannah Robert and contemporary novel â€Å"48 shades of brown† can be compared with the set text to help identify the Journey enclosed in the text. These Journeys all relate to an explicit idea, all journeys are unique and have extreme significance in the life of the traveller. After completing these Journeys, the outcome is likely positive however can turn out negative. The poem Of Eurydice by Ivan Lalic based on a greek myth puts forward that journeys can allow one learn and gain knowledge, therefore this supports journeys usually have positive outcomes. â€Å"Eurydice† emphasises an inner journey prompted by physical journey set in â€Å"thick darkness devoid of time†; Hades. The journey is of Opheseus who, to regain his wife who passed away from a snakebite, travels to Hades. The use of strong adjectives for example â€Å"strata of dead birds† creates an accumulative effect of imagery that helps follow the dark and intimidating physical journey of Orpheseus into the underworld. The first stanza reflects failure â€Å"I return alone†, creates an anticlimactic start to the poem. This also implies Orpheseus was unsuccessful in bringing back his wife, however it creates sense of mystery for the reader. â€Å"I was alone, you see† reinforces heroism that is technically impossible, as he has... ...t directly with the situations faced by Dan and gives a better insight into Dan’s introspecting. The use of register in the novel is colloquial the author uses this technique to help engage the reader with the protagonist, as well as position the readers to have an humorous and unserious approach to towards the issues faced by Dan. Motif â€Å"postcards† have been used throughout the novel, the postcards emphasis the relationship of Dan with his parents that live in Geneva whilst Dan lives in Australia. The â€Å"postcard† shows the barrier and alienation that Dan comes across in Australia as being a typical teenager. The novel 48 shades of Brown presents a teenage inner journey that is inescapable. Overall, journeys can be inevitable though they can have negative outcomes. Journeys can also have major significance on an individual’s life, perspectives and psychology.

Mirror: Sylvia Plath Essay

Sylvia Plath is the author of the poem â€Å"Mirror†, written in the early 1960s. Plath had a history of severe depression due to her father’s death when she was a child and her failed attempts of suicide throughout her life. Many of her poems reflect her emotions, whether they are sad, angry or depressing, and â€Å"Mirror† is one of those poems. â€Å"Mirror† deals with the topic of a woman’s self-consciousness and her vanity in a way that is unusual, yet very effective to the reader. Part of the unusual aspect of this poem is that the entire piece is written from the perspective of the mirror. This is just one example of the personification used in â€Å"Mirror†. Another example is â€Å"The eye of a little god† which contains the woman’s vanity in the way that it is almost a self-worshipping and the fact that the mirror is a very powerful item. This one line depicts the woman’s view of what the mirror is to her and her image. The mirror is given many different actions throughout the poem. For example, â€Å"I meditate on the opposite wall† and â€Å"I have looked at it so long† both describe the mirror performing very human actions and this gives the mirror a personality. The impact on the reader is one of interest and curiosity and this continues throughout â€Å"Mirror† when the theme of personification is explored even further. The mirror is claimed to be â€Å"exact† and â€Å"truthful† in this piece. There is a word in almost every line that continues this theme until the reader gets to line 14: â€Å"She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands†. There are a few interesting techniques used in this to make the reader question the truthfulness of the mirror. For example it is an oxymoron as tears are usually regarded as a bad thing and to be rewarded is usually something good. Just those five words make the reader think that the mirror could potentially have emotions, and a dark side. The impact on the reader at this point is huge as the mirror’s personality is not only one of cruelty but it had been lying and saying it was fair. The words â€Å"I am† are repeated several times in the poem and is another example of personification as the mirror is not a being yet it is still calling itself â€Å"I†. This shows that the mirror is very important and thinks highly of itself, yet further continuing the personification. A woman appears in this poem and is similar to Narcissus, who stared at his reflection in a river and didn’t dare touch the water or go away in fear of losing his image. He eventually died of thirst due to his own vanity. The woman clearly treasures the mirror and the mirror knows this: â€Å"I am important to her† and she is said to repeatedly use the mirror many times a day for quite a while, as shown by the references to a great passing of time in â€Å"she comes and goes† and â€Å"day after day†. Plath uses this form of repetition very well in describing a passing of time and making it seem as if no time had passed at all for the reader which leaves an impact. The woman isn’t mentioned until the middle of â€Å"Mirror†, when the mirror personifies itself as a lake and that the woman was â€Å"bent over it†, which is yet another link to the Narcissus myth. Shortly thereafter, the poem describes the candles and the moon as â€Å"liars† as they only shed a little light upon her features and don’t show every little detail as the mirror does. When the woman observes her own reflection in the mirror she was very distraught and started crying which shows the reader that she didn’t like the way that she looked and went back every day to try and discover what she really was on the inside. However, the line that has the largest impact on the reader are the very last lines of the poem: â€Å"In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish. † These lines – especially the final one – make the reader shocked and horrified at the woman’s horrible self image. For someone to think of themselves as a terrible fish is almost unimaginable yet the woman feels so strongly about this image that she is openly admitting that she looks like one. Additionally, these two lines continue on with the original themes of the poem to counteract that phrase. â€Å"In me she has drowned† is an extended metaphor of the lake description and â€Å"day after day† continues the theme of time passing by quickly. As previously explored, Plath has used many powerful poetic techniques to have a huge impact on the reader. Although it is a short poem – only 18 lines – it perfectly outlines the themes of vanity and superficiality and the pain this can cause a person. The unusual narrator in this poem gives the reader an entirely different viewpoint on vanity: what it actually looks like from an unbiased source. The poem outlines many aspects of vanity and all of its cruel components that makes the reader contemplate what it really means to be vain. An obvious effective technique used was personification; of the mirror and the candles and the moon. This gives the reader a sensation that an animate object is narrating when it is only a mirror: something so simple and ordinary that it completely changes the perspective of the poem. To conclude, â€Å"Mirror† is a very powerful piece of literature that was written with great expertise. Plath successfully used many poetic techniques and utilised them effectively. Both the style in which it was written and the narrator deal with the topic of self-image very well and gives the reader a great impact. Secondly, the use of the surprising language in the poem had a great effect. The word â€Å"fish† at the end is completely different to the rest of the poem which makes it stand out greatly. The reader doesn’t expect such a vulgar description of the woman and that impact is also huge. Finally, the message portrayed in â€Å"Mirror† was delivered very well. It says that we should look beyond the superficial and value what we are on the inside, something that Plath had struggled with over her life.

The History Of Human Language - 2352 Words

The history of human language is long, complicated and somewhat controversial. Even the definitions of the word â€Å"language† are varied slightly. The Merriam-Webster dictionary states, â€Å"Language is the system of words or signs that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other: and one of the systems of human language that are used and understood by a particular group of people: words of a particular kind†. Additionally, the American Heritage Dictionary defines language as, â€Å"a communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols†. Between these two definitions of language we can see how complicated the history of human language actually is. The definitions vary based on the assumptions of whether the writer believes language is more learned or instinctive behavior. The debates on the origin of language are still going on today. There are two basic views represente d in the definitions of language. The first view is based on language being primarily a mental faculty of humans to learn languages and the biological differences that are unique to the human brain. The second view is concentrated around the idea that learning a language is natural. While other views are more centered on the structured learning of formal signs. ADD MORE TO INTRO The Evolution of Language According to the author Christ Knight, all social animals communicate with each other, all the way from insects to mammals.Show MoreRelatedLanguage Is The Most Important Development Of Human History Essay2167 Words   |  9 PagesLanguage is the most important development in human history playing an integral role in children’s identity, belonging to a society, creative expression and success in life. 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